1. Leading geneticist Steve Jones says human evolution is over

Comment #261767 by Paul42 on October 7, 2008 at 10:41 am

"Another factor is the weakening of natural selection. "In ancient times half our children would have died by the age of 20. Now, in the Western world, 98 per cent of them are surviving to 21."

And there's a shortage of older fathers now?

Um...

Maybe I just don't get it because I'm a Glaswegian...

Love.

2. The rival to the Bible

Comment #261761 by Paul42 on October 7, 2008 at 10:28 am

So, let me see if I've got this right...

They've found a slightly different version of an ancient storybook.

Same as the old "glass slipper vs fur slipper" in cinderella...

Really that's very inerezzzzzzzzzz...

Love.

3. Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space

Comment #254693 by Paul42 on September 26, 2008 at 5:34 am

I thought the universe was a sort of four dimensional bagel shape...

My head hurts...

Love.

4. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Thinking about Morality

Comment #221741 by Paul42 on July 30, 2008 at 4:02 am

Nice article...

It'd be interesting to see the same experiment conducted on hardcore religious people Vs Atheists...

Was It Sam Harris who gave the example of jewish children approving of genocide if the story was given in their favour but not if the word Israelites was replaced by something else?

Although most religious people I know wouldn't even understand the above article...

Love.

5. To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups

Comment #221737 by Paul42 on July 30, 2008 at 3:49 am

Hey,

Comment #6 "Establish a clear link between religion and stupidity.
Make it so, when people say: Yes i believe in god will he heard as: Yes im a total idiot :) "

Hear hear!

I've borrowed this from another post of mine...

Endless debates are available for us all on this and other websites on the existence of god.
Very intelligent and learned men and women argue the toss about all aspects of religious faith...

Faith head: "Blah blah blah, therefore god exists"
Non faith head: "Blah blah blah, therefore it is highly improbable that god exists"

Faith head: "blah blah blah, therefore (my or all) religion is a good thing"
Non faith head: "blah blah blah, therefore religion is a bad thing"

Faith head: "My opponent is a (damn by faint praise or insert insult here), therefore god exists and religious faith is a good thing
Non faith head: "MY opponent is a (damn by faint praise or insert insult here), therefore god is highly improbable and religious faith is a bad thing

Well, that about wraps it up for the whole god argument then...
"that which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof"
"an unfalsifiable statement is not an argument"

Um, you say tomato, I say What about the eye? The EYE.... THE EYE!!!

Sorry... Where was I?

Oh yeah, the point. Which is….Where is all this getting us?

We all, I'm sure, debate in our own way.

We can study biology, examining the evidence for evolution, and become, just by having a thirst for knowledge, capable of discussing and understanding some quite remarkable and complicated theories...
By really studying religious texts, knowing more about them than the average believer, we can smugly counter-quote...
We can learn and rehearse argument and counter argument on really sophisticated, philosophical levels...
We can look into human psychology, to try and understand more about the apparent "need" for religion...

Etc etc...
Round of applause for everybody, then, on the side of reason... Aren't we all adult and clever?

Religion is being definitely, visibly, fractured, by challenges from modern society on issues such as the right to abortion, homosexuality, women's rights etc. The televised comedy at the moment of a bunch of grown men in frocks tying themselves in knots because their outdated morality codes are being left behind by a developing (dare I say evolving) society at large is just fuckin hilarious... I believe we should be attacking each religion on their unacceptable practises, on the concrete, tangible, things that they all do and say every day.

Gloves off, no respect, no politeness. Why are you dressed like THAT? You do WHAT to babies' genitalia? You believe WHAT about women? Homosexuality can be CURED you say? You do WHAT do apostates?

I hope that it will one day become as socially unacceptable to say you believe in gods as it is now to say that you keep a slave.

Laugh at them. Insult them. Wake them up...

Love.

6. Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda

Comment #221724 by Paul42 on July 30, 2008 at 3:28 am

Hey,

With thanks to that great South Park episode...

You are trying to choose between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich...

I seem to remember a movement at the last election that called for everybody who is disillusioned to go to their voting station but deliberately spoil the ballot paper (or whatever)...

These votes are counted and would send a clear message if there were more spoilt votes than for each of the candidates.

A vote for the lesser of two evils is not a vote...
What about a vote for NONE of the above?

Now THAT I'd love to see.

Love.

7. Texas Fiction Science

Comment #219023 by Paul42 on July 26, 2008 at 5:38 am

Hey,

I was just going to write something like
"...the USA is fucked!"

But then I realised that we are all fucked...

Problem is the unspeakable truth: modern "democracy" in conjunction with capitalism - Whisper it - DOESN'T WORK!

We forget that we are still so very young as a species. That we have tried many, many different ways of governing ourselves and none have been successful in the long run. "Democracy" clearly doesn't work either if the largest superpower in the world can effectively be hijacked right out from underneath it's citizen's noses, by nothing more than a group of people with unimaginable wealth... Oh, and religious brainwashing...

