Alejandro's comments (member since Jan 06, 2008)

Alejandro's comments from the Banned Books group.

Im not certain of books in the US but some of my favorite were banned in other parts of the world. They were mostly banned cause of thought stirring or provoking content. I personally suggest The scarlet letter and A clockwork orange.

Trevor I'm with you all the way. The supermarket comment is exactly what we need and makes this subject light and part of our lives. No need to apoligise to me at least sir. I totally understood your humor the first time. Looking into the abyss and we laugh at the theatre of our lives, 'as in a divine comedy'. I've heard the word inperfection a few times as to suggest flaw in design. The tone in some of the comments also imply their spirituality is more truthful than others who claim to be spiritual. Same as the religious from various sects and branches, negating the christianity of others because their christianiaty is the right one. At the risk of being pinned an agressive comentator, I also find arrogance in 'some' religious folks who claim the ability of blessing me. Therefore implying that we atheists know nothing for there is a mystery we aren't capable to tap into, wich they happen to do so with ease.
Trevor I've attended my cousins' confirmations and even baptisms and heard that similar comments from the mouths of asexual men in robes, god being in between a couple's sheets. Understanding the mountain of probability is a way to better understand evolution and see where we have climbed up to this point, is the best we as organism have adapted to climate and food supplies from around the globe. The same way the eye of a frog in the Brazilian jungle has adapted to the amphibian lifestyle it has led through milenia, that still strikes me with awe.
I strongly believe that atheists are their own moral gaige. I do right and don't kill for my survival nor steal nor rape because I'm afraid of some eternal punishment, I don't do these things because I and only I am responsible for my actions to other humans.

Sorry Jessica I should have aimed my responce but I hear that all the time.

Why is it labeled "imagined dragons"? When a Judean who was a decendant of the first king of the Hebrew tribe of David was seen to walk on the Jordan river and turn water into wine at a wedding, he surely must have been the son of god.
The belief in dragons eminated from the unearthing of fossils but we can't even begin to guess if they believed in dinosaurs before then. We have to place our imagination in the miystical realm that existed in ancient times from a hunter and farming rural societies.
The medicine men, shaman and priests guided people through rituals dances and visions. There was a thin line between the mortal world and the realm of the spirit world. It's not fair to see the ancient world with western eyes.

They were not mad, they incorporated them into their culture. Explanations of natural phenomenon were simply assimilated. This excerpt in Wikipedia was discussed by scholars about the origin of legendary icons. "Coiled dragon" forms have been attributed to the Hongshan culture.[4] Why the Hongshan peoples "coiled" their dragon motifs while other cultures did not? Possibly the sleeping dinosaur fossil may offer a suggestion, because it was discovered within the same province, Liaoning. Perhaps Hongshan peoples found additional "sleeping dinosaur" fossils.

Folks when we woke up one morning streched our dormid and cold bones, set out that day to hunt a fresh antilope or byson, we came back to the cave and our grateful child look into our eyes. Asked us how and who, we answered what seemed obvious, the sun has provided me with the strength to hunt, the wisdom to find water and it makes the trees bare fruit. That I think was the birth of religion.

Trevor, Lisa is it safe to say that the religious and or trascendetal expirience is an evolutionary behaviour not a gene to bond communities together. In order to mantain surviving needs such as food supplies and maintenace of the strongest in the species? If so would this be another clue into why philosophies and mythologies were created as a by-product from reason and written language. When I was a lad, and came across Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, it triggered the idea inside me that we were historically to arrogant to admit we were just a droplet in the ocean of the cosmos and intuition, the voice in our head, inspiration, the holy spirit, a muse, enlightment after meditation, eminated from inside, outside and above. For starters when I read the virgin birth was a recurring theme in all kinds of religious thought then I knew we were simply no more than Plankton. Thanks Trevor again for your vast and accurate explanation.

The alltime favorite Dawkins book was the blind Watchmaker. It has made me look at evolution in a new way. Plus his intention is to provoke discussion, conversation and thought. I recommend the website: Richard Dawkins.net

Fundamentalism is a term with differing meanings and definitions.

The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined to describe a narrowly defined set of beliefs that developed into a movement within the US Protestant community in the early part of the 20th century. These religious principles stood in opposition to the modernist movement and espoused the strict adherence to and faith in religious "fundamentals".

