1201. Fleabytes

Comment #135602 by epeeist on February 29, 2008 at 6:11 am

Comment #135593 by Artful_Dodger

Philip, can you show me some evidence of what you regard as his nastiness?

You need to go back to the "Wee Flea" posts. I am working at the moment so I haven't got time to help you get back to those.

I am not Philip (obviously), but I am speaking as someone who has been accused of being fundamentalist, irrational, gullible, having no sense of humour and a liar by DR

1202. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #135514 by epeeist on February 29, 2008 at 3:58 am

Comment #135491 by wooter

magnificent scent perception system in the nose. How does luck and chances can do that?

For fucks sake wooter, read what you are presented with. Evolution is not based on luck and chance. Selection is non-random. You have been told this and shown the evidence at least three times in the past two days.

You remind me of my kids when they were small. Going anywhere in the car you get "Are we there yet?", response "No, it should be about an hour". Two minutes later "Are we there yet?", response "Why don't you have a look at the countryside, we haven't been here before". Two minutes later "Are we there yet?". Repeat ad nauseum. Of course my kids grew out of this behaviour by the time they were 10 and used to work out what might be interesting on the journey, what toys and books to take to keep themselves occupied.

To paraphrase RD "Go read a book, you might like it".

1203. Fleabytes

Comment #135507 by epeeist on February 29, 2008 at 3:49 am

Comment #135489 by hungarianelephant

epeeist - Handforth, Mottram or Prestbury?

Wilmslow, couldn't afford Prestbury (not convinced I would want to live there anyway).

Comment #135492 by scottishgeologist

Mind you ,his "Owl Service" was a bit odd I thought - could never quite fathom it out.

You probably need to read the "Mabinogion" to see where he is coming from.

As for the "Folk Tales" book I mentioned, it has one of the greatest of British (actually Scottish) tales - the Black Bull of Norroway

'Seven lang years I served for thee;
The glassy hill I clamb for thee;
The bluidy shirt I wrang for thee;
And wilt thou not wauken and turn to me?'

He heard, and he turned to her.

1204. Fleabytes

Comment #135483 by epeeist on February 29, 2008 at 2:55 am

Comment #135461 by Goldy

Soon there's Fairy tales from the British Isles :-) Lots of good stories there - hidden cannibalism, bigamy etc....
Hope she grows up OK...

Lots of good things in these, I have "Folk Tales of the British Isles" from the Folio society that has some great stories.

If you want to tone it down a little you might try the Andrew Lang books. A little bowdlerised in places but still a good variety.

I used to live in the next village to Alan Garner, as she gets older you might like to try "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" and "The Moon of Gomrath". Both significantly scary, but my kids liked them because they could associate with the places (all real) in the books. We also did a birthday party in the mines in Alderley Edge.

Oh, and to forestall future comments. Yes, Posh and Becks did live in Alderley Edge. And they were colloquially known as "Thick and Thin".

1205. Fleabytes

Comment #135417 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 11:44 pm

Comment #135182 by Goldy

Here you are, Brian. My mind is a veritable repository of useless facts - much of it not indexed but shoved willy-nilly into the synaptic shelves to gather dust...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fore_(people)

The subject of a Larry Niven, Stephen Barnes book "Dream Park"

Lots of cannibalism in Greek mythology - for a selection try http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/myths/tp/080707Cannibalism.htm

1206. Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts

Comment #135110 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Comment #135095 by MPhil

Neither, I'm from Upper Franconia... Bayreuth to be exact. Maybe you have heard of it, it's the Richard Wagner-city, every year thousands of fans of classical music from around the world make a pilgrimage to the Wagner-Festspiele.

Ooh, any chance of tickets for a complete Ring cycle?

1207. Evidence can't shake your faith if your faith excludes it as evidence

Comment #135107 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Comment #135106 by JuxtaMonkey

LMAO...Earwig tea...mmmmmmmmm what was in this cosmic recipe? Char grilled fireworks are absolutely fabulous! I must say, we need to do that one more often...nothing like supper flinging from below your feet. It's like eating snow flakes! LMAOROTFL MmmUUUuuuHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahaha

You're not wooter in another guise are you?

