251. Fleabytes

Comment #156249 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 7:35 am

I think there's a fundamental difference in praying for someone on one side and thinking about someone on the other. Prayers are usually very generic in that any personal name can be inserted at the appropriate places (insert name here, insert purpose there). It is a process of non-thinking. Even if a rare believer has the intellectual commitment to compose individualized prayers, all he's actually doing is composing poetry based on a pre-determined scheme. Honestly thinking about someone involves empathy and contemplation, undertaking a significantly higher intellectual and emotional effort. Prayer is a system of avoiding that effort, replacing true empathy for structuralized autosuggestive monologue.

252. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156242 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 7:06 am

Believers are told accepting evolution is denying God, for no small part because Richard, as a biologist, has come out for atheism.

I think that assessment is inaccurate. Creationist ministries have started up increased activity decades ago, long before RD even wrote his first book. They surely use Dawkins as a scapegoat to point at, but he's just a convenient opponent for them to build their divisiveness on. It's a good thing that at least some politicians have awoken from their slumber. But still far too many think that openly opposing creationism is somehow against religious freedom, or that science can never relate to religious claims.

253. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156239 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 6:55 am

Is the perception that the number of followers of this ideology is actually growing, or is this mere conciousness raising?

Creationists are getting more and more organized, grasping any opportunity to found more faith schools and tax-exempt organizations. They use these to promote and sell their material, which in turn persuade more gullible and uneducated parents to offer their children.
Unfortunately, I get the impression that the large moderate churches are very content in blinding out attention to this accelerating process, as if it were an insignificant fringe group that would vanish in time. Atheists and a few moderate Christians are trying to raise awareness and have been doing so for years, but maybe the churches want to wait for a full-fledged creationist theocracy to emerge before they decide to turn their energy to the problem. Because that would be the point when they start suffering, when creationists get the laws changed to abolish religious freedom, and the old churches find themselves labeled 'false converts' and 'cults'. It seems as if the established mainstream clergy have never read the proverb:
When they came for the Jews, I didn't speak up, for I am not a Jew.
When they came for the homosexuals, I didn't speak up, for I am not a homosexual.
When they came for the communists and socialists, I didn't speak up, for I was never one of them.
When they came for the democrats, I didn't speak up, for most of them didn't share my faith.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak up on my behalf.

254. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156235 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 6:38 am

I wish they'd stop labeling people 'Darwinists'. If any label is needed, they should use the term 'evolutionary biologist', or at least mention that neo-Darwinian evolution is very much more sophisticated and detailed than what 'Darwinism' implies. The dishonest and/or ignorant activists out there will pounce on any possibility to associate modern scientists with Social Darwinism and immoral eugenics.

255. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #156229 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 6:28 am

Maybe after all he has been through he may become an Atheist? One can only hope.

I don't think so. He has been officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but has been religious long before that. It's more likely that he'll be in closed psychiatry for the rest of his life, as his delusion runs very deep. Even with medication, schizophrenics suffer from relapses that rarely disappear completely. I think it is irrelevant if he would start considering himself an atheist, for he would still be mentally unstable and can probably never be considered a rational, reliable person.

256. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #156224 by black wolf on April 7, 2008 at 6:20 am

I've looked up a lot of facts about this case and the surrounding circumstances.
Statistically, about 1 in 200 Russian citizens is a cult (i.e. unauthorized religious group) member. Medical statistics show that at least 2% of all humans can be considered mentally unstable or diseased. Taking into account that very many mentally unstable persons have religiously themed delusions or hallucinations (as Dr. Benway mentioned), I think it can be safely assumed that there are at least 3-4 times as many mentally unstable people within the officially reckognized churches than in the general population. Very few church officials have academic training in psychiatry or psychology.
My conclusion is that religious communities attract mentally unstable persons although being unfit to properly treat their conditions, instead reinforcing dangerous mentalities. As the data are publically available, they do so knowingly and maintain the outspoken conviction that they are actually helping people in providing moral guidelines and counseling. It is therefore obvious that they are consciously, constantly and systematically lying to the public.

257. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #156081 by black wolf on April 6, 2008 at 4:31 pm

And what's the deal with vulgarity in British papers (not that there's anything wrong with that). Russell dropped an F-bomb in the middle of the interview and it got printed! In the States the papers still get in trouble with anything juicier than damn or hell. Even a nice healthy Goddamn brings down a hail of *st*r*sks.

Good observation, I've been wondering about the same thing for a while (not that it strongly occupies any significant part of my thinking). We get all kinds of vulgarity printed in German papers too, in fact many publishers accept it as a form of artistic expression or freedom of expression even to not censor someone else's statements.
I think there's some subconscious Lamarckian idea in American media and cultural behavior to make vulgarisms extinct by avoiding exposure of younger people to them. Not that that seems to be working. Or it's just not wanting to lose readers who have trained themselves to react by feeling deeply offended by words.
I don't like a heap of pointless profanity either, but a few of them don't bother me, and I can always choose to read someone else's statements or skip over the unlikeable bits.

258. Fleabytes

Comment #156077 by black wolf on April 6, 2008 at 4:17 pm

Steve,
their constant and systematically recurring distortions and lies are way past what I would consider ironic, entertaining, amusing, or odd. I get the impression, from the high publishing frequency of reactionary books resp. their content, to the recent movie shenanigans, that there's a definitive mode of behavior setting in. Is it becoming a meme among theists to react as if going through a list (see al-rawandi's lineout) of predominantly dishonest and incoherent tactical moves?
Or have they always (read: before a few years ago) acted this way and have I missed it?
These days, I find my capacity for amusement thinning out, although I do simply lean back and laugh at the next creotard video to hit YT. But for me the fun ends when another bishop proudly announces that science needs to be stopped (not supervised, not discussed, but stopped) at a certain point, based on what he thinks someone said Jesus said about what God said. And all the rest of the bullshit they constantly come up with all over the globe.
I know your post was a response to one particular publisher statement, but I just had to get a little rant off my mind (once again). ;)

edit: Wow, Paula beat me to it with her much shorter response echoing my thoughts. One more sympathy point to chalk up on my imaginary 'fellow commenter board'.
See theists, it's not so hard to admit something's imaginary, you should try it. ;)

259. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #156001 by black wolf on April 6, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Thanks Steve for the educative response. One more day I've learned something. I never understood much of physics in school, so I'm trying to make up for the lack nowadays.

260. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155983 by black wolf on April 6, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Even very big black holes out there in the universe likely don't spread forever. I have read that they reach a point of 'saturation' where they either have no more material in the vicinity to take in, or they can't (for some reason, I'm not a physicist). Cosmologists even observed that black holes emit rays or cones of particles from a point on, so possibly black holes may even decay over time.

261. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155904 by black wolf on April 6, 2008 at 9:22 am

What fides said reads like a shot in the own foot to me. If external ideas can't cause negative behavior, then they can't cause positive behavior either. Which would mean that going to mass to listen to external ideas (among other things), and thereby expecting these ideas to reinforce or deepen a certain world view, that is supposed to influence behavior, would be utterly pointless wasting of time. I presume few people go to mass regularly just for the music, the entertainment and the socializing part.

262. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155365 by black wolf on April 4, 2008 at 11:55 am

Well, I managed to take a photo of him on the top of a mountain one day.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/2385557051_88d5ce65c3.jpg

Foggy-man, Foggy-man
Does whatever a Foggy-man does
Make something up where the evidence lacks
Tell all the people that these are the facts

Yup, that's convincing.

