Comments by Luthien

Comment #46096 by Luthien on May 30, 2007 at 7:46 am

_J_ said:

Your 'I wonder if that 20% are the "leaders" ' line of thought is a pleasing and interesting bit of speculation, but it is again part of an attitude that inevitably creeps in over and over among this big bunch of mutually agreeing atheists. It's all too easy to slip into a kind of unchallenged assumption of superiority. This not only makes us seem rather smug and aloof when talking to the quaintly theistic, but more seriously constitutes a possible blind spot in the blanket rationalism that we pride ourselves on applying.

I appreciate the concerns you have about not being smug, but I don't think that this 20% can be considered superior to the rest(any more than people immune to measels are superior to those that fall victim to it). They are simply resistant to something that most people are not. While thinking along those lines, I came across this while reading http://www.constitution.org/la_boetie/serv_vol.htm

There are always a few, better endowed than others, who feel the weight of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from attempting to shake it off: these are the men who never become tamed under subjection and who always, like Ulysses on land and sea constantly seeking the smoke of his chimney, cannot prevent themselves from peering about for their natural privileges and from remembering their ancestors and their former ways. These are in fact the men who, possessed of clear minds and far-sighted spirit, are not satisfied, like the brutish mass, to see only what is at their feet, but rather look about them, behind and before, and even recall the things of the past in order to judge those of the future, and compare both with their present condition. These are the ones who, having good minds of their own, have further trained them by study and learning. Even if liberty had entirely perished from the earth, such men would invent it. For them slavery has no satisfactions, no matter how well disguised.

Regarding you thoughts on the placebo effects of religion:

Effective in motivating sympathetic atheists and people who already doubt their religion, perhaps. Peeking behind the rhetoric, the metaphor simply restates that religion is a delusion held not for its factual truth but for its desirable psychological side effects. Sure, it's easy to compare this with comfort blankets, tooth fairies and Father Christmas and thereby to undermine it. But another fair comparison might be the visualisation exercises and mantras by which a person can overcome shyness, or insecurity, or a bad habit. Or the placebo effect, reliant upon a patient's ignorance though it may be, might be used by a doctor who fully understands the effect to alleviate that patient's pain more effectively.

You do have a point in that we cannot exclude the possibility that some people somehow "need" their religion, but I have another analogy that I think is more apt for this situation. If we think of a patient who (perhaps being a hypochondriac) thinks that they require "medical" treatment so they can feel "better", they will be at the mercy of those who would exploit them, taking their money and providing entirely bogus treatments. It is easy for these exploiters to excuse their actions because they are "helping" the person, and they are providing the placebo effect that the person needs, but potentially at great cost. Wouldn't it be better to have their family doctor (i.e. someone who is not making money, like an NHS doctor in the UK) give them "treatment" with a placebo? I don't think we should stand by and watch vulnerable people be exploited, even if it does turn out to do them some small good, we should seek a way to replace their support structures with ones that do not take their money and interfer in their personal lives.

102. Dawkins' Christmas card list

Comment #46007 by Luthien on May 30, 2007 at 2:31 am

2. Comment #45822 by savroD on May 29, 2007 at 11:00 am
...As far as animals for food.... I expect in the future meat growing on factory vines thanks to stemcell Research & Development!

I would worry about the quality of meat produced in this manner, as it would be missing all of those trace elements that we need tiny amounts of to remain healthy (in larger amounts they are toxic). I'm not even sure we KNOW exctly what trace elements we need (does anyone here know anything about this?). I would feel much better if cows were out eating the grass, and picking up these things as they go.

103. The Dawkins delusion

Comment #45994 by Luthien on May 30, 2007 at 1:40 am

_J_ said:

It's something that eludes sheer logic.

I don't think it eludes sheer logic any more that LSD trips or colour blindness elude logic. We know that the geometric shapes seen during trips are as a result of the underlying structure of the brain. If Prof. Dawkins could be tested for this "religious" capacity, then we must be close to understanding what is going on?

The question that interests me is the reason that 20% of us do not have this capacity. I know that some species of monkeys can have a great variety of different types of colour blindness, allowing some monkeys to see only yellow fruits, and others to only see red fruits. The advantage is that everyone in the group can take advantage of both types of fruit. I wonder if that 20% are the "leaders" who need to be able to see things as they are, and the "followers" who need to be able to switch off their own doubts about their tribe leaders so their tribe isn't torn apart by people fighting for leadership? Sadly the above no longer works the modern world, and people are taken advantage of left, right, and centre!

104. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #45747 by Luthien on May 29, 2007 at 5:35 am

124. Comment #45717 by Flagellant on May 29, 2007 at 4:26 am

I'm really intrigued by this Scottish/Northern Ireland swing business. After all didn't Jesus say "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath"? [Mark 2:27]

Perhaps he really meant "men", excluding kids. But then again, perhaps he meant everybody except Scottish piss-heads, but then again...

I did a quick search and found some a mention of it in discussion on the issue of sunday racing from the NI Assembly:

"Why should this industry be deprived of extra, much- needed income because of the Minister's and the DUP's failure to move into the twenty-first century with the rest of us? The fundamental bigotry of Maurice Morrow and Nigel Dodds before him is the only reason why this issue has been put on the long finger. The DUP is famous for saying "No". For many years its members have said this in councils all over the Six Counties: "No. You can- not go to the swimming pool on the day of rest, for we have closed the leisure centre. No. You cannot play with your ball, as it is a Sunday. You cannot play on the swings; we have chained them up to ensure that children do not enjoy themselves on the sabbath. No. We will not allow you to enjoy horse racing on a Sunday". Despite what the Minister says, that is the only reason why this legislation has not yet been introduced. The Six Counties is the last remaining area of the European racing industry that does not have Sunday racing, putting the industry here at a great disadvantage."

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports/001128.htm

As you can see, Paisly et al (the frisbeetarians as I like to call them) still have some way to go, but at least we have stopped them locking up the swings. :-)

105. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45722 by Luthien on May 29, 2007 at 4:44 am

Nice post chbg21808!

I looked up Étienne de La Boétie, as I had never heard of him before. Very interesting, thanks. :-)

106. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45549 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 5:31 am

...or primary school teachers ;-)

107. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45544 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 5:21 am

Oh no Leo, you've gone and made him jealous now. He must have thought he had something going with me, bless his little socks. All those spelling insults must have just been a bit of playground pigtail pulling. :-P

108. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45537 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 5:01 am

Yeh leo, he was picking on my spelling in another thread, he must have got confused :-P

I see you live in Ireland, where abouts? (I'm in Belfast)

109. Observer Diary 27th May 2007

Comment #45531 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 4:39 am

leodavinci, just ignore him, the only argument he can ever "muster" is to point out spelling and grammar errors.

Ironically, (if you permit me to descend to his level for a moment) I saw him use "where" instead of "were" in another thread. :-)

Moderator, can we get his comments moved to the troll thread please? o.O

110. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45504 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 3:15 am

Fair enough. Though I think you should perhaps be a bit more circumspect before replying to posts.

I don't know why I'm even bothering to reply to you since you're obviously a pretentious, self-righteous arsehole who can't even spell properly.

111. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45478 by Luthien on May 28, 2007 at 1:38 am

45. Comment #45423 by NMcC on May 27, 2007 at 5:18 pm

Firstly, my post was tongue-in-cheek, as my reference to 'Gazza' makes obvious to anyone who can read.

Well obviously, since I am neither male, nor interested in football, I didn't get your little "joke" and thought you were being serious in criticising scotishgeologist (and given that assumption, I don't think what I said there was particularly pretentious, though I apologise if I came across as such).

I do think it was rather mean of you to pick on my spelling. I wrote that post at the weekend, when I didn't have access to a spellchecker (I was diagnosed with dyslexia at school, unfortunately far too late in life to do anything to about it).

112. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45417 by Luthien on May 27, 2007 at 4:46 pm

42. Comment #45261 by NMcC on May 27, 2007 at 2:53 am
Scottishgeologist,

Hailing as I do from Belfast's Shankill Road (though I don't live there now), I note that all your references allude to the religious bigotry of the Rangers fans - the protestants, in other words. Why so one-sided? Celtic has been just as bad with its pandering to the bigotry of its catholic supporters.

What's wrong, does it still hit a nerve when someone critisise the "tribe" you perceive yourself to be from? If we reasure you that the "other side" is just as bad, does it somehow make these things justifyable, or at least in some way excusable? If not, why do you feel the need to even mention the "other side"?

If you read Scotishgeologist's post again, you will see that he knows the words to the songs because that is the background he comes from.

You should take a long hard look at the thought processes that compelled you to post saying "but look, they are just as bad over there too, why didn't you point that out?" and realise that from the point of view of this site, catholics and protestants are on the same side, the side of irrationality and bigotry.

