1. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105613 by John P on January 1, 2008 at 8:34 am

Good essay.

I see you probably put that last paragraph in there to discourage quote mining. I could see ID proponents saying "But Richard Dawkins says that you should be prepared to change your mind, no matter how 'wildly paradoxical and implausible' an idea may be. ID is wildly paradoxical and implausible, but if we keep teaching it to the kids in high school, eventually one of them may just come up with the mathematical model that changes our mind."

Or they could all just end up stupid.

Happy NEW Year, everyone!

http://spaninquis.wordpress.com/

2. When Congress Interferes With Science, Who You Gonna Call? (Hint: It's not Ghostbusters)

Comment #85862 by John P on November 7, 2007 at 10:52 am

I see that she uses a 30 million figure for the number of non-theists in America. I assume she's using a rough 10% of the population calculation.

From a lobbying point of view, I wonder if she could emphasize that since non-theism is more of a conscious choice than that of theism (with many, many children included in the 90% balance) a 30 million figure includes proportionately far more adults, and hence voters, than it's size indicates.

3. The US is a Christian Nation

Comment #82134 by John P on October 25, 2007 at 6:07 pm

I blogged on this.

Practically all major governments up to 1776 were patterned on those set forth in the Bible. The American Revolution was a rebellion against that type of government (a monarchy, where all powers of government are concentrated in one individual, where religious freedom was non-existent, etc.). Remember the concept "the Divine Right of Kings"? That's what we got rid of, folks, when we overthrew King George III, and enacted our Constitution. Our country, our form of government, is anything but Christian.

4. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc. were atheists, and they were terrible! Answer that!

Comment #81345 by John P on October 24, 2007 at 3:51 pm

I blogged on the topic a few months back. It's a small attempt to explain it.

http://spaninquis.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/atheism-and-stalin/

I like your approach very much, though, Atticus.

5. Honest Mistakes or Willful Mendacity

Comment #68200 by John P on September 6, 2007 at 10:31 am

Oops, there goes #9 again

6. Christopher Hitchens and Bill Donohue on Mother Teresa

Comment #66325 by John P on August 29, 2007 at 5:33 pm

Where does Matthews stand?

"Your writings are BRILLIANT!"

And he wasn't speaking to Donohue.

7. Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years

Comment #64379 by John P on August 19, 2007 at 9:40 pm

Interesting. It motivated me to blog. Here's my modest take on it:

http://spaninquis.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/the-end-of-religion-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine

8. Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris: The Unholy Trinity ... Thank God.

Comment #63555 by John P on August 14, 2007 at 7:28 pm

I think I'd rather be a POF than a BRIGHT. Though the former sounds somewhat effeminate. :)

9. A Designer Universe?

Comment #61332 by John P on August 4, 2007 at 5:50 pm

I learned that the aim of this conference is to have a constructive dialogue between science and religion. I am all in favor of a dialogue between science and religion, but not a constructive dialogue. One of the great achievements of science has been, if not to make it impossible for intelligent people to be religious, then at least to make it possible for them not to be religious. We should not retreat from this accomplishment.

10. The US map of faith

Comment #55636 by John P on July 11, 2007 at 7:31 pm

I'm not so sure about this map. Where I live (south Central PA) the two ends of the state, politically are historically Democratic, while the Central and Northern Tier counties are solidly Republican, to the extent that James Carville has said that PA is closer to Alabama in the middle.

So why does the map show the same sections, including Philly and Pittsburgh, to be more religious than the northern tier and central counties?

11. Giuliani To Regent University: 'The Amount Of Influence You Have Is Really, Really Terrific'

Comment #52669 by John P on June 27, 2007 at 5:12 pm

I am very, very impressed with Regent University, when I consider that it was founded just a short while ago. The number of graduates that you have and the amount of influence that you have is really, really terrific.

[EDIT]Jumped back to close tags

Can you say Indoctrination?

15. Diary of a Deserter

Comment #46280 by John P on May 30, 2007 at 6:42 pm

Brian needs some support. He has no comments - yet. His account is locked so that only Google accounts can add comments. Someone with a Google account needs to tell him to change his settings and allow, at least, non-Google accounts. I'm not going to sign up for Google to do it, but he needs to know that his online blog is his connection to real support.

Someone might also want to point him to this thread.

16. God help us all - The No. 2 book on Amazon right now is a

Comment #44760 by John P on May 25, 2007 at 9:00 am

When I read about the fear of Iran having nuclear weapons, while I can't dismiss it out of hand, I still can't help but thinking what would happen if Iran actually used a nuclear bomb, anywhere. Iran would cease to exist, not only as a country, but as a desert - it would be a sheet of glass.

