Comments on The Pensive Quill: Bad Days and Worse

Robert, I did and enjoyed it.

2010-12-16T22:48:35.484Z

Robert, I did and enjoyed it.

Anthony, Did you catch the recent Paxman intervi...

2010-12-15T23:43:45.871Z

Anthony,

Did you catch the recent Paxman interview?

Anthony I may well be wrong though it does sound...

2010-11-08T03:46:59.108Z

Anthony

I may well be wrong though it does sound more like advanced sibling rivalry. Peter comes across (and I might be translating this incorrectly) as a conservative old stiff upper lip sort.
He sounds determined not to prove the existence of god but to disprove his brother’s stance against religion.

Tain Bo, I found the Peter Hitchens position on ...

2010-11-07T10:11:33.958Z

Tain Bo,

I found the Peter Hitchens position on conscience very unpersuasive.
Halloween Wishes

Anthony I agree with the comment regarding consci...

2010-10-24T03:05:23.670+01:00

Anthony
I agree with the comment regarding conscience. I have been reading up on the atheist stance and so far finding the position more plausible.

Tain Bo, thanks for the link. Enjoyed the articl...

2010-10-23T16:19:55.683+01:00

Tain Bo,

thanks for the link. Enjoyed the article. Think the argument on conscience from Peter is nonsense

Anthony I just read this article. Hitchenses agre...

2010-10-15T06:50:58.809+01:00

Anthony
I just read this article.

Hitchenses agree to disagree.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130526723&ft=1&f=1003

Slan

Robert, apart from the natural, biological and e...

2010-09-15T14:40:37.388+01:00

Robert,

apart from the natural, biological and existential law of pleasure. And in the context you create, no different from oral sex. Is that to be consigned to the dustbin marked 'disgusting' as well? How many 'straight' practioners of oral sex, I wonder, jump on the bandwagon to hammer gays for consensually placing it in a different orifice?

Anthony, "The disgust you have towards their...

2010-09-15T13:54:50.457+01:00

Anthony,

"The disgust you have towards their sex is a value judgement. So why do you devalue their sexual activity disgusting and value your own as not?"

Values aside,gay sex is inserting a reproductive organ into a digestive tract, which hardly seems to follow any natural or biological law.

Robert, 'That disgust (at homosexuality) wher...

2010-09-15T08:18:00.405+01:00

Robert,

'That disgust (at homosexuality) where it arises, is in the very act to which they owe
their existence.'

Not any more so than disgust at the use of a condom. The disgust you have towards their sex is a value judgement. So why do you devalue their sexual activity disgusting and value your own as not?

'You may not find what they do with their 'trouser furniture' sinful but
their existence and persistence does create problems for your
evolutionary ideas? According to Darwin, am I right in thinking that,
at some stage homosexuality will cease to exist?'

Any more than the condom will case to exist or some other method of prevention?

The question remains unanswered - why is their sex a sin and yours not?

'The Pope is so powerful because he effectively usurps God.'

To whatever extent there is truth in that would he be so powerful if he announced there was no god?

Anthony, "In that respect you have as much r...

2010-09-14T23:15:53.267+01:00

Anthony,

"In that respect you have as much right to be disgusted by them as they have to be disgusted by you for having sex with a woman"

The chance of that is becoming all too seldom!
That disgust, where it arises, is in the very act to which they owe their existence.

"What sin? Their sex is no more sinful than yours."

You may not find what they do with their 'trouser furniture' sinful but their existence and persistence does create problems for your evolutionary ideas? According to Darwin, am I right in thinking that, at some stage homosexuality will cease to exist?

"Would the pope be so powerful if he announced there was no god?"

The Pope is so powerful because he effectively usurps God.

" Then Dawkins seemed to speak of him in terms more sorrowful than angry."

The same could probaly be said of Adams in attempting to minimise the damage caused by Brendan Hughes' critique.

Robert ‘ Does the act of sodomy with another ma...

2010-09-11T10:50:25.229+01:00

Robert

‘ Does the act of sodomy with another man disgust and unsettle me - beyond articulation.’

In that respect you have as much right to be disgusted by them as they have to be disgusted by you for having sex with a woman.

I have no time for the disgust displayed by either of you.

‘Hate the sin, love the sinner. ‘

What sin? Their sex is no more sinful than yours.

‘you oppose even the possibility of there being a God, in such
circumstances any evidence can be rationalized or explained away.’

What evidence?

‘ Does the name of Jesus turn you off or bother you greatly?’

