sábado, 28 de abril de 2012

Chico Sofista X Kwesi Ayiden Blankson - Atheism


  1. Many people think that atheists believe that there is nothing beyond human life and nothing that goes beyond the knowledge already acquired.

    But the truth is that atheists are free to admit that there is much about the universe that we do not understand.

    Obviously we do not fully understand the universe.

    But it is extremely obvious that it is an absurd to think that books like the Bible or the Koran are the best way of knowing things.

    Atheists are free to imagine the existence of societies on other planets, much more developed than ours, where his concepts about reality, are much more realistic than ours.

    But they are also free to admit, that such beings do exist, the bible the Koran can be even more absurd for them than they are to human atheists today.

    Many people believe that atheists are people closed to religious experiences, but the truth is that there is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing the transcendence of love, or ecstasy, or have epiphanies. There is nothing that prevents an atheist to go to a cave or a desert for a year or more intense, and practice meditation as a mystical truth.

    What atheists do not do is to build solid and immutable concepts, unjustifiable by this kind of experience.

    There is no doubt that meditation and prayer have profound effects on the human mind.

    But there is absolutely no evidence of superiority of one method over another, be it Buddhist, Hindu and Christian, Jew or Muslim.

    If a person wants to have an honest answer about reality, it must transcend the essence of his own limitations, and try to see the world through the eyes of other people who lived their lives shaped by different cultures, having been exposed at different periods of their lives to different ideologies, making linguistic connections from their own meanings viciously prejudiced.
    ResponderExcluir
  2. Even if the physicists who "invented" the physics are Christians, it would be absurd to think of a "Christian physics", as it would be absurd to speak of "Islamic Algebra", even if they have invented algebra.

    Likewise, it is absurd to talk about a huge Christian morality or spirituality of Islam.

    Whatever the truth about our questions about ethics or spirituality, must be found NOW, and should be articulated in a rational manner so as not to offend what we already know about the nature of the universe.

    And it may well be done without the necessity of calling for the certainty of the infallibility of a single holy book or rumors of ancient miracles.

    It's amazing how people still relates atheism to the crimes of Stalin or Mao Tse Tung.

    The problem of fascism and communism not referring to how they related to religion but rather with the way they are like religions.

    Some dishonest arguer would say that if someone wants to live in a society where atheism is prevalent, should go to North Korea. But the truth is that North Korea is just a society structured on a system based on a cult, centered on the worship of their supreme ruler.

    When the Western countries throw food to prevent the North Koreans starve, they really believe it is the offerings of its ruler.

    The same thing happens in all theological states.

    The greatest problems of the world are not related to disbeliefs, but in the absolute belief in misconceptions.

    That is the real disease that infects society.
    ResponderExcluir
  3. Atheism simply means ' Alternate theism', a state wherein a person sees nature as the all in all, without a controller, just as a child sees a gramophone but doesn't knw that there is a controller, a 'gramophone man' behind its operation.
    ResponderExcluir
  4. Is it the skeptical inquiry responsible for the ills of mankind?

    Would it be responsible for building societies like North Korea or Afghanistan?

    No concentration camp that has ever existed in the world was the result of atheism, but from other political ideologies based on dogma.

    Hitler was never an atheist, in fact, he often evoked Jesus in his pronouncements. And all the atrocities of the War of the interpretation of results were irrefutable dogmas of rigid political systems, the idea of the superiority of German blood on other ethnicities.

    But all the holy wars are the result of what people believed to be their absolute dogma. Same for the terrorist attacks of September 11.

    Cutting funding for stem cell research is directly related to religious beliefs of the people, never to their disbelief. The same for the prohibition of abortion, which is responsible for creating a social absurdity, because of the reductionist view of those who do not admit the possibility of being wrong.

    When talking about the "practical" for a discussion like this, it is important to represent the consequences of specific ideas.

    What SPECIFIC ideas of atheism are detrimental to the development of humanity?

    Atheism is just stop believing in a god and they are all atheists with respect to the god of the other.

    Moreover, no one has a conception of "God" exactly like the other, thus we are all heretics in the eyes of each other.

    By stipulating that there is only one correct way to live life, religions cause much more segregation than it fulfill its role of spreading compassion and mercy.

