To Those Who say That A Well Trained Devout Catholic

[kbfc]

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Also, throughout history, some of the most interesting, provocative and deep discussions ABOUT religion were between religious people, sometimes very religious people.

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Bibliography, please.

[PrayingMantis]

Again, to make one of my points, back to Peter:

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For example, the whole purpose of Buddhism is to eliminate thought and reasoning to reach Nirvana! How can a Buddist be considered for a position where logic and reasoning is involved?

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You have such a little idea with regard to the things you are talking about (with such confidence!) it is just painful. Actually painful. I feel pain now.

It's fine that you have never heard anything about the _great_ and rich tradition of Buddhistic philosophy, logic, and systems of reasoning, but why do feel the need to expose your ignorance in such a way?

[PrayingMantis]

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I don't know that anyone thinks these discussions are important and that may be where you are misconstruing things. These discussions are a diversion, for me personally, and a way to spar intellectually.
Is table tennis important?


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My previous post was a reply to Zygote's post, who specifically asked "what issues you believe are more important, and specifically why this post has no importance to the issue of religion".

Otherwise your point of view is very valid, and not much to say against it.

[J. Stew]

If a person believes themselves to be any one of those titles then they are not able to be completely unbiased. What they believe themselves to be is exactly what skews the decision-making process.

[PrayingMantis]

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Bibliography, please.

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I wouldn't know where to start, honestly. It's huge. And also I'm no expert, and I'm not saying this forum "should be" some academic platform or something. I think that intelligent people can talk and discuss stuff in an interesting and deep way without being experts, and without reading tons of books - it's a question of approach, perspective, curiousity, open-mindedness, and I feel the "religious" discussions around here get D- in all of these.

[kbfc]

I agree with your general assessment. Like someone else said in this thread, this is basically table tennis for me. That said, I've read/studied a lot of religious philosophy over the years (I'm talking specifically about stuff by religious people), and I'm hardpressed to give any of it better than the D- you give the forum.

[Zygote]

i know you love touting your ego and i'm sure you are the only one on this planet who has ever actually discussed religion in an intellecutal sense, but you still haven't told us ANYTHING other than none of us know what we're talkign about.

start a thread detaling some of your secretive deep religious examanation, i beg of you!

[PrayingMantis]

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i know you love touting your ego and i'm sure you are the only one on this planet who has ever actually discussed religion in an intellecutal sense,

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Actually no, very far from it.

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but you still haven't told us ANYTHING other than none of us know what we're talkign about.

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No, I think you have misread me. Where did I say that none of you know what you are talking about? Some of you clearly have very little idea about what they're talking about, which is sad (especially since this forum is called "Science, Math and Philosophy"), and if it wasn't about "religion", people wouldnt be so easy with others who are completely ignorant with regard to the things they talk about (think about any poker forum around here - would you be happy with people talking very confidently about pot-odds without knowing anything about the actual meaning of it? So how is that different than someone talking confidently about Judaism or Buddhism while clearly having zero actual knowledge/understanding?).

Other than that I have said that there are very intelligent posters here, and also I have mentioned several times the exact things that bother me. It is pretty clear if you read my few posts here. BTW, You obviously don't need to care about those things too.

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start a thread detaling some of your secretive deep religious examanation, i beg of you!

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I'm sorry, but I have no secretive religious examinations to detail. Also, when/if I feel like starting a thread on this forum, I'll do just that, believe it or not.

[Aytumious]

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Bibliography, please.

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I wouldn't know where to start, honestly. It's huge. And also I'm no expert, and I'm not saying this forum "should be" some academic platform or something. I think that intelligent people can talk and discuss stuff in an interesting and deep way without being experts, and without reading tons of books - it's a question of approach, perspective, curiousity, open-mindedness, and I feel the "religious" discussions around here get D- in all of these.

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So far you've pointed out that two religious nuts -- Peter666 and txag007 -- don't really know what they are talking about.

For better or worse, much of what goes on here is non-believers trying to point out to the fundamentalists how idiotic much of what they say is.

[PrayingMantis]

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Unfortunately, much of what goes on here is simply non-believers trying to point out to the fundamentalists how idiotic much of what they say is.


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Yes, this is exactly how I see the discussions here, and probably that is why I am "disappointed" and why I started this rant here (if anyone cares about it at all).

Discussions that evolve around pointing out to others how idiotic their beliefs are, are very boring, IMO, and if intelligent people are busy with such discussions, it is a waste of energy and time.

For instance - here's an idea for people on a board like this who want to discuss religion in a deep and interesting way. Why not turn it into something like a "movie/book club", where each week/month/whatever some religious tradition/book/text/figure will be discussed thoroughly. It does not have to do with Christianity even. Just going to explore ideas, thoughts etc with people who are interested in that, on a philosophical level. How about that, instead of those endless dog fights between believers and non-believers that lead to nothing?