04.21.08
Greetings from the Pope
as he flew over our heads….NB This is True. I thought it was funny. Does he send such greetings to everyone as he flies around?
HER EXCELLENCY MARY MCALEESE
PRESIDENT OF IRELAND
DUBLIN
ENTERING IRISH AIRSPACE EN ROUTE TO ROME AFTER MY VISIT TO THE
UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION I RENEW MY
GREETINGS TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AND CORDIALLY INVOKE UPON ALL THE
BELOVED IRISH PEOPLE GOD’S ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Pope Nazi said,
April 21, 2008 at 11:44 pm
A deluded man with little of value to bring to the world actually.
Tom N said,
April 22, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Sounds like anti-Catholic trolling there Pope Nazi.
Each to their own but it is a bit of ass-kissing on his part. I reckon one of his flight crew sent it while twisted!
Frank Ryan said,
April 23, 2008 at 12:34 pm
“Sounds like anti-Catholic trolling there Pope Nazi.”
Why is it that when someone expresses an opinion which is strident and unusual they are the object of insults and misrepresentation?
First of all the current Pope was a Nazi! As a matter of fact! Ok only the children’s Nazi movement and doubtless with little choice, however the worst that can be said of the using the name Pope Nazi is that it was a cheap way to remind us of his [Pope Ben} personal history. It could also be seen as funny?
Anyway the statement made “A deluded man with little of value to bring to the world actually” is certainly fair comment as this man believes in all manner of crazy and illogical things that are bound up with being a catholic.In the case of most Catholics, they don’t actually know or believe in the literal catholic teachings.
Therefore the current Pope who is known for his “Theology expertise” ? is indeed very much a deluded man who is the head of an organization that hopefully in time will fade away and become ever more irrelevant as people become more educated and economically better off to be free.
Sadly just like the tobacco companies the “C Church” targets the poor and ignorant people of the world the most and it is no coincidence that it is in those places which the C Church has its most power and influence.
I agree with the Pope Nazi! He is a deluded and perhaps there is something in the joke about him really being – Pope BeneDictator
Rob Hickey said,
April 23, 2008 at 12:57 pm
It is no coincidence that the Catholic Church “target” the poor as they are the people who need them. Its quite possible that if you asked some of those “poor and ignorant” people you MAY see what value the Church brings to the world.
Unfortunately the poor people haven’t advanced enough to be empowered with the internet so they can make vicious ungrounded attacks.
V said,
April 23, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Front pages after the death of JPII in 2005:
IT: ‘World mourns Pope’
II: ‘Final Farewell’
New Statesman: ‘He did more to spread AIDS in Africa than prostitution and trucking combined”
..love it!
Joseph said,
April 23, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Rob Hickey is a fool!
Joseph said,
April 23, 2008 at 10:18 pm
the Poor DO NOT NOT NEED hocus pocus religion. What they need is human rights, freedom to work and think for themselves and plenty of education and opportunity to improve their standard of living.
Once that is done they will in the main forget all about the silly catholic/theist nonsense and get real with what matters and the everyday stuff that makes the world go around. Thereafter we will all be better off.
Niall said,
April 23, 2008 at 11:09 pm
“Anyway the statement made “A deluded man with little of value to bring to the world actually” is certainly fair comment as this man believes in all manner of crazy and illogical things that are bound up with being a catholic.In the case of most Catholics, they don’t actually know or believe in the literal catholic teachings. ”
Yes, yes, Catholics like Mendel, Lemaître, Descartes, St. Thomas More, Angela Carter, Robert Schuman, Pierre Boulle and the like should all be ignored as they have little of value to bring to the world, being Catholic and all.
As for the Nazi comment, well every German of a certain age has to put up with that kind of shit from people who play the man rather than the ball. Don’t get me wrong, that kind of name calling can be fun – Bush is a cunt – but enlightening, intellectually stimulating, defensible or relevant? Nay sir, it is not.
