1. Creationist Britain (would you Adam and Eve it?)

Comment #250271 by catskill on September 19, 2008 at 8:09 am

"Wes explains that the problem with evolutionism is it denies the essential Christian belief that we are made in God's image."

Of course! This is my favorite one! Because we are made in the image of a god, therefore we are god like ourselves. And anyone who tries to tell us we are not god like creatures MUST be wrong!

That does not sound arrogant at all!

2. Science lessons should tackle creationism and intelligent design

Comment #246405 by catskill on September 12, 2008 at 9:22 am

Last night on Charlie Rose there were two former Treasury Secretaries talking about economic issues. The one was saying how we in the US have great opportunity based on our ability to change and innovate. He said that the next great revolutions like that of the internet are going to be in the life sciences, but that unfortunatly we are also the country that is debating whether evolution might be true or not. Goes to show that striving to be a backward religiously motivated country will have far reaching effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPP4qM_yL-Y

3. Atheists: The Last Political Outcasts

Comment #238769 by catskill on August 28, 2008 at 2:55 pm

Obama giving his approval for continued faith based funding is obvious politically. The whole faith based initiative was founded under Bush, and it funnels millions of dollars (our dollars) directly to the church. When you are in a country where the largest and most organized voting blocks are based on religious affiliation, you cannot go out and say "Remember that massive flow of free money? Yeah that's gone of you elect me."

At this point you just have to hope that Obama gets elected, wins a second term, and then is able to phase out faith funding before he leaves office.

4. Atheists: The Last Political Outcasts

Comment #238684 by catskill on August 28, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Its a tough call. Admit that you don't believe in magic and you lose the election. As much as I hate it there is the reality, at least at this time, that if you want the Democratic party to be totally secular than you are basically saying that you do not want to see any Democrats elected. The people to be mad at are the vast number of Americans who vote for Jesus, and not the politicians who have to conform to the will of the voters to get elected. I just hope that Obama wins and that once in office he proves to be a more level headed and secular person than they are portraying him as.

5. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #238054 by catskill on August 27, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Your disbelief in Santa Claus just proves the weakness of your position!!

6. Plan to exhume cardinal is 'homophobic'

Comment #237306 by catskill on August 26, 2008 at 10:34 am

A death cult is obsessed with digging up corpses. What a surprise.

7. Imagine No Religion' signs to go up around town

Comment #236999 by catskill on August 25, 2008 at 4:33 pm

FYI

I wrote to the Freedom From Religion Foundation and asked what reason was given to them as to why the sign had to be at least 1000 feet from any school or church. I got a form letter response, followed quickly by a real person response.

Basically the FFRF email said that people were just trying to be as difficult as possible. No mention of what exact rule they were using. It also said that since they had a bunch of really good sites picked out they didn't have the need or the desire to fight for one near a school or church anyway.

BTW,

The form letter included this bit:

"We would like to offer you an introductory packet about the Foundation and its significant work to promote freethought and keep state and church separate, including a complimentary issue of our newspaper, Freethought Today. FFRF does not sell or give away its mailing list so you will only get information about us. If you are interested, please reply with your name and mailing address, and we will put material in the mail today!

Thank you for your interest in freethought and the First Amendment. We hope you will join us. Freedom depends on freethinkers!"

The email address is info@ffrf.org

FFRF Inc
PO Box 750
Madison WI 53701 USA

8. Imagine No Religion' signs to go up around town

Comment #236764 by catskill on August 25, 2008 at 9:50 am

Yeah 1000 feet from churches or schools? Ask yourself, what else has to be 1000 feet from churches or schools? Liquor stores? Adult businesses? And... anything accepting of atheism?? WTF??

9. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236526 by catskill on August 24, 2008 at 6:34 pm

I went to the NYT directly and started reading the comments, there were 260 as of now... it started well and I was happily surprised, but no, there are plenty of ignorant and bizarre comments to be found in the list. Just amazing is the total lack of knowledge displayed by some. Really bad. All of the favorites are there. Just a theory. Second law. I mean REALLY. Even Answers in Genesis dot com tells creationists not to use those arguments.

I did like one comment though, the author insisted on calling creationism "magical creation" every time. I know creationism is less characters to type out, but I think from now on I will never use anything but "magical creation" in any argument whether written or verbal.

10. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236420 by catskill on August 24, 2008 at 3:25 pm

The pastor who gave out the anti evolution books probably switched to evolution after his last book, which promoted the Earth as center of the Universe as per the Bible, didn't do as well.

