From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com>
> Atheists are quite capable of pursuing religious wars when they believe
> in similarly bankrupt and specious ideologies like socialism, communism,
> or in the case of the Clinton Administration, bimbo eruptionism.
So, atheists can be "true believers" too. (That's why I refer to myself as a
non-theist rather than an atheist.) Of course atheists don't pursue religious
wars in the name of atheism, but rather in the name of some other
pseudo-religion, such as the ones you've named. The problem doesn't seem to be
what the true believer believes in, but rather the intensity and mania with
which the believer believes. When fanatical Marxists make a religion out of
their ideology, they simply substitute one god for another. I conclude that
people fight over territory and resources. Power and status are the real
prizes, and religion, theism, ideology, or whatever are the means by which
they justify their actions.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:18 MDT