Rob Hickey said,
April 24, 2008 at 9:57 am
Calm down Joseph for Jaysus’ sake. There seems to be a few church haters online here.
My point was that NO ONE ELSE bothered their arse helping the poor and needy while Mother Therese et al was actively making a difference. Immature and fickle little criticisms like the above get up my nose, help no one and are ignorant at best.
I’m no religious nut, but spirituality is important to many and believe it or not it does answer a lot of questions for people and can make life a little easier. Nothing wrong with that is there?
Or maybe we’d be better off concentrating on sortng out our taxes and stuff.
Faith is FAITH remember. Its based on belief. If you don’t believe, fair enough, no problem.
Pope Nazi said,
April 24, 2008 at 3:59 pm
“Bush is a cunt ”
Not deleted??????
V said,
April 24, 2008 at 4:41 pm
The problem, as we have seen, arises when the church has a hold on communities and can influence government decisions. It’s the old problem of the church’s overall ideology producing a position which costs the lives of the faithful, as with AIDS in Africa and birth control in the Philippines. We learned from the example of the Spanish Second Republic that an anti-clerical stance provides the basis for conservative reaction, (lest they ever need a reason to react) and can only lead to grief because some will always need ‘faith’. But it is naive not to understand that the Church is a political organization like any other with moderates and extremists fighting for control. What is says in Dublin is not the same as what it says Manila. The extremists have had much success with Ratzinger. The moderates say that the most important thing is to give ‘hope’ through participation in politics and ‘liberation theology’. The Paraguayan elections offer further hope that the church can play an active part in left wing politics without having to ditch links with its historic sugar daddy.
Enf said,
April 24, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I am a regular traveler to the Philippines. The population growth of the Philippines is off the charts. Gigantic families are the norm. Corruption and graft is world class there. You don’t even have to bother to hide it.
The Church opposed birth control because they wouldn’t have enough people to pay for their wars. In Europe back when the Pope or Popes were just Monarchs.
Now where is the limit? Does the Filipino population have to grow to 100 million, 200 million, 500 million? Will this ever be enough for the Church?
The country is under stress from a gigantic population. These people are desperate to work. They have a massive emigrant popualtion.
It breaks my hear to see SUV driving “upper class” women in Ireland keeping Filipino slaves because they know that the law will come down on their side and they can squeeze the employee between the law and breaking point. Being away from home for two years is the norm for some here. These people have no choice and always have to take the hard road. The wonderful Irish ‘employers” are more than willing to make this load even harder to bear.
It is my opinion that the Church is keeping the Philippines in the dark ages for its own end. Just like it did here. Just like Marlboro and Monsanto. They have no shame and no humility nor compassion for the suffering of their “own”
Rob Hickey said,
April 24, 2008 at 9:09 pm
“The Church opposed birth control because they wouldn’t have enough people to pay for their wars. In Europe back when the Pope or Popes were just Monarchs.
Now where is the limit? Does the Filipino population have to grow to 100 million, 200 million, 500 million? Will this ever be enough for the Church?”
Now come on lads, you don’t honestly believe that the Church is actively trying to damn the Phillipines to poverty?? That kind of stuff belongs in the Da Vinci code (which by the sounds of things many of you have read).
Its a fair point that the Church is a political body but number one, it is a theological and spiritual movement and as such it is slow to change. Issues like birth control touch on theological issues so they cannot be changed over night. The administration side wants to reform, of course, but it doesn’t want to split the Church as has happened so many times in the past, therefore, it has to adapt ever so slowly.
The other point that regions of the world vary greatly is also true but that only proves how difficult it is to keep the Church together. Some regions have particularily strong views on particular theological debates.
But the idea that the Church is making calculated attempts to ‘feed armies’ or hold entire countries in poverty is the type of thing you would hear from an angsty teenager. Its just naeive.
Enf said,
April 24, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Haven’t read or seen the DaVinci Code.
