Has no Idea that Atheists can develop morality independednt of a "God" being... Juast another moron, paid amazing amounts of money to be a mouthpiece fool.

He learned quickly and well how to get media attention, but this is totally outrageous.

Also, way to double-post.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218188546

Indeed.

And the "14 year old boy/man" fantasy from such an old geezer is really pitiful. It's like he thinks the more outrageous he is, the more it sounds down to earth and "real". Too much TV I imagine.

But like Pat Robertson, he thinks because he has a platform and (amazingly) people agree with him. that he some kind of prophet and so on a superficial level believes it all.... I mean, listen to that applause!

Are they all Poes, too?

There is one that comes here frequently. He has gotten better and better at getting away with it for longer and longer periods of time.

His point is to make certain groups look bad by playing an extremist in the group.

In this case of Robertson, if he is a Poe, he sucked in his audience just perfectly.

But I'm not sure. He is so extreme, it's worth considering that it's all an act.

there are lots of people who sincerely hold those kinds of beliefs about atheists (and sometimes, about other believers who are not of their particular faith). Robertson thought that this particular group of Christians agree with those views, and would enjoy his story. He was correct.

I wonder if anyone walked out. The artlcie doesn't say.

My only point is that he is making a career out of it, and that makes me suspicious.

IIRC, it was discovered that his whole persona in the reality series was fabricated.

That he finds an audience who will lap up his slop is not surprising.

Here is an interesting thing. The Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast Facebook page has been taken down and the Vero Beach press story on this has been placed behind a firewall.

If it was his intention to make them look bad, he has succeeded.

It's possible, I guess, but i think that's a stretch. I think it's much more likely that either he honestly subscribes to this (very common) idea that atheists have no basis for determining right from wrong, or that he knew his audience felt that way and played it up for the applause.

The imagery in his story is appalling, but it's not any worse than imagining nonbelievers roasting in hell for eternity.

very suspicious.

I do think there is a difference in actually describing the rape and beheading of humans and some vague notion of hell.

It's a real place where unbelievers and the wicked (which are one and the same in many people's minds - like Phil Robertson's audience) are burned and otherwise tortured forever. Some preachers expound on the horrors of hell from the pulpit. There are books which claim to describe the place and what goes on there in detail, at least one of which, 23 Minutes in Hell, has been a bestseller. Here's part of a pitch for that book:

"With electrified senses Bill Wiese experienced the searing flames of hell, total isolation, a putrid, breathtaking stench, deafening screams of agony, terrorizing demons, and finally, the strong hand of God lifting him out of the pit. Wiese's visit to the devil's lair lasted just twenty-three minutes, but he returned with vivid details etched in his memory."

Hell is an abstract concept to me. Phil Robertson's tale is not.

Now Pat Robertson is saying that the pilot that crashed the plane was possibly muslim.

What is it with these Robertsons??

They have sincere religious beliefs, and you can't prove they are wrong. The glaring inconsistency at the core of your personal narrative.

An individual came on DU with that bigoted viewpoint and was defended by many here.

"None of us would want to live in a society without some sort of an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith." - From Thats my opinion, a pastor who eventually grew tired of being challenged on his bigotry and left.

You're right, of course, it is very common.

without some sort of an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith."

That sentence never fails to shock me.

They really don't get the implications of that. The implys that churches were responsible in the first place. They also discredit non-religious folks who had been working hard to bring down injustices caused by the church in the first place.

He had another common line in there "Forget about inquisition,many of the early scientists were religious" Well of course they were, all the non religious thinkers were killed by the church! You had to be religious when the church controlled the money, and killed people who didn't do what they said.

in public.

Actually, it's kinda funny. Most early scientists start their inquiry as a means to get closer to god and his wondrous creations.... and the honest, unbiased as possible investigations ended up not going anywhere near a god, or even needing one... and they got in trouble with the church. IOW.... they go looking for confirmation but an honest search took them far away from the church, god and holy texts.


Didn't anyone watch the new "Cosmos"???? Giordano Bruno ring a bell?

Very complex, he was a quaker I think.

Period.

Namely that without religion, we have no ethical basis for society. A poster named "Thats my opinion" - ever heard of him?

Very well played.

This connection in some people's minds between religion and moral judgment intrigues me.

My parents were never ones to use the threat of eternal damnation to compel me to behave. The idea, to them, was offensive. But for my mother-in-law, "You can go to hell for lying," was the literal truth. She would often invoke the threat of eternal hellfire as she brandished her well-used paddle. Friends, my mother-in-law was old school.

Intuition suggests that a more authoritarian upbringing very often results in a more authoritarian God-concept, intrinsically connected to one's sense of what is right and wrong.

Mr. Robertson strikes me as a man devoid of empathy or compassion so he must rely on the idea of an external judge to keep him on the straight-and-narrow. That makes me feel a bit sad for him. He may be missing the best part of our shared human experience.

empathy
class
intelligence
sincerity
humility
razors

common sense
good looks
intelligence


Oops! you already said intelligence. Still, it bears repeating.

We could do this all day.

and/or Quran.