Excruciatingly Large Things

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¥25000 Prize for Proof of Superior Religion

→ by Danieru
In response to the increasingly popular pursuit of offering reward money for the proof or verification of every theory/belief/idea in the cosmos I have decided to introduce the very first:

Huge Entity 'Can you Prove Religious Superiority?' Competition!

I will award a 25000 Yen prize to anyone who can give any reason whatsoever for believing in one specific religion* over any other. My ¥25000 offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of religion is nothing more than a difference in belief.

People believe in things; they may hold that their belief is more important to their own views on reality, on morals, on being human, but they can never know that their belief is the only truth to be held. While beliefs are certainly fine to have, it is not fair to conclude that one belief system is more justified than any other.

Prove beyond reasonable doubt that one specific religion is the only possible way the observed world should be understood and the ¥25000 is yours. Any evidence is acceptable. Persons wishing to collect the ¥25000 may submit their evidence in the comments section below. A committee of one blogger (i.e. me) and the other commenters to this site will provide review of the evidence offered and, to the best of our ability, will be fair and honest in our evaluation and judgment as to the validity of the evidence presented.

*NOTE:

When I use the word religion, I am not referring to the minor variations found in all of the various beliefs held by humans across the world (otherwise known as their individuality or the freedom of their will). I am referring to the specific beliefs labeled under the header of one religious denomination (or as I like to call it: 'belief system'). To avoid confusion this includes at the very least the following categories of (religious) belief:

, , , , Chinese traditional religion, Primal-Indigenous, African Traditional & Diasporic, , , , , , , , , , / , , , , and ...

According to some people the theory of Evolution should also be included in this list. I disagree. It is my contention that is a theory that has never aimed to conflict with the many religions I list above, and that although it has surely brought some people's belief systems into question it is so much more the deeper and most accessible of any single 'belief system' that all religious inclinations can be easily accommodated within the view of reality it elegantly explains. Therefore the teaching of evolution can be seen as a stabilising force to unite all belief systems, increasing the mutual understanding of each man, woman and child and as such benefiting all the variations of belief across humanity.
For the reasons why I set up this competition in the first place please consult Dr. Kent Hovind here... Comments on re-drafting this proposal are very much appreciated, and as always, criticism is welcome in all forms. The Huge Entity awaits your proposal.

For more on the current evolution debate : Snowdeal, Paryngula ,
Uncredible Hall Q, Boomerang and Panda's Thumb - Thanks!

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Blogger Jennyology said...

"No animal has ever been observed changing into any fundamentally different kind of animal."

where the hell did this fool learn evolution anyways... And I love how people who claim to take the Bible "verbatim" and who want to teach that in schools always fail to address the FACT that the Bible tells two contradictory stories about how the world was created within the first ten pages. Can they both be true? And if you take a different approach altogether how can the Christianity within the belief be maintained?

anyways, I would like to say that MY religion, Jennyolology, is definately the best. I know that I am the best, I love me fully, and I think that everyone else should, too. My empirical evidence: SO THERE!

October 19, 2005 7:09 AM    

Blogger Heathen Dan said...

I dunno how much 25k yen is, but it sounds like a lot. And as a sign of support, I will likewise offer the sum of 250 philippine pesos to anyone who successfully wins this challenge. Don't ask me how much that is in dollars, I think you can buy a couple of happy meals.

October 19, 2005 9:45 AM    

Blogger Danieru said...

no takers for the prize yet...

my highly over rated bank account is safe, and so, in retrospect, is the sanctity of religious nonsense

damn

failure is not an option!

October 20, 2005 12:35 AM    

Anonymous quinn said...

I would like to make the claim that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is inherently superior to all other religions. While many other systems of belief make distant promises of eternal life, or an end to the eternal cycle of pain, Pastafarianism is unique in that it offers the purifying redemption of a yummy meal. For what else but His Noodly Appendage could bring something as satisfying to the palate as a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, with a side of garlic bread.

In addition, Pastafarianism's careful analysis of the decline of piracy and correlatory rise in global temperature gives us a clear socioeconomic warning to improve our earthly environment (For pirates, of course)

Thank you for listening to my treatise. Ramen.

October 20, 2005 10:40 AM    

Blogger Jennyology said...

Allow me to elaborate with an experimental design that has been thoroughly evaluated and replicated to formulate a generic "superiority coefficient."

Wherein

Jennyology states that "Jenny is the best" and thus would prevail at various levels in conflict resolution with non-Jenny entities, Jennyology proposes the simple simulation of a basic TESTED theory that has been replicated for millenia...

