Comments by Tyler Durden

Comment #143006 by Tyler Durden on March 13, 2008 at 10:33 am

What is it that motivates you to maintain your faith?

Anna,

It's fear.

652. Beauty ad banned after Christian outcry

Comment #142999 by Tyler Durden on March 13, 2008 at 10:27 am

Comment #142979 by Gustaf Sjoblom

This is NOT a clear case of hypocrisy in any way

Gustaf, did you read my entire post? I was actually refering to the Irish advertising laws with regard to religious billboards telling me I'm going to hell if I don't repent.

653. Fleabytes

Comment #142992 by Tyler Durden on March 13, 2008 at 10:06 am

Comment #142968 by SharonMcT

A woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body. Education and proper contraception are the keys to eliminating abortion, not you and your ilk invoking the supposed wrath of your invisible sky-daddy.

MEDIC, MEDIC, can we get a medic over here!!! Man down! Man down! Admitting D. Robertson to intensive care, due to savage beating of the ego and severe loss of his dignity.

Sharon, you tell 'em :)

654. Beauty ad banned after Christian outcry

Comment #142772 by Tyler Durden on March 13, 2008 at 5:04 am

irate,

In Ireland, as in most countries, the ~~insane asylums~~ churches get to advertise their cute little "Repent, or Burn in Hell" slogans on the high-street with impunity.

Not only that, they can take out billboards in Dublin city centre with "I tell you, except ye repent, ye shall all perish." Luke 13:5

Am I offended? Sure am!
Can I complain? Fuck no!

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland

"Scope and Application"

1.5 The Code does NOT apply to:

marketing communications whose principal purpose is to express the advertiser's position on a political, religious, industrial relations, social or aesthetic matter or on an issue of public interest or concern

And yet, the hypocricy continues:

Section 2 : General Rules "Decency and Propriety"

2.16

"Marketing communications should respect the dignity of all persons and should avoid causing offence on grounds of gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the traveller community."

WTF??

655. Beauty ad banned after Christian outcry

Comment #142678 by Tyler Durden on March 13, 2008 at 2:23 am

Martin Penny, the managing director of ghd, said that the ban was perplexing, adding that the company had used the phrase "a new religion for hair" for seven years with little problem.

Ah yes, but once you introduce sex to the equation, those Christians just have to complain as Christians don't do sex. Er, wait, Christians don't like sex. No, wait, Christians can't handle sex. Oh, forget it :)

Idiots!

656. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #142295 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 9:13 am

Comment #142286 by clearmind

But seriously, that is the biggest hole in evolution idea: How did life begin on the earth in the first place?

No! Wrong again - that's abiogenesis ("development of living organisms from nonliving matter"), not evolution. Look up the difference between the two of them in a science book.

~~clearmind~~ wooter, fuck off!

657. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #142284 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 9:00 am

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/a-blame-gamefrown-of-englandhe-without-sin-1314077.html

"With regard to the seven new "deadly sins" as published by the Vatican newspaper, 'L'Osservatore Romano' (Irish Independent, March 10) which now include: ruining the environment, allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA, and the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few. So "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few" is now a mortal sin? This from the Vatican?
Shouldn't they have waited for April 1 to release this?"

:)

658. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #142227 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 6:58 am

Comment #142209 by clearmind

clearmind, you simple-minded ignoramus. That quote was taken Out. Of. Context. Dawkins does not believe that. That was the point of my post here!!

Try reading all of the text in a post before replying. Or maybe even one of his books!

659. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #142176 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 5:51 am

Many thanks, Roland :)

660. Fleabytes

Comment #142119 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 3:13 am

Sorry to hijack the thread:

Currenly responding to a theist who has quoted RD with regard to Directed Panspermia from an "interview" with Ben Stein from "Expelled"

"Finally, he is asked how life could have originated presuming that God does not exist. He begins to explain Darwinian Natural Selection but is asked to back up to how life began in the first place. Taking a page straight out of Francis Crick's atheist escapism playbook - he proposes Directed Panspermia. He lucidly explains, beyond any obscurity, that alien civilizations could have developed to the point of gaining the ability to seed life on earth. This is a theory for the intelligent design of life on earth! What then is the next logical question? How did life originate on that alien world? Prof. Dawkins explains that he believes that it was through Darwinian mechanisms."

