Discussions of Faith: Rhyfelwyr and Pizzaguy

[Askthepizzaguy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He's a witch! Swedishfish is talking like a cat so he must be a witch! That's the devil's work, it is.

edit: his post has been deleted by a moderator, I believe.

It's a theory which embraces both. You don't have to accept it's validity, but that doesn't change what it is. I told Rwy I wasn't going to crash his party, and I'm not. However, the divine is part of the fabric of existence, not seperate from it.

But it does not embrace both. It holds as being truth supernatural reasons for creation, and life and death and allows for angels and demons and devils and saints and resurrection and so on; and it even contradicts and challenges science because people KNOW science must be wrong due the FACT that religion is the word of GOD. That kind of certainty does not exist in the rational, scientific realm.

Religion is a theory of reality, not the supernatural. While you might term it "spernatural" and be correct, it nevertheless informs the understanding of the physical world

It is not a theory, or it would be opened to being challenged, actually. I take it back; religion is more like a Law which cannot be tested or proven. As such, it is not even allowed to be called a theory; it is an untestable, unprovable, unquestionable tenet which people either believe or disbelieve.

Thought experiment:

If I were to say there is an invisible magic box which contained the Incredible Fire-Breathing Leprechaun (known from here on as IFBL for short) and I said that it is a theory of reality, which cannot be tested, questioned, or proven, then scientists would laugh in my face or attempt to reason me out of it. The religion of the IFBL, I could argue, should be taught alongside other theories of reality in science class. I could write books about it, wear holy clothes, pray to the IFBL, and make Saint Patrick's Day outlawed because it is blasphemous to the Fire-Breathing Lord. I could even try to post the tenets of my faith in court rooms next to the Ten Commandments and call them equal. For convenience, here are the tenets of the Incredible Fire-Breathing Leprechaun religion.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. Thy Fire-breathing Leprechaun hates all other gods, therefore you should not worship them
2. Thou shalt not misspell the name of the Leprechaun God, nor use improper grammar.
3. Remember thy four-leaf clover and keep it holy.
4. Honor thy Rainbow and thy Pot o' gold.
5. Thou shalt not catch the Leprechaun.
6. Thou shalt not taste His rainbow.
7. Thou shalt not steal His Gold.
8. Thou shalt not use faerie magic against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's pixie dust.
10. Thou shalt not attempt to breathe fire like the Leprechaun God, lest you die from third-degree burns.

Because some believe (there are a growing number of us) in the Fire-Breathing Leprechaun, and it is now one of the fastest-growing religions, we demand equal time to teach children our theory of the universe, which is not to be questioned, because we find questioning our faith offensive. It is a valid theory of reality, not the supernatural, if as you suggest, other religions which teach about the supernatural are also theories about reality.

Listen, I find religion itself to be harmless and sometimes it teaches good things. For example, the Fire-Breathing Leprechaun religion does not advocate stealing people's Gold, for that is a sin against the Lord. Therefore, it begs the question; how would humanity find morality without the Book of the Leprechaun to guide us? Humanity is flawed, and only the perfect and beautiful, and very very lucky, Fire-Breathing Leprechaun Lord can show us the light. I know this sounds absurd, and like a mockery of religion, but it is not intended as such. Allow me to explain. All I really did was edit out Christian words and add the words of Irish folklore and mythology. Mythology and religion go hand in hand, most of the time, and there was a time when people believed in Leprechauns. So it is NOT a stretch to say that in our world, in our real living world, people could believe in Leprechaun Gods.

When the tenets of the religion are basically the same, just replaced with Irish folklore, they do sound rather silly, do they not? Especially when one argues that without this form of religion, mankind would be lost and unable to function or find moral truths. I am simply saying, that any religion is fine, as long as people also doubt the veracity of the tenets of that religion with equal measure that they believe in them. What IF there is an incredible, fire-breathing Leprechaun in the sky? Can anyone here suggest that God, in His infinite power, could transform Himself into a burning bush, but not a Fire-Breathing Leprechaun? If you believe in God, you must also believe He could appear as a Fire-Breathing Leprechaun if He so chose. So even though on the surface this sounds like a joke, it is but one step away from being the reality of religion itself; a story of the supernatural that people believe is 100% true, in spite of a lack of evidence which supports the story. There is almost no difference between the two stories, and the moral message that is carried is nearly the same as well.

I would suggest that many of the moral messages of faith can be taught using empirical data, observation, thought experiments, history, research, logic, reason, and debate. There is no need for the supernatural to get involved in our day-to-day decisions. If at the end of our lives, we go to heaven, or hell, or The Magic Box, then it will be proven that the theory of existence which includes those endings is true. Until then, it must be considered at best a plausible but unprovable explanation which is unsupported by fact, and therefore treated with the same grain of salt as the Fire-Breathing Leprechaun religion. I hope this thought experiment has offended no one; I had to create a fake religion as an example, as a thought experiment. No offense was intended to any person of faith. However I would say that if a person's sensibilities are so easily offended, the backroom is not for them. I apologize anyway in advance.