Good for you Spidey. I look at things with an open mind on things that need to be looked with an open mind. Unfortunately stories of rebirth does not fall under that realm.
Mals, why question at all? they are free to believe whatever they want, the right to question comes if they thrust that belief onto you.....which they are not doing that, I think.
I am not exactly questioning the people who believe in it. I am just questioning the idea or concept. So there is a concept... you want to take it at face value and believe it. And I want to question it. You are free to believe whatever you want but others have the same right to question it or call it bollocks, don't you think? Or is it that once someone believes in a concept, it cannot be questioned?
You have a dry sense of humor that is not everyone's cup of tea. You know that we are on the same page about these issues but implying that anyone who isn't in agreement with us is cuckoo is being condescending. Here in the US anyone who dares question religion is automatically categorized as an unpatriotic baby-eating profligate. If we start making the same generalizations about believers, i.e., they are brainless nincompoops, then aren't we undermining our own argument. Most religious arguments don't have a leg to stand on even if we stick to just plain old scientific facts. I see no reason to question a believer's sanity or intelligence.
Well never anywhere have I implied people who are not in agreement with me are cuckoo. But I am certainly free to call things that come across cuckoo to me and I am free to express what I feel as well. I don't think I have questioned a believer's sanity or intelligence but I do question the intelligence of the concept itself which I think is well within my rights as much as it is someone's right to believe them.
Maybe you are. I was just having a back and forth conversation with Spiderman on internet stories of rebirth and I told him almost all of them are rubbish someone made up. I didn't think there was a cult out there who believed in them and it is disrespectful for me to call them bollocks. Right at the juncture you decided to jump in.
I agree with both of you. "It is striking that you can have a debate or argue on just about anything, but religion. As soon as someone uses the word belief everyone has to back off and just respect it. What is irksome is, its not even open to question, like everything else, and we get away with some pretty ludicrous stuff in the name of religion/belief." It comes from The God Delusion, I was trying to find the exact quote, but can't right now. Gauri, that is why I like your signature - it hints at that exact irony with such pithy beautiful sarcasm.
vidya21, Its simple. Each person has his/her own beliefs. As long as people of various beliefs/disbeliefs respect the others, and live and let-live, then things are smoother. Yep I too like Gauri's signature:Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?