1. Theocratic Sect Prays for Real Armageddon

Comment #241095 by manitoumackinac on September 1, 2008 at 6:48 pm

Why does Florida have so many of these strange christian organizations, like Benny Hinn and Mr. Hovind? Are there tax codes in Florida that protect hucksters? I think I'm starting to see a pattern.

2. Richard Dawkins branded 'secularist bigot' by veteran philosopher

Comment #224123 by manitoumackinac on August 4, 2008 at 6:37 am

Well, one thing I can be certain of is that the person is a fan of the Terry Gilliam movie "Brazil".

3. Richard Dawkins branded 'secularist bigot' by veteran philosopher

Comment #224114 by manitoumackinac on August 4, 2008 at 6:14 am

I have a faint suspiction that 27b-6 was formally known as Clearmind.

4. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209512 by manitoumackinac on July 12, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Wonder how it's legal for a public university can fund a religious organization (or a whole church)? Look below:

I've had a problem not long ago at my school watching a student organization "His House" suck up most of the funds for campus student organizations. The organization "His House" is just a church, with it's own building off-campus and ran by a non-student pastor. They have student congregation members get on the president's council of the university so they can get money from the school and use the campus facilities for free for their weekly services when a lot of people show up. The organization has several hundred members in itself and probably can raise money with little effort on their own, but yet they apply every year to get a substantial portion of a $10k pot of money that 120 real student organizations have to fight over. His House usually walks away with about $1200 every year (usually for a better sound system or musical instruments), making it much more difficult for the real organizations to be able to attend academic conferences and so on.

It's very upsetting, and when I investigated the matter I discovered it's completely legal.

Here in the US most public universities tack on top of regular tuition a mandatory SAF (Student Activity Fee). The SAF is actually considered out of pocket, not government monies. So the school can legally use this cash for student run organizations without having to deal with church/state legalities and other political issues concerning public funds.

The SAF issue has been up to the supreme court before.
Here's a link to the case.

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-1189.ZS.html

Yet if you read it carefully, it doesn't explicitly mention anything about religion. So there is still a tiny bit of ambiguity in regards to that.

5. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209278 by manitoumackinac on July 12, 2008 at 2:07 am

The cracker argument was one of the big aspects of the reformation, protestants rejected the idea that the bread actually becomes the body of Christ. A source of big theological differences between those various flavors of Jesus.

The Cracker has a history... The bizarre idea is being scrutinized once again.

6. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209240 by manitoumackinac on July 12, 2008 at 1:03 am

This whole thing seems to be the Muhammad cartoon for the catholics. I just hope it doesn't get violent. Have any of you actually read any of the wild comments he has received on his website??

I commend him for being the lightning rod for the young man who actually did the deed.

7. Richard Dawkins on Doctor Who

Comment #202630 by manitoumackinac on July 1, 2008 at 6:12 pm

Wonder which flavor of religion clearmind subscribes? Which creator of the universe does he pay his homage to? Methodist? Jehova Witness? Mormon? Flying spaghetti monster? Islam? Raeilian? Forget the biology, it's much easier to understand what this person is all about when you hear which about which doctrine he must follow.

He's right, not every scientist believes in evolution, but does he realize not every religious person subscribes to his version of creator?

What kind of creator do you have in mind clearmind? Does he do miracles? Does he send omniscient advice and grant forgiveness? Please fill us up with the details of this creator that you vouch for.

8. Evangelical grunts

Comment #202002 by manitoumackinac on June 30, 2008 at 3:02 pm

I've been out of the navy for exactly 4 years today, and this article reminds me of the early days of my bootcamp experience where the entire division had to go to the chapel at Great Lakes RTC and listen to a presentation from the command chaplain on how we would be afforded time on Sundays to attend church meetings, and how religious belief is good to our health. It was basically just a sales pitch. That was about the worst of it in regards to my experience in the military. On the ship while underway the chaplain did say a prayer on the announcement system every night when they called lights out and there was a prayer before every military ceremony. It didn't bother me that much, but I still don't think it should be done. I didn't care how all the ship's volunteer and community relations activities (COMRAIL) were arranged and sponsored by the religious department. They usually would volunteering for religious schools and organizations when we were overseas. Donating excess ship supply of toothpaste to some Lutheran school in Thailand.

I remember the chaplain's pious assistant getting upset at a group of guys who were horsing around during the opening prayer at a retirement ceremony; irritated, he turned around and said, "Knock it off guys, we're gonna fucking pray!".
It was one of those precious moments which I'm still fond of.

Overall religiousity was pretty mellow from my experience in the navy, most of my co-workers didn't care about religion.

I wonder if religiousity varies by branch of service?

9. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #163333 by manitoumackinac on April 18, 2008 at 7:57 am

What a mind numbing argument. Imagination alone can produce the sublime, without the aid of anything supernatural. There's countless works of art that have absolutely nothing to do with any type of supernatural inspiration, is Rhapsody in Blue somehow less beautiful because of its secular theme?

10. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #124370 by manitoumackinac on February 9, 2008 at 8:48 am

I'd just like to add that Canada has also entertained the idea of having an Islamic Court system in place as well.

http://www.nosharia.com/

It's not just a UK problem.

11. The Pagan Christ

Comment #106264 by manitoumackinac on January 2, 2008 at 3:23 pm

Pretty interesting stuff. I think that most stories don't just pop out of a hat, a type of literately irreducible complexity, but instead are chimeras made up of ideas and concepts that have already existed in stories which came before.

Although some of the assertions presented in the video are something I take with a healthy dose of skepticism, I do think there is something to be said about the possibility that the Jesus story could indeed come from non-Abrahamic pagan mythology. Why not? The phenomenon can be seen in other aspects of Christianity where the whole idea of having a Saint for everything imaginable in the Catholic Church can easily be viewed as a traditional relic of pagan polytheism.

12. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #91879 by manitoumackinac on November 29, 2007 at 1:49 pm

With god and religion out the window, something about this subject confuses me, and this is mainly due to many of the dynamics involved in relationships between two romantic partners. Sexual jealousy is something that can be explained well under Darwinian terms, but also Darwinian explanations can also be used effectively to explain "cheating", or at least when a partner has a fantasy about sex with another person outside the relationship. To me this seems like a type of Darwinian double standard that is engrained in our nature. Cultural norms have emphasized monogamy in relationships, and these norms can be seen as obsolete, especially with the invention of effective birth control. But yet, there are many shades of gray involved in the morals about sexual infidelity and jealousy. It can be argued that the consequences of sexual behavior, if performed without precaution, can lead to the birth of a child. It is far easier for two parents who are living together in today's society to raise a child than it is for a single parent, and this is mainly due to economic reasons. Could sexual jealousy have something to do with that? I am not satisfied with the idea of a Darwinian double standard, and perhaps I am overlooking something important. And so it appears to me that if I put the question of sexual jealousy into the terms of nature verses nurture, could this simply be a nurture question?