Ignorant fundies

Direct quotes from fundamentalist forums, read by actors:



While entertaining (or depending on your mood, galling) I think it's important not to be too smug when faced with this level of ignorance.

It's indisputable that fundamentalist religious beliefs make many people dumber, but so do many other things that aren't so bad in moderation.

Everyone remembers Marx's "opiate of the masses" metaphor, but are opiates necessarily harmful? I hardly think so.

If I were to go interview the lamest potheads I could find and collected dumb quotes like those in the above video, would this demonstrate anything about its use by more responsible people? I think not.

Here's a Frank Herbert quote from Chapterhouse: Dune

"Religion (emulation of adults by the child) encysts past mythologies: guesses, hidden assumptions of trust in the universe, pronouncements made in search of personal power, all mingled with shreds of enlightenment. And always an unspoken commandment: Thou shalt not question! We break that commandment daily in the harnessing of human imagination to our deepest creativity."

Indeed most of us do. And those who to some degree are unable or unwilling to break from the mold of their religion by questioning, imagining, and being creative outside of it (i.e. not just "creatively praising Yahweh") have lost something I hold dear.

On the other hand, if we spent all our time being imaginative, creative, and questioning, how would we get anything productive done?

There is a balance to be sought between skepticism and pragmatism, unless you're comfortable being a nihilist or a fundamentalist.

So whatever your religion or lack of it, just don't let it regiment the rest of your thinking. And for goodness' sake stop trying to tell me the world is 6,000 years old.