“My faith
is a great weight
hung on a small wire,
as doth the spider
hang her baby on a thin web,
as doth the vine,
twiggy and wooden,
hold up grapes
like eyeballs,
as many angels
dance on the head of a pin.”
Anne Sexton
I am not against religion or specific religions.
I am against humans speaking for God and misrepresenting God.
The foundation of my religion:
There is a God.
I am not God.
I present to you a classic scenario in the realm of no intelligent life on Earth.
For many years I have been aware of the allegations that “theologians” in the Middle Ages and later would debate the question, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” There are several variations on the wording but they all relate to debating a theoretical concept that is of no redeeming value to mankind.
Here are a few facts regarding this nonsense.
“Did medieval scholars argue over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin?”
“Let’s get a couple things straight. First, you’re misquoting the saying in question. According to unimpeachable sources, it’s not how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, it’s how many can do it on the point of a needle — which, of course, makes more sense. Second, the earliest citation I can find is from a book by Ralph Cudworth in the 17th century, which is suspiciously late in the day.
Insight on this question is provided by Isaac D’Israeli (1766-1848), the father of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Isaac was an amateur scholar who published a series of books called Curiosities of Literature (the first volume appeared in 1791), which were quite popular in their day. D’Israeli lampooned the Scholastic philosophers of the late Middle Ages, notably Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224-1274), who was famous for debating metaphysical fine points.
Aquinas wrote several ponderous philosophical tomes, the most famous of which was called Summa Theologica, “summary of theology.” It contained, among other things, several dozen propositions on the nature of angels, which Thomas attempted to work out by process of pure reason. The results were pretty tortured, and to later generations of hipper-than-thou know-it-alls, they seemed a classic example of good brainpower put to nonsensical ends.”
“Koetsier and Bergmans have nosed out a few still earlier antecedents: William Chillingworth in 1648 wrote of clergymen disputing, “Whether a million of angels may not sit upon a needle’s point,” which in turn may refer to Swester Katrei, “a fourteenth-century German mystical work,” in which a character observes, “doctors declare that in heaven a thousand angels can stand on the point of a needle.”"
Read more:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1008/did-medieval-scholars-argue-over-how-many-angels-could-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin
“Re: Angels on the head of a pin
The question “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” is associated with medieval theology of the Scholastic school, the best-known representative being Saint Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Christian philosopher (and a Dominican monk). I’m not sure that Aquinas originated the question; maybe someone with a better grounding in Catholic thought can help us out. Nowadays the question often appears when someone is ridiculing theologians, but I believe the drift of the original discussion about angels and pinheads concerned infinity and different kinds of being. Something like this: Angels aren’t spatial, and so an infinite number of them could occupy a point.”
Read more:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/1512.html
I believe some variation of this question was debated and there is plenty of documentation to substantiate my belief.
Organized religion created the Spanish Inquisition, the execution of Joan of Arc, the Salem Witch Trials and a multitude of other devices to “save the souls’ of the poor tortured creatures. Something as nonsensical and non helpful as debating “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” is no stretch at all in believability.
Do you believe there is intelligent life on Earth?