(Source: fuckyeahreligionpigeon)
I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals. Being at one with nature.
Mikhail Gorbachev (via cosmic-storm)
Conceive of God in terms of universal Nature—a nature God in whom we really live and move and have our being, with who our relation is as intimate and constant as that of the babe in its mother’s womb, or the apple upon the bough. This is the God that science and reason reveal to us—the God we touch with our hands, see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and from whom there is no escape, who is, indeed, from everlasting to everlasting.
~ John Burroughs (via flowerchild7723)
(Source: theogonic-symphonic-tragedy)
This is what it feels like being an atheist arguing with a christian about god.
(Source: atheism-shitthatblows)
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Marcus Aurelius
Sunday. I think this is my least favorite day of the week now.
I’m tired of hearing “We are nothing. We deserve hell. God is holy, infinite, beautiful, majestic, all-knowing, all-powerful…” yadayadayada.
Well then why doesn’t God just strike us all dead and send us off to hell if our mere existence blasphemes his name? I’m sorry, but yes I value a human life over an imaginary deity. I value what exists in front of me. Not your violent and disturbing picture of a god.
(Source: religiousfails)
God I’m in a dark mood today.
boom.
burrrrn
from the Global Secular Humanist Movement
How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant’? Instead they say, ‘No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.’ A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
Carl Sagan — Pale Blue Dot
(via cwnl)
This. I couldn’t stand hearing this christian philosopher on the radio speaking about how the universe made him feel awe and wonder for how great GOD is…. -.-
(Source: ikenbot)
![cwnl:
Unity Between Science & Religion: The Logical Way
Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama found deep connections in [1991-92] meetings, says Sagan’s widow
Religion and science do not have to be at odds. Science, said Ann Druyan, widow of Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan, can communicate with, learn from and even benefit from religion and vice versa.
Druyan, a writer and media producer who collaborated with Sagan for 19 years until his death in 1996, reflected on dialogues in the early 1990s between Sagan and the Dalai Lama at a Sept. 28 lecture in Anabel Taylor Auditorium. For the first time, film excerpts of the meeting between the two were shown in a public venue.
Sagan, Cornell professor and author of “Cosmos,” “Contact” and “Dragons of Eden,” among other books, was perhaps best known for his extraordinary ability to communicate science to the public. “He wanted to share with everyone the wonder and awe that science inspired in him,” Druyan said.
She stressed that there were political motivations behind Sagan’s work as well: “Carl believed that you can’t have a democratic society if you have a tiny scientific elite and a public who is uncomfortable with the methods and language of science,” she said.
Sagan entered the public eye in the 1960s — a time rife with changes in both culture and thought. The Catholic church had just switched from giving masses in Latin to local languages so that everyone could understand them, and Druyan said Sagan was trying to do the same for science.
The Dalai Lama, who has had a lifelong interest in science, first met with Sagan during a visit to Ithaca in 1991. Their discussion continued in India the following year, where the Dalai Lama cleared his calendar to spend a full day talking with Sagan and Druyan.
Robert Barker/University Photography
On Sept. 28 at Cornell, Ann Druyan, writer and media producer and widow of the late Carl Sagan, reflected on conversations Sagan had with the Dalai Lama on science and religion in the early 1990s.
In the short segment shown of their conversations, Sagan asked the Dalai Lama about his beliefs in God and what he as a Buddhist would do if a discovery in science conflicted with Buddhist doctrine. The Dalai Lama replied that even Buddha was said to question his teachings and that Buddhists rely on doctrine as “findings” rather than as “scripture.”
“If through thorough investigation things become clear, only then is it time to accept and believe,” he said.
“So is there no conceivable scientific finding that would make you no longer consider yourself a Buddhist?” Sagan responded.
The Dalai Lama said there would be no point at which his spirituality and his respect for science would come at such odds with each other. “Buddhism is not so much a religion, but a ‘science of the mind’ or an ‘inner science’ … there is much benefit to learning from [scientists’] findings,” he explained.
Regarding the contributions of religion to science, Druyan said that while science has developed an amazing library of facts, it does not have the human social organization and the ability to inspire that religion has. That’s why we have lost that magical excitement with space exploration that the world once shared, she said.
What science needs are more ambassadors. “We don’t have a Carl Sagan right now,” she said — a well-informed, ethical and passionate leader, versed in the arts and sciences, concerned about the planet yet willing to “get into any kind of trouble for the sake of the human future.”
Druyan’s lecture was one of many events on campus prefacing the Dalai Lama’s Oct. 9 visit to Cornell. Many of the ideas she discussed are put forth in Sagan’s latest book, “The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God,” which she edited.
Graduate student Melissa Rice is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.
