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On Tue, 2 Nov 1999 18:06:43 Cynthia wrote:
>The concept of God has appeared over and over again, with many different
>interpretations. What makes the atheists different, is that instead of
>redefining the concept of God, they get disagreeable.
This is a bit unfair, isn't it?
>If your god is rationality, popular opinion, money, drugs, or sports. Just
>say so. But don't fool yourself into thinking that we are without our petty
>gods.
Are you arguing that since the "God" concept has been with us for so long, we are stuck with it and that all of our actitivities must forevermore be filed under "merely serving yet another petty god". This seems demonstrably false. For example if I am "devoted" to making tons of money in the stock markets and I spent inordinate amounts of time poring over "sacred texts" such as the Wall Street Journal and Business Week, does that make me just like an east Tennesee rattlesnake handler who does this to prove his faith in the Lord? Does it make me just like a Muslim bowing and praying towards Mecca a few times a day? Are you saying I have replaced belief in one toothfairy by the belief in another toothfairy? Surely you can't equate rational thinking and scientific progress as just another "petty god"? If one has made certain rational choices about how to live life, why denigrate it by saying we are fooling ourselves with "petty gods"?
Create some new categories how-about-it?
Steve "not-serving-any-unexamined-petty-gods" Dotson
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