Poll: Dilemma Time, would you burn a book ?

[rokkolpo]

Unless the book is my religion.

Note that I don't have a religion but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't destroy something I believed in.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Without question. My life is worth considerably more than a book of lies, myths, bland advice and most likely a good amount of petty hatred.

How many of these books have you read ?

3

The Bible, The Qur'an and the Bhagavad Gita.

Sorry if you were expecting me to go "Herp derp, I skimmed through the old testament once".

And honestly my point still stands affirmed if these books were nothing but loving grace, wisdom and truth - My life is worth more. Pity that no holy book i've ever read could be described thusly.

May I suggest the Tao te Ching, I hear good things about it.

 

[Mark Hardigan]

I am against burning any type of book, whether you agree with its message or not. I would be a hypocrite if I burned a book just to save my own life. Unless it was Twilight. In which case, **** my principles.

 

[Ewyx]

There's no reason for the book to exist, if I don't exist. Without me living, the existence of the book is pointless. Actually, in both cases, the book won't exist from my perspective.

 

[Grospoliner]

I would burn all "holy books" in a heart beat and force humanity to accept responsibility and accountability for its actions.

 

[varulfic]

I'm not gonna kill myself over some goddamn book, especially not the book of a dead religion. And I'm calling bullshit on every single one of you who answered "no". You would honestly die, so a book could live? I wouldn't presume to call you all liars, but... oh wait, yes I would, you LIARS!

How would I even end up in that situation anyway? I really have a problem with philosophical hypotheticals that have no grounding in reality at all.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

I know this is already a thread but it got me to think.
Would you burn the last copy of a holy book to save your own life or die knowing that you saved a part of human culture and history from being lost forever ?

It shouldn't matter which religion you save, one religion has just as much right to endure as the next.

Funny. After the Muslim fundie lunatics murdered those people in retaliation for the Christian fundie lunatic in Florida burning a copy of the Koran, some douche talking head on a radio show asked a similar question: is a book worth more than a human life?

I would take issue with your last assertion: Shintoism, Buddhism and the Hare Krishna faith do not have a thorough history of war and civil rights violations, whereas Christianity and Islam do. Though I am aware that much of these offenses involved humankind's interpretation of these these religions, based on this more eastern religions have a greater right to be here.

I would absolutely not die for a religious book. Maybe something of greater value, such as The Republic, (my dying words would be "You have to tough it out at first...it gets better) but never a work of mysticism / epistemological nihilism.

Let me just say that every faith has been used to justify murder and war.
Beliefs are not evil, people do evil things.
I'd rather fall asleep next to a Quran than I would a muslim, even is she's really hot.

 

[Kakujin]

Nothing makes me, or my children unique or special at least not by default. But the same thing is true about the stories in religious books. Who is to say that those stories are more special than any other.
I did not say it would not be tragic for some, but how many works of art have not already been lost forever and forgotten about, or never completed at all? Life would go on and new masterpieces would be created and studied for generations to come.
Not that I am sure of what this has to do with anything, but I would never hunt down and kill people for the sake of my children, but I would defend them against any attack, no matter how many I would have to kill. That which is mine will always be more important to me, than anyone else.

So to be harsh, ultimately the only thing of value to you is your own life and that of your family.
Fair enough, it's hard to argue with that reasoning.

I find it interesting that that side of the story, which you brought in all on your own, is now the only argument that gets a response. Then let me ask you something back, would you kill everyone you love and care about to save the Mona Lisa?

That's assuming I have loved ones or people I care about.
No, I would happily burn the Mona Lisa.
You should know that I was the first "yes I would burn the book" vote in my poll.
I just argued with you to understand your value system better.
You don't care about people over culture, you care about your life over culture.
Would you still burn the book if it was a stranger's life you'd save ?

Yes I care about my life over culture, but I am impressed that you from that would conclude that I don't value people over culture, because I do. Like I said in my second post, human culture springs from humans. Therefore it can never be right to sacrifice a human for the sake of culture. Thus, of course I would burn the book to save a stranger, I would burn that book to save someone I hate, because a human life will always be worth more than culture to me.