    Let me make it absolutely clear that it is equally absurd to say that religion is the fault of the evil that was done by any religious person throughout history.

    But it is very important to separate the religious and atheists do or do not do explicitly for religious reasons.

    And when these factors are balanced, it is clear that atheism is not, in itself, any factor that threatens the development of the population, on the contrary, if you consider the absurdities that can be made on behalf of some religions.
    ResponderExcluir
  5. The main problem with atheism is the misconception that there is no Living Force, call it God may b, behind nature. This misconception doesn't run only thru materialistic scientists, but also through some religions and philosophies.
    There r two classes of beings, The Fallible and the Infallible. Beyond these two, there is another, greater being, the source and cause of everything, Who Has A Form (contrary to sm teachings that God is Formless, God is Light, etc). Without His sanction, nature is helpless, just as without the Husband a Woman cant give birth on Her Own.
    ResponderExcluir
  6. It is obvious that every worldview has antagonistic and other aspects consistent with other views. Nobody totally agree with everyone, as no one disagrees with everything that the other says.

    Obviously there are logical paths that can be followed by theists or atheists, which are independent of religious causes, but are linked much more rational, moral or intellectual situations which may well be put into debate.

    I do not think that atheism is the "best path for humanity," I think the best way for humanity is to maintain the freedom of belief and the greater pluralism of beliefs, the better for all involved, because in a system with greater diversity, the greater the probability of selection of the best ideas.

    Furthermore, it is impossible to completely iconoclast. When you reject some symbols, you must learn to love other symbols, using other forms of perception of the human mind.

    Therefore, everyone has their "God", be it Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, money or Chuck Norris.

    And since nobody is totally iconoclastic, no one is totally "atheist."

    But by rejecting the view of the inconsistent acceptance of the infallibility of whatever human explanation, the human being is actually opening up to different possibilities and increasing their level of tolerance, contrary to what seems to think my opponent.

    I leave these issues for my opponent and I wait for his response, so I can writte my final considerations.
    ResponderExcluir
  7. Hahaha, that's interesting.
    The real concept of Unity in Diversity can b materialised in religion, that is, if pple understand what religion actualy means.
    The modern definition of religion as 'faith or blief one has in God' is wrong. Religion means the eternal occupation of a living being, which culminates in the love of God, love of all, as we usually say, 'God is Love'.
    Nw God is One, having different names due to different languages and the culture of approaching Him by a particular country or tribe. That is the missing link pple need to understand.
    ResponderExcluir
  8. Atheism is much more than “Alternate theism”. Denying unsustainable hypothesis is an exercise of intellectual inquiring that every person do, religious or not.

    Every religious person acquired their “truth” by what they were told by other people.

    That are infinite ways to understand the universe and accepting what others tell, without any justifiable reason is never a good answer.

    The thing is that people prefer to live in a state of eternal dependency of a paternal figure and the idea of God helps them not to feel alone, even when its unavoidable.

    Besides, as I said, each person has its own version of “God” and everybody is an heretic in each others eyes, because its impossible to create an universal irrefutable version of God.

    The great problem is to really believe that somehow, what you know is more important than others know and what you were told is more meaningful than what others were told.

    If you say that God is nature itself, any atheist would believe in God, because everybody knows nature exist. But if you need a supernatural explanation to deal with things that can be perfectly explainable by means of reason, than what you’re doing is running away from the truth, just because making your point is, in fact, more important than being really right.

    Of course, if you’re talking about love, respect or friendship why not use these words and use that word that is commonly used to describe supernatural beings that interfere with the reality and are seldom worried about what people do while they’re naked?

    The concept of “God” has many things involved, and I agree that many of them symbolizes good stuff. However, the concept of a nonexistent entity that would certainly group all these pre-established features doesn’t help mankind evolve in what is more important to it: To know itself.

    I wanna thank my opponent for the magnificent opportunity to have this conversation, for the first time, in a language that can be understandable by much of our international visitors.

    I wait for your final considerations, and so we will open the quiz and decide the winner.

    Thank you very much.

