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12th September 2011

“Mark Twain defined faith as 'believing what you know ain't so', and the level of insecurity among the faithful when criticised suggests that almost all of them really agree.”

A.C. Grayling

This entry was posted on Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 1:00 and is filed under QOTD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “12th September 2011”

  1. R J Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 5:48

    belief in what you know aint so sounds a lot

    like secondary delusional psychosis. A LOT

    like it. and if that’s what faith is constructed upon,

    then having faith ( religious faith ) is a form of

    functional mental impairment.

    isnt that a comforting thought ?

  2. Edmond Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 7:03

    The number of people in the world that are willing to take up arms to defend their god proves that they have no belief that he could do it himself.

  3. Dan Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 7:08

    Edmond,
    Either that, or they believe that their god loves people with blood on their hands and intolerance in their hearts.

  4. R J Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 8:49

    dan and edmond……………..

    really good points !!!!

  5. Sinjin Smythe Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 15:03

    Mr Grayling was a man whose with I admired. He condensed the debate down to three things:

    1> Do you believe in the supernatural?
    2> What is your basis for ethics?
    3> And he believed religious organizations had a right to exist but no greater than that of a trade union or other speical interest group.

    There really isn’t anything beyond this in the debate between religion and life without religion.

  6. R j Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 16:52

    sinjin……………..

    grayling sounds good…………..is he a good read ??

    i am so far behind with my reading……but still, i’m

    always looking for more.

    let me know if you think he’s worth picking up.

    TNX

  7. Sinjin Smythe Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 17:33

    Garyling is an obvious intellect. One of the important roadblocks in “making a case for” or “communicating an understanding of” atheism for a person claiming belief is simplicity. As we have mentioned before belief is common among the uneducated/stupid and as such complicated answer aren’t good answers. Grayling has a way of making the complex simple. Like Richard Dawkins on Charles Darwin and evolution.

  8. Sinjin Smythe Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 17:36

    R j see http://amzn.com/0195168909

  9. archaeopteryx Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 17:38

    I have read a couple of books by Grayling and I agree with Sinjin Smythe. He writes a lot of sense and he writes it well.

  10. Rj Says:
    September 12th, 2011 at 19:17

    thank you guys…………………..

    i will order grayling thru Amazon.