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from the the-power-of-god-compels-you-to-read-it dept.
The conviction that demons exist—and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings—stretches back as far as religion itself. In ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian priests performed exorcisms by casting wax figurines of demons into a fire. The Hindu Vedas, thought to have been written between 1500 and 500 b.c., refer to supernatural beings—known as asuras, but largely understood today as demons—that challenge the gods and sabotage human affairs. For the ancient Greeks, too, demonlike creatures lurked on the shadowy fringes of the human world.
But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Bot on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:20PM (6 children)
And the creatures in the simulation shouted "EUREKA! we did it! we found THE RULES! Every single particle of our world is ruled by those rules! inescapable! and guess what? we found no traces of any superior being in these rules. Nada. Everything there is, particles, states, and rules from one state to another. THERE IS NO GOD!"
And the programmer sighed, "Fuck, I even showed myself in the sim, I proved I was the admin, yet they won't believe unless a hack is done under their nose. They regressed to materialism instead". And switched off the machine.
Fact is, god cannot be proven.
The devil, instead is pretty easy to prove. Evil is basically a myopic view that put personal gain above all else. Evil is quick to form a system where a group increases his personal gain. Calling that system the devil is as straightforward as calling the bunch of cells and co-resident bacteria a "parent poster".
Fact is, "religion is fear of death" is baseless propaganda. In fact it's quite idiotic to say the reason why a guy tries to contact a hostile tribe until they kill him is a fear of death.
Fact is, "religion is a way to rule other people" is baseless propaganda. For example a Christian integralist cannot obey a master different from God as embodied by the Christ, so not even a Pope can have complete power over him. Even religions born as a political movement with earthly aims (Islam) have problem managing their own soldiers because ethics get in the way.
Relax, Nobody can make you believe. So you don't need to be more illogical than theists. So avoid it kthxbye.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:45PM
That line is the bestest.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:41PM (4 children)
Thank you captain pedantic pants. Where would we all be without you? (Oh, now you have to tell us exactly and precisely in excruciating detail.)
If you don't like my saying that there absolutely isn't one, then please inform all the religitards out there that they can't say there absolutely is one.
You have never met my mother or experienced the amount of pain she can inflict. It is not possible to be more illogical than her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:46PM (2 children)
SN is probably not the best forum for working out your issues with your mother. Now run along! Shoo!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:26PM (1 child)
So, tell me, how does not the best forum for working out your issues with your mother, make you feel?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday December 12 2018, @06:00PM
This Elizascalated quickly.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday December 08 2018, @03:56PM
> It is not possible to be more illogical than her.
if she is a mother in law she is par for the course.
The problem was not your comment. The problem is that nowadays atheism is based on slogans repeated as mantras which reminds me of other kind of organizations. Go to reddit homepage, see atheist headline with the usual rationalizations, oh look, thread is locked. And they get upset when they get told they are a religion.
Account abandoned.