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Comments by quill


251. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100501 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 6:20 pm

I usually just tell people like that that if I've done something wrong, I'll take responsibility for it. I don't need someone else to take the punishment for my misdeeds.

252. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100487 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 5:52 pm

the problem when an answer isnt explained well the less able theists will be unable to differentiate BS from good arguments. What we hear from this 'debate' is a good attempt from dan to give real explanations but todd gives nothing more than emotional sounding sermons, the weak minded will side with the theist as they will simply go with what they know.
That's probably true, but then, I don't think Dan was aiming to convert the weak-minded members of the audience. Those segments of the population are just stuck with religion for the time being.

And yeah, Todd, wow. All of the Way of the Master people are like that. Remember their debate with the Rational Response Squad? Ray Comfort just broke into a full-fledged sermon about the Ten Commandments after having told ABC News and everyone else that he would not even mention the Bible during the debate.

It's hard to tell what goes on inside the minds of such people. Maybe they truly believe that other people's souls are in danger, and so they can't restrain themselves from lying to news reporters, breaking their own rules, misrepresenting science, etc. Or maybe they're just liars and frauds. We'll never know.

...Or maybe with Sam's new technique, we might. :)

253. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100474 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 5:06 pm

I thought Dan did pretty well on the evolution questions, in general. Todd asked him some dumbass question relating to gender - "which evolved first, male or female?" - and Dan succinctly pointed out that there are many forms of life that reproduce with only one gender, female.

PWNED.

He could've done better on the muscles/bone question, but I think he showed well enough that Todd was basically arguing from personal ignorance.

254. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100388 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 2:47 pm

Friel also posted a partial video recording of the debate after the fact, placing subtitles beneath Dan and inserting little speeches of his own to highlight Dan's errors in logic. I'm happy to see it got a one-star rating, averaged over 61,000 views; it seems You-Tube people know how to spot a bitch move when they see one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dic5usfQwx0&feature=related

255. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #100288 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Wow, what a douche. I suddenly feel a little better about American television.

256. This Is Not a Test

Comment #100268 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Comment #100077 by Rtambree:

You're probably right, but it's a pity. The better the candidate, the worse their vote. What a strange system. Obviously the better candidates get less corporate funding and therefore advertise less.
I think it has to do not with how much better the candidate is, but how extreme he is. Look at Ron Paul, for example - ultra-conservative extremist, the polar opposite of Kucinich in every way, someone who does not even believe in the separation of church and state - and he'e only two percent higher than Kucinich, at 5% nationwide. I don't think extreme right-wing candidates or extreme left-wing candidates are likely to get any higher than that. Success seems to lie closer to the middle.

257. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100261 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 12:36 pm

For those of you who don't recall, Way of the Master Radio is hosted by Todd Friel, the third, somewhat awkward member of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's ministry, the originators of the dreaded argumentum ad bananum.

Friel also did a radio debate in 2006 with Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and lost badly - Dan is a member of the Prometheus Society, which means his IQ is equivalent to one in ten thousand. I think if you listen to that debate, you'll have an understanding of why Todd's voice is so broken and desperate in this clip:

http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2006/04/04/friel-barker-debate

And here (edited):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cINIQqye0Hw&feature=related

258. Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

Comment #100222 by quill on December 18, 2007 at 11:53 am

I wish someone would get this man some whips and chains so he won't have to rely on Borders to feel victimized.

259. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99899 by quill on December 17, 2007 at 7:24 pm

notsobad said:

Kucinich is the best one there (along with Gravel, but he has no choice).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Dennis_Kucinich
With all due respect, Kucinich is a lost cause. We're two weeks away from the primaries, here. If Dennis hasn't broken out of the single digits by now, he's never going to.

I really think we need to be backing Obama. Yes, I know, he talks often about his "faith", but he doesn't seem to subscribe to any of its supernatural tenets. He's also the only viable candidate so far to have spoken favorably of nonbelievers, and the best Democratic candidate (aside from Edwards) to win a general election.

The worst thing that could happen to us would be for Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination - because if she does, the general election will almost certainly go to the Republicans - so I think it makes the most strategic sense to back the Democratic candidate most likely to beat her, and that's Obama.

260. This Is Not a Test

Comment #99808 by quill on December 17, 2007 at 3:24 pm

When I first heard Huckabee's name, I laughed.

