tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post5206464677251307550..comments2024-01-24T10:39:27.668-05:00Comments on Coming Untrue: Agnosticism and FollyDr. S. L. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06303707167715370504noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-36493216884192066012014-09-08T13:43:40.132-04:002014-09-08T13:43:40.132-04:00Here are potential Friday Too Hot to Handle topics...Here are potential Friday Too Hot to Handle topics.<br /><br />Interesting, just came across this ABC News Headline from October last year. It describes<br />how computer scientists were able to take Goedel's (the Austrian mathematician's) ontological proof that God exists and make the proof nearly instantaneous on a Mac computer. <br /><br />Computer Scientists 'Prove' God Exists<br /><br />http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/computer-scientists-prove-god-exists/story?id=20678984<br /><br />This is dealt with in detail also in Wikipedia.<br /><br />http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel's_ontological_proof<br /><br /><br />Further, this can then be combined with studies showing the very significant social and personal benefits obtained through church attendance. This has been one of my contentions and somewhat simplistic indirect proof of God's existence, namely, through the concreteness of spiritual as well as material benefits in this material universe for his followers.<br /><br />From the Heritage Foundation:<br /><br />Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability<br /><br />http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/12/why-religion-matters-even-more-the-impact-of-religious-practice-on-social-stability<br /><br /><br />From the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research:<br /><br />The Role of African-American Churches in Reducing Crime Among Black Youth<br /><br />http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/crrucs2001_2.htm<br /><br /><br />Also,<br /><br />How religion cuts crime: Church-goers are less likely to shoplift, take drugs and download music illegally - See more at: <br /><br />http://www.coloradonewsday.com/national/37472-how-religion-cuts-crime-church-goers-are-less-likely-to-shoplift-take-drugs-and-download-music-illegally.html<br /><br /><br />Give me that Old Time Religion…to reduce crime<br /><br />http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=837<br /><br /><br />The life benefits of regular church attendance<br /><br />http://www.sundaysoftware.com/stats.htmQmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-47516711636594929492014-09-06T18:59:35.130-04:002014-09-06T18:59:35.130-04:00"They may retain all kinds of information and..."They may retain all kinds of information and use it to get ahead in the world. But what they fail to do is draw any moral conclusions or modify their behavior in any useful way beyond that which seems comfortable or natural to them on the basis of personal preference or upbringing. They have never questioned or reset their own defaults."<br /><br />You have hit the nail on the head here. As you say, people reset their defaults all the time depending on the nature of the problem but not consistently in the moral sphere. In the moral sphere I have personally known some people to reset their lifes when they observe the damage done in their extended families by, e.g., drinking, smoking, lying, divorce. Children, who observe such behavior in their elders may become determined not to adopt it in their own lifes to prevent the damage it can cause. So, reset, as you say, depends on how your comfort level is affected but also on whether one has developed an internal sense of morality, of right and wrong. The question is if course - why doesn't everybody reset where it is most important, namely in the moral sphere? Simple, as you say, because of comfort. It would be inconvenient, impose additional and unwanted obligations (church attendance, the discipline of prayer, dropping or fighting poor personal habits, traits, and inclinations, having to believe in the possibility of invisible alternate realities (which may rank very low on your probability scale of what is reasonable) etc..<br /><br />A lot of this is simply behavioral and there is such a vast statistical distribution of different backgrounds and behaviors that one seemingly cannot squeeze them into the same psychological space. However, I fully agree that there is an exception to that in the moral sphere where we obviously must all fit into the same benign small space, or all bets are off for our eternal wellbeing. There is no democracy in heaven, which is probably another reason why the agnostic is not interested in the place.Qmannoreply@blogger.com