1. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179284 by Duff on May 13, 2008 at 3:23 am

I refuse to believe there are people that stupid! This was an Onion article, right?? Right??

2. Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Comment #179282 by Duff on May 13, 2008 at 3:12 am

This piece seems an attempt by the Templetonian Ilkdom to soften the blow of the "childish" comment.

3. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178815 by Duff on May 12, 2008 at 5:20 am

Back to the desert with these people...poor desert.

4. Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?

Comment #176263 by Duff on May 7, 2008 at 3:25 am

I am really, really, really impressed that the popester was deeply shamed by the pedophilia mess in the US! I am, really, I am. Two words "deep shame" and he thinks that is enough and he can put the whole subject to rest and get on with the task of whipping the church into shape and taking it back into a more 9th century outlook.

Typical religious weaselistics.

5. Was the new finger a 'natural' miracle?

Comment #174634 by Duff on May 3, 2008 at 3:30 am

Did I read a sentence somewhere in this mess where someone used "christian" and "intellectual honesty" in the same sentence? Maybe I was hallucinating.

6. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165682 by Duff on April 22, 2008 at 3:28 am

Jemym,
I'm sorry, but my reaction is...go away.

7. Religion is 'the new social evil'

Comment #164608 by Duff on April 20, 2008 at 1:01 pm

If religion can be argued as being another form of tribalism, and who could possibly argue otherwise, how could it not be considered detrimental to the upward progress of societies.

According to the New York Times today, Pope Rat was getting a great reception, but at the same time the catholic tribe was under great pressure from forces of pentacostalism in the US. I'm not sure which is worse; the tribe blinded by pomp, or the tribe blinded by hysteria. Plenty of different tribes to choose from so the simple people can feel they belong.

8. Gods and earthlings

Comment #163561 by Duff on April 18, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Epeeist,
Cargo...good one. I'm sure it was lost on most.

The reason the ID lovelies go to pre-big bang "cosmology" is because it is the only place science can't prove them wrong.

They are the "traditionalists fighting unsuccessfully against new knowledge", spoken of by Bertrand Russell. And they are not doing any better job at it than the papists fighting Galileo.

9. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155593 by Duff on April 5, 2008 at 3:06 am

I'm sorry, but this is a really funny story, Richard Morgan. Its funny because of the frivolous juxtaposition of these foolish people holed up in a cave waiting for something which cannot possibly come about and all the while the man who convinced them to go into the cave decides not to join them.

Its hilarity is compounded by image of the dolt banging himself on the head with a log in an intentionally ineffective attempt to commit "suicide". It is truly Pythonian.

He is probably more stupid than he is schizoid.

10. Protests no concern for outspoken atheist

Comment #154989 by Duff on April 4, 2008 at 3:41 am

This "unbalanced debate" silliness reminds me of something Bertrand Russell said: "Religion is just the traditionalists fighting in vain against new knowledge." It is an unbalanced debate all right, just not in the way the religionists envision it.

It must be debilitating for them to know they are always going to lose. Poor things.

11. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #151815 by Duff on March 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm

gimlibengloin,
Does it effect you at all to know that you are a silly, simple person, erroneously living in the 21st century when in fact your mind is still in the middle east some 3000 years ago? No, I thought not.

12. Expelled Overview

Comment #149460 by Duff on March 25, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Folks, I'm only going to tell you this once. Never, Never Never believe anything a film crew tells you. I don't care whether they are from the Discovery Institute or any where else. They will do anything to get the shot. Believe me, I know!

13. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148708 by Duff on March 23, 2008 at 4:11 pm

A "gauleiter" is not necessarily a reference to nazism. A gau is a region, or division, and a leiter is a leader. But, since the Expelled boys are the ones invoking concentration camps, I think Professor Dawkins use of the word, even in that context, is perfectly acceptable.

Cassio,
You may object to ridicule, but I'm a firm believer, like the late Lord Reith, that there are some people whom it is one's duty to offend. And ridicule. Suck it up and get over it!

14. Biology prof expelled from screening of 'Expelled'

Comment #148226 by Duff on March 22, 2008 at 11:51 am

Lagomort,
Dawkins response to a questioner, at I think Bob Jones University, who asked " what if you're wrong?" is one of the more brilliant responses I've ever seen. If I'm not mistaken it is somewhere in the archives on this site and surely on UTube.