Have been to the Phils multiple times and seen the poverty and overpopulation.
Being soft on the Church is naive. It does in its arse want reform. Ratzinger is a conservative like his predecessor. I am not running down anyones right to believe whatever they want but please wake up and smell the coffee. The church is not the benevolent institution you seem to think it is.
Angsty teenager? How patronising is that!
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 9:22 am
Many of the posts on this have been fairly patronising to be honest.
My point about reform is that its difficult – extremely so. No one person in the church can just alter theological doctrine on a whim, not even the Pope. They have to have massive “conferences” of which there have only been a handful in the history of the Church. Most recently Vatican II in the 60’s.
Overpopulation/AIDS etc are modern issues that the mechanisms of Catholicism were not deisgned to cope with. They must modernise, but to do so they have to reach a consensus across every continent and culture. And each of these may emphasise a particular aspect of faith that another finds trivial (backed up by what V said i.e. the Church in Ireland is different to Church in Phillipines etc). They must try to do this without having another Reformation…
I’m not trying to be soft on the Church, of course it deserves criticism, I’m just trying to put a bit of balance on some of the populist views posted above, in particular that the Pope is a nazi, deluded and irrelevant.
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 10:02 am
I feel that many of the contributors to this debate are missing the point entirely.
Any sane, rational, intelligent person, who has paid the slightest attention to the state of current scientific knowlegde and theory regarding the the origins and nature of our universe must conclude that the Catholic Church is completely wrong in all of its assertions and unbending truths about God.
The simple fact is that God is fiction. Throughout human history mankind has invented many different gods, always from a position of ignorance. These gods were used to explain the things that we could not understand at the time. Whether it was Thor, creating thunder in the heavens with his giant hammer or a benevolent god bringing much needed rain to nourish crops, these inventions were simply a reflection of man’s ignorance of meterology and the natural world. Those who could plausibly claim to communicate with and interpet messages from the gods found themselves in positions of extreme power. Power is what religion is really about. The power to determine how ones fellow citizens should and would live their lives.
In the 21st century it is utter nonsense for any half intelligent individual to cling to an unproven, irrational belief in God. It is utterly immoral for leaders of churches to preach from guilded palaces about how we should deal with povert and inequality. (Just as it is utterly immoral for rock stars to preach about combating poverty while shoveling massive incomes into tax havens offsore!).
So, if we take the rational view that the churches and their billions of followers are simply wrong, we can just ignore them and they might just all go away.
Remember, God is simply Santa Claus for grown ups.
Enf said,
April 25, 2008 at 10:16 am
Surely if you have 12 kids and being unable bring them up its worse than having one child and giving them a fair shot?
The Church will never reform. Its not in their interest. They will just change focus to the developing world like the cigarette companies.
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 10:51 am
I’m not sure if that was sarcasm or what Andrew… They will all go away?
“it is utter nonsense for any half intelligent individual to cling to an unproven, irrational belief in God”
Prove to me that God DOESN’T exist? Its faith, its belief, you can’t “prove” it. The whole point is that its transcendant i.e. beyond our understanding of the world.
And Enf, the Church targeting markets like cigarette companies??!
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:05 am
‘I’m not sure if that was sarcasm or what Andrew… They will all go away?’
That particular line, Rob, was absolute sarcasm.
I can only assume that asking me to prove a negative is the same. There is no evidence whatsoever to support the existence of God. It is not a huge leap from there to conclude that a belief in such an utterly unproven God is at best irrational but more probably childish in the extreme. When did you abondon your ‘faith ‘ in Santa Claus, the Toothe Fairy and the Easter Bunny? There is as much evidence to support the existence of those three as there is of the existence of God.
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:23 am
Very good Andrew. You are very smart. You’re abundant intelligence can solve all the world’s problems then.
