1. The Dawkins debate

Comment #70776 by Chayanov on September 16, 2007 at 9:53 pm

It's peculiar. Young children are encouraged to believe in Santa Claus, with a reward for believing. But a few years later and they're encouraged not to believe, with no reward for their lack of belief, and also told not to "ruin" the moment for younger children, who do get the reward of belief.

How do we get the ordinary people to realize their god(s) fall into the same category as Santa Claus -- made up by adults who must supply the rewards themselves?

Edit: As I think more about it, the reward for older children is flattery that they're grown-up enough to know the "truth", which is that Santa Claus is childish foolishness. So we just need to flatter more adults into believing that they're too grown-up for such foolishness as well. :)

2. The Dawkins debate

Comment #70705 by Chayanov on September 16, 2007 at 4:56 pm

Just yesterday a religion scholar I know told me that Dawkins is reductionist and hateful. She's never read a word he's written or listened to an interview with him -- her opinion comes from those of other religion scholars, some of whom have likely never read Dawkins either, based on their arguments (or was "The Selfish Gene" actually about a gene that was selfish?). I gather there's quite a cottage industry among religion scholars critiquing Dawkins without ever actually having read his books.

3. Griffin's 'offensive' Emmy speech to be censored

Comment #69573 by Chayanov on September 11, 2007 at 6:31 pm

Kathy Griffin more powerful than God and Jesus combined. Holy Ghost offers no comment.

4. Review of Darwin's Angel: An Angelic Response to the God Delusion

Comment #67052 by Chayanov on September 1, 2007 at 2:52 pm

"For a start, only religious nutcases take the Creation story literally..."

I am sick to death of religious apologists who start out with this non-argument. There are lots of people out there who do take it literally and are dead-serious about it, and if you think otherwise, then you're the one who is the nutcase.

And what was all that gibberish about angels supposed to prove?

5. Rational Atheism

Comment #64900 by Chayanov on August 22, 2007 at 8:46 am

Regardless of what atheists do, the religious moderates are not siding with us against the religious extremists. There's always that tacit approval of the extremists because, after all, they're religious so they must have something in common, more so than those atheists. These are the blinders that religion puts over the eyes and minds of otherwise sensible people.

6. The age of endarkenment

Comment #64352 by Chayanov on August 19, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Veronique -- And they're so deadly serious as they go through the motions (pun intended), pretending they really can push away, pull out, or redirect the body's energies, and insisting they can physically feel it happening.

7. The age of endarkenment

Comment #64307 by Chayanov on August 19, 2007 at 1:38 pm

Don't forget reiki -- you can cure someone's illness just by waving your hands over them.

8. Why Richard Dawkins is right on alternative medicine - but not when it comes to religion

Comment #62601 by Chayanov on August 10, 2007 at 9:07 am

Religious apologists seem to all have the same arguments. When I tell an apologist acquaintance of mine about some new nuttiness from the Vatican, her response is always along the lines of, "Nobody listens to the Pope or believes a word he says." Religious apologists are just completely divorced from reality, living in their fluffy metaphorical world.

9. Another Flea is Born

Comment #62461 by Chayanov on August 9, 2007 at 7:56 pm

"Isn't that hate speech? I'm sure someone could sue for distress caused ;-)"

It should be considered a hate crime, given that motive is all-important for hate crimes. The motive in this case is to intimidate non-Christians through fear (never mind that the result is we laugh at them -- it's the motive that matters). Look at how some people went on about motive and intimidation with the flushing of the Koran.

10. Curriculum for Baptist School

Comment #62458 by Chayanov on August 9, 2007 at 7:49 pm

"Students will examine the nature of God..."

If only.

"Through photography the students will understand that God is interested in beauty, that He is pleased with art."

Including Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ"?

11. OUT Campaign Launched, 'Scarlet Letter' Shirts Now Available!

Comment #59319 by Chayanov on July 28, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Sheesh. If there's anything we've learned from science and evolution, it's that humans are primates, which makes us social animals. There isn't a single one of us who lives their life as a true individual, completely isolated from society. We're members of all kinds of groups -- family, friends, work, hobbyist, neighborhood, etc. I can see where you might be uncomfortable proclaiming your lack of religious beliefs (after all, if you keep quiet, you can pass for one of the theists), but some of us are proud of who we are, what we've accomplished, and what we stand for.

Put away the Nietzsche and go out and enjoy the company of others.

