1. It can be right to discriminate against the religious

Comment #202354 by EvidenceOnly on July 1, 2008 at 11:18 am

The article states: "You don't choose your race, sexuality, or gender, and they don't affect how well you do your job. But you do choose your religion."

While in theory you can choose your religion, in reality your religion is mostly determined by the religion of your parents and/or where in the world you were born.

All religions know that they need to control your mind from when you are very young and there is an enormous pressure to keep you from choosing a different religion or no religion at all.

Add to that the constant push to eliminate evidence-based education (evolutionary biology) that limits the number of people who can escape this religious stranglehold on society.

Society is way too accommodating to religious nonsense.

- if you don't want a picture taken of your face, you have decided that you will not drive a car.
- if you believe that the bible is a science book, you have decided not to be a science teacher.
- if you don't want to prescribe or sell birth control pills, you have decided not to be a doctor or a pharmacist.
- if you don't want to learn how to fly a plane, you have decided not to become a pilot.

It is really obvious when something is discrimination versus common sense.

2. Texas Supreme Court rules church can't be sued in exorcism

Comment #200744 by EvidenceOnly on June 28, 2008 at 7:31 am

Freedom to believe also implies freedom to NOT believe.

These religious nuts deprived this teenage girl of her constitutional right not to be exorcised.

We need freedom OF and FROM religion.

3. Mormons urged to back ban on same-sex marriage

Comment #199178 by EvidenceOnly on June 25, 2008 at 9:23 am

I'm not singling out 1 religion but ALL religions or groups who think that freedom of opinion equates to the right to enforce their views on all of society.

The title of this article should be:

MORONS URGED TO BACK BAN ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.

Scrapping the second letter "m" in the title makes it abundantly clear what is going on here.

4. Where do US lawmakers stand on science?

Comment #197626 by EvidenceOnly on June 22, 2008 at 11:54 am

Hi rod-the-farmer,

Unfortunately, religion drives public policy in the US. Republicans cannot win without sucking up to the religious wrong (look at how McCain has EVOLVED from 2000 to 2008) and Democrats don't want to be labeled the party of atheists so they suck up to religion wherever they can.

Examples:

- When asked when the GWB administration would do something about global warming, a government official responded with: "that depends on when Jesus comes back".

- The religious care more about your body before you are born (anti-abortion) and after your're dead (Terro Schiavo case). While you alive you don't need healthcare, your suffering is for your salvation (and to pay for lower taxes for the super rich), don't try to be happy now because it is all about the afterlife.

- The unDiscovery Institute is working hard to change the definition of science to also include supernatural explanations, thereby totally undermining science and make it more like Fox news. They are succeeding in Louisiana.

We need to combat religion's influence on politics to win the battle for more science.

5. 'I despise Islamism': Ian McEwan faces backlash over press interview

Comment #197611 by EvidenceOnly on June 22, 2008 at 11:26 am

You can classify religions and the religious in 3 groups:

- Group 1. Those who keep their views to the privacy of their home or church, keep their religion out of politics and follow the principle of "live and let live". Many religious people do this but few religions are in this camp.

- Group 2. Those who want to impose their views on everyone in society. Quite a few religious people want this and pretty much all religions want this. Simply look at the venom against same-sex marriage. They want to control your life but not literally take your life. Oddly enough they care for your body before you were born (anti-abortion) or after you're dead (Terri Schiavo) and only care to control your mind when you are alive (they strongly oppose universal healthcare).

- Group 3. Those who take Group 2 one step further and want to take the life of anyone opposing their view (Christianity for most of its history and something that Islam has yet to grown out of).

Group 1 tends to vote with group 2 in elections indirectly supporting group 2 in their strive to impose their views on all of society.

Group 2 does not overtly kill people but many Christians in Group 2 support the occupation of Iraq, can't wait to bomb Iran, are against stem cell research with potentially could save lot of lives, and are against use of condoms which could stem the spread of HIV that kills 1.6 million Africans each and every year.

Yes, group 3 clearly is the worst of all but Group 2 is not far behind.

However, the silent majority of Group 1 is fertile ground for Groups 2 and 3.

This is why we have to combat ignorance with education and science.

This is also why the unDiscovery Institute is so aggressively going to war against science.

We cannot win the war against group 3 if we don't fight group 2 as well and reduce group 1.

