Inquiring minds want to know
23 July 2007 by vastleft
The Uncredible Halq offers up answers to FriendlyAtheist’s list of questions.
Below is my two cents’ worth. Maybe you’d care to toss yours in, too?
- Why do you not believe in God? I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious family, and from a very young age, religious stories sounded phony to me, and the rituals struck me as ominously cultish.
- Where do your morals come from? Instinct, society and culture, reasoning about what constitutes fair play and good civics.
- What is the meaning of life? On what basis do we assume there’s a general “meaning” to life?
- Is atheism a religion? As James Randi says, “Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.” In a word, no.
- If you don’t pray, what do you do during troubling times? Ruminate, hope, seek answers to problems that may be solvable, seek advice, commiseration, and/or distraction.
- Should atheists be trying to convince others to stop believing in God? I don’t know if I’d say “should,” but it’s a goal that’s worthy, controversial, and generally unachievable. Lifelong brainwashing dies hard.
- Weren’t some of the worst atrocities in the 20th century committed by atheists? Relatively few crimes are committed by atheists. Stalin, who elevated nationalism to a religion, can be cited as an “atheist monster.” Hitler, who likewise made a form of Fascism into a sacred creed, was not an atheist, despite frequent claims to the contrary.
- How could billions of people be wrong when it comes to belief in God? The mass of people are wrong about things all the time. For millennia, people thought the Sun revolved around the Earth. The majority of Americans were convinced that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. People think cilantro is edible.
- Why does the universe exist? I’ll defer to science for the latest theories on “how,” a more sensible question than “why,” which supposes a sentient creator — something for which there is no evidence (it’s also the gateway drug to the paradox of who created the creator).
- How did life originate? Ditto on deferring to science. I’m not an expert on the latest theories, which may or may not hold up to additional evidence and scrutiny.
- Is all religion harmful? Ultimately, yes, because it keeps us from having a shared, legitimate sense of reality. It forces us to choose between sharing and reality, which is an awful choice. It also, of course, forces us to make arbitrary and often ill-fated decisions about with whom we can and cannot share.
- What’s so bad about religious moderates? I can’t improve upon what Chris Hallquist wrote: “Because the majority of them believe absurd things about religion that serve to give cover to the dangerously orthodox. Examples: “all religion is good,” and “it’s wrong to criticize someone’s religious beliefs.”
- Is there anything redeeming about religion? It can serve as a medium for building community and a vehicle for charity and comfort. I think we’d be better off choosing alternatives that don’t require us to check reason at the door; also, one man’s community is another man’s outsiderhood.
- What if you’re wrong about God (and He does exist)? I acknowledge that there could be supernatural forces that I don’t understand. All evidence suggests that religious humans don’t understand him/her/it any more than I do.
- Shouldn’t all religious beliefs be respected? Religious (or any) people, yes — unless they do something to earn one’s disrespect. Religious beliefs, not particularly, no. Where they approach philosophy, they may worth debating. But carte blanche respect for religion is the road to Hell.
- Are atheists smarter than theists? Of the smartest people I know, many are skeptics. Some are not. Atheists don’t corner the market on intelligence.
- How do you deal with the historical Jesus if you don’t believe in his divinity? As I understand it, the Gospels were written long after Jesus’ death, by people who never met him. I’m slowly working my way through the Old Testament before I get to the red pages, so I don’t have too much to say yet about the teachings attributed to JC.
- Would the world be better off without any religion? I would expect so, as long as it isn’t replaced by something similarly misguided, such as fundamentalist nationalism. I don’t, however, advocate any sort mandated way to rid the world of religion — that would not only be a crime against freedom, it would surely backfire. Ideally, in the marketplace of ideas, ancient supernatural folly will eventually lose the day.
- What happens when we die? My guess is that our mind/personality/soul, whatever you like to call it, ceases to be, just as a lightbulb ceases to give light when the filament burns out.
23 July 2007, on 11:56 am
OK, I’ve got a bone to pick with you. What the hell is wrong with cilantro? It’s spicy, tasty and refreshing. It’s the perfect herb. The world would be a worse place without it. In fact, “I don’t want to imagine living in a world without cilantro.”
/Nice answers by the way.
