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[agnostic.com]

Here's a good one. I was on a radio show debating religion. That's me in the red shirt. The fellow on my left is Rev Terry Jones who claimed to be the second most most wanted man in all Islam after Salmon Rushdie. He had the temerity to burn a Koran on the steps of his church up in Tallahassee.

There was a Jew, a Christian, an imam and me the nonbeliever. So toward the end I mentioned how religion cheapens life. If you believe when you die you're going to the Promised Land, wow, that's not too bad. But me I believe when we die that's it. We don't exist anymore. So to the believers losing life isn't so bad and being alive becomes less valuable.

They didn't like that line at all and even the audience shouted some nasty remarks. So I'd like to hear some other opinions. It's just the way I see it.

Aristippus 6 May 21
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19 comments

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1

Imagine all life as a one energy system, then when one species or one individual in that species dies, the species doesn't die. I think we look at life in the wrong way. We are not dying in the literal sense, what we are doing is evolving.

3

The facts, as we know it, about death, throw believers into a malfuntional tailspin!!!! It's kind of funny watching their eyes roll around, not knowing how to compute facts that contradict their make believe second life. Malfunction Malfunction😂😂

Quite so. Also I get a kick out of their body language. They remind me of the characters in the old Movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Notice the blank stare next time you're with one.

1

.... So a Jew, a Christian, and an Imam walk into a bar...

I wrote a lot of comedy stuff in my time. I'm thinking about this one. But remember Muslims aren't allowed to drink, Gotta figure out a way to work that in.

0

I don't see you, a red shirt, a rev, an imam or anything else.

Just the text you added.

SCal Level 7 May 23, 2020
0

I have long felt as you do, but consider the following: this philosophy involves more than the cheapening one's brief existence. I have found that many Christians, including my loved ones, care little about preserving the planet which their Savior has promised, according to their Holy Bible, to destroy and rebuild. The faithful believe that when they die, the next thing they will see is their Redeemer in Heaven, and considering this cherished belief occupies the core of their identity, they cannot help but view their existence on Earth as little more than a 'waiting room' for what's next. And of what possible worth is this distraction-filled waiting room to them, anyway?

0

ha you shoulda used the Bible on them imo, as it agrees with you 🙂

1

I love what you did. Because I love freedom of speech. I love knowing that you spoke your mind and you lived to tell the story. Literally.

They don't love freedom. Theist are trapped in a world view that says you must think as I think. Free thinking is dangerous. If people think for themselves the entire multitrillion dollar structured system of manipulation will unravel. There will be a need for discussions and the need for compelling arguments based on evidence and reason.

I love that you ended your post by saying 'I'd like to hear some other opinions' and thereby suggested that there could be other opinions of value and reasonable people could discuss those opinions calmly and rationally even if those opinions might be different from yours.

What a beautiful notion.

I submit to you...thats my humble opinion.

🙂

Thanks for the compliment. Ethymology has been a hobby of mine ever since high school. In the Spanish Inquisition millions were cruelly tortured on burnt to death for the crime of heresy. The word comes from the Latin word for "other". They were killed becasue they believe something outside the approved orthodoxy.

@Aristippus

In high school you were thinking about the inquisition?

I think I was mastering the art of driving while listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Anyway. For your next debate I hope you get a question about the value churches add to the community and that you have the opportunity to bring up that little thing called the inquisition.

1

Link still not working, sorry.

0

You are correct. 🙂

1

I believe what evidence and logic will support. Religious writings are not evidence in any way. Harry Potter and the Dick and Jane Reader have about as much claim to truth as religious writings. I'm not sure what happens when you die but I think you are dead. Others just keep on making it up.

0

Dubbel post!

1

You say, "There was ... me the nonbeliever." but thern you say "But me I believe when we die that's it." Are you a nonbeliever or a believer? You seem to contradict yourself. As to this after death nonexistence you believe in, what do you have to support this belief?

Word Level 8 May 22, 2020

I noticed that too. I guess a little hyperbole is okay when it supports ones own hunch.

I don't understand how you could possibly ask if I'm a believer. I said a few times I'm a strong atheist.
I use the word "strong" becuase in science nothing is 100% certain, so I leave the door open just a tiny bit. I always liked the line of the great scientish of the 20s JEB Haldane: "The world is queer than you imagine. Queer than you are capable of imagining."

<<<As to this after death nonexistence you believe in, what do you have to support this belief?>>>

At first I thought you were joking but now I see what you're asking. Nobody ever came back from death but now I see you were asking how do I know we won't exist after we die. Sadly that can't been proven.

I always like this comparison. With a pipette place a drop of red dye in a fish tank. The red dye enters a new dimension. Does it stay intact or break up to diffuse throughout the whole tank? In the same way I conjecture when we die our energy diffuses throughout the universe and we become an infinitesimal part of the Great Heat.

What do you believe happens? And try not to use word soul because it's outside the realm of science. .

@Aristippus you ask " What do you believe happens? And try not to use word soul because it's outside the realm of science. ."

I do not claim to be a cognition expert nor an expert on the physiology of the brain as it houses cognition. So then my terminology may not be the best or most accurate. Having said that, at death the body and brain dies. At this point the brain no longer maintains the kinetic energy environment of brain waves, chemical reactions and such that would seem to house a cognition capability. It's like striking a match brings fire, that fire could be passed on. Is there some means that a cognition capability could transfer from the brain energy state to some other? I do not know of any specific documentation that would support this ideal other that the biblical text is saying that the Egyptian Osiris to Horus reincarnated really happened. The means that the biblical text indicates this was done was by cognition of thoughts giving for spoken words that the kinetic energy of spoken words then brought about the purported reincarnation.

As to the word soul: I equate the old word soul to be almost the same meaning as what we now call personality. People have such a unique personality that for all eternity or for all of time I would guess that never ever would there ever be 2 exact personalities developed to be exactly perfectly the same. As to the soul or personality lasting for ever, I don't know, and I am not interested in lasting for ever to find out.

1

These believers are missing the point. As a species we are in our infancy and look at our accomplishments so far. What is going to happen in our adolescence and our maturity? The mind boggles; they don't know what they are missing. Instead of worrying about their own selfish lives, why don't they start to enjoy the real wonders of life?

Beautiful I've been wondering about this my whole life and it's the major reason I became a writer in my retirement. We have to consider and worry about human evolution. We haven't evoluved much since Nero who said to just give the masses "circuses and bread." -- panem et circenses. Our president says mostly, "just give 'em football and hamburgers."

We have to resume to evolve because rleligion has placed us in a mental cage. It looks like it'll soon die out but it might be too late. That's why I wrote "Saving Gaia."

[amazon.com]

0

Link is not good.

Sorry, as I said beofre I'm terrible with computers. Which one are you talking about? The debate photo in on my profile.

@Aristippus link takes me to my own profile photos. No debate shown or anything like that.

0

Most religions control their followers by promising a 'better' after or next life ... be good now and it is better after you die.
I have to believe that when you die you are just recycled into plants, animals rocks etc.... a sort of Ilkley Moor Bah't at view of death ... a local anthem
Out on Ilkley moor without a hat .. or trousers (a common enough evening sight) ... courting Mary Jane ... caught death of cold ... die... buried ... worms eat you ... then ducks eat worms .. then we eat ducks ... Cycle of Life

True, but that shouldn't concern us because we're still alive now. As Ben Franklin''s epitaph says "Here lies the mean of worms". But that didn't disturb or limit him in the least. His burial site in the Trinity Church in Philadelphia lists his accomplishments. The list takes of the whole wall.

1

I can't remember who said it, but very similar and along the lines of "religious peole treat this life as a doormat where you just wipe your feet before you move to the next place."

Sadly. Check out my next post when we consider the evolution of the planet and the life on it. We're lucky to be here.

2

I agree 100%. People tolerate a miserable life because they believe they will be rewarded after they die. That has helped keep people living in slavery and slave-like conditions for centuries.

BD66 Level 8 May 21, 2020

Right on. Check out Dostoyevsky's "Brothers Karamozov." The promise of heaven is a scam to keep them working like surfs.

4

I'm in agreement. When you're dead, you're dead, that's it, it's over.
There is no afterlife, and religion DOES cheapen life.
The believers think there's some "reward" for believing. Something after this
life to make up for all the shit they had to endure.
Or, as long as they ask for their god's forgiveness, it makes up for all the
evil shit they did while they were alive.
Granted, it's not like they're going to be disappointed. They'll be dead, and it
won't matter that they were wrong.
BUT
The damage they do to others while they're still here is a real problem.

Thank you. Why have we gotten hooked on the "passed" thing? When my late partner was dying she wanted people to say so. She often would ask "what did they pass, gas?" In a great documentary "Obit" the NY Times obituary columnists said they do not use the pass word only died and death.
It's funny but when our rechargeable batteries quit we say they have died. They have really 'passed' to another state. Otherwise they become zombie batteries. Jesus was either a zombie or he did not rise!

KK Beautiful. Absolutely true.

2

That's exactly how I see it. It's very important to enjoy this life knowing it's the only one we'll get. I can't understand the other side's hostility about that. They should be grateful we value human life in this way because most of them don't trust us.

Well said. Many Christians do tend to think our lack of investment in the 'hereafter' is reason to worry about our moral rectitude. Yet they fail to see that this world contains everything that we hold dear.

Very good. Let me turn you onto the great Greek philosopher. Epicurus. He's associated with gourmand food but he's a lot more than that. Life is to enjoy pleasure and fun. He was the dominant philosopher on the planet until Christianity came along. Emperor Constantine called him a pagan and we all know what happened.

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