I understand that their religion makes the whole country a bunch of martyrs at that point, but shit, how many virgins are there in Islamoheaven? There can't be enough to give every male 72 of them. They've gotta start to recycle, at which time the term "virgin" starts to lose its meaning.

Though maybe that's why they like to stone their young girls when they even look at a man - it ensures they go to heaven while they are still virgins.

OK, I'm leaving now...

17. 'Einstein - His Life and Universe'

Comment #44164 by John P on May 23, 2007 at 1:55 pm

Yes, I get confused when they (whoever "they" are) try to philosophize God. Calling God the sum total of everything is really calling him nothing. Maybe that's why I never "got" philosophy.

Prove he exists first. Then start quibbling over his characteristics.

18. Richard Dawkins to appear in Second Life

Comment #44161 by John P on May 23, 2007 at 1:48 pm

Richard Dawkins to appear in Second Life

19. Prayer can improve physical health

Comment #43683 by John P on May 22, 2007 at 9:32 am

One has to ask: Even if this is true, that prayer has positive health benefits, why would anyone want to go through all the mental gymnastics necessary to delude oneself, without being conscious of the delusion, of the truth of a patent lie, i.e. the existence of the god you are praying to?

The mind boggles.

20. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42419 by John P on May 18, 2007 at 7:16 am

Has anyone else noticed that the Christian critics seem to add the Capital "G" to the title of Hitchens' book? "God is not Great" instead of "god is not Great"?

Just look at the spelling at the beginning of the review, and you can infer, without reading, the content. If they can't even get the title right, what makes them think they will understand the book?

21. Dobson, Armageddon, and Foreign Policy

Comment #41956 by John P on May 17, 2007 at 11:06 am

That's just creepy. Grown men having a conversation like that? It reads like the dialogue from a Captain America comic book.

Tell me it's from the Onion. Please.

22. Hitchens on Falwell

Comment #41857 by John P on May 17, 2007 at 8:00 am

He's had an opportunity to expand on this interview yesterday in his regular column at Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2166337/nav/tap2/

23. Why Christopher Hitchens is not Great

Comment #40600 by John P on May 14, 2007 at 3:05 pm

Hitchens' contempt is real, it is justified, and for the most part it stems from one source - though that source is not God, the Creator, but rather the sin of man's heart.

24. Atheism in America

Comment #40311 by John P on May 14, 2007 at 5:33 am

Only in America. Home of the free (to harass and intimidate those who threaten your beliefs), land of the brave (people who can only do so in a mob)!

If I was to guess, I'd guess that John Stossel is, at least, an agnostic. His pattern of inquiry is usually very rational, and he usually takes a stance contrary to his interviewee, in order to emphasize the issue, but I didn't think his questions were unfair.

25. Does God Exist? The Nightline Face-Off

Comment #39758 by John P on May 11, 2007 at 9:28 pm

Interesting. The vote is running about 27%/73% no god/yes GOD. That's more than I would expect given polling, though the demographics might be skewed in favor of the more affluent and educated with computers and internet access.

26. Anderson Cooper interviews Christopher Hitchens

Comment #39460 by John P on May 10, 2007 at 6:34 pm

Is it just me? I could listen to Hitchens talk about this subject all day. He is so lucid, so responsive, so right.

This isn't hero worship. I don't like his foreign policy statements on Iraq. But on religion, he's more literate than anyone.

Someone said that a British accent adds 50 points to one's perceived IQ. I hope it's not that.

As for the "I would miss it" quote, he prefaced it with "in some ways". I agree with him. In some ways, I would miss it too, though not much. I suspect he feels the same.

27. A conversation with journalist Christopher Hitchens

Comment #38515 by John P on May 8, 2007 at 12:54 pm

Hitchens seems to have only one suit jacket. Or maybe, like Tom Wolfe, he has a particular affinity towards that style and color.

Anyone else notice that about his recent interviews, on Dobbs, Stewart and now Rose?

28. The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it

Comment #38458 by John P on May 8, 2007 at 7:14 am

With regard to the Harris quote, a good blog here, with the ENTIRE quote, in context.

http://aloadofbright.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/misquoting-harris/

29. Republican candidates range from ignorant to dishonest

Comment #37394 by John P on May 4, 2007 at 11:23 am

This is easy. Just don't vote for any Republican. Spend your time weeding through the Democrats.

30. Believe in God Spray

Comment #36209 by John P on April 30, 2007 at 1:47 pm

I assume we all know that this is in fact a joke product.