23 July 2007, on 1:30 pm
[...] The blog Godisforsuckers has an interesting list of questions taken from Friendlyatheist.com. [...]
23 July 2007, on 1:49 pm
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they garnish with.
23 July 2007, on 1:59 pm
I Love Cilantro.It is one of the key Ingredient’s in Great Mexican Cuisine!
23 July 2007, on 2:34 pm
Believe me, Thai, Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern cuisine holds up great without the cilantro. In fact, for those who find that cilantro tastes like old soap, the food tastes much better.
The great thing about this site is that the only thing I said in this post that offends anyone is a complaint about an herb.
23 July 2007, on 2:41 pm
Cilantro is pure evil. And I in no way mean that in a good way.
23 July 2007, on 2:42 pm
Bwah ha ha ha. VL, I find there are no cilantro-mediums. Either you love it, swear by it, etc. Or, you will spit out the food (can it even be called food at that point?) you accidentally find yourself chewing on.
23 July 2007, on 2:53 pm
I hate cilantro! It reminds me of soap when I encounter it in salsa! It’s disgusting! I’d rather eat endive or fresh parsley!
Cilantro-lovers are intent of poisoning all the rest of us so that they can have all the tequila!
23 July 2007, on 2:55 pm
Terra,
Finally someone who understands the theological implications of coriander!
23 July 2007, on 2:55 pm
And Naomi, too!
23 July 2007, on 2:58 pm
VL, that is funny!
I’ll indulge my “inner-wonk” and keep track…
23 July 2007, on 3:02 pm
We do digress, eh? I would be interested in on-topic responses, too, if’n anyone would care to.
23 July 2007, on 3:32 pm
I liked all the answers to the above questions. My thoughts are in sync. with no respect for their religions and religion is harmful.
Cilantro = A perfectly good way to ruin great Mexican food. In small doses in salsa I can eat it but that is just because I will eat just about anything.
23 July 2007, on 3:33 pm
Re: cilantro (Spanish; “coriander” in English, as vastleft pointed out) - cornerstone herb in many Latin American cuisines, including that of my father’s homeland, the Dominican Republic. I grew up on that cooking but I’m not married to it; some dishes prepared with cilantro I like, and a lot I don’t.
On topic: great post, vastleft! Sorry there just isn’t that much disagreement with you.
23 July 2007, on 3:37 pm
WTF!
I wouldn’t know a cilantro if it bit me in the ass!
OUCH!!!…Something just bit me in the ass…
“Oh, Hi!..
MRS. Cilantro!”
23 July 2007, on 4:08 pm
VL, you may consider yourself a tex-mex heretic. True believers know that cilantro is absolutely indispensible to good tex-mex.
BTW, what you norteamericanos call Mexican food is anything but. It is properly called tex-mex as it was born along the Texas-Mexico border. This includes crispy tacos, enchiladas, burritos, frijoles refrido, etc, etc.
23 July 2007, on 4:09 pm
To further clarify, you’ll know true Mexican food by a conspicuous lack of cheese in many of the dishes.
23 July 2007, on 4:13 pm
Excellent post - especially for the novices among us.
I myself am becoming ever more innerly annoyed at intelligent people — normal reasoning people — who fall back on the drapings of the god thing so readily. “Thanks for your prayers in our time of grief” or “Pray that Joey recovers”, etc. I so feel like saying: “you don’t really believe that crap .. why cling to the fantasy or pretend you do?”
I bite my tongue.. not my place to confront good people.
But I honestly believe MOST of us — “99%” of SANE, knowledgeable, modern people I’d guess — are atheist under the covers!! People will say they believe in god BUT when push comes to shove.. they act (make life and death decisions) just like an atheist would!
My often repeated question: “if given an absolute either/or choice of all the holiest people on Earth praying for your sick child, OR the best medical team and resources doing what they can through science, etc, what woul you choose?” Answer that honestly for yourself. No cop-outs — do you really believe in this personal god?? If so — THROW AWAY YOUR MEDICAL INSURANCE!!! You know you won’t and you know you’d think a parent CRIMINAL who went with “god” and eschewed proper medical care. Ask yourself if that tells you something about your faith! It tells me tons.
23 July 2007, on 4:33 pm
On Topic: Good post. I answered the questions here, in my own way, but they pretty much shadow yours.
