Is ELP against christianity

richardh wrote: The inclusion of Queen is the beginning of the end.

I thought that birth is the beginning of the end?

Arteum wrote: maani wrote:    So, it turns out, because religion exists, prog exists too. So, thank God!

You started out OK and then went off the rails with this statement. There is no logical progression from one to the other except in the most obscure observation of human nature. It is so much more complex an issue. Religion grew out of ignorance, fear and ultimately greed and control. Prog evolved from from something completely different. Both created by humans but so utterly different in their evolutionary paths as to be ludicrous to compare.

BaldFriede wrote: No big loss; the way you feel it is "below my dignity to respond to the 90% lunatics in here" makes it clear you are the most lunatic one of all. Which you also proved by not being able to take part in a rational discussion.

What are you talking about ? Arteum's arguments were the most consistently rational of this whole thread, it was the christians who quickly resorted to name-calling and brain-dead retoric.

I agree that this thread should be locked or deleted as it is too OT but I have found it the most entertaining on here yet as most of the discussions are such banal wastes of time and battles of one person's opinion against anothers.

It is an eye-opener to see a little deeper into the people we associate with on forums like these and it brings to light the unsettling reality that one never knows who might be lurking at the keyboards behind the text on pages like this one.

thepods:

Herewith, some of Arteum's "greatest hits" - rational, logical, and without rancor or name-calling (my editorial comments, if any, follow in parentheses):

"Except that they were heavily brainwashed since the time they could not even think on their own."

"All the people around me were aware of religion and its dogmas, but laughed about the stupidity and shortsitedness of the brainwashed part of the world."

"Because no brain is needed to believe in God."

"Recently, however, I've been applying more and more strict "filtering" to my acquaintances and contacts. If the person believes in God, I stop talking to him/her."  (Truly we have here a rational, tolerant person...)

"To me, people who believe in God either have a flawed brain (it cannot follow logic sometimes) or are simply cowards who are afraid to die, or both."

"Practice shows that in many cases even a couple of years of influence of religion is incurable."

"Religion is a hierarchy puppet system in which only God himself is not licking somebody's rump."

"Most religious people I met had a flaw in their brain."

"And why then can't he create people so that they automatically give him their free love?"  ("Mr. Logical" here cannot even see the internal illogic of this question, given that "automatically" and "free" are polar opposites...)

"It's like I am a doctor in a mental home and the loonies try to convince me the elephants can fly."

"How can you make ANY statement about God, have any thought about him when you always know he's imperceivable? So, you are trying to understand something that is inherently unconceivable? You are trying to rely on something that is so grossly unreliable? You trust something which has all the rights and capabilities to change the rules of the game and screw you over any moment he likes?"  (Here our rational friend shows a deep understanding of God...)

"No, I don't trust anyone. I don't even know what trust is."  (If this is not a self-explanatory comment, I don't know what is...)

"Whereas you, Maani and the rest of the multi-million crew are just small puppets by means of whose shortsightedness and stupidity some smart people live in luxury, comfort and the feeling of self-importance."

"I feel it especially below my dignity to read the reviews and opinions of people 90% of whom are religious lunatics."  (Of course, he has no problem engaging in this particular discussion, and using invective and insult at every turn...)

"I no longer trust the moderators. One of them showed himself not only a loony but a professional charlatan."  (That would be yours truly, of course...)

"The messages the people write and the language they use do not leave the room for a self-respected person to be here any more."  (Unlike, of course, the messages and language used by Mr. Rational...)

I also invite you to re-read in particular the "internal debate" between Arteum and myself.  I believe you will find that he deliberately avoided almost all of my most rational, logical positions and only responded to the ones that gave him the opportunity to use invective and insult and to denigrate me and all believers - and that I never once "resorted to name-calling or brain-dead rhetoric."

Peace.

Arteum wrote: Dear friends, those who support my opinions at least, The other moderators included Queen, and other bands whose progressiveness I very much doubt. The site is undergoing a rapid expansion with being inclusive rather than exclusive, but I feel this practice is very harmful. It will end up being no better than amazon.com.  The forum is childish, rude and often obscene. I was genuinely shocked when I first discovered it (I had thought that the prog listeners were mostly rational intellectuals). The messages the people write and the language they use do not leave the room for a self-respected person to be here any more.

Arteum - I am a Christian (with beliefs almost exactly like those of Maani) yet with these points you make, I AGREE with you.  I too am not in favor of bands such as Radiohead and Primus being on this site as well as the the rapid growth of "post-rock" and new-age electronic bands being added at an alarming rate.

I won't go so far as to say that the forums are childish, but they do seem to be repetitive at times. How many posts about "who is the best guitar player", "what is the best keyboard solo", "name your favorite epic song", etc. do we need?

As for you leaving, I am not surprised. Maani whooped your butt. I think you are just as misguided, brainwashed and "lost" as you claim Christians to be, however, I wouldn't leave this site if it was made up of 90% atheists. If you love prog and 90% of this site (I think a correct percentage would probably be less that 33%) are Christians that love prog and you believe prog lovers to be intellectual then what does that tell you about Christians?

Logic my friend?