Comments by Noodly

1. Bill Maher hates your (fill in the blank) religion

Comment #228061 by Noodly on August 11, 2008 at 12:37 pm

The site does let you submit blank comments. Therefore they are either some sort of pointless protest like the Crack Suicide Squad in Python's Life Of Brian or more likely some strange behaviour when the site server was straining under load.

2. More reviews of 'The Genius of Charles Darwin'

Comment #224784 by Noodly on August 5, 2008 at 4:20 pm

"Misc." has a lot to answer for!

Edit: the original title was "More reviews of 'The Genius of Charles Darwin' by Misc."

3. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #211393 by Noodly on July 16, 2008 at 12:23 am

I'm surprised at the lack of scientific analysis here. What happens after Jesus is consumed?

Experts on digestion may correct me, but my high school biology tells me:

1) Jesus will be dissolved by strong stomach acids.

2) A little bit of Jesus may expelled in a burp.

3) The nutritious part of Jesus will be absorbed into the bloodstream and ferried to various organs.

4) The waste elements of Jesus will pass through the alimentary canal and be expelled in a series of farts, culminating in a turd.

I wonder if Jesus ever gets fed up of being farted a billion times a week?

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

Comment #205445 by Noodly on July 7, 2008 at 9:27 am

This confirms my suspicions!

5. Surviving an unholy school war

Comment #181951 by Noodly on May 18, 2008 at 10:12 pm

My father was beaten by the "Christian"? Brothers at school, but luckily he decided he couldn't afford to send me to the Catholic boarding school he had in mind. An uncle on the other side of the family was sexually abused by one of them.

In order to lighten the mood a little, let me tell you about my friend's sister who went to a Convent school in the early 1970's and was taken on a school trip to London to see the Shakespeare play they were studying. The nuns and girls all settled into their seats in expectation, the curtain went up and a full frontal naked man launched into the avant garde production.

6. Indian village proud after double 'honor killing'

Comment #181235 by Noodly on May 16, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Of course these honour killings are cultural, but when did you last hear the local religious leaders condemn these actions?

More than anything, these sad events point out that religion is a man made cultural phenomenon.

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

Comment #177692 by Noodly on May 9, 2008 at 1:38 pm

fides_et_ratio,

The Cardinal is doing a brilliant job - for Atheism. It's a shame that the buffoon is past nominal retirement age and could be retired at any moment.

Nevertheless we must savour the moment where God's deputy's deputy publicly makes such an arse of himself repeatedly.

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

Comment #177671 by Noodly on May 9, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Those of you that thought Humphrys was glad to finish the interview with RD and didn't really want more time, couldn't be further from the truth. I've been listening to him on Today since he started 20 years ago and he relishes an interviewee who is arguing a good case rather than dodging the questions.

The interview slots are very tight, except for the 8:10 slot that the Cardinal was given - that's when senior politicians are normally interviewed. All in all Humphrys is a journalist dedicated to getting at the truth by use of forceful questioning and allowing genuine opinion to be heard.

Neverthess, RD obviously made him realise that he'd been too soft with religious types. When the Cardinal came on he didn't don his political boxing gloves, but he did replace the feather on the end of his tickling stick with a scouring pad.

9. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177383 by Noodly on May 9, 2008 at 2:03 am

Did he really say 'no, I was praying'? Or am I not in on some joke?

No joke, he said he was saying his prayers at the time Richard was on.

A case of Darwin's rottweiler versus God's slug.

10. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177343 by Noodly on May 9, 2008 at 12:26 am

The Cardinal got 8 minutes, but that just emphasised his waffling. Hitler & Stalin reared their ugly heads, but he did concede that religious people should avoid talking to the secular using religious terminology. Best you withdraw your lecture then.

Highlight:

Humphreys: "Did you hear Richard Dawkins earlier?"

Cardinal: "No,I was praying"

Humphreys: "I'm paraphrasing to a degree, but essentially he thinks you're talking 'rubbish'"

11. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177336 by Noodly on May 8, 2008 at 11:44 pm

Only a couple of minutes, but RD got his main point across that the Cardinal took 5,000 words to say "I believe .... because I believe".

No doubt the Cardinal will be on later lamenting the fact that RD doesn't understand theological arguments (translation: 2,000 years practice at obfuscating wishy washy ideas behind psuedo-intellectual bullshit).

12. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177089 by Noodly on May 8, 2008 at 2:28 pm

He's basically saying that there was an attempt by Christian apologists, operating around the time of the Age of Enlightenment (but he carefully avoids the 'E' word), that tried to prove the truth of God's existence by the use of evidence and logic - or what we now call Science. This backfired when they ended up proving that God is very likely not to exist. As a result, modern day atheists and agnostics (presumably because they do not deify Jesus) should not be shunned, but pitied and encouraged back into the fold. After all we are only following a well intentioned, but misguided form of apologetics.

He then advises modern believers not to stand behind the 'fact that God exists', but to play the warm and fuzzy faith card so that faith can slip out of the python like grip that science currently holds.

13. Faith in Britain today

Comment #176997 by Noodly on May 8, 2008 at 12:43 pm

The BBC cuts through the waffle to neatly summarize this as "'Respect atheists', says Cardinal":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7390941.stm

14. Pat Condell: Anthology DVD available now!

Comment #174428 by Noodly on May 2, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Styrer, comment 84/#174208

You often make good points, like the fact that Rameses needs to indicate specific examples of Condell's supposed racism.

Then you totally undermine yourself by the use of vindictive, gratuitous language in an ad-hominem attack.

15. Science leads to killing people

Comment #170829 by Noodly on April 28, 2008 at 4:26 am

Stumbled upon this from: http://www.uncommondescent.com/expelled/coral-ridge-ministries-interviews-ben-stein/

At the very end of our very pleasant discussion, Ben added (with a twinkle in his eye): "By the way, I'm not a nice Jewish boy."

16. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166503 by Noodly on April 23, 2008 at 9:25 am

That Healey comment "savaged by a sheep" comes to mind. No doubt Dennett will win the argument, but will Winston notice?

17. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162671 by Noodly on April 17, 2008 at 7:59 am

So they're trying to say that XVIVO doesn't have any copyright or intellectual property rights in their own material? Wow. Anyone with US legal experience care to comment on that?

18. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162607 by Noodly on April 17, 2008 at 6:08 am

maureen:

They didn't license this on purpose - it's a costly publicity stunt.

I agree with you. They appear to have split the marketing budget into legitimate and illegitimate tactics. Each copyright infringement is designed to keep the headlines going and will be conceded after a perfunctory defense.

Yoko Ono should be given more credit, she has always refused religious requests to change the lyrics to Imagine. I expect Expelled to back down and change the backing track to Imogen by John Lemon.

19. Victims: Pope Benedict Protects Accused Pedophile Bishops

Comment #162046 by Noodly on April 16, 2008 at 3:54 am

Animavore

Now I have to go to my nieces communion and try to smile through grit teeth and express how happy I am for her.

I know it's not easy but you are part of the problem.

I would (and have done so) politely refuse to attend the communion ceremony, but show up at the party afterwards.

20. Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher

Comment #159996 by Noodly on April 13, 2008 at 1:53 pm

Julius

So you turn up to mass and pretend to be a believer. I fully understand now, for you it's a fetish!

For me it's more like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9sJVJMiYM&e

21. Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher

Comment #159941 by Noodly on April 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Julius,

You haven't understood the concept of Catholic Atheism at all. My point is precisely that there SHOULDN'T be any indoctrination.

I do understand the concept, I just haven't addressed it. You say that you don't hide your atheism, in which case how do you avoid joining in prayers and reciting the creed etc? Or do you pretend to be a believer? Or just don't care what you say because the words are meaningless?

I'm simply an open-minded guy with a lot of historical and cultural interest, whereas you seem to have embraced some weird kind of dogmatism yourself, one that prevents you from looking at history and cultural artefacts with impartiality

I am impartial, I also think other religious traditions are tripe, not only Catholic ones. We'll just have to disagree over our personal interpretations of traditions like "apparently transforming bread into flesh", "kneeling before the statue of a man being executed", "genital mutilation", "praying five times a day in a particular direction" and so on.

BTW expressing a point of view, however strongly, is not dogmatism. Dogma is telling people what they have to believe. I can see value in some music and art that was sponsored by or was influenced by religion.

You still haven't explained why you're worried about people like me - how do we impinge on your freedom to enjoy the trappings of religion?

22. Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher

Comment #159802 by Noodly on April 13, 2008 at 7:19 am

I think the attitude you display here is - if you permit - exactly the kind of problematic ignorance that so worries me.