Off Topic: Cilantro sucks. (In case there’s any doubt, add me to the “Against”, Naomi.)
23 July 2007, on 4:40 pm
LMAO… That’s hilarious, CJ. (Sorry, I just went back to read your comment.)
To parallel (parody?) another common saying among us godless, if there is a God, why is there HEALTH INSURANCE + HOSPITALS
For those who don’t understand, substitute “God” for “evolution”, and “health insurance + hospitals” for “pygmies + dwarves”. Leave the bold, too. (I tried to get to the original post by PZ, but it wouldn’t open.)
23 July 2007, on 4:41 pm
Damn… Could the mods please close the bold after “HOSPITALS”?
Where’s that preview button?
(FTR, the Mods are awaiting a “preview button”, as well! Has the post been repaired? If not, leave a new comment with further instructions - which will be deleted…) The Mods
23 July 2007, on 5:15 pm
Berlzebub nice!
Gang — sorry for being chatty .. but need to spill a bit more..
I am more and more convinced that most “normal” people — people that are responsible and thoughtful and intelligent — are just too in love IN the believing to recognize that they really do NOT believe.
Indeed they KNOW in their “guts” it is all hocus pocus and in any other forum they’d reject it — BUT there is this high they get from the believing per se .. regardless that WHAT they profess to belief in is vaporware and they know it. The allure has less to do with afterlife etc… it is they hate to give up the high that comes from a belief and the downer of giving a belief up (remember “Santa Claus”!!).
Hard for me to explain — sorry .. can someone help me with what I am trying to say? Thanks.
23 July 2007, on 6:32 pm
CJ,
I agree with your sentiments. Of course, Christian Scientists generally will take you up on your bet — though I understand that when push comes to shove (e.g., your child’s fever goes north of 104) many will break down and fill an antibiotic prescription, etc., or so an old friend who was a believer once avowed to me.
A big part, along with the allure of believing, is the sense that non-believers are party-poopers. Everyone’s having a great ol’ time drinkin’ Jesus juice, and grumpy Mr. Humanist has to come around with his goddamn reality and harsh everybody’s mellow.
23 July 2007, on 6:34 pm
Finally, we have a huge sectarian rift breaking apart the atheist community.
Quick, somebody ask Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens which side of the cilantro debate they’re on!
23 July 2007, on 7:05 pm
Great post, thanks.
Coriander rules. Take a tub of Philly cheese and put on a plate, pour over a bottle of Thai sweet chilli sauce mixed with finely chopped coriander and serve with crackers. Divine.
23 July 2007, on 7:30 pm
Are you sure it’s not a car … the Honda Cilantro?
23 July 2007, on 7:32 pm
If it’s a car, it’s Yugo.
23 July 2007, on 9:01 pm
Chris Dodd gets it. I didn’t watch the debate tonight. I wonder if everyone answered this question, which Dodd answered ahead of time: “how will you appeal to non-religious voters?”
23 July 2007, on 9:13 pm
I confess myself to be an “atheist” on the subject of seasonings as well dieties. The same head wound which gave me these delightful siezures took away my senses of smell and taste. Upside is, I can now eat ANYTHING. PROVE how it tastes, I defy you! (Insert nasty laugh!) I’m told by some that I never had any ’sense of taste’ to begin with. Bah.
I lean toward CJ. My cousin’s wife, a methodist minister (married to an atheist!) is now finding her faith pretty much shot. It’s scary for her. I’ve spent too many nights in holes in the ground, under deadfalls, behind sandbag barrakades waiting for people who wanted to hurt me to come for me, wondering if I was going to see the sun come up to wonder why people insist on ‘belief’. It’s true, most believe more in believing than the diety they claim is at the center of their creed, they believe in rules, candles, droning hymns, and allegedly superhuman priests who are ‘good’ than the force behind it. As long as there’s fear and pain, uncertainty and guilt, there will be people to exploit it, and that exploitation will be religion. I’ve been told by people who would know that in the former Soviet Union where there was religion, it was strong BECAUSE it was disapproved of and in some cases clandestine.