1208. Fleabytes

Comment #134929 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 10:46 am

Comment #134919 by mlearnedfriend

But there does appear to be a set of belief systems for people on this thread (although epeeist is correct in saying that a rationalist viewpoint is not appropriate for a Buddhist) which is generally

But you would be wrong - http://www.mindandlife.org/dalai.lama.sfndc.html

But there are many situations in which we can measure an effect but don't know the reason. Which causes us to look for reason. Now you may claim that a theist viewpoint is going to limit someone really looking (hey, it's just God) but in the history of science it is often the belief that God has ordered things that makes scientific investigation not only possible but an imperitave (the more I find out, the more I will know about God).

This may have been so, but I think you would need to show us some evidence that scientists are now working in the spirit of "ad majorem Dei gloriam". And even so, I am not convinced that it has ever been fully so. Copernicus was an astrologer, Newton an alchemist. One might as well argue that their scientific work was to further their work in these areas.

What you may be committing is the fallacy of composition, assuming that because the person in question had one particular attribute then that applies to everything they do. One of the favourites here is to point out that Hitler was a vegetarian, therefore all his monstrous crimes can be accounted for by an addiction to Brussel sprouts.

1209. Fleabytes

Comment #134904 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 10:02 am

Comment #134900 by Steve Zara

It is rare (unheard of?) that I have to correct epeeist, but..

Quote, Unquote.

Especially as that is what I said in post 1553 ;-)

Radio 3 and Radio 4. Two of the few gems in the British media. Even better now that you can do a "Listen Again" or download a podcast. Tonight Melvyn Bragg is discussing "King Lear", last week it was the Multiverse, next week Ada Lovelace.

1210. Fleabytes

Comment #134896 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 9:48 am

Comment #134891 by al-rawandi

Isn't the appropriate usage:

"Quote, Endquote"?

No, it is the title of a BBC Radio 4 quiz game. Relatively erudite, but quite amusing. There is another called "Round Britain Quiz" that is much more difficult.

1211. Fleabytes

Comment #134886 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 9:38 am

Comment #134882 by Richard Morgan

Can I just throw in a maladjusted wombat to the fray?

No you can't. She's your mother-in-law, you deal with her yourself.

Bugrit, a coffee down the nose moment.

1212. Fleabytes

Comment #134883 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 9:35 am

Comment #134867 by Steve Zara

Perhaps we are playing to help illustrate that this site is a clear-thinking oasis, with people discussing matters of science and reason in a way that will impress thousands of readers all around the world.

Amongst other things we are playing to show that atheists are not the miserable nihilists that some accuse them of being.

And since Mornington Crescent and "One song to the tune of another" don't seem have caught on, then how about another Radio 4 game "Quote, Unquote".

I will start with "Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

1213. Fleabytes

Comment #134846 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 9:03 am

Comment #134833 by irate_atheist

South Kenton?

Let's drop it if Anna doesn't know how to play.

How about "One song to the tune of another" instead.

You start - sing "What a friend I have in Jesus" to the tune of "For All the Cows"...

1214. Fleabytes

Comment #134822 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 8:31 am

Comment #134820 by Quetzalcoatl

I'll see it...let's play...what are we playing again?

I honestly have no idea.

In that case - Tottenham Court Road.

I think irate_atheist has the next turn.

1215. Fleabytes

Comment #134811 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 8:25 am

Comment #134793 by steveroot

I'm sorry. That is just fucked up.

I thought that was the point of the operation ;-)

1216. Fleabytes

Comment #134772 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 7:41 am

Could I possibly claim beaver?

Alternatively I would go for elephant's foot umbrella stand.

1217. Fleabytes

Comment #134758 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 7:18 am

Comment #134730 by Steve Zara

The "materialist" argument is a distraction.

And certainly not universally true.

