[ExI] Theological arguments

[Michael Butler]

I will mention the elephant in the room. Religions that promise an eternal
life in the hereafter of joy and reconnection with lost loved ones... Those
practically sell themselves. And with Abrahamic religions, faith, hope and
charity are a pole of proper behavior... at least charity to those who
worship the right hairy sky guy.

The desire to be comforted is A Big Deal. The retreat to commitment (HT
Bartley) manifests as static patterns of value.(HT Pirsig)... And (duh)
value is valuable, and quality (or utility) is in the eye of the beholder.
On Dec 11, 2015 12:16 PM, "Anders Sandberg" <anders at aleph.se> wrote:

> On 2015-12-11 20:07, Keith Henson wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 8:07 PM,   Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se>
>> wrote:
>>
>> snip
>>
>>> There is also a fundamental problem with lack of tools for criticism.
>>> How many can make a good theological argument these days?
>>>
>> That's a good point.  I tend to bypass theology for biology,
>> particularly evolutionary psychology and reply to theology questions
>> with the meta question, "Why do humans have religions at all?"
>>
>
> But notice you have now given a walk-over victory to your religious
> interlocutor. You are not engaging with them about the issue at hand. It is
> a bit like me responding to your argument with "Why do people use
> evolutionary psychology?" and then start analysing the culture of western
> academia.
>
>
> --
> Anders Sandberg
> Future of Humanity Institute
> Oxford Martin School
> Oxford University
>
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