Surely we must also realise that a system of economy based on continual growth is just unsustainable? I mean, just mathematically y'know?

We are about to enter an era of real geopolitical upheaval. Power is going to shift eastwards.

While the east is eager to look to the future and technology, leaving behind old ideas (including the traditional "medicines" that we in the west now invest so much in)... Texas and so many other places in the west are trying to return to teaching kids that a magic man in the sky did it...

If you can make somebody believe that the bible or the koran or any other "holy" book is the innerant word of a god, when a simple reading of the book by even a half decently educated person will reveal it to be complete rubbish, then you can make them believe anything.

But you have to get them when they're children or the magic doesn't work...

We MUST seperate our children from superstition and religious mumbo jumbo.

Make it law that no child under the age of 21 can take part in any religious ceremony? or be taught about one religion exclusively in state schools?

*Phew* went off on one a bit there...

Love.

8. Escape or betrayal.

Comment #218157 by Paul42 on July 25, 2008 at 1:04 am

Comment by "black-mamba...

"Moderate" Muslims do not exist.
"Moderate" Christians do not exist.

Either you follow your "holy" book and the rules of your "holy" men to the letter or not... If not, then you are not a part of that religion.

ALL religion is false, harmful and MUST be stopped.
No apologies, no concessions.

Your argument is just the old and very tired "that's not MY Islam they're talking about"

Women can be trapped in abusive relationships in any culture... But when men can invoke a "divine" rationale for the abuse, such as fear of hell, surely this is far worse.

The key to killing religious belief is freeing children and women from indoctrination.

Sounds easy when you say it quickly...

Love.

9. How Anecdotal Evidence Can Undermine Scientific Results

Comment #217357 by Paul42 on July 24, 2008 at 9:08 am

May I humbly recommend...

http://www.badscience.net/

Dr. Ben Goldacre's excellent columns from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK... plus much more.

Love.

10. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #126383 by Paul42 on February 13, 2008 at 5:33 am

Hello again...

The effects are palpable, and appalling, of course. But until you grant authority to the power that faith holds in determining all of this, and until you start attacking that, then I'm afraid I am going to continue to find your comments very much at the margins here, however well-intentioned they may be.

Ok, one last go...

Endless debates are available for us all on this and other websites on the existence of god.
Very intelligent and learned men and women argue the toss about all aspects of religious faith...

Faith head: "Blah blah blah, therefore god exists"
Non faith head: "Blah blah blah, therefore it is highly improbable that god exists"

Faith head: "blah blah blah, therefore (my or all) religion is a good thing"
Non faith head: "blah blah blah, therefore religion is a bad thing"

Faith head: "My opponent is a (damn by faint praise or insert insult here), therefore god exists and religious faith is a good thing
Non faith head: "MY opponent is a (damn by faint praise or insert insult here), therefore god is highly improbable and religious faith is a bad thing

Well, that about wraps it up for the whole god argument then...
"that which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof"
"an unfalsifiable statement is not an argument"

Um, you say tomato, I say What about the eye? The EYE.... THE EYE!!!

Sorry... Where was I?

Oh yeah, the point. Which is….Where is all this getting us?

We all, I'm sure, debate in our own way.

We can study biology, examining the evidence for evolution, and become, just by having a thirst for knowledge, capable of discussing and understanding some quite remarkable and complicated theories...
By really studying religious texts, knowing more about them than the average believer, we can smugly counter-quote...
We can learn and rehearse argument and counter argument on really sophisticated, philosophical levels...
We can look into human psychology, to try and understand more about the apparent "need" for religion...

Etc etc...
Round of applause for everybody, then, on the side of reason... Aren't we all adult and clever?

Religion is being definitely, visibly, fractured, by challenges from modern society on issues such as the right to abortion, homosexuality, women’s rights etc. I believe that society is best served by attacking each religion on their unacceptable practises, on the concrete, tangible, things that they all do and say every day.

Gloves off, no respect, no politeness. Why are you dressed like THAT? You do WHAT to babies' genitalia? You believe WHAT about women? Homosexuality can be CURED you say? You do WHAT do apostates?

I hope that it will one day become as socially unacceptable to say you believe in gods as it is now to say that you keep a slave.

I don’t disagree with Styrer about the root cause of religious atrocities. Faith. My point, I guess, is more one of tactics.

Hope that I’m not really on the margins…

Love.

11. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #126325 by Paul42 on February 13, 2008 at 1:44 am

Ooooff...

My point stands I think Styrer.

Whether god exists or not, or whether YOUR version of god exists, or what KIND of believer you are; the fact remains that children are being mutilated against their will. Jewish or islamic. Africa or the USA...

The animatronic "rabbi" in this debate couldn't even define in a coherent sense what he meant by "god". But he can tell you the chapters of (his version) of a "holy" book that mandates circumcision. Black and white, on paper, in a book on his desk.