At least part of my movement away from religion came from the schoolyard. Sniggeringly discussing Eve's anatomy and whether she had a belly button or not, and whether the sight of her naked would give Adam a permanent hard-on. Trying to reconcile the story of the flood with Noah being the hero and 99 point however many nines people being given the role of spear carrier. Reading mythology of various cultures and thinking "hang on, this doesn't fit with the religious instruction I am getting" and then wondering whether that was mythology too (and being caned for the thought). Eating pineapples and trying to find a reference to them in the bible, especially in Genesis. Going to an astronomy club and looking through a small reflector (not often possible in the skies of those days) and realising that none of the moons of Jupiter are mentioned in the bible. Getting very strange and evasive answers in geography lessons about the habits and beliefs of people in other, non-Christian (and even non-Catholic) countries. And as I have mentioned before, seeing my grandfather die after an amputation and septicaemia setting in and killing him despite the copious amounts of prayer being performed both before and after his death, comparing that with all the other suffering that seemed to be going on in the world despite Jesus caring for us.

A whole mixed bag of stuff in other words, very little having to a conscious material philosophy.

1218. Fleabytes

Comment #134735 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 6:38 am

Comment #134698 by clearthinker

Your atheism is not just simply an absence of belief in God. It is a an absence of belief in God based upon a materialist/naturalist philosophy.

That's it? All of it? I suppose it might be true of some western atheists, though not of the New Age people. Similarly it isn't true of Buddhists.

Speaking personally I am an atheist because I can't find anything in theism that I would class as true, i.e. having any correspondence with the facts.

Now I was brought up a Catholic. I believed:

1. That the universe was created by an omniscient, omnipotent being
2. That this being continues to interfere in the natural world
3. That this being is actually Jesus/Yahweh/Holy Ghost and not Zeus, Vishnu or the Great Spirit
4. That babies were born into sin
5. That god was omni-benevolent as well as omniscient and omnipotent
6. That there are various places I might go when I die, the majority of which were unpleasant (to say the least)
7. That miracles happen
8. That the host and wine became the body and blood of Christ during the mass

And a whole lot more stuff.

My gradual move from being a Catholic to being an atheist was little to do with a materialist/naturalist philosophy, this came later. It was to do with the fact that I became to find most of the things in my list to be ludicrous, repellant or simply counter-factual.

1219. Are they running for President or Pastor-in-Chief?

Comment #134687 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 5:38 am

Comment #134684 by clodhopper

Clearly, driving on the left is more rational and sensible and driving on the right is irrational.

It is completely sensible. One stands on the horseblock and swings the right leg over the horse. Once on the horse then one rides away.

1220. Fleabytes

Comment #134674 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 5:01 am

Comment #134668 by Steve Zara

I realise I am talking about religion here, but isn't this a little weird? I mean, it suggests that there was either some kind of "anti-original sin condom" in use when Mary was conceived, or that God works actively to contaminate each innocent baby with original sin. Which seems a bit off to me.

I wonder if Mary went to an iron age equivalent of these people - http://www.affordableplasticcosmeticsurgeryincolombia.com/Hymen-Restoration-Vaginal-Virgin.php

1221. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #134650 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 4:21 am

Comment #134647 by hungarianelephant

Spot the wooter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGR0BriodkM

George Carlin quotation - "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

1222. Are they running for President or Pastor-in-Chief?

Comment #134646 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 4:16 am

Comment #134614 by YssiBoo

But if accessibility of booze is the only problem you can find with a country I would say it doesn't have any problems worth mentioning.

Things to enjoy sailing between Sweden and Finland

1. Crayfish season. Eating a tray full of crayfish accompanied by vodka. The only downside being the amount of swell that seemed to occur during the process
2. Sailing into the harbour on a small island, booking the public sauna, chopping the wood for the stove. Taking the sauna punctuated by running out and diving into the sea without the necessity of dressing first
3. Lumparland on Aland (Oompah Lumpar..)
4. Stockholm, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in
5. The vast number of islands in the archipelago

The only downsides - navigating the vast number of islands and the ferries that travel between Sweden and Finland - frighteningly huge if you are in a 10m yacht.

1223. Fleabytes

Comment #134622 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 3:46 am

Comment #134606 by hungarianelephant

Eve eats a fruit and that affects all the seed of her womb forever. We hear a bit about second and third generations, and then nothing until Psalm 51, "In sin was I conceived". So apparently it's now about sex, not fruit.