12. Richard Dawkins on Hardtalk

Comment #58460 by Chayanov on July 25, 2007 at 12:00 am

Calling a 4-year-old a Christian just because he prays is merely using the most superficial of descriptions. Other religions besides Christianity invoke prayer. How do you know he's praying to the Christian god? How does he know what is meant by the Christian god? Could it be that he's really not a Christian at this point, but rather that you've placed the label of Christian upon him, which is precisely what Dawkins argues against?

In using your argument, if he shares his toys you should call him a Communist.

13. Response to the God Delusion

Comment #57986 by Chayanov on July 22, 2007 at 6:55 pm

Seriously, why don't the theists just say they have total, unquestioning, blind faith in their religion, they have no evidence beyond their beliefs, they don't want any evidence, and if any of it appears to contradict reality that's just because God can perform miracles and do whatever he wants precisely because he's God?

I would have absolutely no way to respond to that (beyond derision, that is, but what should they care? Supposedly they have faith).

Yeah, I know -- they worry deep down that faith isn't enough and they don't have any evidence to support their beliefs, but they don't have to let the atheists know that.

14. All the mistakes of the godly are merely metaphor

Comment #57983 by Chayanov on July 22, 2007 at 6:44 pm

Just once I'd like to see these sophisticated religious apologists take their fuzzy metaphor with them to church -- say, a Southern Baptist church in Houston, and address the congregation.

"There is a man out there named Richard Dawkins. He says you're deluded, that your belief that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was resurrected, and ascended to Heaven, where he sits beside God the Father, and the two of them judge the souls of the departed, and those they find worthy rise to Heaven and those who have committed mortal sins descend into the fiery pits of Hell, that those beliefs are nothing more than lies and delusions.

"But Dawkins is wrong! Because you don't believe in any of that at all! Because those assembled here know that Jesus and the Bible are just a big story, a metaphor for the undefinable sense of something greater than ourselves. And when you pray to Jesus for forgiveness and guidance, you're not really praying to him at all, but to the metaphor itself."

And then find out how long he has to get out of the church before they run him out.

15. Brainwashed children plead to die as martyrs in Red Mosque siege

Comment #55255 by Chayanov on July 10, 2007 at 11:22 am

Diplo #12:

I know a religious apologist (who is not a Muslim) who always blames "the culture of tribalism" whenever there are reports of Muslim violence. She especially does this whenever there are stories about Muslim violence toward women. But these people have been Muslim for how many centuries now? How on earth do you separate their religious beliefs from their "tribal" beliefs -- especially when they themselves claim they do what they do in the name of religion?

16. A force for good?

Comment #55239 by Chayanov on July 10, 2007 at 10:16 am

"Critics of religion get stuck somewhere between the infantile and adolescent stages."

This smug attitude has become very popular among the religious. I know many neo-pagans who have said much the same thing, that mainstream society is childish, and it's the pagans who are the adults (even though they play dress-up and run around pretending to cast spells and play make-believe).

17. A force for good?

Comment #55064 by Chayanov on July 9, 2007 at 11:49 pm

"There is a coherent social vision running through the Old and New Testament, focused on a God who demands justice, who takes the side of the poor and the marginalised, and who calls for a radical new understanding of human love, commitment and responsibility. That informs how I behave and treat other people."

If he behaves and treats other people as if he was the god of the Old Testament, I feel rather sorry for the people around him, what with all the stonings and everything. And doesn't this contradict his whine about how he believes in a vague and ill-defined god to begin with? How does he reconcile his belief in that god with his belief in the god of the Old Testament?

There should be some sort of buzzer that goes off whenever a theist uses Nazi Germany as their poster child of an atheist society, with an accompanying announcement that states their argument has now lost all credibility.

18. The Fastest-Growing Religion

Comment #42801 by Chayanov on May 19, 2007 at 5:21 pm

"History tells us that Wiccans will only be persecuted until there are allot of them, then they will do the persecuting."

It's happening already in the larger neo-pagan communities. They're trying to figure out what "real" and "true" pagans believe so they can block out those they disagree with. Wiccans are just as intolerant and judgmental as any Christian -- they just lack the social and economic power to back it up. They're no more eco-friendly in their day-to-day lives than another other random person, and they very much believe in an entire supernatural realm with gods, goddesses, fairies, spirits, etc., not to mention the whole "magick" nonsense.

