A Regrettable Afterlife

Even if you are a god-believer and believe you are going to heaven through "grace," wouldn't it be better to look back and say you made life as pleasant as possible for as many people as possible rather than looking back and seeing the pain and suffering you caused through bigotry and intolerance?

So Glad Things Have Improved

Suggested possible response to those making claims of being hellbound: "Thanks so much for the reminder of the myths and superstitions developed by ancient peoples because they didn't have access to the information we now have. It was a shame they had to live in a time like that. Can you imagine what that was like? Yikes."

The Glue Test

Do you ever get the feeling that some zealous believers are just like 2nd graders who refused to grow up, still primarily using the part of the brain that remembers fondly what it was like to eat glue?

A Perspective On Glenn Beck

If Glenn Beck wasn't famous and you ran across him in a rubber room saying the same things he's saying now, I doubt anyone would think it out of place to find him there.

Real v. Fantasy Should Have A Clear Winner

When people try and dispute real history (and in connection, science) with the Bible, I get the same feeling I suspect would arise if they used "A Tale of Two Cities" or "The Three Musketeers."--surreal, WTF moment that makes me fear for the future of humanity.

Information Always Improves With Time

It still slays me that the assertion of error-free truth in any religious "revealed" text can't simply be rebutted with the counter-assertion, "We have better information now." Unless you hold a position that knowledge doesn't improve with time, this should be a simple and logical statement that's easy to understand and accept.

Controlling The Future

If you come to understand how something works, you can essentially predict the future. If you can control that thing you now understand you can manipulate the future. Maybe religion is like that, too. Praying to a god gives you a sense of control over that god and power over the future. You just have to first understand how that god "works," which leads you to priests and holy books.

Missing The Cycles

We live in a primarily cyclical universe. We can see cycles in everything from the universe itself to weather to planetary rotations to the circulatory system of plants and animals. But we often try and impose linear explanations and planning on our cyclical existence. It can only cause conflict but we fail to see that and continue our mistakes. Ironically, we often impose "circular logic" on an issue, which is an invalid form of rationalization.

Successful Communication Is Joy

It seems to me that successful communication with others is what brings a joy we often don't realize we require before any other kind of joy. It may be what we seek as a pre-requisite to much else and don't even know it.

Instrumental Dimensions

Working in more than three spacial dimensions seems to be synonymous to a pilot flying on instruments. You can't see what's going on given the conditions, but the tools offer the best approximation a human mind can handle.

Magic Cross

Whenever I see someone wearing a cross I see two magic wands arranged to be perpendicular, nothing more. It's just an individual's way to express a belief in some form of magic being real.

Dumping Ignorance For Knowledge Of Less Control

It is ironic that the more I learn the less connected I feel. Maybe knowledge comes with the understanding that we have relatively less control and influence over things than we think when we’re more ignorant. Why can knowledge of less control mean less connectedness?

Passing The Buck To A God

Are beliefs also about placing responsibility on “the spirits” for what happens in order to pass responsibility or relieve guilt? Rituals and prayers that “ask” a god for something or to do something may be a way to do this. If the request fails, then it was the god’s decision, not the person’s. There is a famous thought experiment with the scenario of pushing someone in front of a train to die, but the act will save several others. We avoid that kind of choice altogether. We would rather do nothing and let a “god decide.” Accepting the idea that we can act means responsibility for acting or not acting, which comes with guilt when every choice is determined to be a failure.

Weightless Words

If someone needs the “right” context--setting, clothes, company, lighting, etc.--to give words the desired weight, the words themselves remain weightless when removed.

Rarely A Miracle

A miracle is not something that rarely happens. It is something that can’t happen otherwise.

"With It" Comes And Goes

When quoting someone or liking something very recent you’re “with it.” If it’s too old, even by a little bit, you’re “out of touch.” However, at some point those things become old enough where they become “intellectual” or “insightful” and acceptable to use once again.

Contaminated Joy

If another’s pain brings you joy, the evil which produces it is a contaminate that is still there when real joy tries to reappear, skewing its fulfillment possibilities from its true purpose.

Elusive Equilibrium

Capitalism means always being out of equilibrium.

No Credit For Quote Mining

Quote mining is not a class that can be taken as credit toward a degree.

Life Is A Given

Life is but one emergent property resulting from the condition of the cosmos simply existing.

A Better Distortion

No matter the version of any "revealed" religious text being used to try and get an improved view of reality, a better alternative would be the use of fun house mirrors.

Doing Evil To Do Good

How much of the "good" that religious people claim they do because of their beliefs wouldn't even be necessary if the evil things done in the name of their religion didn't happen in the first place?

More Powerful Than God

Within the assertion that non-believers refuse to see god's obvious existence isn't there the implication that we're more powerful than the god being asserted in overriding his obviousness? Otherwise, how could we accomplish such a feat?

Arrogant Non-Believers

For those who claim it's impolite, rude or inconsiderate to powerfully challenge believe in their god(s), they are asking to be treated like a child; that is the same "logic" they use to hold back destroying belief in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Would anyone call someone arrogant for asserting to an adult that these creatures don't exist?