thenewgalaxy

So says Stephen Fry, and I agree with him.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pe...-10015360.html

Not saying that I am aethiest, but I agree with Mr Fry a lot more than the majority of preachy religious figures.

tony de wonderful

Fry is a comedian and no philosopher.

Turbohot

I quoted this on Boris thread in my #66:

https://www.scoobynet.com/1019253-bo...-wa-ers-3.html

lozgti1

He's a clever chap though,Fry.

Not that I agree with him...

Amazing how many Oxford/Cambridge bods decided on comedy as a career

hodgy0_2

lol, another ridiculous post

"Philosopher", isn't a trade, like Plumbing or Plastering - you don't get a city and guilds in Philosophy

RS_Matt

Fat arrogant swine would do a line with god.

Blue by You

iTrader: (23)

As usual, the eternal 'Is there:isn't there' argument rages on with not a snowball's chance in hell of finding the answer.

To me the greatest sadness of religious belief or non belief is that the zealots of both camps cannot be satisfied to let the other have their belief. And people continue to die in defence of this pointless argument.

If you believe in a God, then there is one. Why can't we just leave it at that?

Or is religion merely a device by which man's greed and inhumanity can be justified by claiming allegiance to a higher cause?

hodgy0_2

I would put Prince Charles in there as well

Shaid

He's got a point though...

Bone cancer in children... What's that about?

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

And similarly, if you don't believe then so be it!

Blue by You

iTrader: (23)

Exactly

Geezer

I can't think of any instances where atheists have killed theists solely because they believed in a god or gods. Sadly, the same cannot be said the other way round.

JTaylor

Soviet Union, China?

Turbohot

Sure, but if I don't argue from one or the other point of view, then how can we justify my own existence as a logical or as an illogical being in relation with the one I'm arguing?

Both 'for' and 'against' arguers are fighting for their existence in relation with each other.

If we 'let it be' in either way, then we have solved the question of our own existence in relation with ourselves and given a peace of mind to others. That's another way to justify our own existence.

In a nutshell, God is just an excuse. What we want to do is put one other down for anything possible, in order to justify our own existence. We all suffer from existential crisis.

The atheists that fight God on mere supposition, they need to save their time. No point throwing punches in the air to justify your existence. You don't believe in God, don't fight Him. There's nothing to fight with, for God's sake!

dpb

An attempt at state control , Greek orthodox continued in Soviet union and Buddhism in China

JTaylor

One of my favourite public anti-theists, Sam Harris, says this.

jonc

And Global Warming for everyone else.

JTaylor

The Eastern Orthodox Church survived in the Soviet Union, it didn't "continue" and Buddhism is non-theistic.

Turbohot

I didn't know that, but I'm glad to know that there are some people out there who think like me.

Geezer

The Soviets and China killed people because they were a threat to them, not because they believed in God. An established religion would undermine the authority of the regime, so they had to go. Those regimes also killed lots of people who were atheists.

There has been no wholesale persecution of theists by atheists because they were theists alone.

Admittedly, the base reason is the same, fear in losing power, and that is a human failing, but atheists do not kill for their 'non-belief'.

JTaylor

There was an ideology of militant atheism within Marxism (brutally played out within Leninism) that fundamentally opposed theism. It wasn't about power and nothing more; atheism was a central principle, a doctrine of communism. Theists were killed for being theists, it's well documented!

Geezer

I am aware of what Marxism made of theism, but I still believe that the Soviet Union eliminated its enemies because of the threat to its power. Atheism in Marxism was almost an excuse. The Soviets allowed open religion to a certain degree, if they had been as idealistic as you infer, and as zealous as some religions, I don't think they would have allowed this at all.

But, even if we do accept this as a pure incident of atheists (Stalin trained to be a priest after all.....) killing theists, it pales in to insignificance compared to what religions have done over the centuries.

JTaylor

10-20 million Christians in a relatively short period of time by the Soviets alone. Not an insignificant sum.

Geezer

The problem with persecutions in the 20th Century is that the numbers look huge, but the percentages are small.

I did look this up once, but the crusades killed of quite a larger percentage of the world population that than the wars etc. of the 20th Century.

Of course, 20 millions sounds a lot, but as a percentage of the billions of the world, it's ain't so big. When you have a lot of people, killing a lot is easy.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Fry is stealing other peoples' arguments!

Blue by You

iTrader: (23)

Perhaps 'God' has to be considerate not only to us Humans, but to lowly creatures like the worm as well. Hence the sacrificial child?

Geezer

Not according to Genesis, God give man dominion over all the beasts. The pesky parasitic worm should know its place!

Unless, of course........................

Paben

iTrader: (5)

Great God quotes from 'Futurama'.

"Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

Just about hits the nail on the head for me.

Turbohot

............ the one who wrote Genesis was bias? Is that because he was a human prince who later changed his career and became a prophet? If that's correct, then that's a possibility.

I may be wrong, like.

53

iTrader: (41)

God made man in his own image... bollox, any god worth his salts would be able to lick his own *****