Whereas

Jennyology hereby challenges the Huge-Entity (so claimed...) to a Janken duel.

Whereas

rock ALWAYS beats scissors
scissors ALWAYS beats paper
paper ALWAYS beats rock

In the unlikely event of a draw, repeated tests should be administered to achieve desired Jenny success scenario (which is the ONLY scenario).

best of 3 wins.

October 20, 2005 11:49 AM    

Blogger Danieru said...

I must say, Jennyology and Pastafarianism both seem to have immediate benefits, but I need some tried and tested empirical evidence of their superiority before I can consider them as winners of the prize.

A good example of evidence would be a collection of brain scans taken from a cross section of people representing all world religions. The scans, for instance, could be taken at the point of a subject's spirtual peak (i.e. speaking to their god/mumbling to oneself; drinking the blood of Christ in mass/sharing in the sauce of their favourite pasta dish at dinner time; at the point of death/orgasm) and through a swift analysis of each religions' effect on the intensity of supposed spiritual peak I will be able to ascertain the most-very-bestest of the religions (or at least the one that brings the most ecstasy whilst strapped inside a Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scanning device).

Surely religion and orgasm need never have been separated in th first place! (And I'm sure there's at least a few Catholic Priests who agree with me).

October 20, 2005 12:00 PM    

Blogger Jennyology said...

I'm certain you must already know about Newberg's work and how the scans between Franciscan Nuns and Buddhist meditators were similar and different. Perhaps if the concentration/epiphany portion of the brain responds similarly in various internalized visualizations,then only the combination of physical/language contributions would yield more MRI-visible brain activity. Hence support for your "spiritual orgasm" superiority. Maybe the only ones who really reach enlightenment are the self-asphyxiators? Concentration-death-orgasm, all at once. In terms of mapping brain activity, I haven't found anything that says you can compare the strength of signals in an objective manner per se through MRI visualizations, I think the purpose is more of detecting active regions of the brain. Stronger readings could only be achieved through higher powered magnets, etc.

However, if a pure body/mental benefit is all that's needed, I can assure you that Jennyology thoroughly supports exercise, orgasms, and plenty of chocolate, the benefits of which have been widely reported.

is it that obvious I only have one class today?

October 21, 2005 2:09 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There was a typo in my email address in my earlier missive (reprinted below, along with my correct email address.)

The one and true and only religion is at the root of all religion, is the source of all things (religious or otherwise) and is ultimately the goal of all religions. Any serious inquiry into the matter emerges with this infallible conclusion:

The one and only true religion is LOVE. Period. That's it. There is no superior answer. There is no other possible answer. Love is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, yin/yang, you/me, darklight, daynightnowthenandevershall be. It is irrefutable.

LOVE.

--Chris Adams/[email protected]

November 01, 2005 4:38 AM    

Blogger Danieru said...

Your comment reminded me of something a great philosopher once said, I think it went something like this:

Do you believe in life after love?
I can feel something inside me say
I really don't think you're strong enough

November 01, 2005 8:51 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is but one all encompassing religion. That would be the worship of money. It is practiced the world over. People let it fill their minds. Minor variations exist but the base pursuit is the same. Wars are fought over it. Many inane philosophies have been put forth to unseat it but they are all flawed one main way .. they themselves persue money. Ergo, they worship Mammon also. History will provide you with all the proof you need.

There is but one god and it is called money in the USofA. It has other names elsewhere in the world.

Nuff said

vorblesnak

November 01, 2005 4:22 PM    

Blogger Danieru said...

So if money is God does that make banks the Church? and how about pocket change - the soul maybe?

I don't think money is the root of evil in this world, or the cause of suffering. It is base human nature which strives to out-do, to dominate, to subjigate. If we didn't have money there would only be some other symbolic entity in its place. Want of power is natural.

Some male peacocks have enormous, beautiful plummage, a sign that they are such a prosperous individual that they can afford to invest extra resources in outright extravagance. Thus the female is attracted to his genes not because the plummage is the most beautiful as such but because that male is so well naturally/genetically/envirnomentally endowed that he can invest his extra resources in the plummage, a safe bet for her offsprings' future...

i draw this example quickly, so please forgive its inconsistencies

November 02, 2005 4:18 AM    

Blogger Joseph Abbott said...

Hello, i intend to claim this prize. I just need to type up my detailed proof. I lived in Japan for a year so I know ¥25000 is a very small sum. Its hardly worth my time. Is there anyway you can add a few zeros to that figure? There are not many opportunities for a staving theologist like myself to get paid despite the staggering importance of the work.