261. Creationists plan British theme park

Comment #99390 by quill on December 16, 2007 at 2:29 pm

To those who say this park will fail because there's no demand for it in Britain:

Remember that only 30% of Americans actually claim to believe that Darwinian evolution is wrong, according to that Harris poll that was posted here about a month ago.

I think the latest figure is that 10% of British people believe the same thing.

So there is a niche, and I don't see the park going under due to lack of demand.

Also:

I somehow doubt it as anyone with the slightest commercial ability would not build a touristy type park in Wigan.
I'm sure people said that when AIG decided to build their own theme park in Kentucky.

262. Creation college seeks state's OK to train teachers

Comment #99083 by quill on December 15, 2007 at 1:11 pm

It seems these people haven't gotten the memo and are still using terms like "creationism" and "creation science" to identify their programs, rather than the more nuanced (and insidious) euphemisms that the Discovery Institute has adopted. Since Federal courts have already ruled that "creation science" is neither valid science, nor appropriate material for science curricula, this should be an open-and-shut case. The only accrediting body that even acknowledges them in California is the one Morris created himself.

Actually, I'm rather pleased with the timing - California judges are currently deliberating over Newdow's case, and news such as we've had recently (including the recent House resolution) is certain to influence their decision in favor of secularism.

That said, I tend to feel that the decision to annex Texas from Mexico may have been a grave mistake in the history of my country. Having Texas as part of the United States seems to do nothing but drag the national averages down in every category. They have the highest crime, the highest unemployment, and by far the stupidest population in the entire Union. Nothing good comes from that state. We really should just give it back.

263. Jumbo shrimp, creationist astronomy

Comment #98517 by quill on December 13, 2007 at 8:19 pm

Anyone notice how for some reason, creationist documentaries seem to be stuck in the late 1970s in terms of visual effects?

264. Voyager 2 probe reaches solar system boundary

Comment #98049 by quill on December 13, 2007 at 3:02 am

God, if he existed couldn't fix the space shuttle. It's the very definition of design by commitee (Camel runs close second.)
The space shuttles may be clumsy and unreliable, but decommissioning them to be replaced by the disposable, Apollo-esque Orion capsules still feels like a step backward. In my opinion, we should be designing better shuttles, not falling back on those antiquated machines.

265. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #98003 by quill on December 13, 2007 at 1:29 am

GodlessHeathen, that was brilliant. I hope you won't mind if I email a copy to my own Representative, the honorable Timothy V. Johnson of Illinois District Fifteen.

(Edit: Actually, upon checking, he was one of the 40 representatives who did not vote.)

266. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #97988 by quill on December 13, 2007 at 12:46 am

You know, as an American, I would have expected something like this to have bothered me. But, surprisingly, it has not. I think this is because:

Whereas, Christianity is currently declining at a rate faster than any other religion, and shows no signs of reversing or even slowing this trend,

Whereas, at the same time, atheism and agnosticism are each growing at a rate faster than any religion,

Whereas, one of the principal reasons for this change of attitude is the perceived politicizing of religious faith on the part of Christians,

Whereas, this perception will only be reinforced by the passages of such resolutions as that issued by the House today, not challenged,

Resolved, that I recognize such resolutions to be worse than futile to the efforts of Christians, but in fact, ultimately self-destructive, and that I anticipate living in an America in which Christians can be similarly classed by House resolution as a minority within fifteen years.

267. 'Boycott Worked': Compass Flops - Opening Weekend $26 Million; Narnia $63 Million

Comment #96605 by quill on December 10, 2007 at 6:42 pm

Er, it may not be earning that much, but it's still the #1 grossing film of the week.

268. ...and another FLEA...

Comment #96325 by quill on December 10, 2007 at 11:04 am

My goodness, that's an ugly cover.

269. Biologist fired for beliefs, suit says

Comment #95877 by quill on December 9, 2007 at 11:49 am

From ADH:

Quill, why do you equate "Darwinism" with "evolution". It seems to me that while there is evidence for evolution, it is turning out to be rather different from what Darwin envisaged.
Answer: Because Darwinian evolution is the type of evolution that is accepted by every single natural history museum and every single biological science journal and every single university biology department throughout the entire world, and has been for the past 150 years, despite your objections that things are turning out "rather different from what Darwin envisaged" and that all of those institutions are either composed of buffoons who don't know as much about their own fields of science as you do, or are taking part in a vast conspiracy against the truth.

