to be a good..

[Kepler]

Re: to be a good..

For what? The most it works as is an authority figure that you need to appease in some way.

A grounding of meaning. A reference point external to the system. The infusion of spirit into the material world. The comfort of a predictable universe. The feeling of agency through prayer. A "first cause." A "ne plus ultra." A Supreme Court. All very valuable functions that aren't just a cartoon thunder god.

But it often claims to be absolute truth. In fact it's implied, regardless of how lukewarm you want to get in the vast majority of religions.

It's implied in monotheism, and in our present moment in history monotheism has the biggest navy. Polytheism is God without absolutism, but that also sheds a lot of the useful functions of God. Figuring out what to do with the claim of absolute truth in a heterogeneous world is one of the great challenges both inside of religions and also dealing with religions from the outside. At some point you face the equivalent of the Sunni suicide bomber who would not only die for The Truth but take you with him.

True, seeing as spirituality was co-opted by religions when it is more an emotional state that lead to such things.

Well, we're talking about God, here, not religions. All the current religions will be dead and their prophets forgotten at some future point, but there will always be a spiritual dimension to both personal and public life, so something will serve that need. Blaming the pettyfoggeries of religious institutions on "God" is a lot like blaming the criminality of banksters on "Value" or the greed of lawyers on "Justice."

Outside of objective questions a value statement will always be subjective.

Only in the radical positivist world we have the misfortune to currently occupy. In most of human history there has been an objectively certain codification of value statements. We just happen to live in a spiritual dark age, where our mode of thought is devoid of imagination or humanity. This is going to be a very, very brief episode, because it doesn't give anybody what they need to be happy.

 

[Foxton]

Re: to be a good..

A grounding of meaning. A reference point external to the system. The infusion of spirit into the material world. The comfort of a predictable universe. The feeling of agency through prayer. A "first cause." A "ne plus ultra." A Supreme Court. All very valuable functions that aren't just a cartoon thunder god.

So whatever the **** you want. Effectively making it meaningless or a symbol for things that have already shown to be full of ****, IE "first cause", or things that are just wishful thinking, "spirit". You might as well by bringing up demons causing disease for all the use those things have.

It's implied in monotheism, and in our present moment in history monotheism has the biggest navy. Polytheism is God without absolutism, but that also sheds a lot of the useful functions of God. Figuring out what to do with the claim of absolute truth in a heterogeneous world is one of the great challenges both inside of religions and also dealing with religions from the outside. At some point you face the equivalent of the Sunni suicide bomber who would not only die for The Truth but take you with him.

Polytheism is filled with just as much absolutes as monotheism, except it boils down to multiple deities all playing a part in the absolute rather than just one standing at the top of the mountain.

Well, we're talking about God, here, not religions.

Name one god that you didn't learn about through it's religion. Don't worry, I'll wait. (cue Jeopardy song) None? You didn't just start hearing a voice or voices? You can't separate the two without it being a god who just doesn't give a **** what their followers do. Because what kind of deity can't get it's message across clearly? Or is unable to step in and say no when it's word isn't being followed.

All the current religions will be dead and their prophets forgotten at some future point,

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

but there will always be a spiritual dimension to both personal and public life, so something will serve that need.

Unfortunately there will always be those searching for fairies, bigfoot, and the loch ness monster.

Blaming the pettyfoggeries of religious institutions on "God" is a lot like blaming the criminality of banksters on "Value" or the greed of lawyers on "Justice."

Lacking any evidence or intervention by their so called god, there's no reason to distinguish between the two other than to be a gigantic tool like this clown. You can't have your cake and eat it too. It's nothing like your analogy. It's like blaming the president of a company who allowed criminal activities to go on within his company. Sure he knew every intricate detail and personally hired each of the ones doing it, but he didn't do anything personally. But clearly they are separate and not connected at all.

Only in the radical positivist world we have the misfortune to currently occupy. In most of human history there has been an objectively certain codification of value statements. We just happen to live in a spiritual dark age, where our mode of thought is devoid of imagination or humanity. This is going to be a very, very brief episode, because it doesn't give anybody what they need to be happy.

Since history began, humans have debated value statements because objectively defining the value of a life for example, is kind of subjective. We're not in a "spiritual dark age" it's just the natural human condition.

And only a sith deals in absolutes.... and bad apologetics.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: to be a good..

Hey, look, it's another thread started with no more ill intent than getting a quick laugh that's turned into a religious war on USCHO! It's been what, two, three weeks since the last one? Good job, people, way to stay on the ball.

 

[Foxton]

Re: to be a good..

Hey, look, it's another thread started with no more ill intent than getting a quick laugh that's turned into a religious war on USCHO! It's been what, two, three weeks since the last one? Good job, people, way to stay on the ball.

Three of the 'points' including the first one directly mention religion, many others relate to issues that are being driven by the religious, so it's hardly getting off topic for it to shift gears into discussing it after unhwildcats posted a fallacy factory that just has to come from some other chain email.

 

[Kepler]

Re: to be a good..

Hey, look, it's another thread started with no more ill intent than getting a quick laugh that's turned into a religious war on USCHO! It's been what, two, three weeks since the last one? Good job, people, way to stay on the ball.

Oh noooooooooooes!

 

[St. Clown]

Re: to be a good..

Oh noooooooooooes!

Not the police, just the guy gawking from the sidelines in disbelief with a half bemused grin on his face.


This has happened before. It will all happen again.