 

[Woodsey]

As you all know, I am very deeply religious, and I would ne-

Yeah, fuck it. OF COURSE!

 

[varulfic]

36% of the poll say they would sacrifice their own lives to save a book. I'm guessing 90% of them voted before reading the OP, and the others are LIAAAAARS!

 

[Ice Car]

Depends on the religion. I normally hate quite a few religions but won't name them.

I voted to eat the book because I always eat books. Theyz are diliciouz

 

[funguy2121]

I know this is already a thread but it got me to think.
Would you burn the last copy of a holy book to save your own life or die knowing that you saved a part of human culture and history from being lost forever ?

It shouldn't matter which religion you save, one religion has just as much right to endure as the next.

Funny. After the Muslim fundie lunatics murdered those people in retaliation for the Christian fundie lunatic in Florida burning a copy of the Koran, some douche talking head on a radio show asked a similar question: is a book worth more than a human life?

I would take issue with your last assertion: Shintoism, Buddhism and the Hare Krishna faith do not have a thorough history of war and civil rights violations, whereas Christianity and Islam do. Though I am aware that much of these offenses involved humankind's interpretation of these these religions, based on this more eastern religions have a greater right to be here.

I would absolutely not die for a religious book. Maybe something of greater value, such as The Republic, (my dying words would be "You have to tough it out at first...it gets better) but never a work of mysticism / epistemological nihilism.

Let me just say that every faith has been used to justify murder and war.
Beliefs are not evil, people do evil things.
I'd rather fall asleep next to a Quran than I would a muslim, even is she's really hot.

Well, perhaps you have some insight that I lack. Can you cite or source some examples of murder and war being justified by Buddhism?

I don't understand why you'd rather fall asleep next to the Quran than a hot Muslim woman. Is it because you're not going to get anywhere with her anyway?

 

[Gincairn]

As an athiest, I'd have no problem with it, you could say it would mean the loss of a religious text that has shaped mankind, but at the same point, all religious texts were written by man, give it enough time and i'm sure another one would get written.
And on that day, I'd have my lighter ready.

So you would destroy something that makes others happy simply because you don't personally believe in it?

If as the topic stated, it was a choice between my life and (in my opinion) a work of fiction then where is the choice?

It would be no different from my perspective to burning a copy of the lord of the rings or a Shakespere play.

Bearing in mind if it is a work of fiction, it's safe to say that eventually in time, someone would write the same story or perhaps a different but slightly better work.

At what point should a piece of text outweigh that of a human life?

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Nothing makes me, or my children unique or special at least not by default. But the same thing is true about the stories in religious books. Who is to say that those stories are more special than any other.
I did not say it would not be tragic for some, but how many works of art have not already been lost forever and forgotten about, or never completed at all? Life would go on and new masterpieces would be created and studied for generations to come.
Not that I am sure of what this has to do with anything, but I would never hunt down and kill people for the sake of my children, but I would defend them against any attack, no matter how many I would have to kill. That which is mine will always be more important to me, than anyone else.

So to be harsh, ultimately the only thing of value to you is your own life and that of your family.
Fair enough, it's hard to argue with that reasoning.

I find it interesting that that side of the story, which you brought in all on your own, is now the only argument that gets a response. Then let me ask you something back, would you kill everyone you love and care about to save the Mona Lisa?

That's assuming I have loved ones or people I care about.
No, I would happily burn the Mona Lisa.
You should know that I was the first "yes I would burn the book" vote in my poll.
I just argued with you to understand your value system better.
You don't care about people over culture, you care about your life over culture.
Would you still burn the book if it was a stranger's life you'd save ?

Yes I care about my life over culture, but I am impressed that you from that would conclude that I don't value people over culture, because I do. Like I said in my second post, human culture springs from humans. Therefore it can never be right to sacrifice a human for the sake of culture. Thus, of course I would burn the book to save a stranger, I would burn that book to save someone I hate, because a human life will always be worth more than culture to me.

True but you also care about your life and those of your loved ones over the lives of others.

 

[Mr Shrike]

Hmm, burning a religious book... the last copy of it in all eternity?

Yeah, in the blink of eye.

Any other book and I would put some thought into it, but not religious texts.

