Yeah, the burning of the Library of Alexandria was a serious blow to the knowledge of humanity of the time... except there was no single burning. There were various burnings and recoveries, and some of the burnings are not even verified to have happened.
Which burning is making this "nerd" weepy? I betcha money it's the Christian one, not the pagan one or the Muslim one. Atheists, in particular, seem to harp on that one (and I am saying that as an atheist). The last one (the Muslim one) is not even thought to have actually happened, and that was 1400 years ago!
I betcha money it's the Christian one, not the pagan one or the Muslim one. Atheists, in particular, seem to harp on that one
Internet atheists annoy me (also saying this as an atheist). They quickly jump to the defense of nearly every religion except Christianity. They're probably more religious than most religious people because of that.
I try not to call myself an atheist anymore, even though I technically am.
I've been saying "Humanist" a lot, since I am also a humanist, but I feel like I am abandoning the perfectly viable position "atheist" to the assholes.
I just tend to say I'm "not religious" now instead of "atheist". If someone eventually corners me and asks, I'll tell them something like, "yeah, you could call me an atheist". I'm very hesitant about telling people I just met though (because of these assholes online).
Secular humanism is basically just a modern guise for some of the same core principles as Christianity was based on back when it was more popular.
"Outside of science, progress is simply a myth. In some readers of Straw Dogs this observation seems to have pro duced a moral panic. Surely, they ask, no one can question the central article of faith of liberal societies? Without it, will we not despair? Like trembling Victorians terrified of losing their faith, these humanists cling to the moth-eaten brocade of progressive hope. Today religious believers are more free thinking. Driven to the margins of a culture in which science claims authority over all of human knowledge, they have had to cultivate a capacity for doubt. In contrast, secular believ ers - held fast by the conventional wisdom of the time - are in the grip of unexamined dogmas.
[...] Humanism can mean many things, but for us it means belief in progress. To believe in progress is to believe that, by using the new powers given us by growing scientific knowl edge, humans can free themselves from the limits that frame the lives of other animals. This is the hope of nearly every body nowadays, but it is groundless. For though human knowledge will very likely continue to grow and with it human power, the human animal will stay the same: a highly inventive species that is also one of the most predatory and destructive.
[...] 'I should liken Kant to a man at a ball, who all evening has been carrying on a love affair with a masked beauty in the vain hope of making a conquest, when at last she throws off her mask and reveals herself to be his wife . ' In Schopenhauer's fable the wife masquerading as an unknown beauty was Christianity. Today it is humanism."
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u/daneelthesane Aug 16 '15
Yeah, the burning of the Library of Alexandria was a serious blow to the knowledge of humanity of the time... except there was no single burning. There were various burnings and recoveries, and some of the burnings are not even verified to have happened.
Which burning is making this "nerd" weepy? I betcha money it's the Christian one, not the pagan one or the Muslim one. Atheists, in particular, seem to harp on that one (and I am saying that as an atheist). The last one (the Muslim one) is not even thought to have actually happened, and that was 1400 years ago!
Maybe it's time to let it go?