I don't have The Blind Watchmaker on me, but Google have returned a partial quote: "What if all of the evidence pointed towards directed panspermia - we found the spacecraft, copies of the human genome..."

Anyone got the full quote from Blind Watchmaker?

Thanks.

661. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #142105 by Tyler Durden on March 12, 2008 at 2:47 am

Sorry to hijack the thread:

Currenly responding to a theist who has quoted RD with regard to Directed Panspermia from an "interview" with Ben Stein from "Expelled"

"Finally, he is asked how life could have originated presuming that God does not exist. He begins to explain Darwinian Natural Selection but is asked to back up to how life began in the first place. Taking a page straight out of Francis Crick's atheist escapism playbook - he proposes Directed Panspermia. He lucidly explains, beyond any obscurity, that alien civilizations could have developed to the point of gaining the ability to seed life on earth. This is a theory for the intelligent design of life on earth! What then is the next logical question? How did life originate on that alien world? Prof. Dawkins explains that he believes that it was through Darwinian mechanisms."

662. Fleabytes

Comment #141887 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 10:23 am

Comment #141884 by Peacebeuponme

Unfortunately my bank balance tells me that my pattern-seeking abilities are not too great here either!

Peace, when you get to 21 - STOP!! :-)

663. Fleabytes

Comment #141869 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 10:01 am

fides_et_ratio,

still waiting for your "explanation" on prayer and recovering alcoholics.

Any insights on why they should pray?

Or shall I assume my dead Mother didn't pray hard enough to cure her cirrhosis of the liver? (Assuming she did pray!)

Prick.

664. Fleabytes

Comment #141857 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 9:50 am

Comment #141852 by hungarianelephant

The discussion goes pear-shaped unless we can agree on the basic meaning of the word "truth".

As far as I can see:

Atheists/scientists: Truth = evidence
Theists: Truth = fuzzy warm feelings that can't be disproven so don't even try and I can't hear you anyway 'cause I've got my head up my arse/in the clouds/stuck in the sand!!

665. Fleabytes

Comment #141854 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 9:45 am

the larger the number of trial runs - the more the "Red/Green" distribution will average out

MPhil,

In roulette, there is no reason to think it will. It could easily be "Red" all night long. It's 50/50 and the roulette wheel has no "memory".

Blackjack, on the other hand, different matter :)

666. Fleabytes

Comment #141843 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 9:33 am

Censoring of those who attend/wish to attend such a lecture/discussion staged in the name of UHI also begs many questions

And I see she's happy to use a logical fallacy such as "begs the question".

What fun it must be over on that site!!

667. Fleabytes

Comment #141836 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 9:26 am

Comment #141815 by fides_et_ratio

It's irrational for a recovering alcoholic not to pray.

fides, any experience with this sort of thing, or are you just talking out of your arse?

Is prayer supposed to "cure" cirrhosis of the liver?

Prick.

668. Fleabytes

Comment #141824 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 9:00 am

Comment #141815 by fides_et_ratio

It's irrational for a recovering alcoholic not to pray.

What if they haven't been to AA for the 12-Steps?? A tad presumptious on your part, no?

I find evidence for God's existence in supposed coincidence, and the moral awareness of Catholicism that is lacking in secular society. As I'm not a scientist I leave science to those that study it and assume that, as many scientists believe in God, there's no conflict there anyway. At their core thay are both a search for the truth, I'm happy with that.

Biggest load of tripe I've read on this site since "clearthinker"/David Robertson posted here last!

669. Fleabytes

Comment #141814 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 8:50 am

Philip,

God is probably hiding in the last place you'll look. Always the way.

