Agnostics “R” Us...

[Luman]

Definition of vile from Merriam-Webster dictionary:

1a: morally despicable or abhorrent nothing is so vile as intellectual dishonesty
b: physically repulsive : FOUL a vile slum
2: of little worth or account : COMMON also : MEAN
3: tending to degrade vile employments
4: disgustingly or utterly bad : OBNOXIOUS, CONTEMPTIBLE vile weather had a vile temper

In a way the religiously indoctrinated folks of all religious traditions are victims. They just did not know any better having been brainwashed if you will and are operating on warped thinking. As some say Jesus said they know not what they do. I always like to remind myself these types of folks are captured in the human condition we all are when born and raised in a certain culture with religion. I was born into one of those of course and I was lucky to have escaped. As my Catholic mother once asked me why none of her children remained Catholic I told her because you also taught us to read and think critically. Once one reads and thinks critically it is tough to remain a Catholic or even a believer in God. So these religious types of people deserve some compassion I figure for being trapped in their thinking. More pragmatically, it is hard to reach someone with a religious mindset if one first makes them wrong for having the beliefs they were raised on. The old Stephen Covey thing of first seek to understand. Then seek to be understood. This approach often opens up the other person to new input so maybe they too can escape the ties that bind their minds. Ah, end rant!

Jazzer said that the people responsible for 9/11 were "vile". I agree and I would add a few more choice words, including"scum" and "savages".

I was across the street from the WTC the first time the Islamic Jihadists bombed it, and just .7 m from Ground Zero on 9/11, and so perhaps I'm sensitive and lack the ability to understand how anybody can apologize for these homicidal psychopaths and say that they are "victims" and deserve "compassion". End of rant.

 

[Jazzer]

how anybody can apologize for these homicidal psychopaths and say that they are "victims" and deserve "compassion"

They were subjected to indoctrination certainly, but I will never forgive them. If they had had any operational brain cells left, or a scintilla of decency or love of humanity they should have been able to see through the filth of their diet.

I'm with Luman.

 

[Jazzer]

A personal view...

 

[Henry Orlando FL]

They were subjected to indoctrination certainly, but I will never forgive them. If they had had any operational brain cells left, or a scintilla of decency or love of humanity they should have been able to see through the filth of their diet.

I'm with Luman.

Jazzer said that the people responsible for 9/11 were "vile". I agree and I would add a few more choice words, including"scum" and "savages".

I was across the street from the WTC the first time the Islamic Jihadists bombed it, and just .7 m from Ground Zero on 9/11, and so perhaps I'm sensitive and lack the ability to understand how anybody can apologize for these homicidal psychopaths and say that they are "victims" and deserve "compassion". End of rant.

I am sorry for everyone's loss. I cannot watch TV as they seem to constantly show the towers falling etc. since that alone upsets me. I can only imagine how tough it is for those who died in 9/11 and are still dying from 9/11 like the first responders and those who cleaned the site up so the memorial can be built. If I react this way how tough it must be for those who were closer to the event than I, who lost loved ones, co-workers and friends. PTSD strikes people harder the closer they are to the event. I was in Orlando, FL that day so not very close at all. Hardly across the street.

In what I wrote and at the time I wrote it I was not specifically thinking of or referring to the individuals who committed the crimes on 9/11 directed at innocent human beings. I was thinking and writing of all religiously indoctrinated human beings. I was thinking of the bad things that other human beings do to guilty and innocent people in the name of punishing those who they see as evil. I was thinking of the evolutionary psychological element of revenge that psychologists say goes into the automatic emotional desire for revenge that often animates more violence to innocent people via individuals (think attacks on Muslims in the USA) and political leaders (think Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that gave Lyndon Johnson the power to wage war as he saw fit in Vietnam and the act that gave George Bush the authority to make war in Afghanistan and Iraq). I was thinking about the hate and anger that lives in the hearts of people who are damaged by that element as they are unable or unwilling to forgive. Not forget. Not fail to hold the guilty responsible. Just forgive. I was thinking if people understood what motivated religiously indoctrinated people we would develop a better and more rational approach to how to reduce the damages from religion and eliminate those types of folks in the world but peacefully. I am reminded of my mother who always hated the Japanese for what they did in WWII and said she would never forgive them since that more than the Germans had damaged her. I am thinking of my father in law who was grateful for the dropping of the two atomic bombs on the Japanese since he was headed to the war zone at that time to be in the invasion of Japan.

Bottom line I trust this gives a better sense of where I was coming from in the matter of my post. Perhaps I am too compassionate and that, my friends, probably comes from my upbringing in Catholic school and my father who was a Colonel in the USA Air Force who was a bomber pilot in WW II. He would grill steaks for Sunday dinner outside over a grill in the late 1950s and say to me as he was anticipating eating the steaks "Think of the poor, starving Chinese." I would like to see a more compassionate and rational world and it begins with me.

I am sorry if the post upset anyone. That certainly was not my intent.

 

[Jazzer]

Somebody is trying to get me into trouble...

