A bunch of self-congratulatory pseudointellectual claptrap

[Ari Rahikkala]

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comment ... ?context=3

[Erik Mortis]

wtf was that bullshit?

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

I'd rather have self-congratulatory claptrap from someone smart enough to understand that such a thing as intellectual modesty exists, as opposed to the usual RELIGION IS STUPID AAAGH arguments we get from fifteen year old deviantart users who can quote the G-d delusion.

[Aurangzeb Khan]

For the record I have no idea what any of that means but the possible/unprovable/undisprovable existence of an omnipotent deity/demiurge/bored simulation programmer does not in and of itself disprove the notion that religion, as postulated by humans, consists of a load of mutually contradictory and historically dubious claptrap. But in the absence of conclusive evidence either way we can only speculate... and laugh at Scientologists.

[Erik Mortis]

Yes.. let us all laugh at scientology. (doesn't even get the dignity of a upper-case 's')

[Malliki Tosha]

scientology shouldn't even get the -logy suffix.

[Erik Mortis]

hubardism...? anti-psychology? suicide-promotion? idiocy?

[Jacobus Loki]

edited-

You see, it should be fairly obvious by now that we're an a computer simulation run by God.

Every generation sees G-d in their own image. If Newton saw the Great Clockmaker, then it is natural for Ari to see the Great Bored Computer Student.

And they are both completely correct, of course.

***************************************

Not making a judgment at this time, however---

Scientology is a religion (/ tax dodge) started by Americans. If the Scientologists had the same opportunity as Brigham Young, would they get any respect in 150 years?

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Scientology is a religion (/ tax dodge) started by Americans. If the Scientologists had the same opportunity as Brigham Young, would they get any respect in 150 years?

Well - pointing and laughing at Mormons is almost as safe a bet as mocking scientologists. In both cases these "faiths" emerged during a period of recorded history where the evidence of the evolution of the "revealed truths" can be examined and prognosis of utter bullshit pronounced with a reasonable level of certitude. Unfortunately the fractured historical record of ages past provides a level of ambiguity which preserves the tattered raiment of hallowed antiquity for the older religions...

Which is a shame because persecuting the god-bothering monotheist vermin would have been fun. Oh Stalin ( ), you were right in so many ways... it's just a shame about the communist economic theory

[Jacobus Loki]

Well - pointing and laughing at Mormons is almost as safe a bet as mocking scientologists.

Can't - I do business in Utah.

It's OK, the food is good and hearty (great scones), and people are people.

[Aster]

Atheists are more open-minded and intellectual - we know this because we've read the Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens

lol

[Aurangzeb Khan]

And there we have the abridged version of the Dawkins Delusion... which gets us nowhere... beyond noting that Dawkins is strident in his opposition to religion and could be work on the question of whether god exists, but there is less at stake in a flawed theory than in a flawed faith since the former can be more easily disgarded.

"Faith is something more than the mere belief that there is a God: it is an assent to a purported revelation of God, communicated through a sacred text or a religious community. It is faith in a creed, not mere belief in God, that is Dawkins's real target in The God Delusion." - Anthony Kenny, TLS