Well, I have to get back to my current book, which explains the worldwide scientific community conspiracy to promote false anti god beliefs by stating that disease is caused by viruses and bacteria, and not by god as punishment for our sins, which we all know is the true reason.

11. Channel 4 announces return of Undercover Mosque

Comment #235758 by catskill on August 23, 2008 at 1:56 pm

dpsych

Your post is genius! Hilarious!

p.s. - I am sure the quote "Burn down the stores of the Hindus, and as for the Jews, you must kill them physically" was probably just taken out of context, right? Pfft....

12. US school district sued over homophobic 'witch hunt'

Comment #234531 by catskill on August 21, 2008 at 2:04 pm

The school superintendent keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls? Is that even legal for public school administrators?

13. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233831 by catskill on August 20, 2008 at 12:54 pm

I always figured McCain to be much more religious. And I keep getting sick every time he starts defending action in Georgia because Georgia is a Christian nation. WTF? Plus his 'this nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles' thing he always says. Blech!

I am troubled by Obama in a worst of two evils situation. Does he really buy into the religious drivel? Or is he pandering to a block of religious voters he needs to win over? Either way its bad.

p.s. - My GF said that if McCain said "my friends" one more time she was leaving the room

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9izhjnaLa3M

14. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #233822 by catskill on August 20, 2008 at 12:41 pm

I wonder how many of the jurors ever worked on a Sunday.

15. Q&A with Richard Dawkins after lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #233634 by catskill on August 20, 2008 at 6:13 am

I see that someone has posted this on YouTube if that is easier for you. Good quality too.

http://uk.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet

16. No credit for creationism

Comment #232871 by catskill on August 18, 2008 at 7:41 pm

Jesus86 wrote:
In defense of the "dumb blonde" who referred to ID as a "theory": well, it IS a theory.

So is Lamarkism, and so is the god hypothesis. Theories don't have to be good to be theories. Most aren't.

Evolution - Theory based on evidence, can be falsified but has not been

Lamarckism - Theory based on evidence which was disproven (falsified)

ID - Unable to be a theory due to not having any evidence, also cannot be disproven (falsified) because it relies on magic.

What is so hard to understand about this?

17. No credit for creationism

Comment #232685 by catskill on August 18, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Yeah that ruling was for public school, not much you can do if it is a private school.

It is so sad that people are mis-educated like this. A real shame.

p.s. - Did you see the book on the desk? 'Faith of Our Founding Fathers'? Somehow I doubt it is truthful. (I was going to say biased, but by definition a Christian school is biased) Again, whats worse, being ignorant and uneducated, or "educated" with total falsehoods and misinformation?

18. After Bibles seized, U.S. group won't leave Chinese airport

Comment #232676 by catskill on August 18, 2008 at 1:23 pm

This just makes me think of all the times I have heard "Yeah but we don't PUSH our ideas on people..."

Yeah right. I am sure they give out those Bibles and say you can believe or not, no harm no foul right? Or is it more, believe or burn? Hmmm..

19. Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith

Comment #232155 by catskill on August 17, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Again theists proving how useful they are. I can think of 100 things they could be doing to help the energy crisis, but of course they would rather stand around and pray.

I also would like to add that even if I believed in prayer this would still be pathetic. Pray for victims of the Iraq war? Pray for sick children? Nah, we are going to pray for cheap gasoline. Great work losers.

20. Poll: Should the motto 'In God We Trust' be removed from U.S. currency?

Comment #230155 by catskill on August 14, 2008 at 11:25 am

It was added to coins during the Civil War and added to bills during the height of the Cold War. I wish they would remove it because I am tired of Christians using it as evidence that we are a "Christian Nation".

Take it off the wall in Congress too.

21. Optimism in Evolution

Comment #229163 by catskill on August 13, 2008 at 7:29 am

Great article. Gives me a mental picture of a bunch of fundies holding their hands over their ears going na-na-na-na!

22. Judge says UC can deny class credit to Christian school students

Comment #229157 by catskill on August 13, 2008 at 7:18 am

I am happy to hear of the court's decision, but am a bit dismayed to hear of some of the classes that ARE accepted. When I transferred from a state school in NY to a FL university some of my class credits did not transfer, including some math classes. And now I see UC honors class credits from "Chemistry for Christian Schools" and "Biology: God's Living Creation"?! Pathetic!

