Let's raise a glass to Stephen Hawking, everyone!

[SolidGoldBrass]

I have admired him for ages anyway but he's just gone even further up in my estimation for not being afraid to point out once and for all the absurdity of belief in gods.

And may it settle all the silly imaginary-friend followers whose last ditch argument is 'Clever people than you rotten rationalists believe in my imaginary friend, so ner!'. Oh go on, just try to argue that you're smarter then Stephen Hawking...

Oh, and Penrose is famous for refusing to be drawn into theological arguments so I am not at all sure that he could be termed religious.

Anyhow, he has a book out shortly too so perhaps he will give an opinion.

if Penrose's book says God exists then it won't make the news

Yes, the more religion is undermined, the better. Push the abrahamic bullshit down to the level of those who believe in fairies pixies and feng shui and then religion will be in its proper place - a silly but harmless diversion for those who want it. Not the current toxic malevolent influence on humam progress it is at present.

Agree with SGB. However, science can never win in a debate with/against religion as religious nutters will always say "it's not about proof, it's about faith" Religion is NOT rational, religion is not logical - it's irrational and illogical and does not stand up to any form of debate.

Are all religious people "nutters" lal?

Anyone who stands up for the Enlightenment gets my vote. It's getting quite a battering at the moment!

"then religion will be in its proper place - a silly but harmless diversion for those who want it. Not the current toxic malevolent influence on humam progress it is at present."

the progressive butchers of communism thought the same. They hated religion and the church because it stood in the way of their butchery of the people.

also interesting to read that Hawking was brought up by a communist mother who didn't believe in religion.

Oh, that explains it then, claig - if he had been brought up properly...........!

look behind the curtain to see who is pulling the strings. Then you will understand why the media reports what it does, and why it omits to report what it does.

I've got a nice tinfoil hat somewhere claig - might help you sleep at night by keeping out the evil godless conspiracy's mind control rays...

SolidGoldBrass, I like a lot of your posts, because you think outside the box, you don't swallow the politically correct line on many issues. But on this one you are following the PC crowd.

So the strings are being pulled by communists??????

no communists are nobodies, just butchers, who have their strings pulled by other more powerful people. Their job is to enslave the people and eradicate all opposition for the sake of the people who really control the communists

In my gut I cannot believe in God - this is a vast universe and he seems such a construct of man.
In some respects I admire and, I suppose, envy those with religous conviction but we are here and then we die and that is that, Make the best of our short lives as we are but a succession of happy accidents.

I'm not interested in the politics of religion as that changes constantly. I feel that we can only choose this view individually. I know what side I'm on.

"people who really control the communists"

Who are they?

OOh, claig, is it the Illuminati? BTW the communists didn't replace religion, they just relabelled it - Leninism/Trotskyism became the state religion, it served all the same purposes (comforting the gullible, keeping the mob under control and justifying violence against unbelievers).

I thought he'd died when I saw the thread title.

the same people who funded Trotsky and helped Lenin get to power, the billionaire bankers and billionaire capitalists.

Whenever these threads come up, I always think there are a surprising number of believers on MN. More than you'd expect, given the 10% thing

No the strings are being pulled by money, the moeny that is required and cheap stories will still sell newspapers - there are very few stories out there that newspapers can buy, it is all the same headlines written in different ways and it is cheap and doomfull and pile it high.

I doubt though that Dacre or Murdoch really care either way as long as it gets the money rolling in however that maybe, the bbc just wants hits and ratings and will buy the few cheap stories out there to buy

yes Leninism/Trotskyism is a religion, a religion of death and slavery. The communists were like a drug gang who wanted to get rid of their religious rivals, the church. The Nazis were also a socialist movement like the communists, which is why they like two drug gangs they were sworn enemies.

ivykaty44, you are right, it is money that rules. The billionaires control all of the major organs of power, many MPs are just "cabs for hire". But billionaires already have more money than they need, they are beyond money, what they care about is power. They use their money to exercise power and they use the power to influence people and carry out their policies.

ooh crap. We are supposed to see SH as a news-breaker? He is nothing of the sort, and utterly fails to see the human conditions of 'faith' and 'attachments'. You don't have to be really clever to see the poverty of his views..but you do have to be easily swayed by a desire to be convinced by an empty and forlorn view of the human existence. Good on some stuff. Hopeless on others.

Hmm I wouldn't have quite put it like that, possibly the few elections where murdock is established are won to his satifsfaction but power isn't always achieved with honour, it isn't for powers sake but for power they just get what they want and make more money.

But that isn't the case with these two particulars as they are as far away from communism as you could possibly get

fascist though not socialist

I always thought the 10% was the amount of public in religious houses, whereas if you interview the british public apparently more are spiritual than religious - so I am lead to believe