6. What Happens When a School Board of Religious Zealots Will 'Lie for Jesus'?

Comment #197284 by EvidenceOnly on June 21, 2008 at 2:59 pm

When Jehovah Witnesses knock knock knock on my door, I tell them that I've been waiting to convert their sort to my religion and that so far I have a 100% success rate. At that point they run like the devil is chasing them.

We should not be surprised that religious people lie for their religion when it is obvious that all religions are based on lies. Lying for Jesus is actually what I expect them to do. It would be really strange to me if they were did anything else. Truth and honesty don't get you from beliefs without evidence to reality.

7. Louisiana's Latest Assault on Darwin

Comment #197174 by EvidenceOnly on June 21, 2008 at 9:34 am

With this bill, all educational programs can be summarized in 1 word: IntelligentDesignerDidIt

The school year would only last 30 seconds:

1. The Intelligent Designer is the answer to every question but one (see 2.)
2. Who is he Intelligent Designer? Since you have the rest of the year off, you can find the answer to that question in your bible school. The establishment clause of the US constitution does not allow us to tell you that it is the christian god.

This educational method saves a lot of money in public education.

I'm sure that the bible school teachers would volunteer for this 30 second a year job for free.

8. Louisiana's Latest Assault on Darwin

Comment #197118 by EvidenceOnly on June 21, 2008 at 6:40 am

Governor Jindal,

I urge you to read Kenneth Miller's excellent new book on this topic before making your decision.

The book is "Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul".

It very clearly explains the fundamental strategy of the Discovery Institute which is nothing less than to bring supernatural explanations in all of science.

This undermines America's scientific leadership in the world.

PS. Kenneth Miller is a Catholic so you won't be reading a book written by a secularist, humanist, agnostic or atheist if that is something that would scare you

9. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197116 by EvidenceOnly on June 21, 2008 at 6:31 am

As usual, the [non]Discovery Institute is lying for Jesus. A better name for them would be the GodDidIt Institute.

Just finished reading Kenneth Miller's excellent new book: "Only a Theory - Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul".

It clearly describes the Orwellian language used by the GodDidIt Institute. I only take exception to his section on God page 158 through 164 (5 pages out of 220 isn't bad).

What the IDiots of the GodDidIt institute are really after is to redefine SCIENCE, the human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us, to also include supernatural explanations.

This effectively waters down science to "fair and balanced" opinions pretty much like FOX News is doing with political and social news to advance their unfair and unbalanced right-wing worldview.

Their strategy is to redefine science to make it fit their theocratic (Christian) view of what America should be to them.

It is NOT about freedom.

It is ALL about Jesus to them.

10. Pastors Challenge Law, Endorse Candidates From Pulpit

Comment #196807 by EvidenceOnly on June 20, 2008 at 1:00 pm

With the current US government defiantly ignoring the US constitution, do you really think that they will go after any tax exempt organization telling their sheep to vote republican?

If you want to see decisive IRS action, all you need is 1 tax-exempt organization telling its members to vote Democrat.

It is still possible that they would not want to set a legal precedent that opens the door stripping right-wing organizations of their tax-exempt status when the next president takes office.

11. Muslim countries win concession regarding religious debates

Comment #196490 by EvidenceOnly on June 20, 2008 at 3:25 am

Let's match

"Only religious scholars should be allowed to discuss matters of faith"

with

"Only scientists should be allowed to discuss matters of science"

and scientifically reject each and everything not based on solid evidence:

- faith is not evidence based and should not be respected
- there is no scientific evidence that faith is required for morality
- there is no scientific reason for female sexual mutilation
- there is no scientific reason to prevent stem cell research
- there is no scientific basis for gods
- religion has no right to debate biology, geology, astronomy, ...
- holy books are not science
- intelligent design is religion and must stay out of science education
- etc

12. The Mother, The Child, The School Board And The Psychic

Comment #196052 by EvidenceOnly on June 19, 2008 at 8:51 am

After reading this, can anyone who claims to be a human in the 21st century still make the case that faith is a virtue?

13. Oystein Elgaroy - the Christian defender who became an Atheist

Comment #195443 by EvidenceOnly on June 18, 2008 at 8:29 am

I put "clearthinker" in the same category as the slogans of the GWB administrations' "no child left behind", "the healthy forest initiative", "the war on terror", "tax relief".

As George Lakoff explains so well, these are names that are the opposite of what they really are.

There is very little sign of "clear" and "thinking" in clearhinker's writings and if he is indeed David Robertson, add his book and his youtube videos to that.

