Theist/Atheist or Agnostic Page 9

Quote: zooo @ August 31 2008, 4:39 PM BST

I can't honestly remember anything that went on in a PSE class. Except that once we had to imagine it was our 10 year school reunion and write down what we were doing with our lives and read it out.

And once I went to the loo twice during one class, and one of the boys asked really loudly if I was doing coke in there.

Two whole memories. So, in all: PSE, very worthwhile.

View original

Brilliant.

Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ August 31 2008, 4:41 PM BST

Personal and Social Responsibilities.

View original

How very very gay.

We had one teacher basically preach against religion to us for an hour every week for a half-term.

Excellent!

The best one was when they saw fit to give us sex talks for an hour a week of a half-term. Free condoms ended up all over the piazza...

Brilliant.

Or floating away when someone decided that helium was needed one week...

It reminds me of 'Silas' Cooks English class of June '68 when a burning 'hot air balloon' condom floated in through the window in the middle of class, much to our delight! Happy daze!

!

Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ August 30 2008, 7:13 PM BST

One guy at school finds it hilarious to ridicule me at every opportunity, even "setting" everyone on me around the campfire at Reading; but to me he's as bad as all the people he hates for "sticking religion down his throat".

View original

Scatz, rabid fundamentalism isn't restricted solely to religionists. Atheists , scientists, and politicians can also be as concerned as their counterparts with producing clones of themselves rather than freethinking individuals. Good for you in standing up and not bowing to the pressure of the 'masses' - pun intended. Admirable strength.

Re: Dying for beliefs. Martyrdom is not (ironically) a dying business. It still happens today in our 'enlightened' times. We live in a world where daring to be individual and free-thinking is being weeded out.

Many intellectual giants chose and still choose belief in a supreme being of some kind. If such belief systems were indicative of mental capacity then people like Einstein, Planck, Schrodinger and many other Nobel prize winners were hiding their mental deficencies well.

However, to balance the above (as always):
1) To choose death over compromise could indicate obstinacy as much as conviction. Not all were obstinate, but not all were convicted of their beliefs.
2) The fact that many intellectuals believe in a god (of some kind) is not an endorsement for the idea, nor a reason for us lesser mortals to believe. But it does destroy the idea that intellect is a primary factor in choosing such a belief-system.

Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ August 31 2008, 4:46 PM BST

We had one teacher basically preach against religion to us for an hour every week for a half-term.

View original

I had a biol lecturer ask a class which of us believed in God. One guy put his hand up. The teacher spent 2 hours ridiculing him. I left the lesson thinking:
a) the lad had balls of steel
b) the teacher's 'intellectual' arguments were nothing more than insults and ridicule, not intellectual debate. He dismissed some of the more awkward facts the lad presented, rather than debated.
c) the whole experience left me in awe of the ability to stand up to peer and heirarchical pressure.

When a lecturer is reduced to calling a student names, it's more indicative of the lecturer's beliefs than the students.

I admire any person who dares to stand alone, in whatever field. Envy is not too strong a word.

Quote: SlagA @ August 31 2008, 9:15 PM BST

Scatz, rabid fundamentalism isn't restricted solely to religionists. Atheists , scientists, and politicians can also be more concerned with producing clones of themselves rather than freethinking individuals as their counterparts. Good for you in standing up and not bowing to the pressure of the 'masses' - pun intended. Admirable strength.

Re: Dying for beliefs. Martyrdom is not (ironically) a dying business. It still happens today in our 'enlightened' times. We live in a world where daring to be individual and free-thinking is being weeded out.

Many intellectual giants chose and still choose belief in a supreme being of some kind. If such belief systems were indicative of mental capacity then people like Einstein, Planck, Schrodinger and many other Nobel prize winners were hiding their mental deficencies well.

To balance the above (as always):
1) To choose death over compromise could indicate obstinacy as much as conviction. Not all were obstinate, not all were convicted of their beliefs.
2) The fact that many intellectuals believe in a god (of some kind) is not an endorsement for the idea, nor a reason for us lesser mortals to believe. But it does destroy the idea that intellect is a primary factor in choosing such a belief-system.

I had a biol lecturer ask a class which of us believed in God. One guy put his hand up. The teacher spent 2 hours ridiculing him. I left the lesson thinking:
a) the lad had balls of steel
b) the teacher's 'intellectual' arguments were nothing more than insults and ridicule, not intellectual debate.
c) the whole experience left me in awe of the ability to stand up to peer and heirarchical pressure.

When a man with a doctorate is reduced to calling a student names, it's more indicative of the doctor's beliefs than the students.

View original

I don't think anyone has said only stupid people believe in a God, just that I, for one, find it odd that seemingly intelligent people do believe. And stop being so infuriatingly on the fence! Who cares about giving both sides, the point of the thread is surely to state your own beliefs, not that you can accept others. Its not supposed to be about causing ofence, just stating what you happen to think. And martyrdom, in whatever age, is absurd. to me anyway; obivously others may disagree, but that' he whole point of having an opinion,that it's something you believe.

What a bastard. (The lecturer, that is.)

The lecturer was someone I really admired too. So it was an awkward situation. But an important and memorable event that I hopefully learned much from.

Matt, I love debate but my sense of fair play and balance (and not inflicting my own and often misguided opinions on others) predominates. I find it incredibly difficult to give a personal opinion, not because I don't have one but because of my personality type and because my opinions are rarely relevant or understandable (predominately to my own self).

I'm odd enough without my opinions clouding the issue. And I do take your point, so apologies.

Quote: SlagA @ August 31 2008, 9:47 PM BST

I find it incredibly difficult to give a personal opinion, not because I don't have one but because of my personality type and because my opinions are rarely relevant or understandable (predominately to my own self).

View original

You'd make a rubbish referee.

To me the question is where does belief, comfort and identity divide up?

If you're a Jew, Muslim Catholic or Hindu the dividing line between following codes to live by and what you believe is fuzzy beyond belief.

If you look at most martyrdom bombers, it's a mixture of tribalism, political belief and predominantly rage at perceived injustice.

Some people believe in God and kill because of it, some believe in God and spend all their lives doing good.

Ultimately religion is stunningly irrelevant when compared to the mass of other motivations it covers up.

Personally I think there is something in us that makes some of us paint the Mona Lisa and some of us invent wonderful jokes.

That has nothing to do with Darwin or evoloution (both of which I believe in).

Something of the divine. Maybe it's in the Jungian sense the sum total of our life experiences as a species. Or maybe it's more.

The answer doesn't matter. But we're not just biological organisms decaying slowly.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ August 31 2008, 9:53 PM BST

You'd make a rubbish referee.

View original

**Whistle** Yellow card.

Ay, you're right, I'm a rubbish referee.