And he's not behind the sofa, I just checked :-)

670. Fleabytes

Comment #141782 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 7:43 am

Comment #141777 by "clearthinker"/David Roberston:

From my point of view his arguments did not stand up (although we agreed on some things) - from his point of view I suspect it was different!

Ya think?

Can you not see how subjective your view is on this? Yet you can see how Dr. Ammon's view could be.

Breathtaking inanity!

671. Fleabytes

Comment #141780 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 7:35 am

Comment #141768 by fides_et_ratio

I've stayed as I've found it educational. My knowledge of science ranges somewhere from slim to non-existent, so I've enjoyed learning from the scientists and science articles posted on here.

fides,

Can you see the disparity between "clearthinker"/David Robertson and his unimaginative, childish "I am totally amazed at the Universe. So much so that I cannot conceive of it as being self-existent, or having come from no where and nothing. Therefore I worship its Creator." thought process and the desire to learn so much more that the likes of science, reason and logic give us?

672. Fleabytes

Comment #141744 by Tyler Durden on March 11, 2008 at 6:45 am

I thought "clearthinker"/David Robertson was banned from this site?

No, wait, that was just his overactive, paranoid-induced, persecuted-complex imagination at work.

Don't mind me :-)

673. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141390 by Tyler Durden on March 10, 2008 at 10:35 am

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell".

If that were written on the back of a Harry Potter-esque fantasy book, it wouldn't seem out of place.

How do they expect people to take them seriously with rubbish like this? Oh, wait... fear. I got it now, don't mind me :)

674. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141313 by Tyler Durden on March 10, 2008 at 9:04 am

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body which oversees confessions and plenary indulgences said: "You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour's wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos"

And he knows this how? Any mention of DNA in the bible? Er, nope.

Coming Soon: The New New Testament - "Oh, look, we just found these pages, they were down the back of our sofa all long. Seems God doesn't like us messing about with DNA, or learning. Back to the dark ages forthwith!"

Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few".

Ha! That's rich coming from somebody who works for the Vatican. How deep-rooted must his ignorance/indoctrination be if he cannot see the irony in this statement?

675. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141277 by Tyler Durden on March 10, 2008 at 8:25 am

Comment #141255 by Steve Zara

I would be interested to know how one is supposed to study something that has no effects.

Become a Theologian :-)

I'll get me coat!

676. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141243 by Tyler Durden on March 10, 2008 at 7:48 am

Inane ramblings from Wheeler:

Oh yes. God is real, and you are all wrong. Watch me prove it.

1 if god exists and is the creator of all except himself
2 then god exists and is the creator of all except himself.

If you're trying to use Modus ponens to make your case, you've failed as you haven't actually affirmed the antecedent. What you have used is Circular Reasoning and Wishful Thinking. Try again.

If P, then Q.
P.
Therefore, Q

I am not as good a sophist as I thought.

Now you're talking sense.

So, no evidence for your god then?

677. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141117 by Tyler Durden on March 10, 2008 at 4:04 am

Comment #141068 by The Reverend Dark

This lady (Sally Kerns) does not have a screw loose - she doesn't have one screw completely tightened.

And people elected her?

Rev, people get the elected officials they deserve. Yep, they elected her. She put her wacky views out there, the people of Oklahoma liked what they heard and *bang* - Sally Kerns represents them.

To be honest, nothing really suprises me anymore when it comes to the battle between science and religion in the U.S.

How very sad!

678. Fleabytes

Comment #140398 by Tyler Durden on March 7, 2008 at 8:53 am

Comment #140389 by Cartomancer:

My favourite dismissal of gods is phrased in the form of a dichotomy.

Nice! Very Nice!

Can we just staple this to The Pope and go home?

679. Fleabytes

Comment #140329 by Tyler Durden on March 7, 2008 at 6:29 am

Comment #140321 by mlearnedfriend

It begs the question, why do Christian's trust the Bible?

