1. The New Atheist Movement

Comment #214911 by hmcook87 on July 21, 2008 at 3:35 am

You know the bullshit is flowing freely when you hear Alister McGrath mentioned in the same sentance as "good, solid, rational, academic, responsible christian perspective"

2. Prayer refusal pupils 'disciplined'

Comment #204584 by hmcook87 on July 5, 2008 at 9:53 am

I would have liked to see the fuss (and the endless apologies) that would have been kicked up if children of muslim parents were forced to pray to god... There would be riots in the streets by now. I don't think Muslims would be impressed with "a practical demonstration of how god is worshipped". Its plainly unacceptable to attempt to force anyone to worship anything.

3. Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat

Comment #204578 by hmcook87 on July 5, 2008 at 9:41 am

Oh for goodness sake... are art directors really supposed to research every religion in the world just to make sure the imagery / symbols etc don't offend anyone? Surely Muslims realise that in a western nation, run according to western customs, they will encounter things that do not fit with their culture or religion. Just as westerners who go to middle eastern countries encounter things that they find strange and offensive, but we accept that things are run differently in different cultures. If Muslims find elements of western culture (such as a fondness for dogs) so offensive that they are unable to tolerate them, they need to go and find an enviroment that suits them better, not try to hijack the enviroment and change it to suit their personal needs. I choose not to visit islamic countries because elements of islamic culture offend me so much that I would be unable to tollerate them. I think it would be very inaproprate of me to visit such as country, be offended, and then demand that one element or another of the culture be changed on my account.

4. Christians challenge teaching of evolution

Comment #204382 by hmcook87 on July 4, 2008 at 10:10 pm

I really thought New Zealand was free from all that creationist nonsense, but to see those commenters on stuff.co.nz parroting creationist talking points straight from Answers in Genesis, was really sad. There seemed to be a lot more pro ID comments than pro science comments. I would have expected it to be the other way around. NZ is about 50% religious, but I thought the vast majority of religious people here subscribed to the "God's way of doing things" style of evolution. ID propaganda seems to have the unfortunate effect of pulling moderate christians off the fence, in the wrong direction. The whole "Gods way of doing things" view exists so that christians can reconcile what they know from science with what they believe, but with ID pretending that science actually suports a biblical creation model, christians who don't know much about science will find it quite attractive.

5. Teen's death blamed on faith healing

Comment #196350 by hmcook87 on June 19, 2008 at 6:37 pm

In my country hospitals can request to have the families wishes overridden for people under 18 in matters of life and death. Is that not the case here? They have to do what the parents say even if it means death for the kid?

6. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #195088 by hmcook87 on June 17, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Wow, the form letter that raptureletters.com sends out, actually has the lines you need to say to get saved:

"Father I admit I am a
sinner, and I will turn from my sin and do good. I believe that Jesus was
your son and that He came here to die for me so that my sins would be
forgiven. I ask you to forgive me and I will repent of my sins. In Jesus
name I pray."

Translated:

Dad, I'm a total loser. But I don't want to be a looser anymore. I promise I'll be good. Really. I think you impregnated a 14 year old 2000 years ago, so watching the kid die could put you in a good enough mood to forgive the losers you created. I'm sorry I was such a dick from the moment I was conceived. And I'll name-drop Jesus at the end just for good measure.

7. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178278 by hmcook87 on May 11, 2008 at 4:26 am

I think we need to be careful not to "blaim" the Hindu's for this, its not as if they asked BA to stop serving beef or expressed offense at other people eating beef. It seems that particularly in the UK everyone seems over concerned about things supposedly causing offense when there is really no offense there. I'm sure Hindus would prefer if there was no beef, but that does not mean that they would want to inconvenience everyone else by demanding or even requesting the beef be removed.

8. Dumb and Dumber: A discussion between Ben Stein and Glenn Beck

Comment #178271 by hmcook87 on May 11, 2008 at 4:11 am

Loved Stein's comment about how "Darwinism can't explain gravity". He's trying to paint the picture that scientists think evolution is the answer to every scientific question there is. Anyone even vaguely familiar with science will obviously see through that sort of thing, but I think the target audience of that show will have accepted it without question. In exactly the same manner with which they accept Jesus.

9. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176227 by hmcook87 on May 7, 2008 at 12:57 am

Do we really think that people who don't accept evolution watch History Channel? I really can't see them being into "fact based" programming.

10. Science leads to killing people

Comment #170759 by hmcook87 on April 28, 2008 at 12:57 am

Social Darwinism, when people get the idea that some races are better than others. Yep, that sucks, but you should see Social Gravitation, when people get the idea that some races can fly and should be pushed off cliffs. Easy way to stop that atrocity, stop teaching people about gravity, the physics chapter on gravitation should say "God holds everything down" and be done with it.

11. My quest to get de-baptised

Comment #152409 by hmcook87 on March 31, 2008 at 1:21 am

I'm so glad my parents had the sense to let me make the decision on baptism. I can scarcely think of a more stupid idea than dunking a baby in water then simply declaring it a christian.

12. Beware the Believers

Comment #151615 by hmcook87 on March 29, 2008 at 4:09 am

Its either an attempt to "discredit" science, or a clever parody of the creationist position. The beginning of the video, containing the words "ministry of science propaganda" and the "expulsion" of a scientist for failing to see natural selection occurring in a microscope certainly portrays the creationist take on things. But the rest of the video portrays the scientific side as such awesome badasses that if it is designed to discredit it does a very ineffective job.

13. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #150285 by hmcook87 on March 26, 2008 at 4:48 pm

charge them with manslaughter, hopefully that will encourage them to get medical attention next time one of their children gets sick.