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Man, I get so irritated lately...

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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 03:50 PM
Original message
Man, I get so irritated lately...
I used to feel like I didn't really *mind* that people wanted to believe in god(s), sure, whatever, it's your thing, not mine.

Now I've been reading a lot more online, and some Dawkins, and some other forums, and this forum, and I get so irritated.

To wit: Just saw the great photograph of lightning striking the giant Jesus statue in Rio de Janero. It's a stunning picture. Second comment on the thread? "Is it an omen?" No, you asshole, it's not an omen. It's lightning striking the tallest thing in the area, as it's so often wont to do, especially when that thing is MADE OUT OF METAL and 700 Feet tall!! :banghead:

/sigh

Likewise with having patience for friends talking about grandparents' deaths and how "at least they'll get to be with _____ " again soon and friends talking about Saddam "at least I know he's rotting in hell..." Oh, you know that? Really? How?

Man, I just have no patience anymore.
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Pale Blue Dot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. Be prepared. It won't stop.
A year after reading Dawkins, I see irrational beliefs EVERYWHERE. It is so entrenched in the popular culture that I can't go an evening without finding them. Most people just ignore it, but you will never be able to again.

:hug:
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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 11:02 PM
Response to Reply #1
7. Ugh ugh ugh.
I cannot wait to move to Europe. It's not all the way better, but it's definitely somewhat better, especially in a big city.

It bugs me the most when it's my family and good friends, because with them, I feel less able/willing/? to express my disbelief.
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WillParkinson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
2. Welcome to the "ooooooooh" world
Where everything has religious significance. (Religious toast, religious bonfires, etc.)

It won't stop. People are weak. They NEED to believe there is something greater than themselves. They NEED to believe that some Fuzzy Pink Unicorn out there will save them. They refuse to believe that they actually have to unclasp their hands and work together to actually get something done.

And that, my friends, will lead us to the precipice.
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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 11:04 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. Well, then, why don't WE need to?
What is it that has allowed some of us to step back and take a rational view and decide that we don't believe it? And how do you perpetuate that in the face of a belief system that says that we're the "bad guys," or at least, are in need of "saving" or "help?" Does Dawkins talk about that? Because if he does, I haven't gotten to that part of the book, yet.
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WillParkinson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-13-08 07:48 AM
Response to Reply #8
11. In effect, we do...
We do believe in something bigger than ourselves. We believe in the unity that comes from caring for your fellow person because it's right, not because Big Daddy Sky says it to be so.

We help each other.
We love each other.
We trust each other.
We believe in the power of us.

And why? Because we DO take a rational look at the world. We know that outside forces will never help to fix the problems that mankind has caused. We know that change occurs from within.
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Lost-in-FL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 05:43 PM
Response to Original message
3. Like you...
Edited on Tue Feb-12-08 05:44 PM by Lost-in-FL
The more I read the worse it gets for me. I don't want to become an Evangelical Atheist because I want to live in peace, specially when I work in Healthcare and my company has very deeply religious ties.

Although I am very happy to finally liberate my mind and discovering the light, at times I truly believe that "Ignorance is bliss" (but just sometimes... I like me better now!)
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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 11:08 PM
Response to Reply #3
9. I totally hear ya, Lost
I cannot imagine having to deal with it at my job, now. :hug:

There are days when I'd like to go back to being ignorant of politics, and to have some kind of religious faith, again. I was more at peace, then, I think.

From my journal sometime last year - Warning: Stoner-rambling follows:

"Why do I feel like like I'm always waiting for someone to hand me the right opportunities, the right situations? And I'll get to the end of my life having not done things that I should have, that I wanted to, just because I was too scared to make those opportunities for myself: to take risks. Why go through life so scared? What would it feel like to live a life that wasn't full of fear? Was that what I gave up when I gave up religion- the ability to believe, at least, that everything happens for a reason? The belief that somewhere out there, someone benevolent, the Mother-Goddess or Father-God was in charge, that we would be provided for and protected, and if we were not, then at least it was done to us for a reason that was to our benefit, if only we could figure it out."