How do you feel about Tibet I wonder? Are the enlightened Chinese doing a good job? Surely they are – eradicating those fools in their dressing gowns worshipping Santa and only holding us all back.
No place for Religion? We’re better off without it? I think there have been a few attempts at that particular experiment, on both left and right. Any success?
Enf said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:25 am
Yes. Cigarette companies. You know what a cigarette company is?
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:39 am
What the problems of Tibet have got to do with the existence or not of God is quite beyond me. As for my own intelligence, thank you, I always accept a nice compliment and never assume that it is sarcastic.
I don’t accept that the problems of the world would be any worse if humanity was to abandon religion. People frequently make the point that Hitler was an atheist and use it to pummel atheism. I assume that this is what you are talking about when you mention the right. This is very clever except that it ignores the fact that Hitler was not in fact an atheist. If your left wing example is Stalin’s Russia, and it frequently is in this debate, how has the suppression of religion got anything to do with the horrors perpetrated by Uncle Joe. Stalin was an evil bastard and the presence or not of religion in Stalinist Russia has no bearing on the vileness of his regime.
As regards solving all the world’s problems, I don’t make any claim that I can. It is religion which claims to have all the answers or at least those ones that matter. Anything which religion cannot explain or solve it files away as a mystery. If God wanted us to know certain things he would have given us these answers. Science does not claim to have all of the answers but at least they will continue looking for them. When a fellow scientist proves another to be wrong those who have been proven wrong are actually quite pleased to have furthered their own knowledge. When one tries to tell the religious that they are wrong one is labelled as an infidel or a heretic.
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 12:07 pm
This happens all the tim on blogs. Look at this trail of crap.
Every post and counter post takes something out of the previous that wasn’t actually said and then heads off in some tangent that you have to try to answer. All the while little digs are thrown in and people start getting offensive.
All I tried to do here was respond to “Nazi Pope” and tell him that the Pope is in fact quite relevant, regardless of what your beliefs are. And this you cannot deny.
The thread was then hijacked by populist “religion is stupid so cop on” types who I also could not ignore. Religion is in fact not stupid, but is in fact a genuine human attempt at finding answers. Anything human is fallible and, therefore, can be abused.
Can we leave it at that fellas?
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I take your point, Rob. Perhaps some of us are being a little Crewseresque.
I would, however be grateful if you would point out any offensiveness in my own contribution. Unless that you simply find my disagreeing with you offensive. I am not offended by people holding a contrary viewpoiont to mine. What I do find disagreeable is the idea that to simply deny the ‘truth’ of religion is often deemed offensive.
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Sorry Rob, I’ve just re-read your last comment and no, I can’t just leave it at that.
‘The thread was then hijacked by populist “religion is stupid so cop on” types.’
The thread was not hijacked. What happened was that a debate developed. Joseph, of course, was his usual offensive self.
‘Religion is in fact not stupid, but is in fact a genuine human attempt at finding answers.’
It is my considered opinion that religion is, in fact, unbelieveable stupid. This is not something that I would say lightly. I am, after all, married to a catholic woman. My daughter is making her first communion tomorrow. (You see, I’m not as intollerant as you may think.)
Religion is not a genuine human attempt to find answers. Philosophy is a genuine attempt to find answers. Scientific study is a genuine attempt to find answers. Christian religion claims to have been give the answers thousands of years ago. Christianity would be more acceptable to me as a philosophy, the elements of which I will instill in my children as they grow. Tollerence, decency, respect, honesty etc. As far as philosophies and philosophers go Jesus Christ should be up there with Plato and Aristotle and Hume and Kant etc. ‘Love thy neighbour….turn the other cheek..the ten thou shalts and shall nots’ These were philosophies were about two thousand years ahead of their time. Seperate them from all the rubbish about divinity and God and heaven and hell and you have pretty good rule book for life.
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 12:47 pm
No you can deny it Andrew. That is absolutely your right. But similarily, those who don’t have any religion must have tolerance for those who do.
