Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to You *do* realize...

Well, there's always the case to be made
azstrummer — (archived)

that the negative opinion of someone you don't respect might actually be taken as a complement.

Jody, if fundamentalist Christian zealots believe me an idiot I've done my work. If you count yourself in that group (which I don't believe you do) then we have absolutely nothing in common and your opinion is of no value to me. Mind you, my definition of that group includes a tightly shut mind to new ideas and I don't believe you fit that.

There are days however where I can see that your emotions shut off that critical analysis component and you react defensively to what you read instead of actually processing the words. Obviously, I knew my post had that potential and it's why I chose Flame for the delivery and did not try to lessen the controversy. Before I read a post that someone starts in Flame, I prepare myself for the possibility of hyperbole from the author. I know there's the chance they're spitting for a fight and to take their words with a grain of salt.

Underneath it all though was the link to a preposterous website, one that should make any critically thinking human bristle. That it's not an immediate reaction from anyone regardless of their faith shows the power of group identity. To a tee, the negative reactions of people to my post were from people considering themselves religious or spiritual although I was pleasantly surprised that there were some from that group that understood the source of outrage no matter what their own experiences and beliefs were.

The issue was never prayer Jody. Prayer is an article of faith where the value is personal and cannot be assigned to scientific analysis. Any attempt to place the concept into rules and structure is, in my opinion, nothing more than rationalization. That humans routinely utilize bizarre and awkward rationalizations to prove and bolster their unverifiable beliefs should not be taken lightly. What may seem innocent actually erodes the intellectual evolution of our species. We've seen an entire nation rationalize a subset of their population into something subhuman that had to be destroyed in gas chambers and ovens. That suspension of common sense and basic human ethics didn't occur overnight. It crept into the national ethos one tiny absurdity at a time many of which seemed innocuous.

I don't believe, given human propensity for allowing absurd notions to pile up like that, that we can afford to simply laugh off the religiously absurd simply because the overall sense of religion is that it is a force of good.

Look, your response was completely in line with the spirit of Flame. I deserve shots back when I write lines bluntly. What's interesting though is the consistency of where the shots come from. You're becoming quite predictable. I could have written your response for you. Surprise me sometime.

Art

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