The allegory of cave from Plato and Socrates clearly depicts the funny battle that is going on between the religious people and the non-theists.
Here is a small dialectic of my thoughts.
Atheist: You're broken, you use faith to accept something as valid which is inconsistent.
Theist: You're the one who is in ignorance, you're like those prisoners in the cave who ridicule and make a mockery of those prisoners who were set free and who have achieved enlightenment and had seen the light.
Athiest: You don't question the existence of god and just accept it on blind faith.
Theist: You don't question the experience from your senses and you just accept it as real. For me anything or anyone outside of it is god.
Atheist: Religion has not contributed anything to the progress of humanity and you're self deluded and the idea of god is an infectious meme which needs to be minimized.
Theist: The natural world is ever changing, there is no point in investing our time in something which will eventually turn into a star dust. The world of forms is eternal and unchanging and truly worthy of knowing. You're the one who is deluded.
Atheist: We need to minimize the impact of religion and our political leaders should make rational decisions which affects all our lives in turn.
Theist: No, the world should be run by philosopher-kings who can give the right justice based on their knowledge in lofty things.
Atheist: We have explanations from pyschology as to why you hold such childish beliefs.
Theist: We have theistic explanations as to why some people don't believe in God.
Carl Sagan said of Plato: "Science and mathematics were to be removed from the hands of the merchants and the artisans. This tendency found its most effective advocate in a follower of Pythagoras named Plato." and: "He (Plato) believed that ideas were far more real than the natural world. He advised the astronomers not to waste their time observing the stars and planets. It was better, he believed, just to think about them. Plato expressed hostility to observation and experiment. He taught contempt for the real world and disdain for the practical application of scientific knowledge. Plato's followers succeeded in extinguishing the light of science and experiment that had been kindled by Democritus and the other Ionians."[86]
I am just too ignorant of many things to call anyone broken.
Thanks for your view on Atheist and Theist
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
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