Ben Stein's Confession

[ARealConservative]

let me just add

President Bush "is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers and democracy-builders in the history of the world,"

The truth is that we are in a huge economic boom. We are coming off a mammoth real estate explosion that put the most Americans in history in their own homes. We have totally full employment. After decades of stagnation, real wages are rising. The nation is wealthier than it has ever been

 

[amy31416]

Agnosticism and Atheism are not mutually exclusive...

In this country if you do not believe that there is a big sky daddy watching over everyone, you are an ATHEIST. Period.

If you claim to "not know" you are deceiving yourself.

You can be an agnostic atheist. Simply, I do not believe in god, but I don't know for sure.

(Except for the great monotheistic manifestations, for which I am 100% certain of non-existence)

What-ev. I don't define the possibility of god as being anything even remotely similar to the big Santa in the skies.

I'm agnostic, plain and simple. You won't catch me trying to define atheism as a religion, don't try to define agnosticism as simply a lack of belief in your definition of god.

Uh oh. . .will this spark the great agnostic/atheist schism of Ron Paul Forums? Stay tuned kids!

 

[Uriel999]

"God" does not cause natural disasters nor keep them from occuring. "God," is many things. The idea of God is a symbol for society. Gods people worship are imaginary beings unconsciously fabricated by society as instruments whereby society exercises control over the thoughts and behavior of the individual. WHen peopel have religion feelings of standing before a higher power that transcends their personal lives and impresses its will upon them as a moral imperative, they are indeed in the presence of a greater environing reality. This reality is not, however, a supernatural Being; it is a natural fact of society. The encompassing human group exercises the attributes of deity in relation to its members and gives rise in their minds to the idea of God. The sense of the holy, and of God as a source of sacred demand claming the total allegance of the worshipper, is thus accounted for as a reflection of society's absolute claim upon the loyalty of its members.

Religion is a mental defense agianst the more threatening aspects of nature--earthquake, flood, storm, disease, and inevitable death. These forces of nature seem to rise up against us, and are cruel, but the human imagination transforms these forces into mysterious personal powers. To qoute Frued, religion is ..."the universal obsessional neurosis of humanty," which may be left behind when at last people learn to face the world, relying no longer upon illusions but upon scientifically authenticated knowledge.

 

[Uriel999]

that being said, believe whatever you want, just leave me the hell alone and I'll leave you alone to whatever you want to believe in, whether it is god, pixies, or Santa.

 

[familydog]

I saw him speak a few times in person, met him, read his works, and saw him on TV. I'd be suprised if this came from him. In any case, I don't see how the author is wrong. But I got a good laugh at some of the responses here.

 

[Kade]

What-ev. I don't define the possibility of god as being anything even remotely similar to the big Santa in the skies.

I'm agnostic, plain and simple. You won't catch me trying to define atheism as a religion, don't try to define agnosticism as simply a lack of belief in your definition of god.

Uh oh. . .will this spark the great agnostic/atheist schism of Ron Paul Forums? Stay tuned kids!

I'm not going to bother, you can call yourself whatever you want, I too sometimes refer to myself only as agnostic; it seems to soothe some of the rampantly insane from denouncing my existence. You have shown yourself to be nothing if not an ally of reason, and therefore, a priori, a friend.

 

[amy31416]

I'm not going to bother, you can call yourself whatever you want, I too sometimes refer to myself only as agnostic; it seems to soothe some of the rampantly insane from denouncing my existence. You have shown yourself to be nothing if not an ally of reason, and therefore, a priori, a friend.

No problem. I really have no problem with atheists, agnostics, christians, buddhists or anyone else (aside from those who try to push their own beliefs on others.)

Entitling myself agnostic was not something I came to simply, easily or without putting a hell of a lot of thought into it. I'm pretty well read on atheism and--how to put this...it's like the limit of a certain kind function (if I'm recalling calc correctly) you can approach zero or infinity, but you never reach it. Even if the difference between you and zero is infinitesimally small, there's still a hint of a difference. And that's pretty much how I see it.

That's enough of my blathering. It's much better explained in graphs.