But we should not be surprised. When lying for jesus is what you're based on, then using Orwellian language is just another smokescreen.

14. Oystein Elgaroy - the Christian defender who became an Atheist

Comment #195210 by EvidenceOnly on June 17, 2008 at 10:48 pm

Tank,

You are free to believe anything you want but you should know that faith is belief for which no evidence exists.

A growing number of us require extraordinary evidence before we accept extraordinary claims.

All religions, by their very nature, fail this test. It is pure fiction and not very entertaining at it.

Stop asking gods created by mankind in its own image (and mostly abandoned by now) to bless those who reject fiction as truth and moral compass.

Remember, if you pray anyone and your wish comes through, you claim proof that your god exists but if your wish does not come through, you claim that you did either not pray enough or that you don't deserve the favor yet.

Don't waste your time asking any god to bless us.

15. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #194749 by EvidenceOnly on June 17, 2008 at 8:27 am

Comment #194686 by Apathy personified

Don't want to stereotype or insult anyone, but the founders of this little gold mine might be Jewish.

16. George W Bush meets Pope amid claims he might convert to Catholicism

Comment #194445 by EvidenceOnly on June 16, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Some (questionable) prof in the UK claims that low IQ and religion are on the same (must be right) side of the spectrum and high IQ and atheism are on the same (must be left) side of the spectrum.

I personally think that it has more to do with true intelligence (the habit of demanding hard evidence before believing anything) than with an IQ number.

GWB is only 1 data point but fits the hypothesis: very religious, god tells him which country to invade and which constitution to destroy, no sense of curiosity, does not read anything intellectually challenging, can barely say anything that makes sense, ...

This all makes him a good fit for the catholic church although I'm sure that the jesuits will want him to stay as far away as possible from them.

17. Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Comment #194064 by EvidenceOnly on June 16, 2008 at 11:19 am

Dan Brown clearly states that his books are fiction. He is not lying.

The catholic church states that their holy books are the truth. They are lying for jesus.

Who's accusing whom here? What a hypocrisy.

Souvlaki, your comment is a great one. You should whisper this in the ear of Michael Moore. He would be great for a factual movie about the catholic church as the world's largest organized pedophile organization. It would be great if the pope and his entourage fully supported such a documentary.

18. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #193948 by EvidenceOnly on June 16, 2008 at 8:32 am

Although this should cause religious people to reflect on the silliness of their believes that god (which one?) created us and that he/she/it has a plan for us, most will probably conclude that it is the devil who is corrupting us with science or that it is the devil who is creating these fake images to make us doubt god.

This would imply that the devil is technologically superior to god which would make the devil god himself/herself/itself.

This would be just funny if the religious would keep religion to the privacy of their own home and stay out of politics.

19. Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Comment #193907 by EvidenceOnly on June 16, 2008 at 7:57 am

All religions and their books are fiction but they will never admit this.

Dan Brown's books and movies are fiction and he clearly says so.

The difference? Religions want to dictate how we live. Dan Brown's books and movies are entertainment.

Religion poisons everything (Christopher Hitchens).
Ran Brown's works are entertaining. They only hurt the feelings of those still stuck in the dark ages.

That hurt comes from the fact that religions don't want to admit that they are just as much fiction as Dan Brown's works.

20. George W Bush meets Pope amid claims he might convert to Catholicism

Comment #193689 by EvidenceOnly on June 15, 2008 at 10:57 pm

GWB and Ratzinger deserve each other.

GWB says he is a uniter, not a divider and then becomes the most divisive US president in history. It may take the world more than 100 years to undo his damage to humanity.

Ratzinger prays for peace and human dignity but then is so against use of condoms that HIV has become an epidemic in Africa that yearly kills over 1.6 million Africans EACH YEAR. He presides over the largest organized pedophile organization in the history of mankind. He is sorry, only because his priest are caught literally with their pants down and that it is costing the vatican a fortune.

Both say one thing and do the opposite.

"Do as I say, not as I do" is their motto.

Both are stubborn as rock.

Their common ground is anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, anti-gay marriage, anti-stem cell research, anti-sex education, ...

Anti-anything unites them.

As long has GWB does something to prevent killings of christians in Iraq, he's OK for the pope.

Maybe GWB is seeking to become a catholic so his sins can be forgiven?

Both men are totally despicable.

They are united in what divides the world.

21. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193442 by EvidenceOnly on June 15, 2008 at 3:49 pm

moderndaythomas,

Religion should not be exempt from ridicule because...
... it is ALL ridicule.

Anything that anyone anywhere claims that is not based on evidence should be ridiculed.

Society cannot grow up if we don't ridicule true nonsense.

We MUST ridicule religion, alchemy, astrology, the mercury retrogade, [un]intelligent design, ...

We MUST do it with the same force and clarity as we would do if someone would claim that 1 plus 1 is 3 (in base 10).

We should ridicule the ideas, while treating those who utter them as humans.

If they cannot see the difference between ridiculing ideas vs ridiculing themselves, then they have not evolved far enough on the human scale.

22. Only a Theory

Comment #193403 by EvidenceOnly on June 15, 2008 at 2:13 pm

I saw a bumper sticker on a car today that said:

"If evolution is outlawed, then only outlaws will evolve".

We're getting the same effect by dumbing down science so that the GodDidIt-ists and the IDiots have an easier time teaching their nonsense.

23. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193319 by EvidenceOnly on June 15, 2008 at 10:01 am

Ref. Comment #193290 by AdrianT

We have all experienced that bad news travels around faster than the speed of light and you have to work constantly to communicate good news.

In the same vain, GodDidIt-ists and IDiots (like Behe, Demski, Stein, the [un]Discovery Institute) manage to spread lies for jesus faster than the speed of light and we all have to work constantly to communicate TRUE science and evidence to the public.

Our job gets harder every day as the GodDidIt-ists and IDiots aided by right-wing politicians are dumbing down the general public.

We need to continue the fight for truth dough.

24. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193068 by EvidenceOnly on June 14, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Behe's box contains NO scientific evidence.

His box, however, is like the (lack of) discovery institute filled to the rim with lies for jesus. From that angle, it is definitely not empty.

25. As the world becomes smaller, the need to understand each other's faith grows

Comment #192902 by EvidenceOnly on June 14, 2008 at 7:26 am

I'm all for comprehensive comparative religion courses for everyone: a short one for those under 12 and a more in-depth one for those under 18.

The main benefit is that when everyone learns that all those religions make the same claim that their god is the only god, that they are all extremely jealous of other gods, and that which sky-daddy you believe in mostly depends on where you are born, more people will realize that mankind created all gods in their image of the time.

Teaching everyone about all religions is one of the best cures against ... religion.

Those of us who left religion behind already know that religion is not the moral compass of society but the poison of the world.

It's about time that more people see this reality.

26. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192291 by EvidenceOnly on June 12, 2008 at 5:28 pm

The dictionary describes intelligence as: "The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills".

To me the true intelligent don't accept dogma. Their natural reflex is one of critical thinking to process if what they just heard or read makes sense. They always try to understand the fundamentals.

Since we cannot all know the fundamentals about every subject, we have to defer to other truly intelligent people who display the same thirst for getting to the bottom of things and who have shown that they can come to conclusions based on rational arguments and display a willingness to explain in detail how they arrive at certain conclusions and welcome, even desire, to be challenged.

Thirst for getting to the bottom of things, rational arguments, a willingness to explain the steps to get to a conclusion and a desire to be challenged are all traits of science. Richard Dawkins is one of our role models.

I've seen absolutely none of it in religion.

This is why true intelligence and religion are fundamentally at odds with each other.

This is also why the truly intelligent fairly quickly arrive at the conclusion that there is no rational explanation for any god.

Education definitely helps. To me the science of biology including the teaching of evolution and the history of our universe are key accelerators in this process towards total rejection of anything supernatural.

This is also the reason that many religions want to corrupt the brain of young people before they can use their critical thinking to naturally evolve towards at least agnostics.

This is also the main reason why the science of evolution and the history of our universe are under enormous attack by many if not most religions.

In the US, these attacks are spearheaded by LIARS FOR JESUS and they are spoon fed with strategies from the IDiots from the Discovery Institute who want to STOP ALL DISCOVERY.

27. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192105 by EvidenceOnly on June 12, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Seems very logical to me.

People with a higher IQ are more likely to use their brain.
They may grow up with the religious indoctrination that their ability to think critically is god-given but once they really grow up they start thinking more and more critically, helped by higher education.

This drives them in the one-way street of realization that there is no rational explanation for anything supernatural and mankind has created gods in its image contrary to what religions claim.

