1. Scientists rally against creationist 'superstition'

Comment #186938 by The Truth, the light on May 31, 2008 at 9:57 pm

I would really like to see where the figure of 40% of the British population doesn't accept evolution comes from.

2. Group finds Starbucks logo too hot to handle

Comment #180842 by The Truth, the light on May 16, 2008 at 12:29 am

If Christians can see the image of the Virgin Mary in an old fence post or a piece of toasted cheese, then I guess it doesn't take too much imagination to turn a mermaid into a spread legged prostitute.

3. Science leads to killing people

Comment #170681 by The Truth, the light on April 27, 2008 at 10:12 pm

Stein's hypocrisy shows no bounds.

4. A New Flea

Comment #160327 by The Truth, the light on April 14, 2008 at 12:35 am

I would love to see Paula Kirby write a book called "Dawkin's Fleas Bite Back"

5. Ancient serpent shows its leg

Comment #159627 by The Truth, the light on April 12, 2008 at 4:40 pm

I posted the article on a Christian Forum and here's the intelligent creationist response

OMG LMAO, are you serious !?

that little thing a leg ? it looks to me like the already existing little claws that modern snakes have and use for mating,, its just one bone sticking out either side, and its supposed to be a remnant of a leg ?

just picture that a snake with only 2 legs in the back, half slither half walk, ? lol get real, stop being so desperate its embarrassing.

6. Biology prof expelled from screening of 'Expelled'

Comment #147944 by The Truth, the light on March 21, 2008 at 4:20 pm

I really think this film should go by its subtitle of "No Intelligence Allowed". It sums up the film beautifully in just three words.

7. EXPELLED!

Comment #147593 by The Truth, the light on March 21, 2008 at 12:06 am

Here's the first unofficial review of the "documentary" from http://badidea.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/first-review-of-expelled-an-all-around-pan-for-creationist-cinema/

The first major review of a preview screening of Expelled! has hit the net, and the reviewer basically confirms all our prophetic jeers and boos.

In keeping with what I've pieced together about film's likely approach, it apparently never really even defines what Intelligent Design is, or really even explains what evolution is. Informing your audience about the basic ideas so they have some context to work with (and some way to understand the ideas and positions under debate) apparently got cut out of the film in the final edit.

In other words, this is not a film written by even someone like Michael Behe, who at least understands the basics of evolutionary theory and evidence to some extent. It's a film written by pop creationists, who virtually never have the first idea what evolution is, how scientific evidence works, and so on. Instead of any serious discussion of biochem, genetics, or anything else, it looks like we get a heap of phony outrage generated by flat out lying and misleading the audience about cases like Richard Sternberg.

Fair warning though: one unfortunate part of the review is the discussion of junk DNA, which is just too simplistic to be anything other than misleading.

8. EXPELLED!

Comment #147590 by The Truth, the light on March 20, 2008 at 11:59 pm

It's obviously going to take some corroborative statements before the line the PZ was disruptive can be believed.

9. EXPELLED!

Comment #147585 by The Truth, the light on March 20, 2008 at 11:38 pm

From the snippets I've seen of Expelled, it certainly looks like the blind leading the blind.

I wonder if it will attract any fleas, or perhaps they would be better called flys (for their ability to consume/transform decomposing bodies and steaming piles of shit).

10. Loneliness Breeds Belief in Supernatural

Comment #116151 by The Truth, the light on January 25, 2008 at 4:17 pm

A well known technique of a lot of religions (particularly the most cultish ones) is to love bomb new recruits to make them feel wanted and part of a large family.

I guess it's a natural human instinct to want to be loved/accepted by others, so if you target lonely/vulnerable people, they can be very easily converted into your religion (or any other similar group for that matter).

11. Pacific Islanders' Ancestry Emerges in Genetic Study

Comment #113712 by The Truth, the light on January 20, 2008 at 11:33 am

I saw an interesting documentary where two New Zealand Maori's traced the Maori origins back through the Pacific to Taiwan.

What I found really interesting is how different the Taiwanese aborigines are to the Chinese Taiwanese. It was also interesting to see the similarities in Maori and Taiwanese (can't remember the actual name of it) languages and very similar legends and art.

12. Questions Delay Creationist Master's Degrees

Comment #112575 by The Truth, the light on January 17, 2008 at 1:38 pm

The crazy/frustrating/stupid thing is that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is even considering ICR's programme. The ICR proposal shouldn't have even got to the first stage. It should have been shot down in flames.

13. 'Letter to a Christian Nation' now available in paperback

Comment #111348 by The Truth, the light on January 14, 2008 at 12:13 pm

What's the deal with hardcover/paperback editions.

