[extropy-chat] Putting God to Rest

[Lee Corbin]

John Clark writes

> "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com> Wrote:
>
>> Here we have the intriguing conjecture
>> that certain ideas are objectively asinine!
>
> I almost didn't post it because I thought it was rather obvious, mundane,
> a cliché; but then I thought cliché's do have one virtue, most of them are true.
>
>> Sensible and courteous folks simply
>> DO NOT say such things in mixed audiences
>
> Courtesy be damned!

You cannot see the consequences of such a policy?  Here it takes our
civillization hundreds of years to rise above barbarism and also above
vicious recrimination, and also---in my opinion---lack of civility and
politeness. Reminds me of the short-sighted embracing of Crocker's
Rules some people advocate.  Recall that courtesy and civility evolved
for a REASON, as your intuitions about evolutionary psychology
could have informed you.

> I believe one of the greatest evils of the modern world
> is that intelligent people feel they must say nice things about religion
> even though they know it's BULLSHIT. Logical people have been making nice to
> religious idiots for years; the end result is that devout believers crash
> civilian airliners into skyscrapers.

Now that I happen to agree with.  Sam Harris's books, for example,
take religions to task in both a very insightful as well as very uncompromising
way. I even totally agree that science and religion are irreconcileably opposed.
But that's not the same thing as simply making empty, insulting statements
about them (although just between us atheists, the empty and insulting
statements do provide some emotional gratification as well as mirth from
time to time).

> Courtesy be damned!

Discourtesy be damned!   :-)

>> find ways of saying what is true without being insulting about it.
>
> God created the universe 4000 years ago and then tortured himself to death
> so he could forgive us for our sins. How can you treat such moronic babbling
> without being insulting? And why would you even want to?  Insults have their
> place in the world of ideas.

Your statements above are simply and totally stupid, reflecting complete
ignorance of psychology.  Moreover, they're insipid and ultimately
meaningless, being nothing more than empty rhetoric and name-calling.

Lee