31. Pundit Christopher Hitchens picks a fight in book, 'God is Not Great'

Comment #35886 by John P on April 29, 2007 at 7:39 am

I agree partially with kkant, about Hitchens war stance. Part of his logic is hard to refute. I've had this discussion on other sites, and most of the time it comes out the same.

After the first Iraq war, there were UN resolutions that Saddam was supposed to comply with, but clearly flipped the bird towards, until Bush started making noises about invasion. Then he seemed to get more cooperative. But the fact remains that he clearly violated those Resolutions. What's the point of issuing them, if there is no teeth behind them? And if their is no teeth, then Al-Queda and similar groups get the message that the West just won't do anything, that we are weak, etc.

The UN is a very ineffective organization, when it come to force. It requires the members to apply the force, and apparently, only the US and the UK, along with a few minor members, actually did so.

I think Hitchens stance is that, while regrettable, the war was inevitable. I don't hear him saying it's been conducted admirably, just that it had to be conducted.

Much of his stance also seems to come from his views on religion, his belief that Islam needs to be stopped in it's tracks.

32. Pundit Christopher Hitchens picks a fight in book, 'God is Not Great'

Comment #35865 by John P on April 29, 2007 at 6:07 am

But what is the point of writing such a book?

33. Bill O'Remix

Comment #35054 by John P on April 26, 2007 at 5:10 am

Well, it's hard to find any humor in Pill O'Fight, but it's a step in the right direction.

34. 'The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools' & Rebuttal

Comment #34172 by John P on April 23, 2007 at 12:42 pm

That first video was originally an email, that circulated among the faithful. When I received it, I gagged.

Nice rebuttal, Brian.

Don't you love it when X-tians throw up such blathering nonsense and call it reason? God was kicked out of the schools? So God's not omnipotent? There is someone superior in power to him, that can kick him out of schools? Who knew?

BTW, where can I get a slice of that chocolate cake? It was very distracting. I totally missed the voice over in that part, had to go back and listen again with my eyes closed. Couldn't you have used a less delectable confection, like rhubarb pie, or something?

35. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #33935 by John P on April 22, 2007 at 6:08 pm

"I might retort that such hostility as I or other theists voice towards religion is limited to words. I am not going to bomb anybody, behead them, stone them, burn them at the stake, crucify them, or fly planes into their skyscrapers, just because of a theological argument."
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p. 281

36. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #33927 by John P on April 22, 2007 at 5:43 pm

I don't understand why people have to disagree about how to agree. It makes no sense. The so called "fundamentalists" believe (don't believe) in the same thing as the humanists at Harvard.

If we turn some off with our "militarism", it is probably people we would have no chance of turning on in the first place. On the flip side, we are probably going to gain more de-converts by being outspoken, than by bunking down in the Harvard Humanist Chapel and whispering our objections.

37. The Empty Wager

Comment #32932 by John P on April 18, 2007 at 6:35 pm

Ah yes. The old, how-can-you-fool-an-omniscient-entity-into-thinking-you-believe-in-him? argument.

Who's going to fall for that?

ummm. me?

38. New Primate Species Found In 42 Million-year-old Texas Fossils

Comment #32207 by John P on April 16, 2007 at 7:29 am

According to the Vatican, Mankind received his soul at the point of his evolution when he became 'fully conscious' whenever that was.

39. Sex, Love, and SSRIs

Comment #31161 by John P on April 11, 2007 at 8:06 am

These drugs, for the most part, have helped millions of people fight and manage depression, which itself can be a debilitating affliction. But like most drugs, they do have their side effects, and have to be managed carefully. The more clinically effective they are, the more likely they will be over-prescribed, as more and more doctors realize how well they alleviate their patients' depression. Prescriptions to minors have come into some disrepute lately, as SSRIs seem to often enhance, not reduce, suicide ideation in teenagers. Lot's of lawsuits ensue.

As for the sexual side effects, they all seem to delay or even destroy the ability to orgasm, though in men with hair trigger problems, a small dose can actually have a beneficial effect, as delayed orgasm for them actually enhances the sexual experience.

Glacian, it's unfortunate that they gave them to you at such a young age. Not to stir things up, but if your health has been permanently impaired, you may have a cause of action against your doctor, or the drug company. Most states preserve the statute of limitation for minors until after they have reached the age of majority, so check with a lawyer.

