1. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253484 by Jesus was a zombie on September 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Rational_Skeptic

"Why is sex still called nasty and dastardly even among the non-religious? Sex is enjoyable and humans are among the very few species who do it for reasons other than procreation. I feel much of the discussion around abortion and who bears the costs for bringing up children is rooted in centuries of religious culture and proscriptions around sexuality and inheritance."

Here, here! Most of my friends are non-religious and they still talk about sex as if there is something inherently "naughty" about it.

DPB

"Most women have abortions because they don't want to have to deal with taking care of a child. That is not the same thing as a womans life being in danger because of the pregnancy."

On the abortion front I have a scenario for you based on someone I knew.

A girl gets pregnant. The sex was consensual, she is a few years beyond the age of consent and she used protection, she was just unlucky as happens from time to time. Physically she is quite fit and very unlikely to have any complications during the pregnancy. However she is prone to depression, she cannot abide the thought of having a child and her relatively mild bouts of depression turn into something a lot worse (not helped by the fact the father wants nothing to do with her). She confides in her friends that she has contemplated suicide. They do everything to talk her out of it and she eventually decides that an early abortion would be best, as she can think about nothing but getting rid of the baby. With the support of her friends she gets though it and starts to recover emotionally (The abortion was not a pleasant experience, I doubt it ever is).

DPB would you have denied her the opportunity to have the abortion? I mean she wasn't raped and she was physically healthy, it is statistically likely that she would have had an uncomplicated pregnancy. If so sir, I honestly fear you would have played no small part in instigating a suicide.

Another small point being that if you take away legal abortions even women who are not suicidal or who don't suffer from a complicated pregnancy are likely to die needlessly. Why?

Back street abortions

Legal or not, women are still going to want to terminate pregnancies. Do you know what can happen during these procedures? Do you think the "practitioners" are always going to be using sterile equipment? Hell, are half of them going to know what they are doing? No, is the short answer.

My point is you take away the right to choose you are always going to be putting at risk the lives of women that need not be at risk, whether through dodgy abortions, pregnancy complications or even suicide.

Sorry for the rant, I needed to get that off my chest! (I tried to post this a while back and he damn computer wouldn't let me, so this may seem a little out of sync)

EDIT: spelling

2. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253325 by Jesus was a zombie on September 24, 2008 at 9:53 am

You mean its not againts the rights of the patient to withhold treatment/referal on the basis of YOUR belief system. Oh, you have a book to prove it do you, well thats alright then...

If you can't perform what is required of you to belong to a certain profession, then do not join. I'm not saying that all catholic doctors should be made to perform abortions, but they DO have an obligation to refer the patient to a doctor that will, if that is what the patient requires.

3. Look Who's Irrational Now

Comment #251792 by Jesus was a zombie on September 22, 2008 at 5:55 am

"I'd love to be able to publicly question him (or anyone else for that matter) about not believing in vaccination."

Thats positively bland compared to what I'd like to do! Seriously though, I do believe that people that spout unfounded bullshit about vaccinations should be forced to watch a 3 hour slide-show dealing in nothing but the aftermath of diseases such as measles, polio, TB, things that we in the west have became fucking complacent about.

Oh yeah, and smallpox anyone? Maybe Mahers dissaproves that big bad western medicine came along and wiped that off the face of the planet (well, almost)...

4. Richard Dawkins infected with Satanic 'virus of mind', Christian group claims

Comment #251498 by Jesus was a zombie on September 21, 2008 at 2:23 pm

"despite him being spiritually dead for over 60 years"

Prehaps we could celebrate the event like a birthday! Anybody fancy a knees-up? For the spiritually dead only mind...

5. Richard Dawkins infected with Satanic 'virus of mind', Christian group claims

Comment #251322 by Jesus was a zombie on September 21, 2008 at 11:10 am

I have just visited their wbsite.
Hells bells its depressing!

I found one ray of hope though

"it will need a miracle for our sad, dysfunctional nation to turn from its belief that mankind knows best and to trust in God again."

Well, at least they don't fancy their chances of succeding as being high if they think they need a sodding miracle!

6. Richard Dawkins infected with Satanic 'virus of mind', Christian group claims

Comment #251296 by Jesus was a zombie on September 21, 2008 at 10:47 am

Infidel Rooster

They seem to be hovering on the margins. I believe they featured on a programme on channel 4 a while back. They certainly like to stick their oar in whenever they possibly can but they are not a constant presence in the media (however much they certainly would like this!).

