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Atheist Image Dump II

Started by Whitney, April 30, 2011, 02:06:06 AM

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Crow

Quote from: Icarus on January 16, 2016, 04:46:39 AM
How many Nobel Prizes ever awarded to Muslims? Two. One of them a Pakistani, not Arab. How many Nobels awarded to Jews? One quarter of all that have ever been awarded. Interestingly, there are 80 times more Muslims than Jews. That ratio is worth pondering. Are the Jews more genetically endowed with intellectual capacity? No! not likely.   The Jews are not fucked up with beliefs that intellectualism is some sort of sin or that Allah will end the earth day after tomorrow.

Intellectualism is a fundamental pillar of Judaism, you still get your muppets like the Hasidim but questioning the content of the various texts is a basic study of the differing texts. The method of study quite frankly makes Christianity and Islam look like retarded siblings.
Retired member.

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Icarus

Tank, one has to have some knowledge of cigarette brands to get the full implication of the cartoon.  Marlboros! We doomed smokers know about those package designs. People with no such habit or addiction will not know the thrust of the cartoon. Marlboro or religion, one is physically destructive, lung cancer anyone?,  The other can be mentally and sometimes emotionally harmful. .....Just sayin'.

Magdalena


"I've had several "spiritual" or numinous experiences over the years, but never felt that they were the product of anything but the workings of my own mind in reaction to the universe." ~Recusant

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Magdalena


"I've had several "spiritual" or numinous experiences over the years, but never felt that they were the product of anything but the workings of my own mind in reaction to the universe." ~Recusant

Guest

Quote from: Icarus on January 16, 2016, 04:46:39 AM
Guest: The presumed name of that influential cleric was Hamid Al-Ghazali.  Not a surprise that it is an Arab sounding name.

Among other sources of this line of reasoning are some of the talks by Neil D. Tyson who is rather good with this kind of stuff. In more than one of his talks he praises the middle eastern cultures for their early, great, intellectual achievements until some, or several, clerics changed the whole perspective.
It was a series of lectures that I participated, and about Al-Ghazali Jari Kaukua, a philosopher, was talking. He said Al-Ghazali did criticize Platonism/Aristotelianism but by using the method of the tradition itself, and that he adopted other things from philosophy as well. He continued, a tradition called falsafa http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Falsafa.html did eclipse after 1100 CE, but that Sunni theology would have had a similar continued tradition of critical thinking as Scholastics did in Europe. He cited some guy called Wisnovsky (2004) in this.
Put it another way, I got the feeling Kaukua had a need to present a broader context for Al-Ghazali's thinking, not presenting him as a mere dogmatic, but to show that his ideas stemmed from a strict adherence to his understanding of Plato and Aristotle. At least in part his critique would have then been aimed at those who, instead of thinking on their own, would only copy the ideas of their intellectual forefathers..
He claims in Iran Islamic philosophy thrives around 1400-1600 CE unlike anywhere else in the Islamic world. Finally Sufi's, especially their more theoretically oriented strands had philosophically interesting studies, albeit mixed up with mysticism/personal experiences.
Ultimately he pondered whether these more rational strands in Islam would serve as motors in modernizing contemporary Islam. I tend to agree, this kind of intellectual history should be made known to Muslims. I was happy to see a poster presenting Muslim contributions to science at a wall of a Mosque I visited.

Magdalena


"I've had several "spiritual" or numinous experiences over the years, but never felt that they were the product of anything but the workings of my own mind in reaction to the universe." ~Recusant

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Claireliontamer

Quote from: Tank on January 27, 2016, 12:44:42 PM


That reminds me about something I watched the other week.  It was called 'The Brain' I think, on BBC4.  He covered a condition called Synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) where people's senses interlink so some people do actually smell numbers!

Tank

Quote from: Claireliontamer on January 27, 2016, 12:48:49 PM
Quote from: Tank on January 27, 2016, 12:44:42 PM
...

That reminds me about something I watched the other week.  It was called 'The Brain' I think, on BBC4.  He covered a condition called Synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) where people's senses interlink so some people do actually smell numbers!
I've seen programs about that too. Fascinating subject.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Siz

^
Dammit, I fell asleep in front of that on BBCPlayer last night. Will try again tonight.

LSD has the same effect. It's fun... for a while...

When one sleeps on the floor one need not worry about falling out of bed - Anton LaVey

The universe is a cold, uncaring void. The key to happiness isn't a search for meaning, it's to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually you'll be dead!

Biggus Dickus

I'm thinking we need more of these,... signs like this that is, not churches.



Also appears to have been shot more than once...I'll tell you some folks have no respect for faithful.
"Some people just need a high-five. In the face. With a chair."

Tom62

Quote from: Tank on January 27, 2016, 01:00:12 PM
Quote from: Claireliontamer on January 27, 2016, 12:48:49 PM
Quote from: Tank on January 27, 2016, 12:44:42 PM
...

That reminds me about something I watched the other week.  It was called 'The Brain' I think, on BBC4.  He covered a condition called Synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) where people's senses interlink so some people do actually smell numbers!
I've seen programs about that too. Fascinating subject.

It reminds me of  H.L.Gold's short story "The man with English". It is about a guy who has his senses reversed after an operation. He can only see  when it is dark, need to drink his coffee cold ,etc. Threatening to sue the hospital, the doctors decide to operate him again. He wakes up after the operation and everything seems to be fine, except for this horrible smell of purple. 
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein