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Comments by krisking


1. Fleabytes

Comment #132257 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Give us some specific issues to address and we will deal with them.


I was trying to make sure that I had understood what I had read correctly.

Clearly, I haven't.

2. Fleabytes

Comment #132252 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 2:14 pm

It is Krisking we are talking about here. Nice enough but seemingly rather dim. Languages teacher, he describes himself. Makes one wonder about his lessons...


Is this what is referred to on this website as an "ad hominem" comment?

3. Fleabytes

Comment #132248 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 2:06 pm

Goldy


Krisking - yes, you do



Yes, I do what?

4. Fleabytes

Comment #132246 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 2:05 pm

AllanW


Firstly I can't believe the other posters waltzed over your completely skewed and erroneous list.



Perhaps you could provide me with a straight and accurate list.

5. Fleabytes

Comment #132240 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 2:00 pm

D and falling


Well, I'll have to keep reading and trying to understand what Dawkins has actually written.

6. Fleabytes

Comment #132223 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 1:40 pm

aren't you jumping the gun a bit or do you like sounding infantile and misinformed?


how do you mean?

7. Fleabytes

Comment #132202 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 12:58 pm

This is my understanding of what Dawkins has written( up to page 73):

Dawkins argument goes like this:

1. "religions have done and continue to do appalling things to people, (like fight wars and fly aeroplanes into skyscrapers...

2. therefore these kinds of things are caused by religion

3. Get rid of religion.....(even Einstein didn't believe in a personal God)

4. convince everyone to be an atheist (because evolution as shown that God does not exist)

5. and all wars and other problems will cease.

8. Fleabytes

Comment #132185 by krisking on February 24, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Well, guys,

Since you've been talking about me!

I'm sure you will all be pleased to know that I am making progress with reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion"

I've got to page 73 (been reading today - with a break for a visit to the Space Museum in Leicester)

9. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131464 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 1:06 pm

and why is it all different if it is ineffably true?"


Well, some people will claim that we have a god shaped hole in our beings.........

10. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131463 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Must go and watch that program on telly



oh, and read Dawkins' book

11. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131461 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 1:02 pm

al-rawandi


Did my answer come through to you yet?

Must go and watch that program on telly tonight about a school-teacher trying to get boys to sing....

12. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131459 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Which one do you think would be appropriate for the atheist lifestyle?


Free-range, I hope, but will we all be able to afford them?

13. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131458 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:59 pm

atheism, or rather non-theism is the default position because without a concept of god you cannot be a theist.


Yes, on reflection, i have to agree with you.

14. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131455 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:57 pm

What are the implications of atheism in my life?


Please don't get frustrated. My answer is that I have no idea what the implications for your life will be. Only you can answer that question, and you may find that how you answer the question may change over time and according to the circumstances in which you find yourself and how you feel at a given moment.

What the implications for society of us all becoming atheists, I have no idea either. I hope it will not result in intolerance for people with what are perceived as whacky ideas.

15. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131448 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:54 pm

good atheist fried egg


.but would that be a battery chicken egg, or a free-range organic one....or doesn't it matter?

16. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131445 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:50 pm

"It is an interesting and demonstrable fact that all children are atheists,


I think that is an interesting idea. I have not read any Ernestine Rose. I wonder where the evidence is for this.

the point is the atheism is the default position


At the moment, I don't think I agree with this; mostly because there is so much religion in the world. Where did it all come from? Why does it exist at all?

Anyway, you will all be pleased to know that my copy of Dawkins ' The god delusion' arrived this morning in the post.

17. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131436 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:40 pm

The burden is on you to back up your assertion with some evidence. Please do so, we would like to have a first here.... a theist who actually backs up a claim with some evidence.


I am not suggestion that you have any religious faith. I am suggesting that being an atheist will have implications for your lifestyles.

18. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131431 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:35 pm

you no longer use the phrase


Sorry, which phrase?

19. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131430 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:34 pm

in the difference between cultural christianity and actually believing in the stuff.



what do you think the difference is?

.and why do you think it's important?

20. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131426 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm

everytime he thinks he has needled the atheists.



No, I am not particularly interested in needling atheists (or anyone else for that matter.

from a person who cannot support their faith


I have not tried to today, and I have no intention of doing so.

21. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131422 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:29 pm

Outline for us all the ideological implications of atheism, please.


No, I think that is for atheists to work out.

22. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131416 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Yeh, I thought you wouldn't or couldn't stay on a point.



Yes, please bring us back to the point.

23. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131414 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Very few things have COMPLETE security


Indeed.

24. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131411 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm

It is presumptious to say the least to assume you know the answer


I don't say that.

25. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131409 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Hello Steve

Faith is not a benign approach to understanding things.


But then neither is atheism.

26. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131408 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:15 pm

I found the same to be true with kids who believed in Santa Claus. It was cruel, not wrong.


It wasn't a complaint; simply an illustration of how far away from theism society had already moved by the 70's

27. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131405 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:14 pm

Anyway, teaching children science provides rational answers for these questions



I am completely in agreement with this. In spite of a lack of proper scientific education at school (misguided subject choices in a grammar school!), I have found my daughter very interested in science and I am doing my best to encourage her.

I would call that benign, as long as you also teach ethical behaviour


I would whole-heartedly agree with this too, as long as that includes respect for people who hold benign alternative views (without necessarily agreeing with those views)

28. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131400 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:08 pm

indoctrinating their children with their ideology


Exactly that. I know that atheists have said that "Athesim" is not an ideology, but I am not convinced that it doesn't carries with it ideological implications.

(Besides, even Dawkins has said that you cannot be 100% certain that God does not exist)

We have not yet worked out the problem of where the universe came from with complete security.

29. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131396 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:02 pm

I left school in 1965 perhaps as a sort-of Christian, but probably not an agnostic. I left university in 1968 as an agnostic. It wasn't until my 30s, during the 1980s, that I did the investigation and analysis to realise that I was an atheist.


I should think your experience is pretty typical of the majority of people in this country. Anyone, at my school (in the 1970's) who dared to stand up and claim to be a Christian was very quickly the target for ridicule (at the least).

30. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131389 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 11:53 am

The main point here is that of instruction


Indeed. As soon as your child asks you, "where do we come from?" "Who made the world?" "Why does Jimmy at school believe in God?" etc, you will either start teaching your child, or avoid the question.


Or you may ask question back of the "what do you think?" sort.

31. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131384 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 11:44 am

(I'm not sure how you could indoctrinate children to be atheists)


Same way you indoctrinate anyone in anything. What does the word mean, after all?

but at least they won't be indoctrinated in a religion.


No, they will tend to grow up with the belief and lifestyle choices of their parents and peers until they meet a crisis.

It would make an interesting study to find out just what young people's values are going to become in the next 20 - 50 years.

I expect some futurologist may already have done so.

32. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131375 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 11:08 am

"promote American business abroad". Doesn't quite seem right.


What I find surprising is that Americans don't seem to understand that other peoples would like to have a decent standard of living too (and that's without saying that they have a right to a decent standard of living) and that by unfairly (and sometimes by military means) tipping the economic balance against these other people, the US is going to provoke resentment (at the very least).

33. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131369 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 10:56 am

al-rawandi

only your bit is in a blockquote....or does it look different on your screen?

I am quoting Bill Bryson, with an example of US economic violence.

34. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131363 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 10:41 am

al-rawandi

But what about American economic violence? It's commitment to the overthrow of democracies that remained unpliable? It's self bestowed right to use military force for economic ends? Any weight to those arguments?
I agree with you.

I;ve just been reading Bill Bryson's "The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid" in which he discusses US foreign policy in the 1950's when he claims 90% of US foreign aid was for military expenditures.

He then goes on to say "Often all that was necessary to earn America's enmity, and land yourself in a lot of trouble, es to get in the way of our economic interests." He then recounts the fact that in 1950 Guatemala elected a reformist government -'the most democratic Guatemala ever had'. Unfortunately his policies upset United Fruit whose actions in the country kept the local population poor and then US government responded by underwriting a coup. End of democracy. United Fruit got its way.

I guess Bryson's account is accurate. I guess too that US policy has not been less aggressive in other countries.

35. Whale Evolution

Comment #131152 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 2:42 am

I find it absolutely fascinating that transitional forms are starting to turn up everywhere!



They might all be fakes!!

36. Fleabytes

Comment #131134 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 2:12 am

But homosexuality is wrong!



Surely not! I think it must be an evolutionary dead end, though.

