XPost: alt.philosophy.zen, alt.society.liberalism, alt.society.kindness   
   XPost: talk.politics.theory   
   From: hollywoodlee@gmail.com   
      
   Déjà Fu wrote:   
      
   > ps:   
   > In our laboratory experiments, our staff has found   
   > that the KJV Bible, the Quoran and the Book of Mormon   
   > produce virtually the same BTU/hr of heat in a modern,   
   > high-efficiency stove. The Torah lags by nearly 40%   
   > and is not generally available in motel rooms.   
   >   
   >   
   > (sorry, Lee - allah made me do it...:)   
      
   I like Richard Dawkins' (author of the God Delusion among others) take   
   on religion:   
      
   --------   
      
   http://www.wpr.org/book/dawkins.html   
      
   Richard Dawkins talked with Steve Paulson about the dangers of   
   unquestioned faith and why he thinks atheists are among the most   
   intelligent people.  An excerpt follows:   
      
   . . . .   
      
   Q: My sense is that you don't just think religion is dishonest. There's   
   something evil about it as well.   
      
   A: Well, yes. I think there's something very evil about faith, where   
   faith means believing in something in the absence of evidence, and   
   actually taking pride in believing in something in the absence of   
   evidence. And the reason that's dangerous is that it justifies   
   essentially anything. If you're taught in your holy book or by your   
   priest that blasphemers should die or apostates should die -- anybody   
   who once believed in the religion and no longer does needs to be killed   
   -- that clearly is evil. And people don't have to justify it because   
   it's their faith. They don't have to say, "Well, here's a very good   
   reason for this." All they need to say is, "That's what my faith says."   
   And we're all expected to back off and respect that. Whether or not   
   we're actually faithful ourselves, we've been brought up to respect   
   faith and to regard it as something that should not be challenged. And   
   that can have extremely evil consequences. The consequences it's had   
   historically -- the Crusades, the Inquisition, right up to the present   
   time where you have suicide bombers and people flying planes into   
   skyscrapers in New York -- all in the name of faith.   
      
   Q: But don't you need to distinguish between religious extremists who   
   kill people and moderate, peaceful religious believers?   
      
   A: You certainly need to distinguish them. They are very different.   
   However, the moderate, sensible religious people you've cited make the   
   world safe for the extremists by bringing up children -- sometimes even   
   indoctrinating children -- to believe that faith trumps everything and   
   by influencing society to respect faith. Now, the faith of these   
   moderate people is in itself harmless. But the idea that faith needs to   
   be respected is instilled into children sitting in rows in their   
   madrasahs in the Muslim world. And they are told these things not by   
   extremists but by decent, moderate teachers and mullahs. But when they   
   grow up, a small minority of them remember what they were told. They   
   remember reading their holy book, and they take it literally. They   
   really do believe it. Now, the moderate ones don't really believe it,   
   but they have taught children that faith is a virtue. And it only takes   
   a minority to believe what it says in the holy book -- the Old   
   Testament, the New Testament, the Quran, whatever it is. If you believe   
   it's literally true, then there's scarcely any limit to the evil things   
   you might do.   
      
   Q: And yet most moderate religious people are appalled by the   
   apocalyptic thinking of religious extremists.   
      
   A: Of course they're appalled. They're very decent, nice people. But   
   they have no right to be appalled because, in a sense, they brought it   
   on the world by teaching people, especially children, the virtues of   
   unquestioned faith.   
      
   Hear the full interview at http://www.wpr.org/book/Richard%20Dawkins.mp3   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)