THANKS FOR THE WELCOME

Achilles achillesz@usa.net
Sat, 13 Feb 1999 00:25:53 -0500 (00918905153, 05235801109033@unifour.com) 

Hi Ralph! 

Btw, please try to make sure you only address your posts to the list, rather 
than ccing copies to the list? When you do that I get two copies... 

On 12 Feb 99, at 5:59, Ralph Di Fiore wrote:

> > Achilles

> > Personally I disagree. In my view religion serves a necessary function, and I 

> > don't see any evidence of evolution favouring the few that seem to have no need 

> > of it. 

> > 

> 

> 	Ralph:  What is this necessary function religion serves?  Could 

> you elaborate on your statement of there being no evidence of evolution 

> favouring the few who have no need of it.  Much appreciated.


Achilles
I am not competent to tell you what the function is, it simply seems reasonable 
to suppose that there is one, since every culture on earth, from the simplest 
to the most complex, has some form of religion, defined as ritual concern for 
the Sacred. And by no evidence I mean no evidence that I know of that atheists 
are any more common here and now than in any other comparable place and time, 
no evidence that they are any more common now than in earlier times. 


> > But certain elements of religion which are actively anti-rational are a 

> > problem. 

> > 

> 	Ralph:  What parts might these be?


Achilles
What parts of religion are actively anti-rational? Any part that demands you 
believe something that makes no sense, especially combined with the threat of 
eternal punishment for not believing the nonsense! 

That forces people who buy into the religion to train themselves not to think 
clearly, to avoid cognitive dissonance they increasingly avoid cognition 
itself. 


/Achilles     achillesz@usa.net

All rights reserved.

Random thought for the moment:

This success of my endeavors was due, I believe, to a rule of 'method':
that we should always try to clarify and to strengthen our opponent's
position as much as possible before criticizing him, if we wish our
criticism to be worth while.
          -- Sir Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery