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Comments by jimbob


1. Truly Bizarre : Indians Throw Babies 50ft From Roof To Thank God.

Comment #175079 by jimbob on May 4, 2008 at 10:53 am

This is even nuttier than dunking kids in water while muttering incantations over them in the belief it will save their souls.

2. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #172130 by jimbob on April 29, 2008 at 8:56 am

But he offers that perhaps it's because Marxism itself acts something like a religion in its appeal to a higher power -- the Party, rather than God. And in this Dawkins may be absolutely right, though it reveals that an atheist philosophy can indeed operate as a religion, and therefore offer a logical pathway to evil deeds.


Finally somebody gets it!

The problem is not exclusive to religions -- it's a problem of dogmas!

Thus, the penalty for heresy or apostasty from (say) Stalinism is the same as the penalty for questioning radical Islam.

At last!

3. Mount Vernon schools to hire investigator in Bible case

Comment #168824 by jimbob on April 25, 2008 at 11:33 am

Is this guy related to Chuck Norris?

4. Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Comment #167028 by jimbob on April 23, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Is it possible that this was misunderstood after it was reported that:

Congo men are hung!

;-)

5. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166349 by jimbob on April 23, 2008 at 7:24 am

In the midst of all this nobody has commented on the plight of Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh.

What an indictment of the notion that religion drives morality!

I'd suggest a visit to:

http://www.petitiononline.com/af8f6912/petition.html

6. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165747 by jimbob on April 22, 2008 at 8:15 am

Officially the religious institutions stands for:
1. Gathering and distribution of welfare to the needy
2. Taking care of the sick and the weak and welcome the outcasts
3. Fighting society problems like drugs and poverty
4. A community that keeps people together and fights segregation
5. Recognizing the stages of life (birth, confirmation, marriage, funeral)
6. Dealing with pain and sorrow after tragic events
7. A focus on people's feelings in an easy to understand language
8. A spokesperson for morals with focus on compassion, self-control, the value of helping others etc.

Imagine everyone abandoned church tomorrow!
1. Try to come up with current secular alternatives that covers all points above. Your alternatives must be accessible, well known and local so that even the most clueless knows about them (they are the ones who need it the most).


People go to church for community interaction, entertainment, and business contacts (ssh, don't tell the IRS!).

There's a simple concept that can, and does do all of the above. In some countries it's known as "the pub!"

7. Pope's Views on Science Invoke Spirited Debate

Comment #165262 by jimbob on April 21, 2008 at 9:15 am

Well, the pope has succeeded in recasting himself from rottweiler, to friendly grandpa pastor (helped immeasurably by fawning politicians and media).

However, the reality is that he is still one of the leading hypocrites among religious leaders. For all the talk of science, and of human rights, we still have a church that:

- Denies women an equal role in the church.
- Denies women reproductive autonomy.
- Subverts the science driving public health, thus killing millions who could have avoided AIDS.
- Jumps on the environmental bandwagon, but rails against contraception.
- Still has not substantively addressed the root causes of its history of child sexual abuse and rape.

8. Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists

Comment #165180 by jimbob on April 21, 2008 at 7:18 am

The most controversial part of the film follows Stein to the Dachau concentration camp, underlining how Darwin's theories of natural selection led to the eugenics movement, embraced by Adolf Hitler. If there is no God, but only a planetary lab waiting for scientists to perfect the human race, where can Darwinism lead? Stein insists that he isn't accusing today's Darwinists of Nazism. He points out, however, that Hitler's mad science was inspired by Darwinism.


If evidence means anything, then it would be far more plausible to opine that "Hitler's mad science" was inspired by the catholic church. A cursory reading of Mein Kampf shows plenty to support that premise -- and nothing to support the view that nazism was "inspired by Darwinism."

9. Gods and earthlings

Comment #163510 by jimbob on April 18, 2008 at 12:42 pm

It's called "lying for Jesus," and they are completely shameless.


Technical correction: Jesus may apply to some, but not all god believers.

I'm a bit rusty on my holy books, so I'm not sure if the 10 commandments apply to jews and muslims? If so, my hackneyed "Oops, there goes #9 again!" exclamation would be more apt.

10. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162663 by jimbob on April 17, 2008 at 7:48 am

Is my recollection correct that Imagine was the song played in Times Square as the ball dropped at midnight on New Year's eve?

Or did I imagine it? ;-)

Bloomberg must be a godless liberal, eh?

11. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162644 by jimbob on April 17, 2008 at 7:01 am

Why is anybody surprised when these bozos make up stuff?

Religious dogmas ARE made up stuff!

...and to defend the faith you have to LIE for it!

After all, it's the MORAL duty of all believers to disregard logic and evidence in the crusade to protect these heavenly values!

;-)

12. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162211 by jimbob on April 16, 2008 at 10:59 am

Ah Florida--the future Venice of the USA if the science on global warming is correct. ;-)

13. School bars same-sex partners at formals

Comment #161514 by jimbob on April 15, 2008 at 11:03 am

Just another example of how religion is an impediment to humanistic morality.

14. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled

Comment #159075 by jimbob on April 11, 2008 at 12:13 pm

That doesn't mean that Hitler had to be atheist, but if he believed in God, it wasn't the God of the Bible.


Correct---judging by the bible accounts yahweh was far more murderous than Hitler.

15. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled

Comment #158418 by jimbob on April 10, 2008 at 1:12 pm

From Chapter I of Mein Kampf:

On this planet of ours human culture and civilization are indissolubly bound up with the presence of the Aryan. If he should be exterminated or subjugated, then the dark shroud of a new barbarian era would enfold the earth.
To undermine the existence of human culture by exterminating its founders and custodians would be an execrable crime in the eyes of those who believe that the folk-idea lies at the basis of human existence. Whoever would dare to raise a profane hand against that highest image of God among His creatures would sin against the bountiful Creator of this marvel and would collaborate in the expulsion from Paradise.
Hence the folk concept of the world is in profound accord with Nature's will; because it restores the free play of the forces which will lead the race through stages of sustained reciprocal education towards a higher type, until finally the best portion of mankind will possess the earth and will be free to work in every domain all over the world and even reach spheres that lie outside the earth.
We all feel that in the distant future many may be faced with problems which can be solved only by a superior race of human beings, a race destined to become master of all the other peoples and which will have at its disposal the means and resources of the whole world.


Doesn't sound like a godless atheist to me! (...and what was it the SS had on their belt buckles?).

16. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled

Comment #158395 by jimbob on April 10, 2008 at 12:34 pm

For those who can stand it, you can read Hitler's views on the topic for yourselves:

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html

17. Anti-evolution bill clears another hurdle

Comment #157542 by jimbob on April 9, 2008 at 8:42 am

Just got back from another visit to Florida (had to go --- not my choice).

It was the same old story: $200 for rooms that would cost $60-70 in central USA, and $25 per night of room tax and bed tax (for goodness sake!) adding insult to injury.

Restaurants routinely add 18% service tax to bills (mandatory), and of course, you get "service" as a result.

I don't know what the state motto is, but I have dubbed it the "We gouge you" state.

Maybe that's just another manifestation of devout religion? Whatever, I'd never voluntarily go there again.

18. The Atheist Next Door

Comment #156927 by jimbob on April 8, 2008 at 12:00 pm

When are we going to stop this passive approach to the "how can you be moral without god" question?

For goodness sake --- religion is an impediment to humanistic morality more often than not! Let's go on the offensive and point that out for a change!

19. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #149147 by jimbob on March 25, 2008 at 7:27 am

Yet another example of Lying for Jesus?


Yes, and it's just another example of the old "Ooops, there goes #9 again!"

I've belabored the point in the past, but this site should have a special section devoted to this. It's just one way that we can demonstrate that religion is definitely NOT the basis for morality!

20. The Secular Conscience

Comment #147051 by jimbob on March 19, 2008 at 5:58 pm

Religion has bugger all too do with morality. Religions of all kinds merely latch onto the existing moral views and then claim them as their own. Religion is itself a product of the society from which it springs.


Beg to differ, but religion is often an obstacle to humanistic morality. Thought everybody had grasped that around here?

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

Comment #143066 by jimbob on March 13, 2008 at 12:04 pm

First, is there something about the name "Donoghue" that makes people nuts? (see catholic league).

