Religion Causes No Harm

[chrisgel]

In discussions on R&S both here and elsewhere one often hears questions like
Why are you bothered?
Why don't you just let people believe what they want?
What harm does religion do?

This is one example of the harm religion can do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23729684

and it's one of the reasons atheists never shut up about religion.

[Khandro]

v_e; //Am I right in saying that Khandro was the first one to mention Hitler?// No you were.
jomifl; So you attend neither church nor philosophy classes (if you think Schopenhauer is a 'wanabee philosopher') I wonder what do you do.

[jomifl]

Khandro, please explain how your studies of religion and philosophy have helped you understand the mysteries of the universe, if you can and if you do. It seems to me that philosophy has it's place but it can only do so much.

[jomifl]

Khandro, as regards Schopenhauer I can't help but think that a fundamental view of the world lacks perspective.

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, //So what is truth?//


That which can be verified as being true.


Jim, //To insist that there is only one "truth" is, perhaps, inaccurate in this way of thinking. //


I don't know if you're misunderstanding me - or whether you're splitting hairs. Truth is truth. Anything less is not truth.

[jim360]

I don't think I misunderstood you, but I do think that truth isn't quite so polarised as that last comment implied. Several apparently different things can be "true" all at once, although some perhaps capture the "truth" more than others. So no, I'm not splitting hairs. "Truth is truth" hardly takes our understanding of what truth is forward. Almost as bad as "I am that I am", really.

It's an important question: what is truth? What do you mean by truth? And how do you decide/ verify what is true and what is not?

[naomi24]

Apparent truths aren't necessarily truths - that's the point - and I've already answered the question, 'what is truth?'. How it is verified would depend upon the subject matter.

[jim360]

You haven't answered it, really, but never mind, it's a question for another thread anyway.

[naomi24]

I have answered it. I said "That which can be verified as being true."

[vetuste_ennemi]

Doesn't National Socialism count, then, Khandro?

[jomifl]

Khandro, both religion and philosophy are based on following the logic of an unverified assumption to it's ultimate and ridiculous conclusion. I can do that myself without having classes in it.

[pixie373]

I don't think it even needs to be verified. If it's true, it's true.

[mibn2cweus]

Religion is the presumption of truth. Philosophy is the pursuit of truth.

[vetuste_ennemi]

A nice aphorism. Thank you, Mibs.

[jomifl]

Forunately we can rely on science to discover what really matters, whether or not it is the 'truth'.

[mibn2cweus]

jomifl
Forunately we can rely on science to discover what really matters, whether or not it is the 'truth'.
17:31 Tue 20th Aug 2013

Nothing really matters if there's no one still around to tell about it.

[naomi24]

Pixie, so how do you distinguish truth? For example, people who have religion think they have found 'truth', but since they all disagree, it might be true in one instance, but it can't possibly be true in every instance - therefore 'truth' perceived by one is not 'truth' perceived by another. (I would add that none of them have any evidence or proof, therefore none can be claimed to be 'truth' - but that's really irrelevant here).

[jim360]

Nothing really matters, anyone can see...

[Snafu03]

I would like to see the internet banned because a small minority use it to download illegal porn.

[pixie373]

The truth is just the truth. It is totally irrelevant how people interpret it.
If something is green, you say it's red and i say it's blue. It is still green. Human error or knowledge doesn't change the facts.

[Octavius]

Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth (Marcus Aurelius).