SD on 17/1/2007 at 19:58
Quote Posted by oRGy
Marxist erudition
:laff:
Probably the most amusing oxymoron I've ever seen.
His (untrue) claim that Dawkins can "scarcely bring himself to concede that a single human benefit has flowed from religious faith" is rendered even more risible by the fact that this is a fellow whose political stance makes him unable to concede that a single human benefit has flowed from capitalism. Hypocrisy, thy name is Terry Eagleton.
Little wonder that he has such an affinity with religious belief, given that he's a follower of a similarly perverted ideology.
Haha, oh wait kids, remember: if it all goes wrong and they end up murdering 25 million of their fellow citizens, it *isn't Marxism*, just like it *isn't religion* when a Muslim detonates a bomb in a Jewish nightclub, and it *isn't religion* when a Christian murders an abortion doctor.
Laffo.
Pyrian on 17/1/2007 at 20:08
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Haha, oh wait kids, remember: if it all goes wrong and they end up murdering 25 million of their fellow citizens, it
*isn't Atheism*...
Fixed.
Renzatic on 17/1/2007 at 20:19
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Haha, oh wait kids, remember: if it all goes wrong and they end up murdering 25 million of their fellow citizens, it *isn't Marxism*, just like it *isn't religion* when a Muslim detonates a bomb in a Jewish nightclub, and it *isn't religion* when a Christian murders an abortion doctor.
Laffo.
I turned on my stove the other day and saw that as it warmed up, the eye turned from coal black to this nice hot red color. I thought it was really pretty so I decided to touch it to see how it felt...AND THE FUCKING THING BURNED MY HAND! I've since decided that all stoves are hand burning death machines of evil and should be banished from kitchens around the world.
I'm gonna write a book about it soon. I'm thinking about calling it "The Oven Debacle".
SD on 17/1/2007 at 20:20
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Fixed.
Stalin's purges had nothing to do with the fact that he was an atheist, since he wasn't purging people because he was an atheist. You might as well argue that he was doing it because he had a moustache, if you really want to look like an imbecile.
Pyrian on 17/1/2007 at 20:54
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Stalin's purges had nothing to do with the fact that he was
a Marxist, since he wasn't purging people because he was
a Marxist.
Fixed.
SD on 17/1/2007 at 21:21
Wow, you really don't know your history. What a damning indictment of today's schools.
Stitch on 17/1/2007 at 21:35
Quote Posted by oRGy
Still willy-waving; as I've said before, the whole forum-software model must change to allow more social control over those who are basically twats by having some sort of ranking system ala Slashdot (stupid posts are marked down by the public, and become invisible) Don't ask me to code it, though.
I'd just like to pop in briefly and clarify that this is a very, very, very, very,
very bad idea.
Edit: added a few more verys
Nicker on 17/1/2007 at 22:01
Quote Posted by oRGy
Terry Eagletons review of the book under discussion is excellent. I'd advise people to read it, as a model of Marxist erudition. I believe it was in the London Review of Books. Yes, it was. Here:
Well that was a colosal waste of time.
A couple of typical statements flaunting Eagletons' general ignorance of both christianity (and faith in general) and science:
"The Christian faith holds that those who are able to look on the crucifixion and live, to accept that the traumatic truth of human history is a tortured body, might just have a chance of new life – but only by virtue of an unimaginable transformation in our currently dire condition. This is known as the resurrection."No Terry, the Christian faith holds that this is a blood sacrifice to absolve original sin. Literally. It's not a metaphor.
"For mainstream Christianity, reason, argument and honest doubt have always played an integral role in belief."Building logic on a foundation of the illogical is not reason. My experience, in my past life as a christian, was that doubt was as wicked as denial. ( So I figured, hung for a sheep as for a lamb...)
"There is a very English brand of common sense that believes mostly in what it can touch, weigh and taste, and The God Delusion springs from, among other places, that particular stable."Yes Terry, it's called SCIENCE, you simpering twit!
Do people actually get paid for such incompetence?
Pyrian on 17/1/2007 at 22:08
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Wow, you really don't know your history. What a damning indictment of today's schools.
You are an ignorant hypocrite, and it shows. Even when you're correct, your logic is based on biased assumptions rather than any solid ground.
It is a plain fact that Stalin's purges were not a result of being Marxist - that suggestion is so retarded I don't know where to start, but a good place might be the facts that (A) he really wasn't much of a Marxist - no powerful communist ever was - and (B) Marxism explicitly calls for "to each according to need" rather than "starve the fractious peasants".
Now, when you contemptuously scorn those who absolve religion of the acts done in the name of its ideologies while simultaneously absolving atheism of the acts done in the name of its ideologies, you are being a gross hypocrite. It seems to me that you are so biased that this is entirely transparent to you - you apparently cannot perceive it at all. You seem to be fundamentally incapable of holding contrary thoughts in your head.
You take it as a given that atheism does not in itself result in evil behavior, while presenting arguments that religion does. You are a mirror image of the Christians who take it as a given that Christianity does not in itself result in evil behavior, while presenting arguments that atheism does. Do you even know what that argument is, or why it pertains directly to Stalin?
Both positions are, of course, hopelessly simplistic at best. Both religion and atheism (and most of their respective ideologies) are used as excuses for evil behavior.
SD on 17/1/2007 at 22:29
Quote Posted by Pyrian
he really wasn't much of a Marxist - no powerful communist ever was - and
Of course he wasn't - they never are :joke:
Quote:
Now, when you contemptuously scorn those who absolve religion of the acts done in the name of its ideologies while simultaneously absolving atheism of the acts done in the name of its ideologies, you are being a gross hypocrite.
Nuh-uh, I'm not letting you get away with that. Communism might be an ideology devoid of theism, but to describe it as an ideology of atheism is, to my mind, very grossly wrong. Stalin wasn't spreading atheism, he was spreading communism. The fact that there was no theism is incidental to the evils perpetrated in the name of communism, whereas the evils perpetrated by the religious are frequently linked with theism.