Second, did the good bishop actually name any examples of books that should be banned?

Finally, have any of these clowns noticed what happens when religious dogmas are preferred over evidence of effectiveness in planning sex education and anti-aids campaigns (the "abstinence" stuff has really worked in US teens, eh?).

22. Chemical brain controls nanobots

Comment #142234 by jimbob on March 12, 2008 at 7:11 am

First "blue brain," now "nano-brains!"

In the future, if these computer-based intelligences ever attain a life-like sense of existence--will they worship humans as "intelligent designer" deities?

23. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141351 by jimbob on March 10, 2008 at 9:38 am

Well, this is all very funny but...

...now you know how Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts will decide on those issues.

24. Out of the Blue

Comment #140782 by jimbob on March 8, 2008 at 3:29 pm

If it has to be programmed with an operating system to get going, I vote for Microsoft-Atheist over MS-Islam or MS-X.

;-)

25. Lords Approve Abolition Of Blasphemy

Comment #140343 by jimbob on March 7, 2008 at 7:02 am

Fightingfalcon opined:

Hell, with McCain's nomination, we can be assured that Christian fundamentalists will be marginalized for at least four years.


You must have missed the occasions on which McCain assured his supporters that, if elected, he would appoint judges in the mold of Scalia and Thomas?

Five catholics, four professedly devout. Only needs one more for the pope to have a direct line into US government!

26. Lords Approve Abolition Of Blasphemy

Comment #139672 by jimbob on March 6, 2008 at 11:37 am

Huckabee would have to be elected president for the USA to have anything nearly as absurd as bishops in the house of lords.

DISESTABLISH!!!!!

27. Crossing the Divide

Comment #139661 by jimbob on March 6, 2008 at 11:16 am

199 years ago Charles Darwin was born. Geology was popular at that time among religious folks who were looking for evidence for creation -- and Darwin was interested too.

Of course, Darwin's other research revealed the absurdity of "intelligent design," but religion is nothing if not virtually immune to rationality.

Next year -- February 12th to be precise, is Darwin's 200th birthday. Moreover, he shares that birthday with Abraham Lincoln.

We should start planning now for a celebration of rationality centered on the lessons that:

- Darwin taught us about the absurdity of "intelligent design."

- Lincoln taught us about the absurdity of the bible being a basis for morality. (The bible is a virtual owner's manual for slave holders, and as Sam Harris reminded us, that bible-based immorality had to be eradicated at bayonet point through the pious Southern states!).

28. How to abandon your God

Comment #139601 by jimbob on March 6, 2008 at 7:27 am

I wonder if the road to abandonment is paved with cherry pickers?

Richard very aptly pointed out that yahweh is "one of the nastiest characters in all of fiction," and it seems that all the modern flavors of religion ignore that sort of biblical reality.

Thus, my humble suggestion to aid our campaign for rationality, is to belabor that point. For example, Dobson's "focus on the family" very conveniently ignores the fact that Jesus wanted his disciples to turn away from their families. Thus, we could label them the "Ignore the anti-family Jesus" cherry pickers.

How about we start a move to label cherry picker categories? First prize for the best suggestion will be supper with annabanana. Second prize will be a free acupuncture session with epeeist!

While I'm on a roll with this theme, let's look a year ahead. February 12th 2009 will see the 200th birthdays of two great men -- Charles Darwin and Abe Lincoln.

Maybe we can use that birthday occasion to increase "abandonment" by pointing out that:

- Darwin showed the absurdity of the notion of "intelligent design."

- Lincoln showed the absurdity of the bible as a guide to morality in that the "holy book" is practically an owner's guide to perpetuating slavery!

29. Church exhumes Padre Pio

Comment #139589 by jimbob on March 6, 2008 at 7:02 am

Well, there seems to be some catholic ambivalence on the topic of digging up the dead. Scientists want to exhume Galileo, but the church is against it -- saying it would be "disrespectful."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7280148.stm

30. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138578 by jimbob on March 4, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Evan Mecham, the impeached (1988) mormon nutjob of an Arizona governor died a couple of weeks ago. Wonder if the news of Richard's visit set off apoplexy?

