Thought I had a few things. Oh yea, I think that it's funny how atheists imagine that life's only reason is to produce more life, and that devout Catholics/pro-lifers seem to want to take that reason 'beyond' reason while denying the reasonableness of that reasoning.
Ummm.. a good apologist is a wordsmith. "Why is material reality any less dogmatic than religious dogma?"
We say, "You're just making shite up!", and they reply, "Isn't what you think you know just 'made up shite' too?"
Well, of course language is a 'made up' thing and we need to express material reality in language, and the good apologist knows that there's no getting around this, so he(or she) is going to use this against us. "Material reality plus(plus spirituality) is shite you say? Well material reality is a cartload of shite, isn't it?"
Well, no. There is a consensus among us that material reality is 'real' to even have the conversation!
"Ahh, but among the majority of people there is a consensus that spirituality is real too!"
But the majority of people, seems to me, are looking for an 'Easy button' when it comes to questions like, "Why are we here?", or, "Why am I here?", or, "Why is here, here?", so they would tend to jump on the "Easy button" bandwagon rather than go on the "Hamster-wheel" of infinite regress that atheists get dragged onto by well meaning(?) or, at least, well versed apologists.
If atheists are those willing to go against the religious flow and theists are those wafting the flow along, the apologist would be those fighting turbulence and blockage caused by atheists and even non-theists.
I think that the flow needs impetus and that impetus comes from the desire to live forever. But that can't be the end of it surely? "Jesus saves, thank you very much, see you in the next life, have a good one!"
No, it can't be that because that wouldn't take up a half-hour class for one school semester in grade school for everyone, never mind four years of college for the theology inclined!
No, what I think is going on is the same kind of force that drives bubbles and crashes in economies, swings of public opinion to the left or right in politics and that kind of thing.
While everyone is claiming to WANT a stable predictable economy and a 'central' government, economies and governments just don't work like that. Same with religion. It isn't WORKING if it's not stirring up crises, dragons to slay, enemies to crush, reasons to be victorious.
Much like the weather, which we wouldn't notice if it weren't changing all the time, we wouldn't notice the economy(or care about it) if it were stable and we wouldn't notice(or care) who is in government if there weren't constant crises(real or imagined), we wouldn't notice religion unless there were the controversy and the demonizing and the hate-mongering and the unsolvable, immovable lines drawn in the sand which, if you're not on my side then you are just some sub-human-monkey's-uncle-that's-all.
They don't want us to stop and think, "What is this drivel that they want us to care about now?", no. They want to keep juggling them three balls constantly, politics, economy and religion, 'cos there's nothing else.
"They're trying to steal Christmas from us!"
I suppose when it's down to that, atheists are supposed to say, "Dear Lord help us!", and then they can say, "I knew that you believed all the time, I knew it!"
10 comments:
Interesting thoughts peeb. I can see why you would say that too.
On a philosophical note, perhaps there can be no stability. If the only constant is change, why should we products of the universe be any different?
Hence governments, tribes, families, cultures, and individuals will be looking for stability.
What's reasonable? To look for causes to extant instability. What's also reasonable (as in to be expected)? Kind of like Pliny said, people will choose wrongly...often.
Creating a culture of fear victimization and external threat is a time honored way to keep people in line and diverting attention away from internal problems or inconsistencies.
we have always been at war with EastAsia...
There is the concept of entropy. Everything in this universe is constantly "expanding", both literally (in the physical sense) and figuratively (in the intellectual sense). Biological systems (all living things) continue to "seek" homeostasis (another way to express the concept of entropy/stability). When and if they do, biological systems generally stop (i.e. die). As a result, both individual humans and the social structures they create keep seeking homeostasis, but never achieve them unless they become static and die. It should be no surprise to anyone that change (whether better or worse) is built in to all of these human endeavors.
Were it not for the rain would we notice the Sunshine ? The dark of night makes daylight seem brighter? Spring wouldn't be near so beautiful were it not signalling the end of Winter ? Batman needs the Joker to become Gotham's hero?.... God would not seem so great if he didn't have Satan(evil) as his counterpart ?....
If Nietzsche is right, and Heraclitus before him, stability is practically an illusion.
Oneblood:
Just so!
Stability is an illusion - even in biological systems the best we can hope for is equilibrium - good balancing the bad in a moment to moment struggle that can go south at any time.
But there's this fractal stability to human endeavors.
The supposed cause of the latest economic 'thrill ride' changes, the supposed reasons for that political swing, the supposed new threat to our(believers') eternal salvation etc.
But this is all cyclical drivel and somewhere in there is supposed to be the increased understanding in the colleges and universities about these things, economics, politics and religion.
Are economy majors leaving school with freshly minted degrees thinking, "Well, now the banking system has proven itself bullet-proof, as in, it cannot be allowed to fail!?
Are the political science dudes hanging out for that first election and that first huge kick-back from big business?
Are theologians basically being told, "Well, just point out that they can't prove a damned thing, so it's a draw, and a draw is all we really need!"?
The cynic in me says "yes" to all three of those questions, pboy. The optimist in me says that college graduates wouldn't be themselves cynical enough to think that way for at least two or three years with their respective degrees. Corruption, dishonesty, and complacency are things that you have to work for and earn, they aren't just handed to you!
Says the guy who called health care law "death panel" "gulag" RT @ChuckGrassley: Obama was not Presidential in his sniping at romney
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