[ExI] The Parallels and Convergences: Mormon Thought and Engineering Vision Conference

[Eschatoon Magic]

Yes Damien, religious people have done all these bad things. But they
have also done many good things, from Dante to Telihard, in our and
other societies on the planet.

Most of the high priests of all religions have been, of course, greedy
bastards like the heads of all political organizations. What motivates
them is, of course, power and money -- again, like every political
organization. But many "average" religious people, the Sunday
churchgoers (or synagogue, or mosque, or whatever) have been normal
and good people attracted by the promise of something bigger and
better -- and they have been motivated by religion to do their best to
improve things and do some good.

Let's not throw the baby away with the dirty water. I applaud the
scientific religious renaissance of Mormon transhumanists.

G.

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 12:41 AM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> At 05:17 PM 3/24/2009 -0600, Brent wrote:
>
>> religious people, for the first time, not waiting for God to reveal
>> everything and / or come down and save them, bet getting involved and
>> engineering heaven for themselves, all according to their now progressing
>> faith and hopes that grew out of their great legacy.
>
> This is an encouraging development, but one I would hope is a transitional
> stage leading to escape from the bogosity intrinsic to all theistic
> religions (however admirable many of their adherents). I do have to ask:
> what is "their great legacy"? From what I've read, their great legacy was a
> highly oppressive patriarchal top-down system based on a colossal lie, with,
> for the longest time, racist exclusion of blacks, sexist sequestration of
> women to those with most power, followed by apparent renunciation of this
> unpleasantness for purely political motives, and with lesser assaults on
> reason such as the absurd concoctions concerning American prehistory and the
> status of native Americans... This looks to me like a sorry legacy that
> should fill adherents with shame and a wish to renounce it. So what am I
> missing here? They support family life, perhaps? So does any moral system
> based on empathy and common sense; I don't think any group gets special
> brownie points for not beating or abandoning or drugging their kids,
> murdering each other, or walking on their hind legs.
>
> Damien Broderick
>
>
>
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-- 
Eschatoon Magic
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Eschatoon
aka Giulio Prisco
http://cosmeng.org/index.php/Giulio_Prisco