In New Zealand, I purchased TGD and End of Faith in 2007 in paperback editions.

Is it something about the New Zealand psyche that means we don't like hardbacks?

14. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108631 by The Truth, the light on January 7, 2008 at 11:17 am

Flying goose said:

One things religion can do very well is give you a way of life and group of people with whom one can live it, belief is only one part of it.

15. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #106809 by The Truth, the light on January 3, 2008 at 1:56 pm

With a gun toting fruit loop like Chuck Norris on your side, how could you loose.

16. Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

Comment #104777 by The Truth, the light on December 29, 2007 at 12:10 pm

"Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil.

17. 'Gospel of wealth' facing scrutiny

Comment #104108 by The Truth, the light on December 27, 2007 at 11:24 pm

In some respects, these evangelists are quite like the Nigerian scammers. They prey on the various weaknesses in the human nature, primarily trust and greed.

I don't see much difference between someone handing over $500 to a church in order to gain greater prosperity (whether that's in a monitory, or spiritual kind) and someone who hands over $500 to a scammer to pay for the "clearance fees" for the ten million cheque they'll get for "helping".

The bottom line is that most churches in the USA are run as corporations. They should be paying taxes and be fully accountable.

18. How to refute Creationist with only a bucket of feces

Comment #103801 by The Truth, the light on December 26, 2007 at 11:00 pm

There's some good stuff on saintgasoline.com.

I like this one as well

http://saintgasoline.com/comics/2007-07-09-Wheel_Of_Misfortune.JPG

19. Man and God

Comment #103498 by The Truth, the light on December 25, 2007 at 10:45 pm

Diacanu.

Do you have a link to that thread?

I can't for the life of me see how anyone could rationally argue otherwise, as that would imply that babies have a belief in a God, which is purely ridiculous.

20. Man and God

Comment #103487 by The Truth, the light on December 25, 2007 at 7:57 pm

Some interesting comments on The Times site. Quite liked this response:

Atheism is an ideology? No, it is just a lack of belief in supernatural beings. It's just as much an ideology as a-fairyism or a-SantaClausism. Atheists can be nihilists, facists, socialists, etc. They include one of the greatest sociopaths in history (Stalin) as well as the greatest philanthropists of all time (Buffet, Gates, Carnegie). Most atheists I know have adopted some flavour of humanism but it is not obligatory.

All you can say of atheists is that they have emancipated their minds from the myths of ancient people who were struggling to understand the world. If atheists are homophobic it is not because some ancient scribe told them to be. If they are against abortion it is not because they believe in 'souls' entering the foetus at conception. If they are in favour of unprovoked attacks on countries it is not because they believe they've heard messages from beings in the sky advising it. These are negative reasons and are all you will get from the 'ideology' of atheism.

If the theory of natural selection were true, why don't people living in the tropics have silver, reflective skin, or eskimos natural fur? And we are supposed to believe that a fish crawled out onto the beach, choked, but his/her co-fish persevered until they became able to live on land. Ridiculous.
Evolution is a religion too. The worship of the time god. Evolutionary psychology is even more absurd.

21. Man and God

Comment #103403 by The Truth, the light on December 25, 2007 at 1:10 pm

No one becomes an Atheist by accident.

22. Man and God

Comment #103396 by The Truth, the light on December 25, 2007 at 12:16 pm

I can't let the following statement pass without comment:

"The atheists have characterised all religions by their most extremist exponents – the fundamentalists and the literalists, the holy warriors and the narrow-minded zealots – and denounced them as the bringers of war and suffering, the dividers and the oppressors, the antithesis of civilisation and the Enlightenment."

Dawkins and Harris do no such thing. Both authors talk about religious moderates and their role in giving a platform (albeit unintentional) to religious extremists.

On a positive note, the fact that The Times is writing an editorial about the "threat" of atheism is a great achievement. I'm not a Times reader, but I suspect in past years the Christmas editorial would have been a lot more traditional (ie: uncritical Christian message).

Perhaps some UK locals can confirm or otherwise.

23. 'Christian God is not to blame'

Comment #102699 by The Truth, the light on December 23, 2007 at 12:23 pm

The archbishop has said God and his believers are not to blame for the world's wars or crimes and Christians should remember the benefits of their devotion.

24. Three wise men just legend: archbishop

Comment #102425 by The Truth, the light on December 22, 2007 at 5:40 pm

Santa is an anagram of Satan

25. Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

Comment #100615 by The Truth, the light on December 19, 2007 at 1:56 am

Roy_H wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ZnPE3G_YY

I just love it!

26. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #99741 by The Truth, the light on December 17, 2007 at 1:14 pm

Given that Christmas is a mixture of Pagan, Christian and a host of other myths and traditions, it could probably be considered the ultimate multi-cultural festival.

Mind you, that hasn't stopped certain groups (ie: Christian) from hijacking the original purpose of Christmas celebrations.

27. Do the laws of God trump those of man?

Comment #99397 by The Truth, the light on December 16, 2007 at 2:46 pm

"Should renunciation of spiritual authority be a prerequisite for membership in a free society?"

Absolutely. You can not simply place yourself outside the common rule of law, otherwise you can justify any crime you like.

28. The empty myths peddled by evangelists of unbelief

Comment #97719 by The Truth, the light on December 12, 2007 at 2:41 pm

Some interesting relies in the letters to the editor in today's Sydney Morning Herald

Case against secularism a confession of ignorance


John Gray's article ("The empty myths peddled by evangelists of unbelief", December 12) is laughable. Assertions such as "modern secular thought contains nothing as profound as this ancient biblical story" are bold uses of ignorance - so Mr Gray has encountered nowhere in the vast outpouring of thought since the Enlightenment anything more profound, leave alone credible, than a man made from mud and a talking snake?

Clearly he must have avoided the principles of scientific theory in high school to suggest that "secular humanists have yet to question their simple creed"; the whole of our scientific world relies on the constant revision of ideas.

If Mr Gray wishes to be a subsistence farmer walking to an early grave behind a hand plough then his views pertain. If, alternatively, he avails himself of the bounty of industrial society, he must acknowledge that none of this much-improved world would have existed without the abandonment of his superstitions.

Martin Connor Rozelle

John Gray can see atheism only as another type of religion, with its "evangelists" and "missionaries". Atheism is not another religion. It is an end to religion. An end to faith in millennia-old dogma. What is faith but pretending to know what you do not?

As for religious thinkers having more doubts than "militant unbelievers" - well, they should, given the absurd claptrap they profess to believe. Atheists, on the contrary, assess the evidence for and against a proposition.

Gray explains religion has higher "quality" myths than secular humanism. As Bertrand Russell said, the worse your logic, the more interesting your results.

Adam Ponting Glebe

John Gray worked from the premise that religion, Christianity in particular, and secularism were based on myths. Speaking as a Christian, who works from the premise that all God has told us in the Bible is truth, I can confidently say that Gray is half right.

Samantha Elley Evans Head

29. The evolution of creationism

Comment #87947 by The Truth, the light on November 13, 2007 at 7:35 pm

Macho Nachos wrote:

Don't be silly. There's no way hyperintelligent slugs or green men could account for the complexity and fine-tuning of life we could see today. That could only possible come about through the intervention of a G

30. The evolution of creationism

Comment #87886 by The Truth, the light on November 13, 2007 at 1:57 pm

You have to laugh at the twists and turns that ID proponents make at trying to avoid the dreaded "G" word.

Under their theory, it's quite reasonable the Intelligent Designer could be the green men from Mars, or hyper-intelligent slugs from the Planet Zorg.

31. A new website addition: Debate Points

Comment #87291 by The Truth, the light on November 11, 2007 at 5:07 pm

MIDVALCRE,

Naturally any person with a religious view believes it to be true, otherwise there would be no basis for their belief.

I think the most effective tool an atheist has is to foster and promote critical thought. Hard core religious people tend to be totally immune to any rational arguments against their belief. They only seem to change their views when the seeds of doubt via critical thought slowly seep in.

As to the best method to do this, I really don't know. Probably no single method is going to work as beliefs are as diverse as people themselves.

32. Same Flea, Different Name?

Comment #85968 by The Truth, the light on November 7, 2007 at 4:08 pm

Obviously a very new book (or possibly just not popular). The only independent review I could find said:

Crean has the IQ of a fence post.

33. Jesus Camp: A scary movie that should frighten us all

Comment #85476 by The Truth, the light on November 6, 2007 at 1:38 am

Jesus Camp is a very, very scary and extremely sad view of the indoctrination and brain washing of vulnerable children.

Richard Dawkins may go on about labelling children with the religion of their parents as child abuse, but compared to the child abuse in Jesus Camp, it doesn't even make a blip.

34. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79571 by The Truth, the light on October 17, 2007 at 7:09 pm

Regarding "Dr" Kennedy's book "Skeptics Answered", it's interesting that the RRP is $16 on Amazon and you can pick up a second hand version much cheaper than that. Certainly cheaper than the "gift" price Coral Ridge Ministries are wanting.

