A little story about a drunk Republican and a drunk Democrat at the same table.

[Mikado463]

It's like an astronomer who believes the earth is flat.

and we'd be better off it was for we would have gotten rid of the far right and left assholes !

 

[Trell]

and we'd be better off it was for we would have gotten rid of the far right and left assholes !

That would mean most of the current GOP and very few Democrats with respect to far right/left. As for assholes, that's entirely another matter.

 

[Pogre]

Well, another major difference between you and a the evangelicals (maybe not all of them, but too many) is that you obviously posses a sense of logic and reason. Too many people fail to realize that the church pushed science forward hundreds of years ago. It also set us back in other ways, but that was a very long time ago.

The problem is, the soft theists are providing cover for the fundamentalists. I watched Mike Pence give an empassioned speech to Congress saying we need to start teaching creationism in schools as a viable theory for how everything came into being. Just chuck science out the window. There are several states pushing for the same thing, right now, including Texas!

 

[Trell]

The problem is, the soft theists are providing cover for the fundamentalists. I watched Mike Pence give an empassioned speech to Congress saying we need to start teaching creationism in schools as a viable theory for how everything came into being. Just chuck science out the window. There are several states pushing for the same thing, right now.

They've replaced MAGA with MASA: Make America Stupid Again.

In the long term this hurts US technological and scientifical development, and thus even the economic development.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Me and my wife 'are' educated, vaccinated and independent.

and English is my third language. Do you feel like important person correcting my minor grammar faux-pa?

And if we are going on correcting my grammar, I've should've said: My wife and I are educated, vaccinated, and Democrats.

 

[Trell]

and English is my third language. Do you feel like important person correcting my minor grammar faux-pa?

And if we are going on correcting my grammar, I've should've said: My wife and I are educated, vaccinated, and Democrats.

English as third language? English is my 2.5 language as a Norwegian

 

[Pogre]

They've replaced MAGA with MASA: Make America Stupid Again.

In the long term this hurts US technological and scientifical development, and thus even the economic development.

Becoming convinced of something with no evidence, or worse, in the face of contradicting evidence is a result of a lack of critical thinking and skepticism. If someone can become convinced of something for bad reasons, that same thought process spills over into other areas and we get flat earthers, moon hoaxers, anti-vaxxers and climate deniers. Ever notice how those groups tend to go hand in hand? These ideas and thought processes don't exist in a vacuum and can have a profound effect on how folks go about living their lives.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Atheism isn't a worldview or even a belief. It's a singular response to a singular assertion- "god or gods exist". The response is "I'm not convinced". That's it. No doctrines or dogma.

I consider myself a secular humanist first and don't define myself by my lack of belief in god proposals any more than I'd define myself by my lack of belief in bigfoot or Santa Claus. What happened in Russia and China isn't a result of atheism any more than their lack of belief in the Easter bunny, and was certainly as far from secular humanism as it gets.

I agree that atheism is not a worldview or belief. But, I think you missed my point. I never suggested that the crimes of the Soviet and Chinese regimes were committed because of atheism - they happened despite their atheism.

 

[Pogre]

I agree that atheism is not a worldview or belief. But, I think you missed my point. I never suggested that the crimes of the Soviet and Chinese regimes were committed because of atheism - they happened despite their atheism.

Yup. It's not a magic bullet that's gonna solve everything. What they needed to do was read the secular humanist manifesto.

 

[GO-NAD!]

The problem is, the soft theists are providing cover for the fundamentalists. I watched Mike Pence give an empassioned speech to Congress saying we need to start teaching creationism in schools as a viable theory for how everything came into being. Just chuck science out the window. There are several states pushing for the same thing, right now, including Texas!

What's a "soft theist"?

 

[Pogre]

What's a "soft theist"?

A theist who ignores a lot of the bible, cherry picks the good stuff, trusts science and isn't a fundamentalist.

 

[WookieGR]

and English is my third language. Do you feel like important person correcting my minor grammar faux-pa?

And if we are going on correcting my grammar, I've should've said: My wife and I are educated, vaccinated, and Democrats.

Grammar police are a political party all their own.

 

[WookieGR]

There's nothing wrong with taking some of the messaging from the bible. There's a lot of good teachings in there that set a solid moral compass. That's doesn't mean you must be religious or acknowledge the story's are all true. On the flip side it's so ambiguous through era's of misinterpretation that any crackpot is able to read into its messaging any way they want. However, lest we forget it's simply a greatest hits of all the other religious documents of the culture and beliefs of the those that came before the Christians murdered them all and destroyed their cultures and history.

 

[Trell]

Grammar police are a political party all their own.

Sometimes it's to went out their xenophobia/racism and I've been a target of that from time to time.

 

[Pogre]

There's nothing wrong with taking some of the messaging from the bible. There's a lot of good teachings in there that set a solid moral compass. That's doesn't mean you must be religious or acknowledge the story's are all true. On the flip side it's so ambiguous through era's of misinterpretation that any crackpot is able to read into it's messaging any way they want. However, lest we forget it's simply a greatest hits of all the other religious documents of the culture and beliefs of the those that came before the Christians murdered them all and detroyed their cultures and history.

Read Exodus 21 and get back to me on morality in The Bible….

 

[GO-NAD!]

A theist who ignores a lot of the bible, cherry picks the good stuff, trusts science and isn't a fundamentalist.

Oh, good. I thought it was a veiled accusation aimed at me. But, since only half of your description of a 'soft theist' applies to me, I must have been mistaken.

 

[Mikado463]

and English is my third language. Do you feel like important person correcting my minor grammar faux-pa?

nah, just having a little fun with 'ya kid. I like to poke both Democrats and Republicans !

 

[WookieGR]

Read Exodus 21 and get back to me on morality in The Bible….

Don't be a punk, I didn't mean the entire bible, there are nuggets in there and you know it.

 

[panteragstk]

The problem is, the soft theists are providing cover for the fundamentalists. I watched Mike Pence give an empassioned speech to Congress saying we need to start teaching creationism in schools as a viable theory for how everything came into being. Just chuck science out the window. There are several states pushing for the same thing, right now, including Texas!

Trust me. I'm aware. It drives me nuts.

Reminds me of when I took Biology in high school 22 years ago. My teacher says "Today we're going to learn about evolution. Anyone thinking "I didn't come from no monkey" is free to think that, but I'm teaching the accepted science and that's that. Religion need not come into the conversation." And it didn't. He was awesome.

 

[panteragstk]

Don't be a punk, I didn't mean the entire bible, there are nuggets in there and you know it.

Read Exodus 21 and get back to me on morality in The Bible….

Remember when I said this isn't supposed to turn into a religious discussion? I do.