Our frontal lobes are too big.
See that is the problem with being a pattern-seeking mammalian. The majority of our species don't know when to stop making horribly irrational inductions. Go read Hume.
I would also move far away from the idea that our universe shows any element of a divine...
Your lucky you were even granted a response. There is no need for violence.
I grant it's possible to critically analyse the point I made, but you offered no argument.
You believe in "science and sociology": what exactly does that mean?
Are you saying that your a critical thinker, yet...
I'm quite curious, as the most intelligent Christian on the forum, do you still admit the need for "faith"?
That is, how do you reach the conclusion that the christian god exists, beyond any rational conclusions (though challengable) you may have reached in relation to the need for a "first...
Oh yeah, beyond the fact that if you accept this proposition your willingly accepting the invitation to be a slave. A hand-crafted robot, destined for eternal pleasure or pain, every wince, every movement is not your own. God not only knows your inner most desires and fears, but he punishes you...
My response to this is still why?
The suffering is the deprivation liberty, perhaps for the natural life of the accussed. Such confinement and the necessity to live with others (who are often violent etc) is a large enough punishment in itself. However, as I have previously argued, on paper...
The word faith is the precursor to ridicule.
In fact, when you need faith, its due to the fact that understanding is NOT possible: ie "I'll convince myself to believe anyway, in spite of reason".
Why should a religious position command any respect? The only basic 'respect' you can command in a secular society is that in which we all owe each other, that is, the right to freedom of consciousness, the right to privacy and protection from harm.
Beyond that, your belief in the divine...
I agree until you reach this sentence.
Why does the focus of a justice system in this 'modern era' have to be about suffering/pain/retribution?
As I have said previously, at least in Western culture, the goal of any correctional system needs to be rehabilitation where beyond the prisoner's...
A book that's been on my 'to read' list for quite some time!
Good analogy, very clear. I like Dennet's discussion of conspiracy theories. IMO conspiracy theories often gain momentum in the face of critcism as they can be angled in such a way that it is predicted the whole world will...
The idea of "culturally replicating" ideas was first coined "memes" by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene. Since then, there has been great discussion of the topic with particular attention paid to its applications in respect to human psychology, politics and religious thinking. Susan...
This.
IMO if he actually LIKES accounting enough to consider honours, that is a good thing (not many ppl do). Its not like he is going to finish honours and go fuck it now I won't become chartered. Its only an extra year + it opens many more opportunities in regulatory institutions for...
You wrote this useless plea to simply be ignored.
So your really admitting to blind ignorance. Let's accept that every should have beliefs based on no reasoning at all...
That is a short and sweet summary why Pascal's wager fails. Actually from memory I think as a joke there is an "atheist's wager" somewhere on the internet, basically reverses it, I can't remember where I read it though.
I always think if god is cruel enough to condemn anyone to hell, and no...