Ben C Smith

Ah, that is from the best episode of season 2, IMHO. I love the part where Blackadder has to pass himself off to Lady Farrow as her deceased husband. Or this gem of an exchange:

Blackadder: Good, well done, and your name is...?
Mr. Ploppy: Ploppy, sir.
Blackadder: Ploppy?
Mr. Ploppy: Yes, sir.
Blackadder: Ploppy the jailor?
Mr. Ploppy: That's right, sir. Ploppy, son of Ploppy.
Blackadder: Ploppy, son of Ploppy the jailor?
Mr. Ploppy: Ah, no, sir. I am the first Ploppy to rise to be jailor. My father, Daddy Ploppy, was known as Ploppy the slopper. It was from him that I inherited my fascinating skin diseases.
Blackadder: Yes, you are to be congratulated, my friend; we live in an age where illness and deformity are commonplace and yet, Ploppy, you are without a doubt the most repulsive individual that I have ever met. I would shake your hand but I fear it would come off.
Mr. Ploppy: There's no' many bosses would be that considerate, sir.
Blackadder: Thank you, Ploppy, I do my best. Now then, woman, if indeed you are a woman, what is your function on death row?
Mrs. Ploppy: I'm the last meal cook, sir. The prisoners may ask for what they fancy for their last meal....
Blackadder: And you cook for them what they desire?
Mrs. Ploppy: Oh yes, sir, provided they ask for sausages. Otherwise they tend to get a tiny bit disappointed. Sausages is all I got.
Blackadder: You are clearly a woman of principle and compassion, Mistress..., eh...?
Mrs. Ploppy: Ploppy, sir.
Blackadder: Ah, so you are married to...?
Mrs. Ploppy (laughing): No, many people think that, but it's pure coincidence. We did laugh when first we found out. "Good morning, Mrs. Ploppy," he'd say, and I'd say, "Good morning...."
Mr. & Mrs. Ploppy (together, laughing): "Mr. Ploppy."
Blackadder: The long winter evenings must just fly by.

(My apologies in advance to the mods for this digression. But I have lost the thread of the discussion, anyway. Cheerio.)

Ben.

Julian

I have already given a quote by Shermer that gives the casual reader some idea. He has written much about that phenomenon, I suggest you read it, I am certainly no expert. I, personally, don't presume to have a particularly useful answer to this conundrum, nor do I comprehend why you seem to think that I should.

Blackadder: Aah, and who is Jane?
Percy: I'm sworn to secrecy. Torture me, kill me, you shall never know.
[Blackadder kicks him in the gonads]
Percy: Ooh, ouch... Jane Harrington. We're very much in love, my lord.
Blackadder: This is the Jane Harrington?
Percy: Yes.
Blackadder: Jane 'Bury Me in a Y-Shaped Coffin' Harrington?
Percy: I think there may be two Jane Harringtons -
Blackadder: No, no.. Tall, blonde, elegant..?
Percy: Yes, that's her...
Blackadder: Goes like a privy door when the plague's in town?

Julian

DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR

Having it has nothing to do with how intelligent you are, if anything, in my experience, highly intelligent people seem to be more prone to schizophrenia then your average person.

Clouseau

Very casual! It just wasn't impressive; one of those vacuous, meretricious follies that Americans seem so fond of.

"Smart people are very good at rationalizing things that they came to believe from non-smart reasons."

How does that apply to atheists any less than theists?

(There now follows a circular argument from an atheist.)

I'll take Blackadder as your white flag.

Amaleq13

If an atheist came to believe something for non-smart reasons, it doesn't.

Roger Pearse

No, it's a personal observation. That is, I do actually know the truth of what I'm saying. I have grave doubts that the same is true of some of the other posts in this thread.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

VoxRat

This kind of vague aspersion casting makes it rather difficult to follow the conversation. It's of a piece with what I was complaining about earlier: that the representatives of Christianity here are not interested in exploring the logical contradictions of their views, but seem to obfuscate, then condescend to and otherwise impugn the motives and integrity of those who challenge their obfuscations.

VoxRat

I sense, on this thread anyway, a reluctance to grapple with or even recognize what I see as serious challenges for the would-be intellectual religious. I have suggested, in so many words, that the underlying reason for this is that "there is no there there".

A similar line of inquiry is being pursued (somewhat "ectopically"; i.e. its a little out of place in E/C) in this thread. I particularly recommend the comments of "Febble" - a recently deconverted (I think it's fair to say) Christian, whose thoughts I would think would be of interest to intellectual Christians of the non-ostrich sort.

placebo

Misstatement! I said, "I have trouble understanding how people with an IQ above 80 can believe in the fairy tale known as Christianity." I am not making the claim that Christians are "stupid." I am making the claim that they are gullible and that they believe in silly things.

Misstatement! I've consistently said to ridicule the absurd beliefs, not the believers. If Christians don't want their silly beliefs ridiculed then they should keep them private. They should not use them to promote public policy and be offended when scrutinized.

Your above quoted passage makes me wonder: Do you equate the emotional capacity of Christians with that of the mentally challenged and children?

Julian

A personal observation is, by its nature, anecdotal. You should have seen later in the post where I use the term "personal testimonial" which, at least for the sake of this argument, is functionally equivalent to anecdotal 'evidence.' You can say that you know the truth of what you're saying but I have no way of establishing this. Even if I trusted you completely, you could still be wrong. There are a thousand plus reasons for why things could be other than what you say. This is why anecdotal or personal evidence carries no scientific weight. If we thought it did we would be forced to give an unwarranted level of credence to sundry television commercials featuring statistically insignificant numbers of fake customers, all fervently insisting that <insert random product name> really is superior. Some of them are bound to be correct, but not all.

Julian