[pearoast] What is consciousness?
I'm a firm believer in science, and believe that the human body is a complex biological machine that evolved purely by chance. Everything can be explained by comparing us to a robot made out of meat - well, everything except for one thing...

This one thing that goes beyond all of this - beyond science even - the 'magic' that makes us alive and self aware and not just a biological robot - the thing that is consciousness.

One of the challenges of Artificial Intelligence is to create artificial sentience. Personally, I don't think this can be achieved (at least not on a purely artificial level anyway). Just about every computation that can be done with computers as we know them today (computers based on logic-gates) can be abstracted to a Turing machine. If you know how a Turing machine works, you will realise that while theoretically it can perform any possible computation, it can never become aware of what it's doing - it just does what it's supposed to do.

If artificial sentience isn't possible, I believe it's possible to create an artificial extension to a natural consciousness. A good example of this is a human using a calculator. This way, they can solve mathematical problems much quicker. So one could say that this is a type of brain-extension. While a rabbit would not have a clue how to use a calculator of for that matter even understand the concept of a calculator, if science progresses to the point where brains can be grafted with electronic components or artificial brain extensions, it may be possible to expand the rabbit's mental capabilities this way. Taken to the extreme, it might even be possible to add a whole machine to a bacterium that interfaces the bacterium's sentience with the computational power to process perception from external stimuli and feed it to the bacterium’s own consciousness.

This of course leaves the question "What is consciousness?" open.

One belief I have about that is that our consciousnesses are an additional supernatural entity that is bolted onto our brains. I also believe that these consciousnesses all form part of the same supernatural entity, and that all consciousnesses are somehow interlinked. Our body's materialistic desires repress that part of our consciousness that makes it interlinked with everyone else's. I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but I believe in it. This could be likened to the Gaian supermind where every living thing is in fact the same organism (although this is more on a biological level than on a spiritual level). I've also read a bit on Taoism and they also believe that all souls form part of the same entity. This is what some people probably mean when they say "God is in all of us".

While science has answered many questions, "What is consciousness?" is still left to the realm of metaphysics. There's much possibility for debate, but as far as I know, there's no solid scientific foundation. I could of course be wrong. Truly, what consciousness is is something that's unexplained.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Wed 25 Mar 2009, 3:20, 5 replies)

Never trust an alter boy...
My SO was once a fervent practising catholic - and a god-fearing, nun-fearing alter boy - but he quickly learnt he was going to hell..

One of his duties was to pour the wine and water for the communion while the priest held the chalice. But after pouring in just a couple of drops of wine, he quickly tipped in all the water and ended up in a fight with the priest who wanted more wine - much to the consternation of the watching nuns.

Another duty was to put out a cushion for the priest when he knelt to pray. One Sunday, while showing off to his mates, he swished out the cushion and just as the priest was kneeling down he swished it away again so the priest's knees cracked onto the marble altar - another gasp from the nuns.

To cap it all he molested a young priest who had come to offer him solace after he'd injured himself playing rugby - leading to a private tryst in the boat-shed (á la Maurice) and a very public exposure when they were discovered.

Finally he ended up in a seminary(!) and after a year they had a grand parade in their new blue cloaks to be presented to the Cardinal in the chapel. This required a solo parade down the aisle - only his cloak had been tailored like Batman's so he flapped it out and swooped down the aisle - more gasps from the nuns...and his cloak wings were rapidly clipped!

Strangely, he left the seminary soon after and became a practising homosexual instead!
(Pewit does things down under, Wed 25 Mar 2009, 1:53, 3 replies)

It’s fair to say that even religious folk think that reading the Bible is weird
I went to a Catholic school and anybody who so much recognised a Bible verse was automatically in the top 10% or so.

Those who could quote the Bible or admitted to having read it were essentially regarded as freaks.

I don’t know if this just reflects man’s inherent laziness or perhaps the English trait of not being seen to try too hard. Either way, it seems a very odd state of affairs to me.
( GarbageFan didn't know what to have as a board sig on, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 23:08, 2 replies)

jesus is coming


look busy.





fucker'd smite you for farting
(The Cats Twat, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 23:02, Reply)

A question to ask any Christian is “Have you read the Bible?”
Almost invariably you will get an answer that boils down to “No, I haven’t read the Bible, but I believe what it says.”

