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...but not on this point. How can people forget the communist USSR and China? It's amazing how people can cherry pick.
But the claim is those weren't really atheist Regimes, just anti organized religion because of the threat the church or other religious group is to the power of the state. Also throw in N Korea.
...but not on this point. How can people forget the communist USSR and China? It's amazing how people can cherry pick.
Communism and atheism are two different things. Learn the difference.
One is a political system advocating class warfare and all property being publicly owned. The other is a very narrow statement of unbelief in any deities and says zero about political or ideological affiliations or attachments. Communism is not inherently atheistic and atheism is not inherently communist. Frankly they don't even tend to be.
I for example am an atheist and am not a communist nor do I lean that way. On the other hand I once knew a devout Roman Catholic who was a communist. I suspect there quite a lot of those in Eastern Europe and the Soviet bloc and parts of Latin America.
This confused thinking about mixed ideologies is so prevalent and baseless that when I encounter it I default to believing that it's deliberately obtuse, especially in countries like the US where ignorance, paranoia and fear of anything to the left of Ronald Reagan is easy to leverage by lumping it into one pot. Most Americans for example think that democratic socialism, socialism, trade unionism and communism are all in essence the same thing and usually associate them all with the label "godless" as if one naturally gives rise to the other -- or has anything really to do with it.
And let's not forget the charge of "un-American" which you can get in some quarters simply by thinking Medicare is a great thing. If you're relatively liberal politically in this country many think you're on a greased slippery slope leading directly to being a commie ... and not just any commie, a godless one.
The time is going to come quite son when it dawns on the US that fundamentalist religion is pulling two con trics - That it is god for family values and it is patriotic. It is fine so long as the family is all serving the religion, but if not, break up the family.
If the state is supporting conservative religion, that's fine. wave the flag. If it isn't -attack the state.
and to get back on topic. To put Einstein into perspective:
"The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exist as an independent cause of natural events. ..."
- Albert Einstein, Science and Religion (1941)
To make it quite clear, though he had ideas about an order in the universe that he called God and seemed to think that it was aware, this had nothing to do with the God of the Bible - in which he did not believe At All.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 11-01-2015 at 04:27 PM..
To make it quite clear, though he had ideas about an order in the universe that he called God and seemed to think that it was aware, this had nothing to do with the God of the Bible - in which he did not believe At All.
Some think that the Bible was talking about that universal force that you mention.
Of course, the stories are fiction. But the point is that they were referring to something very real. That's another way of viewing the Bible. We don't have to look at it in the fundamentalist way, especially if that was never the intent of the writers. Or even some of the writers. That's something that atheists don't see to acknowledge.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OzzyRules
Some think that the Bible was talking about that universal force that you mention.
Of course, the stories are fiction. But the point is that they were referring to something very real. That's another way of viewing the Bible. We don't have to look at it in the fundamentalist way, especially if that was never the intent of the writers. Or even some of the writers. That's something that atheists don't see to acknowledge.
What universal force does the bible talk about that does not also give such a force an entity, a personality, and a bi-polar love/hate relationship with humans?
What universal force does the bible talk about that does not also give such a force an entity, a personality, and a bi-polar love/hate relationship with humans?
Have you ever read the Psalms? Any of the wisdom books? The prophets?
It seems as if the only parts of the Bible that atheists have read are the myths and fables. The books of Moses, etc, especially the latter Moses books. That's all they ever seem to talk about. That's 100% of their focus. In fact, sometimes it seems that only atheists (or extreme Christian fundamentalists) are the only people who are even interested in the books like Joshua and Judges.
But I doubt that most Bible readers even read those as much as the wisdom books or the prophets.
Last edited by OzzyRules; 11-01-2015 at 05:48 PM..
Have you ever read the Psalms? Any of the wisdom books? The prophets?
It seems as if the only parts of the Bible that atheists have read are the myths and fables. The books of Moses, etc, especially the latter Moses books. That's all they ever seem to talk about. That's 100% of their focus. In fact, sometimes it seems that only atheists (or extreme Christian fundamentalists) are the only people who are even interested in the books like Joshua and Judges.
But I doubt that most Bible readers even read those as much as the wisdom books or the prophets.
amen ozzy. talk about turning me into an ozz fan dude. good show.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,919,895 times
Reputation: 4561
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzzyRules
Have you ever read the Psalms? Any of the wisdom books? The prophets?
It seems as if the only parts of the Bible that atheists have read are the myths and fables. The books of Moses, etc, especially the latter Moses books. That's all they ever seem to talk about. That's 100% of their focus. In fact, sometimes it seems that only atheists (or extreme Christian fundamentalists) are the only people who are even interested in the books like Joshua and Judges.
But I doubt that most Bible readers even read those as much as the wisdom books or the prophets.
Psalms? Sure. Recall that's where the Jews go all ecstatic recounting on how to bash babies heads against rocks. Great bed time stories for kids
Wisdom books? Sure, have you read Siddhartha? What about any of the Sutras?
If you know your biblical history, tell me which order the Pentateuch was written in.
Psalms? Sure. Recall that's where the Jews go all ecstatic recounting on how to bash babies heads against rocks. Great bed time stories for kids
Wisdom books? Sure, have you read Siddhartha? What about any of the Sutras?
If you know your biblical history, tell me which order the Pentateuch was written in.
As far as the order, I don't claim to know. All I will say is that I suspect that the writings are not in the order in which they were written. But there are probably theories against this idea also. Especially if the books of the law were never intended to be taken seriously by the writers.
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