Papal Visit to the UK

[Asher]

I agree with that quote especially. Human beings are inherently religious. If they do not believe in God or a higher power, human beings tend to substitute with quasi-religious beliefs.

You can be an atheist and still agree with that statement.

You would if you had some kind of learning disability.

Human beings are not inherently religious. What humans do naturally is counter their ignorance with superstition and belief systems until they know better. Some of humanity is still stuck in the superstition and belief system aspect of human growth, others have moved on.

While thunderstorms were once described as an act of God, we now know the scientific basis. Scientific understanding replaces ignorance and faith. That's the cycle of things.

This does not say that humans are inherently religious, just that ignorant humans look to faith to fill in the blanks.

[MOBIUS]

I missed this (was this an edit?) at first. Hah. Define virtue. You appear to be using it as some sort of objective term, as if you (or your Church) has some sort of monopoly on it.

Remember that DanS thinks it's OK to blindly support the IRA in the killing of innocent women and children. What a nice bunch of extremist Catholics he/they is/are...

[Arrian]

I don't remember that. I may have missed a thread on it? I took the summer off to be home w/Amelia and didn't check in on 'poly.

-Arrian

[MOBIUS]

Yeah. It's about time they did something like break away from the RCC and form their own church as an alternative!

They did, in the 16th Century - it was called the Protestant Reformation.

[Arrian]

I think your humour detector is malfunctioning.

-Arrian

[Asher]

Why the British spelling of humour?

[DanS]

I don't remember that.

You don't remember that because it's fiction.

[C0ckney]

You would if you had some kind of learning disability.

Human beings are not inherently religious. What humans do naturally is counter their ignorance with superstition and belief systems until they know better. Some of humanity is still stuck in the superstition and belief system aspect of human growth, others have moved on.

While thunderstorms were once described as an act of God, we now know the scientific basis. Scientific understanding replaces ignorance and faith. That's the cycle of things.

This does not say that humans are inherently religious, just that ignorant humans look to faith to fill in the blanks.

i think to characterise religious belief as simply filling in the blanks until science can provide the answers is taking a very limited view of things and ignores the fact that there are many questions that cannot be answered using the scientific method.

[Asher]

i think to characterise religious belief as simply filling in the blanks until science can provide the answers is taking a very limited view of things and ignores the fact that there are many questions that cannot be answered using the scientific method.

Never said they could, but some people are fine with the fact that some questions are unanswerable. Others need the crutch of certainty that faith provides in the absence of answers. The list of things that science can't explain gets smaller all the time, it's no surprise religions are falling out of favour as a consequence.

[Arrian]

Why the British spelling of humour?

1. I'm speaking to a Brit.
2. My father was a Brit (born in Cardiff, as a matter of fact), and I often spell things that way due to his influence.

-Arrian

[MOBIUS]

This shocking and frankly stomach churning story was on Channel 4 News yesterday: Paedophile priests remain in Catholic church

I can't think of another organisation where someone found guilty and jailed for paedophilia, would still be allowed to keep their titles, their jobs and their free accommodation...

It is almost as if the Catholic Church quietly condones the act of paedophilia. But then again, talking of child abuse, what about the employment of Castrati in the Catholic Church choirs of Italy and the Vatican for hundreds of years...

[MOBIUS]

You don't remember that because it's fiction.

Do you or do you not support the IRA's struggle, as you admitted in the recent Ireland thread on Poly? Has the IRA routinely killed innocent women and children in its bombing campaigns in the past?

[MOBIUS]

.

[C0ckney]

Never said they could, but some people are fine with the fact that some questions are unanswerable. Others need the crutch of certainty that faith provides in the absence of answers. The list of things that science can't explain gets smaller all the time, it's no surprise religions are falling out of favour as a consequence.

well i'm talking about the questions that, by their very nature, can't be answered by science. that list doesn't change in size. also, the fact that a definitive answer to a question can't be found, doesn't mean that the issue can't be explored, discussed, thought out. that's why we have philosophy and indeed religion.

anyway your claim was that human beings were not inherently religious, but since the dawn of time, man has always looked to for answers to questions beyond the physical world. even in the most isolated places on earth this was the case.

[Arrian]

Science is good at "how" by doesn't really bother with "why," nor should it. I'm not big into "why" myself, but most people are. Enter religion/philo.

-Arrian