--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > Many excellent points. > > > If the people who claim to "know" are few and have no > > social power or status, they are merely cultists. But > > if the people who claim to "know" happen to be the > > ruling class of a country, what they "know" tends to > > become formalized not only in religious "laws" but in > > social ones as well. Then you get laws like being able > > to kill an untouchable for looking askance at a Brahmin. > > Scary and true. It is the protected class of religious beliefs > that I am arguing against.
As am I. > People think we shouldn't criticize a whole class of beliefs > that include some of the most horrific and repugnant humans > have devised just because they are not currently acting on > them. It is moderate religious people who shield extremists > but they both share the same faulty epistemology. Calling > some books written by men "scripture" has caused a lot of > problems that people could sort out quickly if they were > discussed as we do any other book's ideas, on their own merit. That's the way they should be discussed IMO. BTW, Curtis, a little while back I recommended a film called "The Man From Earth." I think you'd really like it. Especially when the close friends of the guy who has just revealed to them that he has been alive on planet Earth for 14,000 years responds to the questions, "Did you ever meet any of the great spiritual figures in history? *Were* you any of the great spiritual figures in history?" To see one woman's reaction when he answers the second question honestly is worth the price of a rental just in itself. > > > What you believe in your self determined life in your free > > > society has nothing to do with my objection. You have the > > > luxury of believing anything you want precisely because our > > > society has rejected the Vedic claim ... > > > > And the Christian claim, and the Jewish claim, and... > > Good point. I am pro secular! People can believe whatever > they want but they don't get to cry foul if anyone points > their finger and call bullshit. But they do. Every day. They issue fatwas on cartoonists for drawing Mohammed comically, or on writers for writing about Satan with compassion. They claim *very loudly* that some ideas are "off limits" and cannot be challenged. > They can justify the reasons for their beliefs just as I > have to. As a secular person I don't have a magic book that > I can run to and claim it is unfair to criticize any of these > ideas because they are special and above challenge. Lucky you. Think about the level of idiot you would be if you had such a book, and had spent a lifetime using it to avoid examining the ideas in it. ALL books are candidates for "crying bullshit" on them. ALL ideas are candidates for the bull- shit certification process. I *DARE* anyone here to try to come up with an idea so holy that it cannot be challenged. Or a book. I'll wait.
