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Fri 20 Feb, 2004 12:08 pm
Admittedly I'm a little nuts when it comes to horoscopes but ...
Okay, so I just got the new RoadRunner homepage up and there on the top tool bar are the usual Stocks Weather WebMail buttons and one entitled Horoscopes. Now admittedly, I am a little crazed when someone talks horoscopes to me, I have long time friends who actually make a living at --what is it casting or forecasting?-- horoscopes, but I find them to be an example of pseudoscience, a fraud delivered upon the semi-brain-dead public as entertainment. They are not entertainment. They are hoo-doos, bugaboos and fakerys. They mislead people everyday into thinking that their lives are somehow predictable based on the when and where of their birth. Right. Bolshoi!
Okay, now you know how I feel, so I click around the site looking for the delete button for the Horoscope button...... nope, ain't one.
I email tech support...... answer..... you can't delete it. So now if I'm going to use the damned page as a homepage (and it's a pretty good one other than that) I have to stare at the Horoscope button every time.)
So my question is, if I take a breath, whatyah think? Are horoscopes religion? If they are shouldn't there also be buttons labled ClikaCatholic, ClickaChristian and ClikaJew?
(sigh)
Joe
I hate astrology. It sounds like astronomy, and too many people (far *too* many) don't know the difference. It's a very poor reflection on the critical thinking skills of the population, and on our education system.
Some people use it for entertainment, and that seems fine, but many people are believers, and that's just sad.
Joe Nation- I find it a kind of amusement, not important enough to take any serious notice. The only problem is, that some people DO take it at face value, and believe it.
If one thinks of astrology in terms of it being anti-rational and anti-science, I suppose that you could say it is a primitive form of a small piece of a religion. It is nowhere near as encompassing and codified as other religions, though.
rosborne979 wrote:I hate astrology. It sounds like astronomy, and too many people (far *too* many) don't know the difference. It's a very poor reflection on the critical thinking skills of the population, and on our education system.
Some people use it for entertainment, and that seems fine, but many people are believers, and that's just sad.
I think astrology is a science.
A science of double speak. Just messin' with ya.
IMO, anything can be a religion. Some people probably do take horoscopes to that level.
Kinda sucks that you can't even customize the homepage enough to have what you want and what you don't on it. Boo-hiss on RoadRunner.
If someone can show how astrology is a science (that is that it can be used as a system to discover, by way of hypotheses, experiment, observation and theorem, demonstrable truths.) I will eat a NY Yankee ballcap in Times Square on opening day in front of the EarthCam at 46th Street.
I can show that it has double speak down to a fine science... will you eat a cap?
Mmmmm.
double speak down to a science......
no, that's not astrology,
that's the President's Council of Economic Advisors...........
They are superstition, not religion. The belief in horoscopes does not include (as far as I know) a belief in a g-d or g-ds.
I see some folk to whom it appears as compelling as a religion.
I think of it as a superstition, because it deals with predictions of future events, but since it is based on non-supernatural elements (the position of the stars, the planets, etc.), then I'd have to say that at it's core, it is rooted in science. The fact that it is a complete bunch of crap doesn't change that. Therefore I'd have to say it is not a religion in the sense that it has nothing to do with a supernatural being or entity. Does that make any sense at all?
Joe, that depends on when you want it to have been a science. Certainly prior to the 19th century it was. Would you like some picante sauce?
Since I am eating in the present day it would have to be a science in the present day.
I don't think a belief has to be connected to a god to be a religion, there's plenty of historical instances of people worshiping rocks including a couple of freakos down on Bleeker Street every weekend who sell crystals with special powers. Here rube, here tourista, here my little mark-mark....
There are still people who will debate this issue and claim it as science, however, I think that most people view horoscopes as amusing. I can't understand why anyone would follow them religiously...unless their reasoning is that astrology will make all their decisions for them.
Well if Reagan used a horoscope, doesn't that make it.......crap?
I have heard that very well educated and successful people read their horoscopes everyday. Hmmm......maybe that's why I never made it big time.
so joe, how about a little friendly game of 5 card Tarot, pentacles wild, just us Theosophists and a Catholic or 2? we can make it low stakes and 3 raise the devils per hand.
I went for option four.
Quote:Main Entry: re·li·gion
Pronunciation: ri-'li-j&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
There are certainly people out there for whom astrology fits this definition.
It's very fuzzy, feelgood, kinda stuff though hence option four.
I think you can make just about anything into a religion, Joe.
I have a friend who won't get out of bed, won't leave the house, and won't plan anything without checking the Weather Channel. He believes it completely, lives by it, and tries to convince others of its infallibility, too. It rules his life. For him, it has become a religion, complete with daily rituals.
I agree with Eva, Joe. I think you're going to have give us your definition of religion if you really want an answer to this.
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