+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 53

Thread: Sam Harris on "Why To Ditch Religion"

  1. #1
    SB Master
    Points: 19,402, Level: 60
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 148
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    250 Experience Points500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience PointsThree Friends
    Ghetto Onion's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    4,041
    Points
    19,402
    Level
    60
    vCash
    500

    Sam Harris on "Why To Ditch Religion"

    Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com - Why to ditch religion

    I love Sam Harris, so much more than Richard Dawkins and his ranting about religion and likening church services to Nazi rallies. I love this approach, rather than attack religion constantly, simply turn your attention away from it and focus on the real issues at hand.
    "The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."
    -Alfred North Whitehead



    "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."
    -Arthur Schopenhauer

  2. #2
    SB Veteran
    Points: 25,253, Level: 69
    Level completed: 51%, Points required for next Level: 347
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Brewtality's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Liverpool, England
    Posts
    7,424
    Points
    25,253
    Level
    69
    vCash
    500
    Dawkins does my head in going on about 'history deniers' and such bullshit. He sounds like me when I was 15!

    This guy seems alright in that he's not as smarmy but yeah, it's the same thing again. As long as religion has a strong place in many societies, simply turning away from it isn't going to acheive anything. People do need to fight religion when it encroaches into politics. It's too hard to turn away when the people in charge of nuclear weapons believe they're off to heaven if they annihilate the world.
    The broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes... Adolf Hitler

  3. #3
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    There are other atheists out there who aren't Dawkins.

  4. #4
    SB Veteran
    Points: 25,253, Level: 69
    Level completed: 51%, Points required for next Level: 347
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Brewtality's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Liverpool, England
    Posts
    7,424
    Points
    25,253
    Level
    69
    vCash
    500
    Thankfully. I see him as a bit like the Pat Robertson of Atheism. I'm suprised he didn't come out and say that Hurricane Katrina was down to people occupying themselves with religion and not with building adequate flood defences. I do like a lot of what he has to say though, but I got his last book in audio format and he was reading it and I couldn't get past the first couple fo chapters. Maybe if he went down the Steven Hawking route and got himself heinously crippled he'd be alright.
    The broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes... Adolf Hitler

  5. #5
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    Standard retort of someone who doesn't want to think about atheism logically: insult Dawkins as much as possible and hope that the conversation gets sidetracked.

    Nice work man.

  6. #6
    SB Veteran
    Points: 25,253, Level: 69
    Level completed: 51%, Points required for next Level: 347
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Brewtality's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Liverpool, England
    Posts
    7,424
    Points
    25,253
    Level
    69
    vCash
    500
    No no not at all. It's the just the man does my head in. Like I said, a liot of stuff of his makes sense. He's definitely one of those academics who likes to make very bold statements to stir things up a bit.
    The broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes... Adolf Hitler

  7. #7
    koresh is my home boy
    Points: 14,766, Level: 52
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 134
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    250 Experience Points500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Payaso's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    3,357
    Points
    14,766
    Level
    52
    vCash
    500
    Dawkins is the epitome of a hypocrit. I dont see any difference between him and 'the crazy street corner preacher'. Cept he wears a suit and tie, has greater public exposure and hes more eloquent at putting across his holier than thou bullshit.
    Fuck the pigs in my city, they can burn in hell. I'll kill a hundred fuckin hootahs before they take me to jail!

  8. #8
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    It's really very cool to hate him, isn't it?

    Can't understand why at all.

  9. #9
    koresh is my home boy
    Points: 14,766, Level: 52
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 134
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    250 Experience Points500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Payaso's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    3,357
    Points
    14,766
    Level
    52
    vCash
    500
    Wtf has cool got to do with anything.
    Hes a fucking dick wad.
    Fuck the pigs in my city, they can burn in hell. I'll kill a hundred fuckin hootahs before they take me to jail!

  10. #10
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    He's funny as fuck.

