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H.L. Mencken: "there is nothing notably dignified about religious ideas."

Jacksprat said:
Interesting a Christian is making hateful personal attacks.
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1. Never claimed to be a Christian, like literally ever.

2. I made no "hateful personal attacks" - jesus, is your skin really that thin?

I meant it about the LSD - definitely improved my life and contributed to a much happier and more harmonious dance with the world.
 
Jacksprat said:
The history of subjectivity.
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🤣

What a glib, cop-out non-answer.

I'll tell you what: I'll give you another shot at answering the question like someone who actually knows what they're talking about.
 
JetBlue said:
1. Never claimed to be a Christian, like literally ever.

2. I made no "hateful personal attacks" - jesus, is your skin really that thin?

I meant it about the LSD - definitely improved my life and contributed to a much happier and more harmonious dance with life.
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I really don't care about your personal life.
 
As for God, on the subject of an intelligent designer in the universe Mencken said: "The argument by design, once the bulwark of Christian apologetics, is so full of holes that it is no wonder that it has been abandoned. The more, indeed, the theologian seeks to prove the acumen and omnipotence of God by His works, the more he is dashed by evidence of divine incompetence and irresolution. The world is not actually well run; it is very badly run, and no Huxley was needed to point out the obvious fact. The human body, magnificently designed in some details, is a frightful botch in other details; every first-year student of anatomy sees a hundred ways to improve it .

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JetBlue said:
The "God is dead and we have killed him" thing is a reference to the effect that the industrial revolution had on The West's psyche and the fact that we'd lost touch with authentic spirituality as a natural consequence. Christianity in particular is for far beyond corrupt it's almost unbelievable.

That's why religion in The West is a joke whilst other societies are willing to devote everything they have to their spiritual beliefs.
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I blame the Evangelicals. Seriously.
When even Catholics call ‘Crazy!’ it’s pretty bad commentary if a group is trying to convert ‘new believers.’ Southern Evangelicals are batshit crazy.
Catholics at least appreciate some intellectual exercises, and try to be consistent, especially in regards to philosophy and ethics.
(This is not meant to be a 👍 for Catholicism, either, I’m still a “recovering Catholic.”)
But the hellfire brimstone going to hell thing just doesn’t work for me. I don’t think it does for most, (and looong circle around) to the point— it turns A LOT of people off
 
Fishking said:
It's cute that he believes purely secular ideology is superior. I mean, we've all seen what it results in when it becomes the state-mandated rule, and it's always been very bad.
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Of course it is. Secular morality, secular philosophy, all of it. Like, not even close.
 
4 (June 10, 1887)

What were the advantages of the Christian moral hypothesis?

1. It granted man an absolute value, as opposed to his smallness and accidental occurrence in the flux of becoming and passing away.
2. It served the advocates of God insofar as it conceded to the world, in spite of suffering and evil, the character of perfection—including “freedom” : evil appeared full of meaning.
3. It posited that man had a knowledge of absolute values and thus adequate knowledge precisely regarding what is most important,
4. It prevented man from despising himself as man, from taking sides against life; from despairing of knowledge: it was a means of preservation. In sum: morality was the great antidote against practical and theoretical nihilism.

 
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Galactic Spin said:
If morality has to be dictated to you by authoritative decree, then immorality can also be dictated to you by the same method.
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Any moral system transcending human experience cannot be true or useful.
 
Galactic Spin said:
If morality has to be dictated to you by authoritative decree, then immorality can also be dictated to you by the same method.
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Yeah, that's true but it is still a choice as to who you'll listen to...this is Satan's word and he's doin' a bang up job of dictating immorality...and the masses are listening...
 
Jacksprat said:
Any moral system transcending human experience cannot be true or useful.
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And any morality arrived at by reason and evidence will be superior to that decreed by primitive, terrified, illiterate, ignorant, superstitious people from thousands of years ago.
 
Elora said:
Yeah, that's true but it is still a choice as to who you'll listen to...
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Right, like the Inquisitors. And the Templars. And the Conquistadors.

Your morality is better than theirs precisely to the degree to which you IGNORE your shared religious texts.

Think about that.
 
Galactic Spin said:
Right, like the Inquisitors. And the Templars. And the Conquistadors.

Your morality is better than theirs precisely to the degree to which you IGNORE your shared religious texts.

Think about that.
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Swwwooooosssssshhhhhhhhhhhh...you didn't get it...not surprised...think about that...
 
Galactic Spin said:
Right, like the Inquisitors. And the Templars. And the Conquistadors.

Your morality is better than theirs precisely to the degree to which you IGNORE your shared religious texts.

Think about that.
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Conquistadors came to New Mexico and slaughtered Native Americans. All in the name of God and the Catholic Church.
 
Elora said:
Swwwooooosssssshhhhhhhhhhhh...you didn't get it...not surprised...think about that...
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No, you clearly did not get it. They listened to the exact same source as you.

What changed? Not the source. Same book of myths as 1600 years ago.

What changed is the reformation of society by superior, secular ideas.
 
JetBlue said:
The "God is dead and we have killed him" thing is a reference to the effect that the industrial revolution had on The West's psyche and the fact that we'd lost touch with authentic spirituality as a natural consequence. Christianity in particular is for far beyond corrupt it's almost unbelievable.

That's why religion in The West is a joke whilst other societies are willing to devote everything they have to their spiritual beliefs.
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Enlightenment thinking killed God. Reason over faith.
 
Fishking said:
It's cute that he believes purely secular ideology is superior. I mean, we've all seen what it results in when it becomes the state-mandated rule, and it's always been very bad.
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Are you familiar with the Crusades?
 
Elora said:
Do you realize everything they accomplished were against Jesus' teachings?
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Says you. Ask them, and they will tell a different story.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - War Jesus
 
Galactic Spin said:
Says you. Ask them, and they will tell a different story.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - War Jesus
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Do you understand what that statement means? Jesus gave insight to what he really meant...when all else fails, resort to the source/context, I always say...you quoted Matthew 10:34...take a look at the verses that follow...love for him has to come 1st in our lives...our greatest enemies in following Jesus can become members of our own household...

"For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.+ Indeed, a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever has greater affection for father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; and whoever has greater affection for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:35-37
 
Elora said:
Do you understand what that statement means?
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You can stop right there. This is irrelevant. I am drawing a distinction between what the Crusaders (for example) thought it means and what you think it means.

Same source material, two very different viewpoints.

How can that be? What changed? Not the source material.

What changed was the reformation of western society by superior,secular ideas.
 
Galactic Spin said:
You can stop right there. This is irrelevant. I am drawing a distinction between what the Crusaders (for example) thought it means and what you think it means.

Same source material, two very different viewpoints.

How can that be? What changed? Not the source material.

What changed was the reformation of western society by superior,secular ideas.
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The European Enlightenment was anti-clerical more than anti-God. They were pushing back against the Christian Church and its attempt to dominate society and thought.
 
Galactic Spin said:
You can stop right there. This is irrelevant. I am drawing a distinction between what the Crusaders (for example) thought it means and what you think it means.

Same source material, two very different viewpoints.

How can that be? What changed? Not the source material.

What changed was the reformation of western society by superior,secular ideas.
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What changed is you fail to accept the truth, as did they...
 
Jacksprat said:
The European Enlightenment was anti-clerical more than anti-God. They were pushing back against the Christian Church and its attempt to dominate society and thought.
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Part of a larger whole that includes classical liberalism , the scientific enlightenment, and the Renaissance.
 
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