[ExI] us

[William Flynn Wallace]

You cite several reasons for the unexamined religious life.  I would add
this:  maybe some are afraid that if they though too hard about it, they
might find that they can't stomach the metaphysics:  angels and demons,
miracles of all sorts and so on.

And if you looked into the history of religion you would find quite a few
characters of whom it was said the same things as was said of Jesus: virgin
birth, did miracles, went straight to Heaven and a lot more.  These were
common things said about kings and other rulers who told their subjects
that they were gods or The God.  So much of religious life seems artificial
and make-believe.   And I believe that that is what it is.  An old but good
term:  logic-tight compartments:  these are opinions that are not subject
to any logic or interrogation of any kind.  No number of facts or contrary
opinions will get through and change anything.  bill w

On Wed, Nov 9, 2022 at 11:20 AM Darren Greer via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> William James called this entirely faith-based non-critical approach to
> belief "second-hand religion." Christopher Hitchens stated a number of
> times in his writing that most religions are borne out of a need to be
> governed, a need to place control of your own life in the hands of a
> benevolent dictator called God. When in North Korea he observed that the
> general response to a public appearance by Kim Jong Il seemed very much
> like religious hysteria. I think religion often remains unexamined because
> the personal impulses that drive people towards it remain unexamined. Fear
> of death, fear of uncertainty. fear of being alone, etc.
>
> D.
>
> On Tue, 8 Nov 2022 at 19:21, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> It's really kind of sad that most people don't look intellectually at
>> their own religion.  Maybe it just serves a purpose of giving them a public
>> face of respectability and opportunities to meet people.   But don't ask
>> them to think!
>>
>> Contrarywise, I once taught an adult Sunday school class and one member
>> told me that he had thought all week about what I said last week.  What a
>> compliment!  bill w
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 8, 2022 at 3:14 PM Gadersd via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> We are using the same word “complexity” to refer to different ideas. You
>>> seem to be referring to the conventional idea of complexity while I’m
>>> referring to a mathematical definition. Occam’s razor applies exclusively
>>> to the mathematical version, although many people erroneously believe that
>>> Occam’s razor refers to the conventional concept of complexity. It’s really
>>> apples and oranges.
>>>
>>> I understand your point though. People are more willing to accept ideas
>>> that are simpler to understand at the outset. It’s easy to wrap an
>>> extremely convoluted idea into a bag and label that bag God without looking
>>> inside. All bags seem simple if one doesn’t look inside and see all the
>>> baggage.
>>>
>>> On Nov 8, 2022, at 3:46 PM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Of what I can understand from your post, which is not a whole lot, you
>>> are correct from your point of view.
>>>
>>> But from the point of view of the average person, God is quite a simple
>>> thing:  an old man in a beard who lives in Heaven.  Most don't think past
>>> that, certainly not to the depth your post displays.  By extreme contrast,
>>> the many thousands of studies stemming from evolutionary theory are Greek
>>> to the average person, and therefore are invincibly complex.
>>>
>>> bill w
>>>
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