263. Protests no concern for outspoken atheist

Comment #155051 by black wolf on April 4, 2008 at 5:36 am

One of the Christians at the FCOS site left a respectable and somewhat insightful comment. She said that all the preaching of scripture, handing out tracts and claiming fulfilled prophecies will get them nowhere, as she realized that these are meaningless to someone who doesn't believe in the basis for them in the first place. She said that what needs to be demonstrated are not the same old 'Proofs of God' (PRATT), but evidence of God's love. I say, fine, have at it. Christians, examine the real world and show us evidence of how disease, disaster, atrocities and warfare fit into all-encompassing love for humanity, and then maybe we'll listen. Centuries of theology have failed at demonstrating this, and almost all theologians acknowledge that theodicy is the greatest problem which they've not been able to solve. This is the Poodle's Core: when an analytical method fails completely regarding the greatest problem, any reasonable human being will realize that this method or viewpoint is deeply flawed and inadequate. That's the point where rational thinking lets go of false assumptions. C'mon Christians, you can do it. Overcome your fear and drop it.

264. BBC 'too scared to allow jokes about Islam'

Comment #154382 by black wolf on April 3, 2008 at 6:50 am

How many muslim stand-up comedians are there, even non-religious from a muslim background? They would know their community, and would likely come up with the best lines, and the most appeal to muslim listeners. I don't know much about the UK comedy scene. In Germany, there are at least a handful of decent Turkish and Arabic comedians, making fun of stereotypes from both 'sides'. On the downside, they too avoid Imam jokes like the plague. Kaya Yanar had a funny serial skit about a conservative Turkish family whose German neighbor wanted to marry their daughter. He included many jokes about narrow-minded Turkish fathers, the headscarf-wearing mother who doesn't speak German, and contrasted that with the naively submissive multiculturalism of the German guy who'd follow every order from the Turkish father just to have a chance at the daughter. But these skits, as far as I recall, never included anything about religion.
My guess is that these comedians know very well how dangerous some muslims can become. All you need is one backyard Imam inciting aggression against a comedian, and the next live performance will give some deluded young man a chance to chalk one up for his afterlife by taking out the stand-up.

265. CEAI Action Alert for Science Teachers

Comment #154370 by black wolf on April 3, 2008 at 6:30 am

People from all viewpoints keep confusing things in their argument, if with good intentions. To clear things up:
Evolution: A process that factually happens.
Theory of Evolution: A scientific theory that explains the fact of evolution.

266. Who wants to kill the elderly?

Comment #153780 by black wolf on April 2, 2008 at 4:33 am

It's talked about so often that it must be real. I'd rather not wear a uniform, though - do you think it has a peaceful wing?

Of course it's real. As theologists have explained to us countless times, the capability to find a word for something, however nebulous the definition of that word may be, makes that something real. Ergo, the militant lobby does exist.
For your benefit, you can join our secret police, the MilASecPo. They wear civil, and you have the free choice to wear anything from sandals to combat boots. You can even stay in a foxhole as long as you wish. Isn't that great?

267. Supreme Court to consider Ten Commandments vs. 'Seven Aphorisms'

Comment #153779 by black wolf on April 2, 2008 at 4:20 am

From Sekulow's statement above and from his Wiki bio page, his agenda is very clear. He wants government to work in favor of his agenda, and then placed outside of criticism when the agenda is realized. News for Mr. Sekulow: the government is property of the people, not the other way around.

268. My quest to get de-baptised

Comment #152648 by black wolf on March 31, 2008 at 9:45 am

Besides, if they ever try to use the statistics to their advantage, we can always say 'ad populum'.

Sure we can, we do and will all the time. Not in the UK, but in Germany, churches use these statistics to claim influence and push favorable legislation (Religious education in schools, law forbidding dancing events on Easter etc.) Politicians don't care that ad populum is a fallacy, it's the trick of the trade.
Edit: forgot to mention the Faith school thingy in the UK.

269. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152638 by black wolf on March 31, 2008 at 9:35 am

Liveleak has reposted the video.
They state that they've upgraded their security measures for their employees but will not bow down to threats.

270. Blasphemy

Comment #152138 by black wolf on March 30, 2008 at 8:41 am

I can see it now ... a brigade of unarmed, sanctimonious PC Admonishers parachute into the mountains of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area to save the world from homicide/suicide bombers. Good luck.

I nominate Chris Hedges.

271. I suppose it's due ('Expelled' review)

Comment #152137 by black wolf on March 30, 2008 at 8:39 am

...just a Sunday morning funny about "Expelled"...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZFkH8iXMnM

That video is great. Probably no amount of satire can open their eyes, because they are so happy feeling offended, but at least reasonable people can have some fun.

272. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #152132 by black wolf on March 30, 2008 at 8:23 am

This is evolution in action: non-survival of detrimental characteristics (low intelligence).

It doesn't work that way. I don't have any study handy (someone here may be able to provide one), but my impression is that people of lower intelligence tend to produce an above average number of children. The exact opposite would be a system Stanislaw Lem satirically described as an Intellocracy: only the most intelligent people get appointed to political office. According to Lem, this would result in a stagnant and gradually deteriorating society, because the people of highest intelligence want to discuss every minute aspect of a problem before making a decision. As almost no socio-political problem can be solved 100% without disregarding slight disadvantages of the decision, just about nothing ever gets done.

273. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #152129 by black wolf on March 30, 2008 at 8:06 am

Well in that sense you do have safety warnings for religion. Some are labeled cults.

I don't know who does the labeling in your country, but in mine the sect appointee is a member of the Protestant or Catholic church and gets appointed by them, and is officially reckognized as advisor to the government. If there's an obligation for sects and cults to display that label at their door, I haven't seen it.

274. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #152123 by black wolf on March 30, 2008 at 7:36 am

Well, we do have archaeological evidence of people in the same places with rodents, deer, wild cats, bears, pigs, mammoth etc. Dinosaurs are the only animal we don't find in contemporary relation. But as the YE creationist argument relies on the assertion that all our dating methods are faulty (and completely wrong when they point to more than 6,000 years or so), each assertion countered leads to more assertions. From reading accounts from people who left creationism, I know that it takes years of consideration and doubt to get through to them. I haven't seen a single one drop creationism in an instant. Most weren't even aware that real science has mountains of good evidence in its favor, because that fact is kept from them at every effort. All reasonable people can do is present the evidence again and again, and to show how new evidence is found all the time. They need to find their way out of their ideology on their own, just like it takes followers of extreme Communism or racism a long time to re-evaluate their position.

275. Expelled Overview

Comment #151557 by black wolf on March 29, 2008 at 1:24 am

I'm still trying to understand how Hitler's autobahns managed to avoid the same guilt by association that dogs eugenics and swastikas. When General Eisenhower surveyed the ruins of the crushed Nazi war machine, he was so impressed by what was left of the autobahns constructed by the tyrant he had just defeated, that he imported the loser's idea to the U.S. after becoming President. Since WWII, automobiles have killed more Americans than Nazi bullets and bombs did, and superhighways were instrumental in enabling America to expand automobile use to the level of personal necessity, which enabled the current level of automotive violence (another 9/11 every month). So one might say Hitler got his revenge.

Did you know that the 'Hitler's Autobahn' is a myth? In fact, the first highway was built in Berlin in 1921 (the Avus, it's still there). The Autobahn plans were made and proposed in 1925-1926. Guess who voted them out: the Nazis and the Communists in unison. Hitler pulled the plans from his hat when he needed to fulfull his campaign promise of full employment - and all he really did was employ 125,000 workers instead of the target number of 600,000. The working conditions were apalling and dangerous. They completed only a bare half of the planned network, which was eventually finished in 1962.

276. Iowa county board gives initial OK for ghost hunters to investigate asylum

Comment #151504 by black wolf on March 28, 2008 at 9:51 pm

dragonfirematrix,
they'll be smugly satisfied with playing the 'Demonic Possession' card, or ye olde 'Satan Mind-Warp'.

277. Fleabytes

Comment #150880 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 1:53 pm

The Chinese make beer too. Investors drink beer.
Needed to make that connection.

278. Fleabytes

Comment #150860 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 1:29 pm

I'm more into the Pilsener beers, relatively dry ones like Beck's (a bit too expensive), Warsteiner or the very dry Jever. A dark beer is good too occasionally. I like Schwarzer Abt, which is a black monastery brew from my region.

