October 2, 2008

Atheistic Ethics of Calvin

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10 comments:

  1.      Strange, those look like christian ethics to me. Especially when they say that their god "can do whatever he wants because he must have a higher plan."

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  2. What pvblivs said. And in this strip, Hobbes is demonstrating to Calvin the consequences of unenlightened self-interest in a society.

    Lest you claim that Hobbes is representing the Christian view, there are other strips where it's obvious that both characters, and by extension Bill Watterson, are probably atheists. One of my favorites is where Calvin asks Hobbes "What if there's no afterlife? What if this is all we get?" Hobbes looks around and says "Oh, what the heck. I'll take it anyway".

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  3. Dan!

    You didn't get it!
    HA HA!

    The strip shows, through sarcasm that ethics and morals are perfectly valid and necessary without God.

    Get it?

    Go ahead, read it again.

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  4. Awsome! I love Calvin and Hobbes!

    Although I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "Atheistic Ethics" in the title... ??

    PS: Zilch and Froggie: explaining the joke ruins it.

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  5. Quasar,

    I'm sorry. I am just starting to understand the concept of:
    "If you don't give away the premise of the joke, you can be part of it."

    I won't let it happen again.

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  6. So, Dan, you're still hooked on that old, tired, "atheists have no basis for morals" canard, huh?

    It's pretty obvious that you don't, either. You won't answer direct questions, and hold onto ancient, long-debunked arguments as if they are true.

    If I were God, your utter lack of integrity would be what keeps you out of Heaven, Dan.

    And yes, this is a personal attack. Since you have broken your own rule against personal attacks with this very post, I figure it's okay. But at least my personal attack serves a purpose: if it gets your attention and you do answer my questions from last month, you will be a better person for it.

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  7. Oops I was thinking of some thing else before I reread it.

    Dave,

    So you question was:

    "Well, if it's true (that proof denies faith), then why would you EVER want science to engage the "God question" in any way?"

    I would say any search for truth is getting closer to God. When we find actual truth we will find God. Faith is very important though because once we fall short in finding the actual truth people, called atheists, deny their faith and say well if I can't see God then He must not exist which is an extremely reckless mindset. This is the most damaging thing that you can do to your soul. Sigh... it's sad really.

    What if science did that in reference to anything, even atoms? Atheists are very destructive to the science community. Science would say it plausible there is a God. Atheistic scientists say there is no such thing as a God. Very destructive and they are not true scientists.

    I agree with "there are other strips where it's obvious that both characters, and by extension Bill Watterson, are probably atheists."

    The same kind of thinking that has corrupted and now bankrupted our economy. These are criminal thoughts and I can't wait until God rights all these wrongs.

    So with love, stop corrupting our world with your evil rhetoric that there is no God that we can all do wherever we want without ramifications, that is paralyzing our country and corrupting everyone. There is accountability and God will be very angry at what all this evil has done to this world. Deny the evil for once, fight the good fight for goodness sake.

    It has never been dog eat dog no matter how many times the atheists/evolutionists repeat it.

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  8. Dan said:

    What if science [said "if I can't see it then it must not exist] in reference to anything, even atoms?

    What?! Who preps you for these questions, Sarah Palin's handlers?

    Do you have any inkling of how Atomic Theory came about, or its ancient predecessor, Atomism?

    Are you remotely aware that an ancient atheist, Epicurus, promoted not only Atomism, but a personal moral code?

    According to the Wikipedia entry for Atomism:

    [Epicurus' surviving writings attempt] to assist people in taking responsibility for themselves and for their own happiness -- since he held there are no gods around that can help them.

    So what, indeed? As it turns out, Atomism was rejected on philosophical grounds by Aristotle (a pagan), and later by the clergy. It was rejected just like evolution, Big Bang cosmology, plate tectonics, and anything else that seems to conflict with the preserved musings of bronze age nomads.

    Don't attack science and/or Atheism for rejecting robust theories. Atomism in Democritus' day was just a hunch -- it was another 2000 years before Galileo turned his telescope to the stars -- so rejecting it wasn't necessarily the wrong move, but rejecting it on philosophical and/or religious grounds is always the wrong reason to reject something. Proponents of a biblical worldview are notorious for rejecting plausible hypotheses, and later robust theories, for no reason other than the fact that it seems to conflict with the musings of those bronze age nomads...

    Yet, as unbelievable as that asinine claim may have been, you have even more preposterous assertions to make, as though it wasn't ad nominem to do so:

    [It is atheistic] thinking that has corrupted and now bankrupted [the U.S.] economy.

    You, sir, are bat-shit insane, and I mean that with all due respect.

    I truly hope you come back with some claim that I've taken you out of context. Indeed, I truly hope that this is true, even though your misguided statement says otherwise.

    I would love to hear just how you presume to support your bare assertion that Atheism is to blame for the U.S. economic meltdown (psst -- it's Capitalism, not Atheism).

    I'd think that even you could understand this, Dan -- the love of money is, after all, the root of all evil, right? Your Bush and his wrong-headed support of pure Capitalism is to blame for the crisis (and yes, there are many more than just Bush who are responsible, going back at least a century, if not much more than that -- he is just a convenient and worthy scapegoat).

    Really, Dan, that's low. That's lower than any of the many low tactics you've employed to date. Frankly, I'm appalled. Please explain to me exactly why you think it a reasonable assertion to claim that Atheism is in any way responsible for the current economic crisis. Please show us the overwhelming data you clearly hold which identifies the clear fact that the various CEOs, traders, brokerage firms, speculators, lenders, etc., were all god-hating atheists.

    How patently absurd.

    --
    Stan

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  9. Actually, Calvin and Hobbes were two philosophers.... and were considered to be two of the first 'open' atheists.... i'll give you this link....

    http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/candh.htm

    Have fun :)

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