No, YOU Shut Up! - Universal Good, Part Deux

Just some quick comments on Justin's latest response, which can be found here.

In fact, even your qualification that, for some people religion is only “as bad as a mosquito bite” while for others it is as bad as nuclear warfare still implies that it is always bad and does nothing to detract from the universal nature of your initial critique. I’m not forcing universality on you, just pointing it out in your own language.

I don't know if you checked out the discussion on my response about this, but it's worth reading. I stated in the beginning that I was uncomfortable with such a blanket statement that "faith is bad" as it allows for little sense of nuance. Allow me to amend my statement then: "Faith is at best, not needed and at worst, downright bad." Again, this is just the way I see it.

Yet, in either case, even though I know I would be maximizing my effectiveness by making such changes, I choose not to as a matter of convenience; I don’t want to… I don’t care enough… and reason cannot tell me why I should care.

Really? You cannot think of a reason why you should care? I don't mean to just sound flippant here, but I want to make sure that this is what you are actually saying before I go into...well, REASONS why you should care. As in, reasons that aren't given to me by a deity.

To say that people use something for ill purpose is to say something of people rather than the thing being used...Do we blame a general theories of economic or do we consider instead the motives and ill practices of those in the ranks of such companies?

Here's one crucial difference though: Nobody is claiming that economic practices are handed down by a supernatural being whose will is not to be questioned. As for blaming the economic theories, well, maybe that's not such a bad idea either. Perhaps they should be amended and rethought.

In other words, we do “bad” things and then look for ways to justify our behavior. If it isn’t religion, it’s economics or something else.

Very true. But still, with faith your justification comes from a source that too many people refuse to question. For instance, think of the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church. Are there atheist pedophiles? I would imagine so. However, what are you more likely to hear: "I can't believe he'd hurt a child! He's an atheist!" or "I can't believe he hurt a child! He's a man of God!" In other words, undue automatic respect and reverence is given to things that don't deserve it - and that's a direct result of not just religion, but faith.

But you grossly oversimplify “faith” here. I’d like to write a great deal more about this in future conversations but for the time being...

I look forward to it, but I'll grant your point even before reading your response. "Faith makes people stop asking questions" is a poorly worded statement. Let me try a new one out: "Faith often provides answers where instead you should be asking questions."