If you really want to hear catholics critisised, then hang around and read some of my posts. ;-)

113. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #45124 by Luthien on May 26, 2007 at 12:53 pm

I read all of your post, cassdenata, I just didn't agree with your last statement. These "less intelligent" people you speak of will be "inspired to hatred and violence" by their own hatred and innate violent streak. Pat's words would not in themselves inspire violence, but the accusation that they might could be used to silence him, and I find that very scary indeed (so excuse me if I over reacted to what was otherwise a very good post).

114. I'm Sure God is Scared

Comment #44958 by Luthien on May 25, 2007 at 4:44 pm

goatboy said:

I guess what Im getting at is that Hitchens makes the assumption that a God, if it existed, would be the God of "sacred" texts. He doesnt seem to allow room for the possibility (if, for arguments sake, we accept the possibility of a God for a moment) that God might be quite unlike anything yet concieved by man. He assumes God, if it exists, must be a fascist dictator. He's accepting the Catholic/Islam/whatever definition of God, rather than opening to the possibility of a different kind of Deity. Why let those nutcases define what God must be like?

Sorry, but I must invoke Epicurus here:

God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If he wants to and cannot, he is weak -- and this does not apply to God. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful -- which is equally foreign to God's nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is both weak and spiteful and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does he not eliminate them?

115. Comic in US 'hate speech' row

Comment #44928 by Luthien on May 25, 2007 at 3:38 pm

cassdenata said:

Unfortunately, in less intelligent hands this comedians words would inspire them towards hatred and violence towards muslims and more importantly to support politicians whose foreign policy is to expend significant human and economic resources to destroy what they term islamofascism.

Utter rubbish! First of all, don't make excuses for people who would do violence to another human being. Secondly, and most importantly, silencing someone who is essentially speaking out against the oppression of women is akin to us standing silently by while women are murdered in so called honor killings, raped in "arranged" marriages, and forced to isolate themselves from their fellow human beings by wearing a black shroud, robbing them of any personal identity.

116. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #44912 by Luthien on May 25, 2007 at 2:47 pm

The real question is, are they taught self defense with fruit? ;-)

Edit: I found it on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5RKTSwAVaoU

117. Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

Comment #44517 by Luthien on May 25, 2007 at 3:34 am

I think siphylus (he must have it to be that barmy) realy outdoes himself here:

To assert that the Earth does move is to renounce Christianity. It really is as simple as that.

118. Adam and Eve in the Land of the Dinosaurs

Comment #44505 by Luthien on May 25, 2007 at 2:52 am

The heart of the museum is a series of catastrophes. The main one is the fall, with Adam and Eve eating of the tree of knowledge; after that tableau the viewer descends from the brightness of Eden into genuinely creepy cement hallways of urban slums.

It is a sick idea that people who are caught in "slums" are somehow being punished by god (see "Ideas that have harmed mankind" by Bertrand Russell). The worst thing is that the people who built this "museum" use that to push their own agenda, when the money / donations that went towards this could have been spent in ways to help people escape the slums; and from the sound of it they spent A LOT of money on that place!

119. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #44294 by Luthien on May 24, 2007 at 6:20 am

LOL alovrin

120. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #44288 by Luthien on May 24, 2007 at 5:45 am

82. BillySands - yes I am honestly telling you that wee frees don't lock up swing parks in the Outer Hebrides! And surely what they all community determines to do with its own transport is up to them. Why do you wish to impose your standards on everybody else?

In Northern Ireland they used padlock up the swings in ALL the parks on a Sunday. Do you agree that this is a meanspirited thing to do?

121. Richard Dawkins to appear in Second Life

Comment #44149 by Luthien on May 23, 2007 at 12:57 pm

LOL No, come on Bronzbeard EU and look for a human warlock called "Chesca"!!!

122. Liberty U student plotted to set off explosives, police say

Comment #44063 by Luthien on May 23, 2007 at 8:43 am

I must stress that I have never tried this, but coming from a background where I know people who had engaged in rioting during the height of the troubles (in Northern Ireland), I know a thing or two about how petrol bombs are supposedly made.

Detergent might be added to the petrol in a petrol bomb because it disperses the fuel over a wider area on impact.

(I wonder if he also added sugar to the mix, to make it "stick"?)