Odd. At times when we were told that there was no hope, we’d probably be killed, I heard a lot of guys pray. They didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to meet this god whith whom they had a mutual love affair. Nope, no running into the arms of Jesus. “Let me live and I’ll…” was the flavor of the day. Anytime I wished I COULD believe, I saw that and was glad I didn’t. I felt free, strange to say, in those situations. Nothing mattered, there was nothing but anger and no restraint. That pulled me through. No god’s hand, just being quicker, meaner, and more ruthless. There is a price, though. A very great price.
23 July 2007, on 10:36 pm
Regarding CJ’s and others’ comments…
and the tremendous resistance so many indoctrinated humans have to giving up their clinging to beliefs; I think immediately of two items: ADDICTION and FEAR OF CHANGE.
All of us humans are prone to easily fall into one addiction or another; we all recognize the usual ones. Other addictions, because of their omni-present frequency, are easier for society to NOT recognize as such. In the case of religion, most of us got an early ‘kick in the pants’ propelling us into to, perhaps, THE most uniquely addictive mindset.
One, which has often enforced, group, tribal..even ‘Early Show-Biz-like’ rituals built in; sort of like “A Greater Dance”…with its repeated verbal and physical ‘tokes’…mesmerizing the mind; and, most uniquely, adding a built-in threat…eternal damnation…if one decides to break away from the dance. I’m reminded of the old ultimate tribal punishment of “Banishment”.
When it comes to that crucial individual ’separation’…or “let me outa here!”…decision, it takes ‘true grit’ for anyone to transcend the deeply subconscious fear, and by doing so come into the true realization of what it is to be a free thinking individual.
How many times have people seriously and even jokingly (Tollway Billboards?) played with that old:
“Be afraid; Be VERY AFRAID!” bullshit. Yeah, FEAR and GUILT!…the favorite ploy of all asshole tyrants and tyrannical movements.
Hmmm…”War on Terror!” Isn’t that really sorta like “Terror on Terror”?
Even the phrase…”War is Hell”…is another reminder of religion!
Fuck all Fear Mongers!!!
“Hail, Freethinkers!”…or…
“Freethinkers Unite!”…or…
OK…I’ll shut up!
24 July 2007, on 7:08 am
I strongly disagree! Cilantro is yummy! All hail cilantro!
24 July 2007, on 8:55 am
Religion is about deliberate ignorance.
I do all I can to curb my ignorance. Thus religion to me is something I want to cut out of my ‘diet’ all together.
24 July 2007, on 9:50 am
I disagree. There can be no such thing as supernatural forces. Only things that we don’t understand yet.
I don’t think anyone automatically deserves respect. This doesn’t mean I’d go up and punch people in the face, or that I would automatically disrespect someone I don’t know. It means I’d be polite to anyone I’m meeting for the first time, from there respect has to be earned. Respect and politeness are not the same thing.
FYI, Mods, I run several web sites, so I can help with adding modules to wordpress, even though I’ve never worked with it. I’m sure it’s very similar to other CMSs out there. If I can help, let me know…
24 July 2007, on 11:28 am
Revenant,
Indeed, “supernatural” refers to forces we don’t comprehend yet. Once we understand them, they become part of what we understand to be in the natural universe.
Interesting distinction on being pre-emptively polite vs. pre-emptively respectful. In practical terms, how would you describe the difference?
24 July 2007, on 12:37 pm
I just think respect is something much deeper than politeness. When I meet someone for the first time, I don’t respect, nor disrespect them, they just “are”. They’ll have to do or say something to tip the meter one way or the other. If they are polite as well, I might gain a small amount of respect. If they can’t be bothered to use a turn signal BEFORE changing lanes, they have earned disrespect.
24 July 2007, on 12:45 pm
I’m also one who feels that cilantro runs a close second to religion in its insidious and vile effects. To me, it tastes as though hundreds of dirty socks were boiled down to their concentrated essence and mixed into my black bean burrito. It is simply WRONG.
24 July 2007, on 2:35 pm
Revenant,
I respect, as it were, that position. I guess I’m inclined to be a little more generous at first meeting, but I can flip the bozo bit pretty quickly, too.
24 July 2007, on 3:28 pm
And cilantro continues to garner both strong support and opposition…!
