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March 16, 2008

How Small We Are

Posted at 2:10 pm by Richard and tagged , , , , , , , , . Popularity: 69% [?]

I find one of the most arrogant claims that religion makes is that we are somehow special – the “centre of the universe”, so to speak. While (most) religions have rejected the idea that the earth is the centre of our solar system, the very idea that the creator of the universe would single out one small planet in some distant corner of his creation to be “special” seems absurdly arrogant. Carl Sagan describes this arrogance as “our imagined self-importance”, and “the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe”. While I think Sagan’s description still remains the greatest demonstration of how insignificant we really are (with Monty Python coming a close second), I saw this picture just recently which I though demonstrated it quite well too:

The Planets

I’m sure anyone who visits this site has already seen Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”, but I’m going to post it here again anyway, because it always manages to put me in my place each time I watch it.

(link to video)

Can anyone honestly say that “God” created all of this just for us?

Popularity: 69% [?]

4 Comments »

  1. Heathen Dan said,

    March 17, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    Thanks for the gif file, it really puts our planet’s “significance” to the cosmological scheme of things.

  2. Susan from Thrusites design said,

    March 26, 2008 at 1:46 am

    Wow, I finally found somebody who thinks the same about the, as you call it, “our imagined self-importance” :-O But I think, that only “young” religion are so stupid, that they cant see how wrong they are…

  3. Andrew Reynolds said,

    April 8, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Well, I could say that we are lucky enough that our planet is “special” . Thanks for sharing this video. :)

  4. davidmabus said,

    May 2, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    For Dawkins and Randi and the rest of the so-called “critical thinkers”…

    The *MODEL* of mental health:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBEbfiaZTfc

    “Look at the ANGLE OF THE KEY….see that, see that….”

    what a fucking idiot this Randi is…..a REAL CRITICAL THINKER…..

    Visit:

    http://www.centerforinquiry.net/forums/viewthread/3283/P0/

    to see how we stopped James Randi’s fraudulent MILLION DOLLAR PARANORMAL challenge…..

    watch carefully the consequences of Randi’s *idea*…..

    For over 40 years James Randi Zwigert (is this even a REAL NAME?) has had total control over who and how the testing was conducted, yet despite all this he has terminated the challenge.

    The ONLY REASON why the challenge was stopped is because he lost and refused to pay.

    PS: Love the IRONY of the BULLSHI*T sign over Randi’s ugly little head

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