Squirrlnutz Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='Homer_Rice' post='775654' date='May 12 2009, 04:01 PM']You would be surprised at how much of it does, not only for Ratzinger, but for virtually all competent theologians. One of the troublesome realities of societies, all throughout history, is the employment of what is described as the "noble lie." I suggest reconciling your own mind to how this sort of behavior fits into your (or anyone's) analysis of any given situation/personality when it comes to motivating/moving/persuading/controlling larges groups of people. I personally do not like the employment of "mythos" in the service of "logos" but there it is.[/quote] Interesting. I think you could guess where I would stand. I don't like deception. I suppose I can understand the motive though. Would much rather put all my efforts into education. Too dangerous to propagate mythology when so much is at stake. For the past 8 years we've had a guy with his finger on the trigger of our nuclear arsenal who continuously told us that he knew the will of god and he was doing the will of god. I fear we don't get too many chances for that same situation to pass without major incident...beyond the trillion dollar war in the name of god's will for democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer_Rice Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='Squirrlnutz' post='775747' date='May 12 2009, 10:16 PM']Interesting. I think you could guess where I would stand. I don't like deception. I suppose I can understand the motive though. Would much rather put all my efforts into education. Too dangerous to propagate mythology when so much is at stake. For the past 8 years we've had a guy with his finger on the trigger of our nuclear arsenal who continuously told us that he knew the will of god and he was doing the will of god. I fear we don't get too many chances for that same situation to pass without major incident...beyond the trillion dollar war in the name of god's will for democracy.[/quote] We'd be standing in the same place. But do not underestimate the value of doing the work to more or less neutrally (scientifically?) understand the phenomenon and the role it has played in human history. Heinrich Heine once said that dialectics couldn't get a cat by the fireplace to roll over, even once. That's part of the playing field, too, and why understanding that which we disagree with is important. On a related note: My mother, an devout Episcopalian, has passed me a document from one of her study groups. It is the "Answers in Genesis Statement of Faith." That's the group who runs the creationist museum up in Cincitucky. I'll post some interesting portions of it, with short commentary, sometime soon. Probably will start a new thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Bunghole| Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='Squirrlnutz' post='775747' date='May 12 2009, 09:16 PM'][b] For the past 8 years we've had a guy with his finger on the trigger of our nuclear arsenal who continuously told us that he knew the will of god and he was doing the will of god.[/b][/quote] Man, I dislike GWB as much as the next guy, but that's a load of bullshit right there. If it were true, then why didn't he push that button to hasten the onset of the rapture he must have so desperately believed in? Jesus, a nincompoop invokes God as the head of the free world a few times and everyone takes him seriously...JESUS! Just because a political party embraces and gives lip service to the religious right doesn't mean they actually care about the same things they do...they were just garnering votes whilst in service of the Devil.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrlnutz Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 [quote name='Homer_Rice' post='775754' date='May 12 2009, 11:02 PM']We'd be standing in the same place. But do not underestimate the value of doing the work to more or less neutrally (scientifically?) understand the phenomenon and the role it has played in human history. Heinrich Heine once said that dialectics couldn't get a cat by the fireplace to roll over, even once. That's part of the playing field, too, and why understanding that which we disagree with is important. On a related note: My mother, an devout Episcopalian, has passed me a document from one of her study groups. It is the "Answers in Genesis Statement of Faith." That's the group who runs the creationist museum up in Cincitucky. I'll post some interesting portions of it, with short commentary, sometime soon. Probably will start a new thread.[/quote] AIG has some good (as in funny/scary that they believe this) material on their website. [quote name='Bunghole' post='775755' date='May 12 2009, 11:05 PM']Man, I dislike GWB as much as the next guy, but that's a load of bullshit right there. If it were true, then why didn't he push that button to hasten the onset of the rapture he must have so desperately believed in? [b]Jesus, a nincompoop invokes God as the head of the free world a few times and everyone takes him seriously[/b]...JESUS! Just because a political party embraces and gives lip service to the religious right doesn't mean they actually care about the same things they do...they were just garnering votes whilst in service of the Devil....[/quote] So now the general public has to be in the business of having to dig deeper to discern what exactly a world leader means when he says "god's will is democracy and its our duty to bring it to them." I suppose you can re-assure yourself that way, but I'd rather not take that chance ever again. If he had stood up there and spoke about bringing democracy to Iraq because he speaks to aliens and they told him "that was their will" he would be removed from the presidency in a matter of hours even if it was just lip service to garner the "extraterrestrial supporters" vote. But he invokes the name of someone else who happens to be just as conspicuously absent/mysterious as those aliens and its ok? While I think he was just salivating at the chance for the rapture...there still had to be some semblence of reason in him to see that if you are going to use nuclear weapons you better have a damn good explanation why. They could only falsify so much and they spent most of that deception getting us into the war. Another attack on our soil might have been enough to launch our arsenal. The next time that happens I don't want a man in office that might be talking to invisible people for guidance or might just be playing the game for his next election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Elflocko| Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 [quote]According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus[/quote] [url="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=310788&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y"]http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.j...0&listSrc=Y[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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