Edit: I suspect it is very hard to come up with anything humerous when you're worried God is looking over you're shoulder all the time. What if you said something wrong!

7. Richard Dawkins infected with Satanic 'virus of mind', Christian group claims

Comment #251288 by Jesus was a zombie on September 21, 2008 at 10:39 am

Ridelo

"Well, well. "A virus of mind". Where did they got that idea from?"

I honestly don't think they'd appreciate the irony...

Its nutters like these that remind me constantly how degrading to the human condition religion is.

8. Look Who's Irrational Now

Comment #250871 by Jesus was a zombie on September 20, 2008 at 5:14 pm

Don_Quix

"Wow. Nice picture. Looks like it came straight off a 14 year-old goth girl's MySpace page. Anne Rice much?"

I know quite a few goths, and trust me, they look nothing like that! (unless you are refering to the "emo" pretenders. Yes they do like to wear their hair over their eyes and mope about on myspace, but enough stereotypes for one day...)

9. Look Who's Irrational Now

Comment #250866 by Jesus was a zombie on September 20, 2008 at 5:04 pm

"It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition"

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Need I say more?

10. Autism and Vaccines: Why Bad Logic Trumps Science

Comment #244059 by Jesus was a zombie on September 8, 2008 at 8:30 am

Katana

You are right that a certain percentage of the population must be vaccinated to prevent an outbreak of a particular disease, i believe this is termed "herd immunity". The percentage needed, unless i am mistaken, varies with each particular disease.

One of the reasons for this is because not every immunisation is successful. For example, if a new vaccine was invented for ebola say (before you ask, I have no particular reason for picking ebola!), it may only have a ninty five percent success rate. So even if you get the jab there will be a one in twenty chance that it will not take and so you still will not be immune. This is where herd immunity comes in, as most of the people you meet day to day will be immune (provided they have had the vaccine of course) and so form a kind of protective barrier around you. Of course this is not perfect, but it is effective enough in preventing a large scale or very serious outbreak.

Now imagine that twenty percent of the population refuse to get the vaccine for some reason. Now a significant proportion of the people you meet will not be immune, the protective barrier has effectively been breached and so a large serious outbreak is much more likely.

I hope that is not too much of a garbled explaination, it has been a while since I have studied immunity and diseases!

11. McCain's VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

Comment #240293 by Jesus was a zombie on August 31, 2008 at 9:46 am

Paine
"Slightly off-topic, but I just think that Brits (Londoners at least) should stop slagging off the Yanks for electing idiots.
I watched the Olympic closing ceremony at Beijing and saw Boris Johnson behave like a complete ass. He wore an ill-fitting suit, clowned around on stage and didn't seem to know how to old a flag. Who said it's only Americans who elect oafs?"

I'm not Boris Johnsons biggest fan, but there is a difference between being excentric and being an idiot.

12. McCain's VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

Comment #240280 by Jesus was a zombie on August 31, 2008 at 9:03 am

""Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."

Teach both ay? Say I had a crazy dream last night where God appeared to me in the form of Gandalf and told me that he created the universe accidently one evening while making dinner (the wife wasn't best pleased). Could that get equal debate time? After all, you can't prove me wrong, and judging by the ID argument I don't need to be able to prove anything. Just take a few pot shots at evolution and watch people take me seriously.

13. Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species

Comment #239693 by Jesus was a zombie on August 30, 2008 at 8:04 am

"How was the uniquely human capacity for self-consciousness born?"

I'm sorry, when did we come to the concensus that self-consciousness is uniquely human?

"The Bible forbids cruelty to animals"

Then what the hell did I spend a year reading in R.E class?

And as for the reason behind it all, the meaning of life ect. the only honest reply I can give to that question is "why does there have to be a reason?" I've never really seen a need for one.

14. No atheist burials in Co Donegal

Comment #239486 by Jesus was a zombie on August 29, 2008 at 6:04 pm

I think I'd enter some sort of deal with George A. Romero, in which I play the lead role in his next film in return for a few(dozen?) cast members. Yum Yum!

I think scientology brains would be way too rich for me. I just don't know whether I'd be able to eat a whole one. I think I'd make the exception for Tom Cruise though. I'd need to crack his skull open just to be 100% sure he hasn't had a lobotomy!

EDIT: spelling

15. No atheist burials in Co Donegal

Comment #239478 by Jesus was a zombie on August 29, 2008 at 5:53 pm

61. Ishruul

I figure christians are pretty much zombies anyway. Thats one of the many reasons why i've decided to give up on the brains idea.

We could always storm a university, but even that is no guarantee. What is a poor zombie to do?

