Concerns About Sony's Religious Intolerance

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Now, if the Bible had begun with general physics and worked its way into string theory and parallel universes, instead of gardens and begats, well, then I might have not tossed it out as interesting fiction.

But, alas ..... it was not to be.

I doubt that would have gone over with the general population at the time of the writings........

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I doubt that would have gone over with the general population at the time of the writings........

Think about it ... if it HAD been written that way, there might have been less religious wars because people would have been walking around going "WTF is GOD talking about???!!! And .. they might have figured it out sooner.

[pdurrant]

For someone taking no part in this thread, Steve is being remarkably loquacious.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

(click)

Oh, so you espouse about preserving Latinized Greek, then blow off Aesop in the same post? Tres gauche of you, old boy!

(slam!)

(click)

I'm not here.

(slam!)

[slayda]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I suspect (but ... cannot prove) that some day they will discover that every once in a while there is an dimensional energy burst from one parallel universe to another that causes a big bang in the otherwise empty space of the other universe.

My hypothesis is not completely off the wall, and is borne out by some predictions of string theory. But, of course, that begs the question of how did all those parallel universes come into being.

Now, if the Bible had begun with general physics and worked its way into string theory and parallel universes, instead of gardens and begats, well, then I might have not tossed it out as interesting fiction.

But, alas ..... it was not to be.

If there are parallel universes, why not orthogonal universes, or even acute or obtuse universes. Of course there are times when this universe seems rather obtuse.

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by tompe

Which is extremely annoying. It often happens that interesting threads gets destroyed by this. Could not the silly stuff be kept in the lounge?

Tompe, I can see your point in general, but think that this may be an exception. It is noticeable that this thread stayed serious for over a hundred posts.
It veered into frivolity as soon as there was the prospect of some members becoming a little heated and cross. At that point several veterans of the lounge section immediately stepped in and dissipated any potential unpleasantness with carefully-placed humour, then adroitly deployed lolcats. (The ladies in question may have been more savvy than you suppose.)
Moreover, I suspect that everything that members needed to say had actually been said by the first hundred or so posts. So a diversion into silliness may have come as a pleasing relief for some. At any rate, lolcats are better than a flame war.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Patricia

At any rate, lolcats are better than a flame war.

I still say LOLCats are the scourge of the tubes.

BOb

[Cthulhu]

Ahem--


"It's elephants all the way down."




With regard to the Bible:

This is why a 3,000+ year document is not so great to explain the mysteries of the universe nor the vagaries of the 21st century cultural milieu. Rudolf Diesel built one of the world's most amazing engines, but I doubt that he could work on the newest MANs.

Did we totally scare away the original poster?

I would find it interesting to know how many "kitlers" there are, and to know whether they exist as part of some ironic cultural reverse-eugenics program.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Yeah .... what about the giant conspiracy between the Gideon Society and the Hotels of America?? Why is it that they want to force me to read the Christian Bible?? Why can't I have some nice topic neutral reading material in the bedside stand?? Or at least some Richard Dawkins to balance things out a little??

I would much rather have a Dawkins book than a bible in my hotel nightstand.

[pdurrant]

BURN THE HERETIC!!!!!

It's turtles all the way down.

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Ahem--


"It's elephants all the way down."

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Ahem--


I would find it interesting to know how many "kitlers" there are, and to know whether they exist as part of some ironic cultural reverse-eugenics program.

Sweetness, I know what your agenda is. You are planning your menu!

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

BURN THE HERETIC!!!!!

It's turtles all the way down.

It's elephants all the way down in the Buddhist parable. It's only turtles all the way down on Discworld.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Now that has nevered bothered me at all. Either there is no God, in which case the prayers will be merely expressions of feeling. Or there is a God, in which case we are all likely to come to his attention sooner or later.

We are wandering away from the original point, aren't we?

Or there are many Gods, with goals not always in agreement, whose efforts can work against each other. In which case, getting the attention of one whose goals you dislike is undesirable.

(And yes. Far, far from the original point. But I do think that multi-religion philosophy discussions are much more pleasant than yelling about which company might be religiously biased by trying to appeal to popular tastes.)

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

You all know me and know that I am proud to be a Christian - why don't you join me in gratitude to our Savior, Jesus Christ, for dying for us and paying the price for our sins?

.....Even without faith, surely no one can deny that the Golden Rule and Ten Commandments are clear instructions for living a life of good morals.

.... I hope this will be the final post to this thread and that it will disappear into obscurity very quickly.

1) In good conscience, I can only decline. However, I thank you for the invitation.

2) The Golden Rule is a good start for ordinary people, but hardly comprehensive, since tastes and expectations differ. What should a masochist do, for instance? And it seems to me that only four of the Ten Commandments are useful at all in regard to living a good life; the first five are about maintaining the proper relationship with someone I don't think exists, and the tenth is basically un-followable, and appears to function only to induce guilt to give people leverage over you. That leaves don't kill, don't steal, don't commit adultery (which might better be rephrased as don't break promises to be faithful--or possibly as don't break promises period) and don't tell lies that get people in trouble. Which are good rules, but fall short of being comprehensive even in a general way (don't cause unnecessary suffering, and don't damage the environment would be a couple of badly needed additions, for instance).

3) Speaking for myself, your post gave it new life. I am too early in the thread to be sure of other people's reactions, though.

And as regards the OP, and the first post, I thought _The God Delusion_ was an excellent book. It was a refreshing change to see someone standing up for atheism as vigorously as religious books stand up for religion. To those people talking about looking up more of Dawkins work, I also really enjoyed _The Ancestors Tale_ though in that case I think I would recommend getting the book in paper; I suspect the "descent tree" that decorates the start of each chapter wouldn't translate well to liseuse screens. Though I would have liked search capability while reading it, so maybe e would work better if available. Hmm. If you go with e, post on how well it worked out for you, okay?

[JSWolf]

Of course, you could say that most hotels/motels are anti-Semitic since they do have a bible that's the King James Version and not a proper Jewish Bible. So saying that Sony is anti-religion is a load of manure. I could turn around and say that anyone who prays to jesus is anti-God as Jesus is not God. But I would find that rather a silly thing to do.

So you see just about anything can be twisted to fit someones twisted views on religion. I think this thread has run it;s course and we are left

[desertgrandma]

Time to close the thread.