[thechat] Jedi Knight now an official religion in the UK...

Bruce Heerssen bruce at heerssen.com
Mon Oct 8 12:00:35 CDT 2001


Jesus G. Gorriti wrote:

>> Aside: Jedi Knight is more of an occupation than a religion, but then 
>> Atheism, by definition, is certainly not a religion and they 
>> list that 
>> (code 335).
> 
> 
> Actually that depends on the definition of religion.

Not quite, it depends on the definition of atheism, or it's root, theism.

heh, I just love semantics ;0

> 
> If you understand it as believing on something through an act
> of faith then Atheism is, as well, a religion. 

I look at it as an issue of lack of faith. At any rate, look at the 
structure of the word: a-theism. As in non-theist. The same as 
apolitical is non-political. So atheism means non-religious.

> 
> I am an atheist, or I want to think that. And most of the
> times when I am into a discussion about religion people keep
> saying that it's easier to "believe in nothing". Well, on the
> contrary, it's quite hard to believe that there is no such
> thing as a superior being. That's an act of faith, right?

I suppose so... but the real issue for me is that scientific method and 
western religion have a basic and mutually exclusive conflict. Western 
religions state that the existance of God is to be taken on faith and 
the scientific method says that only that which can be proved to exist, 
or can be shown to have a preponderance of evidence indicating it's 
existence, can be said to actually exist.

I also kind of wonder at the whole concept of having to specify a 
religion in the first place. It assumes that all people have a deeply 
held belief system, which is patently not true. I, for instance, believe 
that there probably is no God, but I could be wrong and I know it. 
Perhaps a check box at the top that says "Do you consider yourself 
religious? [yes/no] If yes, please complete the following section." 
would better address this question.

> 
> Though I wouldn't mind acting like a Jedi Knight sometimes...

These are not the droids you are looking for. Move along... :)

Best regards,
   -Bruce





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