I found the following review of the book very interesting:

I read this book as part of a college bible study; as a Christian, I am somewhat dismayed that this sort of work is often the only association many people have with Christianity! This book is intended to convince people of the truth of the faith and the validity of the Bible; if you have any background in science, history, or religion, it will probably do neither.

As a paleontology student, I can honestly say that Kennedy's approach to evolution is incomplete at best. When the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly against a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, he resorts to a "straw man" tactic. For instance, the theory of natural selection says *nothing* about the ultimate origin of life, yet he continually states that it does.

Regardless of one's opinion on Christianity, some glaring problems are present in the text. For instance, Kennedy attributes the panspermia origins hypothesis to Francis Crick--the idea was actually originated in the work of a number of earlier scientists (although Crick did refine the hypothesis to "directed panspermia"). Additionally, Kennedy relies almost exclusively on secondary literature (typically other Christian apologetics books, which also frequently rely on the secondary literature, ad infinitum!). I wonder how many of Darwin's (and others') quotes were taken of context.

Another major problem is the total omission of recent work--most of the scientists, historians, and religious scholars quoted within the book have been dead at least 50 years.

Finally, I take major issue with the condescending tone of most of the book. Kennedy's continued references to "disarming," "defeating," and letting your "opponent" "hit the sand on his back," left a bad taste in my mouth. Religious disagreements are no reason for humiliation of another human being (and I would argue this method goes against the message of the Gospel!).

If you are looking for undebatable, factual information on Christianity, I cannot recommend this book. Most of the arguments contained within it are incomplete at best, and dead wrong at the very worst; attempting to use them in debate with an educated non-Christian would invariably be futile. Needless to say, I enjoyed reading it--I was kept very busy in tracking down errors and finding alternative interpretations!

35. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #76147 by The Truth, the light on October 4, 2007 at 10:10 pm

Comment #76088 by Teratornis.

That has to be one of the most well written and intelligent replies I've read in some time.

Thank you for sharing.

36. There Go The Dinosaurs

Comment #74834 by The Truth, the light on September 30, 2007 at 6:44 pm

Mr DArcy said:

I am blinded by The Truth, The Light, with his/her dazzling statement;

This same Bible contains prophecies where men claimed to speak the words of God. The historical fact that these prophecies came to pass is proof that God was, in fact, speaking through them. These prophets foretold an incredible amount of detail about the coming Messiah, and Jesus Christ fulfilled them to the letter. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He was seen by so many eyewitnesses, that word of His resurrection spread throughout the civilized world like wildfire. This is historical fact. No ordinary man could ever do this.



As Carl Sagan said extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. The independent evidence of the existence of Jesus is about as strong as that for the existence of the demon barber Sweeny Todd. Sorry, The Truth, but your remarkable claims have been met with very deep scepticism, but then what else did you expect? When The Truth declares the message all the atheists will roll over and repent before being sent to fry?

Sorry, we're not that gullible here. It's no good spouting scripture, you have to actually argue a case.

37. There Go The Dinosaurs

Comment #74235 by The Truth, the light on September 27, 2007 at 10:45 pm

chick.com has some classic satire. If it weren't serious, it would be so funny. I found the FAQ to be a mixture of hilarity and sadness. For example:

How can you say that all other religions besides Christianity are wrong? Isn't this intolerant?

We live in a world where it has become "politically correct" to avoid absolutes. Many want all religions to be given the same honor, and all gods regarded as equally true and equally fictitious. But take these same people, who want fuzzy, all-inclusive thinking in spiritual matters, and put them on an airplane. You will find they insist on a very dogmatic, intolerant pilot who will stay on the "straight and narrow" glidepath so their life will not come to a violent end short of the runway. They want no fuzzy thinking here!

The world contains numerous religions, each teaching a different god. These gods are not the same, and therefore cannot all be the Creator. True Christianity is based upon the Bible, the historically verifiable record of what God did in history. When the principles of the Bible are put into effect in a man's life, that life is dramatically changed.

This same Bible contains prophecies where men claimed to speak the words of God. The historical fact that these prophecies came to pass is proof that God was, in fact, speaking through them. These prophets foretold an incredible amount of detail about the coming Messiah, and Jesus Christ fulfilled them to the letter. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He was seen by so many eyewitnesses, that word of His resurrection spread throughout the civilized world like wildfire. This is historical fact. No ordinary man could ever do this.

We love people of all religions. In fact, we love them enough to want to show them the joy of knowing the True Creator. We are unwilling to lie to them and say that all gods are real, when we know this is not true. We are not being intolerant, but compassionate, desiring to help them find both joy in this life, and eternal life beyond. To do anything else would be dishonest.