I was making the point that evolution is as accepted in biology as heliocentrism is in astronomy. What type of evolution would I be referring to if not Darwinian evolution? Lamarckian evolution perhaps? Is that the type that has been accepted as mainstream science for the past century and a half?

No, that would be Darwinian evolution.

I hope that answers your question.

270. Biologist fired for beliefs, suit says

Comment #95856 by quill on December 9, 2007 at 11:04 am

ADH, this was an evolutionary science lab. The research grant and the job description specifically said he would be working in the field of evolution. There's no reason he SHOULDN'T be fired if it turns out he doesn't accept the field of evolution as a valid science. It directly causes him to be incapable of doing his work.

And by the way, you can cut that BS about there being a number of biological scientists who deny Darwinism. The number is something like 200 worldwide, which is equivalent to 0.001% of the scientific community. Simply put, evolution is as accepted in biology as heliocentrism is in astronomy or multiplication is in mathematics.

271. Colouring book warns kids of pedophile priests

Comment #94999 by quill on December 7, 2007 at 6:27 am

Nails, the reason there are so many pedophiles in the Catholic priesthood is because going into the clergy is one of the few ways one has, if one is a pedophile, of escaping the intense pressure of society to marry without drawing suspicion to oneself. It's the same reason there have been so many gays in the priesthood throughout history. Their family and friends, as well as society at large, would ostricize them for their sexual orientation if it ever became public knowledge, so their only choice, especially in parts of the world in which Catholicism is still prominent, is to hide behind the supposed celibacy of the priesthood. Ironically, it is the priesthood itself which is the main contributing factor fueling the social attitudes which force them into hiding in the first place. So this creates a kind of vicious cycle, resulting in a priesthood that is eternally self-loathing, inherently cynical, trapped into being its own worst enemy.

272. Colouring book warns kids of pedophile priests

Comment #94917 by quill on December 7, 2007 at 2:01 am

The coloring book actually warns that kids should not be allowed inside a closed room with a priest, and this is supposed to help their image?

273. Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

Comment #94916 by quill on December 7, 2007 at 1:59 am

I liked this quote:

"A holy understanding of evolution will usher the world's religions into their greatness in the 21st century."
Now that he thinks the churches can actually use evolution for something, it's not evil anymore.

274. Fox: 'Atheist Outrage' over holiday 'Tree of Knowledge'

Comment #94556 by quill on December 6, 2007 at 1:33 am

I think this kind of thing is counterproductive to the public image of freethought.

But if you want to watch the interview, it's on You-Tube, you know:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9f3C7NDbcU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0JmI-cPOc

275. Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin

Comment #92444 by quill on November 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Comment #92381 by monoape on November 30, 2007 at 11:46 am

Doesn't the phrasing or 'tone' of a question contribute to the answer received?

Imagine asking "do you believe in a literal hell?" in a sincere-eye-contact-very-concerned-look way, as opposed to the you-cannot-possibly-think-that's-a-possibility-wide-eyed-smirking way.

Lies. Damned lies. Statistics.
None of that would have played a part in this poll, since it was conducted online in questionairre format. You might read into it before dismissing it like that.

276. Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin

Comment #92441 by quill on November 30, 2007 at 1:58 pm

While disheartening, the results from the poll are not as bad as the article makes it seem. You can read the rest of it from Harrisonline.com, and while it's true that only 42% said they believed in "Darwin's theory of evolution", a smaller number, 31%, said they did not believe in it. Also, only 39% said they believed in "Creationism".

Additionally, only 35% said that both the Old and New Testaments were the "Word of God", so it's not likely that the percentage who believe in creationism will ever rise higher than that level.

And finally, according to Table 5, almost 40% of the respondents of the poll seem to have identified themselves as either "Atheist" or "Agnostic".

277. Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Comment #88405 by quill on November 16, 2007 at 1:43 pm

What's interesting is that someone with the You-Tube username "DiscoveryInstitute" is already posting poorly-made videos labelling the Nova documentary a "hit piece" and calling PBS the "Propaganda Broadcasting Service" - yet according to Nova, the Discovery Institute was asked repeatedly to be interviewed for the project but refused each time.

I think PBS actually went out of their way to be nice to these people. If you check the program's website, Phillip Johnson was given a ten-page Q and A session to present his side of the argument in his own words, and did so. Nova's simple presentation of the facts was damaging enough to ID; they would scarcely have needed any bias to make it look ridiculous.

