Comment #75923 by Richard Morgan on October 4, 2007 at 4:50 am
Véronique - your post reminds me of an old French joke :
What do you call the experience of going home after a hard day's work, to a beautiful, smiling woman who is happy to see you, who sits you down, takes off your shoes and brings you a nice glass of red wine?
It's called - "You're in the wrong house, buddy!"
There have been some articles here about how psychologists can reproduce the "out-of-body" experience, with links to little experiments you can try out yourself. Lol!
I myself had a spectacular out-of-body experience when I had an N.D.E. in 1979. It was fun!
Except that my wife at the time snarled : "Near death experience? Not "near" enough to my liking. Try going the extra mile next time, OK?"
Comment #75915 by Richard Morgan on October 4, 2007 at 4:20 am
143. sbooderThe question here is : What's your comforter?
like most of you I agree with Sam Harris about the labelling bit. But I have difficulty with the whole transcendental thing.
And the Board sayeth unto him : "Untwist thy knickers."
And he replieth : "My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man."
Now let's hear the "A" word.....
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay - MEN!!!!
Comment #75886 by Richard Morgan on October 4, 2007 at 12:40 am
Comment #75879 by rcjacobsonUnless it loses you votes, right?
When the majority of the population believes in fairies, it's quite important to define yourself as an a-fairyist.
Comment #75867 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Comment #75845 by Spinoza
I agree with nearly everything Sam says here 100%.
I have been saying such things for a LONG time... and getting shat on from both ends of the spectrum. Hehe.
Comment #75769 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 3:26 pm
shuggy
I don't think we give nearly enough attention to the satisfaction people find in submerging themselves in a crowd, giving meaning to some group activity like waving your hands in the air, singing, speaking in chorus, standing, sitting and kneeling together. We propose to take that away from people and offer them nothing in return. No wonder they don't like us.Nothing?Truth and freedom from mental serfdom - you call that nothing?
i tend to distract my neural connections by watching movies (mostly bad ones) and doing exercise, long walks in nature, being creative,OK. Can I call you "Enviable"? That's the first word that comes to mind!!!
and sleeping. given up drugs, cigarettes, coffee
and other bad substances. am happy and able to deal with difficult situations. call me what you like.
Comment #75707 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 11:47 am
Rieux : "La Peste"...but who's counting? Lol!
Comment #75700 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 11:22 am
Rieux
I will call myself an atheist until my society stops treating "God" with such absurd levels of deference.Excellent reply to a question that I have posed elsewhere. Good point. (Good pseudo also, I live in Toulouse next to a long road called Avenue Jean RIEUX!!!!)
Comment #75691 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 10:50 am
cognitive dissonance, the willing suspension of disbelief and cigarette smoking
Let's take this one step further. (Hear me out, please - I have my reasons. You'll see I'm NOT a troll.)Please bear with me - my goal is to better understand the paradox of nice, good, intelligent people who are also theists (smokers).
How many people were killed in your country last year by Al-Quaeda?
How many were killed by cigarettes?
How do you react to this comparison:
Cigarette smoking -> Hard Drug addiction
Religious "moderates" -> Fundamentalist terrorists.
Comment #75675 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 9:37 am
Thanks for all the replies to my request for comments on
cognitive dissonance, the willing suspension of disbelief and cigarette smoking
Comment #75611 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 6:13 am
Jack Rawlinson - you say you don't understand my argument.
In fact, that is because
a) My argument was very badly presented, (I had meant to say that heliocentrist T-shirts would have been a bit pointless at the beginning of the 17th century;)
b) Having been away from Britain for 25 years, my argument was also ill-informed.
However you do then go on to rather misrepresent the problem. This thread is concerned with the use of the word "Atheist", not whether we should allow the religites to take over our schools, our courts, our governments and our spouses or not.
I admire your combative spirit. I would be happy for my grand-daughter to marry somebody like you. But you don't need to call yourself an "Atheist" in order to oppose insidious intrusion by the God-lickers.
Tell me, are you opposed to excessive religious influence because you are an atheist, or because you are YOU and you have certain principles?
I rest my case.
Comment #75594 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 5:31 am
Jack Rawlinson:
It seems to me that it would be in the interest of the religious if we back down from describing ourselves as precisely what we are. That would be a win for them because it would make us look weak, appeasing, easily intimidated.Philip1978
Plus I agree with Jack, withdrawal from the word would simply make the religious think they have won something or that I am not confident enough in my convictions.
Comment #75563 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 2:34 am
Hey! Wh*t's up with *ll the computer keybo*rds? Somebody h*s wrenched out the key for the letter...er, th*t comes before the letter "s".
I guess it's th*t S*m H*rris *g*in!
