I'm afraid of religious people, and I've realised I'm getting more afraid, untrusting and skeptical of them as time goes by.
This became apparent to me when I read this article on the BBC website. My first reaction is, "well of course, why would you trust any person who is so misguided?" Then, then I started thinking if this is a healthy way for me to go about my life. There are plenty of religious people who I have known, many of which have been otherwise trustworthy people.
I think I don't trust religious people for 2 reasons. Firstly, there is no limits to what a person will do if they are following the word of their god. They will go against all the other rational alarm bells which tell other people that what they are doing is crazy. I really fear this.
Secondly, I fear that someone who has come to what I consider such a highly irrational conclusion as believing in a god (no matter how rational you may think it is), makes me wonder what other kind of highly irrational conclusions they may reach in the future.
Of course people are free to believe whatever they want. But on the other hand when my life or the lives of those close to me are in such a person's hands (like a doctor, or police officer or teacher) I am really concerned about how they think and what they might do. Needless to say this also applies to the leaders of our countries, though this impacts me less immediately.
Not sure why you think leaders are religious. The pursuit of power is a highly competitive field. Arguably the most competitve one. I am sure that anyone who succeeds is extremely rational.
Other than that, most people defer to some authority over observation and rational analysis. And even those who claim to be rational in principle often fall short in practice. Religion is just one example and it might not even be the most common one by now.
Be weary of people on an individual basis. Your fear of religious people can almost be described as dogmatic [Dogma: Characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles]. And even if you could prove that you should be more scared of religious people, your fear is still irrational because odds are they're not dangerous despite the increased odds. Should I be afraid of you because of your irrational paranoia?
No one acts in a completely rational fashion, and rationality cannot be defined in a completely objective fashion either. Some people have irrational beliefs; some people have irrational fears of religious people. Being irrational in one way, does not usually lead to being irrational in a professional function.
And I'm afraid of you and your belief in the manmade god.
Frankly, after even further deliberation, I don't know what the fuck to believe anymore - but I know one thing - and that is: you can believe whatever the fuck you want. If you think that a person's beliefs impact their character - then it is the CHARACTER that you should judge, not something as fickle as a belief.
FIRSTLY, there's no limit to what a person will do when his mind breaks - when he rejects his own personal delusions, when his scaffolding of logic and rationality collapse and he begins to realize that everything in his world is an irrational construct. He might kill people. He might kill himself.
SECONDLY, I fear that someone who has come to what I consider such a highly irrational conclusion as believing in the utter superiority of man, the existence of nothing and of nothingness, the man-made god and the constructs of the machine (no matter how rational you may think it is) , makes me wonder WHAT OTHER KIND OF HIGHLY IRRATIONAL CONCLUSIONS YOU MAY REACH IN THE FUTURE.
You claim you believe in nothing? Prove it. Question everything - even your own misguided, irrational beliefs. Question yourself until your scaffolding crumbles. Destroy yourself.
No man believes in nothing. You can delude yourself again and again, you can lock such thought away, but if you claim to think as you "do," then you wouldn't be writing about the "irrational, misguided beliefs of religious people," and how you fear them.
You wouldn't even be writing this blog. You wouldn't believe in atheism. A stronger, more valid belief which is closer to neutrality would be to believe in everything. But how can you do that? It's too hard for a mortal mind to comprehend. So we pick sides. Because we are fundamentally irrational beings.
I liked this. It was similar to venting. Good job OP. We both vented today.
When you say you are scared of religion you say that you are scared of irrational people, because they can be more impulsive and they can rush to illogical conclusions which might put you in danger.
But isn't it rational when someone is afraid of death and fells purposeless in life ? Isn't it rational to seek something to "protect you" from this fear ? Does any field of science talk about "life after death", about "every action you did on Earth metering" or about a "soul, which is the real you which non can harm"
Of course not, actually all scientific discoveries that are related to death and purpose in life basically state that "a)Death is death, the brain stops, deal with it" and "b) at some point the universe as we know it will end, there is no way to stop it and life has mp real purpose". That's a real bummer... that doesn't make you fell good, might as well jump of a fucking bridge is life has no meaning at all.
So quite frankly id say that out of the two, religious people are the happier and more rational on a primitive level, id rather expect a very scientist to be mad than a very smart priest.
The problem is that most of the time religious people are also very stupid, because being intelligent will generally force you to admit to science being right and religion being bollocks, hence why you fell like religious people are more dangerous... because stupid people are generally more dangerous and more hazardous in their action but that doesn't make all religious people dangerous it only makes someone dangerous more likely to be religious.