278. Religious scholars mull Flying Spaghetti Monster

Comment #88392 by quill on November 16, 2007 at 12:48 pm

No kidding. "Militant atheist". I wonder if the author would care to elaborate on the way in which the accused person was "militant".

279. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #88157 by quill on November 15, 2007 at 2:11 am

I usually just point out to the antievolutionists that evolution encompasses numerous laws, such as the laws of heredity or the law of natural selection.

280. Onward Christian teachers?

Comment #87565 by quill on November 12, 2007 at 1:27 pm

I doubt ridding British schools of indoctrination would do much to cleanse the population of religious belief. There is no religious indoctrination in American schools (legally, anyway), and yet religion still holds a firm grip on our population.

I have long suspected that a revival of religion in the UK would follow swiftly if the British government were to legislate an actual separation of church and state. It seems that one of the reasons the Anglican Church is so relatively complacent compared to American denominations is that they are assured of always having some degree of influence over society via the government. If that were taken away, I think they would be waging a full-scale culture war within a year.

281. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #85978 by quill on November 7, 2007 at 4:46 pm

Mr. D'Souza claims not to believe in unicorns. On the contrary, I suggest that he does, because the Bible itself mentions unicorns no less than six times. It actually spends more lines talking about unicorns than about gays. :/

282. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85850 by quill on November 7, 2007 at 10:21 am

I'm sorry, I have to agree. Annie Laurie Gaylor is just way out of here league to attempt to argue in this venue.

I think the fact that Annie Laurie took it an even pace and remained above engaging in the name-calling of her host was actually a good thing. Even Fox News viewers don't like seeing a fairly nonthreatening woman getting verbally abused so openly and with so little pretense of objectivity as they did here.

In comparison to her, the priest was practically yelling right from the start, and she made an excellent point with her observation that the Church was actually proving itself to be exactly what the film depicted it as being by attempting to censor a filmmaker. Her innocent laughter at the phrase "known atheist" probably made a point all by itself, highlighting for viewers which of the two guests was actually more "militant".

Is it me, though, or is anyone else starting to miss "Crazy" Bill Donohue? Nothing quite made my day like watching that bumbling blowhard, dressed up in robes as if he were an actual priest, try to wrestle with the English language. He was the ideal spokesperson for Catholicism, IMHO. ^-^

283. Response to Dinesh D'Souza op-ed

Comment #85451 by quill on November 6, 2007 at 12:04 am

Reading anything composed by that man is like stepping into another world and looking back on ours through a distorted lense. I get physically disoriented every time I try to do so. Within a paragraph of the introduction up becomes down, left becomes right, and it's all stated as being such with this kind of blithe, flippant grace that itself would seem surreal even if the statements themselves were correct. It's not simply that his statements are false, it's the sheer regularity with which they are false. His writing almost resembles a hopscotch rhyme to which I find myself wanting to sing along. He takes you dancing from one patently false statement to the next with perfect rhythm and timing, never staying on one any longer than it takes to hop over to the next, and never, not once, slipping up his performance by stepping on a stray crack of truth in between. He is flawlessly, perfectly wrong. It is like an art.

284. The Turning of an Atheist

Comment #85064 by quill on November 4, 2007 at 7:03 pm

This is how a virus perpetuates itself.

They have no shame.

285. Jury Awards Father $11M in Funeral Case

Comment #84278 by quill on November 1, 2007 at 3:47 pm

I'm not sure it will be overturned. Like gr8hands kindly pointed out, there are precedents for setting limits to free speech in the American legal system - for example, verbal abuse is considered a crime, which is, I think, exactly what we're dealing with here. A strong case can be made to uphold the ruling.

286. Science owes its origins to Christianity or Religion

Comment #83042 by quill on October 28, 2007 at 5:04 pm

I think the best answer to this statement is a simple "no it doesn't". Science as we know it today found its first expressions in pagan Greece. There's no disputing that fact. 'Nuff said.

287. American kids, dumber than dirt: Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

Comment #82536 by quill on October 26, 2007 at 3:50 pm

I have to agree with Comment #82383 from annabanana. I too attended a public school in the Midwest, watched lots of TV, played lots of video games and, at least according to the author's pessimistic opinion of my generation, should by all accounts be a low-grade imbecile. Yet I am not, and neither are any of my friends, nor anyone I know at the public university I attend, where I am just preparing to graduate with a degree in sculpture.