279. Fleabytes

Comment #150837 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 1:11 pm

On to the Beer wars: Personally warm British beer just doest not do it for me, nor do many of the watered down American or Canadian brews. Ze only peeples who know how to make beer, are ze tchermans.. *clicks heels together*

Ssank you for ze kompliment. Reminds me of ze nice bottle of Warsteiner in my fridge. Now if I can find my spiked helmet to open it...

280. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #150789 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Tyler, it was last night, at least. I was actually kind of shocked to see it on one of the news channels. All of the other channels were covering the elections, however.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080327/WDH0101/80327065/1981
This is a transcript of the segment.

Several quotes from that report, by callers, the host, law experts, and a frigging spiritual healer:
"Look, I`m all for praying, you know? I`m praying right now.

...someone who`s trained to bring God in to perform a healing.

I`m all for spiritual healing...

I certainly believe in the power of prayer...

...it`s not that there isn`t a place for prayer. There is. However, you need to have some common sense.

I`m a Christian, and I prayed for my diabetes to go away, and I`m still on the insulin pump. Prayer did not help in this situation...

I`m all for staying deep in prayer...

Caller:...nobody could have prayed any harder than we prayed for our kids, you have children, you know how it hurts.
GRACE: Well, you -- don`t you see, Linda, you got an answer to your prayer?
Caller: Exactly, and that`s what I was going to say, the miracle these people were praying for is here, it`s called insulin.

Everybody has free will, God gave people free will."

Deluded morons. Every single one of them. They are the ones who state and multiply the idea - or meme - that prayers heal people in the first place. In my opinion, every single time someone states that as if it were a fact, they are guilty of inciting neglective behavior (not an offense, but still despicable). I think it's no better than making racist remarks, the only difference is that instead of slandering a skin color, you're slandering intellect and human dignity.

Defense attorney: "Nancy, the only defense I can see for them is whether or not they knew that this condition -- number one, did they know that the child had diabetes, and number two, did they know that this condition would lead to the child`s death?"

What kind of fucked up defense is that? As long as you stay willfully ignorant, you can get away with it?
'Uhhh, no judge, I ain't never seen no doctor in my whole life, so I wouldn't be able to tell athletes foot from skin cancer. I wouldn't even know what any of those words mean. Can I go home now?'
Please don't tell me the US law allows such a defense. In the report, someone actually says they'd have to prove that the parents ever took medicine or had medical treatment - otherwise they could claim innocence and get away with it. Again, please tell me you can't do that in America.

281. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #150641 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 7:55 am

...We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."

This woman is lying. Lying Lying Lying.
The 911 calls from the aunt state clearly that the mother knew there was a coma, and she knew doctors exist, and she knew people could be brought to a doctor. She had days to figure this out. Days in which she presumably preferred to shop for groceries while her daughter was suffering, days in which she passed doctors' offices and ignored them.

282. Fossil find could be Europe's first humans

Comment #150620 by black wolf on March 27, 2008 at 7:27 am

I can picture the guy saying: "Will ya stop blabbering about creation already? We've got a bison to skin, I'm hungry dammit!"

283. Saudi Arabia Leader Calls for Interfaith Dialogue

Comment #149984 by black wolf on March 26, 2008 at 11:33 am

Hmmmm... a few years ago, theists ridiculed Dawkins (and decades of atheist writings before that), then they became annoyed and then angry when they saw the rise in atheism. Now they are afraid already. Thanks DDA for that Göring quote, I just hope that's not the way they're heading.
I have a little mind-film where a troop of priests and imams backed by police raid the RDF, confiscate the letter A buttons and then order all atheists to wear them in public...

284. Happy 66th Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149702 by black wolf on March 26, 2008 at 6:37 am

Have a beautiful Birthday Richard, and every other birthdayist! What a refreshing time of the year to celebrate at, the spring blossoms are out there, the squirrels a-hop...

