#PrayForDawkins

[Bukowski82]

I have a friend who's an ex-Jehovah's witness turned atheist and he loves Sam Harris. I'm not personally familiar with his work.

Like I said, my only rule is don't be a dick. Did you ever see Bill Maher's "documentary" Religilous? Total dickhead shit there. He just went around finding polite, well-meaning people and did everything he could to cut them down on camera. Fuck that guy.

lol. Such rustle... Mad because he made them look like the buffoons that they are?

 

[Bukowski82]

And might I just add... The passive aggressiveness of this campaign to 'pray' for Dawkins is amusing beyond belief.

 

[ripskater]

I hope the guy comes out of this ok. I also pray that God reveals himself to Dawkins. He may already believe that God exists, he may just be mad at God. But I don't know. Prayers are sent for him.

 

[Guestx]

lol. Such rustle... Mad because he made them look like the buffoons that they are?

I hope you realize you're every bit the extremist as any religious extremist.

And I'm mad because there's no need to be a rude asshole. Rude assholes deserve to be called as much, regardless of whatever belief system they hold on to.

 

[Bukowski82]

I hope the guy comes out of this ok. I also pray that God reveals himself to Dawkins. He may already believe that God exists, he may just be mad at God. But I don't know. Prayers are sent for him.

He's not mad at the God you believe in, Rip Buddy... He simply doesn't believe in it. There's a huge difference. What he's mad at is the huge amount of bullshit from the People that do believe in it.

 

[Guestx]

And might I just add... The passive aggressiveness of this campaign to 'pray' for Dawkins is amusing beyond belief.

You don't want to give religious people any credit, ever. If they said, Fuck Richard Dawkins, you'd call them hypocrites. But if they say, Pray for Richard Dawkins, you call it passive aggressive.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Have you listened to him and Lala Ward reading The God Delusion (audio book)?
Lot of good stuff, but you can cut the condescension with a knife.

The man is a powerful thinker, but not everyone is a gifted messenger...

 

[ripskater]

He's not mad at the God you believe in, Rip Buddy... He simply doesn't believe in it. There's a huge difference. What he's mad at is the huge amount of bullshit from the People that do believe in it.

You might be right. I'm just saying some atheists fall into that category. And when some people get saved,some say that they always believed there was a God, but they were just mad at him.

 

[Clippys Mom]

I have a friend who's an ex-Jehovah's witness turned atheist and he loves Sam Harris. I'm not personally familiar with his work.

Like I said, my only rule is don't be a dick. Did you ever see Bill Maher's "documentary" Religilous? Total dickhead shit there. He just went around finding polite, well-meaning people and did everything he could to cut them down on camera. Fuck that guy.

Yeah, that was un-watchable. Just watched it because an acquaintance of mine was in it.

Sam Harris
Christopher Hitchens
Richard Dawkins

They all make excellent arguments for the most part, and represent the atheists movement better than most, but I can do without the condensation, ridicule and hard political stances they all seem to embrace. Ultimately they conscientiously chose a more sensational approach, for market share. Don't know if its wrong, right, or if it was just a necessity of the times. Well that wave has run its course, and the Vatican has a new face. So time for intellectual maturity to take a front set.

I should disclose, I'm a recovering Atheist so there are lots of posts from me that are pretty harsh, but I'm working through that. I had a lot of scars from my exposure to the Catholic Church in the early eights and have every reason to be a hardliner, but I care to much about people and ultimately found building bridges is better than knocking down towers. I still have an agenda, but its more gentle and human-centric.

Still like a good passive aggressive troll from time to time, but I am pretty harmless.

 

[TheSauce]

isn't he the guy that played Hermione Granger?

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I never really listened to Dawkins or Dennett, tbh.

Too much Hitchens and Harris out there.

 

[Guestx]

Yeah, that was un-watchable. Just watched it because an acquaintance of mine was in it.

Sam Harris
Christopher Hitchens
Richard Dawkins

They all make excellent arguments for the most part, and represent the atheists movement better than most, but I can do without the condensation, ridicule and hard political stances they all seem to embrace. Ultimately they conscientiously chose a more sensational approach, for market share. Don't know if its wrong, right, or if it was just a necessity of the times. Well that wave has run its course, and the Vatican has a new face. So time for intellectual maturity to take a front set.

