Can you imagine the Middle East if this were it's existential conclusion as well?
"Religion cannot and should not be replaced by atheism. Religion needs to go away and not be replaced by anything."
Too many think "spiritual but not religious" (AKA NewAge) is a progression but - when the goal is grasping reality - "you can believe what you want to believe" acts mostly as a placeholder to either postpone, or avoid, stepping out toward atheism all together.
Exit polls show those listing "none" for religion was 12% of the electorate in 2012. In 1984, it was only 4%. 12% is a bigger slice of the voting pie than Hispanics or Asians, and about the same as African Americans.
"Spiritual but not religious" is sort of a "open-minded" purgatory - some say a prison - a place where you're trapped in saying and doing illogical things for someone else's (now adopted) illogical reasons, until you come to your senses.
"To meet people who’ve been out of the cult — I mean, yeah, you want to ask them about Xenu and aliens — but the fact is these are smart people. They’ve just been completely destroyed."
So - instead of a religious nut going on about whatever - you're now a "spiritual" one, railing about homeopathy or studying yoga, still no closer to coming to grips with what's important under the circumstances.
JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — Two dancers at an exotic club in Juneau have been cited after they allegedly brawled over a dollar bill.
A Post-Crescent of Appleton report says one of the women is pregnant.
Dodge County deputies say they were called to Silk Exotic last week to break up a fight. They say it started when a customer tried to give a dollar to one of the dancers but the other dancer took it.
The sheriff's report says both women began to brawl. They tussled on the floor, punching, slapping and pulling each other's hair. Other dancers and customers separated the two.
And they're also forever wasting more time, money, and lives - and causing even more brutal but unseen harm as they do so - while supporting a criminal class of frauds very, very well.
She claims she has always had a very good sixth sense and intuition and charges her clients £40 per session.
Linda said: 'It's a gift that I can't describe. I don't see ghosts but I do feel, sense and smell things. 'I can feel if someone is a good person and I can smell emotions. The smells are different kinds of smells to perfumes or body lotions - they are not of this realm.
'We are all different. Some people can play piano and I can't. I am not special or anything, I am just different.'
Linda's parents emigrated to the UK from Poland. She used to work as a secretary and had also worked in factories and as a cleaner, but always felt she was destined for more spiritual things. As the phone calls from clients began to flood in, Linda started to rack up some impressive celebrity visitors.
She said: 'I just said to myself one day, "I am never going to work for anyone else again because I am so different," so I left work and put an advert in Prediction magazine and then the rest is history.'
It's the history of the 20th Century, slowly coming to an end, just as any-but-methodically as it began.
Harris, the creator of the entire project, came out on stage and answered questions as all the actors sat in the audience around us. He said he was interested in the immersive qualities of the project, and how, when forced to enter an environment instead of just watching a film as a distanced observer, people become more wrapped up in the questions he sought to raise about faith and reason, fantasy and reality. But I left with only one question, ultimately: what was the point?
If it was to cause me to continuously look over my shoulder for the rest of the night, then they succeeded.
It's only through these groups (and the ideas they support) coming apart, that individuals within them - and the society they live in - can be successful again.
"In all these cases, and many others, liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake."
Until then, atheists will be stuck watching them fighting, for (and over) dead bodies and nothing more.
FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) - The followers of a meditation practice that has roots in ancient India say it's simple: Close your eyes, silently repeat a mantra and relax. But a dispute among rivals for control over its teaching is anything but peaceful, featuring personal attacks, aggressive lawyering and accusations of improper business practices.
This goes a long way towards explaining my chief hang-up with most atheists I've run into personally (and some that I've read).
ReplyDeleteTo be very bluntly honest, a lot of them have been full of it as well as clueless as shit, just as full of it and clueless as Becky Bible-thumper down at the fish fry.
Then again, I'm full of it too -- and still trying to figure it out. Oh well, I know I'm not going to get a parade for trying but a cookie would be nice (still probably too much to ask, but still nice).
PW
...because most of them would stop in mid church bashing sentence to coo and gah over crazy ramblings like this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIOyQ_pbAcE
...and then get pissed off at somebody like me who says: "then you really aren't an atheist are you? you're just playing at it cause it's cool, aren't ya?"
(yeah, I've had more than my share of fun with them over the years)
PW