It raises the question, it does not beg the question. Using "begs the quesiton" is a type of logical fallacy i.e. the proposition to be proved is assumed implicitly or explicitly in one of the premises.

but it must be convincing to many people or they wouldn't start to believe it. Or are they all idiots?

Yes. They are all idiots.

And they only start to believe it when they are taught it as kids by parents/teachers/elders. It's indoctrination.

680. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #140182 by Tyler Durden on March 7, 2008 at 3:25 am

Comment #140171 by irate_atheist

The motion before the house is: 'Is Wooter a higher ranking cunt than God?'

If God is simply imaginary and wooter does actually exist, then wooter is a higher ranking cunt than God.
God is imaginary and wooter does actually exist - we know this due to his inane ramblings on this site. No word from God, so far.
Therefore, wooter is a higher ranking cunt than God.

681. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #140170 by Tyler Durden on March 7, 2008 at 3:05 am

Inane rambling from wooter:

The parents who lose their kids at very early age will be rewarded in paradise to be together with their kids forever.

wooter,

what age will the kids be in this "paradise"? Will they be the same age at which they died, or will they age while in "paradise"?

And what if these kids died from cancer, or in a horribly disfiguring car-crash? Will their parents see their kids in that same gruesome form?

And let me anticipate your answer if I may: if the kids are not in the same gruesome form in which they initally died, then supposedly God "fixed" them in "paradise", no? Why not fix them here on Earth and let them live?

682. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139611 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 7:58 am

hungarian,

'twas Mr Wright indeed, saw him in Temple Bar Music Centre many moons ago, 2 hours of just one-liners. He da man!

683. How to abandon your God

Comment #139610 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 7:54 am

"I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!"

Anyone seen "There Will Be Blood"? Fantastic. The cinema audience (Irish) was in convulsions laughing at the "faith healing" scenes, and whenever the "prohpet" made one of his wacky speeches.

684. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139602 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 7:27 am

42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Steven Wright

685. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139599 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 7:21 am

Mitchell,

Is your Mom aware that you are an afairiest?

As a kid I remember my Mom telling me that thunder was "holy god moving his furniture around heaven." Ya have to laugh, otherwise you'd cry :)

686. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139587 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 6:58 am

she thought that 20% of fairies exist.

Not 50% or 2%, how does she reconcile that number?

687. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #139584 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 6:40 am

Comment #139435 by wooter

How do you overcome this fear of being gone forever?

wooter, what if you die and there is no God? You hope that when you die your God exists but you can only know there is a God is you have evidence, do you have any evidence?

When I'm gone forever, I'll be gone forever, having lived a full and enjoyable life, free from ignorance and superstition, no problemo, case closed.

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

Comment #139577 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 6:10 am

epeeist,

fides is thinking "But God's law trumps any man-made law, Williams speaks for God, so Williams should always get his way!"

Logical fallacy, argument from authority, wishful thinking etc.

Of course, fides would be laughed off this site if he posted such drivel, but he's thinking it :-)

689. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139543 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 3:43 am

Comment #139539 by wooter

This is what logic and reason says.

No. It's what you say. And you're wrong. And you've no evidence for your opinion.

wooter, where is your evidence for this "designer"? How did he "design" you? Where are the blueprints? The schematics?

690. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139529 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 3:20 am

Mitchell,

Do you have any children? Would you feel the same way if you knew your DNA/genes/lineage were to continue after your demise?

691. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139522 by Tyler Durden on March 6, 2008 at 3:07 am

Comment #139177 by wooter

The hole of unexplained primordial soup's existence
The hole of unexplained Leaping from one creature to another without any transitional creatures
The hole of unexplained passing information from Dna to another dna of diffrenet creatures

wooter,

Is it as obvious to you as it is to me (and others here) that the "holes" you point out are not actually in evolution, science, or our knowledge of the natural world but in your education?

Just because you don't understand something (e.g. evolution) does not mean it does not exist and understood by millions of people worldwide.

Where exactly did you go to school/college, if indeed you ever did?

692. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139228 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 10:38 am

Why wait until October

Maybe he was living in the Southern Hemisphere at the time? :)

693. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139223 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 10:32 am

Reverend, above post edited, many thanks.

And kudos on: "I intend to go out the same way I came in - kicking and scream, hopefully with parts of me lodged in a vagina."

Now that's funny!

694. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139218 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 10:22 am

As far as I know, the remnants of Ussher's work with regard to "dating creation" are housed in Trinity College... which is about 5 mins from where I type this. Weird.

*cue music from Twilight Zone*

695. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139212 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 10:08 am

Once again, Life of Brian says it so well :)

Lead Singer Crucifee: You know, you come from nothing, you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!

696. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139209 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 10:02 am

I read about Ussher's shenanigans in Martin Gorst's superb Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time

Well worth a read.

697. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139205 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 9:56 am

Mitchell, it was Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, who was born in Dublin, Ireland actually (my home city, thank you very much!)

Ussher deduced that the first day of Creation began at nightfall preceding Sunday October 23, 4004 BC, in the proleptic Julian calendar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher_chronology

698. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139196 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 9:28 am

Inane rambling #139177 by wooter:

The hole of unexplained primordial soup's existence â€" The stars or planets, heat etc is not an answer that by luck planets produced amino acids and there you go we have got a protein soup. This is just a delusional soup.

This has nothing to do with evolution. How life started is called Abiogenesis, not evolution.

The hole of unexplained aminoacids existence

This has nothing to do with evolution. This is abiogenesis.

The hole of unexplained unconscious blindwatchmaker, chances, luck cause the designed and conscious creatures like us.

There is no "problem". The only problem I see here is that you don't understand Darwinian evolution by Natural Selection. Try reading a book on evolution.

The hole of unexplained time problem that is needed for E.T

There is no "problem". The only problem I see here is that you don't understand Darwinian evolution by Natural Selection.

The hole of unexplained Leaping from one creature to another without any transitional creatures â€" monsters like ones if it were true.

Tiktalik: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiktallik

The hole of unexplained passing information from Dna to another dna of diffrenet creatures.

There is no "problem". The only problem I see here is that you don't understand Darwinian evolution by Natural Selection. Try reading a book on evolution.

The hole of unexplained of solar system with perfect design and location thah makes years, days and nights for us â€" although this design and perfect location is so amazing, some of you still do not go the thinking level from being funny level since it is hard to explain with E.T

This has nothing to do with evolution. This is astronomy.

The hole of unexplained soul's existence.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with evolution as the soul does not exist. That is theology

The hole of unexplained of existence of vegetables, fruits and plants and their cooperation and design with sunlight, photosynthesis and rain.

Again, there is no "problem". The only problem I see here is that you don't understand evolution. This is zoology. Go read a book on the subject.

The hole of unexplained how monkeys fell out their hair to look like us

???? There is no "problem". The only problem I see here is that you don't understand Darwinian evolution by Natural Selection. Try reading a book on evolution.

The hole of unexplained fake fossils, the fossils found and showed that their structures are no different from our present time.

Which fossils do you speak of? The fossil record shows us an amazing amount of information about previous life forms that have existed on this planet - if you open your mind. Go to a natural history museum, ask lots of questions, see all the fossils.

I can go on but it will be like the sieve of logic that sieves evolution idea with infinite holes, the logic will not hold anything on the top.

Please, do go on - unfortunately it will only go to show how are utterly ignorant you are.

699. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #139143 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 7:55 am

wooter,

It's simply not enough to say "Here is the Earth, God exists."

Please tell us how the "biggest lab of the world" shows your God exists?

Again, you are stuck on the Argument from Design. Look at the creature first, then decide how it got here. Do not assume your God put it here. That is not science.

Oh, wooter, did this God of yours also create all the poisonous creatures on the Earth that can kill us with one bite? If so, why?

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

Comment #139131 by Tyler Durden on March 5, 2008 at 7:15 am

Yeah, don't knock Mayo. Oh, wait :)