Jump to content
Jambands.ca

yayyyyyy God

Deeps

By Deeps
in Politics

 Share

Recommended Posts

Biggest Fan Newbie

Biggest Fan

Posted
Posted

I used the word 'attack' for no better word. I did not intend to use as a means to... I sure did not get this discussion off on the correct foot. At first I was all for the actions of the government but it is hard not to question the jugdement of our govt. in this day and age. First, First the childrens safety is always number one. Needless to say our govt. is good at rushing to judgement. It was amazing how all the experts on TV 'know' exactly what was going on in this case. The last comment expressing my opinion on the issue more so than anything else.

-n- yes it was Dan Savage. I have only heard him twice but he seems a little different than the other angry conservatives such as Rush. Again I have only heard the show twice for only a short period of time. I am sure not a big fan of the conservative talk show hosts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

hamilton Newbie

hamilton

Posted
Posted

I don't think Dan Savage is a conservative - if anything, he's a left-leaning libertarian who spends most of his time attacking social conservatives. He is a gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgendered rights advocate and an international sex advice columnist. Now, I obviously didn't hear the broadcast you're referring to, but I'm going to guess that he was criticizing the government for their stance on polygamy in general. I think he's a big "keep the state out of the bedroom and away from marriage" advocate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kanada Kev Newbie

Kanada Kev

Posted
Posted (edited)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion/print

einstein460x276.jpg

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Scientist's reply to sell for up to £8,000, and stoke debate over his beliefs

* James Randerson, science correspondent

* The Guardian,

* Tuesday May 13 2008

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion.

One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.

Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion."

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ollie Newbie

ollie

Posted
Posted
Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

I bet he's rolling in his grave then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

Posted
Posted
I bet he's rolling in his grave then.

Well played, sir. :)

(Thanks for the article though KK, that was an interesting read. I had never read/heard the line "they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power" before, and that is all sorts of brilliant.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

Posted
Posted
"Somehow the communicators of unreal information are attracting others to communicate real information to them," Dow says, speculating that perhaps the non-believers are touched by the faith of the religious.

I'd buy it. What I have trouble understanding is how someone can look at the day they lived today, and not desire more poetry and metaphor in it? (I think those raised religiously and those raised non-religiously are all railing against the same thing .. which I continue to characterize as crass literalism)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hamilton Newbie

hamilton

Posted
Posted
One in four don't believe in a god

June 01, 2008

The Canadian Press

Fewer than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god, suggests a new Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey.

"Religion in Canada today is not a particularly divisive subject and tolerance levels for different beliefs are high," said Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson. "This is evident in the fact that one in four people feel comfortable saying they do not believe in a god."

The poll found 72 per cent of respondents said they believed in a god, while 23 per cent said they did not believe in any god. Six per cent did not offer an opinion. Results may not total 100 per cent because of rounding.

Link

Link to comment
Share on other sites
d_rawk Newbie

d_rawk

Posted
Posted

Wow, 72% is much higher than I would have figured for Canada .. that is the kind of number I'd expect out of the US. Out of curiosity, just googled it and found an ABC poll that had 95% of Americans say they 'believe' in God (why believe when you can invent, I say).. holy crap, that's high. Also "Fully 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles" from an Associated Press / FOX News (eww) poll.

I'm flabbergasted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...