Re: virus: religion

Bob Hartwig (hartwig@ais.net)
Tue, 14 Apr 1998 17:12:47 -0500


>Yeah but in a way we any philosophy is just anouther religion and none
>can be really said to be better than another.

Sorry, but this is bullshit. The mainstream religions that I'm familiar
with require their adherents to accept bizarre claims on blind faith. This
is an insult to thinking people. At the risk of reopening the whole
pointlessly metaphysical thread of conversation on "truth", mainstream
religions are only appropriate for those who don't hold truth to be
particularly important.

>We need to be open minded
>towards all religions and try to work out what's really "Going On" as
>someone said on this list a while ago then we will all benefit.

Ah, the old "Argument from Ignorance" falacy. "You must be open minded to
my claims because you can't prove that they're not true." The burden of
proof is on the one making a positive assertion. If someone says “there
are jackalopes living in Texas”, or “I have created cold fusion”, or “God
exists”, it's their responsibility to back up the assertion with proof,
it's not my responsibility to take them seriously. The only truly
open-minded approach is to accept that their complete lack of proof is
convincing evidence that their claim is false.