1. Talking Action Figure Jesus

Comment #73291 by Shifty Frog on September 24, 2007 at 4:34 pm

I was also wondering - do they have a Catholic Jeebus doll too? You know, pull the string and watch him transform into a cookie!

2. Talking Action Figure Jesus

Comment #73280 by Shifty Frog on September 24, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Equal opportunity idiocy - hindu deity finger puppets: http://www.mcphee.com/items/10578.html
Gotta wonder though - when talking Jeebus's batteries die, does he rise again from the toy box 3 days later?

3. Religion advances despite science (and thanks to Dawkins)

Comment #73092 by Shifty Frog on September 24, 2007 at 5:14 am

I doubt that *any* of this matters to the average "man in the pew". Despite all these "journalists" who try to drive the herds this way or that(the current trend being to drive them all into the ID pen), most believers couldn't care less and would have "...snored through the sermon on the mount", to quote Paul Scofield in "A Man for All Seasons".

I noticed this happening quite a lot when I was still attending the Episcopal church - those "at the top" were always splitting some fine hair of doctrine, or trying to prove the grievous errors of denomination X. Their flocks simply ignored them and went on with their C&E faith...hopefully all this will just be perceived by the flocks as intellectuals sniping at each other for academic pissing rights and ignored or slept through...

Much as I would love for everyone to wake up from the mental anesthesia of religion, I realise that for the most part, it's what my grandmother always told me regarding exercises in futility: Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

4. Against the grain: There are questions that science cannot answer

Comment #71997 by Shifty Frog on September 20, 2007 at 5:11 am

My first thought was that someone snuck an article in from The Onion but alas, no...

I'm fairly new at atheism, having wasted most of my 44 years of life being a member of at least 5 different religions. I know I'm not anywhere near Douglas Adam's level of talent or intellect, but I do credit Professor Dawkins with my "conversion". It was after reading The God Delusion last year that I was born thrice - i.e. rational thought smacked me upside the head with the 2X4 of logic. Aside from the birth of my daughter, it has been the most profound and satisfying experience of my life, thus far.

My question here would be how in the world does one deal with outright...well...crap like Mrs. Midgley writes? It's only been a short time, but I've already had to endure horrendously awful arguments from theists, and I wasn't being personally lied about or attacked as Professor Dawkins was, and is! I always believe in being courteous, but people's utterly stubborn refusals to see facts or even concede that they *might* be mistaken is fairly disheartening, to put it mildly.

Sorry to ramble on, but this article pushed a lot of buttons with me...I wish I had the talent to write my own 2X4 of logic!

Liz in CT aka Shifty Frog

5. Religious education

Comment #71221 by Shifty Frog on September 18, 2007 at 4:47 am

Sorry to be picky on my very first post but...

Re post #71184: *Jonah* was swallowed by the whale and survived, not Noah. Noah had the ark. (See post #71193 for confirmation!) Mind you, it's all myth anyhow but I'm a picky sort!

Peace,
Liz