Stats

Comments Posted By KevenSeven

Displaying 841 To 870 Of 1,300 Comments

Destroying Religion: The Essential Task at Hand?

Oh, and the Germany of today does not include a Nazi party.

Just sayin’.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 25, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

Hey, I appreciate it.

And I don’t think that Hitchens and Dawkins say that people are stupid or evil for believing.

Remember: The anti-gay rights movement in this nation wraps itself in piety as an excuse for their hatred.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:22 pm

My word! That is one of the kindest posts ever directed at me!

And I agree, Hitchens is often dramatically disingenuous. But I still find him enlightening.

(Insert smiley face here!)

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 6:11 pm

More’s the pity, about the anarchists, that is.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 6:04 pm

There is an American Cardinal at the Vatican that US police have been wanting to question for decades.

He deliberately moved rapist priests from one parish to another, without telling anyone, naturally, that he was sending a preditor among them.

He works for the Vatican, and the Vatican is not going to extradite him to the US.

Plus the Church currently condemns the use of condoms in Africa. Today. In the middle of an AIDS epidemic. Condoms being a sin against god, after all. Better that people die of AIDS than use a condom.

We are joining another family for dinner, and I am making beans with a balsmic finish, stuffing, much as you described, and a gravy from Julia Child. MMMMMMM. Many sticks of butter!

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 6:03 pm

I really would prefer to not get these debates personal. I should not have gone ahead at the first when you brought your mother into the discussion. The only thing I could say is that your mum is a real nice person and move on. How could I maintain my side of the debate without looking like a monster in relation to your mum?

And I am perfectly happy that you mum has faith. Honestly. Especially considering the trials she has been thru. I just don’t want people imposing their beliefs on me.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 5:55 pm

Well, I am sure there are several people who could explain it to you, you are smart and open minded.

I’ll make a point of finding people like Dawkins and Hitchens explaining why the fact that science does not explain EVERYTHING is no evidence, much less proof of God.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:59 am

He is pugnacious.

He has many things in common with me. Or I him. He is a lot smarter and well educated than I am, but we look alike and argue alike.

I like the guy, despite the fact that he is a Straussian regarding Iraq. Possibly it is the accent.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:51 am

That is hard to dispute.

(Insert fucking irritating smiley face here).

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:40 am

Atheists do not do those things because God told them that they should.

That is the point. And Stalin, Mao, etc were not atheists. They were gods at the top of their own religion. Just sayin’

Jefferson was an atheist. Spinoza was an atheist. Those are the people I align myself with.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:31 am

Well, I’ll embellish it if I want to, thanks. Your definition is too restrictive.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:27 am

I concur. By no means are all people of faith bigoted or ignorant.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 10:24 am

No, you are completely wrong to say that deism is a subset of theism.

Both acknowledge a higher being, theism says that he created us in order that we should worship him.

Deists don’t buy that.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:50 am

I don’t think there is a broad distaste for spirituality. Spirituality is not synonymous with religion.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:47 am

Yes, he did not make much of a effort on the Eastern religions, and Dog knows they have butchered each other just as vigorously as have the Europeans or Muslims.

And snark is what he does. I enjoy it. Unless he is lying about the invasion of Iraq, which pisses me off.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:44 am

Sure I can.

Atheists do not blow up Shia mosques because it is not Sunni, and vice versa. And the Hundred years war was not Atheists vs Catholics or Protestants. That was Protestants killing Catholics and vice versa.

People who have steeped themselves in the thinking of Spinoza and Jefferson and all the other modern free thinkers generally are not compelled to kill over religious beliefs.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:40 am

Hitchens does not say that only religious people can be cruel and hateful. One need to put words in his mouth to get that from him. Many people have skill at that.

He does, however, say many harsh things about religion. Not about people who believe in God, per se. There is a difference. Some people have trouble understanding that.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:36 am

Kalima is utterly incorrect about Hitchens, do not take what she says about him as the final word. She says elsewhere on this thread that it is her opinion, which she then defines as a thing not encumbered with facts.

Hithcens never said nor implied that only religious people can do evil things.

That is utter clap-trap on Kalima’s part.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:29 am

I am really very uncomfortable having a debate that features your mother. Really.

I’d appreciate it if we could just drop it. Would that be OK?

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 24, 2009 @ 9:02 am

Oh, Gebus. Why did I let you insert your mother into this debate?