16. No atheist burials in Co Donegal

Comment #239469 by Jesus was a zombie on August 29, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Ishruul
"if I can be a Frankenstein's monster that will be a riot!"

You're quite welcome to join me if you like, as long as you bring some custard creams. Or possibly oreos...

I've decided that cracking skulls open to get at the brainy goodness sounds too much like hard work, so I think i'm just going to busk for food/terrorise people into feeding me.

17. No atheist burials in Co Donegal

Comment #239443 by Jesus was a zombie on August 29, 2008 at 3:16 pm

"Leaving your body to science is a good idea - what better use for a corpse?"

Indeed. I would love for my body to be donated to the maddest scientist that my family can lay their hands on. That way within 2 to 3 months of my death I will be happily wandering around my local graveyard in search of human brains. Well, that or custard creams, just depends what I can get my hands on.

18. Museum in censorship row over Darwin sign

Comment #238659 by Jesus was a zombie on August 28, 2008 at 12:55 pm

commment 7 "they have no right not to be offended."

Exactly. They were in a science museum for crying out loud, what the hell did they expect? As one quote in the article above states, evolution is not an extreme veiw, it is accepted science so don't be surprised when it shows up in a science museum of all places!

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

Comment #238629 by Jesus was a zombie on August 28, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Every time someone kicks up a stink about athiesm I keep expecting (like a fool) that they have came up with some reasoned and logical arguments to really knock atheism down. Time and time again though, they just keep on spouting the same old bullshit. Hell, I could have wrote this myself if you'd asked me to parody a theist (poe's law, yet again...) I don't know whether this should be celebrated (because they actually have NO arguments) or treated with contempt, seeing as they keep wasting our precious time.

Rant over with, thank you to rod-the-farmer, br0k3nglass and anyone else who has thoroughly rebuked this moron (haven't had time to read all of the replies, soooo maaaad!)My faith in humanity has been restored!

20. Plan to exhume cardinal is 'homophobic'

Comment #237213 by Jesus was a zombie on August 26, 2008 at 8:06 am

12. larhule

That song is genius!

"Oh Jesus Christ, its Jesus Christ!"

21. Plan to exhume cardinal is 'homophobic'

Comment #237198 by Jesus was a zombie on August 26, 2008 at 7:28 am

"Can I, for whatever reason, actually legally require, for example, that a person is allowed to inherit my vast sums of cash only if they wear a blue hat and sing Waltzing Matilda in Brent Cross shopping centre every July 24th? "

Please stop, you're giving me ideas. My will is gonna be so bloody strange!

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

Comment #237155 by Jesus was a zombie on August 26, 2008 at 4:35 am

comment 70.

"Also, militant atheists like you and Dr. Dawkins seem so certain of the answers to the big questions like "Is there a God?" But in a universe tens of billions of light-years across, there's room for humility."

I can't speak for anyone else here, but I am personally sick to death of this argument. Would you also like to argue that those who do not believe in the tooth fairy should show humility in the face of those who do? After all, I cannot disprove the tooth fairy, I cannot show you absolute evidence that it indeed does not exist. So why then, do most of us laugh off the idea of there being a tooth fairy without being able to disprove it?

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

Comment #236430 by Jesus was a zombie on August 24, 2008 at 3:34 pm

"Let Dawkins explain us in evolutionary terms how conversations, music and all other sounds form in the sound-isolated brain; who listens to and enjoys these sounds, who knows their meaning, who reflects on them consciously and who answers back these sounds!"

Does that even make sense? I thought this raving loon had been banned, I've deen a lurker long enough to know that he brings nothing to the
table except dogma and outright bullshit. Oh well, will it do any good if I flag him like there is no tomorrow?

EDIT: it appears the comment i was refering to has vanished, in the words of dear old Monty Burns "excellent!"

24. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234580 by Jesus was a zombie on August 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm

16. The Schuermannator

I know exactly what you mean. I don't believe in ghosts, or at least I treat all ghost stories with a heavy dose of scepticism. However, lock me in a creepy old house that has groaning floorboards and suspicious noises coming from the attic and i'd be the first one to break down the door and make a run for it!

17. NightHicker

I remember being fascinated by the subject of peripheral vision in my biology a level class. You are indeed right, most of our peripheral vision comes from memory and on top of that we do not detect colour from our peripheral vision. If you bring a coloured pen slowly round into someones field of vision from behind their head(provided they stare straight ahead at all times) they will see the pen quite a while before they can tell you what colour it is. Also, if i remember rightly, your periphery lacks quite a bit of focus. Its astonishing once you realize how much your brain improvises with your vision that eye witness testimony is still held in quite high regard. (EDIT: especially were the supernatural is concerned!)

