Calling a halt to the stupendous storm of stupid
It all started when I posted a little quote from Wittgenstein, which was not an argument for the existence of God at all, but actually an observation that these arguments really are irrelevant.
Prateek jumped in and said, "These apologetic arguments for monotheism never make sense because they were developed after the fact, and really monotheism was just the result of a tribal dispute." (I summarize! And note that, to his credit, Prateek has now admitted he was thread-jacking, and that neither my post nor the quote in it made any "argument" for God at all.)
I pointed out that there was no argument here, but decided (to my deep regret) I'd also make what I thought to be the rather indisputable point that you can't defeat an argument by noting that it's genealogy is tainted with some black sheep ancestors! And furthermore, bad deeds done to spread an idea do not make it false.
But apparently the fact that a theist can make sense so enrages some atheists that they lose the ability to think, and they began to "point out" things to me like, "Well, did you know that monotheism spread among South American Indians largely through conquest, and not through philosophical arguments?"
Jeez, what a surprise that was to me! I thought that what had mostly happened was Jesuits presented the ontological argument to some Amazonian tribesmen, and, voila! they converted.
Besides that utter stupidity involved in acting like they thought I wasn't aware of these elementary facts of history, the atheists also ignored the fact that this history has no bearing whatsoever on the validity of any theistic arguments. Because, for instance, you know what else spread through South America mainly by conquest? The Pythagorean theorem! The heliocentric model of the solar system! Newtonian physics!
What this clown car of commenters have been arguing is like saying, "Ha! Who could pay any attention to proofs of the Pythagorean theorem! Don't those idiots realize knowledge of it spread around the globe mainly through conquest?!" (Another confusion: the crazy crew are also unable to distinguish the origins of an idea with the factors that spread that idea: one of them actually declared that what I said about the origins of monotheism was my "theory" about its spread! It's like thinking that because knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem has largely spread by conquest that it must have been devised as the result of a conquest, or maybe as a tool of conquest!)
Now, I am with Wittgenstein here: theistic arguments are really beside the point. But, you certainly cannot dismiss them based on "Monotheism spread by conquest!" or any other such rubbish. You atheists are sounding like the CS guy I read bemoaning computer science because what we have got is "white, male computer science." And that really ought to make you embarrassed. So let's just stop things before you do more self-harm!
Prateek jumped in and said, "These apologetic arguments for monotheism never make sense because they were developed after the fact, and really monotheism was just the result of a tribal dispute." (I summarize! And note that, to his credit, Prateek has now admitted he was thread-jacking, and that neither my post nor the quote in it made any "argument" for God at all.)
I pointed out that there was no argument here, but decided (to my deep regret) I'd also make what I thought to be the rather indisputable point that you can't defeat an argument by noting that it's genealogy is tainted with some black sheep ancestors! And furthermore, bad deeds done to spread an idea do not make it false.
But apparently the fact that a theist can make sense so enrages some atheists that they lose the ability to think, and they began to "point out" things to me like, "Well, did you know that monotheism spread among South American Indians largely through conquest, and not through philosophical arguments?"
Jeez, what a surprise that was to me! I thought that what had mostly happened was Jesuits presented the ontological argument to some Amazonian tribesmen, and, voila! they converted.
Besides that utter stupidity involved in acting like they thought I wasn't aware of these elementary facts of history, the atheists also ignored the fact that this history has no bearing whatsoever on the validity of any theistic arguments. Because, for instance, you know what else spread through South America mainly by conquest? The Pythagorean theorem! The heliocentric model of the solar system! Newtonian physics!
What this clown car of commenters have been arguing is like saying, "Ha! Who could pay any attention to proofs of the Pythagorean theorem! Don't those idiots realize knowledge of it spread around the globe mainly through conquest?!" (Another confusion: the crazy crew are also unable to distinguish the origins of an idea with the factors that spread that idea: one of them actually declared that what I said about the origins of monotheism was my "theory" about its spread! It's like thinking that because knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem has largely spread by conquest that it must have been devised as the result of a conquest, or maybe as a tool of conquest!)
Now, I am with Wittgenstein here: theistic arguments are really beside the point. But, you certainly cannot dismiss them based on "Monotheism spread by conquest!" or any other such rubbish. You atheists are sounding like the CS guy I read bemoaning computer science because what we have got is "white, male computer science." And that really ought to make you embarrassed. So let's just stop things before you do more self-harm!
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