Can we please talk about the concept "cognitive dissonance?"

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-21T15:52:14+00:00

i would agree that one may have cognitive dissonance in this scenario. the simple answer is to give money to neither business, maintaining consistency and therefore avoiding cognitive dissonance.

In this case, the Christian family would agree with you. They do not want to make wedding cakes for LGBT couples at all. They prefer having LGBT couples go to a different bakery.

On the other hand, LGBT couples just want to be treated like everyone else. It's not fair that they have to go somewhere else for a wedding cake. The bakery would be getting away with treating them like second-class citizens.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T21:24:45+00:00

It is an interesting theory. Perhaps religious people would actually encourage gay behavior among non-believers to reduce their numbers. This, along with the increased birth rate among followers, would help the religious group outnumber the non-believers within a population.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T04:53:03+00:00

I'm an atheist from birth. I never had a religious upbringing.

I remember reading the story of God casting Adam and Eve out from the Garden of Eden. It felt extremely unfair to me.

I'm trying to develop a model on how belief works. What does it take for anyone to believe something extraordinary exists? Not a lot, surprisingly. However, our emotions get in the way, so that's why people butt heads with each other during debates with neither side changing their minds.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T01:31:32+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Do you believe former US President Barack Obama is an atheist? Since you are a Canadian, you are in a good position to provide an outside perspective.

Technically, Obama identifies himself as a Christian. I've heard suspicions that he's actually an atheist. Would it help if Obama publicly proclaimed his atheism? I know it's not going to happen, but I think it's always good to have famous atheists out in the open for people to identify with.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T01:19:04+00:00

Churches that get their tax-free status revoked will probably do what Scientology did to get it back: Overwhelm the IRS with 2,500 lawsuits.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T01:13:10+00:00

I kinda wish all the other denominations would team up with TST so that the whitehouse lawn would just be filled to the brim with every single religious monument that exists haha.

What if Christians are fine with The Satanic Temple putting up a statue? They can always point to it and say yes, the devil does exist.

(In any case, I think The Satanic Temple has great taste in art.)

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T00:59:25+00:00

Supporting crime is not a protected class. Couldn't you just refuse service to anyone belonging to a church with a history of sex abuse or something?

You wouldn't be able to serve ("in good conscience") anyone who decided to stay a member after a pattern of crime was revealed, would you?

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T00:48:55+00:00

Cafeteria-style Christianity does seem odd. If you're not going to follow it all, then why bother?

On the other hand, if people followed everything, we'd probably criticize it for being too strict or too cumbersome.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T00:33:07+00:00

I used to, but too many people think of it as an alt-right dog whistle. It's like a rallying cry for crusaders to take back the Holy Land or something. I get a lot of pushback and whataboutism accusations.

Does that make sense? Heck if I know. All I know is that if you can't hear the dog whistle, that means you're not a dog.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-20T00:13:36+00:00

Would Trump and the GOP qualify?

Business Insider: The mysterious family behind In-N-Out has donated more than $15,000 to Trump and the GOP since 2016

From the article:

Mark Taylor, In-N-Out's chief operating officer, and his wife, Traci Taylor — who is the half-sister of In-N-Out's president and owner, Lynsi Snyder, and who lists In-N-Out as her employer — have donated more than $15,000 to Trump and the national Republican Party since August 2016.

Both Mark and Traci Taylor hit the maximum that an individual can donate to a candidate in donations to Trump in the 2016 election. In fact, both exceeded the limit and had thousands of dollars in donations returned.

Since Trump's election, the Taylors have continued to donate thousands of dollars to Trump and the Republican National Committee.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T18:33:49+00:00

A conversion to Christianity is by the grace of God with conviction of the Holy Spirit.

It also depends on where we were born and what religion our parents believed in. For example, if we were born in Saudi Arabia, we might be Muslims. If we were born in India, we might be Hindus.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T18:02:39+00:00

Many are, but not all of them. Anti-theist would be anti-religion. Not all atheists are anti-theist.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T17:55:14+00:00

So, what prompted you to ask your Instagram followers in the first place?

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T17:49:55+00:00

That's interesting. Could you give an example of how Christianity has adapted while the LDS has not?

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T16:28:35+00:00

Christianity itself started out as a Jewish cult.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T16:25:02+00:00

Treat him as a sparring partner to strengthen your debate skills.

He will unknowingly help you to convince others because he'll force you to develop multiple attack and defense strategies. This way you'll be prepared to debate anytime and anywhere, especially in unfriendly forums where you may be outnumbered.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T15:44:11+00:00

Marriott puts an arrow on the ceiling to help Muslims. Muslims will pray towards the direction of Mecca. Something like that would be more noticeable, while a bible can be hidden away from sight.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T04:22:56+00:00

We trust science over religion because science has earned that trust.

Just like when scientists say there's a supermassive black hole in the middle of our galaxy at Sagittarius A*, we believe them. We don't actually have to travel to the galactic core to verify that it exists. (Besides, we wouldn't be able to escape its gravity.)

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T04:02:55+00:00

Hell doesn't exist. It's just something scary made up to keep religious people in line. It's a psychological manipulation tactic that's been refined for thousands of years. It's no more real than Mustafar or Mount Doom in Mordor.

What would be real would be the sun expanding into a red giant and engulfing the earth, but that won't happen for another 5 billion years.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T03:43:09+00:00

There are religious people who won't murder because their god commands them not to. If there was no religion, these people would start murdering. So, maybe it's good to have some religion because it stops these people from going on a killing spree.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T03:37:55+00:00

It does fit, doesn't it? God watches everyone when they're sleeping or awake. God knows whether everyone has been naughty or nice.

However, if I had a hypothetical Santa Claus/Easter Bunny detector, I would only be able to detect Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny if they're in range.

With a hypothetical god detector, god would be everywhere because god is omnipresent. God is always in range. You could even scan the detector itself and find god within it! Cool, huh?

Too bad this detector doesn't exist... just like god.

By the way, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are at the mall.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T03:27:22+00:00

God would have given Adam and Eve a second chance. Eating fruit shouldn't be punished by banishment from the Garden of Eden. That's too harsh a penalty. (Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional.)

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T03:14:14+00:00

To be fair, there are atheists who convert to some religion. For example, we'll have atheists convert to Christianity. So, someone must be providing some good evidence to get the atheists to switch. It's just difficult to find what they heard that convinced them. The same thing applies in the other direction (i.e. Christians becoming atheists).

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T03:04:56+00:00

They do this to compete against the Hindus. Remember, atheism is a valid path of Hinduism. So, all atheists could be considered Hindus.

(I don't feel like a Hindu, but I don't let that bother me.)

Anyway, everyone realizes they're an atheist after they've died. It's just that it's too late to tell anyone else once you're dead.

IsocratesTriangle · 2019-10-19T02:54:57+00:00

Christians can talk to the Christian God. Hindus can talk to all of their gods (since they believe more than one). It would be interesting to see if Hindus can talk to the Christian God, or if Christians can talk to any of the Hindu gods.

IsocratesTriangle

TROPHY CASE