"If god existed, it would be necessary to abolish him" -- Mikhail Bakunin....your thoughts?

[Taverner]

I have always loved this quote, even though Bakunin himself is a mixed bag. His quote was a smart retort to the "If god didn't exist it would be necessary to invent him" quote...

The idea here is that God, Yahweh, if he existed, would be one of the most vile authorities that existed. Thought police, contradictions, crap shoot to go to heaven, etc....


Your thoughts?

[immoderate]

1. I like the quote.

But I can't think up any thoughts.

--imm

[dmallind]

2. If God existed as described, there would be bugger all we could do about it

Not as cool a quote, but far more accurate. Vile authority? Sure, but neither abolishment nor resistance would be even vaguely possible. We have to be consistent. One of the failings of Pascal's Wager is that a god worthy of the name would not be fooled by self-serving pretend faith. One worthy of the name surely would not be fooled, let alone toppled, by active resistance.

[HopeHoops]

3. Does it matter if God exists?

You either fucked up or you didn't. You'll either go to Heaven/Hell or it's lights out. I still think the light at the end of the tunnel is the birth canal of your new mother. If not, what's the difference? The next generation will be just as capable of fucking things up as ours was.

[Taverner]

4. Ya know, it doesn't

But at the same time if one existed, and his/her rules were as oppressive as Yahweh/Jehova/Allah, I'd want to be on the OTHER side...

[laconicsax]

5. It does and it doesn't.

If "God" exists, then it's an important piece of the puzzle that needs to be investigated.

If not, then it isn't.

[frogmarch]

6. Well, if god exists

and everything is part of him, as some Christian denominations teach, we’d destroy ourselves by destroying him. If god exists and is an external force, at the very least he needs a good talking to.

EDIT: And by that I mean a good bawling out - not prayer in the usual sense of the word.

[Odin2005]

7. That reminds me of Hitchens' calling Heaven a "celestial North Korea".

[darkstar3]

8. kick