Yes, the guy who we*rs * T-shirt with * l*rge red *sterisk printed on it.
Comment #75550 by Richard Morgan on October 3, 2007 at 1:37 am
Janus :
We need _a_ name for ourselves.Yes, I can understand that - if you happen to be living in the USA. But (and I'm going to bore you about living in France again)for most people, atheism is the default attitude, and French atheists do not "need a name", just as they do not need to organise conventions in posh hotels.
Well-being is what we actually feel, here and now - I'm eating a good meal, I feel good, I'm not hungry, I'm not afraid. Happiness only exists as a representation; it's always the result of an elaboration. It needs to be worked on. It's "somewhere else" , in another time - it's almost always a Utopia. But the act of evoking verbally a particular Utopia can, and, does create a real sensation of well-being. And that makes people "happy". Everybody uses it - political parties, churches, sects (everybody is going to die, but as for us, thanks to our ritual, we're going to live after dying and we will at last discover Paradise etc etc) without forgetting car salesmen.Strategies for attaining the feeling of well-being are clearly very useful and varied. Chasing the myth of "happiness" can only lead to disillusion and disappointment. Or the need to buy an even bigger and more powerful car.
Comment #75340 by Richard Morgan on October 2, 2007 at 11:21 am
Thank you very much for the write-up, Jack.
815. Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds
Comment #75289 by Richard Morgan on October 2, 2007 at 8:44 am
But they were religious, and that provided all the justification they needed to murder and destroy.That is true, and truly frightening.
Comment #74908 by Richard Morgan on October 1, 2007 at 5:12 am
Comment #74819 by Dr BenwayHm...independence from parents, exactly, but then "Maybe go with him"???
Most 16 year olds want some independence from their parents......
I wouldn't get upset about his going to the church just yet. Find out more about it. Maybe go with him.
Comment #74870 by Richard Morgan on October 1, 2007 at 12:38 am
bayareadudeYour post reminds me of several experiences I had as a young journalist over forty years ago. Since I had my "press card" I got to meet lots of "famous" people and I was usually shocked at the difference between the public persona and the real, live person with a hang-over and halitosis!
You'll get over it.
You need to realise that "being right" doesn't necessarily mean "being nice", and whilst RD has always come across as a brilliant person, I've never had the impression that he's a "nice" person (according to my very limited criteria) but what the heck?
Whenever I find somebody unpleasant on a one-to-one basis I usually suppose that it's on account of the effect I'm having on them. Who knows?
I don't know how long the RRS has been in existence, but even they will grow up one day.
And don't forget - you can be an atheist wherever you want,with whoever you want, and continue to spread the good word in your own way amongst people you can identify with and with whom you feel good!
818. Religion as a Force for Good
Comment #74618 by Richard Morgan on September 29, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Comment #74605 by mjwemdeeAbsolutely nothing? Well, not quite.
This article had absolutely nothing to say. It's like a mouthful of margarine.
As the Burmese rebellion shows, it's often the faithful who are inspired to do great things.Get it? The Burmese angle, that's what makes it interesting and copy-worthy.
819. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously
Comment #74562 by Richard Morgan on September 29, 2007 at 2:28 pm
WHY NO ONE SHOULD TAKE DIANELOS GEORGOUDIS SERIOUSLYI think that DG should be taken extremely seriously - by genetic engineers. Let's analyse his genome to see if we can identify the marker that makes him immune to cognitive dissonance. Perhaps the WeeFlea also, while we're at it.
Comment #74475 by Richard Morgan on September 29, 2007 at 3:39 am
dlitt
What a bizarre and unexpected phenomenon is this ascending religiosity.Neither bizarre nor unexpected. In fact, it's not as "ascending" as all that. Many social phenomena seem to be "ascending" simply because improved communication and sources of information allow us to be more aware of what is happening in the world.
821. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?
Comment #74398 by Richard Morgan on September 28, 2007 at 2:47 pm
brother john
But, as a Christian, in a Christian context, I want clear distinction between opinion and what Christ said.Excellent point. In my area of research, I too go to great lengths to distinguish between subjective opinion and what the Flying Spaghetti Monster really said. There can indeed be a world of difference between hearsay, the oral tradition on one hand, and verifiable quotations on the other. We here have this problem with the fact that all the versions of the pastoptic gospels were written down in tomato sauce many years after the passing of the FSM into eternity.
822. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?
Comment #74319 by Richard Morgan on September 28, 2007 at 5:41 am
Goatsbane J
It seems perfectly made for moving the audience to indulge in that arm gesture that, when I was a church goer, I used to observe and privately refer to as 'warming one's hands on the fire of god'.I'm glad you've brought this subject up. Many aspects of so-called "worship" behaviour evoke regressive attitudes, and obviously, the affects that accompany them.
823. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?
Comment #74190 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 3:45 pm
revcort
I have difficulty justifying spending money (which is in short supply with 4 kids), on books that aren't directly related to faith.You have four children, money is in short supply, but you still manage to spend some of it on faith books??? Do you really spend money out of the family budget on books related to "faith" silliness?
824. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?
Comment #74187 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Northern Bright
It's a terrible way to go through life and I sincerely hope that one day you see it for the monstrous nonsense it really is and reject it. And that you then find some way of undoing the damage you've done to your "students" over the years.
"(Religion) With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion"It is probably easier to unweave a rainbow than to undo all the harm that has been done in the name of religion.
People don't care how much you know,Why, I'll bet Jesus even loves leprechauns.
Until they know how much you care.
825. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal
Comment #74115 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 9:21 am
Northern Bright
...there's something very odd going on.Yes.
826. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?
Comment #74051 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 6:01 am
revcort
The reason I know this is because He has saved a weak, pitiful fool like me.That sounds like a fairly accurate self-description there, revcort.
827. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal
Comment #74042 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 5:44 am
Billy Sands
Shame he has a problem with sticking things up his bumTell me - how do you know? Not even with the Vaseline of the willing suspension of disbelief?
828. Why are we Muslims so self-destructive?
Comment #73968 by Richard Morgan on September 27, 2007 at 12:23 am
kaiserkiss You're right.
Thank you for that reminder.
Knickers untwisted.
Normal service may resume.
We should not fall into the same trap as the religious fanatics, or is that just another unavoidable human characteristic we try to suppress, sometimes with less success??I guess so...*sighs*
829. Why are we Muslims so self-destructive?
Comment #73464 by Richard Morgan on September 25, 2007 at 3:17 am
Prufrock
Try to remember we are simply evaluating ideas, not people.In my part of the world "ideas" are things that "people" have, they don't just happen on their own, in a neat, impersonal way. And sometimes "people" have "ideas" that push them to slitting children's throats in front of their mothers, before the mother is gang-raped and slaughtered herself.
The requested user does not exist.This time, as far as Prufrock is concerned, I really and finally rest my case.
830. Why are we Muslims so self-destructive?
Comment #73431 by Richard Morgan on September 25, 2007 at 2:07 am
Goldy and HunterZolomon
"Best" posters? Eloquent posters or people with the same opinion as you? Evidence please.Yes, I myself was unhappy with the adjective "best". I think I was talking about sound reasoning. (My English is often a little inadequate - I'm sorry about that.)
Surely you recognize the value in allowing people to post behind a pseudonym.I most certainly do. But I think that sometimes we need to "stand up and be counted".
Some people may not want their name splashed out for a reason.I think that people who hide always do so for a reason - resistance fighters, for example.
831. New Rules: A Religious Test
Comment #73318 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I love this guy, but still prefer Rowan Atkinson.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eJA9RPX9mRY
832. Talking Action Figure Jesus
Comment #73276 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I'm looking forward to seeing their Adam and Eve.
Especially Eve.
EDIT : Aw, shucks, I just did. But I meant before the Fall. After is just too plain-long boring!
EDIT 2 : But only to see if they had belly buttons - you bunch of faithless perverts!!!!
833. 1996 Richard Dimbleby Lecture
Comment #73166 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 10:19 am
37; Comment #73157 by Bonzai
Nitpicking over grammar and spelling on internet fora is either an occupational hazard for English teachers or the past time of old foggies who have nothing valuable to say,--the type who write to newspaper editors frequently to whine about minor breaches in grammatical correctness. English grammar is just a convention, nothing more.
834. 1996 Richard Dimbleby Lecture
Comment #73154 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 9:42 am
24. Comment #73127 by Dr Benway:From my experience, most cooking shows are about foods we don't normally eat!
Maybe even a cooking show about foods we don't normally eat.
835. 1996 Richard Dimbleby Lecture
Comment #73147 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 9:17 am
No Quarter
Heaven and Earth has thankfully been cancelled.My English is far from perfect, but shouldn't that be "Heaven and Earth have been cancelled"? Like the old Beyond The Fringe joke, isn't it : "The Earth will be totally destroyed tomorrow at mid-day : tomorrow has been declared a Day of Morning."
It could be a consciousness-raising programme that encompasses much more and very interesting bits and pieces.Oops - for regular TV programmes, the reasoning works in the opposite way : you finance a programme when consciousness has already been raised, not the other way around. RD's TV programmes were relatively successful one-offs, but the Zeitgeist was ready for them.
