Comments on The Pensive Quill: Empty Pulpits

Nuala, I think you would have been burned at the...

2010-08-25T14:18:52.858+01:00

Nuala,

I think you would have been burned at the stake - even ten years ago! I could imagine the mob of bollix believers outside your door screaming 'witch.'

Robert,

are you winding me up telling me what scripture instructs us?!!!!

Do you recall where that exchange was? I remember it but just can't trace it. If I remember correctly you

Robert, I watched the first session and to me th...

2010-08-23T20:57:47.615+01:00

Robert,

I watched the first session and to me that went to Dawkins on points. Not that he said anything to gain the points. When Lennox said that god was not a delusion but was real and that Jesus Christ was his son and it said so in the bible ...

To an ear like mine that sounds just like 'Beano the Spinning Jelly Bean Monster is real and it is proved in the Dandy.'

Anthony- You are right about quadriplegics extract...

2010-08-22T21:48:35.434+01:00

Anthony- You are right about quadriplegics extracting all the pleasures they can out of life. I have witnessed many paraplegics doing all they can with their remaining muscles (quite a few build up their arm muscles religiously). In my granda's quadriplegic case he used the power of bone movement to paint and write poetry with the aid of a special brush/pen. He was lucky as he could also

Anthony, "..religion is taken to task for it...

2010-08-22T21:09:41.020+01:00

Anthony,

"..religion is taken to task for its insistence that secularism cannot be the source of a moral code."

We crossed swords on this very issue in a past post. You drew inference that in attempting to make a distinction between moral and legal culpability that I was suggesting you did'nt possess a moral code because you are an atheist, which I was'nt.

Anthony, " I have never yet seen a religious...

2010-08-22T21:03:44.212+01:00

Anthony,

" I have never yet seen a religious person out-logic him"

Please do view this debate. You may question my objectivity but you will see Lennox out-logic him. As a matter of interest Lennox has also debated Hitchens on “The New Europe should prefer the New Atheism”. I think you will find this interesting as it touches on the Danish cartoon 'controversy&

Robert, I think the religious types try to put r...

2010-08-22T20:25:54.342+01:00

Robert,

I think the religious types try to put reason on a par with faith. I don't buy into it but have litle difficulty in hearing it phrased that way. My position is simple - a lack of faith in something is not faith in something else unless we go down the endless trail of faith in a lack of faith .....

I think Dawkins is arrogant. I think he doesn't cope well

Alfie, I don't believe it does. It is effort...

2010-08-22T20:16:03.067+01:00

Alfie,

I don't believe it does. It is effortless. I have experienced the deaths of immediate family members and needed no religion to get me by. I knew they had ceased to be and had gone back to being what they had been before they were conceived. There was nothing wrong with that. They were not going to bu burned in the fires of hell or forced to live forever worshipping some

Nuala, I suppose once we accept that man took a ...

2010-08-22T20:11:14.632+01:00

Nuala,

I suppose once we accept that man took a long time coming on the scene given the age of the universe and the earth, and evolved out of slime, we can forget the notion that he was created in god's image or was given dominion over the animals. He was/is an animal.

Mackers, Albert has just informed me that three hu...

2010-08-22T20:07:31.245+01:00

Mackers, Albert has just informed me that three hundred years ago I would have been burnt at the stake.

In his logic, which is fuelled essentially by drink, he is arguing, that I would have been sentenced for being too outspoken and owning cats.

He reckons, they would get a conviction, as he said both he and Kevin would have to testify for the prosecution!!!!

Anthony, "my lack of faith sustains me"...

2010-08-22T20:02:36.155+01:00

Anthony,

"my lack of faith sustains me"

Dr John Lennox has pointed out that this is essentially a form of faith albeit not in God.
I know you are informed greatly by Dawkins. Have you ever viewed the very interesting 2007 'God Delusion' debate between Richard and Dr Lennox held at the University of Alabama?
Before viewing this I often thought of

Anthony, I believe atheism demands a degree of inn...

2010-08-22T19:37:52.064+01:00

Anthony, I believe atheism demands a degree of inner strength and self-reliance that is not asked of theists. But I don't see how atheism itself can sustain or fortify someone in the way that faith in a god can. How can it help you cope with the death of a family member? I feel that atheism is a lonely road that I must travel down to oblivion.

Alfie, a lot of what Mackers has said is spot on, ...

2010-08-22T19:37:37.554+01:00

Alfie, a lot of what Mackers has said is spot on, at the end of the day it should be more about, each to their own and whatever gets a person through.