Sadly this doesn’t trouble them as much as you might think.
( GarbageFan didn't know what to have as a board sig on, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 22:45, Reply)

I have a permanent get-out-of-Hell-free card.
I'm a Baptist. I was baptised when I was 9 years old.

Catholics have to renew their get-out-of-Hell-free cards every Sunday, when they confess all manner of filthy, depraved activities, including spending any time at all away from the confessional.

We Baptists have it easy.

Being dunked under water by a bloke in a dress absolves me of any sins I may have committed prior to the dunking, and also any sins I might ever commit during the rest of my life. It's permanent, and irrevocable.

Right. I'm off to molest some children.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 21:30, 4 replies)

Good deed
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Are you religious?
"He said, "Yes.
I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "DIE, HERETIC SCUM!," and pushed him off.
(Bo Nidle Coming back in from the cold., Tue 24 Mar 2009, 21:06, 3 replies)

My friend Jim ...
Is a Christian. He was always very tolerant of the rest of us not being so, which was appreciated as no one likes to be preached at - specially if you don't care.

One year, he was taken very ill at christmas. We had been told through the grape vine that he was in a very bad way, and that his family were holding a prayer service.

"bugger - he must be pretty friggin ill if prayer is the only thing left for him - we better go round and see whats going on"

The next 2 hours were the most uncomfortable of my life - listening to people criticise the doctors and nurses in favour of god's cure, various family friends egged on by the displays of others, trying to outdo each other in their speaking of tongues. Don't get me wrong - it was touching to see how people were upset by his illness ... but it was very very odd. The only good news came from someone accidentally complaining that they couldn't see him properly because there were too many doctors in his room.

He was fine in a few weeks - and when we saw him next, the first thing he said was 'thanks for going to my prayer service lads!' . we'd seen him in hospital on christmas day, but he appreciated the fact that i'd sat and listened to some guy pretend to be a conduit for voice of the almighty, that little bit more.

That day is now referred to as Jim's 'funeral'.
(PickledEgg, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 20:39, Reply)

Jehova's witnesses
There are probably loads of jehova witness stories on here by now - so here's mine.

I went out with one. Nearly married her actually. Now, JWs are actually really nice people. Totally wrong-headed, close minded, and hypocritcal, but generous and all round nice people.

Except my girlfriends dad. Who hated me. Because I wasn't 'in the truth'. Because I asked too many questions. Because I had friends who were goats. Witnesses are sheep, everyone else is a goat. (or sheep, can't remember which way round it goes.)

I knew this relationship was doomed when he called me Satan. I giggled, thinking he was joking. He wasn't. He was deadly, utterly, serious. He literally thought I was Satan.

How cool is that?

I could cope with that if the cunt wasn't an ex-alcoholic, who destroyed his family, messed up his daughters head, spent all his money, lost the family home...but then found God. So he can judge ME now, the fucking cunt.

I hated him. If I wouldn't join 'the truth', and wanted to stay with my gf, then she would be ostracised from her family and friends.
My fiancee basically had to choose, me or god.

God won.
God stole my fiancee.

Bastard.

(still worked out well in the end, she's married to a happy JW, and I found someone fantastic in every way)
(inflateable, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 19:48, 3 replies)

Once outside a nightclub
...there was a Christian girl, we got talking about religion - and everybody said they believed in God, and everybody got a hug.
Except me, because I didn't believe in her God.

'Ask me any question' she proudly proclaimed, confident in her faith that she could handle any question fired at her by any non-believer.

'Do you believe Dinosaurs existed?'
'No.'

I'd previously thought the Creationism vs Evolutionists divide was a myth until then...
(Davethefan began lurking again on or around, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 19:01, Reply)

Well hello...
Dog, meet God.
God, meet Dog.
God, Dog; Dog, God.
Goddog?
(dxg, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 18:24, 1 reply)

666 behind my left ear
My name is Damien. Not a good start, but the movie 'The Omen' isn't famous at all where I am from (France) and people don't think "Devil" when they hear it.
That said, when I turned 11 or so I felt like travelling the world and after watching a documentary about missionaries I believe that this was what I was meant to do. And so Damien worked on becoming a priest (I'm sure a little kid in Africa dies every time somebody reads that last sentence out loud).