For those who don't know who Ev was, he was the guy who (soon after his election) referred to black kids a "piccaninnies."

He was accused of racism as a result, and in response to criticisms about his views on the employment statistics for African Americans, he riposted "There's enough cotton picking jobs for all of them!"

The rest of his short tenure of governor was complete farce. Wonder if Richard will run into any of his cronies? ;-)

31. Hebrew University researcher: Moses was tripping at Mount Sinai

Comment #138571 by jimbob on March 4, 2008 at 2:36 pm

I must have been smoking the same stuff because I remember a vision in which Moses was alive and well, and appearing in ads for the NRA!

32. Church exhumes Padre Pio

Comment #138570 by jimbob on March 4, 2008 at 2:32 pm

Mr Luzzatto's claims, splashed across a full page of Corriere della Sera, Italy's best-selling daily, were furiously denounced by Pietro Siffi, president of the Catholic Anti-defamation League. The "presumed proofs are absolutely false," he said. "According to Catholic doctrine, canonisation involves the infallibility of the pope."


Bugger the evidence, it's the doctrine that counts!

....and as for "infallibility," how many popes were known to have had syphillis?

33. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132995 by jimbob on February 25, 2008 at 1:54 pm

Why do you think people who believe in God (as I do) have a "need for a supernatural crutch?"


Well, how else can you produce a virgin birth?

34. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132906 by jimbob on February 25, 2008 at 11:50 am

Yes, all 98 lbs (44 kg) of this little atheist is a threat to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of all those theists out there.


Wanna do dinner annabanana? Somebody has to fatten you up!

;-)

35. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132903 by jimbob on February 25, 2008 at 11:45 am

Chapther 5 of this "new" flrea:

The problem of wicked atheists:
Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot

Not much new I guess!

36. The coming religious peace

Comment #131818 by jimbob on February 23, 2008 at 11:31 am

American evangelicalism today is flexible, user-friendly, and market-driven. It has its core convictions: that a personal encounter with the risen Christ is necessary for salvation, and that the Greek and Hebrew scriptures offer a wholly trustworthy guide to God's will for humankind. But given those core convictions, this religious tradition seeks above all to be relevant, to be engaged, to reach sinners regardless of their culture, their ethnic background, or their politics.


Let me take a stab at a translation: Most American religion is a money-making industry. In exchange for money, the new dominant churches offer companionship, entertainment, and the promise of salvation.

Europe has pubs and cafes for the first two benefits, and centuries of religious bloodshed is the likely reason why the last has lost credence.

37. Moral thinking

Comment #131295 by jimbob on February 22, 2008 at 7:48 am

His best example of such self-sacrifice is warfare, an activity in which morality and immorality intersect in ways that have always been puzzlingâ€"and where liberals and conservatives often draw opposite conclusions about what is right and wrong. Paradoxically, that clash of views suggests that Dr Bowles and Dr Wilson really are on to something with the idea of functional morality. Perhaps they and their colleagues can eventually do what philosophers have never managed, and explain moral behaviour in an intellectually satisfying way.


Sure they are "on to something," but that "something" seems to have been explained many times by folks like Richard?

Since warfare is used as an example, I'll use it too as metaphor: What we need to do is establish "firing ascendancy" in the battle over the basis of morality. We need to rehearse the arguments and then go on the offensive with the view that religion (and other ideological dogmas) are generally obstacles to humanistic morality.

It's not that there is any shortage of examples to support that case!

38. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #130998 by jimbob on February 21, 2008 at 4:59 pm

Pape explains that what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks actually have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory the terrorists consider their homeland. Religion, often used as a tool by terrorist organizations, aids in recruiting and in seeking aid from abroad, but is rarely the root cause.


To what extent is a belief that the martyrdom is a guaranteed route to paradise a root cause? Anybody know?

39. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #130921 by jimbob on February 21, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Fuller, 69, who has lived for several years with his wife, Prue, in Squamish, where he plans to remain, also doesn't let off the hook those atheists who like to blame religion, whether Islam or Christianity, for inciting much of the planet's violence.


