Priest and Psychic Mediums

Liamario

I felt someone made an interesting point over in After Hours (believe it or not)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79329242&postcount=26

And it sort of clicked with me. Are priests and or religion filling a similar emotional need to that of "psychic mediums"; in that people don't want to hear the truth, just what will make them feel better about life.

Stuck Cone

priests are a necessity

robindch

Stuck Cone wrote: »

priests are a necessity

To the church, yes. Their benefit to people and society more generally is less clear.

Stuck Cone

keeps society together, checking in on the elderly, shiz like that

Liamario

Stuck Cone wrote: »

keeps society together, checking in on the elderly, shiz like that

That's ridiculous. While there might have been a bit of truth to that a few decades ago, it's not the case now. I know my local priest doesn't call around to people's houses anymore. Perhaps the sick and dying, but he certainly isn't keeping society together!!

Are psychics and priests in the same business?

Stuck Cone

Liamario wrote: »

That's ridiculous. While there might have been a bit of truth to that a few decades ago, it's not the case now. I know my local priest doesn't call around to people's houses anymore. Perhaps the sick and dying, but he certainly isn't keeping society together!!

Are psychics and priests in the same business?

psychics are more harmful than fairies

Ellis Dee

Liamario wrote: »

And it sort of clicked with me. Are priests and or religion filling a similar emotional need to that of "psychic mediums"; in that people don't want to hear the truth, just what will make them feel better about life.

You are, I suppose, right, but your insight is not very new. Marx wrote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". Similar ideas about the mind-numbing effects of religion, of its role in blunting pain, were expressed by earlier thinkers as well, including the Marquis de Sade in the 18th century.:)

Psychics, priests and various other sky-pilots are essentially in the same business of selling something that eases people's pain, and makes them less likely to even try to understand why they are in pain in the first place. But whether it is smack or crack they are peddling, the fact is that it would be better to remove the cause of the pain by curing the disease. And there can be no doubting that atheism is an important part of that cure.:D:D

krudler

Stuck Cone wrote: »

keeps society together, checking in on the elderly, shiz like that

yeah society would crumble if priests werent around to....eh, I got nothing.

the priesthood is on the way out, less and less joining, average age of priests is in their 60's, give it 20-30 years and there wont be many left, if any.

Kivaro

Stuck Cone wrote: »

priests are a necessity

No, they're not.
They are a concept from thousands of years ago to suit the superstitions/fears of the day. Times have changed. Priests are no longer required, as people should be able to think for themselves (e.g. decide whether or not to use condoms, masturbate, be a moral person etc.).

qrrgprgua

If you go to a priest for confession or advise you won't be expected to pay 20 euros.

Hilarious there is an ad just above for Norah World Class Psychic.. "Free" means 50 euros once you sign up.

http://premiumastrology.com/

I am not saying the advice a priest gives is valid.. Just that a Psychic's is not impartial its always directed towards getting customers and money.

The Mad Hatter

qrrgprgua wrote: »

If you go to a priest for confession or advise you won't be expected to pay 20 euros.

Indeed. It serves to think of psychics and other such shysters as small sole traders, selling highly personalised bullshit and collecting individually from each customer, while the churches are more like large corporations, selling mass-produced bullshit, and funding the cost of individual bullshit sessions with the profit from its bigger selling products.

Jimoslimos

Ellis Dee wrote: »

Psychics, priests and various other sky-pilots are essentially in the same business of selling something that eases people's pain, and makes them less likely to even try to understand why they are in pain in the first place. But whether it is smack or crack they are peddling, the fact is that it would be better to remove the cause of the pain by curing the disease. And there can be no doubting that atheism is an important part of that cure.:D:D

Atheism isn't a cure for anything.

It does however leave more room/time/money to concentrate on finding cures.

GarIT

Stuck Cone wrote: »

keeps society together, checking in on the elderly, shiz like that

Don't forget making sure the little boys are ok.

