Is Religion A Crock of ****?

[FOSCO]

OK. Let's keep the flaming to a minimum and respect each other here.


Do you think that religion a crock of ****, or do you think it is not.
Explain your answers!!

I will start. Religion is a crock because it is the basis of wars, cause of death, etc... blah...

FOSCO

[theFerf]

ferf sticks out his 10ft pole and pokes "the topic" realizing there is no way he is going to get involved in this conversation.

[bazookajoeshow]

I really don't think this is the place for this topic. It's offensive to make fun of other people's superstitions.

Bazooka Joe

Originally Posted by FOSCO

Do you think that religion a crock of ****, or do you think it is not.
Explain your answers!!

I will start. Religon is a crock because it is tha basis of wars, casue of death, etc blah...)

[Craig]

Superstition: An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. --American Heritage Dictionary

Just for the record, that doesn't describe my relationship with God nor does it describe the vast majority of Christians I know. Anyway, I know a baited hook when I see one and I also don't think this is the place for this topic (albeit for different reasons than Joe) so I'm going to hang out with theFerf for the duration. I will leave a response in the form of two podcasts though:

http://www.godcast.org/mp3/harvest/crusade050714.mp3 (starting at 1:50)
http://lifespringonline.com/podcasts/crusade050731.mp3 (starting at 5:30)

Enjoy, and feel free to PM or email me if you're truly interested in the subject and still have an open mind (aren't Christians the ones who are supposed to have closed minds?.

Craig

[jimk]

To be fair, you have no more evidence of your relationship with God than I have of my relationship with invisible aliens from Raellgia 7. if I were able to gather a few billion to believe the way I (don't) believe, I would gain legitimacy on the world stage, but still be no more closer to reality than any other man-invented mythos to any outside observer.

What I mean is this: If I were say, to invent a made-up religion and have the pull of an L. Ron Hubbard, and in 2000 years, my religion, although considered crackpot and invented at first, was the equal to Christianity in popularity...and then some scientists from another galaxy were to come here and look at both religions...

How would anyone be able to seperate fantasy from "reality?"

Answer: They can't. It's all superstition and mythos to someone. Not long ago, natives to the continent I am on believed the sun was carried across the sky by a giant turtle, because they had no frame of reference with which to understand the world and they desperately needed an answer.

And today we have the "sons & daughters" of Abraham and Mohammed and Christ locked in eternal battle. Because they don;t have a frame of reference with which to understand their place in a natural world...they need to make it more than it is. But they can't agree of what the "more" consists.

Short, non-pretentious answer: You need it to be true, so it's true. But you have no quantifiable, reproducable, independantly verifiable evidence to prove your beliefe is any more or less a superstition than walking under a ladder or black cats or saying "Good luck" to actors. Don't be defensive about it to the point that you start trying to defend it with objective criteria.. If your faith is enough for you...so be it.

[bazookajoeshow]

My apologies, Craig. But I sincerely would like to do a cast with you regarding free will in religion.

Bazooka Joe

Originally Posted by Craig

Enjoy, and feel free to PM or email me if you're truly interested in the subject.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by bazookajoeshow

My apologies, Craig. But I sincerely would like to do a cast with you regarding free in religion.

No problem. PMed you.

Craig

[audiocollective]

Originally Posted by bazookajoeshow

My apologies, Craig. But I sincerely would like to do a cast with you regarding free will in religion.

Bazooka Joe

My co-host Cory and I talked for hours about free will... luckily we didn’t podcast it because it was a little strange.

If anyone else wants to hear some good not so religious Christian stuff check out the other podcast I have just started for my church: http://www.audiocollective.net/throughthelookingglass/

Keep up the great discussion!

[bazookajoeshow]

Hopefully in a couple of months I'll be able to do an interivew with philosopher Daniel Dennett. He's written some great books about consciousness and evolution but he wrote a book about free will and determinism called Elbow Room. It's a quick read but definitely thought provoking.

From what I recall, Dennetee believes we might have free will but our free will operates within the narrow confines of biological, sociological and temporal restraints. Hence, the title Elbow Room.

Bazooka Joe

[spartacusroosevelt]

I am shocked by this line of thinking. How can you doubt our creator? It is probably because you have not been touched by his noodly appendage