Oh, and if the protestors are from that baptist church, they almost certainly would have had young children with them! Glad they caught him so we don't have little faces being horribly scarred because of it! :-(

123. Shark virgin birth mystery is solved

Comment #43992 by Luthien on May 23, 2007 at 6:29 am

Wouldn't that upset the christians?

No, because they all know that an angel came unto Mary ;-)

(sorry, I couldn't resist saying that)

124. Some US Muslims say suicide attacks OK

Comment #43883 by Luthien on May 23, 2007 at 3:24 am

U.S. Muslims have growing Internet and television access to extreme ideologies, he said, adding: "People, especially younger people, are susceptible to these ideas."

Oh sure, blame the internet and TV!

*sigh*

Why is it never..?

(a) The parent's fault.
(b) The fault of the doctrine of the religion itself, which clearly advocates martyrdom as glorious and well rewarded.
(c) Lack of education in critical thinking.

125. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43404 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 9:38 am

Serious thinkers do not rely on TV documentaries for their knowledge.

Ha ha ha ha...

Well, you did conveniently ignore the book I pointed you to (The Selfish Gene), in another blatent example of your confirmation bias.

*sigh*

126. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43396 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 9:12 am

Ok Henri, for your viewing pleasure, here is the explanation of why "greed" is not the best strategy for survival. The "Nice Guys Finish First" documentary with a very young Richard Dawkins in it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzeCn02l_Rw

127. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43383 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 8:22 am

Luthien:
That a 'common goal' should be 'good' is your fantasy. Read something intelligent and we'll be able to continue this debate.

Have you never seen the documentary "Nice Guys Finish First", by Richard Dawkins, or read "The Selfish Gene"? They explain why this is so in detail.

...of course while being altruistic we must remember the following rule:

Please do not feed the trolls.

128. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #43376 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 8:00 am

Thanks FXR, that was spot on. :-)

129. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43358 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 7:06 am

Luthien:

A 'cold' response is just as quick as an emotional one, if not faster as it bypassses the necessity for emotion.

No, there is clear experimental evidence that emotional decisions are much quicker than those made without / with less emotion. I do wish you would stop inventing "facts" to support your opinions.

Aggression is also an evolved response. Therefore to say that altruism is 'better' than aggression is to make a presupposed value judgement.

No, aggression can be the better reaction in some circumstances, just not the ones were we have to work together to a common goal.

It is a shame that us atheists do not recognise the subliminal religious ethics that underlie our thought.

I realy think you should read up on something called "confirmation bias" before you are completely consumed by your paranoid fantasies.

130. Cult leader sparks Sikh riots with 'guru' stunt

Comment #43343 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 6:36 am

...all the dagggers I've seen are less than an inch long and less sharp than a ball point pen.

That is an adaptation to western laws, where it would be illegal to carry such weapons around in public.

131. Cult leader sparks Sikh riots with 'guru' stunt

Comment #43317 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 5:27 am

One person was killed and more than 50 were injured after tens of thousands of angry Sikhs, many armed with their ceremonial kirpan daggers, went on the rampage across Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana.

So much for them only being ceremonial!

Oh, and baptism with nectar was one of the levels of baptism in mithraism ;-)

132. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #43306 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 5:00 am

Catholics and Protestants continue to kill each other in Northern Ireland.

Oh please! "Continue"???

Protestants in Northern Ireland tend to be well-off and Anglophile; Catholics, to be working class and to want the Brits out.

The Protestants who most hate Catholics do NOT tend to be "well off", this is the greatest myth that was ever perpetuated over here. They just went to different (faith based) schools, making it easier to sew distrust and suspicion. Without religion we would have all gone to the same schools, and known that our economic conditions were identically bad.

Suppose the Christian and Islamic faiths vanished. Sept. 11 might still have happened. Within the Arab world, where many resent the West, violent fanatics might have vowed to kill themselves solely on secular grounds.

No, because who would kill themselves if they knew that this was the only life they had, rather than an afterlife full of virgins etc?

133. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43293 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 4:29 am

That does not explain why, say, sympathy is good for someone unknown to you.

Henri, it does explain why. We evolved to live in small groups, not large cities. Emotions will make the shortcut assumption that what is good for someone else is good for you, because they assume that the "stranger" is part of the group you depend on for support. Essentially your brain will "reward" you with a good feeling when you help a stranger.

You miss the point. This research bases itself on Christian morality ('slave morality').