Calling people fools for having genuine faith and who have no intentions of trying to spread AIDS or poverty would be offensive if it wasn’t so childish.
Extremists are extremists, abusers are abusers. Some people are bad, others are alright…
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 1:02 pm
What I meant by the thread being hijacked was that it went off the point and generalisations were being made all over the place.
Religion came about because people asked questions, they could not find the answers and so they replaced them with faith. All philossophy is based on assumption and theory aswell, and every philosophical argument can be rebutted with another one. You can’t “believe” in philosophy, its more a tool.
Religious debate is similar to philosophical debate but religion is the attempt at consensus and in order to reach consensus you need order, rules and a list of beliefs.
As we have seen, these cannot please everyone. And as we have also seen, they make no sense to those who have not signed up to them.
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 25, 2008 at 1:18 pm
‘And as we have also seen, they make no sense to those who have not signed up to them.’
A good note on which to finish, Rob.
We shall have to agree to disagree.
At least wish me luck at the Communion tomorrow!
Enf said,
April 25, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Wow. Thats new. A debate on Religion stifled.
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Perhaps we’re all quite mature after all…
Best of look indeed Andrew – hope she makes a packet!
Joseph said,
April 25, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I find this exchange between Andrew and Rob hilarious! Basically Andrew has blown any hint of credibility from Rob out of the water and rendered his arguments completely silly and circular. He has said very well what I think myself and the terrible fact for faith heads is that his whole argument is irrefutable. Therefore all we see as a retort is distraction and some ignorant assertions and comments from Rob designed to deflect attention away from the simple facts of what was at issue.
Andrew never said that people who believed were stupid but rather what they wish to believe in was very stupid!.In other words it is perfectly possible for intelligent people to believe in and indeed behave in all manner of stupid ways while still being actually intelligible.
People all to frequently compartmentalize and delude themselves to the point of living their whole lives in denial.
As for me being offensive? Well that is a fair comment up to a point. If only to the extent that sometimes I like to stir things up and oddly enough such tactics are often useful in just getting an exchange going.
It being the job of others to rein in the excesses which may follow from me or anyone else in such exchanges. In the case of this particular thread the thing was stone dead and had hardly 2/3 comments until things started to get going.
I don’t mind offending anyone so long as I am not being nasty directly insulting/attacking anyone. The world is full of people just waiting to be “offended” It is the great con job of all time.
Attack the argument not the person.
If we had top evaluate the exchange between poor Rob and Andrew then I am afraid it was a massacre and Rob never scored a single goal, whereas Andrew scored too many to count.
Jesus may Save but Maradonna Scores
Joseph said,
April 25, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Actually Rob scored a few OWN GOALS
Rob Hickey said,
April 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Ha ha – hooray for Joseph and his technicolour nonsense.
Good night
Joseph said,
April 25, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Again I say attack the argument not the poster! But you dont seem able to do that? Good day!
Leon said,
April 25, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I never take English comments seriously their genocidal empire was founded on ant catholicism.
joe said,
April 25, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Someone defined faith as believing something you know isn’t true. Faith, whether religious or just self-delusion, is a common characteristic of a lot of bad people – climate change deniers, bankers who mis-value mortgage bonds, islamic fundamentalists, utopian idealists, racists .. all happily ignore evidence on the basis of their faith.
God Debate « Talking Straight said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:00 pm
[...] http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2008/04/21/greetings-from-the-pope/ [...]
Tom N said,
April 26, 2008 at 9:27 am
Apparantly this has turned into a God debate. If you believe in God or not…your perrogative.
But hold up a moment when we say taht the Pope causes aids… that’s is b/s. It is inconceivable that people the reason that people don’t use condoms is because of the church’s teaching. It is conceivable that a very devout momogamous couple would because obviously they put a lot of store into what the church say. However to say that the people selectively listen to edicts about condoms and not about momogamy is ridiculous.
