Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Hat tip to blogger friend Rick.
A minor quibble: The part at the beginning doesn’t describe the thesis accurately. If we’re going to get super precise about it, it’s accurate to say faith and reason are opposites, since reason states “I must see evidence in order to conclude something” whereas faith, by its definition, doesn’t need to see that. If the conclusion was reached but there was evidence presented supporting it, the person concluding might have some faith, but it wasn’t tested in the exercise because the evidence was conducive to a reasoning process, which might have been used in lieu of faith. If the process is repeated, the evidence withheld, the same conclusion reached, then we might say that person has faith.
So if we’re talking about the process, the statement is true: “Many people think that faith and reason are opposites.” What the clip argues is not that there is overlap between the two, or that that they are synonymous. Instead, it argues that belief in this powerful intelligence creating the universe, is bigger than this thing we call faith; reason, also, supports a belief in God.
Then, in addition to cleaning up its act a bit over this quibble, it finishes strong: It is atheism that requires the faith.
Consider coming up with a rebuttal to that one. We would need to come up with a rational explanation for the universe that would support atheism. There are those who believe, incorrectly, that the Big Bang Theory does exactly this. At about 0:45, through around 3:00, the clip shreds that one up rather nicely.
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Thomas Nagel just wrote an excellent book on that subject. Not surprisingly, he’s being pilloried by the academic left establishment who, even more predictably, haven’t bothered to actually read the fucking thing. They assume he is arguing for intelligent design, which he is most emphatically not. As he states on page 1.
- Severian | 04/25/2013 @ 07:03“We would need to come up with a rational explanation for the universe that would support atheism.”
And by “we” you mean…they. Anyways, the lack of explanation is the beauty, and the curse, of being an atheist. I prefer Heathen 😉 See, we don’t have an explanation. Nor do we need one. Unlike theist we don’t have an institution, people, an official book or designated places to gather to learn the official position and teach us what to believe.
Sure you can point and say, “they have nothing to support rational explanation for the universe“. And you’d be correct. But that’s different than saying, “Theists are correct in their rational explanation for the universe”. It’s un-provable.
Anyways, left more lengthy comments at Rick’s.
At least we can all agree, Jihadi’s suck.
- tim | 04/25/2013 @ 12:01Unlike theist we don’t have an institution, people, an official book or designated places to gather to learn the official position and teach us what to believe.
This right here is probably the biggest reason I don’t spend a lot of time around atheists. I don’t have a lot of patience for this sort of contempt toward faith, the underlying implication being that it’s atheists who are free-thinkers who have the market cornered on reason & common sense. You think you’ve got it all figured out and don’t need God, eh? Good luck with that. You’re going to need it. I wish you the best, I really do.
I gotta be honest with you, Tim – it’s not easy being a Christian these days. I’ve got my Book flat-out telling me that the world is going to chew me up and spit me out, and that I’m supposed to love its people and serve them right up to the day one of them kills me in return for my kindness, just like it did my Lord. Between pretenders to the faith spreading false ideas – whose damage I must first undo when I go to tell them about Jesus – to people like you sneering at us and looking down on what we believe – it ain’t easy. Then there are the dozens of countries where merely believing as I do – to say nothing of handing out Bibles – is enough to get one thrown into prison or executed outright. (And finally we have those who are more than happy to lump my kind in with such hatred & extremism under the banner “organized religion.”)
I’m sure you’re a swell guy Tim, though you would have no way of telling me why it makes sense to be nice, be honest, or be fair if there’s no official book, gathering place, or spiritual leaders giving you the official position. I have a friend who is agnostic, and while he’s a perfectly nice guy and big on morality, he is unable to tell me why it matters if there’s nobody waiting for him on the other side. Only us brainwashed churchgoers have much reason to be concerned about that, right?
I wish you’d reconsider your stance. It’s not so much an “official book” as a roadmap for living. It’s not so much a “gathering place” as an opportunity to fellowship with others and worship alongside them. It’s not so much “being told what to think” as having someone help you understand the lessons God has provided for us to learn and apply in the world as we serve others and preach the Good News.
I’m sure you’re a decent guy, though I don’t mind telling you that I find that many atheists and agnostics to be dishonest, self-serving, arrogant, miserable people who seem to have no sense of direction or purpose. Some are violent, even murderous. I’m really not blaming them for all of that – I would be too if I thought my existence would end in a box under six feet of dirt. When I point that out, however, I get a lecture about evil acts committed by people (falsely) claiming the name of Jesus.
There’s a sign alongside the highway a few miles from my house for the Adopt a Highway program. It’s sponsored by “Atheists and Other Free Thinkers.” I resent the implication that people who aren’t atheists, apparently lack the ability of free thought or reason.
It’s insulting, to be honest with you…especially when I know it’s the other way around. The facts and the evidence of this world point to a Creator – not a godless universe full of complex lifeforms, that somehow appeared as a matter of random chance plus time. I resent the atheists’ apparent believe that logic and reason and science are on their side, when all three are decidedly hostile to their beliefs, for lack of a better term. You don’t call yourself a scientist when you’ve already discounted one possible explanation before even beginning your investigation.
In fact, I don’t even think there really is such a thing as a true atheist – just agnostics who’ve discounted God insofar as they can tell. Not one of them can honestly claim to have searched the cosmos and seen conclusively that there’s nothing in it other than matter and energy acting in random ways.
I don’t mean to unload on you there, buddy…don’t take it personally…I just wish I could find a little more respect and a little less arrogance among those who aren’t part of the community of believers.
- cylarz | 04/28/2013 @ 00:29Small-tee tim isn’t a contemptuous fellow, and I didn’t see contempt in his statement. “Being taught what to believe” is the very essence of faith. If it isn’t something that can be maintained with zero-evidence, then it isn’t faith.
Really, if the faithful were to be banned from serving in positions of public trust and I had to pick atheists, small-tee is the very first one I’d pick. He just has his system of belief, but I’ve not seen him actually look down on other systems of belief. Of course, in that way, he’s a rather poor representative of all the rest…I don’t think Richard Dawkins would be too happy being his constituent.
- mkfreeberg | 04/28/2013 @ 06:46Tried to view the video.
- steveerey | 11/30/2013 @ 19:39Is it “private” for some reason?
How can I view it?
Thanks
S