Comments by captain underpants

101. The Future Forum Presents: Christopher Hitchens and Marvin Olasky

Comment #49951 by captain underpants on June 14, 2007 at 8:30 am

Olasky asserts that "faith and charity go hand in hand". Examples of charity without faith abound. There is also, alas, a great abundance of examples of faith without charity.

102. If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural

Comment #46191 by captain underpants on May 30, 2007 at 1:59 pm

"... whether the very idea of morality is somehow degraded if it turns out to be just another evolutionary tool that nature uses to help species survive and propagate."

Surely the very idea of morality would be degraded if it turned out to be based on fear of being punished by the Magic Man in the sky.

103. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45600 by captain underpants on May 28, 2007 at 12:28 pm

I refuse to infect my computer with any software from RealNetworks.
Why don't you use winamp for mp3 files?

104. Sam Harris in conversation with Oliver McTernan

Comment #38775 by captain underpants on May 9, 2007 at 7:00 am

stevieb wrote:
i tried the method described ...but ran into a roadblock

I use a program called FlashGet for downloading URLs that use the rtsp protocol.

105. A 'Sad First' in the History of the Congress

Comment #25919 by captain underpants on March 15, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Bizarro has thus far been conspicuously absent on this thread ...

106. Falwell says Christians shouldn't focus on global warming

Comment #23845 by captain underpants on March 3, 2007 at 7:08 am

scooternyc said

Global Warming is nothing more than politics attempting to create hysteria in order to tax our dollars even further.

...

There's nothing like people spouting off about a subject for which they've done none of their own personal research into any of the facts

If you really are interested in doing some personal research I suggest you have a look at

http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-talk-to-global-warming-sceptic.html

107. Battle for Europe's secular values

Comment #22543 by captain underpants on February 19, 2007 at 2:37 pm

The Author: I'm not German but I live there (Mönchengladbach). Do you have any info about atheist/humanist organisations in Germany?

108. My critics are wrong to call me dogmatic

Comment #22015 by captain underpants on February 12, 2007 at 10:29 am

In a searing attack on Rick Darking's The Fairy Delusion, Alexander McGrunt calls Mr Darking "arrogant", "intolerant", and "a thoroughly rotten chap".

McGrunt, a professor of Fairyology, wrote a stiff letter to The Times, extracts of which are printed below:

Deep within humanity lies a longing to make sense of things. Why are we here? What is life all about? These questions are as old as the human race. So how are we to answer them? Can they be answered at all? Might fairies be part of the answer? Rick Darking, England's grumpiest afairyist, has a wonderfully brash way of dealing with this ... His swashbuckling The Fairy Delusion sweeps to one side "dyed-in-the-wool faith-heads", who are "immune to argument". Belief in fairies is just for those who are mad, bad or sad. Science has all the answers - and fairies aren't even on the short-list. Only science-hating idiots think otherwise. End of discussion ... For Darking, things are dazzlingly simple. There is a cosmic battle taking place between reason (represented by science) and superstition (represented by fairies)... Scientists who profess religious belief are appeasers, representing the "Neville Chamberlain" school. You can't be reasonable and religious. It's one or the other - science or faith in fairies. Scientists who believe in fairies are therefore fifth columnists.

...

This quick fix is ideal for those who like glossy, superficial spins on complex questions. But in the real world, things turn out not to be quite that simple. Two other interesting books appeared in the same year as Darking's. Owen Gingerich, Harvard University's distinguished astronomer, published Fairies' Universe. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, brought out The Language of Fairies. Both these scientists, with a long track record of peer-reviewed publications, made the case for belief in fairies as the best and most satisfying explanation of the way things are.

...

It is worth reminding ourselves that the hallmark of intelligence is not whether one believes in fairies or not, but the quality of the processes that underlie one's beliefs.

...

It also shows that it makes little sense to talk about "proof" of a world view, whether Fairian or afairyist.

Fairians will argue that their world view represents a superb way of making sense of things, while accepting that this, like its afairyist counterparts, is open to challenge by sceptics. "I believe in fairies as I believe that the Sun has risen - not only because I see them, but because by them, I see everything else," wrote C. S. Lewis.

109. Interview with Alister McGrath, author of 'The Dawkins Delusion?'

Comment #21125 by captain underpants on February 7, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Mr McGrath speaks of "poorly informed atheists". Perhaps he could tell us what precisely it is theists know that atheists do not know.

110. Tolerating intolerance is still this country's besetting sin

Comment #20732 by captain underpants on February 6, 2007 at 7:07 am

re: 11. Comment #20606 by linck

In one case, about 10 yrs ago, a hate preacher called for the murder of an "enemy". Not only the murderers were sentenced to prison but the "kalif of cologne" as well, because he used his religious authority to order and sanctify the killing.

I don't remember the exact details, but there was a great deal of unease about deporting him to Turkey due to fears that he may be tortured there. It's grotesquely ironic that the Islamists benefit from precisely the western liberalism that they despise so much.

nine9s wrote:

Yikes. Restrictions against "personal insults"? So when Dawkins calls religious people "faith-heads" he could be prosecuted?

