Poll: Portal Phrase Turned into Atheist Metaphor

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Kubanator

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To the people going on and on about atheism. Atheism is the belief that there is no god. Agnosticism is the uncertainty of a god, strong meaning we will find out, weak meaning we won't, and apathetic meaning they don't care.
 

Leodiensian

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Valiance said:
...

Logical, yes, important/clever, no.
I believe that makes it "philosophy".

Kubanator said:
To the people going on and on about atheism. Atheism is the belief that there is no god. Agnosticism is the uncertainty of a god, strong meaning we will find out, weak meaning we won't, and apathetic meaning they don't care.
There are multiple types of atheism, as mentioned previously. One of the more simple divisions you can make is between 'weak atheism' (the absence of belief in a god/gods) and 'strong atheism' (making the concious assertion that there is no god/gods). I'd advise you read a little more around the area before making such broad, sweeping comments.
 

Kinguendo

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cuddly_tomato said:
Ohhh you were talking about Christopher Hitchens, Peters brother? You are using their little sibling rivalry as a basis for your entire view of the world, the universe, life, love and all things rational and irrational?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens#On_Morality_and_Religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Relationship_with_younger_brother

You carry right on listening to which ever one of the brothers floats your boat.
Yeah, after all it said Christopher Hitchens after the quote... its called "reading".

Also, nice... a baseless assumption. I have absolutely no interest in his brother. I wasnt even aware his brother existed before you said so, I am not the mans number one fan... wouldnt even say I was in his fan club.
 

Kubanator

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teh_pwning_dude said:
Man, I don't even want to picture the social effects of that book. So what about religions that are passed down orally or through practise? Like say for example the Dreaming of the Aboriginals of Australia. They couldn't even write, let alone have a book.
Then you're looking at the effects of a story. The format doesn't matter, what matters who made it. If people made it, then you're going by what people made a long time ago, passing it off as fact, and then studying the effects of it. Theologists mostly spend their time looking at scientific theories trying to find out a way to integrate god into them anyways, they've had 2000 years with the Bible, they've exhausted it.
 

gerrymander61

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Religion is all about faith. Chell had faith in that the cake existed and wasn't a lie, and in the end was rewarded for her faith in that she left Aperture Science for a better place. If Portal is meant to be compared to religion, then you have it the wrong way around. "The cake is a lie" isn't meant to ridicule the idea of religion, but rather strengthen the ideas of perseverance and faith, two very important parts of religion and human spirituality.
 

cuddly_tomato

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Evil Jak said:
cuddly_tomato said:
Ohhh you were talking about Christopher Hitchens, Peters brother? You are using their little sibling rivalry as a basis for your entire view of the world, the universe, life, love and all things rational and irrational?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hitchens#On_Morality_and_Religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#Relationship_with_younger_brother

You carry right on listening to which ever one of the brothers floats your boat.
Yeah, after all it said Christopher Hitchens after the quote... its called "reading".

Also, nice... a baseless assumption. I have absolutely no interest in his brother. I wasnt even aware his brother existed before you said so, I am not the mans number one fan... wouldnt even say I was in his fan club.
No interest? Well when one quotes either of the Hitchens they are basically quoting what is essentially a snarky little spat between the two brothers. There are some very good reasons to not believe in any form of god. There are some excellent reasons to denounce organized religion and condemn people who try to aggressively push their own religious beliefs and morals onto other people. But nothing Hitchens, either Hitchens, say come under that.

Nobody in this thread has asked you to believe anything or to say that any god exists, or indeed to refrain from saying you are an atheist who doesn't believe in god.

What people are saying is that there is a huge difference between:-

"I do not believe in god."

And:-

"God is a fairy story, and religious people are backward."

The first is absolutely fine, and is something I agree with.

The second is provably wrong.

Kubanator said:
Theologists mostly spend their time looking at scientific theories trying to find out a way to integrate god into them.
[CITATION NEEDED]
 

Srkkl

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Lord_Ascendant said:
agnosticism is saying "We'll find out eventually" Atheism is saying there is something there to deny. Thus Atheists do believe in God. I blow your mind? If there was nothing to refute, then Atheists wouldn't exist they would just be people.

