BookTalk.org

Interbane: Sorry if you don't condone genocide, but you deserve this attributed to you due to how obscure your posts are. Try making coherent posts instead of the normal gibberish and I'm sure there would be less misunderstanding.

Adieu Interbane, no need to continue talking with you. Thank you for sharing.

As for genocidal attributes, I think the murderous assertion that "religion must die" carries a great deal of violent and deadly potential.

Dissident Heart wrote: In the context of Al Gore's Certainty: his choice to turn the tide and work against the seemingly inevitable by way of a hope and trust in the seemingly impossible is an act of Faith.

I can envision saying of someone that he or she evinced great faith in working for/fighting for some cause, without connecting the actions to religious faith. And I do not believe that such actions have to have religious faith underlying them. I won't argue about your broad definition of the word.

I do have to again complain of hypocrisy in Al Gore, though. I can't see any justification or excuse for him to use 20 times more energy per month in his home than the average American. Buying up carbon credits in expiation is a charade.

DH: "Adieu Interbane, no need to continue talking with you. Thank you for sharing."

This thread holds the greatest amount of coherent posts I've seen from you, and I appreciate that. If you decide to stop talking to me, please don't go back to preaching.

I find it interesting that when the topic shifted to the death of religion, you perked up and wrote rational replies, as if you considered that do be a very dangerous to your crusade on these forums. It must really irk you to know deep down that religion will inevitably die off.

DH: "As for genocidal attributes, I think the murderous assertion that "religion must die" carries a great deal of violent and deadly potential."


There is nothing wrong with wishing dead a belief system responsible for the torture and death of millions.

Vicious. Nice rebuts Interbane, DH can keep pace though, watch your back!!



You one with Jedi, him only know mind trick. - Yoda

Hi, everyone. After putting the book aside for almost a month, I just read the Faith chapter. Despite all the discussion in this thread, I didn't get much out of the chapter itself.

Some of the basic ideas were reasonable. Most people seek some sort of meaning or purpose in life. That purpose emerges based on a person's temperament and experiences, as opposed to being something that can be decided upon rationally.

Though I understood Burton's sentences, it wasn't clear to me what point we has making. Maybe that's because neither science nor religion provides meaning to my life. Instead, my inner purpose is tied to my desires, struggles, goals, relationships, and experiences. That's less grand than the stuff Burton was focusing on, but it feels much more relevant.

I see the value of the chapter, overall, in its attempt to reconcile religion with science or faith with non-belief. Burton posits a basic human need to find meaning and purpose, a need which for many is not met by scientific rationality. That is really all there is to it. Although he doesn't say it himself, for me it follows that problems that may be said to arise from religious worldviews are not the result of supposed irrational features, but of other social factors. The nonrational is not in itself dangerous.