Theophobia

[American Dream]

You are missing and/or avoiding the point- faith in things unseen in and of itself can be corrosive to critical thinking

And faith that things are not unseen can be corrosive to critical thinking too.

Of course.

[Laodicean]

Wow. Now I realize that Albert Einstein was a complete idiot. His critical thinking and faith in understanding the unseen and the seen was a complete waste of time and space. You're right, Cuda. Thanks so much for showing me the light of never trusting people of faith or having faith in anything, period. RI kicks ass.

[Perelandra]

Theologicophobia might work better for me. Then there's staurophobia, which is one I didn't know.

[82_28]

I don't have a fear of religious people, I will take them head on. However I do not have a distinct hatred of Christians as I once did. I now hate atheists more. I am a gnostic Christian in an atheist's body. I'm so sick of people droning on and on and on about how God is impossible -- all the fancy pants atheists one now finds on every comment thread of any story on the Internet anymore. God is not impossible. Many gods are not impossible. Faith has nothing to do with proof, but "faith" I think, is a misnomer. It's called awe. I have awe, no beliefs other than what I believe is right according to -- basically, Jesus. Mainstream and of course extremist Christians are not Christians at all as Paul said speaking of Jesus (or whoever it was that wrote Galatians):

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. - Galatians 5:19-23 NLT

"Sexual immorality" is probably, I imagine, a mistranslation. I read it as "just don't do awful things to people because you want to and they don't" which is the reason I hate porn. I don't believe that anyone wants to do that for a living. They do it out of subconscious exasperation at authority and capitalism and the low grade financial misery of their lives. It sets you up for further exploitation down the road in life, not just taking part in it, but avidly watching it. This is why I do not watch porn -- I do not want to take part in the most intimate way to subconsciously exploit another. All of this IMO and I am sticking to it.

That said, I cannot stand the conservative, Christian ninnies who just can't be honest with themselves that Jesus is just gonna take all those urges we all feel naturally away. Not on your life or His everlasting one. This famous passage is just telling you to be kind in all ways and that is what Jesus was and still is all about. Totally lost on mega-church American Christians on quite a few levels, sadly.

[American Dream]

Wow. Now I realize that Albert Einstein was a complete idiot. His critical thinking and faith in understanding the unseen and the seen was a complete waste of time and space. You're right, Cuda. Thanks so much for showing me the light of never trusting people of faith or having faith in anything, period. RI kicks ass.

I think people may be in danger of misunderstanding my concerns about faith in things unseen.

It is certainly not meant to suggest that only things which are physically seen exist, or matter.

What I am saying is that believing unquesioningly in the dogmas of authority figures and self-appointed "experts" regarding the nature of the spiritual and/or metaphysical has led to a lot of problems throughout our history, and is still doing so to this day.

This is incredibly important distinction and a very, very good reason why our ears should perk up when we hear someone with power speaking about their "faith"...




.

[justdrew]

I've got Diophobia...


no but seriously, (that would be mixing Latin and Greek roots) I guess the word would be Theophobia

ah yes, here it is... http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/theophobia

[82_28]

So, "theophobia". . .

What does this make a "God fearing Christian"?

[tazmic]

What I am saying is that believing unquesioningly in the dogmas of authority figures and self-appointed "experts" regarding the nature of the spiritual and/or metaphysical has led to a lot of problems throughout our history as a species and is still doing so to this day.

That's precisely the attitude that got Jesus killed. (With him telling the poor they didn't need Priests to know God, what else could a self respecting empire do?)

[Stephen Morgan]

The author of the initial article posted is pretty muddled or lazy, in giving this inaccurate definition of the word in order to find a hook to hang his "theory" on.

what I will call “Theophobia” – the academic’s irrational fear of, or intense discomfort around, theist and, in particular, Christian, beliefs.

Theophobia means "fear of God", which could be said by some to be a characteristic of a true believer.

Isn't "homophobia" fear of sameness, or something along those lines?

[8bitagent]

I've seen no real evidence that anything in the bible is any more than allegory, and even Catholics I know will say a lot of it is teaching stories or visions.

But...according to popular canon, Jesus Christ mingled with the poor and needy, resisted the Roman elites and their Satanic masters, resisted the financial oligarchs only to be killed by said elite.

Flash forward to 2011, where so many Christian people blindly support thuggish regimes(like the US government, UK, etc) who themselves claim to be Christian.
Christ might as well be white with a buzzcoat, suit, and be holding a gun and briefcase at this point.

[Searcher08]

Ok, but what about the part where faith supports Racism or Fascism?

in my opinion that is abhorrent to any real faith. I know it happens.. does it ever. But as sunny said, above, there are people of faith that would never ever support racism or fascism. Most of them, probably. As I see it it's the nutty ones that get all the press and dominate political movements because they are the ones motivated by control and power over.

Here we get into the part where faith can conflict with critical thinking, as faith does often lead well-intentioned people into congress with problematic people and ideas, don't you think?

You dont get the irony that you approach 'critical thinking' with the same degree of faith that you so consider in others the first step down The Road to Perdition.

Your language is full of patronising weasel words such as "well-intentioned people" "problematic people and ideas" "dont you think?" .

For someone who is so concerned about fascism, you are not exactly a pluralist when it comes to thinking.

Reductionist so called 'critical' thinking - you sound like the missionary bringing the news to the unenlightened, except you NEVER examine the foundations of your 'critical thinking' faith.

How about doing that? Are you up for it? Or do we move along, because we can question anything except THAT?

Searcher, what a bogus representation of my thoughts!

