The Horrors of Evolution (Evolution)

by Carl, Sunday, September 07, 2008, 00:41 (5719 days ago) @ George Jelliss

George says "Taking part in or watching sports or drama are perfectly rational activities. "
A large corporation hires professional athletes from all parts of the nation, from other nations, even from other continents. Another corporation does the same. These two corporations bring their professionals together to play for large salaries. The corporation which happens to be headquartered in your city becomes "your" team. You have nothing at stake in the game unless you have a wager on it. If your team wins, you are ecstatic. If your team loses, you are depressed. This is human but irrational. Note that I confined my original remarks to professional sports. In the case of drama, one becomes emotionally involved in the pretended tribulations of imaginary characters. Again, human but irrational. Both these activities deal with emotion rather than reason. So does religion at the gut level.
George says of my including religion, "If religion was just a matter of rites and customs this might be correct, but that's not my experience of what religion is." Here, I am beginning to get a sense that there may be a real difference between the UK and the US. In the US, for the most part, religion is a private matter discussed only among like minded people or in tolerant situations. That may not be true of the UK.
In my remarks, I specified that "no unwilling victims suffer." Tolerance is key. For many decades, tolerance has been the norm in the US. Unfortunately, with the trend to mix religion with politics to anchor a political base, this is starting to break down. Teaching ID in schools is an example. When religious beliefs start to determine public policy, unwilling victims suffer.
George contrasted love and logic. I contrasted tolerance and logic. Neither are opposites, but one can forebear the application of logic and be tolerant of emotion based ideas when there is no greater good to be gained.