If you have the IQ and you're educated to use your brains, you need to have a severe split personality to hang on to religion.

28. Debating creationism in Louisiana schools

Comment #191746 by EvidenceOnly on June 11, 2008 at 3:04 pm

The LA Science Education Act is not about science and not about education. It is all a pretext to give liars for Jesus legal protection while teaching religion (believes for which no evidence exists) in science class where only theories and laws supported by overwhelming evidence should be thought.

In the same vain, the Discovery Institute is not about discovering anything. They proclaim GodDidIt and instead of resting their case with that ludicrous statement, they resort to mental terrorism and their target victims are students.

All religions know: get them while they are young.

It is child abuse.

29. Analysis of SB 733: 'LA Science Education Act'

Comment #191744 by EvidenceOnly on June 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm

The LA Science Education Act is not about science and not about education. It is all a pretext to give liars for Jesus legal protection while teaching religion (believes for which no evidence exists) in science class where only theories and laws supported by overwhelming evidence should be thought.

In the same vain, the Discovery Institute is not about discovering anything. They proclaim GodDidIt and instead of resting their case with that ludicrous statement, they resort to mental terrorism and their target victims are students.

All religions know: get them while they are young.

It is child abuse.

30. Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab

Comment #191429 by EvidenceOnly on June 11, 2008 at 12:21 am

One can wonder whether Behe has read the article or understands its true impact in support of evolution.

The one thing we can be certain of is that he and his cohort IDiots will keep lying for Jesus until they return to the same state as before they were born.

31. The 14-year-old Afghan suicide bomber

Comment #191402 by EvidenceOnly on June 10, 2008 at 8:59 pm

Killing-for-god is mostly done by good people whose mind is, from a very young age, severely and deliberately corrupted by religion. The highest crime is indoctrinating others to kill-for-god.

We may think that christianity has left much of this insanity behind and the West rightfully aims its disgust at imams forcing 14-year olds to become suicide bombers for their god.

The West would have more credibility if it first got rid of its own insanities both large and small.

Here are is 1 example of the "small" and 1 of the "large" insanities of the West:

The California Supreme Court recently overturned a ban against same-sex marriage. Religions promptly declared war against it. Millions of dollars are being spent on a constitutional amendment to ban this again. Religious nuts are claiming that marriage is the intellectual property of the church because it is written in ancient books that predate the US constitution. No government therefore has the right to change the intellectual property of the church. It is time we all accept that mankind created gods in its image (most have been abandoned by now), that humans wrote these books and that they were doctored with time and time again to make them fit the new doctrines of the day.

The catholic church is firmly against the use of condoms knowing very well that 1.6 million Africans die of AIDS each and every year and that much of the HIV epidemic can be eliminated through the use of condoms. Catholic bishops and cardinals are telling Africans that the use of condoms is a sin against god and that the West has poisoned them with bacteria to get rid of all Africans.

I have yet to see a yearly body count of people killed by religious terrorism. Let's start right now and make a column for every religion.

Let me start with putting the 1.6 million Africans who every year die from AIDS in the column of christianity.

Just trying to put things in a broader perspective.

32. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #191192 by EvidenceOnly on June 10, 2008 at 11:02 am

Comment #191104 by al-rawandi

Yes I know about the RockRidge Institute. Too bad they ran out of money.

IDiots like the Discovery Institute never run out of money but those institutes who actually make sense have a hard time staying afloat.

33. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #190875 by EvidenceOnly on June 9, 2008 at 7:30 pm

UC Berkeley Prof. George Lakoff wrote a great book: "Moral Politics" and a light version: "Don't think of an Elephant".

He describes 2 world views that drives your action and impacts how you raise your children:

1. The "STRICT FATHER" model = punish your children into good behavior; children are not to think for themselves but have to blindly follow authority; if they fail put them in jail

2. The "NURTURING PARENT" model = where both parents nurture their children, lead by example, and let the children discover themselves and can learn from their mistakes

As it turns out 1/3rd of the population is consistently STRICT FATHER, 1/3rd is consistently NURTURING PARENT and the remaining 1/3rd flip flops between the two (= bimodal).

The bimodal part of the population are typically those who have a nurturing environment at work (unions) and are very autocratic at home: blue collar America.

The “starve-the-beast” party (create the biggest deficit in mankind through tax cuts and costly wars, wait for the population to revolt against it and then cut all social programs) figured out in the late 70-ties that the only way to win was to get some of the bimodal crowd to vote for them. The could not get them to vote for their economic policies of destruction, so they had to get them on their STRICT FATHER side.