At the time I really enjoyed female company but my thirst for adventure was overwhelming and so I started attending church (more than I did before) without really questioning any of it but really just to get brownie point with the priest (not literally, no). To me the idea of having people do good around them was a great one, whether or not the stories were true and whether or not god existed. What I didn't like was the fact that the church would scare people into being good people (do this or you ll go to hell), something which worked in Medieval France, but not quite in modern days.

I went on to march a pilgrimage, 114K one, with 1000s of people, in 3 days, I was 12 and my feet were quite literally fubar after the 3 days of intensive walking. Most important of all, my faith had left me by the end of it and here are the reasons why:

1- I got my butt kicked by a bunch of extremists, for listening to my portable tape player (with headphones on I'd like to point out) while walking as I was ''not giving 100% of my thoughts to Christ''...what. They made such a big fuss that the marshals had to move me to another group of pilgrims and told me I'd get kicked out if I didn't stop being a little shit. Now keep in mind I only said one word during the whole thing "what?"; and that, and I kid you not, some people were singing in the background about "loving thy neighbour" I was rather upset. I was listening to Queen.

2- "Christ wants you to be in pain" a woman said to me "That is how you show him you love him". To which I replied "That's quite mean; If I were Christ I wouldn't want anyone to be in pain for me" - cue shitstorm numero deux; and another bollocking, this time I was kicked out of the last few Kilometres of day 1 and had to finish them on the bus with the loonies singing happy Jesus songs and a couple of women crying next to me while reciting prayers.

3- I had to cope with constant slagging of other religions are they are not the "true religion". The constant, borderline hatred, that was going on between groups of believers were so intense that a fight broke out between a black lady and a white man; something which in itself is quite ridiculous when you are meant to be praying for world peace. This story wouldn't be what it is though if it wasn't for the racist comments that followed later on that day about "the black one staying in her cage" classy, love thy negro Jesus once said. I was quite literally speechless.

The rest of the journey was really difficult and ended with a mass in Latin (studied the language for 4 years and I hate it with a passion) where the priest would turn his back to the crowd constantly, speaking to the cross for a couple of hours, something which I found to be rude and also very unfriendly. At that point people started falling asleep and were asked to leave - Jesus has no time for sleepy people!!

That was enough for me to realise that most of them were a bunch of hypocrites and cocks who, without a doubt, are fully aware of their inner animal and feel obliged to pray daily in order for god to send them to heaven (or in order for them to feel better about it). It just wasn't for me.

On another note, my grand-mother found out that I changed my mind and did not want to become a priest, she was really upset and a few weeks later told that me that I had the devil in me, and that I was possessed (she is half gipsy and full on Virgin Mary fan and unfortunately not aware of the movie The Omen otherwise they could have sued her for plagiarism). I haven't spoken to her since then or to any of my christian friends, family members.

So, Damien has since then followed his passion (and vocation) which is to make love to women, while smoking weed, and eating chocolate whenever he feels like it. Credit goes to god for creating all of those natural things for him to enjoy.

GG
(Omikron404, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 18:00, 4 replies)

Sent home from school
As it was a Church of England school. For the simple reason that on a non-uniform day both my friend and I wore a tshirt with the logo of a band on it. Unfortunately the band was Bad Religion and it didnt go down well with the authorities at the school.
(sameness, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 17:42, 1 reply)

One day
I was at my Grans when this Jehovah's witness, and her Daughter, came knocking at my Grans Door. I told my gran I would handle this. In those days I had really long hair and wore an upside down cross on my necklace. The Woman told me that they were Jehovah's and would I be intrested in joining them, I then replied that I was a Satanist and would they be intrested in me. Cue fast running from my Grans step and they have never bothered her again.
(Wook13 Been away but is now ducking a fuck on, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 16:55, Reply)

It's easy to make fun....
...of people that believe in God. Because it is based on belief, there isn't any proof, christians can't go: "There, see, that proves God exists!" So believing must be hard. I wouldn't know, I don't, but I have met people that do. And I have been bashing my head against their steadfast refusal to see sense ie: MY point of view. As I grew older, I started to tone the rethoric down a bit. I still didn't believe, but on the other hand, I didn't want to offend, or be seen as rude, often to people I was working with. And now, I'm thinking: Perhaps religion is good for some people. Some people, that need that mental crutch, could do a lot worse, than believing in christian principles, 10 comandments, love thy neighbour, and that. Live and let live I say. It's not for me, I prefer to see reality as clearly as I can, that is not to everybodys taste, and to get worked up about it, is counter-productive.
(Lump, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 16:50, 5 replies)

German Efficiency.
You think the church in the UK is weird?