This is how spell-casting was described to me: Suppose you want a better job. You perform a ritual and cast a spell designed to get you a better job (for example, you burn a green candle because green = money). But that doesn't absolve you of the responsibility to go out and fill out job applications, go on interviews, etc. You have to work for the results.

My response: So why waste time and resources casting spells if you have to go do all the work yourself anyway? What about all the people who cast spells and didn't get the job, and those who didn't cast spells and did get a job?

Answer: You just don't get it.

19. Supporters of abortion have no future in Church, Pope tells faithful

Comment #39499 by Chayanov on May 11, 2007 at 1:48 am

All babies must be born and baptized. After which, the church couldn't give a shit what happens to them.

20. Religion useless to Dawkins

Comment #29388 by Chayanov on April 2, 2007 at 6:06 pm

She writes for a living but can't be bothered to read, choosing instead to listen to audio books. Maybe if she paid more attention to Dawkins' words rather than his tone, she might have gotten more out of the book. She's not clever, not funny, and her review isn't even deep enough to be considered superficial.

I'm also guessing that fewer people who sit and read fall into pools than those who walk around with iPods.

21. Kansas science standards evolve again, becoming pro-Darwin

Comment #22384 by Chayanov on February 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm

How odd. I thought it was the creationists who were pushing the idea of things magically happening in the universe.

22. Believing Scripture but Playing by Science's Rules

Comment #22287 by Chayanov on February 13, 2007 at 11:27 pm

Coming up on the end of my own dissertation work, I really can't imagine what it would be like if I had put in all those years of study, defending my ideas, putting my ideas out there to be critiqued, all the writing I had done, and not believe a word of it. I'd probably go crazy, hating myself for living a lie every single day, lying to myself, my professors, and my colleagues.

23. The questions science cannot answer

Comment #21745 by Chayanov on February 10, 2007 at 10:23 pm

Theologians are more than useless. I've had to suffer the extreme annoyance of being in attendance at a conference of religious scholars. It's either arguments over deconstructed minutiae from scripture or it's celebrating how much smarter religious scholars are than non-scholars.

24. The God Delusion

Comment #21744 by Chayanov on February 10, 2007 at 10:19 pm

"You can think about things all you want, it doesn't make them real (if it did, I would never have to phone for a pizza delivery)."

I am growing so weary of religious newage types spouting this kind of nonsense. Talk about being immune to argument and lack of evidence -- they know full well their thoughts aren't creating tangible, material things (it never seems to be able to fix the car or pay the electric bill), but that doesn't prevent them from clinging to their superstitious beliefs.

25. Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums

Comment #21684 by Chayanov on February 10, 2007 at 3:34 pm

"Let's just cave in to every religion-based request! Just because religion MUST BE RIGHT... Burn heretics to the stake. Drown witches."

That's perfect! Let some religious group really start persecuting some other religious group, then when they come crying to the State for protection, respond with, "We can't interfere with their religious beliefs."

26. Do stop behaving as if you are God, Professor Dawkins

Comment #21169 by Chayanov on February 7, 2007 at 9:02 pm

Well, sheesh. It's impossible to find truth through religion, so why not give atheism a try? That is, if truth is really what you're looking for...

27. Ancient boy's skeleton sparks evolution debate

Comment #21168 by Chayanov on February 7, 2007 at 8:57 pm

The religious have always preferred to live in comfortable ignorance than to have to deal with uncomfortable facts. It is a trait all religions share.

28. Wash. school board restricts Gore's global-warming film

Comment #17803 by Chayanov on January 16, 2007 at 4:41 pm

"Hey, I thought Jesus was the son of God, but according to FHardison, he's the son of Mary and ... Joseph! Thanks FHardison (and Matthew), for debunking that myth as well!"

Yeah, I always wondered why anyone cared what the lineage of Joseph (God's Cuckold) was. He had nothing to do with any of this, really, except for having God knock up his wife.

29. Questionable Mission

Comment #16643 by Chayanov on January 7, 2007 at 8:32 pm

"... my first priority is my faith in God, then my family and then country."

So he would betray his country and his family for the sake of his god? And this guy is a major general in the Air Force? Gee I feel so much safer now...

30. Beliefwatch: Blasphemy (Challenge)

Comment #15598 by Chayanov on January 1, 2007 at 2:23 pm

I don't have a camera for YouTube so I'll take care of it here.

I deny the existence of any and all gods, goddesses, spirits, watchful ancestors, mythical heroes, and any other denizens of the supernatural realm. In fact, I deny the existence of the supernatural realm as well.

That should cover it.