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The Forum > Article Comments > Fairies at the bottom of the garden > Comments

Fairies at the bottom of the garden : Comments

By Natasha Moore, published 23/4/2019

Religious people generally bristle at the charge that their cherished beliefs belong in the same category as fairies, or dragons, or flying spaghetti monsters.

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Dear Natasha (the author),

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I am inclined to agree with you. If we want to escape this hum-drum life into a fantasy world as Alison Milbank suggests, we either have to create it ourselves or immerse ourselves in the imaginary worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien and the authors of the bible – in which many Western Europeans apparently place their faith.

You indicate :

« Religious people generally bristle at the charge that their cherished beliefs belong in the same category as fairies, or dragons, or flying spaghetti monsters. They’re quick to distinguish a faith they experience as rational from mere fables »

They are perfectly right in doing so. Religious belief has nothing to do with fairies, dragons, or flying spaghetti monsters. Nor are they mere irrational fables.

A worldview, according to terror management theory (TMT), serves as a buffer against death anxiety – Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 92, No. 5 :

« According to TMT, cultural worldviews provide individuals with a sense of meaning, personal significance, and life continuity, which protect them from the terror resulting from an awareness of their mortality. The horrifying awareness that people may be nothing more than walking digestive tracts – ultimately insignificant, finite, and expendable – is a bleak view of reality that, despite all efforts of sublimation, can never be completely ruled out ».

I think it was Heidegger who said that “the idealism of transcendentalism gave way to existential angst a long time ago”.

Notions such as transcendental aspects of reality, the supernatural, deity, etc., are currently the object of research by neuroscientists or neurobiologists, working closely in association with psychologists, sociologists, philosophers and other specialists.

The reason being, of course, that such phenomena are possibly to be found, not in any observed reality, but in the minds of those who believe in their existence, due to their personal biological, neurological and psychological processes.

Whilst awaiting the results of that research, perhaps you would be kind enough to provide some details of the “historical, evidence-based reasons” of your belief “that Jesus rose from the dead”.

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Posted by Banjo Paterson, Wednesday, 24 April 2019 2:41:05 AM
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How many people here believe in Bigfoot?
What about Dogmen?
How about the Chupacabra?
- Well that does exist!

Check him out, he looks like a little Aussie marsupial.
- the Yanks are completely clueless -

Mythical El Chupacabra Finally Captured! For real what is it!
http://youtu.be/feqt97XVEUc

- There might be better physical evidence that Bigfoot exists than supernatural beings, but what do I know -
Posted by Armchair Critic, Saturday, 27 April 2019 12:01:06 AM
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In crisis we fear death and have a tendency to call out to God for help. Many will not believe in God but when the end is imminent they will pray.
This results in hope. It also helps to release the last remaining energy left in the body and mind to fight off death longer in the belief that a higher power may intervene. What happens then is a rescue comes or the condition subsides and the person gets better. The tendency then is to praise God for the help received and to begin believing.
What this demonstrates is the ability of someone in a crisis to use untapped potential to overcome adversity.
I think this was a process of natural selection in humans that grew over thousands of years to give us brain cells dedicated to providing this behavioural response in a crisis. It is not too far fetched to suppose that' like our navigation ability that we have located in our brains cells dedicated to seeking outside supernatural assistance in times of need. In some people this will be more developed than in others as is our ability to navigate the streets of our cities.
This ability also causes problems.
It has led to power seekers taking advantage to harness it for their own purposes. Historical figures have claimed these powers are external to us and we should become totally beholden to supernatural beings with supernatural powers that only priests and others in the religious power structures can interpret and thus place themselves in positions of power over others. These ideas are delusional, created by storytelling and sophisticated sales techniques using hypnosis such as suggesting that people can live on after death and is a huge industry feeding off gullible people.
People ought not to be blamed for reaching out to a higher power. Only those that have not experienced terror criticise believers. What is needed is better research to understand how these spiritual behaviours can be harnessed more productively for our good and prevent sociopaths seeking the control of people by peddling delusional thought control.
Posted by Tony Max, Saturday, 4 May 2019 11:43:55 PM
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Runner: "Just look at Australia's top rugby player being sacked for believing in a 'fairytale'."

Folau is not being persecuted for his beliefs but for using his position within Rugby Union and Rugby Union owned and operated venues for propagating hate speach. With fame comes responsibility. Folau is a figure of influence within a world-wide sport. The question is whether he is entitled to use the venues and opportunities provided by that sport to propagate religious divisiveness and to cast aspersions upon the life-styles of many fans and players, in full awareness of the authority his fame is imbued with. He is indebted to a large degree to the sport and the opportunities that organisation offers for that fame. It wasn't ALL his own accomplishment. He had a lot of help from the beginning.

Now he claims exemption from his responsibility to act always in a manner that is in the best interest of his sport. Thousands of high profile sportsmen have done it without raising bigotry, controversy and division but by holding as private any religious beliefs they may have had. Devoutness and the divine are easily kept separate from sporting accomplishment to the detriment of neither.

Runner: "The god deniers know that the resurrection of Christ is evident that all men (and women) will be judged by the Resurrected King."

Millions of god-demiers hurl this sanctimonious drivel straight back at you, with a perfection of conviction obviously denied to you and your ilk. What they know is that you are a charlatan with a meanness of demeanour that only the faithfull nurture as high virtue.
Posted by Pogi, Friday, 10 May 2019 3:37:48 PM
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Pogi,

<<Folau is not being persecuted for his beliefs but for using his position within Rugby Union and Rugby Union owned and operated venues for propagating hate speach (sic). With fame comes responsibility. Folau is a figure of influence within a world-wide sport.>>

The Anglican bishop of Grafton, the Rt Rev Dr Murray Harvey disagrees with you: He "branded the religious statements of Australian rugby union player Israel Folau as hate speech", http://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-09/bishop-brands-israel-folaus-relious-comments-as-hate-speech/11095702.

They are 'religious statements' according to the bishop

What Folau said is essentially straight from the Bible:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV).

He did not state it on the rugby field but in a public post on Instagram, a medium outside of rugby. Why have the media taken ONE sin from the list - homosexuality - and excluded all of the others mentioned in Folau's post and in the Christian Scriptures?

The Spiked website considers Folau is "the Aussie rugby player ... being punished for his Christian beliefs", http://www.spiked-online.com/2019/04/17/the-persecution-of-israel-folau/

ABC News, Brisbane Qld, 15 April 2019 reported Folau 'would be prepared to walk away from rugby union. "I live for God now," he told The Sydney Morning Herald." Whatever He wants me to do, I believe His plans for me are better than whatever I can think. If that's not to continue on playing, so be it.

"In saying that, obviously I love playing footy and if it goes down that path I'll definitely miss it. But my faith in Jesus Christ is what comes first", http://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-15/israel-folau-handed-rugby-australia-breach-notice/11003574
Posted by OzSpen, Saturday, 11 May 2019 11:05:50 AM
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Tony Max,

<<Historical figures have claimed these powers are external to us and we should become totally beholden to supernatural beings with supernatural powers that only priests and others in the religious power structures can interpret and thus place themselves in positions of power over others. These ideas are delusional, created by storytelling and sophisticated sales techniques using hypnosis such as suggesting that people can live on after death and is a huge industry feeding off gullible people.>>

Could these be your fantasies and delusions about religion?
Posted by OzSpen, Saturday, 11 May 2019 11:11:27 AM
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