Try the German version.

For a start, everyone in Germany has to pay Church Tax. Seriously, this is a regular deduction from your income which is paid to the church. I don't pay it, because I'm not registered as being baptized into any church in Germany, but if I do - BANG! It's tax time!

Secondly, my other half, being Echt Deutsch, was asked, some while ago to become a godparent. Now this isn't like in the UK, where you just turn up on the day.

Oh no.

In Germany, it's just like applying for a job - you have to have the correct documentation.

Her Maj had to apply to the church she was christened in to obtain the correct certificates, which then had to be sent to the church where the christening would take place. Doubtless it had to be rubber-stamped twice etc.

I was surprised and amazed that they didn't call a register at the beginning of the service.
( Stevedix http://www.stevedix.de/blog, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 16:15, 10 replies)

Last one for this week, I think.
I wanted to recommend Karen Armstrong's A History of God to anyone, religious or not, who professes to take the issue of God seriously. Karen was a nun for ten years before losing her faith and compiling this study of the idea of "God" in the minds of the people who believed in him at the time. I'll do a quick summary below, but basically, this book is superb.

So predictably the story of God - that is, Jevhovah, the one that the three major montheistic religions are based on - begins in ancient Israel. The pre-Semites who lived there worshipped a pantheon of gods, presided over by Ba'al and Astarte. Ba'al, meaning "master", was the god of peace, and Astarte was the goddess of the Earth. Jehovah didn't even enter the pantheon until much later. Would anyone like to take a stab at what his specialty was? The thing he was god of, I mean. Anyone? Yes, you at the back with your hand up?

That's correct, Timmy. Jehovah was the ancient Jewish god of war, because when these people came into conflict with other tribes, they fought and they needed a god to embody that fighting spirit. Compared to Ba'al and Astarte, who were basically a pair of old hippies, Jehovah was a mean, vindictive son of a bitch who demanded blood and sacrifice. Nonetheless, they co-existed for centuries and an ancient Hebrew inscription has even been found dedicating a site to "Jehovah and his wife Astarte*".

However, that was all to change with the arrival of a man called Abraham. Abraham had plans - he wanted power, and a lot of it, so he came up with a system called monotheism. He argued that the Hebrews only needed one god, the god of war, because they were constantly at war. On all sides they had enemies waiting to destroy them, and unless they put their faith in Jehovah and Jehovah alone, their enemies would triumph. Ba'al worship was penalised by death.

Even this wasn't enough to assert Jehovah's dominance though. Ba'al and Astarte worship continued (usually amongst the more rural communities) for centuries further - the OT is awash with tales of Ba'al worshippers - and it took the arrival of another of Jehovah's cheerleaders to eradicate it completely. This guy's name was Moses, and he had his soldiers slaughter everyone who didn't follow the monotheistic creed. He also committed genocide regularly, presumably to keep Jehovah happy.

I'll leave it there, so as not to spoil the ending, but it certainly came as a surprise to me to learn that the god of the Christians, Muslims and Jews began "life" as a god of war. Then again, it explains so much - he's certainly been fulfilling his job spec ever since.

* When I first read this I thought it was hilarious that the ancient Jews thought God was married. Then I compared it to what modern-day Christians believe and it suddenly became less funny.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 15:48, 9 replies)

Inspired by earlier post
What is the difference between Jannah and Second Life?

There are more than 72 virgins in Second Life.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 15:44, Reply)

I'm so so sos so so
glad that this is QOTW.

I had to go to a Christian dinner on Friday night. Very nice it was up until the point the 'special guest' got up to preach to us about why he's a Christian.

He asserted that there is historical evidence that Jesus existed. I almost left there and then. Sadly everyone else seemed to lap it up.

Sometimes I feel isolated in my Atheism, but this QOTW has reaffirmed my belief that there are lots of people out there with sensible opinions.

Thank you b3tans.
(jackhiggs no longer a v!rgin as of..., Tue 24 Mar 2009, 15:39, 7 replies)

just an acticle that's on topic
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7955846.stm

With some interesting replies at the bottom
(phe, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 15:25, Reply)

Virgins?
This may not be true....... Very recently I was told that muslim extremists believe that when hey die, they go to heaven and awaiting them there is a bunch of virgins for their pleasure, disposal, whatever.