15. Richard Dawkins on The Alan Colmes Show

Comment #145493 by Duff on March 17, 2008 at 4:44 pm

Whoa! Alan Colmes is becoming a non- believer. We should give him some encouragement. Every thinker should be cuddled!

16. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143794 by Duff on March 14, 2008 at 12:27 pm

Silent Mike,
Al Rawandi has a good point. Right wing/religious jews pressure the government of Israel just enough to keep this stupid tit for tat going for all these years. Revenge for revenge for revenge for revenge until one wishes a pox on both their houses; neither side willing to give an inch because both are convinced god is on their side.

Every time there is a so-called ceasefire, and people begin to hope for some solution, the Israelis assassinate someone, or the Palestinians send a kid with a bomb.

I have personally ceased to care what happens to either side.

17. Bishop accuses gays of 'conspiracy' against the Catholic Church

Comment #143037 by Duff on March 13, 2008 at 11:38 am

This gentleman? of the cloth is suggesting gays should be locked up?

Next thing you know, one of these fine catholic fellows, no doubt under instruction from The Rat, will advocate gays be stoned to death at the village gate. He would then at least be following the "sacred" scriptures which give such wonderfully detailed instructions on the sacrifice of all kinds of animals, and directions as to the proper killing and maiming of humans and their male and female slaves for various and sundry offenses - usually for being in the out group.

"It's all about lifestyles which are alien to christian traditions," says the good bishop.

I think he is advocating bringing back an old catholic/christian tradition; the inquisition.

18. Ban anti-Catholic books in schools, says bishop

Comment #143018 by Duff on March 13, 2008 at 11:11 am

I wholeheartedly agree with the Bishop. Little children should absolutely not be exposed to the history of the Catholic Church. It would be child abuse to expose children to the history of the papacy, the inquisition, the religious wars against heretical nations and people. It is in poor taste to expose little children to the true history of the crusades. And woe be unto anyone who makes little children aware that there are priests and bishops out there who would prey upon...I mean pray for the little ones.

19. Full house captivated by atheist Dawkins' take on religion

Comment #142695 by Duff on March 13, 2008 at 3:14 am

Those of you who complain about the four horsemen saying the same things over and over should imagine yourselves giving a speech every day for just a year and try to say something original and evocative every single time. It's called a stump speech and it works. Lighten up!

20. Crossing the Divide

Comment #139910 by Duff on March 6, 2008 at 5:23 pm

Rodthefarmer,
I thought I would laugh myself to death. I also live at the end of a quarter of a mile driveway and when the JWs came to my door, I also said, "man, have you come to the wrong place." Where upon I reamed them a new one.

I have more than two hundred immediate relatives who are serious mormon christians! I am about to educate all of them.

21. What's the Point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Comment #139286 by Duff on March 5, 2008 at 1:53 pm

I think we must grant fides et ratio one thing. The pope, the archbishop and the various and sundry other pastors, bishops, elders, etc. do represent a very large segment of the people. The simple people.

22. God, power and money

Comment #138565 by Duff on March 4, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Fatcity,
You must be in fatcity, and your fatcitiness must have come from stealing from the gullible, the sick, the meek and the stupid if you see no difference between RD and Benny The Hinn.

23. Church exhumes Padre Pio

Comment #138551 by Duff on March 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Every one of you people are evil, deranged, vile, sacrilegious and very funny! What a great evening I've had reading this wonderful stuff.

24. Taking evidence seriously

Comment #135496 by Duff on February 29, 2008 at 3:33 am

Juxtamonkey,
This war is just icky!

25. Taking evidence seriously

Comment #135055 by Duff on February 28, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Let's all join the war on the side of science against the stone aged goat milkers.

26. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132940 by Duff on February 25, 2008 at 12:28 pm

My woo is twoo, your woo is untwoo. My woo is twooer than yer woo. Skoo poopie doo. Annabanana, my woo weighs more than you doo. And twooer too.

27. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131707 by Duff on February 23, 2008 at 3:32 am

I find the suggestion that a theist can get under the skin of an atheist positively hilarious. How could any theological concept be of any concern to a true atheist ?

28. The Search for Truth, God and Braver Scientists in 'Expelled'

Comment #128617 by Duff on February 17, 2008 at 12:54 pm

This is simply another battle between science and religion. Please remind me if science has ever lost one of these battles from Prothagoras to Ptolemy; from Galileo to Newton to Einstein. We should all encourage this kind of a fight because the religionists are, in the end, going to look stupid.

