I must say this...
I understand Ayn Rand's points about mystics, and I agree with a large part of it, but being a religious person does not by default mean that you are the problem. Not everyone who is religious subscribes to the philosophy of the mystic looter.
The simple truth is it has turned out to be the progressives that are killing our society with their self destructive philosophy of sacrifice of self to their idea of the public greater good.
One day the Moochers and Looters will fall. It is inevitable that their policies will result in their own destruction because they are not sustainable. They rely on having something to mooch and something to loot. Eventually they will run out of both.
Once the moochers and looters are removed from their high places of power and our nation has returned to the ideals of self reliance, production, and personal liberty that made it so great we will have all the time we want to debate each other on the existence and merits of god. Right now we have a lot better things to do than to climb all over each other about who does and does not believe in the divine.
We, the men and women of the mind, are at war right now with a very clear and present danger to our way of life. The penalty for losing this war is the subjugation of our lives and production to the federal government. I am not saying that there should not be any debate on the site, that's part of the fun. I am concerned that we are coming to a point where these debates are becoming a dividing force at a time we need to be strongest.
Look around yourself. The American people voted Barack Hussein Obama II president only a few years after 9/11. Our government and public have begun to embrace the very people and religion that perpetrated that attack. The federal government is spying on Americans, militarizing the police, making us a laughing stock of policy failure around the world, and threatening to take away our very right to self defense while the Supreme Court has ruled that police are not required to protect anyone. China is launching aircraft carriers and building stealth fighters.
Do we really need to be insulting and disrespecting each other about who is and is not religions? Do we not have bigger fish to fry? .
The simple truth is it has turned out to be the progressives that are killing our society with their self destructive philosophy of sacrifice of self to their idea of the public greater good.
One day the Moochers and Looters will fall. It is inevitable that their policies will result in their own destruction because they are not sustainable. They rely on having something to mooch and something to loot. Eventually they will run out of both.
Once the moochers and looters are removed from their high places of power and our nation has returned to the ideals of self reliance, production, and personal liberty that made it so great we will have all the time we want to debate each other on the existence and merits of god. Right now we have a lot better things to do than to climb all over each other about who does and does not believe in the divine.
We, the men and women of the mind, are at war right now with a very clear and present danger to our way of life. The penalty for losing this war is the subjugation of our lives and production to the federal government. I am not saying that there should not be any debate on the site, that's part of the fun. I am concerned that we are coming to a point where these debates are becoming a dividing force at a time we need to be strongest.
Look around yourself. The American people voted Barack Hussein Obama II president only a few years after 9/11. Our government and public have begun to embrace the very people and religion that perpetrated that attack. The federal government is spying on Americans, militarizing the police, making us a laughing stock of policy failure around the world, and threatening to take away our very right to self defense while the Supreme Court has ruled that police are not required to protect anyone. China is launching aircraft carriers and building stealth fighters.
Do we really need to be insulting and disrespecting each other about who is and is not religions? Do we not have bigger fish to fry? .
The value each statement added was in promoting the truth, and making clear the animus toward Christianity.
It's like condemning homosexuals because some priests molested some choirboys. If the analogy escapes you, ask Maph, I'm sure he gets it.
It's odd, though, that you say voting for President Obama has something to do with embracing religion. I voted for him as the person, not for his Christian beliefs. As long as he doesn't apply Christianity to scientifically-falsifiable areas, I do not care. Just as I can get along with friends and associates of different religions, I can support President Obama without being the same religion.
After all, Ayn Rand said: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine. - Ayn Rand
Actually, bin Laden was from Saudi Arabia; Afghanistan merely provided sanctuary for them.
You don't like being fed your own porridge? Fine, stop dishing it out.
In point of fact, I don't have much of a problem with criticisms of religion, however hypocritical I think they may be. But when the laser-like focus is pointed at *Christianity*, then my back hairs get up. Not because I'm a Christian, but because I know a little about history.
The attack on Christianity in the U.S., and there is an attack, is not about the good or ill of Christianity, but about "fundamentally transforming" the United States, a campaign waged by our internal enemies.
If America is 77% Christian as one cited poll apparently said, then what better way to kick the props out from under the country than by injecting doubt into the faith of believers? The false notion of 'equality' has been used in other ways to degrade the nation; if you can make Christians think their faith is just another religion, and they're the majority population, you're going to make their confidence in their judgment shaky.
Ironically, Christianity got its start because the Romans became jaded and didn't really believe in any of their old gods. By the time of Christ, for example, many in the military worshiped middle eastern gods, not Roman ones.They were ripe for the message of Christianity, something new, different, and exciting.
Relax @Hiraghm. It's all part of the fun.
I mean, in one sentence, you call people "neurotic and insecure" (textbook ad hominem) and then complain about feigning superiority. Be fair and stop the hypocrisy.
(NOTE: To be clear, I've *lost* plenty of debates in the past - religious and otherwise. It's just that a friend and I won a two-on-two debate just the other day, so I'm kind of "feeling it." I mean no offense to anyone who's of any particular faith...if it works for you, who the h-e-double hockey sticks am I to take that away? Like OBAMA's fake healthcare promises: "If you like your plan, you can keep it"!!! )
This is starting to look like any number of Christian Bible studies I've witnessed (literally; I didn't participate), where one person after another quotes from holy writ.
Instead of using her words to back up your beliefs, why don't you wrap your minds around your own concepts? Certainly she had some good ideas and is a good reference, but she was not God, or a messiah.
There are any number of examples of quite rational people, with brilliant minds, who were also deeply religious.
To focus solely on the rational and ignore completely the emotional is to turn oneself into a computer, with no volition. Even Rand recognized that her highest morality was not a thought, but an emotion; happiness.
She erroneously tried to define happiness and failed. Happiness is not rational.
Let me anecdotally explain how reality can be escaped and how happiness is not rational, if I can.
Last night, I was disappointed because instead of waxing the floors, a difficult, tiring job that I find rewarding, they needed me to help stock the pet department. In my current physical condition, slinging 50lb bags of dog food is not conducive to well-being.
I put the love theme from "High Road to China" in a loop on my phone while working. I indulged in a personal daydream which is nobody's business but mine while listening to it, and was hardly aware of the hard physical labor I was performing. I passed through the night, happy... having escaped reality in my mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_243UepSn...
If we had to survive as purely rational beings, there'd be no purpose to our lives, and no way we could cope with reality on a day to day basis.
Except for you precious few paragon Objectivists, of course.
"A mother's illusions about her offspring's beauty, intelligence, etc. is what keeps her from drowning them at birth."
- Robert A. Heinlein.
The Jews' book is the Old Testament.
The Moslems' book is the Koran.
You want to be rational, or you want to squeak out your emotional issues?
Don't care about being "inclusive", I care about condemning Christians, at least implicitly, when IT'S NOT A CHRISTIAN THING.
You want to damn religion, then damn religion, quick fucking picking on the Christians.
And btw, what's wrong with "I am my brother's keeper"? Nobody's making you be your brother's keeper. If you don't believe in God, or Christ as your savior, then why in hell would you care if it's the opinion of any religious people that you are your brother's keeper? And what if you happen to get your rocks off on being your brother's keeper? Are you forbidden from doing so because, omg, that might be perceived as non-self-centered?
Personally, I think God did Cain an injustice in that story, if it happened as has been related down through the years and through countless translations.
Christian tolerance.
Did Ayn Rand misundestand the Bible? (self.culture)
Read more at http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/rlewelle...
Atheists say that religion leads to totalitarianism.
Can't we all just get along?
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