I have frequently stated my opinion that God is a delusion (Wahnvorstellung), and have thus far not been arrested.

111. 'God Is Not a Moderate'

Comment #20224 by captain underpants on February 1, 2007 at 6:40 am

Sullivan seems to be typical of religious people who are otherwise perfectly sane and reasonable but devolve into spouting gunge when it comes to the subject of god:

If God really is God, then God must, by definition, surpass our human
understanding. Not entirely. We have Scripture; we have reason; we have religious authority ...

Scripture: dubious ancient fairy stories. Since they contradict each
other, how does one determine which collection of fairy stories is
authoritative?
Reason: how precisely does reason contribute to our understanding of
something for whose existence no evidence exists?
Religious authority: which authority? The Poop? The imams who say that
someone who doesn't pray should be beaten and, if that fails, killed?
Haggard? How does one decide which leader to follow?

112. Randi and 800 Other Amazing Skeptics

Comment #19131 by captain underpants on January 25, 2007 at 5:22 am

As I understand it, Uri Geller claims to have psychic powers

Uri The Spoonbender recently appeared in a German chat show. He looked intensely into the camera, addressing an estimated 2.3 million viewers, and said YOU WILL STOP SMOKING. NOW. I was unable to restrain myself from immediately lighting up a cigarette.

113. The Bright Revolution

Comment #19079 by captain underpants on January 24, 2007 at 5:14 pm

Why the f*** should we atheists think up a different name for ourselves just because the loonies don't like us?

114. Controversial Religious Summer Camp Closed

Comment #18538 by captain underpants on January 21, 2007 at 4:22 pm

To get back to the Jesus Camp, has anyone seen this doco for download anywhere?

I downloaded it from emule.

115. Wash. school board restricts Gore's global-warming film

Comment #17856 by captain underpants on January 17, 2007 at 4:16 am

The global warming bandwagon is beginning to resemble a religion

Denialists are fond of claiming that there is a lack of consensus among climatologists. Even if that were the case, the answer must surely be: the mere suspicion that there might be a causal link between anthropogenic CO2 emissions and climate change ought to be cause for great concern. Carrying on regardless in full awareness of the risk is criminally irresponsible.

116. Christian Shrine Needs Two Exits, Israel Says

Comment #17846 by captain underpants on January 17, 2007 at 2:53 am

Why would an omnipotent, benevolent god allow there to be a fire in the church?

117. Creationism special

Comment #17700 by captain underpants on January 15, 2007 at 3:03 pm

I don't think that it's too hard for school students to gain a basic understanding of evolution.

I read about evolution when I was about 11. I didn't have any difficulties understanding the concept, and it made a lot more sense to me than the religious fairy stories I'd been hearing.

I've rethought that. If I'd had a teacher with creationist leanings, I'm not certain that I would have seen a fairy story for what it was.

118. Creationism special

Comment #17684 by captain underpants on January 15, 2007 at 1:39 pm

I don't think that it's too hard for school students to gain a basic understanding of evolution.

I read about evolution when I was about 11. I didn't have any difficulties understanding the concept, and it made a lot more sense to me than the religious fairy stories I'd been hearing.

119. Federal Way schools restrict Gore film

Comment #17414 by captain underpants on January 13, 2007 at 12:45 pm

Does Al Gore currently hold any political office or aspire to aquiring one? That is, is he actually still a politician? He has stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't intend to run for president.

120. Gentle Rottweiler

Comment #17275 by captain underpants on January 12, 2007 at 3:44 pm

At one point RD says "I could be very wrong about this. But ..." Can you imagine a creationist saying that?

121. Halting progress

Comment #17167 by captain underpants on January 11, 2007 at 11:18 am

captain underpants, use 'control u' and 'find on this page' to identify which html code is being used so you can copy it--you want the one for blockquote

Yep, it seems to work. Thanks Logicel

122. Halting progress

Comment #17056 by captain underpants on January 10, 2007 at 1:26 pm

andyinsdca wrote:

I did it using the HTML tags for italics.

Thanks, but what I'm after is the "box within a box" effect, like comment 23 in this thread

123. Halting progress

Comment #17038 by captain underpants on January 10, 2007 at 10:12 am

MIND_REBEL wrote: Looks like England is getting just as bad as the USA with thier Christian fundies.

As an expatriate Brit I sincerely hope that this is not the case.

BTW could somebody explain to me how to quote on this forum?

124. Reason, Unfettered by Faith

Comment #16836 by captain underpants on January 9, 2007 at 5:24 am

In a recent interview on German TV, the Poop said he feared that we were undergoing a "mini-Enlightenment" and turning away from God, which was the first time I'd encountered the rather curious notion that enlightenment might be something undesirable. The Poop also refused to address the issue of condoms and AIDS.

125. Not Yet The Majority But No Longer Silent

Comment #15519 by captain underpants on January 1, 2007 at 12:48 am

Say it loud, I'm an atheist and I'm proud.

It would be conceding a victory to the God Squad if atheists felt it necessary to think up a nice-sounding euphemism for themselves. Reason, sanity, freedom of thought and ordinary human decency are under attack. It is my opinion that counterattack is the most apropriate response.

More Pages: Previous | 1 2 3