37. The Lava Lizard's Tale

Comment #131116 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 1:39 am

And if RD smiled when he said "and that brings me to the point of the lava lizard's tale" I didn't hear it.


I think it was just an excuse to show off his holiday videos. "look how well, I'm doing, I can afford to visit the Galapagos Islands....

38. Fleabytes

Comment #131095 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:45 am

with a deliberate aim of generating inflamed responses




Surely you are not saying that atheists are lacking self-control...

39. The Lava Lizard's Tale

Comment #131094 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:41 am

As for the large flounder that I saw when snorkelling off North Seymour Island, it was pure Salvador DalÃÆ'­. Changing colour to match the corals over which it slid like an oval carpet, I would certainly not have spotted it if Valentina had not gracefully dived to point it out to me. It was only later that my wife compared the flounder to the flowing, bending watch of a Dalí painting. And wasn't that very painting, the one with the bent watches, called The Persistence of Memory ?



Even Dali had to push the paint around on the canvas.

40. The Lava Lizard's Tale

Comment #131093 by krisking on February 22, 2008 at 12:36 am

Teratornis

Being religious is like being athletically conditioned. Both require constant training......... Being a lazy atheist is easy.


Interesting allusion. Physical inactivity (according the medical profession here) contributes to obesity, diabetes, heart problems etc etc.

41. Good people doing evil things

Comment #130908 by krisking on February 21, 2008 at 1:31 pm

No, seriously, there is no atheist 'code of conduct'.

Atheism is not a religion.

It is not a philosophy.

It is not a club.


Is it anything?

42. Fleabytes

Comment #130866 by krisking on February 21, 2008 at 12:12 pm

When I have an emotional reaction to a suffering person, it is because humans have evolved the mental reasoning faculties that allow me to sympathize by realizing that it could certainly be me suffering.


Do think Bush thinks like this?

43. Fleabytes

Comment #130825 by krisking on February 21, 2008 at 10:40 am

30,000 words?!


Amazing. Paula is clearly passionate about this. i wonder what drives her passion. Most non-believers I know just don't give any of a moment's thought.

44. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #130589 by krisking on February 21, 2008 at 12:55 am

Mike Dudley

"My rejoinder to the chap in the beard and pillbox hat, when he said that the sentence of death for apostasy does not exist in this country, would be - "Yes, but you'd LIKE it to be, wouldn't you?""

Yes, I think that chap said that in countries that have sharia law the punishment for apostasy is death.

And now we have the Archbishop of Canterbury suggesting that we should accommodate sharia law in this country!

45. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #130587 by krisking on February 21, 2008 at 12:52 am

I think one of the important questions that did not seem to get asked or answered was why non-religious people would want to send their children to a faith school. From time to time we hear of people making efforts to prove to a specific school that they are good church-attending christians just so that they can get their child into that faith school.

What is it about these kinds of schools that makes them so attractive? and how do they achieve it?

46. Atheists An Increasingly Outspoken Minority

Comment #130575 by krisking on February 20, 2008 at 11:52 pm

The numbers might surprise you in country with such a strong religious tradition


Why should this surprise us? Surely we can tell the true state in a country by its television output. What we see over here of american television would never lead you to suspect that this is a country filled with deeply religious people.

47. Why Darwin matters

Comment #130075 by krisking on February 20, 2008 at 3:22 am

e ex-conservative evangelicals (which from memory I think is what Krisking is (might become?), have a lot to work through!


Thank you for your understanding.

Seriously, though Steve: you shouldn't feel you have got to keep on answering if it is getting tiresome.


Sometimes things don't seem as straightforwards as they do to the convinced. We are not all like Mr Spock.

48. Why Darwin matters

Comment #129818 by krisking on February 19, 2008 at 3:46 pm

I got those. Next.



Now try leaving them behind.

49. Why Darwin matters

Comment #129816 by krisking on February 19, 2008 at 3:43 pm

what does your faith have to offer you, that a reason based world doesn't?


A non-hostile group of friends all over the world, wherever I travel to.

50. Why Darwin matters

Comment #129812 by krisking on February 19, 2008 at 3:41 pm

that is a matter of knowing language


You mean there is a point to my doing what I do for a living after all.....(I teach foreign languages.)

As for the provenance of the word influenza, I have no doubt it was chosen for a good reason (as you indicate)...but for someone who has little understanding of medical conditions...."c'est un mystère"

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