1. Big Bang or Big Bounce?: New Theory on the Universe's Birth

Comment #261593 by isaone on October 7, 2008 at 5:34 am

In a similar vein I read an excellent book on similar approach called "The Endless Universe" http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/steinhardt.html

After the third time through it began to make some sense . Very interesting but clearly over my pay grade.

2. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160436 by isaone on April 14, 2008 at 5:17 am

As a resident of the Southern US. I just wonder what it must be like to live in a society where a major paper can state "Christianity is a myth" and that statement is so generally accepted that no one even comments on it. They would be burning copies in the streets of any newspaper that printed such sacrilege here.

3. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #95183 by isaone on December 7, 2007 at 2:16 pm

Is jealously a waste of energy, yes and as such I agree with the basic premise that it 'should' be eliminated. Is however is 'cheating' a sin? Well in the old sense (not the religious one) of missing the mark, or making a mistake, yes it is.

What is the most important 'goal' here? Sex is great but there is a lot more to a great relationships than rubbing private parts. Also as we age our needs change. My long term relationships goals in marriage and family are based on love and trust and understanding and acceptance. 'Cheating' interferes with those goals by;

1. Breaking trust. I know there are 'Open Marriages' but in my experience it is very seldom that all partners are equally committed and willing. This includes of course not only the core pair but anyone either of them has sex with and the partners of those people and so on.... So even in 'Open ' relationships someone general gets damaged through broken trust

2. Lack of time. Time taken to be intimate with another is taken from what in my life anyway is a depressingly small pool of hours available for such. Therefore if I cheat on my wife I reduce the chances of reaching my 'true' relationship goals.

3. Allow for the "easy way out" . Intimate long term relationships are really really 'hard'. Shallow sexual only relations are 'easy'. By allowing myself the escape of an affair I will not have the energy or need to resolve my difficulties with my marriage and again reduce the chances of reaching my long term relationship goals.

4. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #76350 by isaone on October 5, 2007 at 3:20 pm

One problem with calling our selves reasonablists or rationalists or standing up for intellectual honesty is that many people find it insulting to be called (by inference ) unreasonable, intellectually dishonest and irrational. Now do not get me wrong, that is exactly what they are but using the terms can really get them riled up before the discussion has even begun.

I for one will stick with Atheist and then simply explain my belief in reason and science in the discussions themselves.

5. God Talk on 'The View'

Comment #71991 by isaone on September 20, 2007 at 4:58 am

The scariest thing I heard was when the woman mentioned the 'kid' bible that she was using with her 2 year old. TWO YEAR OLD !! That is the whole problem. Before the kid even knows how to go to the bathroom by itself it is getting brainwashed with this nonsense. Once those neurons have formed their connections it is literally physically impossible for many people to change. It is hard to admit it but asking a woman like that to change is no more likely than expecting a 90 year old human to play basketball like Micheal Jordan.

6. Atheism is the absence of belief

Comment #48359 by isaone on June 7, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Hallelujah, someone publically telling it like it is !

Testify Brother, testify..

Seriously though I appreciate the factual and correct definitions he uses. (A)Gnostic or not is not an alternative to (A)Theism it is another dimension entirely. Just as a person's eye color does not effect their height, their BELIEF concerning God is not hardwired to their KNOWLEGE!

7. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45610 by isaone on May 28, 2007 at 1:13 pm

The thing that gets my goat is that these people who find fault with The God Delusion always completely avoid one important fact. Richard is logically completely correct !!!

Have you noticed that no one even dares to engage the facts of the case (the probability that the God of the major religions does not exist). Instead they focus on 1) He is rude (sorry, sometimes the truth is rude (for ex. we are all going to die) Richard himself is extremely polite) 2) He is 'helping' the 'other' side (this one generally misses the point that as I see it Richard is not on one side or the other he is simply stating facts. If the facts change I believe he will happily change his beliefs 3) No one can be 100 % certain that God does not exist (so what? the same can be said for any and all 'facts' so this is completely irrelevant) 4) Atheists must be immoral, unhappy, angry, miserable, .....{fill in the blank} (Ok if you show me the statistics I will look at them but even it it is true it is irrelevant) 5) No one believes in the god that TGD is referring to (Odd I myself know many people personally who are creationists and at least one young earther. So this is obviously not true and if TGD is not talking about their 'God' then the book is completely irrelevant to them and instead of debating Richard they should completely support him).

I would be interesting for a change to find a critic who actually disagrees with what the book says but I guess that is a variation on my eternal (and fruitless) search for a reasonable, intelligent fundamentalist.

8. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42744 by isaone on May 19, 2007 at 10:06 am

Interesting attempt but it fails pretty badly.

First you state that there are no free thoughts no values less inquiry and to this I agree. The Scientific basis for inquiry is quite simple. We inquire to find out what works. What ideas,concepts, inventions and the like actually do something reliably. Once that has been established then society as a whole has some hope of making informed decisions for the greater good. Without knowing the 'Truth' no one can make any sustained progress in any direction. Religion on the other hand offers us 1) Moral maxims and methods that have been shown to work (thou shalt not kill, prayer/meditation) but which have a completly non religious basis and are more effective when stripped of the reigious mumbo jumbo 2) Moral ideas that either do not work (blood transfiusions or bad so we have to let the child die) or are unknown and 3) Outright historical inaccuracies and lies (Creationisim.....) . Yes, every inquiry requires a basis and Science actually has the solid foundation to allow for advancement of humans whereas religions has nothing.

Secondly you need to learn that unsupported assertions (for ex. "we yearn to know and to enter into the unknown because we yearn for unity with the One Who desires that all things be united in Him.") do not strengthen your argument in any way. My argument that wee all 'yearn' because of the special powers of Mr. Bible the elf who lives in my thumb, my argument is no weaker than your.

9. Christians and atheists start a calmer dialogue

Comment #40576 by isaone on May 14, 2007 at 2:17 pm

Steelman I second your thoughts. I have participated on the forum at off the mao for some time, every since I had Jim Henderson on my radio show. I found Mr. Henderson to be fair, reasonable and accepting of other;s point of view. His purpose is to 'fix' what is wrong in the attitude that believers have concerning those who do not believe. Not for the purpose of getting more people to brainwash but so that the believers can be better Christians. He is the kind of Christian that accepts evolution and when there is a clear conflict between science and religion he agrees with science. While I certainly disagree with his basic premise, I cannot find any fault with his methods or motives.

10. Kissing Hank's Ass

Comment #26273 by isaone on March 18, 2007 at 8:57 am

In answer to the question "... if the creator of this stuff is a Mormon" He actually is not. He is however the only person I know who states that he is an Atheist because God told him he(god) did not exist. His story is here. I have met and talked with Mr. Huber (yes I know that is not the spelling of his website URL, the "g" is a typo that he decided he liked) and I strongly recommend his writing.