On topic, though, I think Sarge’s experience and ChuckA’s comment are right on target: ultimately we’re afraid of the unknown, the biggie being dying and death, and religion attempts to calm those fears by offering hope that the Big Unknown is actually “known” and more than that, can actually be “good” if you invoke the right “magic.” Of course, as Sarge points out, most of the time religion fails in this attempt and very few, even True Believers (TM), won’t pray for another chance at life as opposed to “I’m ready to die; take me now.”
vastleft, I tend to be generous at first meeting, too, but unless I’m outright disrespected or treated pretty badly from the start, I usually continue to be generous for a while. In my personal experiences (could just be me), people often end up responding to me in the same way I treat them, even those who start out barely monosyllabic at first. Of course, I may simply be overwhelmingly charming…
24 July 2007, on 5:38 pm
VL, that was an insult to the Yugo.
Shane-you aren’t in Oregon, are you?
Revenant,
I agree with your distinction between respect and politeness. I don’t automatically respect someone upon first meeting them and I don’t automatically disrespect them, either. However, that being said, there is one way to almost instantly earn my disrespect and that is to unnecessarily interject your belief system into casual conversation. It’s like you’ve pulled your penis out and said, “See this, look at how proud I am of it?!” Ugh! I don’t care about that. What in the world made you think I would?
This is fresh in my mind, though, because I’m dealing with this at work right now. (religion, not penises) New guy likes to throw religion into conversations that he could easily leave it out of.
24 July 2007, on 7:36 pm
Totally off topic (sorry vastleft). Did ya’ll miss me?
COMCAST SUCKS WORSE THAN CILANTRO!
I haven’t been able to get online for several days even to read, then today had a tech guy come out and he looked like a child. He spent 4 hours only to leave me with snail slow speed…can’t even play Youtubes. But at least I am able to get online now. We have COMSUCKS for cable, too and it’s been going in and out, intermittent fragmented picture…in and out sound. Their service stinks, and they don’t care because they have the monopoly.
Now, on topic. Great group of questions and like others here, I am in agreement with all of the answers. I think I am going to steal this and put my answers on my blog since I get a lot of xian trolls who are regular lurkers. (They will most likely simply skim if they bother to look at it, and then ask the same damn questions all over again.)
24 July 2007, on 8:00 pm
OMG! Terra, that’s the best description:
Brava!
Are you still reading this post, james?
Do you get it yet? Your love/lust for your gord and your savior is so offensive because it’s like watching someone masturbate to orgasm. And masturbation is a private matter - always best done in private.
Think on that for a while, james…
24 July 2007, on 8:35 pm
Naomi,
I’m glad you liked it. And, I agree. Hopefully it will make people like James see the error of their ways.
Ok, I honestly don’t think that will happen, but you never know.
24 July 2007, on 8:45 pm
Stardust,
Believe it or not, Comcast’s service was much worse when it was MediaOne (or more aptly, “MediaNone”).
I look forward to reading your answers to those questions.
24 July 2007, on 10:04 pm
Back in England during the early 1800s, the slang for someone having died was “He now knows the secret”. And, Our pal, Bill Shakespeare said it best: “To die, perchance to dream…but in that sleep of death who knows what dreams may come…?” And so many are buying nightmare insurance. Good luck to ‘em, say I.
24 July 2007, on 10:41 pm
For anyone who is interested, I’ve just posted mine Blue.Coffee blog. I respond
But I make the point that the oddest thing has happened: there is a similarity between all of the replies I’ve read on other blogs. Does it stem from the lack of dogma and leave a bare-bones, easily-explained set of “rules to live by”? Or is there something mystical about it? Nah, I didn’t think so…
25 July 2007, on 12:23 am
STARDUST ALERT!!!…
and for that matter anyone else who’s had a similar cable problem…
I have Comcast; and for the longest time I was getting intermittent reception. I hate calling for service from any company, whether it’s Comcast, AT&T etc. I thought it was their transmission signal, or whatever.
I finally decided to check ALL my various connections…I have many branched (with switches) feeds.
After checking everything, and even replacing the main cable (wasting ca. $22) from the wall to my multiple feeds; I was still having the same unsatisfactory reception and lousy Internet.
I decided to check the WALL TERMINAL…always the last thing, right?…I went to Home Depot and bought a single feed, RF wall plate…took the old one out…made sure everything was tight; and…Voila!! That was it!
