Atheist knowledge

[dutchroll]

I went through a brief phase many years ago when I thought most religious people were some degree of stupid - an incorrect, unsophisticated and unjustifiably intolerant former viewpoint of mine which I've consigned to the dustbin of history.

 

Religious beliefs bring a certain type of comfort and satisfaction to some and that's fine as long as you're not advocating harm of others through your beliefs, or shoving it in other people's faces (case in point: we just moved house and within 2 days the Jehovah's Witnesses were visiting!).

 

However I struggle to avoid an eye roll when the "God of the gaps", the "praise God for saving us", or the "we don't understand why God would do this" arguments are invoked. If your (generic "your" applied to any religious folk) God exists, I reckon they'd be getting sick and tired of having literally everything attributed to them.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

... If your (generic "your" applied to any religious folk) God exists, I reckon they'd be getting sick and tired of having literally everything attributed to them.

That famous quote: God made man in his own image; and man sure returned the favour!

 

Maybe the big fella got so overloaded with responsibility that he couldn't cope any more...and left things on autopilot.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Religious beliefs bring a certain type of comfort and satisfaction to some and that's fine as long as you're not advocating harm of others through your beliefs, or shoving it in other people's faces (case in point: we just moved house and within 2 days the Jehovah's Witnesses were visiting!).

This brings back fond memories to me; we live in a rural setting, but eventually a car came in and the two dark suited gentlemen came to the front door.

 

Very politely, I thanked them for visiting but told them I was taken care of, and no, I didn't need a copy of their Spotlight ot Searchlight magazine.

 

That was the signal for one of them to step slightly forward with the question of whether I knew about (some event in the early Christian days).

 

In my search for ancient civilizations, I've spent thousands of hours researching back several thousand years before Christianity and before the Judo-Christian streams had started.

 

So I told them, yes, I knew about the event, and asked them if they knew who had instigated it on (quoting a time of dat and date), the eyes began to spin and I asked if they knew who prompted THOSE people to do what they did that day, and so on getting back a few hundred years, and they started to back away, obviously wishing they'd stuck to the urban area that day.

 

They backed all the way back to their car, refusing the offer of a cup of coffee, and that;s the last I've ever seen of the JWs

 

 

[octave]

This brings back fond memories to me; we live in a rural setting, but eventually a car came in and the two dark suited gentlemen came to the front door.Very politely, I thanked them for visiting but told them I was taken care of, and no, I didn't need a copy of their Spotlight ot Searchlight magazine.

I imagine it may have gone down something like this:

 

 

[turboplanner]

Very similar

 

 

[Marty_d]

I imagine it may have gone down something like this:

Bill Bailey doesn't actually have to act... a slight change of facial expression is all it takes. Love it!

 

 

[facthunter]

If (THE, A,) real god ever made" Itself " Visible to various groups the atheist would perhaps recognise IT first, not having any preconceptions of what IT has to be like The rest would perhaps be arguing for eternity if it can't be claimed as "their" particular model straight out. America would be firing everything it has into the Alien. Don't know what it is? Kill It Quick. Homer Simpson would discus baseball. A good sense of humor is mostly lacking in all this . Can't have that lack of reverence, in the presence of god. Mostly a necessary remnant of how you behave when some bully is confronting you with an AK 47. or a large rock in the olden days. I've given a few eulogies over the years, and it would be nice if our loved ones were somewhere waiting to meet us after death. Funerals used to be very god orientated. Much less these days. When some character, with a collar on backwards says "I KNOW Annie Blog is sitting at the right hand of god right now" and I'm very aware of what A.B thought about god stuff, I'm really NOT impressed. Why should I feel otherwise? Pretty good businesses some of these religious organisations Pay no tax lots of fringe benefits Some in America are very rich . I doubt there's much real good or god in them at all.Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

I think it's refreshing that funerals can be whatever you want them to be these days. My father in law was carried out of the church to the strains of "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen - exactly the sort of thing he liked.

 

Me, I've always said I'd like my ashes tipped out of a plane... don't all start volunteering, I'm not quite ready.

 

 

[Yenn]

We really need to define God before we believe or disbelieve. I find that religious cranks always agree with me when I argue that God is just Mother Nature. Maybe that points up that God is not a man.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Well, the Abrahamic god worshipped by jews, muslims and christians was dreamed up in a time and place where women were second class citizens, so of course he's male.

 

Other belief systems worship natural objects like rocks and trees. Egyptians worshipped a bunch of things as gods, including the sun. Scientologists believe Earth was seeded by aliens (and a lot of other weird sh1t too!) Pastafarians worship, with tongue in cheek, the flying spaghetti monster.

 

So I guess Yenn you can define god as whatever you want, and you are absolutely no more incorrect than anyone else's definition.

 

 

[Yenn]

I think I will define God as the sun. It is the most important thing to us, apart from the hunk of rock we live on. I have been in Victoria for a week and saw the sun for the first time this morning, that was better than going to church. Now I just want to feel it's warmth.

 

 

[storchy neil]

Why didnt you let us know you were coming we would not have shut the gate Neil

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...and that;s the last I've ever seen of the JWs

Wish I'd been there Turbs.

 

Our local JW was a decent bloke and did mobs of good works for the community. I know that doing his religious duty- trying to save the rest of us- caused him considerable stress, but one stinking hot day he arrived with his family. Great timing.

 

I had a Rayburn stove in the back of my ute and needed to get it into the house. An hour later we were both covered in sweat and buggered, but the stove was installed in the kitchen. They've never been back.

 

 

[facthunter]

The Rainbow serpent is responsible for an awful lot too. Don't fly too high people. An angel is OK to bump into but those harps hurt. I used to worship the Sun god but got burnt Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

You didn't use wax for your feathers, did you Nev? Should've remembered your mythology...

 

 

[bexrbetter]

God made man in his own image;

.. and from my perspective must be a mighty good looking god.

 

 

[facthunter]

Marty, A Beach Bum, with a "healthy" tan. Rippling muscles etc. Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

Marty, A Beach Bum, with a "healthy" tan. Rippling muscles etc. Nev

Must be a different Marty. My stomach may ripple but only when I laugh...

 

 

[DonRamsay]

We really need to define God before we believe or disbelieve. I find that religious cranks always agree with me when I argue that God is just Mother Nature. Maybe that points up that God is not a man.

The Inca Earth God is known affectionately as Pacha Mama. The "mama" has been substituted for the original "Kamaq" as it was more catchy sort of title for the Earth Mother.

 

 

[facthunter]

I want a funeral where I spring out of the box as a younger more intelligent, wiser and nicer person than I was before, and disappoint those who only came to be sure I was dead. Nev

 

 

[turboplanner]

I want a funeral where I spring out of the box as a younger more intelligent, wiser and nicer person than I was before, and disappoint those who only came to be sure I was dead. Nev

They can't do the impossible you know.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Turbs, I am fascinated by the rise of ancient civilisations and cultures but have ben too lazy to research them as you have done. Where should I start reading? Bear in mind that I am not a young bloke and need to make the best use of the time available!

 

 

[turboplanner]

Start with the Egyptians, their incredible building skills, communications, hydrology, attention to detail.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Somewhere in my library I have a book about ancient glass lenses. The Egyptians had telescopes and theodolites of a sort, very convincing analysis. I must find it and read it again.

 

 

[turboplanner]

There are some statues in the Cairo museum made a few thousand years ago with laminated obsidian eyes, so realistic you can see into them and they sparkle