  11. #11
    SB Master
    Points: 19,402, Level: 60
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 148
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    250 Experience Points500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience PointsThree Friends
    Ghetto Onion's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    4,041
    Points
    19,402
    Level
    60
    vCash
    500
    Quote Originally Posted by Payaso View Post
    Dawkins is the epitome of a hypocrit. I dont see any difference between him and 'the crazy street corner preacher'. Cept he wears a suit and tie, has greater public exposure and hes more eloquent at putting across his holier than thou bullshit.
    Um are you kidding me? The man is a brilliant evolutionary biologist and is exceptionally intelligent. We wouldn't even know about memes if it weren't for Dawkins. The difference between him and a street-corner preacher is he's actually spouting facts and rational ideas based on years and years of research instead of dead and outdated stories about a space-dad.
    "The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."
    -Alfred North Whitehead



    "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."
    -Arthur Schopenhauer

  12. #12
    SB Master
    Points: 17,046, Level: 56
    Level completed: 83%, Points required for next Level: 104
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    250 Experience Points500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points7 days registered

    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Reading
    Posts
    3,381
    Points
    17,046
    Level
    56
    vCash
    500
    Yeah, i think a lot of you are basing your opinions on one book. read The Selfish Gene, River Out Of Eden and The Blind Watchmaker. He's a scientist who wrote a childish theological book and gets quoted on his more extreme views.

  13. #13
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    Pat Robertson, and 'the crazy street corner preacher' are two pretty hefty comparisons to make.

    I've got to ask exactly how much of his work has been read by people here. And I've also got to question their motivation and spiritual beliefs.

  14. #14
    SB Veteran
    Points: 25,253, Level: 69
    Level completed: 51%, Points required for next Level: 347
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    500 Experience Points1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Brewtality's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Liverpool, England
    Posts
    7,424
    Points
    25,253
    Level
    69
    vCash
    500
    Selfish Gene. Done.
    The Greatest Show on Earth. Half done.

    I've already said it's not about his work, it's about him coming over as a massive knob. And I don't reckon it helps that the perceived 'atheist movement' has a douche as it's unnoficial figurehead. Calling religious people 'history deniers' is about as helpful as calling racists 'rednecks' when trying to explain the wrongs of racism.

    EDIT: Disliking one man is no grounds for 'questioning people's motivation and spiritual beliefs'. I'm sure there are plenty of Tories who think David Cameron is a twat.
    Last edited by Brewtality; 04-05-2010 at 05:37 AM.
    The broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes... Adolf Hitler

  15. #15
    SB Legend
    Points: 51,880, Level: 99
    Level completed: 92%, Points required for next Level: 120
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    1000 Experience Points5000 Experience Points10000 Experience Points25000 Experience Points7 days registered
    Awards:
    Posting Award
    Trionix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    12,986
    Points
    51,880
    Level
    99
    vCash
    500
    But you haven't actually provided any evidence of him being a 'douche', or a 'massive knob', or 'Pat Robertson'. You've just spouted off generic insults without any basis for them, which does certainly make me question your motivation.

    And Pat Robertson? Seriously? Like, actually, seriously?

    You history denier/redneck comparison is wrong. 'Redneck' is a generic insult, 'history denier' is not, it's a statement of fact.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Coming back to "the game" after "injury"
    By LionHeart in forum Dating
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 03-27-2005, 08:38 PM
  2. "Retro" and "Make Me Som........"
    By german.king in forum Call-out Central
    Replies: 50
    Last Post: 02-13-2005, 08:42 AM
  3. Is "fuck" and "Jehovah" the same ineffable word?
    By lesbent in forum Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality
    Replies: 25
    Last Post: 12-23-2004, 04:48 PM
  4. "Fight Club" and "Calvin and Hobbes"
    By Neoptolemos in forum S-B Entertainment
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 08-17-2004, 11:21 PM
  5. "Cute" vs. "Hot" - A question for the girls
    By jimbojonesnz in forum Just Wondering...
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 01-20-2004, 02:05 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Powered by Website Maintenance Labs

Copyright ©2000 - 2009; Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.5.2