November 14, 2005 9:01 AM    

Blogger Danieru said...

i await your proposal with baited breath

November 14, 2005 11:34 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

with respect to all the religions and believes ,i as a muslim know that islam is the one and only system of belief that is complete (meaning : it has coverd every single aspict of the human life ) its a living style which if emplemented it will lead humanity to the balance and harmony , because it begin's from the inside to the outside , it change's your look to life from darkniss to light .

body , spirit and mind are closely considered in islam ,connectedness and onenss of all the creation
is not a new idea for it.

i can give i million proof
one of them the law of attraction is not a new idea for us we know it fom Qur'an , anoher is the theory of Dr.Emoto that the word has affect on water (when we drink o eat we say the name of GOD to fill it with a good energy). And i can give u the the proofs from science too ,one of them is the theory of the bigining of the Univesre which is stated clearly in Qur'an ,and so many scientific evidences that i cant state them now.

Loai taha , [email protected]

November 21, 2005 7:15 PM    

Blogger Danieru said...

yeah...

I got handed a leaflet one time that had some very vague references to the big-bang, Qur'an connection. I have to say I wasn't particularly drawn in by them.

I think one of my favourite quotes will come in handy here.

Cardinal Bellarmine (one of the prosecuters at the trial of Galileo):

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin....

I suppose what I mean to say here is, books are not proof...

November 25, 2005 8:29 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

is this how u enter the contest?

well, anyway, i think the best "religion" can be found in the UNITED CHRISTIAN GNOSTIC MOVEMENT". Here there is no battle between faith and man's capability to rationalize. It is basically, using awareness or awakened consciousness to prove that truth."Faith through experience" It is encouraged that you dont believe anything they have to say unless you have proved it for yourself. LIke in exercising, you only get the return of the lessons on as much as much effort as you put out. You have to enrol in their free classes if you want to find out more. WWW.MYSTICWEB.COM or WWW.GNOSTICWEB.COM try enrolling there, you'll learn a lot about yourself and about life. Im not interested in the money, but I hope this message gets accross those who are lost and want to know the real meaning of life

January 21, 2006 3:58 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is my email by the way [email protected] ...hope you guys try it...dont judge until you've found out for yourself =)

January 21, 2006 4:00 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey mr. danieru, if your really as curious as you say you are,enrol pls...i think the next online class will start on march.hope to see you there

January 21, 2006 4:04 AM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, I reverted to Islam and believe it is the true religion.
I believe if you want to truely search for the true religion then you will find it. There is enough knowledge out there to find it.

Mr. Danieru said: "I suppose what I mean to say here is, books are not proof..."

But in this case the Qur'an is proof. As it is the literal word of God send through the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Nothing is more beautiful than the Qur'an. No human could possibly write anything like it. Even in the Qur'an god has challenged man to produce a verse like one in the Qur'an and no one has ever managed this. (remember if you are not reading it in Arabic then it is a translation and things are always lost in translation)

In the Qur'an there are no contradictions or mistakes or anything like that. There is even mathematical coding within the Qur'an.

And in the Qur'an God says Islam is the true religion.

All you need to do is to seek knowledge and you will see that Islam is the true religion

March 25, 2006 10:41 PM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I blame Abraham and his wild monotheistic ideas for the whole Judaism/Christianity/Islam debacle.

Religion began for clearly many reasons; the need for hope in the oppressed (see: slavery), the desire for power and the use of religion as a tool of oppression "Pharoah your living god will be most pissed if you do not work yourselves to death in the fields! Now toil like you mean it!." The need to give reason to unexplainable events "It is the will of (the) God(s) that Imbomatep/Josiah/Akbar/Lee-Ping was swept away into the sky by the giant wind serpent. If he were more devout this would never have happened." And not least of all humanity's inability to accept responsibility for it's position within the universe, wishing only to remain as a child, ignorant of the greater scheme and throwing a wobbly when things don't go its way (see: George Bush Jr.).

Anyone who, in the days of the Human Genome, Space Flight and Apple Inc, still feels it necessary to hide beneath the blanket of religion when the story of the universe gets to the scary bits... well, they need to grow up, spiritually.

(So in conclusion, my answer is that none of them are the true religion.. do I win? )

January 13, 2007 11:27 PM    

Anonymous Anonymous said...

whatever religion is most reasonable and answers all of your questions and reveals the most truth. in order to find this religion you have to look at others and what they believ..(how are these religions similiar you should ask) the one that expresses the most truth about life and the one that offers the superior explanation is the one. note well that all religions share many of the same qualities and beliefs,, but some offer something greater in revelation that others don't
im a catholic

March 15, 2007 4:14 AM    


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