25. Religion out of medicine, a new message for Ontario doctors

Comment #232088 by Jesus was a zombie on August 17, 2008 at 3:16 pm

I read an article not that long ago (it may have been on this site) about a rape victim that was refused the birth control pill by a catholic doctor. She remarked that the way the doctor refused the treatment made her feel as if she was morally inferior to even consider taking such measures. Doctors are instructed to do no harm, what about the psychological damage that could be done to people in those kinds of situations? How can this not add to the feelings of guilt and self loathing that sometimes envelope a person in such circumstances.

I realise that there is probably no easy solution to the question of whether or not we should legislate on this matter, but the thought of a rape victim being made even more distressed by the actions of their own doctor makes me feel sick to my stomach.

26. The Afterlife for Scientologists

Comment #229269 by Jesus was a zombie on August 13, 2008 at 9:58 am

The reactions of the vast majority of the religious population to scientology (ridicule, claiming it is the work of the devil etc.) always reminds me of the Mark Twain quote

"The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also"

27. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #227536 by Jesus was a zombie on August 10, 2008 at 7:11 am

250. Raiko

Exactly. I have often heard religious people claim that their God can be backed up by scientific evidence. Yet people seem to get really riled up when the God hypothesis is considered scientifically and weighed up against other explainations (i.e natural selection). You can't have it both ways, and as the main alternative to evolution by natural selection is "God-did-it" I think its only right religion is brought up when considering evolution.

28. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #226657 by Jesus was a zombie on August 8, 2008 at 1:26 pm

"Evolution's drivers (i.e. the environment) are causally open n non-deterministic which Biblically speaking is under God's control - thus so is evolution"

Ohhhh, dear. How the blue hell did he get anywhere near cambridge!

Edit, phew, it says Cambirdge. Hmmmm, methinks there has been a possible typo...

29. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #226106 by Jesus was a zombie on August 7, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Just thinking about an argument against theistic evolutionists that i've heard Christopher Hitchins use. Goes pretty much like this

The human race has existed in its current form for at least around 100,000 years. If you are a theist (which Libby's nun almost certainly was)and you accept this, you are conceding that God let 98,000 years of early death, torment, worshipping of false idols (something that seems to piss a lot of gods off!) etc. without ever bothering to step in to put an end to human misery, or at least make life a little easier. No it wasn't until the last few thousand years that this creator decided to reveal himself to a host of dodgy characters. Even more insulting, (if you follow christianity, again like Libby's aformentioned nun) God didn't even bother to send his son down to supposedly sort this shit out until the last two thousand years. Another point is that a sizable portion of the christians I have known believe that you need to be a christian to be "saved". So much for all of those generations before christ, ay?

30. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #226042 by Jesus was a zombie on August 7, 2008 at 4:28 pm

90. somersetsimon

"although maybe god didn't nip out to the pub for a couple of hours while his creations were evolving..."

Acording to the gospel of the flying spaghetti monster, man was created during a "drunken stupor" after the FSM hit the beer volcano pretty hard on the fifth day of creation. Guess it depends which god your thinking of...

I know if I was god I'd need to immerse myself in the occational beer volcano once in a while considering most of my representatives on earth would be morons*. Then again if I was god, I almost certainly wouldn't exist, so I think I'll stick to more earthly beverages.

*yes, I know I could just provide proof of my existence to non-morons and have done with it, but that would be waaaaayyy too easy...

31. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225952 by Jesus was a zombie on August 7, 2008 at 2:25 pm

75. somersetsimon

I completely agree. Having an all powerful god,as you put it, "poke and prod" human beings into existance makes much less sense than just creating them from scratch. What the hell was the hold up, could he simply not be arsed to do it all himself?

I'm sorry to admit that I once believed(half heartedly, in my defence!) in this kind of deistic slob of a god who just sat back and let life unfold before him without having to do a hands turn, but thankfully reasoning lead me to the conclusion that this is simply intellectually unsound when there is no need for a god to be there. The scary thing about evolution is (at least to theists) that it works just as well on its own.

32. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225936 by Jesus was a zombie on August 7, 2008 at 2:08 pm

"One of the oddest aspects of Dawkins's TV programme, rich in antelope-mauling and gobbly snakes, was his emotional implication that, gee, Nature is too cruel to have been invented by God! A wet, mawkish, bunny-hugging argument."