What is the solution? Adopt family values, appeal to their religion, preach how women’s rights to chose, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, ... are destroying our Christian nation. Suck up to religious leaders (we all know that the poor vote for God first and food on their table second).

What is the moral of this story?

No republican candidate can be elected president without sucking up to the “RELIGIOUS WRONG” (calling it religious right enforces the frame that they are right and everyone else is wrong).

McCain may have been vocal against the religious wrong 8 years ago but he won’t make it if he does not suck up to them now.

It is irrelevant what McCain believes in. He needs to make stuff up and LIE FOR JESUS to get elected.

Notice his mantra: tax cuts and war (= continue creating the biggest deficit in mankind; what he does not state is the republican dream to use this to starve the beast and kill all social programs.)

This is what it is all about. Nothing less. Nothing more.

34. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190742 by EvidenceOnly on June 9, 2008 at 1:30 pm

Everyone who still has the delusion that the bible is the word of god should use their self-proclaimed god-given brains and read Prof. Mark Ehrman's books:

1. Misquoting Jesus: The story behind who changed the bible and why.
2. God's problem: How the bible fails to answer our most important question - why we suffer.

That sets the stage for Prof. Richard Dawkins' books:

1. The God Delusion
2. The blind watchmaker

Anyone who, after reading these books, still hangs on to GodDidIt is refusing to use heir brains.

And, please, don't give me that crap that any evidence against GodDidIt is because God empowered the devil to fool us with scientific evidence.

35. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190632 by EvidenceOnly on June 9, 2008 at 9:59 am

The evidence is conclusive: anything supernatural is so extremely improbable that is is virtually impossible.

In the face of this very well documented mountain of evidence, much of which is written in language that a non-scientist can understand if he/she wants to, I can only conclude that:

(a) some did not get around to read and think about it
(b) some don't want to read and think about it
(c) some have read about it but don't understand it (maybe their brains are not sufficiently EVOLVED)
(d) some have read about it but don't want to understand it (the bible trumps everything)
(e) some have read about it, understand it but purposely continue to pull wool over they eyes of (a) through (d)

Group (e) is the worst of all. The continue to "Lie for Jesus".

Total hypocrites and IDiots.

36. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #189954 by EvidenceOnly on June 7, 2008 at 10:18 pm

I recently read Prof. Bart Ehrman's book: "God's problem - How the bible fails to answer our most important question: Why we suffer"

It is by thinking about suffering that he became an agnostic and convinced that if there is a God, it is certain it is not the Christian God.

Here is how the explanation of suffering EVOLVED over thousands of years:

1. God rewards you when you obey him/her/it and punishes you when you don't.

2. When 1. does not seem to agree with reality, you invent Satan who gets all power from God (WTF?) to pest the believers. Now those who obey God get punished by Satan and those who don't get rewarded by Satan.

3. So why would you want to want to obey God when it makes your life miserable? The trick: Jesus will come back soon (as in during Paul's life), will rise all the death, establish his Kingdom on Earth and reward those punished by Satan and punish those rewarded by Satan.

4. When Jesus did not come back during Paul's life ("Houston we have a problem"), you invent Heaven and Hell and life after death where essentially 3. will happen.

5. 2000 years have gone by. What do we want to invent next?????

(3 is called the horizontal duality of Heaven and Hell = both are real and on Earth while 4. is called the vertical duality of Heaven and Hell = both are in the afterlife, Hell is below the Earth and Heaven is above the Earth and nowhere to be seen by us Earthlings).

The moral of this?

Mankind has invented just about anything to keep everyone dumb and sheepishly staying in line with man-made religion.

There is indeed no clearer evidence that man created god in his/her/its image than to study the absurdity of religion's explanation of pain and suffering.

37. Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

Comment #188850 by EvidenceOnly on June 4, 2008 at 7:41 pm

We need to encourage science teachers in those IDiotic states who vote to teach the strengths and weaknesses of evolution to also teach the weaknesses of the weaknesses.

A good summary can be found at:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/34_unconvincing_arguments_for.php

It is only a couple of pages long and very straightforward.

Could be thought convincingly in about 1 hour.

38. Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

Comment #188844 by EvidenceOnly on June 4, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Ref. 17. Comment #188771 by davemei on June 4, 2008 at 2:03 pm

They claim ownership to morality that they want to enforce on everyone and spend a whole lot of time "lying for Jesus".