I should disclose, I'm a recovering Atheist so there are lots of posts from me that are pretty harsh, but I'm working through that. I had a lot of scars from my exposure to the Catholic Church in the early eights and have every reason to be a hardliner, but I care to much about people and ultimately found building bridges is better than knocking down towers. I still have an agenda, but its more gentle and human-centric.

Still like a good passive aggressive troll from time to time, but I am pretty harmless.

When you say "recovering Atheist" I'm not quite sure if you're saying you're an atheist NOW or that you're recovering from being an atheist. Recovering alcoholic usually means you're not anymore (or at least not drinking anymore), but the rest of your post is confusing me.

Please clarify.

 

[Clippys Mom]

The man is a powerful thinker, but not everyone is a gifted messenger...

Absolutely, we cant expect everyone to be a great rhetorician like MLK, JFK, Honest Abe, etc... I'm really nit picking at what I otherwise think is really important intellectual material, that regardless of your understanding of existence in the broadest sense, this material is important. I have scoured all of his material, and read most of his books, multiple times.

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

Hitchens was more charming and classy than Dawkins.

That strikes me as a strange perception. Hitchens tended to turn into a blathering polemicist when discussing the topic, whereas I've never seen Dawkins lose his head - he's just straightforward about what he doesn't buy into.

Interestingly both Dennett and Hitchens had major medical interventions (iirc) and made a point of continuing to shit on god after the fact lol.

Yeah, that was un-watchable. Just watched it because an acquaintance of mine was in it.

Sam Harris
Christopher Hitchens
Richard Dawkins

They all make excellent arguments for the most part, and represent the atheists movement better than most, but I can do without the condensation, ridicule and hard political stances they all seem to embrace. Ultimately they conscientiously chose a more sensational approach, for market share.

This is actually almost the opposite of the truth. Their arguments tended to be amatuerish relative to other historical atheists (when they weren't stripped from those writers directly), their defining features were rather being obnoxious and using science as their primary weapon against believers.

 

[Guestx]

That strikes me as a strange perception. Hitchens tended to turn into a blathering polemicist when discussing the topic, whereas I've never seen Dawkins lose his head - he's just straightforward about what he doesn't buy into.

Interestingly both Dennett and Hitchens had major medical interventions (iirc) and made a point of continuing to shit on god after the fact lol.

I'm not a Hitchens expert, just seen things here and there. But Hitchens struck me as a little more well-behaved. He attacks the religion, but seems to hold back a bit regarding the individual religious person. Dawkins on the other hand seems to just attack everything. "Darwin's pitbull" indeed.

Since you bring up Dennett, he may actually be the best in terms of being calm and acting like a normal human being.

 

[Schoolboy Q]

#BlameChance

 

[Fatchops]

Dang, hope he's ok. Didn't realize he was 74.

I like Dawkins style, just because it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Not everyone can be as good an orator as Hitchens.

Networks in the US refused to show his documentary 'The Root of all Evil'.


Get well soon Richard!

 

[Clippys Mom]

When you say "recovering Atheist" I'm not quite sure if you're saying you're an atheist NOW or that you're recovering from being an atheist. Recovering alcoholic usually means you're not anymore (or at least not drinking anymore), but the rest of your post is confusing me.

Please clarify.

Figure of speech really.

I just found that being "against" anything just retarded my intellectual growth, and results in ineffective actions. I'm aware that I am still a contradiction and regress to being a hypocrite, so its a work in progress. Welcome to Human. Sherdog has been my dirt valve for along time, but I really have been enjoying the vibe and comradery in the Mayberry, so I am slowing down on trolling hard.

To answer your question, I don't believe in Gods. And its time for our species to move on from this idea. Its served, and will continue to serve its purpose, but ultimately I see it taking a place in the historical record as a necessary stage in our evolution.

This is a can of worms topic, and I really have been feeling ill all week, so you will have to forgive me if I don't have the energy to fill the thread with uppercuts, I'm only at 70%, and have the flu. (really)

 

[Jon Stark]

never heard of him

 

[Loiosh]

lol. Such rustle... Mad because he made them look like the buffoons that they are?

Not sure how I feel about Dawkins.

I support his position wholeheartedly but I don't love his delivery. He is abrasive and condescending because it strengthens his brand, and I don't really enjoy his exchanges.

I think his message is pretty important, but who is it for? The people who already feel the way he feels don't need to be convinced but people who don't aren't going to listen to him because he's so obnoxious. He could have been an incredibly important voice but at the end of the day, he's just an entertainer.