And the whole " The bible/Koran/BS" tells you to kill and be bad might as well be out of the discussion, because quite frankly around 95% of the people that uphold a religion haven't read them, so if we were to go to "religious people that read those books and are still religious" we would be talking about a whole different demographic and a whole different level of insanity.
On September 27 2013 14:17 itsjustatank wrote: you realize the height of irony is that your fear of these people is irrational in and of itself, correct.
That's why I am deeply afraid of the OP. There is no telling how far he may go to defend his belief that religious people are irrational.
One should consider that only a tiny fraction of people who claim to be religious are actually seriously into it. From my science-chair I´d say, less than 1%. Most is just culture.
I´m afraid of Americans because they obviously cannot control their gluttonous impulses and eat themselves to death. It´s highly irrational really, to ruin your body like that. How can I trust someone with my life, when he´s probably planning on eating me already?
Put it this way. I wouldn't let someone... who genuinely believed that we are servants of an alien overlord race.... baby-sit my child. Even if the person is a kind friendly person, I just wouldn't and I doubt many people would.
On September 27 2013 19:29 deathly rat wrote: Put it this way. I wouldn't let someone... who genuinely believed that we are servants of an alien overlord race.... baby-sit my child. Even if the person is a kind friendly person, I just wouldn't and I doubt many people would.
In which case I say you are no friend to children, for childhood is the opportunity we take to project the limitless freedom of our own psyche unto a boundless world. This belief that anything is possible is as close as most of us will ever come to the miraculous, which, in our age of mental and physical conformity, is increasingly the only state of life in which we are really human.
On September 27 2013 19:29 deathly rat wrote: Put it this way. I wouldn't let someone... who genuinely believed that we are servants of an alien overlord race.... baby-sit my child. Even if the person is a kind friendly person, I just wouldn't and I doubt many people would.
In which case I say you are no friend to children, for childhood is the opportunity we take to project the limitless freedom of our own psyche unto a boundless world. This belief that anything is possible is as close as most of us will ever come to the miraculous, which, in our age of mental and physical conformity, is increasingly the only state of life in which we are really human.
I'd be open to my kid being told crazy stories but if the person genuinely believes something like that I would be worried. My earlier post was based on acceptance - there are many religious people, most of them believe in one thing which I believe to be crazy, but then again organized religion is very persuasive.... The alien overlord race thing is a bit worrisome to me and I'd be worried for my child's safety.
It's about the coarsening of the mind by building artificial barriers to thought. I think Chesterton explained this concisely in Orthodoxy:
Spiritual doctrines do not actually limit the mind as do materialistic denials. Even if I believe in immortality I need not think about it. But if I disbelieve in immortality I must not think about it. In the first case the road is open and I can go as far as I like; in the second the road is shut.
Of course, the mind which contemplates the incredible doctrine is superior to one which can only believe in credible doctrines, just as the eyes which can see an object on a foggy night are superior to those who can only see it in the clear daylight.
Even allowing for the rather remarkable prejudice against alien-worshipping nannies on an intellectual level, the truth is that the alien-worshipping nanny is probably just a man-child akin to Dickens' Mr. Dick, and therefore understands your child better than you possibly could.
That's actually not true. I do fear for people who irrationally reject the holy and righteous message of the One True God. And to some degree I am wary of those people. I would never vote for an atheist, for example. I would never seek out an atheist for moral or spiritual advice. Not because I think they are capable of doing terrible things (everyone is capable of doing terrible things), but because their beliefs and morals do not reflect my own and thus are incapable of relating to me on any meaningful level.
I would allow an atheist to babysit my children, and I wouldn't even necessarily disallow them from discussing it (in an appropriate manner). Some of my cousins are atheists (I think), and they are, by far, better people than myself. More successful, harder-working, more accepting, and more charitable. Shit, one of my cousins once took off her brand new shoes and gave them to a homeless person. That was, at it's heart, a better example of the Christian faith than any protestation or prayer that the most devout person could give.
Learn to recognize the good in people and to accept the bad. You'll be happier in the long run and they will be more likely to respect your own point of view.
On September 28 2013 01:26 blubbdavid wrote: What's the notion of rationality?
I don't care to define it but people who use the words "One True God" unironically aren't into rationality, at least in that area of their life. I mean there's "true" in the damn phrase just to make sure it sounds dogmatic as fuck, you don't need to be a genius to see the person is rocking some serious confirmation bias.
EPT
