Steve on 702

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Teleological (September 10, 2010, 13:50:35 PM):
Stevo, I read your book and listened to the podcast, and one prominent feature that seems to have played a role in you becoming an atheist seems to be your research and knowledge about neurology. You say that after you have learned a bit about it you stopped believing in the soul and the after life.

Now, I am interested in your reasoning why your understanding of neurology or even neurology in general is incompatible with believing in a soul. More specifically, what is/was your conception of the soul? Is it anything like the Cartesian dualistic view that the soul is a complete substance on its own or perhaps a more peripatetic view that the human soul is an incomplete, albeit subsistent substance?
benguela (September 10, 2010, 18:03:48 PM):
Nice one Steve, just listened to it.

One suggestion for next time is to challenge the presenters' position, and some of the callers, of believing in God because it makes him feel comfortable.
He actually did point out that it does not make it true.

No, what I wanted pointed out is the presenter is implying "what harm can it do if it makes me feel good, it's a personal thing". These people have not thought it through that our actions are contingent on our beliefs. A bad consequence of a decision based on a belief that is false is worse than one based on a truth.

For example I have a work colleague who continues to take homeopathic medicine even though she claims to understand that it's bogus, why, because "it makes her feel better, what harm can it do".

Sentinel (September 12, 2010, 10:00:07 AM):
"Where's your proof!"

Haha.... These people don't read their own Bible!
Julian (September 12, 2010, 11:25:47 AM):

... the presenter is implying "what harm can it do if it makes me feel good, it's a personal thing".

Their might be some merit to this statement if people with comforting religious or generally irrational beliefs kept them to themselves or only shared them with like minded people. But generally this is not true. Generally they bother the rest of us with them, or try to put them in laws, or start wars on the basis of them.

I have met a few people who keep their comforting religious beliefs private. Well actually one person who does this. Everyone else is pretty public with these silly beliefs.
Mutton (September 12, 2010, 19:28:55 PM):
I was privileged enough to catch most of the broadcast "live".

I certainly got the impression from some of Kieno's comments that the broadcast wasn't solely to argue for one set of views vs another, but was more designed to show whether tolerance existed on both sides of the fence....perhaps Steve could clarify this for us.

If tolerance was the key focus then the God-Squad came an embarrassing second! The lady caller who insisted that God "lit" the sun every morning and extinguished it last thing at night was anything but tolerant with Steve.

(Can there really be adults living on this round planet that firmly believe that when the sun is switched off over Africa that it must be off everywhere??)

Not sure I would have been as patient and "tolerant" as Steve certainly was!


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