Comments by TeraBrat

Comment #200715 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 6:36 am

22. Comment #200590 by mordacious1 on June 28, 2008 at 12:37 am

David

Tera doesn't want me calling you and your kind fucktards anymore, so I won't, but just remember, I'm thinking it.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!♥

52. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200712 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 6:30 am

Guys, I'm a woman and I disagree. I believe in what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine.

53. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200710 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 6:26 am

black wolf.

First of all it wasn't my petting zoo I just worked there a few hours a week with the ponies. Second the baboons were in an enclosed cage, no one was petting them. They would put food on one side close it off when the baboons were eating and go into the other side to clean it. There were goats, donkeys, camels, rabbits, guinea pigs, about 50 varieties of birds, ducks and chickens. The kids didn't pet the hawks either.

54. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200694 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 5:43 am

What is the Abrahamic god?

55. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200693 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 5:40 am

And you don't think they will rationalize to themselves that they are not foolish because of a. b. c. d. etc.?

56. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200687 by TeraBrat on June 28, 2008 at 5:25 am

I'm going to do this in pieces so I don't lose everything.

TB, if ridiculing never convinces anyone of anything, why is it still used? Surely if it never convinced anyone, the whole concept would have died out.

It's still used because it makes the user feel superior, or it's easier than coming up with a real argument, or it's an emotional response with little thought behind it.
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Second, ridicule does work. When my son was little, I tried to rationally tell him why picking his nose in public wasn't OK. Nothing got through to him. First day of Kindergarten, some kid says: "look at that kid picking his boogers". It ended then and there. One can learn a lot from ridicule. Of course, I had to throw in a lesson about not always giving into ridicule if your right. In this case though, he realized he was grossing other kids out, and quit.

But if there were twenty kids in the class who picked their nose and twenty who didn't it would have no effect on him.

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epeeist,

Please give me an example of something you were convinced of by being ridiculed.

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Satire and humour are devastating tools in the armoury against the ridiculous. A single line in the Life of Brian can say more than a whole book. I would argue that the likes of the Life of Brian, the superb Dave Allen, Father Ted etc etc can break the back of any religion far more effectively than just reason.

How many people do you know who were religious and changed their minds after watching those movies?

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Look at how indignant you get when someone criticizes and ridicules your beliefs. How can you think it works differently on the other side? Because you are right? They think they are right.

57. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200558 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 10:12 pm

mordacious1,

Very few people really "get" me.

58. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200551 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I research what I want to research.

I let you do the rest of the research for me. ;-)

59. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200546 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 9:03 pm

Both.

Don't joke about the god delusion it hurts my feelings :-p

60. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200545 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 9:00 pm

I'll tell them it hurts my feelings to be banned. I'm sure they will give in.

61. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200538 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 8:34 pm

"Yet we find that psychiatrists are at the same time the least religious physicians and the physicians most comfortable addressing patients' spiritual concerns."

It makes perfect sense to me. Psychiatrists treat mental illnesses...

62. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200535 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 8:20 pm

I guess I need to be prepared.

63. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200530 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 7:59 pm

Tera

"Ridiculing never convinces anyone of anything."
etc. "You are better off saying nothing."

What are you saying? I can't post here anymore?

Stop ridiculing me!!!! :-p

64. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200529 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 7:55 pm

I've watched baboons, I have a great baboon story.

This was in a small petting zoo on a kibbutz, I worked with their ponies. They had a male (mean SOB), two females and about 5 offspring of various ages. I would always stay an extra hour to watch them. A shipment of fish came in for the water fowl (they had a small bird sanctuary, would nurse injured wild birds and release the healthy ones. Some were too badly injured and stayed the rest of their lives). I took one of the fish (it was a small fish) and put it at the edge of the baboon cage. The little ones inspected the fish but had no idea what to do with it. The male came over and took the fish and started flipping it over and sniffing it and taking tiny tiny nibbles. The little ones arranged themselves in a semicircle around him watching. He finally started to carefully "skin" the fish and was able to take small bites out of it. As he carefully disected and ate the fish the little ones watched and one by one, with no apparent order but always one at a time, went right up to him for a few moments to watch more closely and then went back to the spot they had been sitting in before, and the next one would get up to have a closer look. It was an amazing sight. It looked exactly like a small classroom.

65. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200521 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 7:31 pm

fizhburn,

I'm certainly no expert either. In fact, this idea just popped into my head when I read the comment I blogged and I decided to put it out there and see what other people thought. I'll have a look at that evolutionary psychology link. Thank you.

Goldy,

And what's hers is yours ;-)

66. Dawkins on Darwin

Comment #200498 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 6:22 pm

That was a great interview.

67. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200497 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Goldy,

I think ownership of women is more a symptom that evolved out of that need to ensure you aren't raising another mans child which prevents you from raising one of your own.

This is pure speculation on my part, but, if you look at the animal you see some similar behaviour. Lions kill all the young so they can mate and pass on their genes before the pride is stolen from them. Since religion is man made doesn't it make sense that men would pass laws to protect themselves from raising another mans child. This fits with the concept of the selfish gene.

68. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200493 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 6:09 pm

Thank you decius. I knew I was misspelling that but I was too lazy to look it up.

I'm multitasking-listening to that BBC interview right now.

69. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200484 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 5:56 pm

people will realize that not getting married and making babies is okay. But the reason for not wanting this is ultimately a deeply conservative religious dogma,

There is some biological sense to family structure if not "marriage". Knowing who your relatives are helps prevent interbreeding that brings out bad recessive genes. I think the institution of marriage may have evolved for this reason.

Dislike of sexual permiscuity probably evolved for the same reason. Until recently there was no way to prove who the father of a baby was. If a woman was permiscuise a man might find himslef raising another mans child, and be prevented for passing on his own genes because he's using his resources to raise a child that isn't his.

70. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200480 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 5:44 pm

8teist,

Ridiculing never convinces anyone of anything. It's not only pointless it's detrimental and counter productive. It makes people dig in and entrench themselves in their arguments.

You are better off saying nothing.

71. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200454 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 5:01 pm

I thought his point that "ridicule is not an argument" was a good one.

72. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200444 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 4:36 pm

theIdiot,

I'd like to see you respond to Steve. That really was an outrageous statement.

73. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200429 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Vinelectric,

I want fundamentalistic Muslims to disappear. I have no problem with moderate Muslims.

74. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200399 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 1:39 pm

I say I'm half a christian because I desire for the Christian Gospel to be true, I'm a half an atheist because I have my doubts. I'm unsure if its a beautiful reality, or a beautiful delusion. If someone thinks they have a better classification for me, they are welcome to express it.

You're not a half atheist your a level 2 or 3 agnostic.

75. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200391 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm

I made that remark as a general point.

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Border Collie,

I have a clear candidate this time. From everything I've heard him say, I think Obama will make a good president

76. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200369 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 12:17 pm

My parents are religious and they vote. The Jewish vote is so strong in the US because almost all Jews vote, religious or not.

I really hope the Muslims believe they don't need to vote.

3. Comment #200276 by B.L.Z. Bub on June 27, 2008 at 8:24 am

Could be just a correlation? I think there is evidence to suggest that those who have been poorly educated or not done well in education (i.e. bit dim) tend to take less interest in politics and are less likely to get involved in civic affairs. Such people might also be the ones most readily suckered into the type of church talked about above.

I agree.

77. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200362 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 11:57 am

MBC Morgan,

I was raised religious and my reading was never censored. My older brother was fascinated by other religions and read the new testament (we are Jewish), Koran, Spinoza. Karl Marx and countless other books.
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I believe in giving children the opportunity to explore both worlds and reach their own conclusions. I think that not allowing children access to religious books is as bad as forcing religion on them. I believe that ridiculing religion, as opposed to camly explaining why you don't believe, is as bad as enforcing it.

78. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #200358 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 11:45 am

I've read some of the comments between theidiot and the rest. I think we can split the difference.

1. Some religions are worse than others as far as hatered and intolerance. Some are benign. You'd have a hard time convincing me that the the Druze or the Amish have harmed society in any way. I think we all agree that Islam is the worst and some sects of Christianity run a close second.