Changes in the seasons; with temperature variations will cause older connections to loosen over time.
Whatever this “child” from Comcast did…he MAY not have checked that connection.
If you, or anyone in the house, is even marginally handy…it’s no big deal to do what I described.
Screw driver and pliers; or preferable small open wrench for loosening & tightening the RF connections.
It’s a rather simple two sided connection. Cable with RF from the outside; with the Feed to your equipment on the opposite side. Once they’re both tight, just put the whole thing back into the wall box; replace the screws, and you may have solved the problem. Since I did that; I’ve had NO problems with my Comcast reception & Internet.
NOTE: You probably don’t even need to replace the wall connector…just tighten everything. [I wanted to make sure that terminal corrosion wasn't adding to the problem!] You can even clean the thread connections with a bit of alcohol on a paper towel; before reconnecting the cables.
Try it?…You may be back in business in no time…WITHOUT having them invading again…possibly charging you extra, Yada, yada!
25 July 2007, on 12:25 am
Oh…a brand new RF wall terminal costs less than $2!
25 July 2007, on 1:04 am
What if you’re wrong about God (and He does exist)?
I love this question. It literally reeks of arrogance. Just the idea that any human could even begin to comprehend such a being (in the unlikely event that it exists) is purely laughable. The motivations of such a creature would be so far beyond anything our pitiful little brains could even fathom. I always sort of the thought of that somewhat humorous but otherwise wretched movie “Dogma.” The whole “if you hear Sheryl Crow’s voice your head would explode” bit is probably closer to the mark than they could have imagined.
Are atheists smarter than theists?
This depends on how you define intelligence. I don’t think it is too smart to wander through life life with your head stuck up your pretend friends ass but some might.
25 July 2007, on 7:04 am
ChuckA, thanks for the suggestions, but we don’t have a wall plate. Just the outside box and the cables go directly to the modem and television set (television is cable ready). Your message makes hubby think he should check the connections though. They may be loose or improperly inserted.
Chaoswes says: I don’t think it is too smart to wander through life life with your head stuck up your pretend friends ass but some might.
LOL!
25 July 2007, on 7:08 am
I’m with the “opiate for the masses” thinking… I believe religion dulls the senses (most noticably, the sense of reason) in order to make life more palatable for people who can’t face the dangers of a natural world… it attempts to bring order out of chaos by ignoring the chaos… coupling “God is in control” with “God answers prayer” gives them a sense of personal control…
25 July 2007, on 8:57 am
I don’t think that’s a given. I think it’s something the religious say so they don’t have to explain why their god is such an utter prick.
I think any “entity” who creates a planet so the people can worship him is pretty much one-dimensional mentally.
25 July 2007, on 10:25 am
Naomi,
No doubt religionists will look at the similarity of all our answers as proof that atheism is a religion.
I guess that’s true. Every town has a big, white, tax-free atheist church where we learn all our dogma, right?
25 July 2007, on 10:27 am
Actually, every town has two big, white, tax-free atheist churches where we learn all our dogma. One for Cilantrists and one for the rest of us.
25 July 2007, on 11:30 am
Revenant,
All I’m saying is that if any alien being truly exists they would have a vastly different way of thinking than we do. We think as humans would, this being would think as a different species would. It would have a completely foreign set of mental processes and motivational ideology.
25 July 2007, on 11:32 am
Oh, and he’s (yes their gord is a male) a prick because the people that designed him were pricks.
25 July 2007, on 11:47 am
(Absconding from vastleft):
“Actually, every town has two…no, THREE (Thwang!)…big, white, tax-free atheist churches where we learn all our dogma. One for Cilantrists, one for the rest of us…
and one for those of us attempting to give repair advice to those in the other two churches…people like…
Cable…erm…I mean…”Bicycle Repair Man”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw
25 July 2007, on 12:28 pm
lol, well, you were talking about gods, not just alien beings.
I think we’d have a lot in common with the latter, namely basic survival instincts. But sure, having a different paradigm would me largely different thought processes. But that’s a far cry from talking about pan-dimensional beings. Just ask Vroomfondel and Majicthise.
