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George Pell's Christmas Message (1 Viewer)

KFunk

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volition said:
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the good life", but if the good life has nothing to do with God, then its fine to teach what you think the good life is. I think these are two separate issues.
You could think about it in relation to the Socrates' question 'how should one live?'. When some manner of living is termed 'the good life' then it will often be a way of life which is seen to satisfy Socrates' question. In other words, I am saying that religions often have a lot to say about how we should live our lives. It is not that the good life has nothing to do with God at all, but the two issues seem roughly separable. Thus I agree, they are two separate issues (God and the good life). But this is why I think you should temper your criticisms of religion, since much of religion deals with how one should live and I don't think that your criticisms fully address this aspect.


volition said:
For the most part, this is what I am charging them with. They claim the existence of a non-empirically verifiable being, so the burden of proof lies on them. There is no rational proof for God (it does depend on what we're defining God as), belief in God fundamentally requires a bit of idiotic blind 'faith'.
Fair enough. I also tend to feel that no adequate proofs have been provided for the existence of god. However, I would avoid calling belief in god idiotic in general (though it can be) - some people I have spoken to have presented fairly sound reasons for their belief. For example, one can question the traditional notion of knowledge as justified belief and suggest that knowledge may be gained through other means (for example revalation or faith). Such an argument has been made by Alvin Plantinga. I don't agree with such arguments myself, but I nonetheless don't feel that they properly warrant the label irrational. The points with which I disagree are foundational ones (e.g. 'what is knowledge?') where it becomes difficult to applye labels like 'rational'/'irrational'.

volition said:
Not entirely sure what you mean, so I'd like an example if you don't mind.
One of my own beliefs is that it is wrong (in a relative sense of course) to cause animals pain. I don't think my claim is properly true or false, thus it is somewhat arbitrary. Prescriptions regarding how we should live, as provided by religions, can be seen as arbitrary in the same way.
 
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katie_tully

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usually i have a pretty sweet blood pressure
it's maintained at about 120/70 to 80 which is friggin awesome

However on a sunday when i get my little sunday paper i swear it goes up to 140/100 (exaggeration gayz) coz george pell PISSES ME OFF WITH HIS BULLSHIT.

i have to read piers ackerman to make myself zen again :(
 

flappinghippo

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Not to mention Christianity makes a virtue of being poor, having no friends, and/or not being wise.

That is not the good life in my book.

Not to say that being poor is bad – far from it – but to make a judgement that it is good and okay based on the fact you believe in Jesus, ist badzor.

And that's the Christian way of life; mediocrity is virtue.

Fuck that.
 

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