Saturday, August 9, 2008

A Casual Stroll Through The Lunatic Asylum (quote of the week with Commentary)

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Like Nietzsche, I view people who say “I believe in God” the same as I would view people who say “I believe in Santa Claus” or “I believe in the tooth fairy” or “I believe in a six-foot invisible rabbit named Harvey.” That being said, I stand firmly in solidarity with the principle that every adult human being has the right to believe in any god or gods, no matter how ridiculous or puerile. But let’s be clear: your right to believe in your God does not impose on me an obligation to take your belief seriously. Your right to believe in your God does not deprive me of the right to laugh and point at your antic and to call your belief a silly thing. And should you be too outré in your demonstrations of belief – to the point where you go from being an annoyance to being a danger – I have not only the right but the moral obligation to push back against your insanity by any means necessary.

3 comments:

Kelvin Oliver said...

Very interesting quote here. You have a good sense of thinking. I did not really understand everything for the most part, but I did get a chance to see the sentences or main ideas that stuck out. I like your quotes of the week with commentary. It provides insight on what you think about the quotes that you are posting. :)

Stephen J. Gallagher said...

Many thanks, Kevin. I'm glad to see you like the concept, it's working well for me, helping to focus some of my often-scattered rants and diatribes. These quote provide great "objects to think with," forcing my blog posts to be about something. :-)

Kelvin Oliver said...

You're welcome.