Of course, God is perfectly capable of creating people without recourse to sex. Jesus was conceived without sex. So was Mary. So were Jesus' brothers and sisters. Adam was made from dirt, and Eve from his rib. You'd think, then, that he'd be able to come up with a regular means of reproduction that was not inherently offensive to him. I mean, he's the ultimate creator, isn't he?

From my elder daughter (archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge) and my own reading - you have to wonder whether this was due to a change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society. Russell Blackford posted this - http://www.savagebreastbook.com/index.php in another thread. I know Robert Graves and James Frazer are a bit out of date these days but there are intimations there.

Historical, not biblical, scholarship needed here. A bit beyond (ok, well beyond) my knowledge.

1224. Fleabytes

Comment #134615 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 3:40 am

Comment #134612 by NMcC

Though I think the most important question in regard to whether a God who, by definition, is everywhere, can be 'abscent' is: is Jesus still sitting on His right hand?

If he is you would have thought he would have had pins and needles by now.

1225. Are they running for President or Pastor-in-Chief?

Comment #134608 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 3:29 am

Comment #134577 by Gustaf Sjoblom
I don't think a tighter binding within the EU is very likely, at least no in the foreseeable future. We are a bit to different on many accounts.Politically possibly, not too different people-wise.

(If you are a republican or libertarian stay waaaay clear of Scandinavia)

The only problem I found with Sweden is (a quote from the guy I sailed around the Swedish Archipelago and across to Finland with) that if they could find a street that was one-way in both directions, then that is where they would put the state liquor stores.

1226. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134599 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 3:15 am

Comment #134586 by wooter

This is nonrandom natural selection in combination with random mutation.

Nonrandom natural selection means:?

Knowing that you won't go and read anything that isn't actually on this site I have cut and pasted the following from "Biology Online"

• One of the prime motives for all species is to reproduce and survive, passing on the genetic information of the species from generation to generation. When species do this they tend to produce more offspring than the environment can support.
• The lack of resources to nourish these individuals places pressure on the size of the species population, and the lack of resources means increased competition and as a consequence, some organisms will not survive.
  
• The organisms who die as a consequence of this competition were not totally random, Darwin found that those organisms more suited to their environment were more likely to survive.
  
• This resulted in the well known phrase survival of the fittest, where the organisms most suited to their environment had more chance of survival if the species falls upon hard times. (This phrase if often associated with Darwin, though on closer inspection Herbert Spencer puts the phrase in a more accurate historical context.)
  
• Those organisms who are better suited to their environment exhibit desirable characteristics, which is a consequence of their genome being more suitable to begin with.
  

1227. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134594 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 3:09 am

Comment #134582 by wooter

To Zara;
Brushing up on biology

ROFLMAO

Wooter - the next instalment:

To MPhil - An extract from Faux News on the primacy of induction in the methodology of science

To Cartomancer - Information from the Fred Phelps site on the basis of Christian ethics being derived from Thomas Aquinas

To Al Rawandi - A posting from Geert Wilders on the sublimity of Islam

To Epeeist - Lessons in logic from the "Fundies say the darndest things" website

1228. Are they running for President or Pastor-in-Chief?

Comment #134565 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 2:06 am

Comment #134559 by Steve Zara

For some reason I just feel European, and have a particular fondness for France, perhaps because I was taken there often as a child. I feel "at home" there, and in other European countries I have visited.

Sorry to bring it back to fencing.

I have travelled reasonably extensively because of the sport and had to interact with people of many different nationalities (somewhat more than the average tourist I suspect). This has been a joy (you may have no friends on the piste, but you can have an awful lot once you take your mask off).

While one may loathe governments and the egotism of politicians I have rarely come across people with whom it has not been possible to have a friendly relationship.

So yes, tighter binding in the EU but better to get rid of this little England xenophobia in the UK.

1229. Fleabytes

Comment #134561 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 1:56 am

Comment #134547 by Steve Zara

I have to say that if someone discovered some lost work by Aquinas that included a phrase like: "You know that stuff I wrote about triangles? It doesn't work close to black holes", then even I would start to wonder....

