Originally Posted by Ele
America's only hegemonic because it's primarily a Christian nation.
Hm, I wouldn't say "only". Surely the circumstances of the founding of USA has some bearing on it? USA has always had a loosely defined class system and a sense of self-entitlement. Plus capitalism encourages a certain amount of hegemony...
Even if America was atheist, not much would change. Perhaps their motto would be "in money we trust"?
Originally Posted by ImmortalCow
Hm, I wouldn't say "only". Surely the circumstances of the founding of USA has some bearing on it? USA has always had a loosely defined class system and a sense of self-entitlement.
That's true - though, the political way I put in my essay was 'America's individualist qualities', lol.
Originally Posted by ImmortalCow
Plus capitalism encourages a certain amount of hegemony...
Getting into shaky grounds here though. Aren't all economic system's encouraging hegemony, to a level? Communism, the state over the individual - Capitalism, the individual over the individual, etc..
Originally Posted by ImmortalCow
Even if America was atheist, not much would change. Perhaps their motto would be "in money we trust"?
If America was atheistic I can guarantee you foreign policy would change a fair bit.
Religion is a concept invented by man to give our lives meaning, and state that there is a purpose to life. It also created a set of divine laws that we have to follow,or we'll go to hell.
This only appeals to the weak-minded.
"God" "A concious universe" whatever you want to call it, may or may not be real. We have no way of proving it at this time, so arguing about it would be childish. (e.g a 10 year old saying being a space policeman is better than being a regular policeman to another 10 year old.) (Even though space policemen are better in my opinion).
Religion has caused genocide and wars of hate by extremists with no rational thinking skills. (Or clever minds who raided a place for it's resouces, and used religion as a scapegoat, or means of justification)
It also prevents homocide, though, because if your religion says killing is bad, and you're a feeble-minded plebian moron, you will tend to avoid killing. (Unless you have a serious mental illness)
All in all, religion is nothing more than an attempt to contol the masses of rodent-brained peasants by giving their lives meaning, and giving them devine laws of "holy justice"
I've moved past simple beliefs such as "Atheism" and "Religion"
I am an Agnostic Universalist, and I believe that God is the pure essence of the universe, who does not interfere in our lives, and never has.
The "God" of the bible was most likely an extra-terrestrial. (Since the bible and the sumerian tablets are the same thing, and the sumerian tablets state that it was other worldly visitors and not "God")
Enke and Enlil were the "God and Satan" of the sumerian tablets. The tablets state that they came to earth with an army to mine gold, and engineered homo erectus to evolve faster, and mine the gold for them.
I recomend reading the sumerian tablets.
And on the theory of evolution:
We have already proven that we were not made in "God's" image, and that humans, chimps, and rhesus macaques all diverged from a common ape-like ancestor 6 or 7 million years ago.
This only appeals to the weak-minded.
"God" "A concious universe" whatever you want to call it, may or may not be real. We have no way of proving it at this time, so arguing about it would be childish. (e.g a 10 year old saying being a space policeman is better than being a regular policeman to another 10 year old.) (Even though space policemen are better in my opinion).
Religion has caused genocide and wars of hate by extremists with no rational thinking skills. (Or clever minds who raided a place for it's resouces, and used religion as a scapegoat, or means of justification)
It also prevents homocide, though, because if your religion says killing is bad, and you're a feeble-minded plebian moron, you will tend to avoid killing. (Unless you have a serious mental illness)
All in all, religion is nothing more than an attempt to contol the masses of rodent-brained peasants by giving their lives meaning, and giving them devine laws of "holy justice"
I've moved past simple beliefs such as "Atheism" and "Religion"
I am an Agnostic Universalist, and I believe that God is the pure essence of the universe, who does not interfere in our lives, and never has.
The "God" of the bible was most likely an extra-terrestrial. (Since the bible and the sumerian tablets are the same thing, and the sumerian tablets state that it was other worldly visitors and not "God")
Enke and Enlil were the "God and Satan" of the sumerian tablets. The tablets state that they came to earth with an army to mine gold, and engineered homo erectus to evolve faster, and mine the gold for them.
I recomend reading the sumerian tablets.
And on the theory of evolution:
We have already proven that we were not made in "God's" image, and that humans, chimps, and rhesus macaques all diverged from a common ape-like ancestor 6 or 7 million years ago.
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
It also created a set of divine laws that we have to follow,or we'll go to hell.
Nope. You have an extremely narrow view of what religion is there. Cliff Geertz, the famous American anthropologist, gave the best and most comprehensive definition,
"Religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and longlasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic"
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
We have no way of proving it at this time, so arguing about it would be childish. (e.g a 10 year old saying being a space policeman is better than being a regular policeman to another 10 year old.) (Even though space policemen are better in my opinion).
Space policemen are objectively better than regular policemen, everyone knows that. On a srs point, do you see how hypocritical your argument is?
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
I've moved past simple beliefs such as "Atheism" and "Religion"
I am an Agnostic Universalist
"THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM!" Shit, I couldn't resist.
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
The "God" of the bible was most likely an extra-terrestrial. (Since the bible and the sumerian tablets are the same thing, and the sumerian tablets state that it was other worldly visitors and not "God")
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
I recomend reading the sumerian tablets.
I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Look man, you're far to arrogant - that's the only reason why I'm being a dick towards you. You might want to try presenting your opinions with a bit of grace.
Originally Posted by NormalCitizen
This only appeals to the weak-minded.
"God" "A concious universe" whatever you want to call it, may or may not be real. We have no way of proving it at this time, so arguing about it would be childish. (e.g a 10 year old saying being a space policeman is better than being a regular policeman to another 10 year old.) (Even though space policemen are better in my opinion).
In the words of Mortimer J Adler
"For my part, I respect the honest clear-minded atheist who denies that God exists and tries to offer thought out reasons for the denial. I respect the honest, critically minded agnostic who denies we can ever know whether God exists or not, and treats religious belief as a pure act of faith, incapable of being supported or challenged by rational analysis or empirical knowledge of the world. I respect the person who, in his horror of the superstitions and persecutions that have attended the practices of religious institutions, rejects the whole of religion as something from which man should emancipate himself."
Your example is far from that point, and you just seem to be showing off at that point. You do not need to go out of your way to imply that both atheists and theists are simple minded. I respect your position, but I resent your delivery.
Anyways, I've noticed that I haven't presented a point of my own. I'll raise a question.
In religion, a common theme is the duality of the universe. Good and evil, God and the Devil. Love and hate. What are the origins of the concepts of good and evil?
Some say that they are universal aspects of actions and morality that we come to grasp with our intellects. Some say humans have come up with these concepts after having them implanted in their emotional subconscious to promote actions that lead to the better success of the species. What are your opinions and support for them?
Last edited by Ray; Oct 17, 2012 at 06:44 AM.
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