A boy is selling fish on a corner. To get his customers' attention, he is yelling, "Dam fish for sale! Get your dam fish here!" A pastor hears this and asks, "Why are you calling them 'dam fish.'" The boy responds, "Because I caught these fish at the local dam." The pastor buys a couple fish, takes them home to his wife, and asks her to cook the dam fish. The wife responds surprised, "I didn't know it was acceptable for a preacher to speak that way." He explains to her why they are dam fish. Later at the dinner table, he asks his son to pass the dam fish. He responds, "That's the spirit, Dad! Now pass the f*cking potatoes!"
"Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it?"
nietzsche
imo science is merely the religion of FACTS
but science is the most misguided knowledge of all as a religion because it focuses on "what things are" rather than "what things MEAN"
and on what we CAN do, rather than what we SHOULD do
ideology is dangerous, not religion
the ideology of nihilism for instance is dangerous - in the extreme
without god, why NOT send our neighbors into the ovens?
if you think that god is not necessary to instill a sense that life is sacred - and the sense that life, at least human life is sacred as being necessary to prevent the ovens - then i think you are wrong
what is not necessary is any particular interpretation of god
this one, that one, whatever
personally i really enjoy the vedanta idea of god playing an eternal game of hide and seek within all of us
i think its profoundly beautiful - because it is - and it unites us in a way that transcends all boundaries of culture and race and station
what we need to discard is the pervasive sense that "I" and MY IDEAS and MY RELIGION are so good that i can ridicule YOU, and YOUR IDEAS and YOUR RELIGION
be me or you a scientist or creationist
there is something intrinsic to the human psyche wherein we demand something to hold in awe
and we need some standard by which to measure ourselves and by which to judge our own actions
"the idea of the Holy" is as undeniable and inescapable to our essential nature as fear or sex or laughter or rage - it is a part of us
without some intelligently designed interpretation of precisely what that HOLY means, at least insofar as that we have a precise sense of the principles by which it implies we must abide, we will MAKE holy that which is profane - plunder and loot and the power to submit each other into obedience
the classic argument is "we dont need god to know that we should treat each other with respect"
i say: WRONG
we dont need any specific and dominant-above-all-others god to do that
but the idea that there is an intrinsic holiness to life and that life has worth BECAUSE OF THIS HOLINESS, with no other requirement, is EXACTLY what we need in order to value each other with respect and tolerance
without that idea, not only is there no real NEED to value one another, but in fact it becomes a BURDEN
WHY should i be bothered to acknowledge you in any more meaningful way than that you prevent me from getting what i want or can help me get what i want?
i shouldnt
the only value i place on respecting you is in relation to the direct material consequences and rewards of either choice
i am not at all promoting creationism
i think the big bang is better proof of god than anything any creationist could cook up anyway
"let there be light"
BANG!
lol
to get SOMETHING when there was NOTHING is an act of god, whatever terminology you wish to use
its stupid to try and keep the collective of human knowledge centered on the ideas of the past, be they god OR science
People are complicated.
