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I have just started reading Bertrand Russell's essay "Why I am not a Christian". I like his dry sense of humour.

anglophone 9 Apr 17
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You may find this short video of Lotd Russell most stimulating

Thanks for the link. 🙂

I am still ploughing my way through that video. His looking to mathematics for truth strikes me as interesting. The idea of virtue as being of supreme importance strikes me as being extremely repulsive. One thing that strikes me is that howsoever much I might agree or disagree with him, at least he thought about things that matter to many people. I can go with his emphasis on clarity of thought. The likes of Islamic State did not exist when this recording was made. I am taken by his acknowledgement of the wide health and wealth gap that existed even in his own time. His crystal ball about China's dominance of the world was wonderful. I value his value of doubt.

One of the things that strikes me is his clarity of thought, even if I disagree with some of his prognistications.

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Read him around age 11, he formed my non-beliefs & developed my critical thinking skills. Love him!

Ah yes, critical thinking skills, which skills seem to be even less common than common sense.

@anglophone sadly true......

Yes, Tyson is great and an excellent educator who teaches trhe crucial importance of critical thinking. Bizarrely enough, in the video he states he is not happy about being labeled as an atheist because he knows many atheists who are “activists” whereas he had no time and energy to delve in endless discussions. A greater truth is that there are many more atheists around the world who are not activists at all. Indeed these activists are not vocal at all as it would be very imprudent to publicly and even privately question the very existence of gods like Jesus and Allah . Further, there are millions of activists on Scandinavian countries and in China who are atheists as a matter of course and can hardly be described as crusaders against god. The presence of active atheists in USA does not justify labeling atheists as activities. USA is not the world.

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We’re recommended a lot of such literature around here, that’s great! Suppose Madalyn O’Hair and her son, Jon, influenced me.. But whenever I look into Atheist writings, I’m either quick to anger, or boredom. No convincing needed … but glad they’re there ~

Varn Level 8 Apr 17, 2020
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A quick reference for Bertrand Russell under agnosticism on wikipedia.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Word Level 8 Apr 17, 2020

Thanks. You have saved me some effort. 🙂

P.S. I find it informative that he uses the word "prove" in his 1947 pamphlet in the light of today's understanding of the Scientific Method in which the idea of proof does not exist, and all we have is the weight of evidence.

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He is a gifted writer, isn't he!

That was one of the first things I read, when I left religion. It helped immensely.

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