If the students of the class the author's friend teaches truly do not know how to use a ruler, then I can only surmise that they have very subnormal teachers. How absurd, to blame television, popular music and video games for something like that!

There was not one piece of empirical data throughout this entire article to back up its claims. It was simply an opinion, and a very poorly researched opinion. Lots of sociological studies have been done on this subject, and it has been established scientifically that the current generation passing through the schools and universities of America is actually higher in average IQ than the previous generation - on average, each generation is approximately ten points higher than the one preceding it. This teacher's opinion is seriously disturbing to me, not because of how it reflects on students, but because of how it reflects on teachers.

If the author of this article had cared to do a little research beyond his anecdotal experience, he could have consulted the latest United Nations Human Development Report, where he would have found that, in education, the United States is currently ranked higher than most EU member nations, including the UK. That's pretty decent for a country whose students are supposedly dumber than dirt.

288. The greatest debate

Comment #80363 by quill on October 21, 2007 at 1:00 pm

It's meant to seem objective, but the article is clearly slanted. It cites one religious person after another in their criticism of Dawkins' views, but never cites how Dawkins responds to that criticism.

289. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79432 by quill on October 17, 2007 at 8:46 am

Coral Ridge Ministries was the group responsible for shouting down that Hindu priest who tried to open a Senate session recently, with frantic screams of "Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" Until they were kicked out of the chamber. The more assertive people like this become in THEIR viewpoints, the worse Christianity looks because of it, so I consider their efforts a positive force for atheism.

290. Fox News Attacks 'Godless' Free Thought Radio

Comment #78312 by quill on October 12, 2007 at 12:04 pm

I think you people taking this as an opportunity to throw in some snide comment regarding Americans are behaving like children.

291. CBC Atheism and Humanism Documentary

Comment #77709 by quill on October 10, 2007 at 8:48 am

I don't like having atheism branded an "opposite belief".

292. The Fleas Are Multiplying!

Comment #68726 by quill on September 8, 2007 at 9:57 am

"…Some books against Deism fell into my hands….It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quote to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations, in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."
-Benjamin Franklin

293. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Edd Doerr

Comment #58894 by quill on July 26, 2007 at 2:38 pm

Ugh, this is disgusting. The reason educated, liberal Christians don't believe these things is because they are LESS RELIGIOUS. But even so, Doerr just got finished saying that more than 50% of American adults believe in a literal six-day creation week 6,000 years ago. Surely it's uncontestable that educated, liberal christisn are the exceptions, not the rule.

294. Beyond Belief: Atheism (with AC Grayling)

Comment #56983 by quill on July 18, 2007 at 3:41 am

Wow. This is an awful lot like CNN's infamous "why do atheists incite so much hatred" panel, which took place without a single atheist onboard.

295. Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #56884 by quill on July 17, 2007 at 4:23 pm

Summer Seale wrote:

Atheists who don't like what she just said, by and large I believe, are having a visceral leftist reaction which kicks back at anything that says "Islam is bad". They *have* to point and say "but...but...we're so much worse".

Don't be childish. Atheists don't say that. I don't know a single atheist who thinks Christianity is worse than Islam. Islam is the most barbaric and intolerant religion in the world.

Comparing Islam to Christianity is like comparing bubonic plague to influenza. You can't excuse one of them by saying the other is more deadly, but one of them clearly is.

296. Look Forward to Anger

Comment #52599 by quill on June 27, 2007 at 12:29 pm

I'm also going to peg that "UK is more free than US" comment as a silly statement. The UK has a state church, for Pete's sake. The kind of things that would qualify in America as theocracy--a state church, prayer in public schools, etc.--are the status quo in the UK. It's illegal to even display religious symbols on public property in the US. Can you Brits say the same?

The religious in America are a vociferous lot because they spend all their time trying to achieve the degree of power the religious in Britain already have. You guys really have no basis to call the States "less free". Try legislating an actual separation of church and state and see what happens.

297. The Atheism FAQ with Richard Dawkins

Comment #47022 by quill on June 2, 2007 at 7:47 pm

Why is he talking like Borat?

298. U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador

Comment #46925 by quill on June 2, 2007 at 8:21 am

I'm sure you know, but "No Religious Affiliation" is the second biggest "religion" in America too.

299. What I Think About Evolution

Comment #46713 by quill on June 1, 2007 at 8:51 am

This man has just slit his own throat.

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