Kivaro

Stuck Cone wrote: »

keeps society together

No they don't. If anything, they segregate society.

Stuck Cone wrote: »

checking in on the elderly, shiz like that

Who are pretty much the extent of their support these days.

sbsquarepants

Ellis Dee wrote: »

Psychics, priests and various other sky-pilots are essentially in the same business of selling something that eases people's pain, and makes them less likely to even try to understand why they are in pain in the first place. But whether it is smack or crack they are peddling, the fact is that it would be better to remove the cause of the pain by curing the disease. And there can be no doubting that atheism is an important part of that cure.:D:D

This is the important word. Salvation - at a reasonable cost.

Kivaro wrote: »

No, they're not.
They are a concept from thousands of years ago to suit the superstitions/fears of the day. Times have changed. Priests are no longer required, as people should be able to think for themselves (e.g. decide whether or not to use condoms, masturbate, be a moral person etc.).

At the same time even on special occasions:D

qrrgprgua wrote: »

If you go to a priest for confession or advise you won't be expected to pay 20 euros.

Hilarious there is an ad just above for Norah World Class Psychic.. "Free" means 50 euros once you sign up.

http://premiumastrology.com/

I am not saying the advice a priest gives is valid.. Just that a Psychic's is not impartial its always directed towards getting customers and money.

Eh, collection plate? Church envelopes? Eternally leaky roof? Remember the church in your will? Tax free status. Money actually stopped from your wages at source in some countries.
Do you still think the priests advice is free? Have you ever seen the vatican, who do you think paid for all that shít?
Premium astrology are indeed thieving charlatans - but they haven't stolen so much yet, as to fund their own god damn country.

zenbuffy

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Eh, collection plate? Church envelopes? Eternally leaky roof? Remember the church in your will? Tax free status. Money actually stopped from your wages at source in some countries.
Do you still think the priests advice is free? Have you ever seen the vatican, who do you think paid for all that shít?
Premium astrology are indeed thieving charlatans - but they haven't stolen so much yet, as to fund their own god damn country.

True that - my aunt went to Italy recently, and visited the Vatican. Each prayer/mass that she requested came with a "minimum" donation, and when she tried to have one for our family, she was told one name only on each card (each card, of course, having its own minimum donation). Lovely to see the church at work...

Liamario

zenbuffy wrote: »

True that - my aunt went to Italy recently, and visited the Vatican. Each prayer/mass that she requested came with a "minimum" donation, and when she tried to have one for our family, she was told one name only on each card (each card, of course, having its own minimum donation). Lovely to see the church at work...

Yet, she'll go again and will be quite happy to put a positive spin on it.

Roll on the next generation. And hopefully with each subsequent generation, there'll be less focus on organised religion.

jimm55

Ellis Dee wrote: »

You are, I suppose, right, but your insight is not very thatw. Marx wrote: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". Similar ideas about the mind-numbing effects of religion, of its role in blunting pain, were expressed by earlier thinkers as well, including the Marquis de Sade in the 18th century.:)

Psychics, priests and various other sky-pilots are essentially in the same business of selling something that eases people's pain, and makes them less likely to even try to understand why they are in pain in the first place. But whether it is smack or crack they are peddling, the fact is that it would be better to remove the cause of the pain by curing the disease. And there can be no doubting that atheism is an important part of that cure.:D:D

"An important part of that cure" In what way?

the culture of deference

zenbuffy wrote: »

True that - my aunt went to Italy recently, and visited the Vatican. Each prayer/mass that she requested came with a "minimum" donation, and when she tried to have one for our family, she was told one name only on each card (each card, of course, having its own minimum donation). Lovely to see the church at work...

Why would you need to donate money for a prayer?

Sounds like the signed mass card scam here.

And the old favourite INDULGENCES.

Maybe some priests and Mediums really believe what they do and say. Personally I cannot understand that.