 

[Jazzer]

I dunno - life's not fair sometimes . . . x

 

[Wrfortiscue]

I dunno - life's not fair sometimes . . . x

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Then you lie and get your hug, what's the issue lol.

 

[Luman]

I dunno - life's not fair sometimes . . . x

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How much would an Atheist have to pay for a hug, and what are the going rates for additional services?

 

[linearb]

Sort of like panpsychism I imagine. See here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism

Concept
Panpsychism holds that mind or a mind-like aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. It is also described as a theory in which "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe". Panpsychists posit that the type of mentality we know through our own experience is present, in some form, in a wide range of natural bodies. This notion has taken on a wide variety of forms. Some historical and non-Western panpsychists ascribe attributes such as life or spirits to all entities. Contemporary academic proponents, however, hold that sentience or subjective experience is ubiquitous, while distinguishing these qualities from more complex human mental attributes. They therefore ascribe a primitive form of mentality to entities at the fundamental level of physics but do not ascribe mentality to most aggregate things, such as rocks or buildings.

This is interesting; I didn't realize there was a formal term for this.

It's not an ism for me, just a thought experiment. I try not to have too many beliefs that aren't just falsifiable premises that I haven't yet falsified; I find living in this mode allows me to adapt to changing circumstances better than any other approach, so I've had the needle jammed on that station since my old job caught on fire right before COVID-19 caught the world on fire

If I had to guess, rocks do not have an intrinsic awareness and there is nothing which "is like being a rock". However, it's on the long, long list of things I know I have the questions for and will probably never find an answer

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

How much would an Atheist have to pay for a hug, and what are the going rates for additional services?

About 15 dollars.

 

[Jazzer]

I've never been a boffin at mathematics but this scenario always seemed a bit implausible to me. Does that make me a sceptic, or a cynic...?

 

[Jazzer]

Love entertaining you guys @Luman, but will I have to pay for it later ??

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

Love entertaining you guys @Luman, but will I have to pay for it later ??

Nope, you only pay for what you want to pay for. If you don't see a price tag, then it's free.

 

[Jazzer]

Handy little notice board.

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Jazzer]

'Wouldn't mind bein' a priest for a day'

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

'Wouldn't mind bein' a priest for a day'

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I'm betting he had a list of girls who confessed for non marital sex.

 

[Lane]

I'm betting he had a list of girls who confessed for non marital sex.

...with "members" of the clergy (?)

 

[Jazzer]

...with "members" of the clergy (?)

Very good Lane.
(...er...did you have an early night??)

 

[Mister Muso]

Not sure what you'll make of this. I saw this cartoon on a Christian site. We need a bible like this in all the churches. Actually there already is one. It's called The Message, translated by Eugene Peterson. The fundamentalists don't like it, so it must have got something right.

 

[Jazzer]

I'm betting he had a list of girls who confessed for non marital sex.

I never thought of that Elmer, but I bet you're right. You're usually one jump ahead of me.

I love the red shoes.

We used to call them 'prossies shoes.'

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

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Poor Adam, he was doing quite well by himself, wandering in a warm climate, didn't need clothes, all the fresh food and water a person could want.

One day while wandering he came across a place in the mountains where there was two rivers, one ran north to south the other ran west to east. This place became Adam's cell. With that he designed a cross that he wore around his neck. He didn't worship it, it represented the rivers.

150 years later a woman appeared, Eve, her job was to identify all plants and animals, which took her 200 years to complete.

One day Adam had to shite, and wiped his arse with stinging nettles, all the hollering, Eve found him. After that the woman controlled all things.

One day while out strolling Eve came across a snake, it wasn't a snake, but it was Satan, he had been there many years before Adam, waiting. He tried to get Eve to eat an apple, which is a load of bull. Eve didn't eat the apple instead she had sex with Satan. After that the world changed, all love and caring was gone, replaced with hate, distrust and greed.

Adam wandered off leaving the two to create a world of destruction.

Meanwhile Adam just kept eating that strange plant, which was put there for temptation, cannabis, Eve named it. Adam played no part in the changing world.

This is a true story as told by Biff, whoever that was.

 

[Jazzer]

'Hahahahaaaaaaa... x'

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

'Hahahahaaaaaaa... x'

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I suppose that means lightning.

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

View attachment 46869

That reminds me of a story about Clem. The lad couldn't find work, his mother convinced him to become a preacher. So he studied the bible and soon was ready to preach all he learnt.

His first Sunday he had 2 people in the church and 20 cents in the collection plate.

With that he thought he will never have any money. This isn't profitable. So he went in search for help to get more people to attend his sermons. An old old retired preacher told him that if he offered wine and bread he would attract more people. So he did, each pew had bottles of wine, loaves of bread, and all the people were drunk and full. The money poured in the collection plate. This went on for 6 months and Clem was getting richer all the time.

The police showed up and started arresting all the Sunday drunk drivers, with that Clem went from rich to a beggar with a white collar.

This is another true story by Biff. Whomever that was.