40. The God Debate

Comment #29263 by John P on April 2, 2007 at 10:03 am

What is so obvious and rather ignorant, audacious and bigoted is that Rick Warren mostly got the last word and received unfair representation by the interviewer. Harris never got the chance to really address all the ignorant and spiteful arguments Warren regurgitates from his Christian propaganda lessons.

41. The God Debate

Comment #29136 by John P on April 1, 2007 at 8:22 pm

I'm not so convinced this was a waste of time. This is NEWSWEEK! Not some arcane, backwater rag. Millions of people either have a subscription, or will pick up a copy and read this while sitting in their doctor's, dentist's and accountant's waiting rooms. If only 1% are swayed in some way by Harris, or have the seeds of doubt planted in their brains to flower later, then it's not a waste of time.

When was the last time you saw a debate between an atheist and a theist in a national magazine, prior to this past year? Ever see it in back issues of Life, Look or the Saturday Evening Post? I didn't think so.

42. Study Finds Shark Overfishing May Lower Scallop Population

Comment #28670 by John P on March 30, 2007 at 10:53 am

I keep telling my kids, when they turn their nose up at food, like scallops, that they ought to enjoy the food they get now, because by the time they are my age, a lot of it won't be available. They'll all be eating tofu.

43. Peanut Butter, The Atheist's Nightmare!

Comment #27900 by John P on March 27, 2007 at 7:04 am

Reworked old sexist joke - more apropos here.

Q: What's the most painful part of the conversion process from an atheist to a Fundy?

A: When they thread the pipe through the skull to suck out half the brains - and put them in a peanut butter jar.

44. The Case for Teaching The Bible

Comment #27756 by John P on March 26, 2007 at 2:56 pm

What public schools need, far more than classes on the Old and New Testaments, is classes on rationalism, logic and, dare I say it, atheism. Classes that teach kids to think, to use their brains. Not classes that make them memorize passages from the Bible.

On the other hand, a truly honest, secular approach to the Bible, one that teaches it, warts and all, highlighting its historical premises, pointing out its inconsistencies, may be just the remedy for rampant religious ignorance in this country. But who would teach it?

45. Orr vs. Dennett/Dawkins

Comment #26987 by John P on March 22, 2007 at 6:03 pm

From Orr's rebuttal:

What, for instance, does Dawkins think of Wittgenstein's picture of religion? Does he reject Wittgenstein's idea that believers sometimes use language in a way that differs from (and is incommensurable with) how we normally use language?

46. Religion

Comment #26976 by John P on March 22, 2007 at 5:27 pm

If you like Carlin, but are not that familiar with him, get his book, "When will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops", with his picture on the cover superimposed at the Last Supper. Better yet, get the audio book, because he reads his own book. It's like listening to a very long, hilarious stand up routine. I think this Religion bit is part of the book. So is the Ten Commandments.

Amazon Link

47. Why creationism is wrong and evolution is right

Comment #26928 by John P on March 22, 2007 at 10:42 am

Re: Comment 5 above:

What was discovered in the C20th was that it is only part of a much bigger picture, but it's still a perfectly workable model when you're not travelling close to the speed of light or whatever.

In which case it might be reasonable to say evolution is not going to be replaced, even if the way we view it may be revolutionised.

48. Biology teacher fired for referring to Bible

Comment #26568 by John P on March 20, 2007 at 1:47 pm

The article's not all that clear. A well constructed Powerpoint presentation used to show stupid thinking might be OK. A few biblical passages to show what is not science might be acceptable also. The article doesn't say. The teacher DOES say that he wanted to teach critical thinking, but if the students were confused, he wasn't doing a good job of that.

49. The Religion Clause Divided Against Itself

Comment #26422 by John P on March 19, 2007 at 8:05 am

I was about to react in a knee jerk fashion when I started the post, but in the end I agreed with him. Maybe it's because I'm a lawyer, but the jurisprudence of the Establishment clause is fraught with tension, almost like a well balanced tug-of-war, where neither side seems to be able to pull the other over the line, though both sides get close on occasion. The players (religionists vs. secularists) are the same inside the courtroom as outside. The intention of the Founders to disestablish religion is met by the majority of people interpreting it bringing their religion to the interpretation. I'm not sure how to resolve it, short of banning religion. Or maybe a clarification Amendment to the Constitution. However, given the makeup of the country, the latter would probably result in an actual establishment of religion.

50. Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'

Comment #26070 by John P on March 16, 2007 at 12:55 pm

Re: TigerDunc Comment 62

Didn't I read somewhere that prayer actually has a negative effect on people who are ill? If they find out that people are praying for them they get stressed because this reinforces the seriousness of their illness and this makes them iller.