/rambling
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Commie Pinko Dirtbag Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
4. This was not DU, I suppose? Link?
The only thread about that here is the one I posted myself: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7457079
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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 11:01 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. Nope, not yours
They were comments on a news site I was linked to from Google news...
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 06:34 PM
Response to Original message
5. Actually, some of the comments were great.
Edited on Tue Feb-12-08 06:34 PM by Warpy
"Don't tase me, Bro!" was my favorite, but that's just me.

I thought that thing was made out of concrete on a metal armature. The closeups I've seen look more like concrete.

It's pure hubris, anyway, and the money should have been spent on the poor.
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LynzM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-12-08 11:11 PM
Response to Reply #5
10. Yeah, I think you're right about the construction, my bad
It wasn't the DU post, it was on a news site... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=513855&in_page_id=1811

It *is* hubris, just like every huge, ornate church... spend a ton of money building homages to a god who supposedly told you to give your money to helping the poor? Right.
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onager Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-13-08 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. Huge church? I was at the Vatican last week.
Went on a tour of the Vatican Museum, and came out in St. Peter's Square. I was hanging around with a couple of other Americans who were on my half-day tour.

Some other Americans were standing around gawking at the big Egyptian obelisk in the Square, and one of them was reading from a Vatican Guidebook about how the Romans massacred Xians "on this very spot."

I've never been able to keep my mouth shut anyway...most of y'all know that. And I spent 2 years as Marine Drill Instructor, so I can PROJECT my voice when necessary.

So I thought it would be fun to play Tour Guild for a second, and also provide some equal time...

"And also on this very spot, after a bit of sight-seeing, in October 1943 the SS rounded up a thousand Italian Jews and hauled them off to the gas chambers. The Pope was probably looking out that window, right up there..."

Yes, I'm a FUN person to travel with...

:rofl:
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ozone_man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-15-08 10:45 AM
Response to Reply #5
14. The reinforcement rods probably act as lightening rods
if they are welded together. I certainly wouldn't want to be up there during a lightening storm.

I think what would be impressive would be St. Elmo's fire, which would be seen as a glow around Jesus. Wherever the ends of the reinforcement rod are located. Probably the head and hands in particular would glow. I'm sure that would cause a number of conversions. :)


Although referred to as "fire", St. Elmo's Fire is, in fact, plasma. The electric field around the object in question causes ionization of the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Approximately 1,000 - 30,000 volts per centimetre is required to induce St. Elmo's Fire; however, this number is greatly dependent on the geometry of the object in question. Sharp points tend to require lower voltage levels to produce the same result because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, thus discharges are more intense at the end of pointed objects<5>.

St. Elmo's Fire and normal sparks both can appear when high electrical voltage affects a gas. St. Elmo's fire is seen during thunderstorms when the ground below the storm is electrically charged, and there is high voltage in the air between the cloud and the ground. The voltage tears apart the air molecules and the gas begins to glow.

The nitrogen and oxygen in the earth's atmosphere causes St. Elmo's Fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light; this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon lights to glow<5>.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire


Mountain climbers and sailors are usually the ones who witness this phenomenon.
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-14-08 09:20 PM
Response to Original message
13. My patience ran out a long time ago...
I do not show religion any mercy. You are not requiered to show respect to religion, it is something you have to realize. It is one of the things that holds so many people back from saying exactly how they feel about religion.

When the opportunity shows its self, you have to be willing to question them and do so vocally and not just in your head. There is nothing wrong with it, when some one says something stupid like "at least I know Saddam is rotting in hell." you should speak up and say "How do you even know hell exist?" they will always say "Because the bible says so." All you have to through at them is "It also says in another book that Oz exist, does that make it real?" There is no difference between modern fiction and religious literature, it is all FICTION.

They believe in a fantasy, a delusion of grandure and wish-thinking.
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