It seems that their morality is little more than "lying for Jesus" and child abuse by indoctrinating their nonsense through the educational system.

They are shameless hypocrites.

39. Darwin still causing waves after 150 years

Comment #188792 by EvidenceOnly on June 4, 2008 at 2:45 pm

11. Comment #188735 by CanadianRealist

Along the same lines, people who believe in a supernatural being and especially creationists, IDiots, GodDitIt-ists are constantly displaying evidence that they either have not evolved as far as the rest of us or that they are total hypocrites.

They believe that they are made by God in his/her/its image but refuse to make use of this God-given ability to think critically.

Since they also believe that everything exists for a purpose, they should accept that their critical thinking has a purpose as well.

Furthermore, they all believe in a very vengeful God.

It seems therefore very logical to conclude that they are greatly infuriating their God for refusing to use the brains that their God so artfully crafted for them.

But then again, logic is not what they are really good at.

40. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187553 by EvidenceOnly on June 2, 2008 at 9:56 am

Reaction to: Comment #187455 by Quetzalcoatl

"The sole argument of this entire board (it would seem) is the intolerance for the feeling of disgust for homosexuality."

As a society, we have become intolerant of several views that most found absolutely disgusting in the distant or not so distant past and that some probably still find disgusting today:

- a women's right to vote
- interracial marriage
- homosexuality
- freedom FROM religion
- science education based on observable and duplicatable evidence
- habeas corpus
- torture-free imprisonment
...

As you can see from this, it is possible to be tolerant to a fault.

That is why we have laws (even if some governments ignore them).

We need to be intolerant to any injustice against anyone anywhere anytime.

Tolerance is not an absolute virtue.

41. Karma comedians

Comment #186787 by EvidenceOnly on May 31, 2008 at 10:09 am

The 2 quotes we hear most often are:

1. It is God's plan
2. Everything happen happens for a reason

We all know that both are total nonsense.

Mark Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of Chapel Hill, wrote an interesting book: "God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer".

He converted from a born again christian to an agnostic based on this.

It would be a good book to recommend to your religious friends and even those who believe that everything happens for a reason.

42. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186778 by EvidenceOnly on May 31, 2008 at 9:51 am

While it is true that we should not generalize from a single incident, it would be worth investigating if these incidents are really isolated.

In that case, we should count all incidents where someone is killed for religious reasons. What Steven Weinberg calls "good people doing evil things because of religion".

That should include killing girls and women for violating insane religious rules, anyone who abandons a religion, anyone killed in a religious war, anyone killed because of a different religion or no religion at all, women that bleed to death during sexual mutilation because of religious beliefs, ...

The list is too endless to complete.

From that point of view, religion-inspired killings are widespread.

43. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

Comment #186389 by EvidenceOnly on May 30, 2008 at 8:32 am

Someone recently claimed that "all humans are created by the benevolent Flying Spaghetti Monster, last Tuesday" and created the appearance of earlier time just to fool us.

He has as much scientific evidence for this as any other religion out there.

In that case, let's vote to only display documents about the Flying Spaghetti monster.

That would simplify a whole lot. It's cheaper. There is not much to publish and, on the heels of the Unintelligent Design spoofs, continues the tradition of making the US the laughing stock of the rational world.

44. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

Comment #186375 by EvidenceOnly on May 30, 2008 at 8:21 am

"Martin said afterward that a number of senators were nervous about including the Lord's Prayer but did so out of fear of what voters would think if they voted against it."

What a hypocrisy and double standard.

How about "Senator X said afterward that a number of senators were nervous about voting against W's request for more money to continue his illegal occupation of Iraq, but voted in favor of bringing all soldiers home out of fear of what voters would think if they voted in favor of W's request?"

More than 75% of WE THE PEOPLE want to end this illegal and criminal invasion/occupation.

With our without religion, rational people do rational things and irrational people do irrational things but for rational people to behave totally irrational, that takes religion!

45. Altruism in social insects is a family affair

Comment #186216 by EvidenceOnly on May 29, 2008 at 11:54 pm

I look forward to the day that the catholic church issues the following statement:

By challenging something that we have based all our understanding on for more than 2,000 years, the newly elected pope has forced us all to examine the holy books again and assess the validity of our theological arguments.

