[thechat] rationality is not enough (was: New Year's Resolution)

[Joe Crawford]

On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Madhu Menon wrote:
> A non sequitur.
>
> Stalin (atheist) = mass murderer
> Therefore atheists = mass murderers (or "bad people")
>
> does not compute.

Not my point at all. Sorry for the misunderstand.

Dawkins seemed to be implying that religion was the cause of badness. that
the lack of religion would bring about less badness.

This is what I was taking issue with.

Some of my best friends (and indeed, I pretty much am - but I'm more
agnostic - maybe I'm the uncertainty principle in action -
athiest/theist!)

Remember Madhu, I'm closer to your side on the whole God issue. :-)

> People have committed murder in the name of their God/religion too.
> Don't Osama and gang do just that? Just because one atheist was a maniac
> doesn't make the rest of us evil. Ditto for religious people.
>
> As for religion being the problem, I will refrain from commenting. I
> think I should go easy on the religious discussion here.

It's interesting, I see athiest dogma and religious dogma as very closely
related. And evangelists for either tend to get tedious.

Sometimes I really wish we were all in the same room having
<?=$beverage_of_choice?> and talking about this stuff. Maybe with a jazz
trio playing in the corner.

Particularly Syed, because I can never grok him in here. I think in an
actual social situation the language and cultural barriers could come
down. Too bad international travel costs so much. :-\

joe