RegularGuy

That’s a fine point. I didn’t have you in mind, by the way.

Furthermore, I was talking about evangelical atheism. Shouldn’t they just not participate in “theological” threads instead of trying to convert people...

I don’t have a complaint about atheists. A lot of atheists complain about religion, though.

Does atheistic evangelism count as religion?

That is good advice. I just have a problem with motivation. I often feel stuck in place, and my will power is weak. Do you have any advice on strength...

That’s somewhat persuasive, but I just don’t know if I’d have the stomach for it regardless of the moral argument. However, starvation is a strong mot...

This is precisely why Calvinists don’t believe in free will.

The castaway case is relevant. I’m not sure where I fall on this one. I don’t know if I could kill someone even if I were starving. However, I’ve neve...

I seriously doubt Herg is religious given what I’ve read from him.

I find these Utilitarian thought experiments often strange. Can you give an example where killing one innocent person to save 100 would occur?

What is GD symbology?

Well said.

No worries. I think I am going to reread the several religious texts I mentioned since it has been a few years. I think I will start with The Bhagavad...

I agree I think. That said, do you feel I have been guilty of this?

I’m a late gen Xer. My dad was a Christian with some very literal interpretations of the Bible. He did also for a time dabble in eastern philosophy, v...

Well, for one I’m not really strictly a Christian. I believe in an ineffable God, and I believe in Jesus’ teachings, but I am not a fundamentalist. I ...

Most clerics don’t view Christianity as involving astrology. Furthermore, you haven’t refuted that the Scandinavian countries have remnants from their...

The story of the Good Samaritan is one example that comes to mind.

Care to justify this with an actual argument? I’m open to one.

No. As I mentioned earlier, the myths and parables have morals or lessons that also have value.

Do unto others as you would have done unto you (by others).

Their Christian remnants wouldn’t involve the Law of the Torah.

They have remnants from their religious pasts.

I’m saying they probably borrow from religion’s normative teachings, e.g. the Golden Rule or Buddha’s moderation, without being theists or religious.

But they occupy different spaces and aren’t treated the same and will necessarily have different experiences, shaping each of their respective constit...

Mental states have to be consistent with brain states for them to be fully determinative. Mental states supervene on brain states, each having fully d...

That’s sound advice. However, I tend to get so immersed in something (currently this philosophy forum) that I soon get burned out on it. Then I don’t ...

Your claim about religion is wrong. Religion should be thought of as dealing with the normative, i.e. what people ought to do or how they should behav...

I disagree. Epistemic uncertainty doesn’t entail metaphysical chance.

I believe terrorism stems from nihilism, not true religious beliefs.

I thought I had it all figured out, too, when I was an atheist for twenty years. I learned a little humility. Now I am open to different world views w...

Didn’t you learn the world’s religions in your high school World History class? I know I did at my public high school. It enriched my education rather...

I think his point was that religion’s purpose isn’t to build computers, just as it isn’t the domain of marine biology. Why limit yourself to just read...

What data?

Not really. I feel compelled by my mental states to practice philosophy and not, say, run marathons. However, experience is always rich with the new, ...

Sure it would. We have memories of the mental exercise of deliberating. If one is punished or gains no value from a decision, then one can learn to no...

beliefs, memories, moods, and needs collectively fully determine subsequent mental states. We can in no way be metaphysically responsible for these, b...

Perhaps you didn’t read further down the thread or in other threads I’ve participated in. That’s okay. I believe brain states as well as mental states...

So why then don’t we treat headaches with sugar pills instead of Excedrin? It seems to me the patient is mistaken about qualitatively better states si...

You’re an interesting bloke.

I don’t claim to know if the tribe was religious or even if anyone has studied their maybe religion. I attribute the Scandinavian’s happiness to their...

The Christian wasn’t violent. Furthermore, my claim was that knowledge of science is necessary but not sufficient for a good life.

I fail to see how that bolsters your argument and falsifies what I said.

Most religions don’t advocate violence. At least not the ones I’ve studied. The dolts who pick out verses from religious texts out of context to justi...

I like that

The Internet can’t give you a guide on how to live a good life by itself, nor can science for that matter, but a religious text can teach one wisdom. ...

I like what you said there. Although I don’t think there is reincarnation, and I think heaven is a state of consciousness not a place, one should try ...

I suspected that’s what the tweeter meant, too. However, a case could be made that it is also a metaphysical claim, i.e. no one actually goes complete...

In other words, is it describing something that ought to be done or how we should behave, or is it describing the way things really are?

I think TS’s objection is “why call it ‘mind’?” when the unconscious doings may not be anything like mind. At least we have no good reasons to believe...