Are you religious?

[chthon]

I don't think so. The Israelites had a whip round specifically to get enough gold together to make an object of worship from an earlier religion. The girls gave up their ear-rings, made a Baal and they all had a jolly good time until Mo came down from the mountain like Mary Whitehouse and totally lost it. Well, who really knows what was written on the original stones before our lad had to knock up another pair, I ask you.
Never liked Moses. Still, God favoured him et à chacun son goût as they say in the desert.

Mary Whitehouse, is that the one that Deep Purple sings about, Mary Long? Apparently, "Pigs, three kinds" by Pink Floyd calls her out by name.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Mary Whitehouse, is that the one that Deep Purple sings about, Mary Long? Apparently, "Pigs, three kinds" by Pink Floyd calls her out by name.

 

[Dutto]

...........

Apart from that, I've always struggled with 7 ............

Don't worry about it. Old age will sort that problem out; and if it doesn't, then finding a willing partner becomes the next problem!

I loved the tale about the parent who got concerned when the Sunday School Teacher presented the children with a pictorial representation of "The Ten Commandments" as she taught them.

The parent was quite relieved to see that Commandment Number Seven showed a man dressed as a milkman pouring water into a milk churn!

 

[An Ankoù]

Aarrrgggh- that voice!
Aarrggghh- that dodgy haircut!
Aaarggh- The greasy Rambo wannabes!
No, no, no, I can't watch it to the end. Where are my tablets?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Aarrrgggh- that voice!
Aarrggghh- that dodgy haircut!
Aaarggh- The greasy Rambo wannabes!
No, no, no, I can't watch it to the end. Where are my tablets?

Perms, mullets and big glasses were the fashion.

£3 to get into the pictures those were the days.

 

[Hopperty]

100% atheist, here, think it is all complete nonsense - however I just love churches, just love going into them when out cycling, they're at their best when they are devoid of people, wonderful quiet peaceful places - so may be there is something in it ??

 

[kelper]

100% atheist, here, think it is all complete nonsense -- so may be there is something in it ??

Make yer mind up!

 

[Rodj]

Spanners....
I’m going to inject something else into this discussion, just to see what happens.

Talk of god(s) always seems to assume that the god existed ab initio and was responsible for everything that came after, i.e. god was the creator.

Hypothesise: **** sapiens manages to survive (unlikely though that may be) long into the future. Technology develops and man replaces his short-lived and fragile biological body with a better, more durable synthetic equivalent. Development continues and eventually the synthetic body is dispensed with and mind is liberated from material constraints. The many minds thus liberated coalesce to form a single, non-material, mind which is capable of manipulating energy to achieve material results, for example to spark the development of life in aggregations of organic chemicals.

Hypothesise further: current evidence and thought seems to indicate that primitive (single-celled and simpler) life is probably fairly abundant in the universe, but complex (multi-celled) life, and in particular advanced complex life, is probably very rare, and possibly vanishingly rare. However, the universe is a pretty big place, so even a vanishingly rare possibility could well have happened on a fair number of occasions. Thus the single, non-material, mind may already have been in existence for a very long time.

Questions:
Q1. Is the single, non-material, mind effectively god?
Q2. If so, is god thus the culmination of evolution (and everything else), not the originator of evolution (and everything else)?

Answers on a postcard, please, preferably accompanied by a £50 note and a dozen bottles of your best home-brew.

 

[kelper]

If such a god evolved would he expect the next generation of sentient life that emerges to worship him and praise him? I hope 'he' wouldn't be so petty and vain. But your theory sounds like a basis for a good science fiction novel!

 

[Rodcx500z]

I have often wondered were Gene Roddenberry got his idea for star trek from, I wonder if the Klingons have a god

 

[An Ankoù]

A very interesting scenario. I thought Star Trek Voyager was well on way with the Borg!
To answer Q1, I think you'd need to define what you mean by "God". The scenario you propose doesn't result in there being nothing in existence other than this immaterial mind so creatio ex nihilo isn't necessary for this God. The Demiurge of Platonic tradition would correspond better, but this being and the material it organises are still dependant on another supreme being.
To answer Q2, No. because this composite immaterial mind doesn't correspond to "Supreme Being" and the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition is the supreme being.

Sorry, the 50 quid seems to have got lost in the post, together with my tax return.

 

[strange-steve]

Sorry, the 50 quid seems to have got lost in the post, together with my tax return.

And your beer.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have often wondered were Gene Roddenberry got his idea for star trek from, I wonder if the Klingons have a god

According to the "Klingon Art of War" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the Klingon gods were surprisingly mortal. They apparently lived in a 'great tree'. One of them made first contact with the Klingons some 2-3000 years before the time of Kahless (and approximately a thousand years before the arrival of the Hur'Q). Their initial demand was for food, which the Klingons provided in return for being shown simple building techniques. Several hunters were killed in the process, but the gods evidently had the power to revive them.

Over time, the gods took over various villages and began demanding greater and greater "tributes" but seemed unwilling to share additional technology with the Klingons. Eventually the Klingons got tired of fighting proxy wars on behalf of the different godly factions and went up to the great tree and killed them all.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/137301/what-exactly-were-the-klingon-gods

 

[An Ankoù]

Eventually the Klingons got tired of fighting proxy wars on behalf of the different godly factions and went up to the great tree and killed them all.

Ahh. It's a great day to die!

 

[MrRook]

100% atheist, here, think it is all complete nonsense - however I just love churches, just love going into them when out cycling, they're at their best when they are devoid of people, wonderful quiet peaceful places - so may be there is something in it ??

You'd get the same effect from an empty museum.
I love going shopping Sunday morning around 11am as all the hypocrites are in church.

 

[An Ankoù]

You'd get the same effect from an empty museum.
I love going shopping Sunday morning around 11am as all the hypocrites are in church.

Don't know how it is in CA, but there aren't enough church-goers here that you'd notice any difference.
You'd get an even better effect from an empty pub.
After you've been accidentally locked in and can't find your way out.

 

[MrRook]

Don't know how it is in CA, but there aren't enough church-goers here that you'd notice any difference.

Could very well be that all the lazy gits just haven't gotten out of bed yet.

 

[Hopperty]

You'd get the same effect from an empty museum.
I love going shopping Sunday morning around 11am as all the hypocrites are in church.

An empty museum would be good - was in a museum a month or so back at the same time two or three school parties were in, jeez it was loud, it was that bad it set my tinnitus off.

plenty churches about though, and they really are wonderful peaceful places, they def need avoided on sunday mornings though - I can't be doing with that lot.

 

[simon12]

According to the "Klingon Art of War" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the Klingon gods were surprisingly mortal. They apparently lived in a 'great tree'. One of them made first contact with the Klingons some 2-3000 years before the time of Kahless (and approximately a thousand years before the arrival of the Hur'Q). Their initial demand was for food, which the Klingons provided in return for being shown simple building techniques. Several hunters were killed in the process, but the gods evidently had the power to revive them.

Over time, the gods took over various villages and began demanding greater and greater "tributes" but seemed unwilling to share additional technology with the Klingons. Eventually the Klingons got tired of fighting proxy wars on behalf of the different godly factions and went up to the great tree and killed them all.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/137301/what-exactly-were-the-klingon-gods

Another option I missed from the poll

 

[Smileyr8]

Please add Muslim, Jewish and None @simon12 .

as well as Fly Fishermen & Hot Tubbers