God Created Us "In His Image"?

[vulturesrow]

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"I personally attest that Spiritual fitness is an important component to Soldier morale, and at the end of the day makes a difference on the battlefield."

That statement has nothing to do with my point. A vague belief that "there is an ultimate reason for all this so its worth risking my life" is unrelated to my contention that someone who thinks that cookies really turn into blood is less likely to to be a briiliant tactician on the battlefied.

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One of the squadron commanders in my previous Air Wing, who was one of the most highly regarded fighter pilots I know, is a devout Christian. A Commander at the Naval Academy who had been a top guy everywhere he served in the submarine community is a devout Christian. Just two examples of a laundry list of people that I can cite who were highly regarded as tacticians that seemed to have no problems with faith clouding their professional ability. The submarine community guy should have special significance to you David since it is a highly technical field and they only let the brightest guys in.

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Hello Bigdaddydvo,

I presume that the US military has chaplains, or counsellors, whatever they are called, in fairness, for their atheist members? Or, are there no atheists in the forces? Or, do they not warrant the same support?

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Is atheism a religion? I actually tend to think that it is but at any rate, its not officially recognized as such, hence no chaplains. However, atheists have access to counsellor and pyschologists should they need those outlets.

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I see, another simple case of discrimination against atheists. Interetstingly, it happens in a country, that claims separation of church and states! 1984, here I come, a perfect example of doubletalk. I bet hat the taxes that pay for this mollycoddling (it seems theist are in greater need of support an are therefore weaker warriors, btw) of the troops, are raised indiscriminately from theist and non-atheists alike. Interesting stuff!

I wasn't joking about Orwell's reference, it seems to me, that most discussions with theists are based on a distortion of the meaning of language that rivals the one that Orwell proponed in his famous novel.

[J. Stew]

"In his image" means everything that the Universe is. If you are sitting on a park bench and are aware of a bird in a tree, where is that bird and tree in relation to your mind? It is outside or apart from you or your mind, but it is also inside/part of your mind as you are seeing/hearing it. When the mind is quiet, where is the mind except everywhere? Everything = infinite.

[kbfc]

If it were truly the case that offering chaplain services to religious soldiers resulted in the best possible military performance, I would have no problem, as an atheist, paying tax dollars toward this.

I'm not arguing here that this is the case, one way or the other, just a point about the taxes statement.

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If it were truly the case that offering chaplain services to religious soldiers resulted in the best possible military performance, I would have no problem, as an atheist, paying tax dollars toward this.


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Indeed. But it seems that atheists make better soldiers since they do not need/are not given that kind of support.

[David Sklansky]

"If you can find instances in history where an individual's Catholic (or I'll even expand it to Christian) beliefs even marginally affected their ability to get the job done on the battlefield, then I'll be happy to listen."

I don't think his belief affects his ability as much as I think the fact that he could believe that stuff means he is less likley to be good at the game theory type problems he has to solve.

Suppose two random people were chosen to play chess against each other a year from now after getting an hour a day lesson from Kasparov for that year. The only thing you knew about them was that one believed in astrology and one didn't. Don't you think the non believer is at leat 80% in the chess match. Change astrology to Cathlocism and I'd still love to lay eight to five.

[IronUnkind]

So atheists are not only superior thinkers but superior killers as well?

[IronUnkind]

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I wasn't joking about Orwell's reference, it seems to me, that most discussions with theists are based on a distortion of the meaning of language that rivals the one that Orwell proponed in his famous novel.

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You are referencing the wrong novel. Anyone who is puzzled by the absence of atheist priests should be nose-deep in Catch 22

[Bigdaddydvo]

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Suppose two random people were chosen to play chess against each other a year from now after getting an hour a day lesson from Kasparov for that year. The only thing you knew about them was that one believed in astrology and one didn't. Don't you think the non believer is at leat 80% in the chess match. Change astrology to Cathlocism and I'd still love to lay eight to five.


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David, I still don't understand your perceived incompatibility between intellectual excellence the Catholic Faith. In case you hadn't noticed, the President nominated Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. Should he be confirmed, that would make 5 of 9 Supreme Court justices practicing Roman Catholics. So if Catholicism inhibits the random individual in a hypothetical chess match against a non-believer, I counter that strong empirical evidence suggests that the same Catholicism has not hindered individuals from achieving the top tier in the legal/judicial community.

[David Sklansky]

Would you say the same thing about a belief in astrology?

And don't you think that most or all of those Supreme Court Catholic justices are apt to be skeptical of some of the specific beliefs of their religion?