Well since MPhil and Cartomancer seem to have their heads stuck in a sub-woofer:

Cum principia quarundam scientiarum, ut logicae, geometriae et arithmeticae, sumantur ex solis principiis formalibus rerum, ex quibus essentia rei dependet, sequitur quod contraria horum principiorum Deus facere non possit: sicut quod genus non sit praedicabile de specie; vel quod lineae ductae a centro ad circumferentiam non sint aequales; aut quod triangulus rectilineus non habeat tres angulos aequales duobus rectis

Which translates to

"Since the principles of certain sciences, such as logic, geometry and arithmetic are taken only from the formal principles of things, on which the essence of the thing depends, it follows that God could not make things contrary to these principles. For example, that a genus was not predicable of the species, or that lines drawn from the centre to the circumference were not equal, or that a triangle did not have three angles equal to two right angles."

In the Summa Contra Gentiles.

So, just as I have always thought - Bernard Riemann has no equal.

1230. Fleabytes

Comment #134555 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 1:46 am

Comment #134553 by hungarianelephant

Morning all. Another 400 posts. Did nice Mr Robertson answer epeeist's question yet, or shall I come back later?

Do you have to ask?

1231. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134534 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 12:40 am

Comment #134478 by Shmeezers

OK. So. Evolutionary theory provides a few explanations as why such complexity suddenly appears: an increase in the level of oxygen, fluctuations of carbon isotopes, small increases in genertic complexity. OK. All very interesting, but speculative.

Here are some details from a recent meeting of the AAAS - http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/state-of-the-art-evolution.ars

Good digestible format.

1232. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134527 by epeeist on February 28, 2008 at 12:05 am

Comment #134522 by irate_atheist

As opposed to "savage breast people", one presumes...

I suspect a lot of Italian blokes are feeling a bit savage at the moment - http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_hattenstone/2008/02/nether_let_it_be_said.html

1233. Fleabytes

Comment #134518 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 11:45 pm

Comment #134330 by ianmkz

Thomas Aquinas felt "The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them.

While MPhil and Cartomancer are about - didn't Aquinas also believe it would be impossible for god to make a triangle whose internal angles didn't add up to 180^o?

This would presumably make Gauss, Riemann, Lobachevsky and Bolyai greater than god.

1234. Evolving Mistakes

Comment #134260 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Just fixing your underline problem

1235. My Argument With God

Comment #134192 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 11:32 am

Comment #134165 by Blue_Manue

Does anybody know more about these statistics? How trustworthy are these polls?

They are from a Federal Bureau of Prison survey. More details on http://www.holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

You have to be somewhat careful - just because someone registers an affiliation does not mean they are necessarily practicing. There are also arguments by theists on this front. Having said that of course, you can apply the same argument to any other type of survey or census. You can't have it both ways.

1236. Fleabytes

Comment #134175 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 11:04 am

Comment #134159 by Brian English

Do they actually believe that the host is the transubstantiated body of Christ though?

It's required that to be a catholic, you believe this dogma.

But if you are a member of the Free Church...

1237. Fleabytes

Comment #134141 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 10:13 am

Comment #134129 by PMurdock

Just throwing this out, because, as was mentioned earlier, I'm new to this site. Why not have a debate in which Prof. Dawkins dresses down McGrath or Robertson and has it done?

Cui bono?

1238. Fleabytes

Comment #134096 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 8:36 am

Comment #134090 by NMcC

Blimey, is that not a wee tadge paranoid? I think that tendency has to be guarded against.

Did you participate in the "Irrational Atheist" thread? When Vox Day was urging his minions to come over and tell us what a wonderful book it was and how none of us would be able to defend against its irrefutable logic?

OK, I may have it wrong but it smells very much the same.

1239. Fleabytes

Comment #134086 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 8:22 am

Comment #134084 by PMurdock

You should just debate this guy ultra-publicly and put him in his place.

Welcome PMurdock - I see you just joined today. Did you join to make that particular comment? All by yourself, or did someone ask you to do it?

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

1240. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134079 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 7:59 am

Comment #134046 by Dr Benway

So the breast wranglers say, anyway.

Well if anyone should know it is somebody from the University of Cambridge.