When I was young we had to say the rosary every day at home and I totally resented that.
I was never able to sustain a belief in Our Lady, although, over the years I have wished I could.
Always thought, that this divine and

Alfie, my lack of faith sustains me

2010-08-22T19:01:46.979+01:00

Alfie,

my lack of faith sustains me

I often envy believers. My mother, for example, dr...

2010-08-22T18:53:32.692+01:00

I often envy believers. My mother, for example, draws almost superhuman energy from Mass and the Rosary. The sense of purpose, the moral certainty, and the belief in the ultimate triumph of right over wrong do make life easier, not to mention the promise of heaven. So although I'm a committed secularist and could never believe in the vengeful, prurient god of the Catholic Church, I am a

Nuala, I don't doubt for a minute that peopl...

2010-08-22T18:48:17.029+01:00

Nuala,

I don't doubt for a minute that people draw strength from a belief in god. I know that George Monbiot once said that the two most committed social justice activists he ever met were inspired by a belief in god.

When my brother in law died I was at his side and he fervently believed he was going to his god but I was not going to tell him it was all a nonsense or

Mackers, my ma was actually struggling with religi...

2010-08-22T18:03:43.483+01:00

Mackers, my ma was actually struggling with religion and belief herself in the end. She actually said to me that, she wished she would die quickly while she still believed in something'

I know a lot of people will be less than impressed by my saying this, but when both my parents died I got such strength from my belief in God.
I never perceived God as some airy fairy being

Simon, I guess with being quadriplegics they ext...

2010-08-22T17:27:32.251+01:00

Simon,

I guess with being quadriplegics they extracted what pleasures they could from life.
Selfish? Don’t know about that. As long as you did not cheat the rest doesn’t matter.
My father taught me how to play but turned me into a bad tempered player with his slagging and winding up. My daughter has inherited it. It came out in every sport I ever played.

just been to my first muslim birthday party,the mu...

2010-08-20T21:06:41.161+01:00

just been to my first muslim birthday party,the musical chairs was a bit slow but f##k me the pass the parcel was quick

apparently the popemobile has 3 inch bulletproof g...

2010-08-20T21:00:51.255+01:00

apparently the popemobile has 3 inch bulletproof glass,thatsf##kin faith for you

Simon I agree that a police force is better if it ...

2010-08-19T21:10:20.161+01:00

Simon
I agree that a police force is better if it reflects the society it polices although not in a majoritarian sense. And for that reason I would reverse the argument and ask that all come into it on the same terms as everyone else and not place their own hurdles on the basis that ‘society must be defended’ before sectionalism.
I am also apprehensive about individuals being given more

Robert, We will never agree on this. How many sc...

2010-08-18T22:00:03.507+01:00

Robert,

We will never agree on this. How many scientists believe in God? Not a big percentage I think. Although it depends on what statistics we draw on. Frederic Burnham is not the best example given that he was not converted to religion as a result of something like the discovery. He was a person of faith. You could maybe have cited Antony Flew as a stronger example than Burnham

Mackers, when I said religion has a role in societ...

2010-08-17T22:27:51.147+01:00

Mackers, when I said religion has a role in society, I should have actually added for people like myself.

Religion has been a big, big factor in my life.
My da took me to Mass every morning before he took me to school, so maybe in some simple way I associate religion with positive aspects in my life.
Like Simon and his grandfather, we also spent endless hours playing draughts

Anthony, Oppenheimer's recall of the Hindu Bh...

2010-08-17T22:21:11.516+01:00

Anthony,

Oppenheimer's recall of the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." points us in the direction of much of mans 'free thinking'.

Anthony- I was selfish: I used it in a few games a...

2010-08-17T21:08:42.235+01:00

Anthony- I was selfish: I used it in a few games against my mates and didn't let on how I managed it. It was a fast but complicated move and they just sat there with a furious befuddled look.

My granda and his mate were quadraplegics for a long time and spent a lot of the time playing draughts. They grew up playing it and honed their skills in the wards. My granda taught me

Robert ‘Is humanity really advancing? If you are ...

2010-08-17T20:38:48.902+01:00

Robert

‘Is humanity really advancing? If you are talking about advancement
being technological advancement how far is our advancement when that
technology threatens the very existence of mankind and his environment?’

I recall Derrida pointing out that the enlightenment brought us the gas chambers and what he called the Holocaust of Hiroshima.

In the end