[kj] (OT) The Religion of Peace, Love and Understanding

[GREG SLAWSON]

Good for you Brendan about standing up for your dad's funeral. My dad was an atheist too, and would have been pissed off if anyone had made his into a religious affair.
 


From: bq at soundgardener.co.nz
To: gathering at misera.net
Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 23:04:58 +1000
Subject: Re: [kj] (OT) The Religion of Peace, Love and Understanding





Someone said to me recently (actually an author whose work I’ve read a lot of) ‘science is the new religion’
 
So now if you want to sound authorative you prefix your comments with ‘science has proven’ or ‘science has yet to prove’ and in many quarters it has the same pull as ‘The Bible teaches / Jesus says...’. I’m wary of becoming one of those, because you run the risk of your brain stopping dead as soon as you make a comment like that...and I’m not trying to argue with you or Bette. My comments about religion are from firsthand experience, front row seats to the whole pantomime...born and bred so to speak. I made my own conscious decision at around age 13 that it was all bullshit and I opted out, and it was like a weight off my shoulders. No more pep talks about guilt and burning in hell (after an entire day of that bullshit on a Christian camp I subsequently had nightmares, fell off a top bunk in the middle of the night, dislocated my shoulder, bruised my spine and concussed myself...) 
 
I hear curious comments from people quoting and misquoting scientific studies all the time. A big one in my field of interest is that stretching is bad for you, causes injuries or (more recently) makes you weak. I’m doing 5-6 hours of it a week and it’s helping me immensly...so I’m not a blind dogmatic follower of ‘science’. Science can take decades to prove the validity of things that people have already discovered through intuition.
 
Science can be done badly, so can religion. But there’s no getting around the fact that science and religion are at odds. Trying to water down the argument is disingenuous, as is trying to make religion off limits, or just calling it a draw and saying ‘there’s good and bad on both sides.’ Religion postulates an origin of the universe, life, humanity, that’s at odds with the evidence (I’d go further and say it’s bullshit), therefore at odds with science. Some make the argument that ‘they talk about different things and there’s no overlap.’ From where I’m sitting, that’s bullshit.
 
I attack the attitude that religion and other beliefs are beyond comment or criticism. Science isn’t and in fact is generally its own hardest critic. Look at the anti anthropogenic global warming lobby, they have every right to shoot down the science behind AGW, no one tells them it’s ‘uncouth’ to do so...or that they shouldn’t try to disabuse people of their beliefs through sounds rational arguments. 
 
Anyway, with religion I suppose I feel allowed to voice my opinion as strenuously as I do because I had it rammed down my throat from day 1. And nothing will ever change if people aren’t honest and open. It’s not arguing for the sake of arguing. I had to put my foot down last year and shout down plans for my father’s funeral to have religion involved...he was an atheist. I mean...the fuck?! How is someone’s own religion more important than the wishes of the deceased at their own funeral? The thing is, I’d fight just as hard if the situation was other way around as well...and I actually turned up to a later funeral mass. There were several people there who’d never been to a Christian service before, and you should have heard the things they said and seen the looks on their faces when they came out. It all just seemed so incongruous and weird to be repeating those brainless chants in this day and age. Which gives me hope actually...
 
Anyway, I’ll save the rest of my rant for when we’re sharing a few Guinness Mr Bongo J
 
 

From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On Behalf Of bongo
Sent: Friday, 7 May 2010 7:55 PM
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
Subject: Re: [kj] (OT) The Religion of Peace, Love and Understanding
 
On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 12:17 PM, Brendan <bq at soundgardener.co.nz> wrote:




So we’ve got:
 
Religion
 
The Magna Carta
Something to do with the attitudes of the guys who wrote the Declaration of Independence 
 
Science
 
Pretty much everything useful ever invented, and didn’t cause heaps of genocide.
 
 

 

should the analytical Brendan that i know, take a devils advocate view to what he has just writ, he would have no trouble tearing it to shreds!  

 

 

did you comprehend the point/s i was trying to make? and the repercussions?? YOUR personal and political (ha!) freedom is (in part) the result of hundreds of years of good people trying to be good people via the message of the bible. can you see that? 

our culture in which science is flourishing, is because of our history, which includes the christian backdrop.. i am not saying this is the truth and that i believe it and will smite thee who disagree, but i would like to express this view and make it understood that merely slamming all things religion is rather shallow and ill thought.

 

the double edged sword of religion, has killed with the lust of the devil, and has also shown love and forgiveness that would bring tears to the eyes of all here. i shit you not.

 

 

this would be so much more fun over a smoke and a drink!  

my tone is always friendly, even if it gets heated - fonts dont express my childish glee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







"due to a lack of trained trumpeters, the end of the world has been postponed indefinitely..."

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