Backspacer1

Liamario wrote: »

I felt someone made an interesting point over in After Hours (believe it or not)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79329242&postcount=26

And it sort of clicked with me. Are priests and or religion filling a similar emotional need to that of "psychic mediums"; in that people don't want to hear the truth, just what will make them feel better about life.

I think thats exactly what they do, you could liken it to a protective parent re-assuring their kid that the other kids in school are wrong when they say that santa doesn't exist, it's the 'grown-up' version of that in my opinion.

Kidchameleon

What do atheists have against psychics and mediums? They have feck all to do with god and religion...

MagicMarker

Kidchameleon wrote: »

What do atheists have against psychics and mediums? They have feck all to do with god and religion...

Who said they have anything to do with religion? You realise an atheist is not someone who ONLY lacks belief in a god don't you? We can take issue with other things too.

Wiggles88

Kidchameleon wrote: »

What do atheists have against psychics and mediums? They have feck all to do with god and religion...

True but I guess its a case of psychics and mediums claim a knowledge of/ability in the supernatural and use this to exploit people, exactly the same as religion, hence I think many atheists would not be fond of psychics.

seamus

Kidchameleon wrote: »

What do atheists have against psychics and mediums? They have feck all to do with god and religion...

One of the few things that a sizeable proportion of atheists have in common is the idea that they have rejected all claims of god on the basis of nonexistent or invalid proof.

So it shouldn't really be surprising that the same people have difficulty with other non-religious groups who claim powers or abilities but are incapable of providing proof of the existence of them.

Worse of course is that psychics and mediums know that they're lying to people. At least most priests and religious folk actually believe what they talk about.

Backspacer1

Kidchameleon wrote: »

What do atheists have against psychics and mediums? They have feck all to do with god and religion...

Thats not entirely true, they do claim to contact people in the 'spirit world' dont they? Would there even be a spirit world if it weren't for religion??

Kidchameleon

Backspacer1 wrote: »

Thats not entirely true, they do claim to contact people in the 'spirit world' dont they? Would there even be a spirit world if it weren't for religion??

Why wouldn't there? I know, afterlife is associated with religion, but its certainly not exclusive to it.

Kidchameleon

MagicMarker wrote: »

Who said they have anything to do with religion? You realise an atheist is not someone who ONLY lacks belief in a god don't you? We can take issue with other things too.

I know what your saying, but why not start this thread on after hours then?

MagicMarker

Kidchameleon wrote: »

I know what your saying, but why not start this thread on after hours then?

Read the OP and you'll find out.

Backspacer1

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Why wouldn't there? I know, afterlife is associated with religion, but its certainly not exclusive to it.

I think there's more than just an association between religion and the spirit world/afterlife but I take your point but It's obvious to me that phychics and mediums are just con artists out to make money from pulling at the heart strings of grief-stricken people! I think most people know this deep down but the religious among are already believers in the supernatural and so are easier to convince. Most atheists don't believe in anything supernatural and thats where the conflict lies, I would put phychics/mediums/priests all in the same basket, they all claim to be able to talk to spirits so as an atheist, I'm bound to have a problem with that!

Temptamperu

They give hope, its false hope but if you think good and hard about hope you realise there is only false hope.

Backspacer1

Temptamperu wrote: »

They give give hope, its false hope but if you think good and hard about hope you realise there is only false hope.

They SELL false hope which is even worse!

Kidchameleon

Backspacer1 wrote: »

They SELL false hope which is even worse!

Its worth noting that there are plenty of Mediums out there that charge nothing for their services

Wiggles88

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Its worth noting that there are plenty of Mediums out there that charge nothing for their services

True but they are a rare breed and anyway the false hope they give can be far more detrimental than the simple loss of money.

Knasher

Backspacer1 wrote: »

I would put phychics/mediums/priests all in the same basket

Sounds like the start of a solid plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RstwLzikmvA