That whole debate is frankly insulting to human intelligence. There seems to be three forces here.
1. People are told that unprotected sex is dangerous.
2. People are told that anything other than mutual monogamy is dangerous.
3. People are told not to use condoms becuase it’s a sin.
So the argument here is that people chose to listen to one of the three thigs being told, but not the other two.
This is analagous to the blame culture which has become so prevelant here. If a kid robs a car it’s because he didn’t have a playground when he was younger. When a person uses coke, it’s because it has become socially acceptable to do so. Therefore the person must no longer be capable of making theirown decisions about drugs. It’s like our mums used to say when we were kids “And if your friends all jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?”
Tom N said,
April 26, 2008 at 9:48 am
Sorry about typos. Still hungover.
Frank Ryan said,
April 26, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Nonsense!
Tom N said,
April 27, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Presume the “Nonsense” comment was directed at me. Fair enough, deserved it for all the typos.
However saying that the Pope causes AIDS is just lunacy. The Pope is entitled to say what he believes and on a purely empiracle and mathematical level, his teachings that sex should only happened as part of a committed mutually monogamous relationship of marriage is hard to fault. Yes you can fault it on pragmatic levels, but nothing that the church says is actually untrue.
I don’t believe it is pragmatic. However I don’t believe that people listen stringently to the church anyway. If they did, they would not be having sex with more than one partner. Yes it’s ridiculously impracticle, and in modern Ireland it is almost inconceivable of a person having only one sexual partner for life. Yes sex without a condom is much more enjoyable but it is up to the individual to make choices.
Rob Hickey said,
April 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm
“Basically Andrew has blown any hint of credibility from Rob out of the water and rendered his arguments completely silly and circular.”
How did he manage that then Joseph? Explain…
I think I managed to prove the points I was making namely that the Pope IS VERY relevant (whether you believe it or not), that religion DOES have a role to play in many people’s lives (and always has), that the Pope did not cause AIDS (!!!!) and that comments damning religion/catholicism as delusions are both ignorant and useless.
(in CAPS as this is the language you seem to understand)
How about respecting other people’s opnions instead of resorting to namecalling and slander?
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 27, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Ah, Rob. Please don’t get carried away. Proving that the Pope is relevant is not really a big deal. The Pope is of course hugely relevant to followes of the Roman Catholic religion. To me, however, he is utterly inconsequential. If you believe, as Joseph does, that the Pope bears some responsibility for the spread of AIDS in Africa, then, of course, the Pope has huge relevance.
I don’t think that anyone here denied that religion has a role to play in many people’s lives. That is just ‘the bleedin’ obvious’.
More importantly, I would like to hear about how you have proved that comments damning religion/catholicism as delusion are both ignorant and useless. Have you proved to anyone that your God exists? Have you converted any sceptics here?
I look for evidence of God’s existence and I see none. If I ask you to present evidence of God’s existence you will show me none. I use this lack of evidence (among other things) to deduce that God does not exist. You claim, despite the lack of evidence, that God does exist. And yet, my deduction is dismissed as ignorant and useless.
The Lord moves in mysterious ways indeed, as do the deluded minds of his followers.
When asked what he would do if he could be God for a day, London mayoral candidate, Boris Johnston, said, ‘I think I would try just a little bit harder to convince Richard Dawkins that I exist.’
Yes, quite.
Rob Hickey said,
April 27, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Proving that the Pope was relevant was all I was trying to do. I haven’t tried to “convert” anyone to believing in “my God”.
I only wrote here as there were sweeping stetments being made that I found offensive.
You, like anyone else Andrew, are entitled to your opinion but that is not a justification for the vocious and “deluded” view that the Pope is a nazi, irrelevant etc etc etc etc etc
Blogging is a complete waste of time and IS NOT a uselful medium for proving that God exists. I neve said he does exist, I never said he doesn’t exist but again and agian and again you and others have assumed that I am preaching that “HE” does.
