1. The Faith of Flanders

Comment #184258 by Demotruk on May 24, 2008 at 8:09 am

I don't like the way he's developed as a character. In the early days he had a personality. But since before Mod died, he's developed into more and more of a dull stereotype.

2. Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Comment #184240 by Demotruk on May 24, 2008 at 5:10 am

Mitchell, nobody is asking you to believe what the author is proposing is true.

Testable hypotheses don't just form fully thought out in people's heads. There is a phase in science where people have to discuss problems, possible solutions, and then try and figure out how to make them testable. Just because you can't think how to test the idea of a multiverse, doesn't mean it can't be done. We don't know how they might impact our universe, and thinking and speculating might come up with an answer.

Now, if he tried to get it into classrooms without testing it, or even tried to convince other scientists of it's truth without creating a testable hypothesis, he would be acting unscientifically. But then, if in an academic arena, whenever a new idea is proposed, you were to shout "that's untestable, bullshit!!" without giving it due thought, you wouldn't be acting very scientific. An idea can evolve into a hypothesis with further discussion and thought. Why would you try to stifle that?

I'm not saying I agree with his hypothesis. I'm not sure if his criticism of inflation is fair. But I'm not going to immediately cry bullshit either.

3. The amazing intelligence of crows

Comment #181743 by Demotruk on May 18, 2008 at 6:11 am

Wow @ crow kitten, I love when motherly instincts misfire into caring for an unfortunate. Just a pity it probably won't help the bird spread it's genes, just the cats.

And amazing the way it was trying to teach the kitten to be wary of roads.

4. God and Science Collide in Nation's Capital

Comment #181710 by Demotruk on May 18, 2008 at 3:06 am

What a fantastic misrepresentation of the "standard line". Why bother with the phrase "natural evidence is all there is"? Evidence is evidence, I don't see a difference between natural and supernatural evidence. If either could prove to me that God existed, I'd be happy with it.

5. These dim-wits believe in anything but God

Comment #181517 by Demotruk on May 17, 2008 at 10:40 am

I opted out of religion in secondary school, but it was different at the time, Catholicism was taught as true, and only a small mention was given to other religions.

I think it's different in a class that teaches about religion. As long as they're only teaching what people believe, I don't see why you should opt-out. It's important to understand what people are widely deluded about, as it could affect you some day.

6. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #179754 by Demotruk on May 13, 2008 at 4:20 pm

The Catholic church is evolving. They know they're not going to win youths over in an increasingly secular Europe with ideas that glaringly contradict science, so they're changing God into this vague, undisprovable thing that has less and less association with the Bible. The bible stories are increasingly non-literal, and they don't promote reading the bible for yourself in the way protestant churches might. They retain the silly things they stand for like the sanctity of human life(even when it's just one cell), but overall, this is just a step towards a vague 'modern' idea of God that allows them to retain credibility in a society that can easily reject the religions that don't move with the times.

It'll be it's own downfall in the end though. Being vague means that it won't impose it's own view, allowing people to learn science, reason and critical thinking for themselves, which are what kill even the deist God.

(I mention Europe specifically because that's where the real battle is. Converting africans doesn't require strong memes, it requires priests bringing aid along with sermons).

7. Richard Dawkins interviewed by John Humphrys on Cardinal Murphy O'Connor

Comment #177614 by Demotruk on May 9, 2008 at 11:11 am

So, the Cardinal thinks that dictatorships are ruled by reason...

It shows you the problem with faith, when their most prominant spokespeople make remarks like this. I think the "morality from God" thing has been deeply engrained in these people.

Is it so hard for these people to understand the value of moral laws that aren't dictated by some greater authority to them? Perhaps morals based on the notions of harm/good? Morals can be based on reason, you don't have to throw morals out the door along with your silly superstitions.

8. Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour

Comment #177422 by Demotruk on May 9, 2008 at 4:30 am

Do they make those claims inside Britain? Doesn't that fall under "terrorism"?

9. Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour

Comment #177418 by Demotruk on May 9, 2008 at 4:20 am

This is pretty much what's happening in all the European nations. The docile old state churches can't hold on to their flock as they get educated.

What's important is that we make sure people understand evangelical churches, so they don't suddenly fill the void.

10. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177408 by Demotruk on May 9, 2008 at 3:36 am

@SmartLX

I didn't even suppose that Haggard may not have known what a Nuremberg rally was. If you're right, well it's a scary thought that so many could follow someone who knows pretty much nothing about the world...

11. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177183 by Demotruk on May 8, 2008 at 5:44 pm

Damn Godwin's law. It seems to be that even justified or innocent use of Godwin's Law are becoming intolerable. I'm not sure who's fault that is though. On the one hand you've got groups like Scientology and ID who openly try to put the blame for the holocaust upon their opponents. And as a reaction to Godwin's law, "Hitler" has become a dirty word. You can't compare people to Hitler even in the most non-derogatory sense. People always end up having to apologise or explain the use of the word, I've seen this on Youtube and internet forums.