CAPTCHA - mpacyl given

 

[shadowslayer81]

At what point should a piece of text outweigh that of a human life?

When the benefits of the text outweighs that of the human life in question.

 

[varulfic]

At what point should a piece of text outweigh that of a human life?

Maybe if it's some kind of proof of a huge government conspiracy, or maybe something to do with aliens. Maybe some irreplaceable legal document that would save the life of someone else, like a death row pardon for a group of innocent people? I don't know, but it would have to be something like that in my opinion. Certainly nothing about history or culture.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

I know this is already a thread but it got me to think.
Would you burn the last copy of a holy book to save your own life or die knowing that you saved a part of human culture and history from being lost forever ?

It shouldn't matter which religion you save, one religion has just as much right to endure as the next.

Funny. After the Muslim fundie lunatics murdered those people in retaliation for the Christian fundie lunatic in Florida burning a copy of the Koran, some douche talking head on a radio show asked a similar question: is a book worth more than a human life?

I would take issue with your last assertion: Shintoism, Buddhism and the Hare Krishna faith do not have a thorough history of war and civil rights violations, whereas Christianity and Islam do. Though I am aware that much of these offenses involved humankind's interpretation of these these religions, based on this more eastern religions have a greater right to be here.

I would absolutely not die for a religious book. Maybe something of greater value, such as The Republic, (my dying words would be "You have to tough it out at first...it gets better) but never a work of mysticism / epistemological nihilism.

Let me just say that every faith has been used to justify murder and war.
Beliefs are not evil, people do evil things.
I'd rather fall asleep next to a Quran than I would a muslim, even is she's really hot.

Well, perhaps you have some insight that I lack. Can you cite or source some examples of murder and war being justified by Buddhism?

I don't understand why you'd rather fall asleep next to the Quran than a hot Muslim woman. Is it because you're not going to get anywhere with her anyway?

Because the book will never smother me with my pillow, the woman could.
Also falling asleep next to a muslim man would have been undesirable to begin with.

 

[the Dept of Science]

I'm actually quite shocked at the number of people saying that they would burn it, just because they don't believe in what it says.

I'm an atheist and I wouldn't burn the Bible, I wouldn't burn the Qur'an, I wouldn't burn Dianetics and I wouldn't burn Mein Kampf.

Firstly, I would preserve them out of historical significance. Religious texts have influenced thought more profoundly than any other work. You can trace pretty much everything in the last 2000 years of history back to things written in them. I wouldn't destroy religious texts for the same reason I wouldn't destroy the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence.
They also have massive significance from a cultural perspective. It's just as important as Shakespeare in that regard. Just take the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and think how many symbols, metaphors and phrases have become part of our culture, from the fruits of temptation to the pillar of salt.

Secondly, I'm very much of the mindset that whether "religion exists" or not, people are going to start wars and believe strange things. You can say "Christianity caused the Spanish Inquisition, Islam caused the War in Iraq", however, I don't think its as simple as "if Christianity and Islam didn't exist, you wouldn't have the Spanish Inquisition or the War in Iraq". Looking at death tolls of the 20th century, atheism fairs by far the worst, with Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol pot all finding reasons to kill an ass-tonne of people without religion.

Taking away the Bible probably wouldn't reduce the number of Christians, not immediately anyway. People aren't just like "hey, some douchebag burned the last copy of our holy book, let's all become perfectly rational atheists". Don't be a tool. I say "not immediately anyway" because I think perhaps it might have an effect on future generations who have to be told "I can't remember what the bible said exactly, but there was something about all homo's being evil". However, I think a lot of people have a natural desire for the transcendent. Or to put it another way, get rid of Christianity, and you would probably find yourself with more Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans, New Agers and Scientologists.

Furthermore, I don't live in America, so I'm not sure how it is over there, but the majority of the Christians I know here in England are certainly not in the "hateful douchebag" category and are actually some of the most friendly, loving and accepting people I know. I'm quite open with them about my lack of faith and they don't label me as a heathen or try and convert me.
Knowing the amount of positivity it has brought to their lives would make me a massive asshole if I were to take it away from them.

 

[Communist partisan]

Yeah, why the hell not?