2. Any morality in religion comes from human beings anyways.

3. You can be a good moral religious person or a bad hateful religious person.

4. You can be a good moral non-religious person or a bad hateful non-religious person.

I do not for one second buy into "all atheists are good people". I've seen a lot of hatred and intolerance in these forums. Nor do I buy into "all religious people are bad, ignorant and stupid" which seems to be the theme of this website.

79. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200265 by TeraBrat on June 27, 2008 at 7:59 am

ID/creationsism does not belong in a science class.

If it is going to be taight in schools, it needs to be taught separately.

I went to a very religious high school and the two were never mixed. Secular schools were over by 1 or 2 p.m., we never got out of school before 4 p.m. because we covered the secular studies we needed for the state exams and had additional classes for religious study.

80. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200078 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 7:18 pm

If parents want to fund and send their kids to private schools or home school, that's another story. However, even in this case, there are the competing issues of freedom and psychological child abuse.

Theists could argue that not teaching children creationism is child abuse. That is a no win argument unless you can prove whether or not god exists. No one can do that.

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Your argument about not willing to have your tax dollars go to this isn't much of an argument either. A lot of people think welfare should be abolished. And some people think it's a waste of taxpayers money to teach science. There's no end to private ideas of where tax dollars should or shouldn't go. From what I remember the US is a democracy and what the majority votes for goes.

81. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200073 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Maybe US science teachers could just start their lesson by saying "got did it" ,then begin the real lesson with the real evidence,the kids will soon figure out which is crap and which is not .

I think the US science teachers need to understand that science is science and religion is religion and the two should not be mixed.

If a school district feels strongly about teaching creationism and the parents agree, they can have a separate class that teaches it. There is no room for "creationism" in a science classroom. It isn't science.

82. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200053 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 5:29 pm

By demanding schools teach creation in science classes,it appears that the religious have something to fear.

I agree.

83. Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes

Comment #199994 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 3:29 pm

The United States once again has been far ahead of the curve on the issue of rights for the Great Apes. In Spain, great apes finally have the right not to be tortured. In America, we've had an ape (and a not-so-great one at that) running the country for the past eight years and ordering torture.

Brilliant!!!!

84. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #199987 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Don't give the Jews too much credit either, one word, Noah...I rest my case.

What you don't realize is that none of those books are taken literally by 99% of religious Jews. I believe there is one tiny sect that do take it literally. No one pays them any attention, they are considered screwballs.

Don't ask me to explain Noah to you. I don't even have a bible anymore.

85. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #199982 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 3:15 pm

All education should be secular.

All PUBLIC education should be secular. If people want to send their kids to a private school that teaches additional curriculums that is their business.

Even in private schools science classes need to be kept for SCIENCE. If people want to believe in crap they can, as long as they aren't confused into thinking it is science.

I don't understand why religious people would want religion taught in science classes. I never heard of that until I came to this site.

86. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #199974 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 3:07 pm

If you had the chance to spend a hour with my cousin Barry you would understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that all religious or even most of them are smart. I can't say a word about Christians because I have no understanding or knowledge of Christianity. Just hearing that Jesus was supposedly concieved by a holy spirit and his mother was a virgin was enough to stop me from being interested in hearing more.

87. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete

Comment #199970 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 2:59 pm

We can throw the numbers into the biggest computing clusters the world has ever seen and let statistical algorithms find patterns where science cannot.

If it was that simple it wouldn't be so hard to prove global warming. The problem is that most natural systems are so complex you can't always be sure what numbers to throw in. There are things it's impossible for a computer to solve. I'd like to see a computer give the exact composition of lignin or humic acid. It will never happen because their structures are way too diverse. Even if you were able to give an exact description of a lignin molecule I doubt a computer could give you every possible molecule it could become under all possible conditions.

88. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #199962 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 2:43 pm

The hard part is for the well versed Rabbi to think rationally - and all the most religious cannot - or they would not be so religious.

I've known a lot of brilliant people who were/are deeply religious. I sometimes come across things that make me do a double take and wonder if there isn't something to it and I've barely scratched the surface. You don't see or hear these people because they have better things to do than TV and radio shows. They really aren't too interested in what the rest of the world thinks about them.

