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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: Alighieri who wrote (920875)2/15/2016 5:48:20 PM
From: Tenchusatsu  Read Replies (1) of 1576532
 
Al,
The opposite of it, that is assigning one's fate to a god that spared the subject but killed his neighbor's 2 year old, illustrates the sabotaging effect religion has on critical thinking.
I don't agree, as I already explained.

It's incredibly cynical to say, "Well you were spared but your neighbor's child wasn't, therefore there is no God and you just survived because of dumb luck." Is that really something you want to be telling both the survivor and the grieving neighbor?

I remember a pastor who gave a sermon and talked about the loss of his first child. (This was around the time he just got out of seminary and was about to take his first pastorship.) It was devastating to him and his wife, but rather than shake his fist at God and say, "How dare you take away my child!" he used the situation to get stronger and to help relate to the pain and suffering that others go through.

Now you could come to a different conclusion, but that's not the point. The point is that he is not sabotaging his own ability to critically think. He's not choosing to be in denial. He's not choosing to fashion a "mental crutch" for himself and those he ministers to, despite what the atheistic skeptics claim.

Instead, he chooses to strengthen his own faith in God and draw upon that strength in order to make a positive effect on those he serves. To me, that makes a stronger statement about humanity than someone who would rather believe in the "god of random chance."

Tenchusatsu
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