My mind wandered, i couldnt help but think that these poor virgins need re-educating on their idea of "heaven".

Not only have they just died still virgins, as soon as they get to heaven, they then get ruined by some dirty arab.
(klegnut, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 15:15, 6 replies)

Many moderate Christians would leap to attack the Westboro Baptist Church
as not being "real" Christians, saying that they've somehow missed the point of the Bible.

How do they know? Both sides seem to have exactly the same amount of evidence to me. Like the cannibal guy in Canada who hacked off a stranger's head because God told him to. I've read the OT, it sounds like God's style.

So...how do we tell the "real" [religionists] from the fake? In my experience, whichever [religionist] you are talking to at that moment is (perhaps the only) one who follows [religion] correctly and anyone who deviates from their worldview is not a real [religionist], even if they claim to be. Also, sadly the literal Word of God, [holybook] can be interpreted in many different ways, because it's a really important message and ambiguity helps get it across better. Or something.

I dunno, I suppose the question I'm asking is if there is a God, why would He tell different members of the same religion different things? Why are there different religions at all? Why isn't everyone on the same page RE: God? The all-powerful creator of the universe seems pretty quiet on the matter lately.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 14:59, 1 reply)

I'm going to hell for this...
Ms Crow is probably going to be less than impressed (she's heard this one before), but I can't resist sharing it with you. I also apologise to any other christians who spot all the inaccuracies in this one. Nevertheless, this is my own attempt to re-write the nativity...

(To the tune of 'Away in a Manger')
Away with a stranger, laid bare on the bed,
The young virgin Mary, as her legs she spread,
The stars in the night sky were all that she saw,
As she lay there beneath him and moaned like a whore.

Alas, three months later, she had increased in girth,
She had to tell Joseph "I'm going to give birth,"
He said, "I've not banged you, it cannot be mine!"
Oh, fucksocks, thought Mary, I've done it this time...

She said "Um...this angel, one night, did come down,
Did something unholy beneath my nightgown,
Therefore my conception is immaculate,"
Against all odds, Joseph believed all of that...

Two thousand years later, this tale we still tell,
And millions believe it, revere it as well,
But if this way for so long, the story has stayed,
We should pity poor Joseph, who never got laid.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 14:29, 3 replies)

Muslim student
A few years ago, I was in charge of a course at one of the Midlands' larger medical schools. One of my students was clearly a devout Muslim - skullcap, beard, the lot.

He was a lovely guy, and would stay behind after class to ask questions. These would turn into big conversations - frequently about religion. Clearly, he and I disagreed about a lot. But we'd happily spend half an hour or more just going for it. Each of us knew that we could say anything, because - realistically - he wasn't going to convert me, and I wasn't going to undermine his faith.

It was great. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely.

His friend would also stay behind. Now, I don't think that he was nearly so sure of his faith. He dressed in a more Western fashion, didn't seem to know his way around the Koran as well as the other guy, and so on. And he'd listen in to the arguments looking more and more uncomfortable.

There's no punchline to this. Merely a diverting observation about how, at times, it's those who wear their religion on their sleeve who turn out to be those with whom you can have a more intellectually satisfying conversation about religion, and how it's those who're less certain who, at times, are more antsy about having their uncetainties tested.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 14:26, Reply)

And now a joke
God, Allah, Buddah, Thor and Venus are all sitting around in the heavens talking about their holiday plans, and God is at a loss as to where to try this year.
"Why not try Pluto?" suggests Allah.
"Nah - been there before - freezing cold and no atmosphere" says God.
"What about Mercury?" pipes up Buddah.
"With my skin?" says God - I'll burn to a crisp!"
"I know" says Venus - "Earth! You'd have a brilliant time there!"

"No way" says God. "I went there a couple of thousand years ago. Got some Israeli bird up the duff and the fuckers haven't stopped going on about it since!"

I thank you.
( BobbyParadise, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 14:17, 1 reply)

Christianity:
One woman's lie about having an affair that got seriously out of hand.