Most believers have a very subjective definition of their god and how it applies to them. This gives "wriggle room" in a debate; ie "that's a good argument but it doesn't apply to MY god".

We cannot disprove god.
But we can say for sure that certain practises are immoral and need to be actively campaigned against.

In my humble opinion circumcision of male and female children is the big one.

Love.

12. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #126306 by Paul42 on February 13, 2008 at 12:36 am

Well....

What a sad, shouty little man...

It's a truism of mine that the louder and more animated a speaker gets, the more you can tell that even he doubts the veracity of his own arguments.

Muppet.

One thing that I want to pick up on is the issue of genital mutilation. Several times I have heard this issue come up in debates and I have never heard it justified. The feeble effort from muppet boy in this debate linking circumcision to an apparent benefit with regard to AIDS was just rubbish.

Why do we permit this butchery to continue?
Is it because it may be seen as anti semitism?

There is no justification for the mutilation of children. Full stop.

If the age for circumsision was 21, the practise would be finished in a couple of generations.

I feel that we can argue and debate forever on the definition or existence of a god or gods. What religious people must be taken to task over are their practises and attitudes. Especially to this uncomfortable subject.

Love.

13. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #118013 by Paul42 on January 30, 2008 at 8:22 am

First of all, thanks for the nod from Philip1978...

Something else just occured to me (the fact that it just occurred to me now, after a few hours has passed since I watched the video clip, is a worry in itself...)

When the muslim guy finally admitted children in muslim schools are taught that sharia law is "very clear" on the subject of apostasy, (and note how his voice went really quiet at this point) "it is death"... Why wasn't there an audible gasp from all present?

Why did he, in a civilised western country, get to say that if you stop believing in his version of a deity you are required by the laws of his religion to be PUT TO DEATH, without an absolute outrage overcoming the audience? Or the "christian" representatives?

Was it because he said that it only happens in other countries?

Is that acceptable then, to any of us?

And why was it, among such "holy" company, that only the "infidel" RD even mentioned this deplorable practice?

Love.

14. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #117940 by Paul42 on January 30, 2008 at 3:18 am

Hi everybody! (In a Doctor Nick stylee)

It seems to me that the justification from all the different faith school representatives present was the same. That it's ok for them to label the children and segregate them because religion is taught as a broad subject... They all went to great lengths to emphasise that their own religion was not taught exclusively.

Um...

If all faith schools are teaching about all religions equally and if the children really are free to question and even opt out completely...

Then exactly why are they segregated?
What is the point of a "Catholic" school if their lessons on religion are ostensibly the same as all the rest?

By the way, for the record, I was educated in a Catholic school in Scotland. Where the level of religious bigotry is on a par with Northern Ireland... Where being in the wrong area can have life threatening consequences. We were never taught anything other than Catholicism...

Segregated schools = segregated society. Period.

Religious leaders only support them because without them they are OUT OF BUSINESS in two or three generations.

Love.

15. Belief in Belief

Comment #117491 by Paul42 on January 29, 2008 at 12:39 am

"The same, I think, can be said of the numberless clerics convicted of child-rape (why on earth do we allow ourselves the silly euphemism of "abuse"?). Their foul crime is not one of hypocrisy. No priest who sincerely believed even for ten seconds in divine judgment could conceivably endanger his immortal soul in this way, and those in the hierarchy who helped protect such men from punishment in this world are equally and obviously guilty of a hardened and obscene cynicism."

Aren't we lucky to have someone on our side who can cut through the bullshit and use searing language to devastate those who would happily lead us into oblivion?

How many of us use these words at a later date to help us in our struggle against the forces of unreason?

What would we do without Hitch?

Brilliant as usual...

Love.

16. Holy Nonsense

Comment #97404 by Paul42 on December 12, 2007 at 3:08 am

Right...

Let's all stop missing the point.

ALL of your candidates for the presidency are LIARS.

They are PRETENDING to be religious to secure votes because that is what they are told to do by their advisers... The same advisers that tell them how to look, behave and even which colour tie to wear.

When the "New Atheism" really snowballs and there are millions of us showing up in the polls, then and only then, will some politicians PRETEND to be atheists to get OUR vote...

The only thing keeping these politicians "believing" in religion is, like all religious leaders, POWER.

Logic, reason and some very basic intelligence will very quickly put paid to any religious belief system. Therefore All of your politicians are either cowardly liars or they're unintelligent... Either way they are ALL unelectable.

Is it too early to start a "Let's ALL go to the ballot box but deliberately spoil the paper" campaign? Send the message that, being asked to make a choice between idiots is no choice at all... That NONE of the candidates is worthy of a democratic vote. That deliberately lying to gain votes is "un-American"...

To kinda quote South Park, you are trying to choose between a giant douche and a turd sandwich...

And it's almost the same in the UK...

Love.