traders who are deeply religious

[stephencrowley]

I see that I have threatened the very foundation of your life. I understand why you are defensive. I'd be upset as well if I began to realize I wasted my life believing in fairy tales.

Just because you aren't in an institution doesn't mean you don't have a serious mental health problem. I don't care that the medical community doesn't call it a problem, it is one.

Believing in something without evidence is flawed thinking and should be considered a mental disorder.

Quote from steve46:

You really don't listen well stephen and that means your ability to think and criticize is compromised.

You said "deeply religious people have serious mental health problems"...

When you make a blanket statement like that, it becomes easy to refute, because the first person you meet who is devoutly religious and isn't in an institution proves you wrong.

If you decide to have an intelligent conversation, try to offer statements that can be debated. If for instance you want to know whether there is a predisposition to mental health problems from folks who are devoutly religious, try to find some statistics that corroborate your theory. I can name any number of people who can prove you wrong. Try Billy Graham for instance. No mental illness in his family history. His son is a relatively well adjusted person. He engages in good works in his community and around the country. Boom, your wrong. Try to offer something with a little more substance next time. This is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Steve

 

[TWMPMM]

Quote from stephencrowley:

I see that I have threatened the very foundation of your life. I understand why you are defensive. I'd be upset as well if I began to realize I wasted my life believing in fairy tales.

Just because you aren't in an institution doesn't mean you don't have a serious mental health problem. I don't care that the medical community doesn't call it a problem, it is one.

Believing in something without evidence is flawed thinking and should be considered a mental disorder.

Perhaps voicing opinions without having any facts whatsoever to back them up should also be considered a mental disorder.

I know many deeply religious people. Some of them are the most well-balanced people you could possibly imagine.

 

[steve46]

Well I am not religious. Havent been to church in decades. Couldnt really care less. My comment stands, you dont listen and you dont think well.

Foundation? Give me a fucking break

Again, Billy Graham is a person known to the public who does good works in his community, and he is a sane, competent individual who is in my opinion, and in the opinion I am sure of many mental health profesionals, not disturbed...Are you getting the message. You may want to squirm around and try to weasel out of it, but basically you are caught dead in the water by your own lack of ability to think clearly.

I am starting to think YOU may have a mental problem.

The logic is simple. If Billy Graham is a sane, competent, individual who functions in this world without any trace of mental deficiency THEN your argument is wrong. Really simple.

Sorry

Try again with someone of lower IQ

Steve

By the way, I love the part where you get to decide who is mentally healthy. Who the fuck elected you to that office?

 

[stephencrowley]

No, perhaps you should engage your brain before you type. I am in fact voicing an opinion, and thus opinions do not need logic or else they would be facts and not opinions.

Stating something like 'god exists' or 'jesus really rose from the dead' is a statement that requires proof and is not an opinion.

Quote from TWMPMM:

Perhaps voicing opinions without having any facts whatsoever to back them up should also be considered a mental disorder.

 

[stephencrowley]

That's nice and all. I'm sure we can all find a few 'good' religious people and say that is proof that religion is good. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Fact is that religion has cost humanity greatly in terms of lives (iraq,crusades, etc), lost productivity (going to church and giving money to some preacher so they can continue scaring people into giving them more money), holding back progress (see the illogical opposition to stem cell research).

Quote from TWMPMM:

Perhaps voicing opinions without having any facts whatsoever to back them up should also be considered a mental disorder.

I know many deeply religious people. Some of them are the most well-balanced people you could possibly imagine.

 

[steve46]

Opinions are valuable if they have the added support of some logic or factual data. You dont.

Again you failed to properly argue your point. Instead of having the guts to admit it, you resist what is simple observation of fact.

By all means, please find someone to state that Billy Graham suffers from a mental illness. I will wait here for you to do that.

Surely you can find one or more mental health professionals who will state that to support your argument.

Waiting.....

 

[glassinc]

Quote from stephencrowley:


Believing in something without evidence is flawed thinking and should be considered a mental disorder. [/B]

Hello Stephen,

Would you please offer what verifiable proof you have that there is no evidence to support ones belief based upon scriptural accounts in earths history?

TIA!

May your day have gone Well!


Kelly

 

[stephencrowley]

Billy Graham is rich. He has gotten rich by being a good public speaker and using hypnotic methods to convey his message (of giving money to him so he can help people). The world was getting along just fine before him.

This guy is a lunatic and claims that God was punishing New Orleans. Like, oh really, this guy has a direct phone line to god? Nice.

This is the same type of hate monger who says that gay people are going to hell and women should be subservient. Right up there with Pat and Jerry.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9600878/

Quote from steve46:

Opinions are valuable if they have the added support of some logic or factual data. You dont.

Again you failed to properly argue your point. Instead of having the guts to admit it, you resist what is simple observation of fact.

By all means, please find someone to state that Billy Graham suffers from a mental illness. I will wait here for you to do that.

Surely you can find one or more mental health professionals who will state that to support your argument.

Waiting.....

 

[steve46]

See the real problem here is that you are intellectually lazy. You screwed up and got caught because you did it in front of someone who actually THINKS about the subject in front of them.

Frankly I could give a shit about religion, and I think you are probably right about the rest. BUT you didnt prove your point, and you didnt think clearly about your argument. That is why you find your self on the wrong end of this argument.

Get it right. The problem with religion doesnt have anything to do with mental illness. It is more about lack of empathy, lack of understanding and our unwillingness to extend ourselves beyond our own traditions. I hope you arent going to defend any criminals in court this year. I would have to ask for the public defender....

Steve

 

[stephencrowley]

Proving a negative can be almost impossible because you have to check and verify an infinite number of answers simultaneously.

Hey, god is a pink elephant and he is in your backyard right now.. oh, not there anymore? well he was, he just moved before you could see him. Now try to prove me wrong. The entire thing is absurd.

If you don't base your thoughts on solid reasonable thinking then you can believe in such nonsense and then tell everyone that you are right unless they can prove you wrong. Sorry, but things don't work that way.

The rules of logic and science indicate that there must be some kind of basis (either in substance or in thought) for an assertion or else it must be denied. An assertion, without evidence, is not accepted as true. That is the default position, the position that defines what critical thought is. Critical thought means not believing things you are told unless there is evidence to back it up. And without critical thought, logic and science are abandoned, and this is the only kind of productive thought humanity has ever come up with. To reject critical thought is to turn one’s back on thinking and embrace the dark ages. That’s the answer to this statement in theory.

Quote from glassinc:

Hello Stephen,

Would you please offer what verifiable proof you have that there is no evidence to support ones belief based upon scriptural accounts in earths history?

TIA!

May your day have gone Well!


Kelly