836. Crisis of faith in first secular school
Comment #73075 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 3:35 am
837. Scientific Literacy and the Habit of Discourse
Comment #73048 by Richard Morgan on September 24, 2007 at 1:00 am
Changing one's mind is the essence of intellectual growth.Of course that's true. The article is excellent and complete.
838. Religion advances despite science (and thanks to Dawkins)
Comment #72950 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Plus ça change...
839. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously
Comment #72904 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 11:47 am
I suppose the probability of the earth, the entire universe, all creatures great and small and Russell Blackford and me being created by a super-intelligence which orders some of its creatures to chop off the foreskins of baby boys must be at least 1/10^40000.
Or... 1?
I need the statisticians to help me out here, please.
840. Crisis of faith in first secular school
Comment #72898 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 11:24 am
Richard Dawkins
His address is:-
Dr Paul Kelley
Headmaster, Monkseaton High School
Seatonville Road
Whitley Bay
Tyne and Wear
England NE25 9EQ
841. Crisis of faith in first secular school
Comment #72832 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 5:33 am
the Great teapot and Newton30
Thank you.
From the bottom of my heart.
Merci.
Du fond du coeur.
Hey, Russell - loosen up a bit!
842. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously
Comment #72800 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 2:14 am
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!!!!
Please stop replying to Dianelos Georgoudis - you're only encouraging him!!!!
843. Monkeys show sense of justice
Comment #72799 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 2:11 am
Northern Bright : You're talking about "The Cucumber Delusion", right?
Oh, and somewhere else you related an amusing anecdote , introducing it with an apology for being "off-topic". Well, you weren't "off-topic' at all, since your recipe for beef stew is an irrefutable argument against Intelligent Design!
844. Crisis of faith in first secular school
Comment #72792 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 1:50 am
Bremas :
They were using it as proof that a secular society doesn't make it scientifically literate.So what?
Sometimes I really hate journalists. I want precise information and instead get these waffly stories written in the ghastly "inverted pyramid" style that they are taught to use in order to pander to the short attention spans of cretins.Never heard of the KISS formula for journalists? Anyway, thank you for explaining the brevity of your posts, it's always nice to know.
But the video is an eye opener I was always under the impression that the French were perfect.The French have this same impression.
845. Crisis of faith in first secular school
Comment #72782 by Richard Morgan on September 23, 2007 at 12:46 am
There's still lots of reasonably priced property for sale here in the South of France... and all State schools are 100% secular - no daily grovelling sessions required.
846. New Rules: A Religious Test
Comment #72779 by Richard Morgan on September 22, 2007 at 11:57 pm
EastCoastAtheist
Listen to the audience response after that line, and you'll notice that people are applauding more than they are laughing. I don't know if thinking people in America would necessarily split their sides over such a line, but they would definitely appreciate that somebody was saying it on television. I don't know what television is like in other countries, but these sorts of comments are very taboo here. If a 'rationalist' laughs, it's probably because they are thinking of all the people who are taking offence.Thank you, very sincerely, for this explanation.
847. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously
Comment #72777 by Richard Morgan on September 22, 2007 at 11:35 pm
mis_spelled
Help me to explain to her that she is the reason she got pregnant with me not god. She said she prayed that she would get pregnant. I know that the reason that she got pregnant was that she stopped taking the pill.Well, not really.
848. Monkeys show sense of justice
Comment #72746 by Richard Morgan on September 22, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I think that it is important to take into account the social context of such behaviours. If that experiment had been carried out in France, I'm sure the slighted monkey would immediately have gone on strike and staged a demo.
Or if it had been a born-again Christian fundie-monkey, it would have tried to exorcize the experimenters.
An Anglican monkey would have forced itself to eat the cucumber, and look as if it were enjoying it just as long as the experimenters were looking on.
A Freudian monkey would have contented itself with pieces of a phallic cucumber,while worrying about the other monkey's unresolved Oedipus complex.
Whereas a rationalist monkey would have given everything a neo-Darwinian explanation and written a book entitled "God is not Grape".
849. Poll: Are Dawkins and Hitchens good for humanism?
Comment #72726 by Richard Morgan on September 22, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Yes, Messrs. Dawkins and Hitchens have helped to advance the cause of humanism.
So have Cornwell, McGrath and more recently Madge Midgley.
And, to a lesser extent, you (dear Reader) and I.
And even Northern Bright!!
850. New Rules: A Religious Test
Comment #72627 by Richard Morgan on September 22, 2007 at 1:39 am
I really enjoy Bill Maher. But I absolutely must visit the USA sometime soon in order to get the feel of a country where people will actually split their sides laughing at lines like:
"Santa Claus and Jesus are really the same guy"
(PS Does anybody know where I can buy Magic Mormon Underwear? And does it have the same effect as Viagra?)