89. The Latest Wedge Document

Comment #199946 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I'm assuming this bill will be taken to court and shot down and that will be the end of it. It's unfortunate it has to come to that. but, not worth getting all worked up about

90. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #199935 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Refuting idiots like that is easy. The ones who claim that evolution AND god are correct are the smarter ones and should be harder to shoot down. I remember asking one of the Rabbis in my high school how dinasour fossils can be so old if the world was created in six days. He gave several explanations and one of them was that a day did not necessarily mean the 24 hours we call a day. As for other inconsistencies, well, Judaism has been dealing with those for thousands of years. I doubt there's anything you could throw at a well versed Rabbi (not someone relatively ignorant like me or Shmuli Boteach) that couldn't be explained through the commentaries, Talmud, Kabala etc.

So while this conservapedia guy is easy to shoot down because he's basically ignorant, not all religious people would be so easy to beat.

91. God hates Mars

Comment #199622 by TeraBrat on June 26, 2008 at 4:54 am

All the bars pale in comparison with the "Bible Bar"

The "Bible Bar" will forgive your sins.

The "Bible Bar" will get you into heaven

Must...

Have...

"Bible Bar"!!!!!

92. God hates Mars

Comment #199473 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 8:10 pm

If you want to make a fortune come up with a "Bible Bar" and tell people that if they don't eat one at every meal they are going to hell.

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Yawn! Bed time. Goodnight everyone.

93. God hates Mars

Comment #199467 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 7:56 pm

The egozi is a pale immitation of a chocolate bar, it is a pseudobar a veritable antichocolate bar.

Ummm, it's a candy bar...

94. God hates Mars

Comment #199460 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 7:44 pm

I still say that the best candy bar EVER is an egozi.

http://www.israeliwishes.com/browseproducts/Egozi-Bar.HTML

That does not do it any justice at all. You have to have one to appreciate it.

95. God hates Mars

Comment #199444 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 7:10 pm

So what happened to marathon bars? I've never had one.

8teisssssssssst.
Of coursssssse sssssssssnickerssssssssss hassssssss a talking ssssssssssnake...

You have to really BELIEVE in Snickers to hear it talk ;-)

96. God hates Mars

Comment #199437 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 6:57 pm

Exactly!

You can't deep fry a Snickers, that makes them the ultimate!!!!!

I'm starting a new reiligion. From now on we all pray to *Snickers* (pun intended).

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I guess your case was tired.

97. God hates Mars

Comment #199432 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 6:49 pm

The best candybar is an Egozi. I really miss them.

Mars bars always were a hideously sweet glutinous mess that I regretted buying after the first mouthful

Yup!!!!

CaNdy FighT!!!!!!!!
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21. Comment #199431 by 8teist on June 25, 2008 at 6:49 pm

Is that a bar in your pocket....

No he's just happy to see me.

98. God hates Mars

Comment #199420 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Snickers are better than Mars Bars.

99. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #199037 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 5:34 am

I'm quite cynical about the concept of marriage - The only benefits i can see are tax related.

I don't know the origins of those tax. they sound like something religious people in power came up with to use as a carrot to convince people to get married when marriage started to become less popular in the 60's.

I could be wrong.

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If anyone wants to bring 'love' to the table, consider; 'If you love them, why do you need a legal contract binding you together - is the love not enough?'

I'm OK with gays marrying I just couldn't understand why they wanted the institution. Now gay couples who have been together 20 or 30 years are getting married. What does that change?

100. Science is not philosophy

Comment #199028 by TeraBrat on June 25, 2008 at 5:22 am

Goldy I know of course that "Ph" in Ph.D. stands for "philosophy" but it is just a historical relic. I can't imagine what a Ph.D. in business has to do with "philosophy" except in the very broad sense that tera explained.

Goldy wrote that explanation.

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Corylus,

I've tried doing that. Most people don't have anything in their profile so I stopped.

I'm so sick of all the negativity about anything that isn't said by one of the guru's. And the way the guru's are fawned on by some people is somewhat sickening too.

I see a new religion emerging on this forum.

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