Re: Yay, account deleted! [was: Have you heard the GOOD NEWS?]

From: Mark Jones (abuse_at_127.0.0.1)
Date: 01/25/05 

Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:07:32 -0500

bill.sloman@ieee.org wrote:
> Tom Del Rosso wrote:
>
>> "Mark Jones" <abuse@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
>> news:RP6dnXBwBLsDhmjcRVn-oQ@buckeye-express.com...
>>
>>> YAY!
>>>
>>> "Error! The account www3 has been suspended! Use your browser's
>>> back button if you wish to try again."
>>
>>
>> Obviously the site died so the sins of other sites could be
>> forgiven.
>>
>> (Unlike a lot of atheists, I don't believe that people invent
>> metaphors for no reason at all. I think they are trying to
>> represent something, but I can never figure out what they are
>> trying to represent with that one. Maybe it's connected to some
>> forgotten philosophical concept.)
>
>
>
> I differ - I think that the human brain has a hard-wired tendency
> to look for coherent explanations of everything that is going on,
> whence the enthusiasm for inventing gods and conspiracy theories.
>
> The reason is obvious enough - if you detect a real conspiracy
> against you early on, your chances of beating it are much improved,
> so you have to tolerate a pretty high level of false positives to
> minimise the risk of a false negative. Religion is just a way of
> coping with a potential conspiracy of invisible enemies - people
> believe in god or gods in the same sort of way that I believe in
> electrons, molecules and magnetic fields.
>
> I do have the advantage of an extended scientific education, so I
> know why I believe in electrons, molecules and magnetic fields, and
> - more important - why I don't have to believe that cell-phones
> cause brain cancer, or that there is a god.
>
> Lots of people who also have the benefit of an extended scientific
> education don't appear to be able to generalise the rules of
> scientific logic beyond science, and remain ostensibly devout
> church-goers, though some may share Spinoza's opinion that religion
> is primarily a device for persuading the less educated citizens to
> live virtuous lives, and so may thus be supporting their local
> church for the same reason that they support the local police.
>
> ------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
>

 Indeed, I've been wondering the feasibility of opening a "church"
which still taught morals, ideals, right-and-wrong, etc... just
without all the hocus-pocus and emotional baggage of faith-based
religions. I do believe religion can do good things for people, in the
sense that some of the teachings do have good intent and effects on
people. It IS wrong to kill another. It IS wrong to lie, cheat, and
steal. Take "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife." More people
nowadays need to learn this one! With a 51% divorce rate, what do
marrages mean anymore? So as a teaching aid, I think chuches can be a
good thing. They can be powerful tools because their subjects are
already open emotionally and spiritually to what is being said. They
can also be a bad thing, especially when these infamous words pop up:
"holy war." I'd definately do without that one. And that whole "god
died for your sins" crap is just old-school mental abuse. Even x-tians
know this to be a joke, deep down in their hearts. It's just really
compelling for them to believe what they are told, lest they burn in
the fiery ashes of hell... (yeah right.)

 Hmm, I guess nobody would come to a church where things were told
like they really are. Rev. Phil (as in Dr. Phil) Revelation Church -
Ha! Without the negatives of religion "forcing" parishoners to come,
they'd probably avoid it altogether. What do you think? Would you take
your family to a church once or twice a week which taught peace, love,
and understanding without the mental anguish of sins, holy ghosts, and
funky rituals? Is the idea absurd?

 -MCJ

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