285. Fleabytes

Comment #149701 by black wolf on March 26, 2008 at 6:33 am

Happy Birthday from me to you too! :)

286. Religion 'linked to happy life'

Comment #146658 by black wolf on March 19, 2008 at 9:03 am

It's not surprising that Catholics and Protestants are most happy with their religiosity in Europe. I'd be very happy too if I had privileged access to potential job offers and if 'my people' had privileged influence on legislature and media; if every time I had a look at my Constitution, the first thing I'd read would mention my God, if I'd see politicians carrying my Holy Book, my masters of belief having hours of exclusive public tv coverage etc.

287. Two More Fleas

Comment #145895 by black wolf on March 18, 2008 at 9:28 am

clearmind, please answer the following question:
Grass grows green but not is made tree, how explain invisible air Darwin step in red paint 4 billion years?

288. Two More Fleas

Comment #145852 by black wolf on March 18, 2008 at 8:15 am

Is anyone else getting this image of a Neanderthal shoving a paintbrush up a cat's ass screaming, "YOU ARE MONA LISA! GOD PAINTED YOU!"

That one almost killed me. I know, I know, I'm primitive and anal jokes get me every time.

289. They prayed to cast Satan from my body

Comment #145799 by black wolf on March 18, 2008 at 6:41 am

Every time something like this comes up, I wonder why companies still support any group that claims to help people by applying religion. Every single time a religious organization has been active in 'treating' mentally unstable people in the past, cases of mistreatment and abuse have occurred sooner or later. It's always that same old meme of assuming them to be morally superior do-gooders with a divine calling. After centuries of proven fraudulence, sadism, sexual abuse and personal profiteering, generally removing the unwarranted presumption of respect for religious orgs is long overdue. From the ancient god-kings to medieval churches to modern ministries, when will humanity learn that they must be continually and rigorously investigated and supervised?

290. The atheist delusion

Comment #144111 by black wolf on March 15, 2008 at 5:41 am

The incomprehensibility of the divine ...
in spiritual matters truth is ineffable...

An idea that remains incomprehensibile and ineffable after millenia of pondering fits the definition of nonsense.
Nonsense: words or language having little or no sense or meaning; something absurd or fatuous; anything of trifling importance or of little or no use.

...and if religion is hardwired in the species, it is difficult to see how a different kind of education could alter this. Yet Dawkins seems convinced that if it were not inculcated in schools and families, religion would die out. This is a view that has more in common with a certain type of fundamentalist theology...

Repeat after me: Religion is not hardwired. Irrational faith based on pattern reckognition may be, but that does not make it religion. Religion fully depends on inculcation, preferably as early in life as possible. Nobody is born with God in his head, let alone Jesus or circumcision or praying. This is a straw man argument.

291. The atheist delusion

Comment #144104 by black wolf on March 15, 2008 at 5:26 am

But the idea of free will that informs liberal notions of personal autonomy is biblical in origin (think of the Genesis story). The belief that exercising free will is part of being human is a legacy of faith, and like most varieties of atheism today, Pullman's is a derivative of Christianity.

Bullshit. The idea goes back to pre-Christian Hellenistic philosophy, when nobody had heard of a story called 'Genesis'. There is plenty of evidence for that, and it is about time that this Judeo-Christian propaganda myth is done away with. Believers cling to this myth like a tick to its host, and it has been seeded into generations who never questioned it.

292. The atheist delusion

Comment #144100 by black wolf on March 15, 2008 at 5:17 am

The 9/11 hijackers saw themselves as martyrs in a religious tradition, and western opinion has accepted their self-image.

How do you discern whether someone's self-image is relevant or true? You can't. Someone who thinks they're religious and does things for religious reasons is religious. Period. What do you expect? Allah coming down from heaven and declaring 'I, Allah your God, hereby testify that these people didn't believe in my commands!'? When someone says he believes something, and all of his actions and statements fit that belief, it is logical and reasonable to assume that that is what he does believe. It doesn't make any sense to deny that.

293. Fleabytes

Comment #143817 by black wolf on March 14, 2008 at 1:16 pm

I read an interesting hypothesis or speculation from a Christian about the Resurrection. He pointed out that by looking at different possible translations or meanings of terms one could conclude that the Resurrection was originally a poetic description of a spiritual revival. Thereby the body would have remained and possibly been removed (the opening of the grave as post hoc fiction to justify physical resurrection), and all subsequent events were actually accounts of visions or introspective conversation by those who allegedly met Jesus. Seems quite plausible to me, as it agrees with modern knowledge of psychology about autosuggestion and false memory as well as fabrication of anecdotal evidence.

294. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143648 by black wolf on March 14, 2008 at 9:09 am

What is 'Left' about atheism anyway? Theism isn't 'Right', so how does this ass-clown (thanks for the term) label atheism as 'left'? Unless he equates 'right' with irrational stagnation and 'left' with reasonable progress, his word salad is completely pointless.

295. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143629 by black wolf on March 14, 2008 at 8:58 am

Having read the interview, I can find no point Hedges is actually making. He's basically saying that everything needs to be evaluated until you can't make a clear statement about it at all. To Hedges, everyone who takes a clear stance and voices his concerns is too radical. His endeavour is to find the exact compromise center of any possible position while constantly adapting to every change. He says he's an enemy of fundamentalism and simultaneously wants nobody to call others fundamentalists, while calling atheists fundamentalists. Apparently he is a very confused man. He doesn't understand that taking a moral stand without demonstrating the difference to other opinions is impossible and that it's not 'elevating yourself above others'. It seems he regards morality or ethics as some sort of independent force that develops independently of the people who hold it. I just can't see what he actually tries to say. His opinion is like stirring a pot of water while trying not to touch a single molecule.

296. Ban anti-Catholic books in schools, says bishop

Comment #143178 by black wolf on March 13, 2008 at 3:09 pm

They keep sputtering that condom nonsense because they think adequate=absolute. Just like the only adequate morality is absolute morality. I bet they would ban the theory of relativity too. In fact, they'd ban light. Light speed is just not absolute enough for them. On the other hand they are only relatively semi-intelligent themselves.

297. Fleabytes

Comment #143167 by black wolf on March 13, 2008 at 2:52 pm

You know I almost prefer the honesty of the creationists. You know what you are dealing with, and they recognise that NOMA is nonsense.

Could a NOMAist find so many things to lie about if his life depended on it?

298. Fleabytes

Comment #143164 by black wolf on March 13, 2008 at 2:49 pm

oh no, Xrglyuf was not crucified. He was devoured by the great Phari-swarm and excreted into 1,995 sacred pieces. One day, when all the pieces are re-united, Xrglyuf will arise once more and lay waste to the stars. Until then, would you like a copy of the sacred texts?

No no, it is you who doesn't understand. See how Phari-swarm has two parts? Two parts make a cross. And the sacred pieces are spiritual pieces of course, and as we all know, all pieces of a spiritual whole are always a whole, no matter how they are divided. On the rest we'll agree for now.

299. Two More Fleas

Comment #142995 by black wolf on March 13, 2008 at 10:16 am

How a minister became an atheist
from Psychology Today (excerpt)
An Atheist in the Pulpit

A year ago, frustrated with his denomination but by no means ready to bail out, he picked up Sam Harris's book The End of Faith. He found he "agreed with about 98 percent of it."

He picked up other books in the neo-atheist canon. He read Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, and then the one-two punch of Christopher Hitchens's mega-bestselling God Is Not Great and his earlier Letter to a Christian Nation. He closed the latter book and found himself saying, aloud, "Amen." He had to face his misgivings. "I realized, it isn't just that I'm hurt by the way I was treated at synod, and it isn't just that the senior pastor that I work with was an asshole. It's that I don't believe in this anymore. And that was terrifying."

So much for the New Atheists being unsuccessful. So David, when's your turn to come out?

300. Two More Fleas

Comment #142939 by black wolf on March 13, 2008 at 8:36 am

The guy I mentioned earlier has a blog here:
http://merelyadequate.net/
and here:
http://ex-christian-journey.blogspot.com/

his posts about his 'deconversion' are here:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5823596693953871104&postID=8393590160701792843

I've saved the discussion to a text file, but it's very long, so too much to repeat here. I might condense it, but until (and if at all) I do so, anyone interested can have a look at the above links.