Rationality...

[fajrdrako]

Past and present religious atrocities have occurred not because we are evil, but because it is a fact of nature that the human species is, biologically, only partly rational. Evolution has meant that our prefrontal lobes are too small, our adrenal glands are too big, and our reproductive organs apparently designed by a committee; a recipe which, alone or in combination, is very certain to lead to some unhappiness and disorder. - Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great, p. 8.

Rephrased:

Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things? - The Doctor, in Doctor Who, "The Doctor Dances" by Steven Moffat

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You paint a rather vivid picture of him. Sounds to me like a formerly idealistic baby boomer turned bitter. I looked him up on Wikipedia; interesting; for some reason I'd thought he was always American. I guess I wasn't paying much attention. (And no, I wasn't.) Neocons annoy me. They seem like people who should know better.

Bubbles of hope are good until they burst. There are always bubbles of hope, depending where you look. But sometiems you have to look hard... this morning on the bus I glanced over at a newspaper a woman was reading. I could only see two of the headlines but one said Nine dead in U.S. mall shooting and Woman dies in snowbank and I just thought - is the news never anything but depressing?

Not that I'd want them only to report the Pollyanna stuff. But. Grump.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

This is why Greek mythology speaks of Cassandra (originally Kassandra) and the curse that Apollo placed on her. Somehow, I think of Cassandra as being the patron saint of newspaper reporting. :-) [There's a reason why the French say "No news is good news", no?]

As for criticisms of religion -- I am pretty familiar with that already. All I will say is that I do *not* agree, but theocrats of all kinds (and faiths) do make a compelling argument for atheism far too many times.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think of Cassandra as being the patron saint of newspaper reporting.

She probably should be, if she isn't.

There's a reason why the French say "No news is good news", no?

The French say that? I thought everybody said that!

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Everybody may say it now, but it was the French ("Pas de nouvelles, bonnes nouvelles") who first came up with the phrase, I believe.