Hey, I don't blame religion exclusively---it's dogmatic ideologies in general! The "principal horrors" of the last century or so have all been religious or quasi-religious in the sense that going against political dogmatic ideologies still gets you murdered for apostasy or heresy.

Frankly, Fuller is a doofus author for writing what amounts to an apology for islam.

40. Why do we believe in God? 2m study prays for answer

Comment #129727 by jimbob on February 19, 2008 at 2:08 pm

Researchers at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Centre for Anthropology and Mind in Oxford will use the cognitive science disciplines to develop "a scientific approach to why we believe in God and other issues around the nature and origin of religious belief".


I'm trying to stay serious because this reminds me of the old joke about the English, French, and Irish research teams independently studying the reasons why the end of a penis is wider than the shaft...

However, my real comment is that this seems analogous to the reasons why adults smoke: they are pressured to start when they are impressionable kids -- and then they can't quit.

What I like about the analogy the most is that the big tobacco companies and organized religion have SO much in common!

41. The argument from oranges

Comment #128236 by jimbob on February 16, 2008 at 3:29 pm

He brings contemplating one's navel to a new level!

42. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Madeline Bunting

Comment #126922 by jimbob on February 14, 2008 at 1:54 pm

As I listened to the debate unfold I couldn't help but think that Ms. Bunting is aptly named --- the image of bits of rag blowing in the wind being all too metaphorically obvious.

That aside, if it comes to labels, "postmodernist" would seem to be a good fit?

43. A Tyrannical Romance

Comment #126456 by jimbob on February 13, 2008 at 9:28 am

Which brings me to my tyrannical fantasy. I want to take a journey 68 million years back in time to see a Tyrannosaurus rex couple mating. What was it like? Did they trumpet and bellow and stamp their feet? Did they thrash their enormous tails? Did he bite her neck in rapture and exude a musky scent? Somehow, I imagine that when two T. rex got it on, the earth shook for miles around.


Best way to find out would be to re-create the scene. My suggestion would be to get Rosie O'Donnell and Larry the Cable Guy to give it a shot!

Any better suggestions? ;-)

44. Council pays psychic for exorcism

Comment #126452 by jimbob on February 13, 2008 at 9:23 am

Skeptic though I am, could Ms Hadwin be persuaded to give 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a shot?

45. Murder plot against Danish cartoonist

Comment #126038 by jimbob on February 12, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Forget the cartoons, let's really piss them off by sending Valentine's Day gifts:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/12/saudi.valentine/index.html

46. What he wishes on us is an abomination

Comment #125296 by jimbob on February 11, 2008 at 7:53 am

Humble suggestion to the inhabitants of the UK -- the land of my birth and first 34 years:

D I S E S T A B L I S H !

If I was still living there I'd try to get Richard to start the campaign. Journalists such as Yasmin would be a force to be reckoned with.

47. Sharia fiasco

Comment #124965 by jimbob on February 10, 2008 at 2:07 pm

The Vatican??!! I think the Protestantism, not Catholicism, is the established religion of the U.S.A.


Couple of points Bonzai:

1. There is no "established" religion in the USA. Of course the predominant dogma is the prod flavor, but the good work of those such as Jefferson and Madison prevented anything from being officially established.

2. Of the nine US Supreme Court justices, five are catholic -- and the really devout 4/5 are Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito. None of those have ever shown any inclination to recuse themselves from cases in which their faith clearly biases their views.

48. Sharia fiasco

Comment #124925 by jimbob on February 10, 2008 at 12:26 pm

The idea that needs to be told to "piss off," is the idea that laws (and government) should be based in religious dogma. Sharia is, of course, particularly obnoxious, but so too is any level of "official" religion.

Folks in the UK need to become more familiar with the term "disestablishment," and folks in the USA need judges who give more credence to the constitution than to the vatican (Oops, sorry, forgot that religious bias on the bench doesn't qualify as "judicial activism!"

49. Battle of the Chambersburg billboards

Comment #124758 by jimbob on February 10, 2008 at 6:56 am

I'd humbly suggest a billboard with the question:

WHY DO THEISTS IGNORE # 9?

50. The Passion of 'Anonymous'

Comment #124386 by jimbob on February 9, 2008 at 9:59 am

It's spelled "$cientology."

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