 

[Kludge]

Yeah, I don't care who wrote it or a part of it, it's true.

People sit around and say things like, "Well if your God is so great, why does he let bad things happen?" I think it's put perfectly in that article.

Why would God help the people of a country who have continuously pushed Him out of everything? God doesn't "let" things happen. But when you tell God to get out and he gets out, don't blame Him for the bad things that happen.

(Why was this passed over? Do your damned jobs, people...)




Why then, does God receive praise when something good happens in someone's life?

Receive a promotion? Thank God.

Win a lawsuit? Thank God.

Convert someone to Christianity? Thank God.

While I feel the "Why would God let bad things happen?" argument is weak, I'm only offended when God is praised for events that resulted by our blessing of FREE WILL! Man allowed these greatnesses. And while I understand that ultimately that makes God responsible for the event, I am bothered when Man is suddenly to blame when something goes awry.

God created Man, so using the aforementioned logic, God is responsible for taxes.

 

[Mesogen]

Agnosticism and Atheism are not mutually exclusive...

In this country if you do not believe that there is a big sky daddy watching over everyone, you are an ATHEIST. Period.

If you claim to "not know" you are deceiving yourself.

You can be an agnostic atheist. Simply, I do not believe in god, but I don't know for sure.

(Except for the great monotheistic manifestations, for which I am 100% certain of non-existence)

You've got it backward. If you claim to know God does not exist, you are deceiving yourself. The best you can ever say while being accurate and honest is "I don't know." That goes both ways. Agnosticism is the only honest form of (a)theism.

 

[Mitt Romneys sideburns]

You've got it backward. If you claim to know God does not exist, you are deceiving yourself. The best you can ever say while being accurate and honest is "I don't know." That goes both ways. Agnosticism is the only honest form of (a)theism.

Again, get over the notion of absolute certainty. For all practical purposes, I can be about as certain as one can be that God is not real. Just as I can be as certain as one can be that Pixies are not real.

You cant be absolutely certain of anything. We are not talking about absolute certainty. We are talking about practical certainty.

 

[wv@SC]

Again, get over the notion of absolute certainty. For all practical purposes, I can be about as certain as one can be that God is not real. Just as I can be as certain as one can be that Pixies are not real.

You cant be absolutely certain of anything. We are not talking about absolute certainty. We are talking about practical certainty.

So you're practically certain that God is not real? What is the difference between practical certainty and absolute certainty? How can you be absolutely certain there is such a thing as practical certainty?

 

[Kade]

So you're practically certain that God is not real? What is the difference between practical certainty and absolute certainty? How can you be absolutely certain there is such a thing as practical certainty?

Linguistics is an art mastered by carnival salesmen and con artists. Absolute has no meaning. Nothing is absolute, not even this sentence<----.

 

[Theocrat]

Absolute is Not Absolute?

Linguistics is an art mastered by carnival salesmen and con artists. Absolute has no meaning. Nothing is absolute, not even this sentence<----.

If those sentences are not absolute, then you've just proven to me that you wholeheartedly agree with Ben Stein's statement posted by the TS.

 

[wv@SC]

Linguistics is an art mastered by carnival salesmen and con artists. Absolute has no meaning. Nothing is absolute, not even this sentence<----.

Are you absolutely sure about that?

 

[Kludge]

Are you absolutely sure about that?

... Everything is absolute.

 

[acptulsa]

... Everything is absolut.

Except, thankfully, for orange juice. I say thankfully because this conversation has me ready for a screwdriver...

 

[menoname]

I like most Canadians believe Jesus did walk on water, But the water was frozen.

 

[acptulsa]

I like most Canadians believe Jesus did walk on water, But the water was frozen.

May not sound like much to you, but a river frozen over in the Middle East would indeed be a miracle.

 

[1000-points-of-fright]

You know what bothers me most about this thread? The title. Confession? Stien's (if it was really his) little essay is stupid. The OP calling it a confession is even more stupid. Or stupider, if you will.

 

[xxsicknessxx]

I feel like a godless communist in this country. Whats wrong with god? He teaches us morals, the founding fathers believing in god. I think churches who try to control people are bad, but so are governments who try to control people.