I didn't realise this particular topic was part of the tripos though.

1241. Fleabytes

Comment #134064 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 7:29 am

Comment #134050 by Tyler Durden

That's the only post from "mlearnedfriend" on this site. Coincidence? I think not! How stupid does he think we are?

Clearthinker registered on Nov. 8th last year, last visit to the forums on Feb 21st at 9:42

mlearnedfriend, registered on the 21st February at 17:15. One post on the forum on the 26th and a couple of posts here.

I think we ought to take another possibility into account - namely we are being "vox day'd". Not sure whether we can expect a FCoS blowjob though.

1242. Fleabytes

Comment #134061 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 7:24 am

Comment #134052 by Quetzalcoatl

I don't know. My aunt's Moravian church has Communion, and so does the Pentecostal church I used to got to. Not sure if that's the same thing as the Catholics or not.

Do they actually believe that the host is the transubstantiated body of Christ though?

1243. Fleabytes

Comment #134048 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 7:04 am

Comment #134045 by Quetzalcoatl

Of course, we could just go to mass and steal one of the communion wafers from a priest's hand. They're the Body Of Christ, after all.

Isn't that a bit, you know, Catholic? That isn't really Christianity is it...

1244. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #134034 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 6:47 am

Comment #134011 by wooter

I am not even going to quote any of the dross you have posted. I will just refer you to my post above.

There is a difference between ignorant, stupid and delusional. Ignorance means you are unaware of certain information. Stupid is when you are incapable of assimilating information. Delusional is when you are aware of information but refuse to acknowledge it.

You have been given lots of information here, your points have been answered (politely in the majority of cases). Yet you come back and post exactly the same material (almost word for word in many cases) as though you had never read the answers, or have read the answers and chosen to ignore them.

Now when you first came to this site people struggled to help because English was obviously not your first language. We even asked you what your first language was so that we might be able to find or post information in that language. You refused to tell us what that language was, just as you have refused to answer any other questions that have been put to you.

So here is a final question to you. I hope you are able to answer it.

Why should we respond to someone who acts in the way I have detailed above??

1245. Fleabytes

Comment #134012 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 6:26 am

Comment #133992 by Steve Zara

The entire universe. 90 billion light years wide (at least). Hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with typically hundreds of billions of stars. Close to 14 billion years old. Someone can believe that all of that, was for one man. In the Middle East. Two thousand or so years go. Why? Because it is written in a book. A book full of mistakes. A book that we supposedly have to keep re-interpreting to avoid the bits that have become wrong.

Pale Blue Dot Steve

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."

1246. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #133968 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 5:14 am

Comment #133966 by Peacebeuponme

Shmeezers

No proof. No proof in the lab

Err...have you read anything about DNA?

Read? Read? Are we now expecting people to have actually gone away and read something about a topic before commenting upon it?

Oh, we are. As you were then...

1247. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #133967 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 5:11 am

Comment #133910 by The Reverend Dark

Cretin, as I recall, derives from Christian. I stand by my usage.

The etymology of the word is not agreed on, and there are several possible explanations; including yours.

Surely we can agree a compromise. The word obviously derives from the French writer Chretien de Troyes, thereby combining both possibilities.

1248. Fleabytes

Comment #133945 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 3:41 am

Comment #133925 by BillySands

I dont see what is good about the christian message on condoms in Africa, or threatening folk with hell - like has happened to someone I know in Robertson's Church.

Billy - Robertson has done the usual "not my god" bit on the Phelps, which is commendable.

Where would you put the FCoS in terms of its beliefs in comparison to say Pat Robertson, the Paisleys, Alistair McGrath and Bishop Spong?

1249. Fleabytes

Comment #133938 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 3:28 am

Comment #133935 by Paula Kirby

What I laugh at is the futility of it, the transparency of it, the ignorance of it.

I find his comments a bit like Lewis Carroll's description of the different branches of arithmetic - "Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."

1250. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #133927 by epeeist on February 27, 2008 at 3:14 am

Comment #133913 by Steve Zara

Steve - may I pick a small nit with you.

Is there any chance of you making a back reference to the OP when you make a quote. Otherwise it can be a little difficult to follow the context.