No, it is just a study of instinctive emotional reactions. Emotions are not a "form of mental weakness", but of strength. A cold and "emotionless" response to an extreme situation would take far too long to process, and by the time you reached a decision you would be too late to do anything.

In other words, to 'prove' this morality presupposes another morality behind it. So it proves absolutely nothing.

No, it doesn't presuppose any morality. It just looks at the instinctual responses that are common to all humans. These will be the evolved "rules" of conduct that best helped us to survive.

134. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43257 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 2:55 am

Of course 'moral' decision are based on emotions, to a certain extent. But the question is, why do we value such emotions as 'good' in the first place?

Emotional based morals are "good" because they allow faster decision making in a dangerous situation when you may not have time to think everything through. They act as a good rule of thumb for preserving yourself and those important to you (not perfect by any means, but better than inaction through indecision).

135. Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring

Comment #43252 by Luthien on May 21, 2007 at 2:48 am

Are non-evidential religious beliefs equivalent to stroke and surgery?

Interesting thought. I was particularly wondering if it is possible to supress this signal in the prefrontal cortex in the same way that meditation can supress your sense of "self"? If this "revulsion" for the sacrifice of human life is something that can be damaged, then it sounds plausible that you could induce a state of mind where it is suppressed. We may even find it to be part of the techniques used to make seemingly ordinary young men into suicide bombers. Someone should investigate this further.

136. Four arrested in Iraq 'honor killing'

Comment #42970 by Luthien on May 20, 2007 at 7:19 am

Hey scottishgeologist ,

Over the past few months I have been picking out quotes like that and putting them up as my messenger "quote of the day" to raise awareness. Well done for pointing them out! I am sick of the Christians who say the NT came to replace the old testament, and therefore it doesn't matter how sick and intolerant it is!

137. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42697 by Luthien on May 19, 2007 at 4:26 am

46. Comment #42497 by dawgdoc2000 on May 18, 2007 at 9:50 am
To all:
I am new to this site and I can't tell you all how fantastic this all is. I have recently allowed myself to embrace the ideas (such as the ones in these forums) that I discovered were bouncing around in my head all these years. (I had to shake off that repressing Catholic upbringing).

Ah, another escapee from the Catholic brainwashing machine. Welcome :-)

47. Comment #42511 by Dower on May 18, 2007 at 10:09 am
...Especially the part about the Catholic church being the one true church because of what Jesus said about founding his church "on a rock and that rock was Peter" and Peter was the first pope ... blah, blah, blah

Dower, that reference to the rock, peter, and founding the church is straight out of mithraism...

The seven Mithraic ranks were:

* Corax (raven)
* Nymphus (bridegroom)
* Miles (soldier)
* Leo (lion)
* Perses (Persian)
* Heliodromus (sun-courier)
* Pater (father)

(7 catholic sacrements?)

..."Mithras is sometimes depicted as a man being born or reborn from a rock (the petra genetrix[citation needed]), typically with the snake Oroboros wrapped around it. As described above, it is commonly believed that the cave in Mithraism imagery represents the cosmos, and the rock is the cosmos seen from the outside."

They had different levels of baptism including water and fire, and partook of ritual meals of bread and wine (sound familiar?).

"When inducted into the degree of Leo, he was purified with honey, and baptised, not with water, but with fire, as John the Baptist declared that his successor would baptise. After this second baptism, initiates were considered 'participants,' and they received the sacrament of bread and wine commemorating Mithra's banquet at the conclusion of his labors."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism for more

138. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42685 by Luthien on May 19, 2007 at 3:54 am

Hey people, all your conspiricy talk made me think of the following cartoon:

http://xkcd.com/c258.html

139. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42396 by Luthien on May 18, 2007 at 6:46 am

17. Comment #42093 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Like you I cycle to work, but I can assure everyone my crossbar is very high indeed and I have no need for such feminine fripparies as chain guards.

I find it bizarre that it is the men's bikes that have the highest cross bars. I certainly hope you never have to stop suddenly ;-)

140. Manufacturing belief

Comment #42330 by Luthien on May 18, 2007 at 4:40 am

How do you decide whether something is a meme or not? And what you really want to understand is, how is it passed on and why does it persist? This is never discussed.

Never discussed? There are countless books on the subject! (Including one called The Selfish Meme)

Oh, and Shaker2007, are you a World of Warcraft player? (That's the "for the horde" baby isn't it?)

141. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42245 by Luthien on May 18, 2007 at 1:20 am

Hahahahahahahahah...

