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We should check the thought of atheists as they matured

 
 
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 12:27 pm
Someone on here quoted G B Shaw but in ignorance of his more mature beliefs

In the 1890s, Shaw repudiated atheism. In his 1931 play, "Too True to be Good," One of Shaw's characters delivers a speech sometimes taken to be Shaw's own view:

“ THE ELDER [rising impulsively] Determinism is gone, shattered, buried with a thousand dead religions, evaporated with the clouds of a million forgotten winters. The science I pinned my faith to is bankrupt: its tales were more foolish than all the miracles of the priests, its cruelties more horrible than all the atrocities of the Inquisition. Its spread of enlightenment has been a spread of cancer: its counsels that were to have established the millennium have led straight to European suicide. And I—I who believed in it as no religious fanatic has ever believed in his superstition! For its sake I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now look at me and behold the supreme tragedy of the atheist who has lost his faith—his faith in atheism, for which more martyrs have perished than for all the creeds put together. ”
 
chai2
 
  4  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 12:30 pm
@AugustineBrother,
While we're doing that, it would be only fair to check the thoughts of theists as they matured.
edgarblythe
 
  5  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 12:32 pm
Some people don't mature.
0 Replies
 
Finn dAbuzz
 
  4  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 06:18 pm
@AugustineBrother,
To you and all the other folks creating threads about atheists and atheism:

Your faith is weak if you have to constantly argue against those who don't share it.

thack45
 
  1  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 06:27 pm
@chai2,
Charles Templeton comes to mind..
0 Replies
 
thack45
 
  2  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 07:18 pm
@AugustineBrother,
Continuing..

But in renouncing materialism, Shaw did not embrace theism, but Nietzschean "Vitalism." Shaw proselytized a mystical "Life Force," which he regarded as an impersonal "will" manifested in the sex drive and evolution, leading toward the development of god in the form of a Nietzschean "Superman." In a 1907 lay sermon at Kensington Town Hall in London, Shaw exhorted:

“ When you are asked, "Where is God? Who is God?" stand up and say, "I am God and here is God, not as yet completed, but still advancing towards completion, just in so much as I am working for the purpose of the universe, working for the good of the whole of society and the whole world, instead of merely looking after my personal ends."
"In truth, Shaw didn’t believe in an existing God at all," concludes Gary Sloan. "What he believed was that evolution, eons hence, will produce a godlike race in which the life force will consummate its quest for godhead."

http://www.conservapedia.com/George_Bernard_Shaw
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Mon 18 Jul, 2016 09:17 pm
@thack45,
What edgarblythe said.
0 Replies
 
AugustineBrother
 
  -1  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:09 am
@thack45,
Seems to me he is far more on the theist side than the atheist. After he did publicly renounce his former atheism....and started on things like the following

"Shaw's renunciation of Atheism was accompanied by sallies against scientific materialism. By undermining teleological conceptions of the cosmos, science eviscerated joy and hope: "If there is no purpose or design in the universe," Shaw told an audience, "the sooner we all cut our throats the better, for it is not much of a place to live in." At a toast to Einstein in 1930, Shaw polarized science and religion: "Religion gives us certainty, stability, peace. It gives us absolutes which we long for. Science is always wrong and never solves a problem without raising ten more problems.""
ehBeth
 
  2  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:18 am
@AugustineBrother,
You're missing some important details in that Shaw misquote.

You need to look at the original source - not look in a book that has left significant details out.
AugustineBrother
 
  0  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:28 am
@ehBeth,
Which you don't supply -- but then details, source and significance are defined by you. Sorry, I stick by it. And GB Shaw's closest professional sparring partner Chesterton had the same view of him.
AugustineBrother
 
  -1  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:29 am
@Finn dAbuzz,
Where is the emphasis in that sloppy conclusion with no premises? Is it 'if you HAVE TO"? because I don't have to.
0 Replies
 
AugustineBrother
 
  -2  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:30 am
@chai2,
Again you miss the point. IF you say that one has only arrived at truth if he is an atheist then you discard reason. The statements about atheists do not depend on anything else for their validity.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  2  
Wed 20 Jul, 2016 10:35 am
@AugustineBrother,
Find the original source.

It took me about 45 seconds in google books.

You're not sourcing your information well.
0 Replies
 
AugustineBrother
 
  1  
Tue 9 Aug, 2016 04:00 pm
@chai2,
Fair to what ? there was no point being made except the one I made.
0 Replies
 
AugustineBrother
 
  1  
Tue 9 Aug, 2016 04:01 pm
@Finn dAbuzz,
I guess people don't share your faith in that approach.
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Tue 9 Aug, 2016 04:25 pm
@AugustineBrother,
Shaw's opinion,
Quote:
Shaw, "the sooner we all cut our throats the better, for it is not much of a place to live in."


Is a shallow mind who speaks for himself without considering how rich most people's lives are. This world is a fascinating place not only by viewing its history, but to travel and see amazing sites, other cultures and countries, and to meet its people. There are books and videos for people who cannot travel.
0 Replies
 
 

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