Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 38 Atheism
Chapter Subtitle: Economics for Atheists
"Don't add entities unless necessary!"
Occam's razor is naturally very high-end, and it tastes even better when paired with Latin!
It has the same reassuring effect on people as sayings like "Anyone who demands anything other than freedom is destined to be a slave," "Free things are the most expensive, especially sex," and "Ugly people have no youth."
Captain Arnold blurted out: "It turns out that Mr. Yuan is an ATHEIST..."
As soon as these words were spoken, strange looks appeared on the faces of the three officers.
In fact, anyone who knows something about the United States knows that the "City on the Hill" is a religious secular country. Well, it's no problem to say it the other way around, the "Chosen Country" is a secular religious country.
In the eyes of Americans at this time, atheists were probably a little more terrifying than communists.
Incredibly, until 1969, American libraries generally did not collect books written by atheists about atheism. The Library of Congress only collected 32 English-language books on atheism, 26 of which refuted atheism .
The first time the American news media allowed atheists to preach their beliefs was in 1946. After five years of efforts, a World War I veteran named Robert Harold Scott finally got the opportunity to preach his atheist views in a half-hour program on a San Francisco radio station (KQW) with the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The result shocked the whole country. The U.S. Congress investigated the FCC and held a hearing that lasted seven days.
Later, when the famous actor Marlon Brando testified in court , he refused to swear an oath to God on the grounds that he was an atheist, which caused another sensation. At that time, Americans had landed on the moon.
In short, it takes some courage to call yourself an atheist even in America a hundred years later, let alone in America in 1921.
Major Cao Linsheng immediately tried to smooth things over: "Captain, you misunderstood. Most of us Chinese are PANTHEISTs, and I think liberal scholars like Neo are likely to be DEISTs like Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu..."
“No, no, no…” Our Master Yuan completely ignored Major Cao’s good intentions and shook his head like a rattle, saying, “I am neither a pantheist nor a deist. And I am not an agnostic without religious beliefs. I am just…”
"EXPLICT ATHEIST!"
When the three officers heard Yuan Yanshu admit so decisively that he was a "strong atheist", meaning that he not only had no religious beliefs but also did not believe in the existence of gods at all, the expressions of the three officers became even more subtle.
But it doesn't matter to the other two. Our Master Yuan focused all his attention on Major Patton, so he could find that this guy seemed relieved.
It seems that the "historical" record is correct, and it is very likely that George Smith Patton Jr. was a less-than-convinced atheist.
He himself said that he has three "shortcomings", the first is being rich, the second is being in the limelight... Well, our Emperor Trump and the nation's husband have something to say. The third is being ungodly.
What is called "impiety" these days is actually just not believing very much.
It was also from him that the time for Sunday sermons in the US military was limited to 15 minutes. He also had a lot of complaints about the military chaplain system, privately calling it "a political commissar sent by God."
These records in Patton's resume made Master Yuan believe that he was actually a hidden atheist. Maybe he was not so firm and a little hesitant, but he definitely had problems with faith.
"Gentlemen, your appetizers." Just then, the waiters began to serve the dishes.
Oh, now it really deserves the name of “railway age”.
Yuan Yan exclaimed in admiration when she saw it. Let's not talk about the dishes first. The tableware is really exquisite. The plates are all high-grade porcelain, and the bottom of the plate is painted with the pattern of the state flower of Pennsylvania - mountain laurel, which looks high-end and classy.
In fact, the service level of dining cars in the American railway era was really no less than that of ordinary high-end restaurants, and of course the prices were also exciting enough.
The starter of Set A ordered by our Master Yuan was foie gras, which many people would find greasy. Anyway, as long as he has this broken system, he won’t have to worry about the three highs, and can just eat as much as he wants.
Our Master Yuan did not forget to brainwash people while eating, but there was no other way because the time to complete the task was too tight.
"This is the first time I know that the food on the train can be so delicious..." Yuan Yan exclaimed in admiration, and then changed the subject: "Three officers, I know what you are going to say. Wait a minute and listen to me first."
"In fact, from the perspective of us economists, atheism is undoubtedly the most cost-effective choice for mankind."
He picked up the Coke next to him, took a sip, smacked his lips and asked, "Major Patton, excuse me, what is your favorite drink?"
"whisky."
"Oh, and what about Captain Arnold?"
"Wine bar."
"Lance, what about you?"
"Me, Shaoxing wine."
"Well, I like to drink Wu Jia Pi." Yuan Yan suddenly added, and then said: "You see, you also drank many kinds of wine before you knew which kind of wine you liked the most."
"So, if you haven't tried many religions, how can you be sure that the religion you believe in now is the one that suits you best?"
Major Patton coughed and said, "Mr. Yuan, religion is probably not about whether it suits your appetite, but whether it is right or wrong, right?"
"clatter!"
Our Master Yuan deliberately put down his knife and fork, snapped his fingers and said, "That's right, Major Patton, you are right. Right or wrong, that's exactly what I want to say next!"
"Similarly, if you have not tried many religions, how can you be sure that the religion you believe in now is the right one?"
He spread his hands and said, "Three officers, as you know, there are so many religions in this world, and their precepts and doctrines are even more varied. The most critical problem is that they can conflict with each other."
"Take food for example. Some countries don't allow people to eat beef, some don't allow people to eat pork, some don't allow people to eat dog meat, some don't allow people to eat fish... some don't allow people to eat meat at all. So what should we do? Should we all become vegetarians?"
That’s right, Westerners also eat dog meat, dog meat, dog meat!
Until the 21st century, Germans were still making dog sausages; the Swiss made dog and cat meat into jerky and pickled meat because they believed it could cure coughs; the French had a famous dish - stuffed suckling dog, which you could eat in Paris if you were lucky; not to mention places like Australia where wild dogs are rampant, they would heroically roast a whole dog over charcoal.
"Well, actually eating only vegetarian food has its risks. There are five kinds of meat in Buddhism, and even garlic cannot be eaten."
