I'm assuming that you're one of the three people on this site that has watched Galatica?

It would seem so. Alas, I have no gifs from Galactica.

We need to make it one of the fads on this site.

It's almost like your opinion matters!

In his defense, if there aren't any soldiers to take away your freedom you don't need any to protect it.

**wheresthefudge rolled a random image posted in comment #1071475 at Friendly ** Let us love this thing together!

No, I'm saying that, like most things, it's complicated.

Humans can be very weak creatures. A faith in a higher power can give them the strength of will required to do great things. What these things are depends on the person, whether it's a crusader slaughtering "heathens" or Mother Teresa. Like I said, it was the wonder at God's Creation that drove Kepler, and many other scientists, to try and understand it.

What I dislike is when people use God as their go-to answer when they don't know something, or us Him as a justification for hurting others. I also dislike it when organizations, like the church in some instances, take these two and combine them, saying, "God did it, and if you try to say different that's blasphemy and we'll hurt you."

As Socrates said, "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Religion is fine, until it refuses reason purely on the basis of faith.

Copernicus and Galileo were both criticized by the church for their theories on Heliocentrism, and Galileo was forced to officially recant his theories and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Isaac Newton contented himself with merely applying his theories of gravity to explaining how the planets moved without searching for the origin of that movement, believing it to be god's doing. Darwin's difficulty with the church is so present, even today, that it hardly needs to be mentioned; people who deny evolution despite massive evidence are very common. If you think that religion hasn't held anyone back from scientific progress, well, there's your disproof. And this is just drawing from your examples. Accusations of witchcraft and heresy were common reasons for the horrible degeneration of science during the Christian Medieval period in Europe.

I'm not saying that there's no value in religious belief. The same faith in God that kept Kepler from searching for the origins of planetary motion were what drove him to discover what the laws that governed Creation were. I'm just saying that faith, by definition, requires assumption of facts, and assuming anything in any way beyond hypothetically is dangerous in any scientific endeavor.

TL;DR: Religious people aren't necessarily bad, religious faith CAN drive people to advance, but it can also hinder them with false assumptions, and if your theory disagrees with the church they'll lock you in your house.

You're missing the point, and you are saying there's no value in religious beliefs.

No, I'm saying that, like most things, it's complicated.

Humans can be very weak creatures. A faith in a higher power can give them the strength of will required to do great things. What these things are depends on the person, whether it's a crusader slaughtering "heathens" or Mother Teresa. Like I said, it was the wonder at God's Creation that drove Kepler, and many other scientists, to try and understand it.

What I dislike is when people use God as their go-to answer when they don't know something, or us Him as a justification for hurting others. I also dislike it when organizations, like the church in some instances, take these two and combine them, saying, "God did it, and if you try to say different that's blasphemy and we'll hurt you."

As Socrates said, "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Religion is fine, until it refuses reason purely on the basis of faith.

While I understand what you are saying I think he was referring to the places that see science as a unholy western creation and only teach their religions. There aremany people who have changed modern science and have been religious. Religion doesn't hurt people, Tyrants hurt people.

True, but remember that institutions, like the Church, can be tyrannical, not just individuals.

Yup. Pretty much. They like me for my sardonic wit and near-brutal honesty.

Also my stunning good looks.

thanks, man

not necessarily. like i stated above, it is all biased on opinion of which you would rather call it.

In my experience, flea markets tend to be gatherings of many different vendors; whereas a thrift shop is run by only the one vendor. Most of the thrift shops I know of also work on a basis of donation, rather than flea markets in which vendors are either selling their own junk or things they have made.

Not where I'm from.

One is a market.

The other one, is a store.

The place where you're from is full of stupid people.

Well then I guess, according to you, Finland doesn't actually score second most points in all of the countries participating in PISA tests.

After all, we can't tell apart a thrift shop from a flea market, right?

But look, you can see at least 1 explosion in SA around 1940.