We have now concluded that we created god in our image, that both the old and new testament were creative writing by humans based on the limited knowledge of the world and the universe that people had at that time. We further acknowledge that in all fairness the oldest credit card sized gospel fragment dates from the first half of the second century and was not even written in the language spoken in Jerusalem at that time, that the gospels of Luke, John and Matthew were all based on the gospel of Mark, that the oldest full copies date back to the 4th century, that there are more differences between the early copies found than there are words in the bible.

We apologize to all current and past generations we, church leaders of all time including my most recent predecessor, have deceived all generations by doctoring with the texts to fit our doctrine in order to control exert control over you.

The new pope wants to set the record straight. There are no holy books, there are no supernatural powers, there are no gods, there was no virgin birth, there was no resurrection, there is no heaven or hell although there should be hell to punish all religious leaders in his humble opinion. We apologize for all child abuse, both pedophilia and the more evil religious indoctrination.

The only rule that remains is the golden rule: do to others as you want done to yourself.

Next week Wednesday, in a televised ceremony, the pope will officially turn off the lights and close down the Vatican as a religious institution forever. He will hand over the keys to the United Nations who will operate the grounds as a museum to remind us of the dangers of religion to mankind and human dignity. Never again! Never again! Never again!

After this ceremony, he will turn himself over to the authorities of the international human rights court. His rings, hats and designer shoes will be auctioned on eBay and the proceeds will go to charity.

46. Fossil reveals oldest live birth

Comment #186187 by EvidenceOnly on May 29, 2008 at 9:04 pm

10. Comment #186136 by HappyPrimate

A couple of years ago, I was driving from Houston to Austin and back for a meeting. My rental car too had the radio set to some Lying for Jesus station.

I've never listened to that many hours of pure nonsense in my life.

For many, listening to that kind of crap is the quickest path to atheism of agnosticism.

It is pretty clear to me that the die-hard fundies, IDiots, GodDidIt-ists, will never accept anything as fact when it contradicts with their holy books.

Christian fundies especially have an easy way out: the devil has put all that science there to tempt the believer away from Jesus.

Our best bet is to keep children away from these religious mind abusers.

It is too late for many die-hards.

47. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186119 by EvidenceOnly on May 29, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Maybe a double blind study will prove that vaccines given under a Wi-Fi tower do not cause autism?

Maybe Arthur Firstenberg is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones because he is intelligently designed that way? He should thank his creator. He risks going to hell if he complains.

:)

48. Louisiana's latest creationism bill moves to House floor

Comment #185852 by EvidenceOnly on May 28, 2008 at 8:40 pm

70. Comment #185849 by TroubleNYC

Louisiana governor Jindal said: Personally, it certainly makes sense to me that when you look at creation, you would believe in a creator. Let's not be afraid to teach our kids the very best science.

And this is the guy on the short list for VP of McCain?

And this is a biology major?

We all know that Republicans and IDiots go well together.
What really blows my mind is that this IDiot claims to be a biologist.

Don't count on this guy for science.

49. Louisiana's latest creationism bill moves to House floor

Comment #185816 by EvidenceOnly on May 28, 2008 at 5:06 pm

61. Comment #185796 by Edouard Pernod

Really clever!

Let's teach all students about the 3 major forms of quackery (in the words of Christopher Hitchens):

- Alchemy (chemistry begins where alchemy ends)
- Astrology (astronomy begins where astrology ends)
- IDiotry (philosophy begins where religion ends).

3 good examples on how NOT to do science.

50. Louisiana's latest creationism bill moves to House floor

Comment #185485 by EvidenceOnly on May 27, 2008 at 11:12 pm

Is it not ironic that it is exactly those who BELIEVE that their god created everything also refuse to make use of their ability to think which they also claim is god-given?

Worse, they spare no effort to try to stop the rest of us, who KNOW we evolved through natural selection, from using our brains in search of evidence and truth.

Freedom of speech unfortunately but rightfully includes the freedom of some to prove to the rest of the world beyond a reasonable doubt that they really are ignoramuses, IDots, GodDidIt-ists, and the like.

While freedom of speech gives them the right to make a fool of themselves, it does NOT give them the right to force others from following the evidence to wherever it leads to.

It is child abuse to indoctrinate students with anti-evolution, anti-scientific, anti-truths in educational.

The same nonsensical arguments keep coming back. A great, short and sweet article that describes 34 unconvincing arguments for God can be found at:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/34_unconvincing_arguments_for.php