What is a waste of time is engaging in philosophical questioning and discussion about various aspects of God when you already accept that Christian dogma is one of many and accept the anthropological point of view. — Mikie
is an expression stemming from combined ignorance, unjustified certainty, blatant inconsideration for others(immoral behaviour if there is such a thing),and spiteful arrogance — creativesoul
I appreciate the effort to give a least a small benefit of the doubt.
It’s not a waste of time for believers. That’s theology— which is fine by me. — Mikie
How does this not then apply to the metaphysical conviction that anything which some might deem “spiritual” – such as the belief that death to this world does not equate to an absolute cessation of personal being – can only be baloney?
After all: materialism, too, is but only a metaphysical conviction. — javra
Why the hell not? What could be more constructive than undermining BAD personal convictions? — BC
No, that's not what I meant. I meant what I said - there's a taboo on ideas associated with religious philosophy. — Quixodian
That's because religious philosophy only has meaning to the religious, it's not so much a taboo as a rejection based on lack of interest on the part of the irreligious. — Janus
You should be banned. — Noble Dust
That conviction is fine for individuals to hold, but should not affect our political or economic lives, which are rightly only concerned with the life that is evident— this life. — Janus
I want to point out that the same should be said for all those who uphold the existential finality of worldly death. — javra
What we do in this life is more than just about this life; its very much also about what follows. — javra
To give better context to this, for one example, one of the pragmatic benefits to belief in reincarnation (its reality or lack of here overlooked) is that one cares about the world one helps to produce today because it will be the world into which one will be birthed into tomorrow. — javra
In direct contrast to this, if one were to reason with “all I am vanishes with my death”, then there is no valid reason to give a shit about others that will live tomorrow. — javra
You won't be surprised to learn that I agree with you, by and large. I maybe have some small things I would argue, but by and large, I'm of agreement. — Noble Dust
You were taught these stories as a child. Anyone who thinks them through, if they’re strong enough, will just let them go as cultural fairytales — on par with Santa Klaus and caring about the National Football League. Others don’t — and that’s fine, but that’s religion and theology, not philosophy. Just as creationism is religion, not science. — Mikie
Yep. Not sure why I am still here, in this increasingly superficial chatfest. I guess the mods haven't noticed me. — Banno
Anti-religion and its concerns are as much a distraction from what really matters as religion and its concerns. You don't need to worry about saving anyone. — Janus
Which is also to acknowledge the culture and beliefs of the rest of the world, and thus that we shouldn’t give Christianity special treatment. — Mikie
But in the narrow case I mean, I think it’s treating Christianity as special and is a waste of time. — Mikie
"chutzpah"? — BC
I personally think that religious discussion should be confined to religion, and as you should know from my posting history I have no argument with people's personal religious beliefs, but when they seek to justify those beliefs in a public forum then they make themselves fair game. — Janus
The first is a shrinking away and the second is an opening up, and I don't think it takes much imagination or intelligence to be able to recognize which is the happier state. — Janus
The problem with the idea of rebirth is that concern about one's own state, whether in this life or the next, is an impediment to the kind of openness I'm talking about. — Janus
You were taught these stories as a child. Anyone who thinks them through, if they’re strong enough, will just let them go as cultural fairytales — on par with Santa Klaus and caring about the National Football League. Others don’t — and that’s fine, but that’s religion and theology, not philosophy. Just as creationism is religion, not science
It's also pretty much impossible to discuss ancient and medieval philosophy without reference to the religions of the time — Count Timothy von Icarus
Well, I'm not sure I would use the word 'impossible' but understanding what ancient and medieval philosophers and theists were saying when they were alive is certainly very difficult as they have been dead for so long, so we only have what memorialisations they left behind or what others claim they said.And I'd argue it's impossible to understand what these thinkers are saying, and engage seriously with them without taking the religious claims seriously. — Count Timothy von Icarus
At the same time, considerations of things like Heraclitus or the Patristics' conception of Logos, etc. will tend to show that philosophy still contains plenty of this flavor of speculation. I don't think you can have philosophy without it. — Count Timothy von Icarus
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