Comments on: It all depends on how you ask the questions

By: Black Sun Journal » Archives » The Humanist Symposium #3

Black Sun Journal » Archives » The Humanist Symposium #3 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:10:41 +0000

[...] Naomi from God is for Suckers with a nice clarification of secular demographic trends. It’s like I’ve always thought: atheism is severely underreported, especially among the young. Keep up the good work, Naomi! [...]

By: Eve

Eve — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:23:10 +0000

^ According to Falwell’s entry on answers.com, “there are hints that the youngest of his three children, Jonathan, may someday assume [his father's church's] pastorship. The younger Falwell was appointed administrator of the church in 1995; his brother Jerry Jr. serves as in-house counsel for his father’s projects, and Falwell’s only daughter is a surgeon in Richmond, Virginia.”

By: Eve

Eve — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:18:28 +0000

Well, we still got Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts (or is he dead, too?), Phyllis Schafly’s boy (the one who founded Conservapedia) – did Falwell have kids?

By: Naomi

Naomi — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:10:31 +0000

ChuckA: no comment.

Momma always said (as most mothers do): If you can’t say something nice about someone…

I will say this: Who is his successor? As in most authoritarian regimes, the Crown Prince is usually only a pale copy of the original…

By: ChuckA

ChuckA — Tue, 15 May 2007 17:50:58 +0000

I second Eve’s Ramen.
Yeah…Religion…the oldest, and I’d say…#1 racquet (business/institution?) in humanity’s vast arsenal of bullshit!
Let’s see; what’s that other popular one?…erm…Prostitution?…at least that entails a good deal of fun attached to it.
Come to think of it Religion is just another form of prostitution…i.e….mental prostitution…or…mind fucking?
Sexual prostitution may have inherent elements of Sado/Masochism; but nothing compared to Religion.
I’m also reminded of that famous George Carlin…erm…”standing in awe of the bullshit” routine:
Just for a reminder of a genuine classic comedy routine?…
“George Carlin on religion” [10:12]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uBAPbOWLxc

I just heard about Falwell’s death.
Ummm…No comment?

By: Eve

Eve — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:48:15 +0000

^ Ramen, Neil!

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:05:59 +0000

I think spartanrider has a major point there. This may not be universally true, but in my experience the more devoted a person is to their religion, the higher the chance that they will end up embracing hypocrisy instead of honesty.

Religions are generally based on “absolute values”. Any sane person can tell you, if they are being honest, that when you subject “absolute values” to the reality of life, all that’s left is “absolute bullshit.”

But that just shows why people lie in these kinds of studies, generally skewing said studies toward a “more religious” outcome. As far as what the numbers themselves signify, I am encouraged. Even as good ol’ American anti-intellectualism swallows the republican party whole, taking much of the middle classes with it, there is a backlash that has been growing for years, of which I am a proud part.
With or without greater knowledge, many of us are just sick of the scam and not emotionally needy enough, not raised to be obedient enough, to just shut up and fall in line. Once you kill the need in the individual, the trappings start to dry up and whither away.

By: spartanrider

spartanrider — Mon, 14 May 2007 17:40:00 +0000

People answer these questions quickly with no thought to what they are actually saying.People know that whatever they say there are no consquences.As an example I could run a survey at the Talledega Raceway.I am sure I could find many people who support Judge Roy Moore and his ten commandment foolishness.If I then followed up with the statement that NASCAR racing should be shut down on Sunday afternoon I might possibly find myself in a very precarious situation.These people would have no problem supporting the idea of a holy sabbath as long as it was only an abstract.As a practical matter they would run someone trying to enforce this crap out of town on a rail.Preachers are fond of saying that ye shall know them by their works.Hypocrisy in religion is rampant.Let them thunder in their pulpits for the rule of god,but also tell their followers they are going to shut down the NFL on Sunday.If they had to preach the consquences of their ideas they would fast become a disappearing minority.