Cal Thomas absurdity

[learnin]

Cal Thomas wrote a column on Hitchens death. He used it as an opportunity to convince himself and readers that God does, indeed, exist. Among other ridiculous statements, he affirmed that Hitchens now knows how wrong he was. I suppose this means Thomas no longer has the great gift of faith he later stated was a gift from God. Thomas knows God was waiting. Certainty and faith are a contradiction in my book.

Perhaps the most ludicrous question Thomas asked was, why be charitable if God does not exist? Just take care of yourself, he reasoned. I would say the question would be better directed at the believer. Why be charitable if God exists? If our purpose is to get to the next life then why not allow the hungry to starve, the sick to die and let them get on with the real McCoy?

[Willie]

The "Why be good without God?" argument is one of the most oft-heard, and is likely the major cause of the distrust that many religious people have towards atheists. It's hard to see why it's so popular, since its flaws seem so obvious. First, the lack of correlation with observed reality (atheists do not steal, kill, rape, etc. at a higher rate than believers). Second, that even if this supposed moral benefit did correlate with reality, it would still fail as an argument for the actual truth of their beliefs, since the effect would come from belief itself, independent of whether it's true or false.

[Azdgari]

... (atheists do not steal, kill, rape, etc. at a higher rate than believers) ...

See, that just proves that we've organized a conspiracy, and are planning something even more dastardly.

[monkeymind]

When I was Christian, I owned a rental store. The hardest people to get to pay or return stuff were my Christian friends. They really thot I should be more charitable when they fell on hard times.

They were always wanting to borrow camcorders and VCR's, etc. I had to constantly explain to them that if they didn't pay me I couldn't pay Borg Warner Acceptance corp. that held the note on everything.

[Nick]

... (atheists do not steal, kill, rape, etc. at a higher rate than believers) ...

See, that just proves that we've organized a conspiracy, and are planning something even more dastardly.

Massive baby BBQs.

[gonegolfing]

When I was Christian, I owned a rental store. The hardest people to get to pay or return stuff were my Christian friends. They really thot I should be more charitable when they fell on hard times.

They were always wanting to borrow camcorders and VCR's, etc. I had to constantly explain to them that if they didn't pay me I couldn't pay Borg Warner Acceptance corp. that held the note on everything.

My daughter was a waitress/server in her early twenties. The day she dreaded working the most was Sundays from Noon to 3:00 pm. when the christians would all show up for lunch after morning services. The demands were always high and the tips were always low!! She dreaded it ! 

[pianodwarf]

The "Why be good without God?" argument is one of the most oft-heard, and is likely the major cause of the distrust that many religious people have towards atheists. It's hard to see why it's so popular, since its flaws seem so obvious. First, the lack of correlation with observed reality (atheists do not steal, kill, rape, etc. at a higher rate than believers). Second, that even if this supposed moral benefit did correlate with reality, it would still fail as an argument for the actual truth of their beliefs, since the effect would come from belief itself, independent of whether it's true or false.

Another problem with this angle is that it discourages intellectual inquiry.  That is, if you think that murder, theft, and so on can only be prevented by belief in a deity, then there is a strong disincentive to give any thought to whether that deity actually exists, and, indeed, a strong disincentive to silence anyone who publicly gives voice to any doubts in this area.  Not good.

[One Above All]

My daughter was a waitress/server in her early twenties. The day she dreaded working the most was Sundays from Noon to 3:00 pm. when the christians would all show up for lunch after morning services. The demands were always high and the tips were always low!! She dreaded it ! 

That's not unexpected.
Christians want YHWH to give them eternal happiness and they don't sacrifice a single lamb in his name or sell all of their possessions and give to the poor, like the Bible says. In fact, they ignore most of the Bible in the first place.

[gonegolfing]

My daughter was a waitress/server in her early twenties. The day she dreaded working the most was Sundays from Noon to 3:00 pm. when the christians would all show up for lunch after morning services. The demands were always high and the tips were always low!! She dreaded it ! 

That's not unexpected.
Christians want YHWH to give them eternal happiness and they don't sacrifice a single lamb in his name or sell all of their possessions and give to the poor, like the Bible says. In fact, they ignore most of the Bible in the first place.

Indeed. It's all just a big fucking phony mess. 

