*religion *controversy
Hmph, almost never see those two words together...

Adding video to channels (Controversy, Religion) - requested by MrFisk.

You might as well say "Human beings are the root of all evil" religion and religious thought is so intertwined with our species it's probably related to language in that there's a genetic predisposition for it.

I like him. But I think it's dense to imagine religion as being the root of all evil. Religion is a fabrication of man, and has to be a consequence of something else. It's the inadequacy of the human creature which is the root of all evil, filtering into the world through various delightful minty flavours.

this interviewer is terrible.

CNN is just junk these days. It's like a parody of a parody of a parody of a news channel.

President Ventura. I don't know about you, but I like it.

Does Don Lemon know he's gay?

..and really dumb.

Let's go to Twitter!...for a completely pointless statement. God, journalism is dead.

I can't believe that CNN kid acted so dumbfounded at Ventura's statement. Ventura isn't exactly the first person to declare that religion sucks or that the muslims should be allowed to build the mosque.

I'm surprised he didn't pull a Keanu and go "whoa!"

Colorful truther fool.

>> ^Gallowflak:

I like him. But I think it's dense to imagine religion as being the root of all evil. Religion is a fabrication of man, and has to be a consequence of something else. It's the inadequacy of the human creature which is the root of all evil, filtering into the world through various delightful minty flavours.

Agreed. Christopher Hitchens put it with characteristic bluntness when he spoke of the inherent shortcomings of human beings.

"This kind of theocratic fascism will never die because we belong to a very poorly-evolved mammarian species. I'm a complete materialist in that sense. We're stuck with being the product of a very sluggish evolution. Our pre-frontal lobes are too small and our adrenaline glands are too big. Our fear of the dark and of death is very intense, and people will always be able to profit from that."

-Interview with Johann Hari, 2004

I love Jesse. I have issue with his 9/11 bullshit, but really I'm willing to push past that if he's at least going to ask good questions.

Agree with Ponce above ^. I agree with Jesse that religion is the root of all evil, he's spot on. But he really starts denting his credibility with all the conspiracy theories.

"I ain't got time to b'lieve!"

Ditto to the above comments about loving Jessie while at the same time cringing a bit with some of his conspiracy stuff. I'm sure there are plenty of conspiracies out there that are true, (for example, while I'm not saying I know it to be true, I could imagine the anthrax attacks following 9/11 to be a conspiracy), but the 9/11 one is just a bit much to swallow.

I don't know if Religion is the "root of ALL evil" but it's certainly up there with Greed.

/sarcasm>> ^MrFisk:

religion controversy
Hmph, almost never see those two words together...

Hey, Sifters? I have a problem with you.

As most of you probably know by now, I'm a staunch anti-theist, and yet:

- Religion is not the root of all evil.
- Nothing is and nothing could ever be the "root of all evil". (Dawkins' words (paraphrased), not mine)
- To say that religion is the root of all evil is impossibly immature, it alienates the moderates and does not help the causes of rationality and science in the slightest, and Sifters ought to know by now that it's mostly extremists that see the world in black and white.
- Jesse Ventura is a paranoid conspiracy nut that just happens to have been influenced by someone to add religion to one of the batshit-insane ideas he subscribes to (Alex Jones, I'm looking at you).

Here's a couple of things Mr.Ventura believes in, via reddit:

* He thinks the Bilderberg Group controls the world and is looking to thin out the population through disease and vaccines. Also, they're going to KILL HIM, apparently.
* He thinks there's a weapon in Alaska that can change the weather, shoot down satellites or trigger global mind control.
* He thinks we're all gonna die in 2012 (except for the elite few who get to hide in bunkers).
* He thinks Big Brother is real.
* He thinks 9/11 was an inside job.

So please, don't upvote Jesse Ventura just because he happens to identify as an atheist, because his reasoning is inherently flawed. His view of the world is more similar to that of Jenny McCarthy rather than, say, Christopher Hitchens. You do upvote QualiaSoup's amazing videos because of his rational explanations of how one arrives at his beliefs (or lack thereof), don't you? So please, don't tolerate Ventura's 9/11 theories, just because he "bashes religion" - next time you see a clip of him venting, evaluate his line of thought and THEN cast a vote accordingly.

Who's this douchebag interviewer? He should find another career.

I love Jesse for his frankness and especially for his oft insights into politics; state and national. His conspiracy show at the beginning had me hoping it would turn into another "Mythbusters" or similar type program. Instead it makes him out to seemingly have a Paranoid Schizophrenic personality.

I'd also wager a guess that evil is merely a side effect of our fight or flight system dealing with an unknown variable. Labeling the unknown with attributes it doesn't have and then using previous ethos, culture, and knowledge to help with other miscellaneous information (dreams, etc...); these attributions to the unknown can create a myopic view that it is responsible for most of the "evil". Religion itself is the same process compounded till it becomes a large scale ethos (making Jesse partially right).

Fear of the unknown is evil. It's the nighttime while our ancestors slept in the trees. It's when we are not in a group. It's when we run into a situation that has unknowns. When any of these situations go wrong, a perception is created. Mis-identification further makes it worse.

In the end evil is merely the misunderstood, change and the unknown. Also, the comparative difference between one object/culture/religion and many more...

"They" would never let that happen -Can you say "Assassination!" (Just ask JFK - oh, right, ya can't)

>> ^probie:

President Ventura. I don't know about you, but I like it.

*dead

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