1. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208484 by Yeti on July 11, 2008 at 1:31 am

I came up with:


Dear President Robert H. Bruininks,


I have read on the internet that you have been receiving hate mail for Dr Myers from Catholics due to his recent web article.


I have read the offending article and thought it well written and that it highlighted something salient, that the Catholic church is out of step with the 21st century world view. This is reinforced by people calling for him to lose his job or in extreme cases his life.


In a free country we should all be at liberty to express ourselves as we see fit and there should be no barriers to argument and expression. So whilst it is correct that the Catholics should represent themselves I can see no reason why their response should call for anything more than debate.


The days when religions inflicted harm on people who did not hold with their view are thankfully long gone, let's keep it that way.


Regards,

2. Atheists An Increasingly Outspoken Minority

Comment #129731 by Yeti on February 19, 2008 at 2:12 pm

"Where do you place your trust in times of need? Where do you place your hope in the time of a crisis of confidence?" Hanson said.

Me. Family. Friends. My dog. Science. Books. Mathematics. Movies. etc. etc... Stuff that exists.


Seriously, how would appealing to something that doesn't exit (or, more correctly as existence hasn't be proven, ever answered) help?

3. There Go The Dinosaurs

Comment #73721 by Yeti on September 26, 2007 at 1:24 am

It took quite a while to realise that wasn't satire.

It's not like stories gain credibility when they're drawn in the style of Roy of the Rovers.

"Religion for the hard of understanding". Probably quite a bit market.

4. Critical Analysis of Case for a Creator

Comment #72452 by Yeti on September 21, 2007 at 6:26 am

Crazymalc,

I'd recommend:

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson - very interesting book which gives a good introduction to cosmology and much else.

"Big Bang" by Simon Singh. Singh's books are always highly readable and this one is no exception.

Have fun learning!

5. VOTE on the 'Faith smackdown': Richard Dawkins vs Francis Collins

Comment #72006 by Yeti on September 20, 2007 at 5:35 am

Marshall,

I don't claim to be anywhere near as bright as Professor Dawkins but I figured out that even if there was a god for this universe that would just make she/he/it a product of an natural process (Prof. Dawkins' explanation of this in TGD is far better than I could manage, so I won't explain further here). Therefore god isn't supernatural. I can't remember when I figured that out, but I wasn't that old.

Nothing I've seen or read since has altered my view. In fact if anything, I've become more convinced there is no god. Simply open your eyes and have a look at the world and think about it. If I was god, I'd be ashamed of some of the stuff going on at the moment.

It really isn't that tough...

6. God Talk on 'The View'

Comment #71594 by Yeti on September 19, 2007 at 5:04 am

Favourite quote:

"Do we get energy from the Sun?"

I'd love to ask the lady who raised that particular question what she thinks is powering all life on earth.

If the answer is "faith" then I'd like to ask why God isn't turning up the supply now there are more people on earth and many of them are starving.

Easy to see why reasoned argument doesn't win people like this over though, none of them displayed any form of thirst for knowledge.

7. Review of Richard Dawkins' new book 'The Fascism Delusion'

Comment #69717 by Yeti on September 12, 2007 at 11:10 am

Interesting review.

I didn't know the current pope had a part time job reviewing books.