/bows
Atheists don't believe in god, they believe that people believe in a god, and they believe that belief of god is wrong. It's not really "without god Atheists wouldn't exist" more "without the belief in god Atheists woudn't exist."
 

TheFacelessOne

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Huh. I never thought of it as such, but your logic makes sense.

Now whenever says, "the cake is a lie", I can accuse them of being an athetist.
 

Leodiensian

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gerrymander61 said:
Religion is all about faith. Chell had faith in that the cake existed and wasn't a lie, and in the end was rewarded for her faith in that she left Aperture Science for a better place. If Portal is meant to be compared to religion, then you have it the wrong way around. "The cake is a lie" isn't meant to ridicule the idea of religion, but rather strengthen the ideas of perseverance and faith, two very important parts of religion and human spirituality.
Let's assume that Chell = humanity, GlaDos = God and Cake = Heaven.

We assume she initially had faith in the promises of cake by GlaDos. She went through all the tests she was prescribed. Then she turned AGAINT GlaDos when it is revealed GlaDos is insane trying to kill her in the same way it is implied she killed all of Aperture Science. Chell even goes so far as to KILL GlaDos (possibly giving Neitszche something to think about) and then gets a 'reward' far DIFFERENT from the one she was promised. A reward she couldn't have gotten without metaphorically killing God - being set free from the lab and released into the 'real world'.

Remember, at the end when we finally see the cake, it is implied that it is a trap. (The pincher comes down) And even then, the cake recipe (you do hear it, but it can be easily missed, I recommend you look for it on YouTube) would produce something utterly inedible and probably toxic.

"The Cake Is A Lie" means just that; the promise of a reward is in fact nothing more than a false motivator by an ultimately insane overlord that must be overthrown and destroyed in order for true liberation.

But hey, that's just my theory.
 

AdmiralMemo

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Kalezian said:
I hate to admit it, but the bible is real, you can buy one for about 23.95 at a local bookstore.
You can find it for much less than that. Around here, you can find them in the local dollar stores (for a dollar, of course). Or you can go to almost any hospital, hotel, or motel and open the drawer in your room. The Gideons place Bibles (or at least New Testaments) almost everywhere, so you can get free Scriptures whenever you want.
 

Kubanator

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teh_pwning_dude said:
Then the theologists you know are quite misguided. Of course people made it. Doesn't stop faith from making me feel good. I doubt God will be proved for or against until someone invents time travel, which is just as unlikely as this thread having a satisfying conclusion.
If you are happy, that's fine. If you infringe of someone else's rights in the name of your god, it's not fine.

cuddly_tomato said:
Kubanator said:
Theologists mostly spend their time looking at scientific theories trying to find out a way to integrate god into them.
[CITATION NEEDED]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism
 

Leodiensian

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AdmiralMemo said:
The Gideons place Bibles (or at least New Testaments) almost everywhere, so you can get free Scriptures whenever you want.
Oh, they're an organisation? I thought there was just this one guy called Gideon who was really absent-minded with his Bibles and so had to put his name on them...

(This is a joke, in case it's not obvious. I never said it was a good one)
 

Godavari

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Interesting premise, but you lost me in the text. I don't think Valve intentionally put in a metaphor for any religious/irreligious/idealogical stance into their game. It's really nothing more than dark humor, I think.
 

sharks9

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Kuchinawa212 said:
I always thought of it three ways: Liar, Loony, or Lord. Either it's all a lie and we've been fooled all this time. A few people that were messed up in the head and wrote it all down and thought it was real. Or it is real and we praise him as our lord.

See simple XD
I think you mean C.S. Lewis thought about it that way
 

cuddly_tomato

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Kubanator said:
cuddly_tomato said:
Kubanator said:
Theologists mostly spend their time looking at scientific theories trying to find out a way to integrate god into them.
[CITATION NEEDED]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism
You said "Theologists". Not "Some theologists" or "religious fundamentalists" or any other such qualifier. You just lumped all religious people together and accused them of... well... "mostly spending their time looking at scientific theories trying to find out a way to integrate god into them".

That was pretty bigoted.

Also, I love it how these theophobes bash religious nutters who don't let go of things like creationism when it is proven wrong, but then bash religious moderates for adjusting their religious position based upon scientific findings. Looks to me like you are just looking for an excuse to hate. Unhealthy dude.