    Chico Sophist.
    ResponderExcluir
  9. Gracias, chico sophista . U've shown mastery of d subject.
    My final words:the existence of God can better b appreciated if we understand that nature is our mother. It is not heresay, but a real fact, for dont we say,'' Mother Nature?"
    Nature is d source of all that exists, the mother of all. But God is the father, without whom Nature is helpless. And as u knw, a child cant knw his father unless the mother shows him, similarly, if we realy want to knw God and meet Him, then let's study nature closely; The galaxy, the ocean, birth, photosynthesis, etc, and everything about nature shows a remarkable order and precision. This is not by chance, but by a purpose. Chance has no play in Order, only purpose has. And there is no purpose without Intelligence, otherwise the universe would b a chaos.

    nature doesnt come frm nothing, frm chaos, with all its beauty and wonder. There's a designer behind it all.
    U c the most beautiful building in ur country? Sm intelligence is behind it.
    U c hw genetic coding takes place? It's so amazing, ryt? Well there's an intelligent designer behind it.
    Gracias

8 comentários:

  1. Many people think that atheists believe that there is nothing beyond human life and nothing that goes beyond the knowledge already acquired.

    But the truth is that atheists are free to admit that there is much about the universe that we do not understand.

    Obviously we do not fully understand the universe.

    But it is extremely obvious that it is an absurd to think that books like the Bible or the Koran are the best way of knowing things.

    Atheists are free to imagine the existence of societies on other planets, much more developed than ours, where his concepts about reality, are much more realistic than ours.

    But they are also free to admit, that such beings do exist, the bible the Koran can be even more absurd for them than they are to human atheists today.

    Many people believe that atheists are people closed to religious experiences, but the truth is that there is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing the transcendence of love, or ecstasy, or have epiphanies. There is nothing that prevents an atheist to go to a cave or a desert for a year or more intense, and practice meditation as a mystical truth.

    What atheists do not do is to build solid and immutable concepts, unjustifiable by this kind of experience.

    There is no doubt that meditation and prayer have profound effects on the human mind.

    But there is absolutely no evidence of superiority of one method over another, be it Buddhist, Hindu and Christian, Jew or Muslim.

    If a person wants to have an honest answer about reality, it must transcend the essence of his own limitations, and try to see the world through the eyes of other people who lived their lives shaped by different cultures, having been exposed at different periods of their lives to different ideologies, making linguistic connections from their own meanings viciously prejudiced.

    ResponderExcluir
  2. Even if the physicists who "invented" the physics are Christians, it would be absurd to think of a "Christian physics", as it would be absurd to speak of "Islamic Algebra", even if they have invented algebra.

    Likewise, it is absurd to talk about a huge Christian morality or spirituality of Islam.

    Whatever the truth about our questions about ethics or spirituality, must be found NOW, and should be articulated in a rational manner so as not to offend what we already know about the nature of the universe.

    And it may well be done without the necessity of calling for the certainty of the infallibility of a single holy book or rumors of ancient miracles.

    It's amazing how people still relates atheism to the crimes of Stalin or Mao Tse Tung.

    The problem of fascism and communism not referring to how they related to religion but rather with the way they are like religions.

    Some dishonest arguer would say that if someone wants to live in a society where atheism is prevalent, should go to North Korea. But the truth is that North Korea is just a society structured on a system based on a cult, centered on the worship of their supreme ruler.

    When the Western countries throw food to prevent the North Koreans starve, they really believe it is the offerings of its ruler.

    The same thing happens in all theological states.

    The greatest problems of the world are not related to disbeliefs, but in the absolute belief in misconceptions.

    That is the real disease that infects society.

    ResponderExcluir
  3. Atheism simply means ' Alternate theism', a state wherein a person sees nature as the all in all, without a controller, just as a child sees a gramophone but doesn't knw that there is a controller, a 'gramophone man' behind its operation.

    ResponderExcluir
  4. The main problem with atheism is the misconception that there is no Living Force, call it God may b, behind nature. This misconception doesn't run only thru materialistic scientists, but also through some religions and philosophies.
    There r two classes of beings, The Fallible and the Infallible. Beyond these two, there is another, greater being, the source and cause of everything, Who Has A Form (contrary to sm teachings that God is Formless, God is Light, etc). Without His sanction, nature is helpless, just as without the Husband a Woman cant give birth on Her Own.

