@altschmerz I would think that politics precedes religion, other than individual "transcendent" experiences, The socialization of those individual senses, through politics would seem the creator of organized religion.

@altschmerz
No atheist in high office, very little Godlike action neither, plenty of good hypocritics.

Being a white man, maybe I would ride on that dragon.

@altschmerz, @Castlepaloma <img src="[scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.net]; alt="No photo description available."/>

@altschmerz

Exactly. Wash my butt and ears, Mommy. Not my brain. Bad Mommy. You so bad, Mommy.

By coincidence, this is the first time I've noted your presence here, being relatively new. the coincidence is that I am in the midst of reading "Beowulf.!"

@BirdMan1 enjoy. One of my favorites.

@BirdMan1 I like Seamus Healy's translation of Beowulf. It is newish, early 90's. There are many. Once you've conquered the story, try Grendel by John Gardener for a new twist - told from Grendel's POV.

@Beowulfsfriend I finished J.R.R.Tolkien's translation today. I expect that I will, indeed, seek out Healy's version, as well as Gardener's version. Tolkien wrote a story, of his own, "...suggesting what might have been the form an style an Old English folktale of Beowulf." Tolkien finished his translation in 1926, and his son edited the work and the book.
Tolkien also wrote two songs, or lays, of Beowulf, that are quite charming, if a bit gory, included at the end of the book.

I am an atheist because I do not believe any gods exist. I don't claim to have all of the knowledge of the universe.

@altschmerz Except for natural law, which is uniformly constant.
Every quark, every molecule, every animal--including man--follows it. No exceptions.

@altschmerz, @Joanne Neither do I.
But you DO claim to "know" there is no god by any definition, which is a LOT to know!

It's a very moving piece. Kinda makes you want to adopt him, doesn't it? I mean that in the way this site appears to do that; everyone sort-of adopting everyone else on their journey into something more rational.

I find the SHOUTY CAPS COMMENTS a little hard on my autism, but I do persevere, just to see what that clearly irate individual is saying. The antichrist thing is more of the "you're either for God or for Satan" codshit. No, genius, I'm for neither, since they're both bunk. In the latter's case, most likely bunk created to discredit the pagan god of fertility, the former's case being more complex than I can articulate in one short reply.

If you've read anything about Thomas Jefferson, it also puts me in mind of that. Essentially, when he was younger, he came to the conclusion that praying did sod-all, then he decided to go through the Bible and cut out all the horse hockey. I amused myself reading that at the time, imagining him with his pencil going "That's codshit. That's codshit too. WTF is THAT? Okay, that bit's quite nice. That bit's sound advice. Codshit... codshit... yeah, do unto others, that one's good... codshit... codshit..." and so forth.

Pascal's Wager reminds me of Bertrand Russell, who spent the last seventeen years of his life about 22 miles from where I'm sat right now. If memory serves, when asked about dissing the Almighty, his response was something like "Why would I do that? I might be wrong."

N.B. I'm with George on another point: I think I might start worshipping Joe Pesci. Maybe he'll come and sort out that smack dealer they've let out of prison and back into the flat opposite, for all his customers to come around night and day shouting my name in the square (his real name and my real name are the same).

@altschmerz Yes, I'm Type-1 autistic, formerly known as Asperger's Syndrome, but that doesn't begin to cover my spots on the spectrum. A fair bit of ADHD too, which I'm assured by a geneticist isn't autism but is neurodivergent. Different markers. Got my diagnosis at 47. No.1 Son got his at 7; made a lot of difference. Long, boring story I won't write here, not least of which because it's part of something I'm writing for myself.

It's not loud noises per se with me. People honking their horns illegally outside my window (or anywhere) grips my shit, depending on how loud and persistent it is. Certain frequencies don't agree with me. Certain combinations of numbers or patterns do or don't do my head in. Egregious claptrap presented as fact without anything to support it, which is one reason I'm here. I don't mind anecdotal evidence per se, it's the idea that there are things science cannot explain. No, there are things science hasn't explained, and that's not remotely the same thing.

@altschmerz It's all about coping mechanisms. I've raised a son with autism too, and over the years, had more and more conversations with him as he's got older, and with my twin sister and elder sister too. As our own understanding of how it affects us specifically and others in general increases, on we go.

@altschmerz Exactly. And there are many better substitutes for a community than churches.