Tate

That's why it's important for religious leaders to speak up. It's their job to go full MLK Jr and shout "Let freedom ring!" Isn't it?

I'm pretty happy most of the time.

Eh, we all die at the end of the novel anyway.

Sisyphus is Camus' answer to the problem.

You mentioned naturalistic philosophy, so I thought you meant Lucretius. Psalms is from the Iron Age. They didn't believe in life after death, btw.

Who are you talking about?

Although it brings with it the burden Camus talked about. It's nice to here you refer to Lucretius as late, though. Some seem to think we went from th...

Astarte didn't originate in Egypt. She's Semitic.

I really wasn't trying to justify anything. I was just contributing based on the OP title. Maybe that was misguided. I don't know. Atheism (or somethi...

But not religion?

By the way, this little item, a copy of which hangs on my wall, was probably a sign for a prostitute's workplace. It's also associated with Astarte. h...

Just to clarify, there's nothing wrong with religion or prostitution. The fact that they're both really old should give us pause. Why have they been w...

If you glance at the website I pointed to, it explains that we get insight into ancient religions by looking at the way people handled death. You'll p...

That's true, it was disrespectful. Sorry, Tom. I thought he was condemning religion and prostitution at the same time. That's why I asked if he had a ...

"Religion is old". pointing to a citation of an 8000 year old religion. "So is prostitution" What was your point? If you didn't have one and were just...

Nah, he's like Streetlight in that he loses his mind if you disagree with him. Hopefully he'll grow out of it soon.

Per the NY Times, the assailant was a troubled loner.. Which is what a high percentage of us figured when we first heard about it.

Could be.

:up:

I disagree with pretty much everything you say except for this. Yes, Xtrix shouldn't be a moderator.

It's not clear at all which community you're talking about. Really and truly. :love:

He was pretty maniacal before Streetlight left. Streetlight was a bad influence.

Could you specify the community you're talking about? What free speech question? You're having a conversation where you repeatedly misrepresent what o...

Ah, I see he's banned, so no point in continuing to explain what he was saying. :meh:

really?

No one asserted that. What was commented was that we don't know. Maybe he did consider himself to be Shia. He still could have been a troubled person....

Is there something wrong with prostitution, Tom?

Wait a minute. You don't know the attacker's identity and motives better than anyone else. My guesses about the extent to which he's a faithful discip...

Religion is really old.

That's the same guy Hanover cited earlier.

I don't think this was terrorism per se. Which non famous Muslim clerics condemned it? Any outside the West?

I think the public would welcome a condemnation of violence from some Muslim spokesperson. But who would that be?

There isn't any organization that can detect the confusion among non-Muslims about the silence of Islamic leaders. There's no Islamic PR department in...

:up:

https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/22/98/332085935-f6048e2947e742460828047c6c302f71.jpg

Must be exhausting.

There's presently a public discussion going on about freedom of speech, specifically regarding the tender topic of criticising Islamic leaders without...

I don't think you're fluent in dum-ass-demogogue. :grin:

He was threatening insurrection.

My way of dealing with it is to put aside the idea of craziness. The guy who attacked Rushdie may have been schizophrenic or something, but look at th...

Because if you point out that only a few progressive Muslims can manage to strongly condemn the attack, then what does this tell us about the guy who ...

Coming California megaflood

Me neither. I think we've established that all three of the "religions of the book" have histories of executing blasphemers. I would say Muslims are s...

No doubt

I read a biography of Spinoza that said Jewish communities banished and assassinated members who broke their rules. Spinoza was banished, but assassin...

It probably goes back to that time somebody said "God sucks!" and then the crops were eaten by locusts, so they made it illegal to say things like tha...

Uh, ok.

We wouldn't be alive without the greenhouse effect. We just don't want to screw it up.

I don't look at it as a moral challenge. It's about the fate of a species I've come to love.

You're right. That's amazing.