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P.S. If the image doesn’t tell you, I have posted here as “ln” also. I don’t know why I do this, maybe I’m tired when I post at times. Please note that I will permanently continue posting as “ArchangelChuck.”

Interesting – one of the reasons why the Catholic church forbade the reading of any Bible translations other than its own was that it was afraid that people would read Protestant versions and leave the church. Supposedly there were “inaccuracies” in these other translations, you see. Basically the Catholic response to the whole Reformation was to withdraw and shut the world out. So most Catholics don’t know the Bible very well. That puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with aggressive evangelicals who seem to have the whole thing memorized. (At the risk of starting a theological argument, while the Bible does play a role in Catholicism, Catholicism isn’t based on it to the degree Protestantism is. This is because Catholicism evolved in a pre-literate society. Rituals, tradition and artwork were ways of transmitting the faith in an era where books were scarce and few could read. Protestantism can afford to be based solely on the Bible because it is a product of technology–the printing press, which made widespread literacy possible.)

So, while the evangelicals are winning over Catholics because they know the Bible and Catholics don’t, they are being taught to be afraid of the unbelievers because the unbelievers know more about the Bible then they do! It seems that the Catholic Church is right, that the more you know about the Bible the greater your risk of leaving the faith!! After all, we de-cons are living proof!

What I find interesting is that nonbelievers not only disclaim all holiness of the book, they apply a sort of “anti-holiness” in their efforts to keep from having to read the damn thing, but aren’t we all supposed to be the ones who hold to the idea that “knowledge is power?” Just because we don’t believe in a “holy” book doesn’t mean we cannot or should not be educated about what is contained within.

Maybe “annonymous” is right though. Maybe it’s just because we watch too many educational programs — too much of the “wrong” TV — and maybe if we watched more god-propaganda we would “see the light.” I chortled.

Besides, every time someone prays, Darwin kills a puppy.

here’s the link to Simen’s posts on d-C

http://de-conversion.com/category/simen/

Enjoy!

I’ve not seen “evil exists becuase x” anywhere on your blog. Which is to your credit, it’s a theological question really and doesn’t belong on a site advocating the scientific purity of atheism (and I say that as a non-atheist). But I’m nonetheless interested in your thoughts on this most unquantifiable force in the human world.

Well, that might be because I would say evil is mind dependent.

I’ve thought long and hard on the whole concept of morality, and I cannot see a good reason to suppose that it exists anywhere but in human minds (and possibly in the minds of other creatures, discovered or as yet unknown).

In doing so, I’ve marked myself as a moral anti-realist. What kind, though, is something I haven’t fully decided. There are many schools of thought on what evil and good is, once you’ve affirmed or rejected their reality.

I wouldn’t agree that this leaves me completely unable to use the words good or evil — after all, I have admitted that there is such a thing as evil and good, just not anywhere but in our heads — I just choose not to, precisely because it’s so fuzzy.

If I am going to argue on moral terms, I usually choose to assume the premises of someone who seems comfortable with moral terms, and derive some absurdity from this person’s view according to them. (Or, alternatively, I could just agree. I don’t feel a compulsion to always disagree.)

To clarify, re: scientific purity of atheism, I really don’t think that’s what this site is about. This is a group blog, written by many contributors, of which I am only one, and my views on the matter are not official in any way. I’m not even sure I would agree to the “scientific purity of atheism”.