The term "fundamentalist" has since been generalized to mean strong adherence to any set of beliefs in the face of criticism or unpopularity, but has by and large retained religious connotations (especially since the Iranian revolution, when Islamic fundamentalism became a term used to explain the political Islamic movement based on fundamental Islamic beliefs).[citation needed] The collective use of the term fundamentalist to describe non-Christian movements has offended some Christians who desire to retain the original definition. "Fundamentalist" has also been used pejoratively against those who hold an intransigent set of beliefs. The term has been used to characterize religious advocates as clinging to a stubborn, entrenched position that defies reasoned argument or contradictory evidence

Lisa, I think the book and i don't mean to imply that because evil is woven into our gentic fabric does not mean it isn't inevitable. Like I was born miopic and enhance my vision with contact lenses and I am epileptic and medicate with Tegretol to mantain the seizures at bay. I may even kill an individual if he is threatening to kill my loved ones, I have never contemplated murder and would so in an extreme circumstance. I suggest to take a glance at it.
Thanks for that example Nated.

Sorry Nated I'm a little limited in knowledge on how to lynk it but I searched it with Google under religious expirience in the brain. Discussions are the best when emotion is subtly plucked out. It reminds me why I've engaged in a couple of thousand at coffee shops in Portland and Tallahassee my last home. A university croud is traditionally more eager for debate and subjects expand over a couple of weeks when books and articles need to be double checked. Thanks again Nated I agree with you, I also just picked up this awesome 16 dollar book at Powells city of books ( a four floor, city block behemoth of a bookstore) called The Lucifer Principle wich states a controversial argument about how evil is woven into our genetic fabric. As his coleague states in the foreword, it's meant to trigger thought. Thank you Lisa for your well rounded view.

I found this article on the Washington Post from 2001 where Shankar Vedantam observes beyond the gut feelings and maybe shed a new light on the religious expirience and or spirituality. It is inconclusive as in all discussions, and ongoing such as research. Atheists aren't a group with an agenda, I for example can live with the absence of a force or set of beliefs or a warm "spiritual sensation" wich is a mystery.
What creates that transcendental feeling of being one with the universe? It could be the decreased activity in the brain's parietal lobe, which helps regulate the sense of self and physical orientation, research suggests. How does religion prompt divine feelings of love and compassion? Possibly because of changes in the frontal lobe, caused by heightened concentration during meditation. Why do many people have a profound sense that religion has changed their lives? Perhaps because spiritual practices activate the temporal lobe, which weights experiences with personal significance. "The brain is set up in such a way as to have spiritual experiences and religious experiences," said Andrew Newberg, a Philadelphia scientist who wrote the book "Why God Won't Go Away." "Unless there is a fundamental change in the brain, religion and spirituality will be here for a very long time. The brain is predisposed to having those experiences and that is why so many people believe in God."

The research may represent the bravest frontier of brain research. But depending on your religious beliefs, it may also be the last straw. For while Newberg and other scientists say they are trying to bridge the gap between science and religion, many believers are offended by the notion that God is a creation of the human brain, rather than the other way around.
Dawkins book illustrates an opinion on how most religious folks debate the existence of beautiful creatures in the depths of the ocean proves there is a god. When any of us try to discuss an alternative and maybe begin to debate through biological explanation, the religious journalist or leader just quotes another text in the the same reference book they began with. No other reference but the same book. Thanks again Trevor and Nated for your comments. Very insightful.

Thank you Nated

Thank you Trevor.

Indeed, my point was to illustrate my personal world view and expirience. Certainly communism has been a blatant example and exception for human atrocities. Interesting point about finding a book with peace as an alternative, hmmm. I hate to sound pessimistic, the fact that we are questioning if it exists proves that peace may be in a minority of thinkers and publishers minds. Worse even due to present world conditions peace may not be profitable and seeing the sales results in video game sales, to war or to kill is in our nature, as much as the quest for noble peace. I am familiar with Joseph Campbell though and it changed my life at eighteen long ago. The Masks of God and The Hero's Journey embarked me on this voyage.

I, like many atheists, aren't in the businees of hatred. Those who blindly critisize Dawkins a biologist, see the world with rose colored specs and blinders. It's fine if you just want to raise kids and be a passive screw in the giant production oil machine with the two car garage and the yard and PTA meetings with perfect attendance to your local Presbyterian, catholic, methodist, evangelical, jewish, muslim, church, temple, sinagogue, or meeting house. Religious folk reduce their apathetic non-involvement with casual banter, passive agressive opinions and name calling in order to defend their christ, odin, zeus, spirit, jehovah and or promised king. If they are not phisically rounding up non-believers to burn at the stake, they are voting for those who will take god's right hand and crush his enemies in order to bring in Armageddon as promised. Dangerous oh yes that's what I see as dangerous. Those who read Dawkins will understand, otherwise you are just shooting with a personal opinion.