I think Sam Harris hits the nail on the head in his End of Faith...
"Religious moderates are, in large part, responsible for the religious conflict in our world, because their beliefs provide the context in which scriptural literalism and religious violence can never be adequately opposed"
So...
Actually the label seems entirely reasonable to me.
As a kid, I was taught that the Bible was mainly true, and that Jesus was this "good guy", who helped the poor, and cured the sick.
And while the Old testament is undoubtably horrible, cruel book with an equally horrible and cruel god, Jesus...
While some people who are mentally ill are quite capable of living a normal life, the irrationality of certain thoughts not withstanding...
Your last sentence is correct, and I agree. I know a couple of doctors that are fervent Christians to the letter, and believe the earth to be 6000 years...
Not all of them. But if a group of people called themselves the Sect of Santa, and decreed that all those who did not follow it's rules, layed down on a piece of holy toilet paper that was sent up a chimney 1600 years ago, were infidels, and were to be conquered...
It doesn't matter how much you dress it up with waffle, we have a fairly accepted set up tools for deciding if something is rational. You will find mental homes filled with people who believe nothing more than that they are Napolean or similar, potential urban myth accepted... Some beliefs of...
Dare I say, poppycock!, while the existence of supernatural beings cannot be definitively be disproven, we can be fairly certain.Scientific theories are tested rigorously, and are dismissed when conflicting evidence is found.
Not believing Jesus was the son of god, born to a virgin, or that an...
Totally agree, and if I may add, perhaps one problem is that rationalists are seeing the world changed in front of their very eyes, all in the name of one religion or other.
We see bigotry, violence, terrorism, censorship...all in the name of some supernatural fairy story or other.
It used to...
The point was to generalize, and that sometimes it is necessary. And yes, Christian Athiesm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism
And I am aware that Buddhism has elements of supernatural, but it is not necessary to believe in any supernatural being at all, to be a practicing Buddhist.
Not necessarily both. Buddhism, Christian Atheism, Lavey Satanism etc. No supernatural being.
Religion tends to require a belief in a supernatural being, but can simply be a set of doctrines for how to live.
Not strictly religions in their own right.
Religion holds us back, prevents free discourse, is responsible for more atrocities from man to man and is a source of irrational behaviour.
Yes it is generalizing, but if we are to have a conversation completely without, then it would be a very long...
While I agree with the sentiment, there are many things we can attribute to religion as a whole...
Religion divides
Religion prejudges
etc...it doesn't really matter which religion, so long as each of the 1000s of different sects all believe they are right and everyone else is wrong...
I'm an atheist, and an antitheist, and stop by once in a while (rarely these days) to read the often bizarre musings of the irrational. I also regularly check out Religious Watch to check out the almost daily intolerance and suffering caused by believers in fairytales.
It's also quite difficult...
Personally I think Sam harris has it spot on.
"We must find our way to a time when faith, without evidence, disgraces anyone who would claim it"
"It is imperative that we begin speaking plainly about the absurdity of most of our religious beliefs."
and so on...
It's time to call bulls**t on...
The belief in deities, or in fact any other superstitious, supernatural beliefs made some religions a pretty obvious by-product, ie a by-product of superstitions arising from lack of knowledge. As soon as people started thinking they needed to worship a divine being, or achieve enlightenment in...
Its a pity you didn't add "I think discrimination on basis of religion is wrong/right" - While I personally despise discrimination based on colour, sex, sexuality etc, I have been in the position to hire and discriminated on grounds of religion for a particular position... because I know a...
Pi - Fantastic film and at the top of my all time favourites. Not sure if it counts as underrated, but it wasn't massive. Great soundtrack too. Oh and it has a religious storyline!