[gonegolfing]

The "Why be good without God?" argument is one of the most oft-heard, and is likely the major cause of the distrust that many religious people have towards atheists. It's hard to see why it's so popular, since its flaws seem so obvious. First, the lack of correlation with observed reality (atheists do not steal, kill, rape, etc. at a higher rate than believers). Second, that even if this supposed moral benefit did correlate with reality, it would still fail as an argument for the actual truth of their beliefs, since the effect would come from belief itself, independent of whether it's true or false.

Another problem with this angle is that it discourages intellectual inquiry.  That is, if you think that murder, theft, and so on can only be prevented by belief in a deity, then there is a strong disincentive to give any thought to whether that deity actually exists, and, indeed, a strong disincentive to silence anyone who publicly gives voice to any doubts in this area.  Not good.

Well said !

It's an a priori situation where through flawed deduction it is merely assumed that a god exists in the first place, and so therefore it is also immediately assumed that morality flows out of and is a result of that assumed god. Observation and experience and inquiry are eliminated in this scenario and so truth is suppressed and intellectual integrity suffers also.

[velkyn]

good to see that Christians lie repeatedly to keep their faith up.   I've always found the claim of Christians that they need their god not to be assholes to be amusing.   I guess I must be quite a bit better at being a decent human beign than they are since I don't need delusions of a omnipotent being serving as my babysitter.  and really, what kind of omnipotent being would even do that? 

[12 Monkeys]

good to see that Christians lie repeatedly to keep their faith up.   I've always found the claim of Christians that they need their god not to be assholes to be amusing.   I guess I must be quite a bit better at being a decent human beign than they are since I don't need delusions of a omnipotent being serving as my babysitter.  and really, what kind of omnipotent being would even do that?

Funny also that they don't mind the occasional baby sacrifice as commanded by God,but when someone from another tribe sacrificed one of their own to a God they were heathens

[Poseidon]

The OP subject was about the illustrious Cal Thomas who is a syndicated columnist and who gives me a royal pain in the ass.  Never mind that he is very popular with the blessed ones. Well at least the ones who actually read. Why would'nt he be?  He parrots their beliefs most effectively. 

Cal can prove that Jesus is real.  Proof goes like this........... I read Cals column, the assanine column causes me to get sick at my stomach, I take some Zantax for relief, My stomach gets better,  Jesus invented Zantac,  Jesus is responsible for the medicine that relieved  my upset stomach.  Therefore Jesus exists.

[tomt]

seems strange that cal thomas certainly fooled all the above forum members 

into thinking that he is a christian.

----------------

a notable cal-ism -

And this is because its members, and like-minded male wimps around the world, idolize Michael J. Fox instead of John Wayne and find their role models in the liberal ladies of “The View,” not in muscular characters like Jack Bauer (and Chloe, who gets it) on “24.”

[Historicity]

I've read Cal Thomas' columns years ago and part of a book he wrote.

However that, I remember when he went on the Today show a long time ago.  He was renouncing Dominionism.  He said a government neutral on religion was the American way.

[caveat_imperator]

Perhaps the most ludicrous question Thomas asked was, why be charitable if God does not exist? Just take care of yourself, he reasoned. I would say the question would be better directed at the believer. Why be charitable if God exists? If our purpose is to get to the next life then why not allow the hungry to starve, the sick to die and let them get on with the real McCoy?

Many of them in the U.S. already hold that view, in my opinion.

[flapdoodle64]

I love Cal Thomas.  He's so ugly (inside and outside) and obviously absurd, it's like performance art!  He's living satire!

I remember during Gulf War I, a column by Thomas wherein he advocated dropping 'tactical' nukes on the Iraqi people and citing Bible verses to justify it! 

Later that year, I saw him on a TV news talking head show, as if this lunatic could be taken seriously.   It was about that time when I started to get the sinking feeling that the USA was on an irreversable slide into total madness. 

[jedweber]

seems strange that cal thomas certainly fooled all the above forum members  into thinking that he is a christian

Then he fooled the Moral Majority, too, because he served as their vice-president in the 80s. His wikipedia entry says he's an evangelical.

On a side note, a study at Hamilton College found him to be the least accurate of 26 notable pundits studied:

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/130485/claim-krugman-is-top-prognosticator-cal-thomas-is-the-worst/