It means that it is not always immediately self-evident and clear which is the true religion...

The assumption being that there is one?

and it means that those who have opted for the sterile, sad path of "freethinking," which is simply to inhabit a particularly wearisome set of prejudices, have simply lost patience in trying to discern the truth of the matter.

LOL

Freethinking can only desecrate, despoil and ruin. It can create nothing, because it has no vision of the Good, and it will always be judged as wanting on account of this.

...And yet he has published this little rant on the web, using a computer, all of which are "created" by free thinking scientists and engineers. I think I just had a fatal dose of irony there. *clutches at chest for dramatic effect*

142. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42077 by Luthien on May 17, 2007 at 3:12 pm

I love my bike, and I cycle to work on it almost every day wearing a long skirt (it has a very low bar on it and a chain guard). I'm quite sure I could still cycle it if I was wearing a burka, I just wouldn't be able to see the traffic. :-P

Seriously though, this reminds me of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's comments (in "infidel") about how nice it is to cycle with the wind in your hair. I'm sorry that these women are missing out on that. :-(

143. Bible drawn into Hong Kong sex publication row

Comment #41878 by Luthien on May 17, 2007 at 8:47 am

Hey Privateeye, I say we start by sueing the Giddions for distributing the thing to every school, hotel, and hospital in the country!

144. Pope Warns of Globalization, Marxism

Comment #41442 by Luthien on May 16, 2007 at 6:05 am

He also warned of unfettered capitalism and globalization. Before boarding a plane for Rome later Sunday, he said the two could give "rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness".

Well, religion certainly gives "rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through communion wafers, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness"

...the historical Catholic identity of the region is under assault.

Oh, that is ironic given the other article on how the Catholic Church helped destroy the cultural identity of South America (along with many lives).

145. Brazil's Indians Offended by Pope Comments

Comment #41437 by Luthien on May 16, 2007 at 5:57 am

Speaking of advisors; reminds be of a gary larson cartoon "The pope is inflateable".

Seriously though, what do you expect from a Nazi?

146. BBC man says 'I was wrong to lose it. But these scientologists are truly scary'

Comment #40866 by Luthien on May 15, 2007 at 6:04 am

14. Comment #40767 by Corylus on May 14, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I wouldn't have shouted: I would have decked the little toe-rag.

That is what everyone I know said after seeing it :-)

147. Furor over author Ayaan Hirsi Ali's visit stirs debate on religious freedom

Comment #40808 by Luthien on May 15, 2007 at 3:07 am

To all of you who seem to have a problem with AEI (yes, that old chestnut gets trawled out every time she gets a mention on this site) let me assure you that you have nothing to worry about.

Hirsi Ali will speak her mind, and she will continue to speak her mind. If they try to use her to further some "cause" of their own is will spectacularly backfire. She puts great thought into her opinions, but none into her position or status, indeed not even her personal safety before she speaks her mind (she deals with the consequences, she just doesn't regulate her opinions based on fear of them). This amazing woman is more than equal to the AEI, as I am sure time will tell.

148. God: The Failed Hypothesis and The Comprehensible Cosmos (book reviews)

Comment #40319 by Luthien on May 14, 2007 at 5:52 am

The tragedy of the 21st century is that so few people have been equipped by the education system to take that journey into hard-won insight. Which is probably one reason, when the pain and confusion of life become too great to bear, so many of us turn to Xenu or God and abandon the struggle to understand.

Exactly! It is interesting to note that those I know who showed an early interest in science (beyond the school curriculum) were the ones who broke with the programming. I knew religion was rubbish by the age of 8 only because I had a little pop up book called "The Universe" that taught me all about the Big Bang, and how everything formed, how vast it all was, and how the universe might eventually end. If I were a primary school teacher I would be introducing my class to some of the basic concepts like this, and getting them to draw pictures of black holes, or how they think the Big Bang looked (because this gets them actually thinking about it beyond what they are told).

149. God: The Failed Hypothesis and The Comprehensible Cosmos (book reviews)

Comment #40318 by Luthien on May 14, 2007 at 5:52 am

The tragedy of the 21st century is that so few people have been equipped by the education system to take that journey into hard-won insight. Which is probably one reason, when the pain and confusion of life become too great to bear, so many of us turn to Xenu or God and abandon the struggle to understand.

150. Pope: God Will Punish Drug Dealers

Comment #40309 by Luthien on May 14, 2007 at 5:30 am