Via: Cornell University
I have enormous respect for Buddhists. o.o](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lin3ajt2nv1qbn5m1o1_1280.jpg)
cwnl:
Unity Between Science & Religion: The Logical Way
Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama found deep connections in [1991-92] meetings, says Sagan’s widow
Religion and science do not have to be at odds. Science, said Ann Druyan, widow of Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan, can communicate with, learn from and even benefit from religion and vice versa.
Druyan, a writer and media producer who collaborated with Sagan for 19 years until his death in 1996, reflected on dialogues in the early 1990s between Sagan and the Dalai Lama at a Sept. 28 lecture in Anabel Taylor Auditorium. For the first time, film excerpts of the meeting between the two were shown in a public venue.
Sagan, Cornell professor and author of “Cosmos,” “Contact” and “Dragons of Eden,” among other books, was perhaps best known for his extraordinary ability to communicate science to the public. “He wanted to share with everyone the wonder and awe that science inspired in him,” Druyan said.
She stressed that there were political motivations behind Sagan’s work as well: “Carl believed that you can’t have a democratic society if you have a tiny scientific elite and a public who is uncomfortable with the methods and language of science,” she said.
Sagan entered the public eye in the 1960s — a time rife with changes in both culture and thought. The Catholic church had just switched from giving masses in Latin to local languages so that everyone could understand them, and Druyan said Sagan was trying to do the same for science.
The Dalai Lama, who has had a lifelong interest in science, first met with Sagan during a visit to Ithaca in 1991. Their discussion continued in India the following year, where the Dalai Lama cleared his calendar to spend a full day talking with Sagan and Druyan.
Robert Barker/University Photography
On Sept. 28 at Cornell, Ann Druyan, writer and media producer and widow of the late Carl Sagan, reflected on conversations Sagan had with the Dalai Lama on science and religion in the early 1990s.
In the short segment shown of their conversations, Sagan asked the Dalai Lama about his beliefs in God and what he as a Buddhist would do if a discovery in science conflicted with Buddhist doctrine. The Dalai Lama replied that even Buddha was said to question his teachings and that Buddhists rely on doctrine as “findings” rather than as “scripture.”
“If through thorough investigation things become clear, only then is it time to accept and believe,” he said.
“So is there no conceivable scientific finding that would make you no longer consider yourself a Buddhist?” Sagan responded.
The Dalai Lama said there would be no point at which his spirituality and his respect for science would come at such odds with each other. “Buddhism is not so much a religion, but a ‘science of the mind’ or an ‘inner science’ … there is much benefit to learning from [scientists’] findings,” he explained.
Regarding the contributions of religion to science, Druyan said that while science has developed an amazing library of facts, it does not have the human social organization and the ability to inspire that religion has. That’s why we have lost that magical excitement with space exploration that the world once shared, she said.
What science needs are more ambassadors. “We don’t have a Carl Sagan right now,” she said — a well-informed, ethical and passionate leader, versed in the arts and sciences, concerned about the planet yet willing to “get into any kind of trouble for the sake of the human future.”
Druyan’s lecture was one of many events on campus prefacing the Dalai Lama’s Oct. 9 visit to Cornell. Many of the ideas she discussed are put forth in Sagan’s latest book, “The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God,” which she edited.
Graduate student Melissa Rice is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.
Via: Cornell University
I have enormous respect for Buddhists. o.o
(Source: ikenbot)
Tebow seriously pisses me off. Almost as much as his belligerent uber-Christian fans.
-Jess
(Source: thedailymeme)
We must question the story of logic of having an all-knowing, all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.
Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991)
(Source: xrypticatheist)
Between me and someone i know IRL
Anonymous: But she's just really concerned for your soul. It's what we do when we see people drowning. They are also praying on your behalf. It's how they show love. You should put yourself in their shoes and try to understand.Me: But I am NOT drowning. I am fine. And I understand very well. It's not real love. They're doing it out of obedience to the bible. Not because they're my friends. Also, I have already found truth. How many times am I going to repeat myself about this?
Anonymous: No what the church believes in is the truth. What she told you is the truth. God is truth.
Me: Why are you talking like this? You are a fairly rational person but whenever there's an issue that involves the church you become an irrational fanatic.
Anonymous: Because they are my family and I care.
Me: *stunned*... So what am I to you? Would you seriously choose them over me? ....(silence)... You know what? You can believe whatever you want but stop trying to convert me. And I want them to stop too. I still haven't changed my mind and I doubt I ever will.
Anonymous: Well you can't really stop me... it really really pains me that you have lost your faith. You don't know how much pain this is putting me through. *starts tearing a little*
Me: ....... *tears*
