tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post6858638578786253661..comments2023-12-03T03:00:17.598-06:00Comments on Atheism & Philosophy: Group 1: Savulescu - "Three Stages of Disbelief"Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post-20419147349876569252012-03-16T09:34:26.969-05:002012-03-16T09:34:26.969-05:00Yes, as Hitch kept saying when asked how he was: I...Yes, as Hitch kept saying when asked how he was: I'm dying. So are you...Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post-27807577231774400082012-03-15T10:44:28.529-05:002012-03-15T10:44:28.529-05:00I think that is ultimately the root of religion...I think that is ultimately the root of religion's hold on our species. We are *all* terminal patients of life, doomed to die from the moment that we're born. We all want and need comfort, and religion got a firm hold on us before we knew any better.Super Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17232031019529024050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post-54570499340963591762012-03-15T05:57:22.854-05:002012-03-15T05:57:22.854-05:00I agree with you, of course. But I was thinking sp...I agree with you, of course. But I was thinking specifically of terminal patients in their deathbeds, including those in public health facilities. And for them I'd amend the statement: "if that's all they think they've got." They want and need comfort, and don't have the luxury of time and a philosophical seminar in which to go seeking it at their leisure.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post-68954264129592282642012-03-14T22:27:02.562-05:002012-03-14T22:27:02.562-05:00I think the expression "if that's all the...I think the expression "if that's all they've got" is overused as a pass for religious believers. It's a big world, and we know an awful lot more about it than we did 2000 years ago. If someone claims that religion is all they've got, they're probably just suffering from a lack of education (or curiosity, or imagination, or some combination thereof.)<br /><br />Unless you're in prison, or lying facedown in a gutter, I would say that there are better options than fairy tales. Am I advocating that we should deny them their fantasies? No I am not, so long as they keep that crap to themselves. If you want to get drunk, go to a bar or drink at home. Same goes for religion: go to a church or worship at home. Keep it out of public.Super Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17232031019529024050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7609541124817386376.post-77313483278896155732012-03-14T21:43:03.775-05:002012-03-14T21:43:03.775-05:00Carpe diem! Before it was a Hollywood cliche it wa...Carpe diem! Before it was a Hollywood cliche it was deep life wisdom, and it still is. But the acknowledgement that we all must fashion meaning by giving our respective experiences a personal stamp makes a pluralist point, doesn't it? And as Ross Upshur (a medical practitioner like Savulescu) says, "comfort is comfort." I would not want to deny anyone their life-sustaining religious sensibility (illusion or not), if that's all they've got.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com