tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post6624729288416310262..comments2024-03-29T18:03:45.643+11:00Comments on loon pond: In which the pond's heart goes out to the reptiles still suffering a crisis in Western Civilisation ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-56256719044869080552018-06-20T15:59:23.827+10:002018-06-20T15:59:23.827+10:00Well I have to say that the vast majority of peopl...Well I have to say that the vast majority of people I meet who claim to be 'christian' have never even opened a Bible, much less read one. So what it is exactly that they claim they believe in, I have no idea whatsoever.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-14905380220052104462018-06-20T13:40:09.629+10:002018-06-20T13:40:09.629+10:00Yeah - knock it down.
Just as an amusing aside, ...Yeah - knock it down. <br /><br />Just as an amusing aside, I know people who are effectively atheists who nominated as Christians in the last census because they they didn't want the Muslims to "win". Not sure how 2.6% of the population was a threat to them but it lead them to lie. There is no way of knowing but my own suspicion is that a large number of people nominate as religious for purely tribal reasons without any real spiritual belief.Befuddledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201490489888639207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-78988639643185666722018-06-20T12:29:07.916+10:002018-06-20T12:29:07.916+10:00Interesting link there, Bef. It starts with this ...Interesting link there, Bef. It starts with this assertion: "<i>Two centuries ago there was relatively little dispute over the existence of God, or the societally beneficial effect of popular belief in a creator</i>. "<br /><br />Hmm "<i>there was relatively little dispute</i>" ? In a world in which each religion has its own worshipped entity which they all call "God" or something like that, anyway. According to various polls and surveys, only about 33% of the world's current population identifies as "Christian" and a fair percentage of them (Protestant, Orthodox etc) don't actually believe in 'God' who is exclusively a property of Roman Catholics.<br /><br />Yeah I know that a lot of Islamists think, in their crazy, mucked-up way, that "christians" do actually believe in the same "god" as Muslims, but not many of the "christians" agree.<br /><br />So, assuming the percentage of the various "god believers" was more or less the same 200 years ago as it is now, then clearly about 2/3rds of humanity vigorously disputed, and in fact vehemently denied, the existence of "God" even then. And in any case, Buddhists (about 7% of world population) and Secular/Agnostic/Atheist (about 16%) don't believe in a creator at all.<br /><br />And only about 50% of 'christians' are Roman Catholics. Now while I grant that this is much more than were Roman Catholics 2000 years ago, it's been slipping for a while now - indeed Islam replaced Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion a fair few years ago - and that's true even if you only count Sunni muslims and forget Shias.. Do you think it might be, as Joe Ratzinger has quite clearly said, time for God to sack the RC Church and start again ?GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-13220823538739628322018-06-20T11:52:31.168+10:002018-06-20T11:52:31.168+10:00Wau, just as well that China (and India) don't...Wau, just as well that China (and India) don't allow "religious freedom" then, isn't it, or they'd already control the world economy.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-38030962476184467022018-06-19T20:49:55.994+10:002018-06-19T20:49:55.994+10:00Chewing over old cabbage here, but I have to bite....Chewing over old cabbage here, but I have to bite. The Dragovic kiddie has made a few statements regarding the benefits of religion that are very questionable. Religious observance seems to have benefits for some individuals but to argue that it benefits society seems a bit rich. Societies with poor social outcomes tend to be more religious. <br /><br />I think I have posted this before but the key take away is "Data correlations show that in almost all regards the highly secular democracies consistently enjoy low rates of societal dysfunction, while pro-religious and anti-evolution America performs poorly"<br /><br />https://dspace2.creighton.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10504/64409/2005-11.pdf?sequence=1<br /><br />Like you DP I don't understand "freedom" in terms of forcing one's views onto others. I think the correct response is "fuck off"Befuddledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201490489888639207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-56107507078007154082018-06-19T15:53:29.422+10:002018-06-19T15:53:29.422+10:00Urbanity of Urbanities: "The overwhelming pu...Urbanity of Urbanities: "<i>The overwhelming public support for the course --</i>"<br /><br />Really ? "<b>THE</b>" course ? When precisely none of those polled have seen any specification, or even just a description, of "<b>THE</b>" course ? When the course has been described as not a "Western civilisation" course so much as just a funky little "liberal arts" jaunt through a few of the works of art, literature and, in a very small way, the philosophy of a very few people who could, with much self-connivance, be called "Western".<br /><br />Oh, and BOC, the Newspoll trolls didn't include the word 'Ramsay' in the poll question. Don't want to scare the rubes.<br /><br />After all, what is it that The Urbanism herself says: "The Ramsay Centre, which has proposed a curriculum based on the "great books" courses offered by US liberal arts colleges ..."<br /><br />Oh yeah, "great books" indeed. Do you reckon 'Stranger in a Strange Land' will make it into the list ?<br /><br />But hey, at a rate of say, one week of intensive study per book (and that's more than enough, isn't it ?), and assuming about 40 or so weeks in the study year (even with their $25,000 "scholarship" they'll still need to work over the holiday periods to keep life and limb together), then they'll cover 120 books in a 3 year degree. Or 160 books if they go for a "US liberal arts college" 4 year degree.<br /><br />Wau, 160 books of which each has taken about 50 hours of intensive study to master all their subleties and meanings. Yep, that'd be some great degree, woudn't it - after all, with 120 books, you might have made it as far as the middle ages in "Western civilisation" at the end of that.<br /><br />Oh, I just noticed: the Urbanity reckons that Ramsay is offering <b>$25,000 per year scholarships</b>. Oh well, in that case, 52 books per year ! 156 books in a 3 year degree ! Yep, that'd cover the whole of Western civilisation, wouldn't it.<br /><br />PS: the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is out - that's only in the Islamic course. As is Sinbad and Ali Baba and The Thousand and One Nights ...<br /><br />As for Denis Dragovic and his "religious freedoms', well I wonder how he would view militant Scientologists entering his church on Sunday to preach their religion under the 'protected freedom of religion' banner ?<br /><br />But mostly, we all know that the Christian Bible states very clearly that people who work on the Sabbath must be put to death (Exodus 31:14,15). So, I'm all in favour of protection of religious freedom but only for those who genuinely practise their religion. If you do not put to death those who desecrate the Sabbath, then you have simply proved that you are not a Christian and you get no guarantees of 'religious freedom'. GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-66336099089767939652018-06-19T15:14:45.791+10:002018-06-19T15:14:45.791+10:00It's been interesting to see how the argument ...It's been interesting to see how the argument has morphed from the original concern about academic independence (sparked by the fuckwit Abbott) into all sorts of other shit about leftward lurches in tertiary education. I sense the dead hand of the rodent here, y'know, a phone call or two, an email, a lunch meeting... his rat cunning is stamped all over. The poor academics don't stand a chance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-56049264957302601022018-06-19T14:47:48.472+10:002018-06-19T14:47:48.472+10:00It seems as though the squawking cock-or-two is in...It seems as though the squawking cock-or-two is incapable of seeing that their is a direct link between the macho-aggressive never ending war on terror worldview that he promotes, and the world-wide epidemic of violence against women.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-9321442411899878562018-06-19T14:17:03.775+10:002018-06-19T14:17:03.775+10:00In other words.....<a href="https://www.odu.edu/news/2014/9/religious_freedom_st" rel="nofollow">In other words....</a>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com