Also, the article notes that classes are honored if they "include scientific discussions of creationism as well as evolution." Scientific discussions of creationism? Somehow I doubt this means a discussion on how creationism is not scientific.

23. Saudi Arabia Bans Dog Walking in Capital

Comment #228272 by catskill on August 11, 2008 at 5:48 pm

The part I seem to be missing is why in a strictly Islamic country are there any dogs at all? Are not dogs seen as unclean? Didn't we just have a story here about a couple of Muslims protesting a British police sticker because it had a PHOTO of a dog? What am I missing here?

24. Praying for health

Comment #225407 by catskill on August 6, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Not impressed.

25. Embracing goodness, without God

Comment #223989 by catskill on August 3, 2008 at 10:16 pm

"diCarlo had become a staunch humanist, as atheists prefer to be called."

I prefer:

YourChildishSuperstitionsAreStupid-ist

26. Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights

Comment #222438 by catskill on July 31, 2008 at 12:33 pm

In the future I can see this as a footnote in a textbook explaining how the US went from secular democracy to fundamentalist theocracy.

Chapter 4 Section 3 - Tracing early laws that eventually led to burning heretics alive in the US.

27. Write to UCF

Comment #219160 by catskill on July 26, 2008 at 11:48 am

I have been looking over the UCF student handbook at http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu/ and I am not convinced that an individual acting disrespectfully to an entire organization can be considered a violation except in the most broad terms.

It seems to me that for every argument that could be made to show a violation by the student, there would easily be an equal argument made to show the student was harassed. Harassment is a much clearer violation of the code of conduct.

28. Write to UCF

Comment #219139 by catskill on July 26, 2008 at 11:02 am

Well if the school is going to punish these students, I suggest that any letter writing include a link to the FSM pages, and a DEMAND that pasta of any kind not be served ANYWHERE on campus, unless it is to those who profess knowledge and worship of thine holiness, the FSM.

edit - I just cannot believe that in our modern society a state funded school would knowingly provide our most holy sacrament, pasta, to heathens who blasphemy our most sacred foodstuffs. By not providing the proper respect and rituals they are disgracing what we consider most holy of all!

edit2- typo

29. Texas Fiction Science

Comment #219052 by catskill on July 26, 2008 at 7:39 am

I agree with a previous post. The Texas State Board of Education has a website where they describe their mission. It includes preparing students to go on to higher education. One of the measurements used is how many graduating students go on to higher level education. I wish that some university associations would release a statement making it clear that this travesty would reflect negatively on students from Texas (and Louisiana). That way it will be documented that these morons are not following their own mission statements and guidelines. And are, in fact, completely failing to do the job they are paid to do.

30. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #215993 by catskill on July 22, 2008 at 4:25 pm

I am actually somewhat surprised that there has not been any backlash against Muslims in NYC. It shows that New Yorkers are a tolerant bunch. Still, I can see these ads getting defaced if they are put up. Especially after the media coverage.

31. Jefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faith

Comment #214930 by catskill on July 21, 2008 at 4:23 am

I agree we need many more articles such as this. Just last month during special order speeches in Congress one after another they came to the mike and read into the Congressional record speech after speech, declaring our nation to be founded on Christian faith. They praised the founding fathers again and again for their Christian beliefs. One representative even said that the Bible and the Declaration of Independence were the two best things ever written. Does he even realize that the author of the Declaration thought Christianity was stupid?

32. The Moral Necessity of Atheism

Comment #213477 by catskill on July 18, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Yeah the embed here doesn't work but going to YouTube and typing in "Hitchens Sewanee" gives valid links. Isn't that just like the internet? Delete one thing and it pops up in ten other places.

33. Let's Get Rid of Darwinism

Comment #212199 by catskill on July 16, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Great article! Love the title! How many of our foolish foes must have begun to read it only to trail off quickly in disgust! Well written. Some good points.

Note - this comment fully compliant with catskillism

34. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #212190 by catskill on July 16, 2008 at 7:33 pm

I had high hopes when I saw the article title. Sadly the talks that were canceled seemed to not be creationist focused, and the details about the whole event seem somewhat... fishy.

35. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #209861 by catskill on July 13, 2008 at 12:42 pm

I just checked the ABC Nightline website, and besides the 640 plus comments, which are almost all in support of the revival, I found this update:

"
UPDATE: After this story aired on "Nightline," Fresh Fire Ministries released a statement announcing that preacher Todd Bentley would be taking time off "to refresh and to rest" after having spent four months in Lakeland, Fla., leading revival meetings. In the meantime their Lakeland broadcasts on GOD TV are put on hold.
"

36. Host Desecration is Old Anti-Semitic Nonsense

Comment #209857 by catskill on July 13, 2008 at 12:36 pm

Border Collie makes a good point. Perhaps we can grow the cracker in a petri dish, extract the DNA and clone a new Jesus! Maybe the Christians will realize that science is their best friend, since they are all waiting for Jesus to return, and they have access to Jesus's flesh and blood, science can bring them what they have been waiting for all this time!

37. Church Cancels Teen Gun Giveaway

Comment #209853 by catskill on July 13, 2008 at 12:29 pm

A week of preaching and "teaching" is a lot scarier than a gun prize to me. Its not like they were in NYC. In Oklahoma guns are everywhere, and whomever would have won the gun probably already has access to firearms.

38. Man Sues Church Over 'God Injury'

Comment #209848 by catskill on July 13, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Comment #10 wins!

39. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208848 by catskill on July 11, 2008 at 9:52 am

The article and the story about it on ABC Nightline does not even mention some of the best stuff. People from this claim and talk about gold dust falling from the sky, about diamonds appearing. Bentley has a special part of the service where he asks for dental miracles. Seriously. And there are people online posting stories of amazing dental miracles.

I have been in a long running comment debate with people who actually go to this thing. I debunk many of the claims but they just don't care. They are really scary people.

40. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208136 by catskill on July 10, 2008 at 4:05 pm

How ironic that a letter to a University head in defense of a free thinker against religious persecution has to be addressed to "Church Street".

41. Origin of the Novel Species Noodleous doubleous: Evidence for Intelligent Design

Comment #205457 by catskill on July 7, 2008 at 9:48 am

This... is... awesome!!

42. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204898 by catskill on July 6, 2008 at 5:52 am

Don't the science types have some sort of way to reveal faded text? Like photographing it in obscure wavelengths or something? If the ink is still good enough to read after a few thousand years the faded parts must have left some sort of trace in the stone that can be viewed?

43. When too much Rapture is barely enough

Comment #204597 by catskill on July 5, 2008 at 10:25 am

Did I hear that correctly? 144,000 male virgin Jews get raptured? The rest lose their heads or something? So how does this guy think he is going to be raptured if he is not a male virgin Jew?

44. Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat

Comment #203073 by catskill on July 2, 2008 at 10:56 am

I wonder how many complaints they really received.

45. Charles Darwin was not the father of atheism

Comment #201810 by catskill on June 30, 2008 at 9:37 am

"Far better to see Darwin in the theological context of his time. The prevalent Victorian religious mindset was Natural Theology and, if its principal proponent, William Paley, would forgive the paraphrase, it ran that life, the universe and everything was too ordered, too complex, too coincidental and too downright beautiful to have come about by accident. It followed that it all must have had a benign and purposeful creator."


This is funny. The theological context of Victorian times. Creationism. The author makes it sound like this thinking is from a different era, yet this same argument is getting pushed into our schools even today.

46. Evangelical grunts

Comment #200834 by catskill on June 28, 2008 at 9:58 am

This article reads like a nightmare. Except its worse than a nightmare... its true.

47. Philadelphia Set to Honor Darwin and Evolution

Comment #198627 by catskill on June 24, 2008 at 10:17 am

PZ has a post on his blog that talks about this article. He makes some good points. Worth a look.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/06/what_is_wrong_with_journalists.php

48. Bright Chunks At Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

Comment #197521 by catskill on June 22, 2008 at 9:34 am

Wired.com just answered my question with an article titled "How do you know its water?"

Basically it says that its Martian summer where the lander is now and the temperatures are too warm for CO2 ice but cold enough for H2O ice.

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

Comment #197364 by catskill on June 21, 2008 at 9:41 pm

After reading over the comments again I saw the notice given to the use of the word 'strident'. I looked it up, and have to admit I did not realize that it was so insulting a term to use.

Plus they accuse Forrest of "scare-mongering" and of writing "falsehoods".

And then they finish by labeling any dissenting mail as "hate mail".

The DI are really a bunch of jerks.

50. Christianity 'could die out within a century'

Comment #197359 by catskill on June 21, 2008 at 9:05 pm

Maybe threats of violence after you are dead is not as effective as it used to be in getting new followers, but threats of chopping your head off right now still has the ability to persuade.