    ResponderExcluir
  5. It is obvious that every worldview has antagonistic and other aspects consistent with other views. Nobody totally agree with everyone, as no one disagrees with everything that the other says.

    Obviously there are logical paths that can be followed by theists or atheists, which are independent of religious causes, but are linked much more rational, moral or intellectual situations which may well be put into debate.

    I do not think that atheism is the "best path for humanity," I think the best way for humanity is to maintain the freedom of belief and the greater pluralism of beliefs, the better for all involved, because in a system with greater diversity, the greater the probability of selection of the best ideas.

    Furthermore, it is impossible to completely iconoclast. When you reject some symbols, you must learn to love other symbols, using other forms of perception of the human mind.

    Therefore, everyone has their "God", be it Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, money or Chuck Norris.

    And since nobody is totally iconoclastic, no one is totally "atheist."

    But by rejecting the view of the inconsistent acceptance of the infallibility of whatever human explanation, the human being is actually opening up to different possibilities and increasing their level of tolerance, contrary to what seems to think my opponent.

    I leave these issues for my opponent and I wait for his response, so I can writte my final considerations.

    ResponderExcluir
  6. Hahaha, that's interesting.
    The real concept of Unity in Diversity can b materialised in religion, that is, if pple understand what religion actualy means.
    The modern definition of religion as 'faith or blief one has in God' is wrong. Religion means the eternal occupation of a living being, which culminates in the love of God, love of all, as we usually say, 'God is Love'.
    Nw God is One, having different names due to different languages and the culture of approaching Him by a particular country or tribe. That is the missing link pple need to understand.

    ResponderExcluir
  7. Atheism is much more than “Alternate theism”. Denying unsustainable hypothesis is an exercise of intellectual inquiring that every person do, religious or not.

    Every religious person acquired their “truth” by what they were told by other people.

    That are infinite ways to understand the universe and accepting what others tell, without any justifiable reason is never a good answer.

    The thing is that people prefer to live in a state of eternal dependency of a paternal figure and the idea of God helps them not to feel alone, even when its unavoidable.

    Besides, as I said, each person has its own version of “God” and everybody is an heretic in each others eyes, because its impossible to create an universal irrefutable version of God.

    The great problem is to really believe that somehow, what you know is more important than others know and what you were told is more meaningful than what others were told.

    If you say that God is nature itself, any atheist would believe in God, because everybody knows nature exist. But if you need a supernatural explanation to deal with things that can be perfectly explainable by means of reason, than what you’re doing is running away from the truth, just because making your point is, in fact, more important than being really right.

    Of course, if you’re talking about love, respect or friendship why not use these words and use that word that is commonly used to describe supernatural beings that interfere with the reality and are seldom worried about what people do while they’re naked?

    The concept of “God” has many things involved, and I agree that many of them symbolizes good stuff. However, the concept of a nonexistent entity that would certainly group all these pre-established features doesn’t help mankind evolve in what is more important to it: To know itself.

    I wanna thank my opponent for the magnificent opportunity to have this conversation, for the first time, in a language that can be understandable by much of our international visitors.

    I wait for your final considerations, and so we will open the quiz and decide the winner.

    Thank you very much.

    Chico Sophist.

    ResponderExcluir
  8. Gracias, chico sophista . U've shown mastery of d subject.
    My final words:the existence of God can better b appreciated if we understand that nature is our mother. It is not heresay, but a real fact, for dont we say,'' Mother Nature?"
    Nature is d source of all that exists, the mother of all. But God is the father, without whom Nature is helpless. And as u knw, a child cant knw his father unless the mother shows him, similarly, if we realy want to knw God and meet Him, then let's study nature closely; The galaxy, the ocean, birth, photosynthesis, etc, and everything about nature shows a remarkable order and precision. This is not by chance, but by a purpose. Chance has no play in Order, only purpose has. And there is no purpose without Intelligence, otherwise the universe would b a chaos.

    nature doesnt come frm nothing, frm chaos, with all its beauty and wonder. There's a designer behind it all.
    U c the most beautiful building in ur country? Sm intelligence is behind it.
    U c hw genetic coding takes place? It's so amazing, ryt? Well there's an intelligent designer behind it.
    Gracias

    ResponderExcluir