25 July 2007, on 12:55 pm
Revenant,
Absolutely. I think that any “gawd” would by necessity need to be declared a different species. Logically speaking if humans were created by such a being we would at best be a subspecies of that being but more likely a whole new creation and therefore a different species altogether.
25 July 2007, on 1:25 pm
UMMMMmmmmm……This is like, SO embarrassing…
I’m a (sshhhh!) cilantro virgin.
At least I don’t recall any experiences.
*twists hands*
Which white church do I go to for my dogma?
25 July 2007, on 2:35 pm
In that case they’re not gods. But I realize you’re talking about perceptions. I really wouldn’t have a problem with the proposal that some aliens came here 100k years ago and messed with the DNA and produced Homo Sapiens out of Cro Magnon or whomever, or even starting farther back. But I’d be just as guilty as the fundies of assuming something without proof.
25 July 2007, on 3:07 pm
Karen, take part in the purity dance of the atheist church that doesn’t gag you with soapy offerings.
Beware the many tempting places where the Cilantrists sneak in their unholy herb — in salsa, and in otherwise succulent Chicken Tikka Masala, falafel, and most any Thai dishes. The devil, as he’s wont to tell you, goes by many names.
25 July 2007, on 3:49 pm
Me being an atheist has led to some interesting conversations between me and my RC wife, but she’s more of a deist (and thinks Poop Beenadick is an idiot). So, we haven’t had any problems with my lack of belief.
But she’s also hispanic. If she finds out I’m an acilantrist, I’ll be sleeping on the couch.
Any ideas on how to break it to her gently?
25 July 2007, on 3:52 pm
Wait.. Wouldn’t anti-cilantrist be more appropriate. We know cilantro exists, but we just don’t think it’s edible.
Crap, I liked it better when I thought I was acilantrist.
25 July 2007, on 4:23 pm
Just when you and Berlzebub’s wife thought it was safe to dismiss the Pope.
25 July 2007, on 4:29 pm
Berlzebub,
Tell your wife that they started the Diet of Worms because it was preferable to cilantro.
25 July 2007, on 10:32 pm
Why is that when someone speak of aliens, they think of it of high-tech? If other places in the universe can support life, it would have different stages of life at different time. So now, we come up with a dilemma; is it possible that the answers we seek for now have already been solved? I think so, but it is impossible to prove because of the lack of evidence.
It is the same way with religions. Gawd, supposedly omnipotent and omniscient, just comes out of nowhere. So how do they know if it is omniscient and omnipotent? How can it just exist out of nowhere? It is very funny saying this but everyone will try to refute this point. We as humans, create our realities, so they are no strong basis for anything. Sure, we know stuff exists but how to explain it is limited to our senses and language.
Yes, science can help find the known and why of everything. It is very sad that we just exist. So enjoy.
26 July 2007, on 12:19 am
Myron:
Chances are moderately strong that the 1st life on earth was transported here via meteorites.
Microbes of course, not the Blob or the Thing.
I’m a cilantro agnostic. I just don’t know.
Hehehehe.
26 July 2007, on 7:59 am
Vastleft,
I thought that was the castor oil diet?
26 July 2007, on 9:25 am
Krystalline Apostate:
26 July 2007, on 9:34 am
Myron - I assume we’re in agreement, then?
26 July 2007, on 12:16 pm
Berlzebub,
Mixing cilantro with castor oil does make it less nauseating if you medically have to consume cilantro.
26 July 2007, on 12:32 pm
I had to do a post dedicated to these questions.
26 July 2007, on 12:53 pm
Vastleft,
Cilantro for medicinal purposes? I thought it was used as punishment for cussing. (It tastes like minty soap.)
Surely there’s a generic alternative available. Preferrably, something in the pill to get whatever benefits in a more pure form without the sudsy aftertaste.
26 July 2007, on 1:53 pm
Where else would you find a discussion focusing on atheism and cilantro? Love it!
22 August 2007, on 7:35 am
[...] What’s the Harm? Is all religion harmful? Ultimately, yes, because it keeps us from having a shared, legitimate sense of reality. It forces us to choose between sharing and reality, which is an awful choice. It also, of course, forces us to make arbitrary and often ill-fated decisions about with whom we can and cannot share. - vastleft in God is for Suckers [...]