uh wrong...Turing wrote:Oh balls. There are plenty of religious people who aren't complete fuckwits.
Religion has plenty of bright spots when it's done right, but the people who do it right are pretty low profile.
Comedians discussing religion isn't crazy...George Carlin is proof of that.GONNAFISTYA wrote:Yeah...I know a comedian attempting a serious discussion is kinda crazy (there's that word again) but it's the same thing as back in the days of the kings...only the Court Jester could speak the truth without getting his head chopped off. Comedy can indeed bring down barriers.
lol, OH, is that what those were starting? I thought they were starting excuses for group ignorance that's every bit as bad as any religion, or at least that's what I've gotten from talking to people who have swallowed the Dawkins kool-aid. Having flipped through them, I'm pretty confident in saying that they seem much more interested in attacking and tearing down religion than they are about having any rational discussion. The discussion seems to simply center around the idea that religion is, like, bad and stuff.GONNAFISTYA wrote:I think this movie could further progress what "The God Delusion", "God Is Not Great" and "A Letter To A Christian Nation" started...a serious dialogue about the ramifications of religion on society. Maher is not just talking about religion or its influence in America, but global.
Sorry...but like global warming...it's a conversation that humanity hasn't had in a serious fashion.
Yeah...I know a comedian attempting a serious discussion is kinda crazy (there's that word again) but it's the same thing as back in the days of the kings...only the Court Jester could speak the truth without getting his head chopped off. Comedy can indeed bring down barriers.
Your comment about the religious bright spots being low profile isn't the point. The point is to get those people talking with the rest of us in a manner that doesn't turn the whole thing into a holy war of sorts.
Besides...would it be better to just let things go on as they do without someone saying something?
Well, the problem is that you can't really have a rational discussion about irrational beliefs.Turing wrote:I'm pretty confident in saying that they seem much more interested in attacking and tearing down religion than they are about having any rational discussion.
What would those many good sides be?Turing wrote:...Religious belief has brought about dreadful things, of course. But it has also brought about many good sides that are completely ignored in "Discussions" like this.
LOL. So blaming a movie advocating religion in schools on religion, is the same as blaming the holocaust on evolution.Turing wrote:Oh balls. There are plenty of religious people who aren't complete fuckwits. Blaming people like Stein on religion is as stupid as... as blaming Hitler on evolution and atheism, actually.
Religion has plenty of bright spots when it's done right, but the people who do it right are pretty low profile.
c) is not true at all. And a) and b) are intrinsic to humans, not religion, religion is just the reason given for coming together and providing answers. So it's not religion, but the need people feel to come together and provide/get answers. There are an infinite amount of reasons to get people to come together, of wich religion is one.Plan B wrote:Okay, sounds a bit like a troll, so let me save you the trouble;
a) religions bring people together
b) give comfort to those who seek 'Answers'
c) generally preach kindness
Ah yes, seems we agree somehwat?Apart from the fact that those bases are pretty well covered by a) other institutions that satisfy the intrinsic human need to belong to something, b) *real* (yes, scientific) efforts to find 'Answers' and c) common decency, that would be good and well, until the devout decide that it would be best for everyone else to share their beliefs.
Yes, agreed.This need to 'enlighten' can get pretty aggressive, and just begs to be counterbalanced.
Of course, this sometimes results in what some might call 'God-bashing', but by those whose beliefs are strong and rigid, most rational arguments too easily get disqualified as such.
That's quite a statement, the amount of misinformation provided by expelled is enormous, where do you think the misinformation on that scale is going to come from in this movie?Turing wrote:Looks like it's bound to be the same sort of retarded, preaching-to-the-converted tripe as Expelled, from what I've seen so far. I hope they can rise above it, but Maher doesn't make me think it's very likely.
Hm, I don't agree. Talking religious belief on these terms is too broad a perspective. Religious belief can mean practically anything. We're talking religious belief in the presence of contrary evidence and in the abscence of evidence. A well informed/reasoned belief is i.m.o. always better than a belief without evidence/reasoning to back it up.Turing wrote:Religious belief has brought about dreadful things, of course. But it has also brought about many good sides that are completely ignored in "Discussions" like this.
