tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1187572289151836731.post6584152008067191446..comments2023-05-12T11:24:30.091-04:00Comments on The Imaginary Philosophy: A Conservative Christian Evicts Facts from His ArgumentTom Stelenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13460571529579448952noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1187572289151836731.post-50263252100231471312009-01-15T23:31:00.000-05:002009-01-15T23:31:00.000-05:00That's a good observation, Paul. It seems to me th...That's a good observation, Paul. It seems to me that once they establish their religion they act as if and get others to believe that this religion is all there ever was as far as a "legitimate" belief system/way of life. Any trace of predecessors are obliterated from people's minds. They assert tradition as long as they get people to think it is the only tradition. Then most people can't really concieve any alternative to the religion. Most Christians, for instance, don't know about Christmas' pagan origins - but if they don't know it, then it is not real. So we hear that Christ is being taken out of a commercialized Christmas, and people believe that when it's nonsense. It's okay - as long as it isn't well-known - for Christians to steal the winter solstice from the pagans and call it Christmas, but it is not okay for moderns to take Christ out of Christmas - now that it is their tradition! This just shows a larger point: everything about religion is so very man-made.Tom Stelenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13460571529579448952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1187572289151836731.post-78409797739456469542009-01-15T23:13:00.000-05:002009-01-15T23:13:00.000-05:00Hi, It is very interesting that the religions of t...Hi, It is very interesting that the religions of today so strenuously assert tradition when they themselves were founded on the rejection of tradition. For example-Mohammed could not have become the first Muslim if he did not reject the polytheistic faith and tradition of his surrounding Arabic culture. Likewise, Jews who sing "Tradition, Tradition" ala "Fiddler on the Roof" have not yet, to my knowledge, condemned Abraham for breaking his "Tradition" of Mesopotamian idol worship in order to become the first Hebrew.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1187572289151836731.post-32196029035325004882009-01-13T09:37:00.000-05:002009-01-13T09:37:00.000-05:00> "The fact is that American political his...> "The fact is that American political history is inextricably bound up with religious tradition."<BR/><BR/>He is right in the sense that religionists, of all sorts, and carrying supernaturalist baggage, have indeed been involved in US history from the beginning. <BR/><BR/>So what? The issue is not historical, but philosophical--that is, what <I>should</I> be: a political system based only on ideas drawn logically from the facts of reality, that is, from nature. Imaginary beings and their subjectivist ethical dictates have no place in politics.<BR/><BR/>P. S. -- I define "arrogance," which is indeed a vice, as unearned assertiveness. Of course, nothing in Ayn Rand's quoted comments on man as the measure is in any way arrogant. She earned her assertiveness through reason.Burgess Laughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13865479709475171678noreply@blogger.com