People believe it and they are entitled to beloive DONT MISS THE POINT again.
Enough of this useless debate.
Enf said,
April 27, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Rob,
Glad to see that blogging has been disproved as a method for finding imaginary people.
The Pope in continuing the ban on contraception is causing millions of people to suffer needlessly. This is why he is both relevant an irrelevant.
I do not care if God exists or not. No man should be allowed to prolong the suffering of another man because he thinks the should.
End of.
Rob take a chill pill. And maybe get a spellchecker.
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 28, 2008 at 7:03 am
‘Blogging is a complete waste of time…’ ???
Your name appears at the top of many, many comments on this particular blog. Obviously blogging serves some purpose in your life. The issues raised here are usually quite interesting and, when we are not discussing Bertie, we tend to bring more light than heat. If ths is, as you say, a complete waste of time, then what have you not been doing this weekend when you have been sparring with Enf and Joseph and me?
As Enf said, take a chill pill.
And don’t forget to spread the word. God is fiction. Those who believe in God are deluded, idiotic, sheep who need to spend a little more time considering thed facts.
Frank Ryan said,
April 28, 2008 at 7:43 am
Yes I must agree that Rob is very much adrift in a sea of confusion and misunderstanding.
The main problem with Religions and so called “faith” is that these religions and the people who buy into the nonsense preached by them is that they are never content to merely just believe in all manner of absurd and fantastical things but rather they all too often feel compelled to “share” their weird and bronze age myths with the rest of us and then impose it as a doctrine, all the while making the most absurd and incredible claims about the nature of life and its origins,not to mention, morality and the imperative of them to impose their morality on the population at large.
It has taken long enough for us to have broken free from the power and tyranny of the churches so if these faith heads would be kind enough to keep their weird superstitions to themselves and not act as if they had actual answers to any of the major questions about life then all would be fine.
Seen as they cannot de-construct the whole religious apparatus built up over years of ignorance and dominance it is unlikely they will give up the privileged positions they have obtained within society without people standing up for their rights and at least let the crazy clergy know that their cards are marked and not all of the people can be fooled by their superstitious crap.
Frank Ryan said,
April 28, 2008 at 7:49 am
Without people standing up for their rights and at least let the crazy clergy know that their cards are marked and not all of the people can be fooled by their superstitious crap. There is always the risk of us falling backwards in time and allowing the churches/religions to regain the power and influence it once had. As Dawkins says: we are pretty much all “atheists” with regard to hundreds if not thousands of gods. Why not go that one god further and not waste time on the imaginary friend in the sky.
Rob Hickey said,
April 28, 2008 at 9:07 am
“And don’t forget to spread the word. God is fiction. Those who believe in God are deluded, idiotic, sheep who need to spend a little more time considering thed facts.”
So you married an idiotic sheep? I’m sure she would be delighted with that.
You all apear to think that I’m on a mission from St. Paul to convert all the Gentiles. I AM NOT. My only reason for postng on this was, as I have explaiined repeatedly, to rebuff some of the ridiculous statements made at the beginning re Pope/No Role/Cause of AIDS etc.
Religion does have a place in many people’s lives and all of you should respect that – using insulting language to prove that you are clued in and markedly more intelligent than other superstitious ‘fools’ helps no one.
Lads, I’m tired of having to explain myself. I’ll leave you experts to it.
ps – blogging is a bit of sport but rarely avoids falling into embittered stand-offs
Enf said,
April 28, 2008 at 10:35 am
Er… Stand off? Where?
Rob is going nuts about bestiality and lashing out at all and sundry while what I was saying is that maybe the Church could consider practising Christianity in all its markets and give the third world a break.
All this because a German gave us a wave.
Andrew Lawlor said,
April 28, 2008 at 11:16 am
The sheep is well on the way to rehabilitation. My own escape from the clutches of delusion took nearly twenty years, so it’s early days yet.