Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under the
Posted 14 weeks 4 days ago byAn Honest man cannot win an argument with an idiot.
Steve Wishnevsky (1945-)
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)
Ridicule is the first and last argument of fools.
Charles Simmons
Want any more reasons why I don’t reply to comments any more?
I just heard this on the radio. “James Carse: "The Religious Case Against Belief" (Penguin)
A religious scholar examines the difference between belief and religion.”
He listed the several types of ignorance, simple ignorance, such as “who knew?” and then willful ignorance, a specialty of believers. Willful ignorance is the refusal to believe anything in contradiction to your belief system, which is of course divinely revealed and therefore perfect. A sample of this tactic is the Evolution and Global Warming Deniers saying; “Well, science is just a belief, just as my religion is, therefore one is worth as much as the other.”
Such a fallacy would need no contravention, except the closed-minded are a perfect system. You could point out that Gravity works regardless of the mass’s belief in “Every point mass attracts every other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses:”
But that is too hard for the willfully ignorant to grasp. They can get to “God Wills It!” and that’s as far as it goes. The self evident fact that the “Will of God’ is dependant on the perceptions of the believer is willfully ignored. “My God is Right, all other Gods are wrong,” takes care of all of that quibbling.
The difference between belief and religion is easy to demonstrate. Many Christians have many hard held beliefs, but very little religion in the sense of treating other humans in a loving manner. Buddhism is a religion that seems to have little in the way of beliefs. Followers of Confucius have many beliefs, but no religion.
Christians are mostly willfully ignorant of other people’s religions and beliefs. They usually find it hard to understand that a Jew may be a good person and follow all the beliefs of his religion, and still be an atheist, for example.
But then most American Christians of the coarser sort are willfully ignorant of their own Holy Book. For example, it is a lot easier to find verses that justify slavery than verses that condemn homosexuality.
For another example, believe it or not, America is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. The Holy Land is Israel, the Chosen People are the Jews, no matter what your hairy-eared preacher may tell you. But that’s fine, believe what you want, it is not my place to uplift the heathen. But you should be aware that in some cases, scientific cases, willful ignorance carries the death penalty. Don’t believe me? Argue with Mr. Gravity.
Mr. Gravity always wins.
Thoughts
Hairy-eared preachers
Submitted on July 3rd, 2008 by rom12921I try to stay away from the judgement seat and use reason as the primary tactic in an argument. Condemning the person or group of people "most Christians","liberals", etc is usually inflamatory but not informative.
That being said, I am thankful and encouraged by all y'all RBA people in that you are thoughtful and forgiving. I enjoy the blogs and the comments.
The Cuo is half full!
Submitted on July 3rd, 2008 by HamiltonThis is the only quote wish uses honestly; his arrogance does not allow him to understand the possibility that other beings (besides him) have valid less cynical ideas about positive social and environmental relationships. In wish’s world anger, hate and his word are all that is reasonable and worth discussion. The disdain he treats all who question his personal belief system exemplifies this brilliant quote. Since wish is not going to respond to this post, let me invite my friends to google wish and check out his truly cool looking handmade musical instruments.
“Ridicule is the first and last argument of fools.”
Charles Simmons
Personally, Christianity is about loving your neighbor and spending your time, energy and resources to help and assist those that can’t help themselves. Random acts of brotherhood/sisterhood (that’s for you Lady Skye), caring more about others than yourself, it is through giving that we truly receive the gifts of God.
B. Hamilton Langrehr:
The Hamilton Post: www.thehamiltonpost.blogspot.com
blangrehr@gmail.com
Vanity is my favorite sin
Submitted on July 3rd, 2008 by John 2000.
WOW, loved this Wish...
Submitted on July 2nd, 2008 by Skye RiversI believe in the supernatural Jan and all things unseen, because I don't know that they DON'T exist for FACT. Now about FACT... doesn't mean for certain either. What FACT is to one person, may not be the same FACT for another. Take Global Warming... there are FACTS in both cases of those who believe and disbelieve the theories. My thing is this.. as an example if I may...
When someone tells me UNDER NO UNCERTAIN TERMS they know that gays don't make it to heaven because they are sinners and THEY KNOW FOR A FACT BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS SO, I RUN FOR THE HILLS... I will listen to what they say, usually want to hear how they came to their beliefs, as I find humans so fascinating and maybe will even go so far as to debate it depending on time and effort... BUT... I believe the ONLY being in the Universe that KNOWS the TRUTH to ALL existence is GOD, other than that.. don't bother me with meaningless self proposed truths. Self righteousness is not something I subscribe to.
Now one more thing Wish... you are right about arguing with an idiot. It is like trying to teach a pig to fly, you will get frustrated and so will the pig.
Who buys into religion ?
Submitted on July 2nd, 2008 by janmbAn intelligent person will undoubtedly have a need to question everything.
A low IQ individual will be able to accept what they are told without question.
It has been suggested that there is a fine-line between genius and insanity. Could there be a fine line between being intelligent and at the same time gullible to the point of being stupid ?
Who believes in the supernatural and what someone else wrote about as the TRUTH. The answer is both intelligent people and those of lower IQ.
No reply?
Submitted on July 2nd, 2008 by rom12921Comparing Gravity to Evolution and Global warming (human caused) is disingenuous due mainly to time and elements of proof.
Gravity can be measured and observed in the here and now while Evolution has allegedly happened over millions of years. Time is critical in evaluating ideas such as evolution. It requires one to make assumptions about the past in evaluating current evidence. Sets of assumptions or predispositions can bias an individual in a "...refusal to believe anything in contradiction to your belief system". Mr Wishnevsky applies the definition of "willful ignorance" selectively (referring to Christians later in the text).
Global warming is allegedly caused by human activity ruling out the sun, cosmic radiation, subterranean volcanic activity and weather cycles possibly lasting hundreds of years. This idea is another set of assumptions based on a relatively recent set of data.
Denying these ideas are truth doesn't necessarily mean I am promoting or attempting to prove divine intervention. The evidence revealed by Evolution, natural selection processes, and Global Warming, rising temperatures are helpful at understanding the world around us. However, the conclusions of these ideas are illogical.
Overall, I agree with the assessment of willful ignorance and if applied honestly and consistently it would include Evolution and Global Warming.
Why quote scripture?