Your mother is a saint. OK? I think she is just wonderful.

After she has published a dozen books and thousands of columns, and partook in thousands of debates and lectures, then perhaps we can compare them.

Oh, Gebus, I want my kitty.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:19 pm

That is three things we agree on: That religion is man made.

Frankly, I am pretty sure that God is man made as well.

Now for the fourth thing we can agree on: That Man (or Woman) needs some sort of faith.

But why have faith in some naked bearded fat dude up in the sky?

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:10 pm

I’d put in a damned smiley face if I knew how.

You are not persuading me, I regret. But I do like chatting with you.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:05 pm

You fail to distinguish between theism and deism there.

And there is a very real difference.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:03 pm

“I love how you are willing to bend your morals”

“I don

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 7:46 pm

Oh, bull.

I don’t respect people’s beliefs?

Where do you get off?

What I don not respect is people telling me that God wants me to do this or not do that.

What I do not respect is the willingness of people who claim religious faith telling me that I have no morals for being an atheist.

I do not respect these people telling me that they have the right to restrict the way I or other free-born Americans live? I will not have people tell me that they know the mind of God and that I should do this or not do that.

How do you feel about all these people of faith denying same sex marriage? Do you “respect” their right to impose their ignorant bigotry on their fellow citizens?

While we are chatting, do you “respect” the wish of the extreme Zionist to create a Greater Israel, at the cost of the local Palestinians? God told them they should do that, after all.

Or do you “respect” the aspirations of Islamic extremists to re-create the Caliphate? I better go visit Spain, before you “respect” it over to the Islamists who want a Caliphate.

C’mon. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Your final paragraph is gibberish. First, Hitchens never suggested for a minute that atheists were incapable of evil. I don’t know from where you get the idea that he said otherwise.

There are morally acceptable arguments to justify our invasion of Iraq. They are just insufficient. Saddam was indeed a threat to the US. There are countless threats to the US. The question is: does the threat rise to the level of the action that we took? I emphatically say no. And Hitchens’ arguments on this are first on my list of my complaints with him. He is not my brother, I will not have you demand that I justify his every utterance.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 3:37 pm

Oh, and you mis-read my comment. I did not say that yours was stupid, I said that it would have been stupid to bring the CofE into the debate under discussion.

And it is a fallacy to bring in governments to compare to religion. That is why it is a REALLY good idea to separate church and state.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

Ah, fair point, I was rushing thru. My bad.

But it is an invalid comparison. Truly. The Germany of today is not responsible for the holocaust. That was the Germany of half a century ago. The Germans have acknowledged their crimes and teach the children of the shame of it. Better than America handles the genocide of the Natives or slavery, I would say. Governments come and go.

The Church (cue ponderous music) is eternal. It is forever and infallible.

And we do nothing BUT argue against forms of government, have you been in a cave the last whatever number of years?

Communism, socialism, dictatorship, fascism, NAZIsm, totalitarianism, cleptocracies, autocracies, plutocracy (to go back a few millennia); we have debated the extent of human freedom and social responsibilities for a few centuries or so.

And the debate I cited was not that the Church should be abolished.

The debate was “Resolved: The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.” I think the pro side did not acquit themselves at all well, and considering the way the vote moved from the start of the debate to the end of the debate, I cannot see how that can be challenged.

What ya cooking?

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 12:06 pm

I still say: cats.

Actually, if one examines this thread, one finds a lot of people seem to see indictments of organizations (churches) with an attack on their personal beliefs.

I’m a Democrat and a liberal. My party fucks me over on a regular basis. I’m OK with people criticizing my party when my party is wrong on something.

It is attacks on my liberalism that I don’t stand for.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:13 am

All that is fine. I know of no one who objects to your finding fulfillment in faith.

I know lots of people who object to efforts to teach creationism in public schools. And the intrusion of religion into the question of a woman’s control of her fertility. And the obnoxious and bullshit assertion that America is a “Judeao/Christian Nation”.

I object to “Christians” telling me that God objects to same sex marriage. Tough shit. Let the gays explain it to God when they get there.

I appreciate that you are what would losely be called a “liberal Christian”. Obviously I am not bitching at you.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 11:06 am

Cats.

You got mail.

» Posted By KevenSeven On November 23, 2009 @ 10:57 am