Oct 12 2008
Weekend Philosophy: Ayn Rand on God
Author and rational atheist Ayn Rand discusses her atheism with Phil Donahue and Tom Snyder. She proclaims that faith has nothing to do with rational thought and thus keeps man from a rational understanding of reality.
Credit to YouTube user thruthem for this video. Click on the video to see more videos.
Debate point: Just a thought, I am a theist in the tradition of Joseph Campbell with some Alan Watts theology mixed in. My concept of God is not at all outside rational thought. God to me, can be a thought, idea, or the cause of consciousness itself. None of my God-believing friends believe in anything like a bearded man who lives in outerspace.
Furthermore, there are many phenomena for which scientific knowledge of the time did not provide what was thought to be credible evidence for they’re until they were discovered e.g, electromagnetism, dark matter, regeneration of brain tissue, etc. (Even if they did have evidence, it was at least a step-by-step process). That is to say, just because one’s senses are not aware of something, doesn’t mean it’s not there… but it also, doesn’t mean it is either. Am I a crazy to think this way?
From YouTube:
http://www.aynrand.org
Ayn Rand Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand
Ayn Rand, two years before she died:
‘What I’ve always thought was a sentence from some Greek philosopher — I don’t, unfortunately, remember who it was — that I read at 16, and it’s affected me all my life: “I will not die. It’s the world that will end.” And that’s absolutely true.’
Let’s have a debate. No fighting dirty. ;D
Stumble It!
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to play if I can’t fight dirty…
I’ll try, but in order to completely lay out my points, I’m going to have to write an entire post on the subject.
Bah you’re not crazy. At least not for that lol.
oi, yeah, this could take a little time. I guess I do believe in a higher power, but I don’t pretend to know and understand it. I don’t reject a lot of people’s ideas but I do wish they would do some research on them.
Take christianity for example. Many people take the bible word for word, not taking into account the fact that those words have been translated over and over again. Such as the concept of hell. Now, hell wasn’t even mentioned at all until Emporor Constantine made christianity the roman empire’s official religion. There were a small number of religious school’s at that time (I don’t remember the names, but I believe there were 6 or 7) and most of them studied the bible under the greek translation (which had only been translated once from the original). The school that Constantine attended taught under the Roman translation, which was translated from the greek. There were a number of differences in the two books, which Constantine actually acknowledged. He said he just preferred the Roman translation.
One of those mistranslations was the greek word Agos, which meant a period of time (theoretically with a beginning and an end). This was translated into a Roman word which meant endless time. This completely changed the definition of the concept of hell. It is one of these reasons I do believe in purgatory, but not in hell.
I was raised a christian. Today though, I really view the bible as a good history book, and a good guide for how to live your life– but I don’t buy into all the christian concepts.
there’s my two cents, plus a lil more.
Interpretation is the problem with most religions -that and the fact that the bible is edited (I read the bible, my hubby read the bible out-takes). Think about an interview that’s edited to give either a polished version or a biased one, that the bible that we know today. Not to mention that old familiar cliche, “lost in translation”. Man is it just me or has Sunday had an affect on us this week?
Ha! Well, I don’t think any of you deserve Hell for this one.
Peace be with you all,
Mike
“Cogito ergo sum”… the only time you will see me quote Descartes; but it is relevant to your question: No you are not crazy, in fact, far from it! Oh, and you are also Buzzed…
~k
Nice post. No, you’re not crazy at all. Although, if you live in the deep south as I do, you may be called Satan for your opinions.