No. Not the name. I say this facetiously but I bought my daughter a puppy yesterday. Had she called it Jesus would I have declined to use the name? Not in the slightest. It is the idea behind the concept. The son of god, risen from the dead, raised people from the dead, sent down to absolve us of our sins. All bunkum to me.

‘What is it about atheists that they would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that they don't believe even exists?’

It is the power relations spawned by the concept. Would the pope be so powerful if he announced there was no god? Atheists are a bit like justice campaigners who debunk the myth of justice where it does not exist. The Israeli treatment of the Palestinians if it is described as just will be tackled by those who believe justice in that context is a myth. Atheists debunk the myth of god because of what it gives rise to. Having said that I answer the question as you asked it – presumably neither of us think there is any average atheist and we both talk in short hand.

‘For the atheist like you this is often an incremental and slippery slope into belief. ‘

Far from it. As Dawkins said to Lennox we were either created by a higher power or not. Only two answers. If it was not one it was the other. I never try to avoid slipping into belief. I no more think about becoming a believer that I do about becoming a Russian. I do expect to visit Russia someday but that will not be the slippery slope to giving up my European identity.

I was wary of accepting suggestions that Flew had lost it. I know how too easily these allegations can be flung around. Then I saw him being interviewed. I immediately felt there was a man long past his best – through no fault of his own. Then Dawkins seemed to speak of him in terms more sorrowful than angry. So I don’t really know.

Marty, he has called this one right

2010-09-09T14:13:13.818+01:00

Marty,

he has called this one right

You on those mushrooms as well Anthony or just ful...

2010-09-09T13:53:35.792+01:00

You on those mushrooms as well Anthony or just full of Hail fellow well meet!

Michaelhenry, well put

2010-09-09T13:29:57.325+01:00

Michaelhenry,

well put

Robert, yes I belive he gets much of his decency...

2010-09-09T11:13:38.238+01:00

Robert,

yes I belive he gets much of his decency from the fact that he is a Christian and shows a lot of warmth to his fellow human beings. He, like us all, is the product of evolution. And, for someone of my beliefs here is no living and personal God.

Robert, not such a great mind yourself! You tied y...

2010-09-08T22:33:26.949+01:00

Robert, not such a great mind yourself!
You tied yourself in knots with the Klu Klux Klan and the Roman Catholicism/Catholic thing and you think you can score points with other people, wise up!

Well my mate got six months for screwing a goat, a...

2010-09-08T21:17:47.462+01:00

Well my mate got six months for screwing a goat, and he got a futher six momths for acting the goat

Anthony, "Funny, as I write a member of the ...

2010-09-08T21:01:09.682+01:00

Anthony,

"Funny, as I write a member of the Orange Order has just sent me an e mail! His belief in Christianity is unshakeable but he is one of the best guys we could ever meet"

Perhaps it is his unshakeable Christianity that makes him one of the best guys we could ever meet? Not the produce of evolution but the manifestation of a living and personal God.

MichaelHenry & Fionnuala, Great minds think ...

2010-09-08T18:58:19.483+01:00

MichaelHenry & Fionnuala,

Great minds think alike!

michaelhenry, could not agree more!

2010-09-08T18:23:25.849+01:00

michaelhenry, could not agree more!

some religions say consented sex between two adual...

2010-09-08T18:09:42.084+01:00

some religions say consented sex
between two adualts is wrong
me i think its a sin to go against
what any couple want, if its a man
and women, man and man, women and
women as long as they are happy,
anybody hear any faith leader say that there clergy would go to hell
when they were found out doing sex crimes,
for some in faith it is not the word of god they preach but fear
this is not gods word its human talk.

the hague convention was a happy married life with...

2010-09-08T17:50:07.619+01:00

the hague convention was a happy married life with his wife
now its his apparent converging over a toy boy, who knows who cares
if you got your hands on the negatives of that scene marty would you sell them,
share a sleep-over with a tory not a happy bed time story.

Well ya,ll not get me playing the tail end gunner,...

2010-09-08T11:36:59.300+01:00

Well ya,ll not get me playing the tail end gunner,how perverse is that, why cant those people be satisfied with sheep shaggin like normal people, aint that right Mickeyboy!!

Anthony, "The true believer who truly believ...

2010-09-07T23:43:16.157+01:00

Anthony,

"The true believer who truly believes gays are an abomination"

I know a few homosexuals. Their lifestyle is a personal matter. Do they disgust me - no. Does the act of sodomy with another man disgust and unsettle me - beyond articulation. Do I wish harm upon them for that - no. Best sum up, Hate the sin ,love the sinner.