Religulous

[Rhinox]

Bill Mahr stance is that he doesn't care if religion exists but when you have religious nutjobs running countries like Iran and to some extent us who believe that god has given them a mission to carry out freedom throughout the world or in the case of Iran rid the world of jews and infidels thats when it becomes a problem.

He sees religion as a something that fills a whole in peoples lives almost as a weakness because the same whole could be filled with drugs, women, and booze.

[Kuya]

First and foremost, i like that you put women on the same category as drugs and booze.

It's all nice and good to want everyone to be able to live without a religion as a crutch, but that is just not going to happen, even if you were to make religions disappear somehow, you'd still get spiritualism, and perhaps even have new religions spring up from there. As long as there are things people can't control, they will have spirituality and anything derived from that there to comfort them.

[Rhinox]

you're right Sex would be more appropriate then women.

[Rhinox]

Off-topic sorta:


Are catholic priests and monks allowed to masturbate?

[Maguspk]

you're right Sex would be more appropriate then women.

Wanting to have sex is a basic instinctual drive, it isn't something we do to fill some void. It's the result of a natural impulse every human being has. Every human being does not have a problem with drugs or alcohol...

Masturbation is most definitely a sin in the Christian doctrine so I'd say it's one of the "bigger sins" within the 'Catholic Sin Scale'. That is to say since it's a sin it's definitely not 'allowed' by the church for priests and monks to do. If it is then Catholicism just proves once again it's one of the more curious strains of Christianity.

[Kuya]

Monks take a vow of chastity, and sexual pleasure is considered a distraction, as for catholic priests, i don't know, but i'm pretty sure orthodox priests can do it no problem.

[Rhinox]

I guess you never heard of Sex as an addiction. I'd post links to sites but I frankly don't care enough to do it.

[Rhinox]

btw Never once mentioned that I nor Bill said everyone has a drug or booze problem.

[Rhinox]

Monks take a vow of chastity, and sexual pleasure is considered a distraction, as for catholic priests, i don't know, but i'm pretty sure orthodox priests can do it no problem.

well their either very good liars or they are really dedicated to the cause in which case mad props to them.

[Kuya]

Religion is not quite an addiction unless you're talking about people with serious emotional needs, but again, that's the point of spirituality, to serve human emotional needs. Religion's point is to focus a human being's efforts towards what have you via rigorous moral doctrine. So it would be more accurate to say that religion and spirituality stave off addictions.

Now a better point of contention is to say certain religions are more trouble than they're worth having, but to say that all religions and by inclusion spirituality need to disappear is downright utopian jargon.

[Rhinox]

It's best to see the movie in all honesty he can explain it better in the movie then I can. Torrent it if you don't wanna give him money because of his message but its really a good movie if not for its message then for its comedic value.

[Lavik]

im interested in this pot religion


also id like to see this movie

[Neosutra]

lol. This definitely does not hold for every religion; but sure if you want to say, for example, that every Christian takes the Bible literally and thinks we were made from dust then sure, it holds. The fact of the matter is some people just have religion and treat it like a guideline on how to live and that's fine, the part atheists love to assert is how crazy the parables might be.

I think you're missing the point. While I agree with Mayer about religion being a socialogical disease, I disagree with atheists who believe people should be forced to lay down their beliefs (even though I argue against religion pretty vehimately here).

Mayer however believes that society as a whole should stop allowing people to perpetrate these outdated theories, and start treating them as the raving lunatics they are.

One reason so many people are religious is because everyone around them reinforces the dogma, regardless of contradicting evidence.

The fact that the level of belief varies by person is really irrelavant, as the belief itself is what Mayer is saying should be treated as... well as silly as it really is.

He points out scientology as it is very new and everyone sees it as horrifically silly, and yet people believe in a monotheistic god that is omniscient and yet suffers weaknesses such as human emotion, and had a son that is somehow also the same person as the father, yet not, yet really is, yet died to save us from punishment from the father.. err the son.

[Rhinox]

Neo you mean Mahr right? not mayer as in John Mayer. Unless I'm completely missing something

[Eggroll]

I think you're missing the point. While I agree with Mayer about religion being a socialogical disease, I disagree with atheists who believe people should be forced to lay down their beliefs (even though I argue against religion pretty vehimatly here).

Bill Maher made this point in the movie as well, I believe his statement was something along the lines of "Atheism is just as foolish as religion because it sells the same certainty that religion does while I think people should just acknowledge that you can't know." If someone was paying closer attention please feel free to correct me.

[0ni0n]

Bill Maher made this point in the movie as well, I believe his statement was something along the lines of "Atheism is just as foolish as religion because it sells the same certainty that religion does while I think people should just acknowledge that you can't know." If someone was paying closer attention please feel free to correct me.

agnostic is the new black. having faith is alright, but organized religion is the opium of the mass.

[Beckwin]

I think agnosticism is just a nice word to meet halfway with the religious crowd... I think most agnostics realize the absurdity of the dogmatic, organized religions and tend to view spirituality/afterlife/"god" as something that can't ever be quantified or even observed in the human capacity, thus it makes little sense to even use the word "god" in the common sense of the word...

[Neosutra]

As a scientist I agree that saying 100% certainty of something is irresponsible. However it is more irresponsible to require someone to apply legitimacy to every possible theory.

I treat most things as weighted probabilities. The concept of a god has its good place on my scale of possible theories, but unfortunately there is no evidence in that box to weight it above the null set.

Agnostism is a fad, and Mayr's film is an attack on the concept of religion, not god. (However one would argue that the belief in god is part of that delusional state).

[Demosthenes11]

Maher
Maher
Maher

[Blarg]

Bill Maher made this point in the movie as well, I believe his statement was something along the lines of "Atheism is just as foolish as religion because it sells the same certainty that religion does while I think people should just acknowledge that you can't know." If someone was paying closer attention please feel free to correct me.

Well he has the wrong definition of atheism when he says that, although he may just be saying the largely assumed incorrect meaning of atheism so he can claim to be agnostic and appear not as confrontational while promoting the movie.