This is your straw man..

ORLY?

Firstly, I don't have blind faith in critical thinking- certainly not as the be all and end all of human activity.

First - so by what standard /principles have you assessed critical thinking?

Secondly, "spiritual people" who claim the best of intentions have got themselves wrapped up in all kinds of bad things throughout history. Do you dispute this?

Referring to "problematic people and ideas" in this sort of context is merely trying to not be too inflammatory- the core concept is quite valid.

Second -yes, I do dispute this.
The statement is so vague as to be meaningless. You can remove "spiritual" and the meaning doesnt change. All you are describing is "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Regarding the next point, I DO see it as very inflamatory, because it comes down to the issue of
WHO or WHAT decides a person or idea is PROBLEMATIC?
That is a very non-trivial question,
whether it be the Inquisition or the Khemer Rouge deciding teachers were 'problematic'. Mainstream scientists who find people who contest evolution 'problematic'.


Thirdly, I'm not endorsing a reductionist approach to critical thinking, though I do think critical thinking is essential.

Third -so where is your evidence that critical thinking is essential? and essential for what?
Critical thinking IS reductionist. Saying you are not endorsing a reductionist approach to critical thinking makes no sense. Critical thinking is analytical, not holistic.

The Delphi Project of the American Philosophical Association

In the late 1980's a subcommittee of the the American Philosophical Association assembled 46 experts to reach consensus on a definition of critical thinking and how to assess it. The result is the Delphi Report (Facione, 1990);

interpretation; subskills: categorization decoding significance clarifying meaning
analysis; subskills: examining ideas identifying arguments analyzing arguments
evaluation; subskills: assessing claims assessing arguments
inference; subskills: querying evidence conjecturing alternatives drawing conclusions
explanation; subskills: stating results justifying procedures presenting arguments
self-regulation; subskills: self-examination self-correction

Affective dispositions to critical thinking were divided into two categories (1) approaches to life and living in general, and include such traits as inquisitiveness, trust in reason, and fairmindedness, and (2) approaches to specific issues, questions or problems, and include such traits as clarity in stating the question, diligence in seeking relevant information, and persistence although difficulties are encountered.

This is the type of thinking which has got this planet into a huge mess. It comes with Orthodoxy built in.

What is missing?? LOADS!!

Design Thinking Constructive Thinking Operational Thinking
Creative Thinking Lateral Thinking Scenario Thinking Systemic Thinking


Anyway, does your support for David Icke include his Reptilian Theory?

Because either way, here we have a great example to look at regarding the particulars of faith and/or critical thinking...

If you mean I think there are four dimensional astral entities from Draconis at the top of the NWO pyramid, then err.. NO!!. OTOH, I would suggest to you that the systemic principle that

Systems in general tend to be subject to much [i]more influence from external systems into which they embed than may at first appear to be the case from inside their viewpoint.[/i]

Are you saying that you are certain that out of probably a bare minimum 300,000,000 'Goldilocks' zone planets in just this Galaxy that NONE of them have any interest in us?Or are engaged in interaction at this time? My understanding is that CIA aligned Arlington Institute did a major year-long investigation in to the subject of human reaction to finding there were already many very human looking races from the Greater Community on Earth. Have you ever thought about the implications of exopolitics? Critical thinking is pants for thinking through scenarios.

Why is 'critical thinking' sometimes extremely dangerous?
Because it comes as part of a mindset which seems to be very hostile to criticism of itself -
for example its reductionist worldview tends to come bundled with 'outcome orientation ' or 'evidence based' approaches - Evidence Based approaches have many severe problems associated with them
for example http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.o ... /52/9/1179

You may say I have a problem with critical thinking. I dont - - it is just one type of thinking and using it as a though it is better than other forms of thinking will give rise to thinking out of step with the speed of change of it's environment.

One of the wisest people I have met said "the quality of our future will probably be determined by the quality of our thinking" for me; trying to create that future with critcal thinking is like driving a car with one wheel.

[American Dream]

Searcher08 wrote:

American Dream wrote:

Anyway, does your support for David Icke include his Reptilian Theory?

Because either way, here we have a great example to look at regarding the particulars of faith and/or critical thinking...

If you mean I think there are four dimensional astral entities from Draconis at the top of the NWO pyramid, then err.. no. OTOH, I would suggest to you that the systemic principle that

Systems in general tend to be subject to much more influence from external systems into which they embed than may at first appear to be the case from inside their viewpoint.

I consider your response to be pretty much of a non-answer. Here is a relatively simple question, please do me the courtesy of providing a simple- and clear- answer:

Does your support for David Icke include his Reptilian Theory?

[Canadian_watcher]

I consider your response to be pretty much of a non-answer. Here is a relatively simple question, please do me the courtesy of providing a simple- and clear- answer:

Does your support for David Icke include his Reptilian Theory?

AD is trying to get a piece of evidence against you which he can then hold up every time he disagrees with you, no matter how sound your argument, and exclaim to all that you are not to be trusted.

People who believe David Icke's Reptilian Theory can make no positive contribution to planet Earth....

[Searcher08]

Which bit of 'no' did you have problem in reading? No is a pretty simle answer AFAIK! Tell you what, I'll make it BIG and RED and ITALIC and UNDERSCORED.

I would now appreciate you addressing my issues with your support of critical thinking which I raised.

I noticed that you didnt address ANY of the issues I raised.

[Searcher08]

C_W, Im just aware of a huge yawning hole called a respose to my criticisms of A_D's much beloved 'critical thinking'.

Still waiting....


Oh Dear... poor critical thinking!