Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 14:39:42 -0800
From: "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com>
Subject: Re: extropians-digest V6 #61
From: "Steve Nichols" <steve@multisell.com>
> I am completely appalled by image on TV of TALIBAN muslims
> destroying the immense ancient Buddha statues. This vandalism
> is inexcusable, and shows the bigotry and bankruptcy of the ideology
> of primitive human-era Islam which drives them.
>Don't be so hard on them, Steve. After all, they probably know
> nothing about MVT.
Even without the undoubted benefits of MVT, the Taliban Muslims
should have enough common sense to avoid these wilder episodes
of religious lunacy. It takes a great deal of energy to maintain
the hypnotic delusion of religious beliefs ... endless chanting,
candle-lighting and fasting or whatever. What a pity the collective
energy of great masses of humanoids are wasted in such a fashion.
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 15:00:34 -0800
From: hal@finney.org
Subject: Re: CULTURE: Dialogue Concerning (Un)Natural Religion
>The writing is on the wall for religion; eventually it will be reduced to
>something like Zen Buddhism, a set of rituals practiced for the peace of
>mind they bring. Unless, of course, some religion turns out to be true,
>and God, or Allah, or whoever, steps in to protect his faithful and smite
>the unbelievers.
Yes, indeed. The basis of old testament claims are exactly that
the Jehovah deity can make torches automatically light, whilst
the priest of competing deity, Baal, fails to provide ignition.
Today's false priesthoods should be set their own biblical tests.
What a rabble of money-grabbing fraudsters they are ...... they
fail any test of rationality or of providing a single shred of evidence
for their far-fetched claims ... yet 1,000s of men in skirts and funny
hats make a comfortable living fleecing their gullible flocks.
As I have said before, it is a scandal that such poisonous nonsense
is taught to modern schoolkids in state-funded "educational"
institutions.
>Without such intervention, science will kill religion.
>Given this reality, conflict is inevitable.
But not physical conflict I hope ... and any intellectual
conflict is a foregone conclusion, supernaturalist ideas
are wish-full thinking only, with no substance.
Which leaves only the "propaganda" arena, which is where
we should be more prepared to challenge the human-been
religious belief systems. I am doing my bit (and more) by
getting MVT film and philosophy CDROM encyclopaedias
onto exam reading lists and into schools, plus getting MVT
as much media coverage as I can. Surely the onus is on
more of us to put the anti-supernaturalist (rational) case,
since we can be sure that devote religious zealots will be
shouting their idiocy at the top of their voices across the land.
www.Steve-Nichols.com
MVT ... opening the collective "primal" median eye
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