I'm sorry, did I just miss the part where she'd admitted that she was a bit mental? cos that seems to be the only explination for this juicy little paragraph! The suffering of animals cannot rightly be dismissed as a "wet, mawkish, bunny-hugging argument". I believe this is intellectual laziness at its hight. Is she seriously suggesting that a just and loving god, hell even one without a serious personality disorder,would allow evolution to bestow pain sensing nerve cells on a rabbit, only to better feel the foxes teeth tear through its flesh? Or mixamatosis tear it apart cell by cell? Are you barking?

Richard puts it wonderfully in River Out of Eden. "what is he playing at? Is He a sadist who enjoys spectator blood sports? Is He trying to avoid overpopulation in the mammals of Africa? Is He maneuvering to maximise David Attenbrough's television ratings?"

I always find it intersting (and more than a little disturbing) when people try to rationalise actions that their god takes that would, if it were human, place it firmly under the banner of psychopath.

33. Call to teach biblical creation as science

Comment #225414 by Jesus was a zombie on August 6, 2008 at 2:39 pm

"Mr Storey said that his personal view was that it would be "ideal" if evolution was not taught at all"

What became of subtlety? You wait until you've pushed your completely unsubstantiated "scientific"(dies laughing)beliefs into the classroom and THEN you phase out evolution... moron. Oh, and did i mention you'd have to pretty much take care* of every secularist in your country.(they might be thin on the ground, i wouldn't have a clue..)

Then you start spouting this shit.

Is it bad that I think i'd make a better creationist than this moron?

*(I'm not talking about a one way ticket to Hawaii either...)

34. Texas State Board of Education approves Bible course for high schools

Comment #213609 by Jesus was a zombie on July 18, 2008 at 4:41 pm

I think this all pretty much hangs on the teacher. I was made to take a GCSE course in religion (which mainly consisted of bible studies at my school). Fortunatly we had a really amazing R.E teacher who basically spent most of the time dredging through the worst bits of the old testament with us and disscusing its somewhat dubious origins so that we could see for ourselves how fallible a text it is.
It actually turned out to be the catalyst for me with regards to rejecting religion, because it was the first time in my life I had actually sat down and scrutinized a "holy" book.
I know however if i had had a christian fundamentalist for a teacher that would have been a total different matter.

35. 'Condoms won't change HIV rates'

Comment #212804 by Jesus was a zombie on July 17, 2008 at 5:15 pm

50. comment #212767 by Mitchell Gilks

Critique accepted, i agree that "passive" may not be the best word to describe the role of the Catholic church in the current AIDs crisis.

36. 'Condoms won't change HIV rates'

Comment #212742 by Jesus was a zombie on July 17, 2008 at 3:33 pm

I think the Catholic church has realised that no matter how much the evidence is in favor of condom use (and there has been enough evidence for years...) admitting that condom use can save lives means admitting to the "passive genocide" (i think this is a very apt phrase!) that they have played a huge part in.

That wouldn't be very good for the image would it?

Unless of course they tell their congregations that those who die because they refuse to use a condom are "martyrs" who have gone to heaven. (I watched a program in R.E about the AIDs crisis in Africa and listening to catholic preists spout this shit made my stomach flip)

37. Weak US dollar hits papal profits

Comment #208959 by Jesus was a zombie on July 11, 2008 at 12:48 pm

The catholic church has 9.1 million euros less in its back pocket this year? Surely God could have messed with the exchange rate if they had prayed hard enough? Reminds me of the Fry and Laurie sketch
"Oh Lord,you've seen the figures. Show us a way to streamline some kind of managment structure which will enable 4-5% growth during the next financial 12 month.
Amen"

38. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208805 by Jesus was a zombie on July 11, 2008 at 9:14 am

I'm a little confused as to why that poor girl couldn't be helped. My knowledge of embryology and fetal development is not first rate (i've only just finished my 1st year of med school, we didn't cover much in the way of body wall abnormalities), but according to my copy of Langman's body wall defects can (usually)be resolved by surgery. I'm wondering if this is more a problem of funding (i know surgery can be quite expensive in the U.S).

Whatever the problem i have to agree with ukvillafan.

39. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208754 by Jesus was a zombie on July 11, 2008 at 8:06 am

This kind of stuff really pisses me of. Hey folks, medicine couldn't help ya? Well then why not come and grovel to the supernatural force that presumable maimed you in the first place and maybe your ear will heat up. Maybe.
Oh yeah and i'll need money too.
It boils my blood that the money that is going to quacks such as this could be spent on research that could lead to REAL cures.