29. The argument from oranges

Comment #128607 by Duff on February 17, 2008 at 12:45 pm

I think it is truly wonderful how this man has become instantly famous throughout the world for being a complete moron. May His Pastiferous Holiness bless the internet.

30. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128589 by Duff on February 17, 2008 at 12:31 pm

Kurzweil is certainly way out there, but before you dismiss him, you must first read his books. He goes into great detail in the how, when and why in The Singularity Is Near. Makes one think, even if you're not inclined to agree.

The theist are going to have a cow over AI. And anything that gives the theists a heart attack can't be all bad.

31. US military accused of harboring fundamentalism

Comment #127685 by Duff on February 15, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Veronique,
One of my favorite Bertie quotes is his description of Saint Bernard - the saint not the dog: "His spirituality didn't suffice to make him intelligent."

32. US military accused of harboring fundamentalism

Comment #127679 by Duff on February 15, 2008 at 2:06 pm

al Rawandi,
Britain would have been the wimp posterboys of the world had they not reacted to the Argentinian invasion of the Faulklands/Malvinas.

As a former officer in the US military, I saw none of this kind of religious nonsense. Had I been confronted with it, I would have smiled a little smile and simply ignored any suggestion to join in with the other christian soldiers. Had the issue been pressed, I would have had the perpetrators before a military court faster than the little farts could have squacked, "fucktard".

33. Conservative Rabbis to Vote on Resolution Criticizing Pope's Revision of Prayer

Comment #125472 by Duff on February 11, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Richard Morgen,
Instead of calling them stupid, maybe we could make use of Bertrand Russell's description of a particular pope as: "Saintliness didn't suffice to make him intelligent".

We could say of the religious: "Religion didn't suffice to make you anywhere near intelligent". We would still be calling them stupid, but a little more artfully and less stridently.

34. Good people doing evil things

Comment #125462 by Duff on February 11, 2008 at 12:02 pm

MaxD,
At the risk of oversimplification, the problem in Kenya is all about tribalism/religion/ingroup/outgroup; my tribe is the annointed by god tribe; the members of the other tribe smell. Its all the same old thing.

35. Exploding black holes could expose hidden dimensions

Comment #123128 by Duff on February 6, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Didn't I read something about Lisa Randall preparing an experiment on the LHC that if successful would be the first minor proof of string theory??

36. The New Atheist Movement

Comment #123114 by Duff on February 6, 2008 at 1:19 pm

The proofs!! The proofs!! We want to see the proofs!! And we want to see them now!! It's time to publish the proofs of religion! No more talk. Right now!

Maybe if the millions of atheists in the world would adopt that mantra we could embarrass the lame ones and they would stop making such claims.

37. U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Comment #121355 by Duff on February 3, 2008 at 9:35 am

Phopas,
Excellent! A muslim smart (not) bomb.

Agn,
I will have to disagree with you. While it is true that we shouldn't immediately jump to the conclusion it was a muslim who put these women up to this, it is wrong of you to blame shintoists. We all know it was those damned Norwegians again.

38. Documents detail church coverup

Comment #121351 by Duff on February 3, 2008 at 9:29 am

Perhaps one of the reasons so few priests are ever jailed as a result of their crimes is that the church has had 1500 plus years of experience with these sorts of crimes. Ever since celibacy became the norm in the church, some 500 years after christ, they have been dealing with these kinds of people and their victims. That's a lot of experience hushing things up.

In the middle ages the church could buy, or scare, anyone off. Now it is a totally different matter. Maybe in time, the celibacy issue will bankrupt the church and finally usher in some sanity.
Sanity in religion??? What am I saying?

39. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120575 by Duff on February 2, 2008 at 3:21 am

There was a woman pope, at least she ruled as pope while her sixteen year old son nominally held the title. I forget her name. Marganu or something.

I say we encourage the pope to continue to make it a choice between religion and science. We all know who is going to win that war.

40. U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Comment #120570 by Duff on February 2, 2008 at 3:11 am

I read they found a head of one of the women. I'm assuming she had a cleft pallet, which would lead one to surmise she had downs syndrome. Just a guess.

41. Atheism and Violence

Comment #117936 by Duff on January 30, 2008 at 2:55 am

The good Jesuit father solved one of the most philosophical conundrums with the wave of his jebus wand.
"If god created the world, who created god?" Has confounded thinkers since there were thinkers. He brushes it off by stating it is a "dorm room question", or something like that. ( I don't have the courage to go back to that stupid article and search for the exact quote.)

