Comments by Jeff_Dee

Comment #150036 by Jeff_Dee on March 26, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Happy 67th, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #148951 by Jeff_Dee on March 24, 2008 at 6:13 pm

I think claiming that Hitler misunderstood Darwin is a bit unfair to the poor Creationists.

Hitler probably certainly understood Darwin at least as well as THEY do :)

-Jeff Dee

3. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #75673 by Jeff_Dee on October 3, 2007 at 9:21 am

Sam Harris said, "To judge the empirical claims of contemplatives, you have to build your own telescope."

Believers every day say, "In order to see the evidence of God, you have to open up your heart to Him."

What, precisely, is the difference?

4. Should Science Speak to Faith? A dialog between Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins

Comment #47327 by Jeff_Dee on June 4, 2007 at 5:19 am

Bonzai wrote: "My guess is that religion will probably always exist, though fundamentalism and other rigid, authoritarian doctrinal systems will die with better education."

I highly recommend the book, "Under the Banner of Heaven", by Jon Krakauer. The author insightfully demonstrates how fundamentalism occurs when modern believers hearken back to teachings that their religion abandoned in the course of adapting to survive.

I interpret this to imply that we should expect *more* fundamentalism, not less, when religions desperately soften their message in order to survive. I think this is likely what we are seeing now in the U.S. This is very convenient for those of us who'd like to see religion decline, as the teachings that fundamentallists embrace are the ones least suited to survival.

I think the question is whether, once the cancer of fundamentalism goes into remission, the current wave of anti-religious sentiment can itself survive. If history is any guide, I'm afraid the answer is "probably not". We'll probably slack off once we no longer have the easy and immediately dangerous target of fundamentalism to motivate us. It will only be a matter of time before fundamentalism rises again from the abandoned teachings of those few surviving "tamed" religions.

Peacebeuponme wrote: "One of my main sources of misunderstanding with religous types is why they think everlasting life would be a good thing."

There's nothing inherently wrong with radically extending life-span. That's not to say that it wouldn't give rise to a number of other problems, all of which we'd have to address. That's the way progress works in general, though; it's not just an especially difficult problem for longeivity.

I certainly agree that the sort of "everlasting life" religionists grasp after would not be worth living. Who wants to live forever, only to be stuck perpetually bowing and scraping to a tyrant? But it's hard to see any downside to immortality once silly superstitious limitations like that are set aside.

5. Prayer can improve physical health

Comment #43675 by Jeff_Dee on May 22, 2007 at 9:11 am

"COMMUNICATING with God or other spirits can improve your physical health, Australian researchers suggest."

Wouldn't these researchers FIRST have to establish that there are such things as "spirits" to "communicate with"?

Until then, the most they can reasonably suggest is that "thinking happy thoughts at one's imaginary friends" can improve your physical health.

One wonders what the cost might be to one's *mental* health, though.