[extropy-chat] Religion Rant.

[John K Clark]

"The Avantguardian" <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com>

>It has not escaped my notice that some very general and very overt
>anti-religious-spiritual-paranormal sentiment on this list.

That is true and that is why I have been on this list for about a decade; if
you know of any place on the Internet that is more anti religious more anti
spiritual or more anti paranormal please let me know, I want to go there.

>If personal freedom is truly an extropian principle, then you must realize
>that no matter how accurate or "true" your paradigm might be to YOU, it
>stops at the tip of your nose.

You have the right to say anything you want no matter how loony and I have
the right to say you are silly to do so.

> I have seen things that no textbook can explain.

So have I, like how a tiny magnet can pick things up even though the
gigantic Earth is using its gravitational pull to prevent it; or how stem
cells know how to differentiate;  or why there is something rather than
nothing.

> for most of human history we have walked this
> planet thinking we know 99% of what we think
> there is to know about it.

An Extropian sees a light in the night sky and says in a loud clear voice "I
don't know what that is". A paranormal nutcase sees the same light in the
sky and says "I know exactly precisely what that is, it's a spaceship from
another planet". We're not afraid of admitting we don't know but we are
afraid of being stupid.

> So lighten up and humor people who wants to talk
> about the UNKNOWN.

The unknown is fine, but this is not the place for spoon benders, flying
saucers, or weighing the soul, if I was in the market for that sort of thing
I could get my fill with any supermarket tabloid and get my horoscope and
diet tips from the movie stars as a bonus. I mean it's not like the
religious and paranormal people haven't had their say but in this one place
religion gets all the respect it deserves.

   John K Clark