tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7458031571764013912.post1994734604795233521..comments2024-03-27T03:22:46.572-07:00Comments on The Cat's Meat Shop: Rational EnjoymentLee Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09812128348822569086noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7458031571764013912.post-59307196464340563732010-09-20T00:12:10.822-07:002010-09-20T00:12:10.822-07:00The Christian tradition, however, is a crucial par...The Christian tradition, however, is a crucial part of our history and, my guess would be, in terms of scholarship, and our own moral sense as 21st century atheists, that we owe it a good deal, however much we dislike its excesses and (ab)uses. The Victorians - or, at least, the middle-classes who thought about these things a good deal - were more conscious of this, I suspect.Lee Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09812128348822569086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7458031571764013912.post-58807132480613795352010-09-19T23:02:31.598-07:002010-09-19T23:02:31.598-07:00"Certainty of belief in delusion and irration..."Certainty of belief in delusion and irrationality" By this you mean religion?<br /><br />I am by no means religious, and can see only madness in these stories of Jehovah's Witnesses who will allow their children to die following an accident rather take blood, but religion is to people what people wish it to be.<br /><br />Many people have been comforted by it, even now in this age of science and technology people will turn to their religions.<br /><br />However, I believe religion is - and has always been - a way of making a vast number of people behave in a way you wish them to through fear.<br />i.e, if you do THIS you will go to Hell, and this is what Hell is, so don't do THIS, but if you behave yourself, you'll go to Heaven, and this is what Heaven is.<br /><br />Religion is no different from government in a sense, both control mass numbers of people through fear of punishment, but I don't see how, on the whole, religion does more harm than good, I think there is a fair balance. As I said, many people will turn to religion in their hour of need, and the faith they have will serve them well. Placebo or no, if something works, it works.<br /><br />Homeopathy for example!The Amateur Casualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15553683833137054780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7458031571764013912.post-13122849796233411882010-09-19T06:30:47.917-07:002010-09-19T06:30:47.917-07:00The religious placebo has in its time been offered...The religious placebo has in its time been offered as a cure for every ill known to man and woman. As with all such, some people are convinced as to its efficacy as we see from the rapturous attendance at get-up-and-walk "healing" sessions even today.<br /><br />Unlike you, I do not admire certainty of belief in delusion and irrationality because this does far more harm than good as we see from those sad cases in the US where parents, relying on faith healing, have allowed their sick children to die.<br /><br />While the Victorian era sometimes seems complacently pious to us, I think we can also see in it healthy signs of increasing doubt and scepticism. In this, as in much else, the pioneers of the Victorian age helped prepare our modern world.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the battle against superstition and delusion has yet to be completely won.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com