I've noticed that Richard Dawkins has done so when talking to Ted Haggard also, and seemingly in the same sense as this. But the word just stands out from a sentence. It makes the whole sentence sound like an attack, when really it's about oration(?), or in the case of Haggard, the energy of the crowd.

I don't know if this means people should go easy on the comparisons to Hitler, even the innocent ones, or not. It only seems to cause tension, but at the same time, by not saying it when it's appropriate, you're helping to establish a taboo...

12. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177017 by Demotruk on May 8, 2008 at 1:13 pm

tl;dr

At least maybe Catholics will look on atheists as less evil in times to come?

13. An Atheist Goes Undercover to Join the Flock of Mad Pastor John Hagee

Comment #176518 by Demotruk on May 7, 2008 at 2:28 pm

I'm some way through it now. Scary read, although nothing particularly surprising yet.

14. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175279 by Demotruk on May 5, 2008 at 4:55 am

I did all four.

There were some truly ridiculous questions. I assume they were there to test that you were paying attention.

I half expected to see something along the lines of "You disagree with this statement".

15. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #172861 by Demotruk on April 30, 2008 at 6:14 am

People are debating against ID only because ID is attempting to by-pass the scientific method and get their garbage, or even just the idea that ID is scientific, taught in school. You shouldn't take it that because scientists have been forced to engage with IDists, that ID is actually scientific.

16. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #172078 by Demotruk on April 29, 2008 at 8:01 am

I consider God to be an illogical explanation for the universe, not that it's an impossible explanation. If God could arise from simplicity and then start the universe, that would work, but it's just not easily believable or sensible. If the stars where to align in the sky into phrases that say "I (God) exist", I would not discount the possibility of superpowerful aliens, but it would still bring me closer to accepting God as an explanation. That doesn't mean I don't agree with the argument that God almost definitely doesn't exist based on simplicity->complexity.

17. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #171197 by Demotruk on April 28, 2008 at 11:08 am

Well, since the troll is being well fed... I may as well join you all.

Isn't america about freedom? About being able to do and say what you like as long as it doesn't impose upon others? So why would you prevent homosexuals from doing what they want, or do you think that they are somehow imposing upon you by having sex with eachother, or promoting sexual freedom?

18. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #171156 by Demotruk on April 28, 2008 at 10:41 am

Why are people responding to an incredibly obvious troll when there's an interesting conversation to be had on the voice inside Kardashovel's head.

Kardashovel, you say that the voice inside your head has made accurate and specific predictions. That would be an outstanding thing to happen, if a voice in my head said did a thing, no doubt I'd start believing anything he/it said.

But I have some questions to ask.

When does the voice arise? Are there particular times when it talks or makes predictions?

Is it literally a voice, do you literally hear words being spoken to you(wether that goes through your ears or not)?

Can you describe what it predicted?

19. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #169970 by Demotruk on April 27, 2008 at 7:17 am

From the perspective of someone who does not know whatever circumstances he has, such a comment can only be destructive. Especially if a good number of posts are made afterwards with none as far as I can see offering an apology, or even an explanation(unless I missed that post).

20. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #169966 by Demotruk on April 27, 2008 at 6:42 am

Why have people told melissajoy to fuck off, or that she's a fucktard?

Surely many of us have been Christians at different stages in our lives? We may have even justified the things that God did purely on the basis that we believe God is perfect? Personally I became an atheist soon after I learned about other religions in other parts of the world(why should I believe something based on what my priests tell me when others believe what their priests tell them?), when I was around 10-12, but I still understand the difficulty in shifting our entire world view. When you've been told this all your life, and even had anti-critical thinking memes fed to you(faith is a virtue, the devil will try to make you disbelieve), sometimes justifying horrible things may be easier than changing your world view.

Underestimating the power of religion over the mind does us no service, but calling someone under the influence of religion a "fucktard" does atheists a major disservice. If there was ever a chance that melissajoy might have walked away from this forum with critical thoughts or seriously doubting her faith, those chances could be gone now.

Acting like this will help to create a stronger "us and them" mentality, among both the religious and the non-religious.

21. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #169791 by Demotruk on April 26, 2008 at 8:17 pm

@melissajoy

I get the feeling any experiment we could perform would yield results that "point to God", no matter how they turn out.

I would say that no experiment that has ever undergone peer review has pointed to God in the slightest, but to give more direct examples, what about the experiments that have been done on the effects of prayer. They have shown that not only does prayer not provide a positive effect, but if a sick person is aware that they're being prayed for, it actually makes things worse.

You know who's an even better deciever than the devil? The self.