42. Belief in Belief

Comment #117558 by Duff on January 29, 2008 at 5:38 am

Testimony bearing in Mormondom is a great device they've hit upon to facilitate the brainwashing of the young and re-wash the established members. It is embarrassing to watch, but when one participates it has a endorphin effect that makes you feel good and makes you want to someday have that feeling again.

Mormons, and others, claim they've been touched by the holy ghost, but it's really just a flood of emotion you get by exposing your feelings in front of a crowd.

As a former mormon, I look back and chuckle at how it effected me, but at the time it gave me a good feeling a couple of times.

That is the problem with being poorly educated. You don't have enough information to recognize these things for what they are. Brainwashing, pure and simple.

43. 'Telepathic' Genes Recognize Similarities In Each Other

Comment #117167 by Duff on January 28, 2008 at 11:13 am

The writers of this paper should be dope slapped for using the word telepathic. They then go on to correctly state that the attraction is not magically telepathic but due to "...complementary patterns of electrical charges...". Well, duh!

Don't they know about the morons and woo woos lurking out there?

44. Math Religion Trouble

Comment #117009 by Duff on January 28, 2008 at 3:29 am

I, personally, will be as kind in my denunciations of the religious types as I would be of the ninny who suggests a troll lurks under yon bridge.

Cartomancer,
I seem to recall no less a thinker than Bertrand Russell saying that after a certain philosopher, I forget which, who lived a little after the time of Christ, no great thinker appeared again for a thousand years, until the Rennaissance. Mostly due to the influence of the church. Sorry to be so general, but I don't have the time at the moment to look up the details.

45. Launch of 'Atheists in Foxholes' Book Anthology

Comment #116248 by Duff on January 26, 2008 at 2:54 am

I "proudly" served during Vietnam. Either that or Canada.

However distasteful a military can be, it is a necessity no great country can be without. Machiavelli put it best when he said if a man is entirely peaceful, a bad guy will come along and cut off his arms.

46. Mandrake: Charles's letter in support of Islamic 'fundamentalism'

Comment #113826 by Duff on January 20, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Epeeist,
Oh, you British, you are sooo arrogant! You have the nerve to refer to The Prince of Wales, probably the next King of England, as a " twat"! I"ll have you know that we here in America are appearantly far more respectful of British Royalty than the British themselves.

I'll have you know he is not a twat, but a twit!!

A "twat" has sexual connotations that I assure you do not describe a person of his....gender, or....station. A "twit" is, however, a perfect description of the long nosed person you refer to.

47. Ben Stein Bribing Schools to See His Anti-Evolution Movie 'Expelled'

Comment #112653 by Duff on January 17, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Ben Klein is an actor. I need say no more! Actors, and I am one of them, so I know the memotype, are notoriously uneducated (not me) and pathetically drawn to the metaphysical. It comes from their obsession with themselves and their fear of relating to people outside their profession. A recipe for ignorance if there ever was one.

48. Questions Delay Creationist Master's Degrees

Comment #112645 by Duff on January 17, 2008 at 4:37 pm

If the commissioner of higher education, Paredes, really does insist that the perpetrators of this fuckwittian proposal must actually provide a description of the research they are prepared to do, it will be their undoing.

What research could they possibly propose??? The mind is boggled!

49. Canadian fossil makes waves in Huckabee's presidential run

Comment #111926 by Duff on January 16, 2008 at 2:57 am

Trust me. Smirking Hick Huckabee really, really does believe the earth is six thousand years old and all the animals that ever existed were on the ark. He can believe that kind of moronic, fuckwittian, irrational, simpleminded hogwash because he, like all the other rationally unencumbered religionists have never really thought about it. And they don't want to start thinking about it.

Do your duty boys and girls. Get in the face of a religionist everyday, in every way!

50. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #110112 by Duff on January 10, 2008 at 1:53 pm

I think some of you are being too harsh on ADH. He has the hardest of all jobs in the world; justifying the unjustifiable. He never gets to sleep soundly at night and knows all the intelligent people think him stupid, even if he's not. Well....maybe a little.

As to making fun of the religious. It worked on me. I remember two biting comments non-religious people made to me in my believing youth and it made me feel my beliefs were "perhaps" a little less than sophisticated.

Now, I firmly believe in trashing the religious simplepeople.