Believing the unbelievable

This video is about 70 minutes but it is very, very interesting. If you're an

atheist or believer it is a must see. Sam Harris talks about religion and

belief in a intellectual way. Take the time and be blown.


candy for the brain.

Enjoy.

EDIT: Before you comment please watch the video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6734321991450996691

 

New millenium stuff. The impossible becomes possible; of course you have to suscribe to an ideology of worldly proporting of the wolves and the bears... going to church on Sunday.

 

Please don't comment on this thread until you have watched the video in its entirety.

 

I'm not sure what kind of response you are looking for. Is this posted mainly for theists? Sam is a very good speaker and with me being an atheist, he's basically preaching to the choir so to speak. He's said nothing new that a good majority of atheists wouldn't have already known and he's said nothing new that atheists here probably haven't already argued for in the past. I watched all 70 mins of this and one point he made (and has made before in other youtube clips) that I agree with is the use of the term atheist being a rather pointless term. We don't have terms used to describe people who don't believe in astrology, so why should we have a term for people who don't believe in theism? For instance, do we call people who are not racists, A-racists? I think not. I can't see me walking around and saying I'm Aracist LOL, so why should I call my self Atheist?

I think the video will be lost on theists for the simple fact (as Sam also pointed out) that people aren't in the habit of thinking or accepting that they have been believing in something that has been false all their lives. That was one of my biggest hurdles to get over, that I've been duped into belief by my parents and community for all these years and now I think I'm the one thats right and all believers are wrong. Its a rather arrogant postition to hold, but I can live with it until someone can show me conclusively that I'm wrong.

 

We use the term atheist because humans cultures by default are theist

 

That is why I made this post. Your comments abou the video and for others who have never heard of Sam Harris.

 

Please watch the video before you post please.

 

you get your panties in a bunch, quite a bit don't you?

before you tell me to watch it, know i am.....just wanted to interject my observation

 

also...why bother...it's the same old shit over and over again...

 

yep, turned it off.

seems I have been here before.......

 

well i posted because I wanted a discussion about the video. So much for that.

 

For you it might be. For others it could be new. Have you watched it or just assume you know what what the video is about?

 

I've it playing in the background. I had just finished watching another movie and it was very similiar to his words.....so I thought, oh no....definately can't do that again.

but I'm giving it a try. this is very much like Zeigeist...which I just watched.

 

I want to see that.

 

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=327787&f=36


ok, sorry....i have tried but this isn't grabbing my attention. i have studied much in way of all this stuff and have my own spiritual beliefs.....we are all one and connected.....so this just isn't grabbing me.

I'll give something ten minutes.

 

I think Sam Harris spoke pretty wel. he kept it sober.

you say it's not to be taken so seriously. sounds like dodging (just a way for you to ignore the wrongs).

actually religion seems to have the problem with conditional things. the "because the religion says so" condition

well obviously religion can be a dangerous delusion. saying that it doesn't necessarily lead to violence also doesn't sound very comforting

 

It's a way for me to sift the wheat from the chaff, as the Good Book says. The Bible is full of nonsense and atrocities, not to mention contradictions, but as Thomas Jefferson noted, it's also full of inspiring wisdom. He used his judgment as an Enlightenment thinker to edit the Bible to retain the wisdom and leave the rest on the cutting room floor. He did a good job. A majority of the scholars of the Jesus Seminar conclude that less than twenty percent of the sayings and actions attributed to Jesus in the New Testament were said and done by Him. But that leaves nearly twenty percent that were. And those are pearls worth keeping.

I admit I do have a "problem" with conditional love. I think the unconditional kind is better.

It "can be", but isn't necessarily, dangerous;so can atheism (Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Kim Jong Il). Saying that it ain't necessarily so may not be comforting, but as Harris points out, comfort is one thing, truth another.

 

i was talking about religion and not necessarily about you in particular.

i never said that comforting and the truth are the same thing.

 

Thing is, if a non-literal interpretation of the Bible is totally acceptable, why not a non-literal interpretation of Moby Dick, Fight Club, or The Importance Of Being Earnest? Non-literalism could be a bigger threat to the Church than atheism, since atheists help to maintain the status of the Bible as a religious text (by rejecting it because of its association with religion). Someone who can learn from the Bible without believing it essentially renders it "just another book", rather than a pack of lies. In that context, a religion based on any text would be as valid as Christianity.