Apols if this is this week's version of 'no pun in ten did'.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 14:05, Reply)

Jehovah's Witnesses
This lot make my blood fucking boil. For years my Mum worked in a childrens intensive care ward and there were a number of occasions where JW parents, because of their ridiculous beliefs, actually allowed their kids to die rather than give their consent to a blood transfusion. I'm astonished that this is actually legal, but there you go. Whenever one of these mentalists turn up at my door with their kids in tow I ask the kids if they know what would happen to them if they were in the situation where they'd need a blood transfusion. They usually look a bit puzzled so I suggest they ask their parents later. That'll be a nice uncomfortable dinner time then. Crazy bastards.
On a lighter note, some other responses I've given include:
"Oh no, sorry, I believe in The Teapot".
"The teapot?" they say
"Yes" I reply, "The massive teapot that circles the earth and tells me what to think about everything. I was told to believe in it as a child and I'm too fucking stupid to question it."

or

"Blimey - if you lot had come round last week you'd have brainwashed me just in time, but I'm a muslim now - sorry!"

Length? About 1 minute on the doorstep if you do it right.
( BobbyParadise, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 13:41, 6 replies)

A Muslim terrorist blows himself up..

On passing to the other side, he sees a flight of stairs and begins to climb them, until he meets a man.

"Are you Mohammed"? asks the terrorist.

"No I'm St.Peter, Mohammed is further up"!

So further up the stairs he climbed until he met a man with a beard.

"Are you Mohammed"? asks the terrorist.

"No I'm Jesus, Mohammed is further up"!

Wow ! Thinks the terrorist as he starts to climb the stairs again..Mohammed is higher up than Jesus!

Much higher up, he meets another man.

"Are you Mohammed"? asks the terrorist.

"No I am God...You must be really thirsty from climbing all those stairs, would you like a cup of tea"?

"Oh yes please" said the terrorist

God shouts "Mohammed, put the kettle on!"
(whiskas loved by 8 out of 10 cats, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 13:29, Reply)

I'm what might be described as
a devout atheist. I find it difficult to think of anything on earth that winds me up as much as the consequences of brainwashed peoples’ actions in the name of what amounts to nothing other than preposterous fairy tales. I do, however, believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy.

Here's a pearoast from "I just don't get it" that may sum it up from my angle:

I honestly do not understand why millions of intelligent people throughout the world don't question the religious beliefs that were drummed into them as children.
Is it really too much to just accept (or even consider) the provable theory of evolution over the frankly fantastical creation nonsense?
Is life really not worth living and enjoying for what it is without the concept of an "afterlife" to reward you for your good actions or punish you for your bad ones?
Is it totally beyond some religious zealots to realise that without the social partitions different belief systems have installed societies and communities would be more tolerant of others and many wars and conflicts would never have started?

I mean, I'm all for the positive aspects of religion ( the community and social stuff) but in the year 2009 with all the progress we've made would it be so far-fetched to expect people to think for themselves?

It's time to stop chewing on the emotional comfort blanket that your big imaginary friend has provided and WAKE UP!!!

Just found a draft of something else I was writing - apologies for any repetition:

Of all the things in this amazing world that I don't understand, the main one, and the one that really bugs me the most is how people with even half a brain are religious. Let's take Christianity, the world's most widely followed religion, based around the world's best selling book, the bible.

The bible - 66 fairly tales written by 40 authors in 3 different languages on 3 different continents over about 1600 years. (Thank you b3ta a while back for this one!)
In this pile of tosh, we are told that:

God made the world in seven days.

A man built an enormous wooden boat and managed to gather two of every species of animal on the planet and install them onboard.

Another man parted the waves in order for thousands of people to walk across the seabed.

A woman who had never had sexual intercourse became pregnant and gave birth to the son of God.

Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, brought a man back from the dead, then rose again three days after dying.

Come on! Please, please, do us a favour.


We used to believe that the earth was flat and that dragons and sea monsters existed. We used to believe that there were witches and that the sun revolved around the earth. We find this medieval nonsense charming and amusing these days, so why do we still believe in God?


Children are also told, straight faced, about Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and the other made-up characters. Before too long, and as later childhood or adolescence approaches, they realise that these are harmless and fictional devices created to generate excitement, encourage good behaviour and reward any pain endured. Adults fondly reminisce about when they were innocent and gullible enough to not see through these harmless tales. So why do people believe in God into adulthood?
( BobbyParadise, Tue 24 Mar 2009, 13:22, 7 replies)