God & Belief;Original Intent;Obama & Acorn

If God Doesn’t Exist of What Use is Belief?

Guest Article by Happy Hiram (Yahoo Answers)

http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=Aq2AEFUah4oRhkHkYheMJbmGxQt.;_ylv=3?show=FoIxsunVaa

Happy Hiram is a Yahoo Answers user I frequently ran into when I was using that forum. He sent me this piece and asked if I would like to publish it. It presented the logic of belief effectively enough that I thought it would add to the discussion. It is still my own personal epistemic position that "belief" as "faith" is the abdication of Reason. But Happy makes a good point here:

Would the world be a better place if children were never taught to believe in Santa Claus? I don’t think so. Would the world be a better place if adults believed in Santa Claus? I don’t think so. This puts me fairly in agreement with general opinion about an important question: Can believing in a fable provide a positive experience for an adult? What about belief in the fabled existence of God?

People of religious faith will now jump on me saying, “How dare you call God a fable?” Non-believers will criticize me for using the upper case G and reinforcing the myth. Well whether there is a God or not, he or she is not walking down Main St. Nor can I credibly attribute any action to God that would be believable to everyone. At best, objectively, his actions are mere allegations, (as in an Act of God, in law.) Based on the good and bad things that have been attributed to him, I suspect that all the witnesses are either biased or hostile, and all the evidence thus is tainted. For the sake of this article, lets assume God is a myth. Now I would like to examine the idea of God as a tool in human endeavors. What I am interested in is not does God exist, but what use is he? MORE

Who to Vote For

"Who to Vote For" is a terrible piece of philosophical writing, yet is posted on Talking Philosophy - The Philosophers' Magazine Blog. It is not terrible because philosophy should stay out of politics. Quite the contrary. Political Science is the fourth branch of philosophy after ethics. "Who" is a terrible piece of writing because any reasoning high school student with no background in philosophy--or 18th Century American History--could have written it.

One way to answer the question of who to vote for, says the "philosopher" author, "is to take the approach espoused by a conservative friend of mine [who] typically says something like “why should I vote for someone who isn’t going to do what is in my best interest?"

The author then goes on to explain what things may be described as in one's "best interest." What he never gets to is that the "best interest" of any American is to stick to the Original Intent of the Constitution, throw the bums out, and elect someone who thinks in terms of 18 Century politics.

Instead, the author discusses personal best interests, as though the political table was filled with anything you might want to ask for, as if from a dessert menu, and without regard for whether or not it ought to even be on the "menu." MORE

Inside Obama’s Acorn

Stanley Kurtz; Condensed from Divided We Fail

Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the the largest radical group in America.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), is at least as radical MoveOn.org or Code Pink, arguably more so. Acorn works locally, in carefully selected urban areas, its national profile is lower. Acorn likes it that way. And so, I’d wager, does Barack Obama. MORE

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