How can you accuse me of ignorance when I had stated that I was brought up a cultural Catholic? Why does it worry you? I'm not advocating the banning or repression of Catholicism (anagram = comical shit). I am firmly in favour of separation of church and state, which can only lead to more religious freedom.

Your comments are particularly disappointing for someone who was raised a Catholic. To me, a Catholic mass is a splendid synthesis of many branches of the arts, including architecture, drama, music, and literature. Anyone who has witnessed a Catholic rite in a building like St. Peter in Rome must be convinced of this [Yes I know, there are a lot of bad services in ugly church buildings - I don't go there, as I am a cultural Catholic, not a Christian believer]. The Catholic rite, with its Latin prayers, its robes, its historically grown order, is one of the few elements of (late) Ancient Roman culture that we still posses today IN LIVING FORM. To sum this up, the Catholic Church as an institution is as exciting for historians as the discovery of a living prehistoric animal would be for zoologists.

I assume you must be from Bavaria or a similar Catholic dominated society where it's so endemic that it's difficult to stand back and look at the absurdity of it all. I'm not saying that members of such societies are stupid in any way - simply victims of a vicious meme.

One absolutely doesn't need to adhere to a belief in the supernatural in order to appreciate these extraordinary cultural traditions. To claim, however, as you do, that they aren't worth bothering about is beyond a reasonable appreciation of reality. Religions are secondary cultures, hence ALL the traditions they purport are usually "incorporated". No religion has invented music, yet there is a lot of awe-striking religious music. Christianity hasn't invented architecture, yet there are the cathedrals. Most of the religious rituals can be studied anthropologically and even the outdated religious BELIEF SYSTEMS often are acculturations of prior religious traditions.

Catholic rituals may have had some logical relevance many centuries ago, but in the context of today's scientific knowledge they are meaningless tripe. By all means study them historically, but why should the next generation be indoctrinated? You say in another post that you pay your German church taxes. That is your right of course, but I would say that you are contributing to an organization that is holding back the advancement of civilisation - that is my right of course, but in the past your church has done everthing in its power to stop me people like my saying it.

23. Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher

Comment #159573 by Noodly on April 12, 2008 at 2:47 pm

His childish equating of "religion" with "belief" is not only extremely silly, it is also rather disturbing to people like me, who do not believe in anything supernatural but nevertheless value the religious traditions they grew up with for purely cultural reasons.

Having been brought up as a cultural Catholic I can't see any value in religious traditions whatsoever. After all, they only exist to reinforce the belief systems espoused by the religion in the first place.

Of course many religions have incorporated other cultural traditions in order to strengthen their hold, but can anyone name one purely religious tradition that isn't stupid?

24. Inadequate, private and late apology with grotesquely inadequate excuse

Comment #159072 by Noodly on April 11, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Now that I've suddenly learnt that a student has been killed in Chicago - even though I don't know how (did s/he stab themselves with a crucifix by mistake?) - I feel a wave of bigotry coming on: I hate all oppressed minorities because someone I don't know was killed !!!!!

25. Reviews of Expelled

Comment #158117 by Noodly on April 10, 2008 at 4:55 am

There really is nothing more two-faced than a fundie blaming the holocaust on atheism. The one being, they believe, that could have intervened - didn't. Their god apparently kept out of it in order not to disturb our "free will". Even though god is so keen not to intevene, they spend many hours praying for such interventions - which are "always answered" in some form or other.

Catholics in particular should hang their heads in shame. The Vatican has only allowed extremely limited access to the relevant Nazi era documents and they clearly show that the Pope saw Hitler as a bulwark againt the atheist communists. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/religion-rome-and-the-reich-the-vaticans-other-dirty-secret-479043.html

The last Pope even appointed the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission to put the rumours to rest, but they were stonewalled when they asked to see more archive documents and a list of 47 questions remained unanswered:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Catholic-Jewish_Historical_Commission.

26. Ban anti-Catholic books in schools, says bishop

Comment #143193 by Noodly on March 13, 2008 at 3:42 pm

Unfortunately the term "catholic bishop" is associated with "paedophile in charge" or "paedophile supporter deliberately evading the law" rather than "upholder of the law, especially regarding children".

If anyone knows anything different then please respond.

27. Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts

Comment #134990 by Noodly on February 28, 2008 at 12:29 pm

Turkey is a strange mix of western and middle eastern cultures. Having made some Turkish friends on holiday and business trips I noticed how atheism is strong in younger educated people and Islam strong in the older and more rural populations. Which is as you would expect.

These revisions will be a big leap forward if they are successfully implemented.

28. Pakistan blocks YouTube over blasphemous video

Comment #133299 by Noodly on February 26, 2008 at 3:29 am

AshtonBlack, send2null and other super techies out there (I still have to wear my underpants inside my trousers):

1) Would distributed DNS and IPv6 help. I.e. peer to peer technology spreading alternate DNS servers all over the net. IPv6 would allow hosts to use zillions of IP addresses and change them frequently (pushing them to DDNS).

2) Corresponding distributed anonymous proxy servers (DAPS) would be needed to minimize blocking from the host end. E.g. unlikey situations such as "Mr Google, I'll give you a few billion dollars if you don't allow the people of China unrestricted access to your search engine".

29. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132884 by Noodly on February 25, 2008 at 11:11 am

Let's play their game where the strength of your argument depends on the number of ways of promulgating it.

So I bagsy we rename the Universe as the Dawkinsverse - gotcha, pwned!

30. Church is paying a high price for its celibacy rule

Comment #132878 by Noodly on February 25, 2008 at 11:02 am

Interesting article on the history of celebacy in the priesthood: http://www.ejhs.org/volume2/walsh/walsh1.htm

31. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131423 by Noodly on February 22, 2008 at 12:29 pm

It is very important that we start a campaign to educate the UK masses in the difference between cultural christianity and actually believing in the stuff.

The next UK census is in 2011 - we don't have a minute to waste.

32. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #131148 by Noodly on February 22, 2008 at 2:34 am

Was the question of suffering really the ONLY issue that bothered him over so many years?

If you take suffering out of the Bible then there's hardly anything left. He spotted the key underlying theme and how it's incompatible with a loving God.

Without suffering the Bible would consist of one book with one sentence: "God created mankind and they lived happily ever after".

33. The Search for Truth, God and Braver Scientists in 'Expelled'

Comment #128219 by Noodly on February 16, 2008 at 2:55 pm

When we look back on this we'll see that Expelled was repelled because it smelled.

34. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126902 by Noodly on February 14, 2008 at 1:02 pm

I've decided to contribute to Human Rights Watch:

http://www.kintera.org/site/c.dhLOK6PGLoF/b.2406771/k.13B2/Donate_now_and_support_our_global_efforts/apps/ka/sd/donorcustom.asp

Venting our spleens here is not inconsequential - it does help move the zeitgeist forward, but funding organizations like HRW and Amnesty International will move it forward even faster and eventually will embrace the politicians who can actually make a real difference.

35. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #125577 by Noodly on February 11, 2008 at 4:05 pm

Boteach is one of those rare examples of the wrong bit being thrown away after circumcision.

36. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125213 by Noodly on February 11, 2008 at 4:26 am

I think the the post should be offered to God, on the basis that, if he exists, now is the time to clear up any misunderstandings the scientific community, and public at large, have about the origins and make up of the universe.

I.e. it's "put up" or "shut up" time.

Religionists tell us that God does not make his existence obvious, because he wants us to have free will not to believe in him. We know that this, mother of all cop outs, conflicts directly with the raison d'etre of science which is to uncover the true facts.

Daft as it is, it could be an interesting publicity stunt if there is no suitable incumbent by 1st October.

37. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125196 by Noodly on February 11, 2008 at 4:02 am

I am going to risk looking realy dumb once again and ask, w/ no intentional disrespect, who is Charles Simonyi?

May I suggest you google the name, the Wikipedia entry for anyone remotely famous will appear near the top.

To cut a long story short, he made his money as a senior software architect at Microsoft.

38. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125181 by Noodly on February 11, 2008 at 3:33 am

... is it the children's book on free thought you were hinting at last year?

Let's hope so. There definitely is a gap for a "big answers to big questions" science book for very young children.

When my own kids were around 3 to 5 years old I was amazed at the constant stream of questions that were asked on everything from "where does milk come from?" to "why is the moon not very big?" Their capacity for wonder knew no bounds. I could answer most of their queries, but when it came to the "who made the earth?" type stuff I could only say that "I think no one made it, but other people think God did".

Very few non-religious books tackle this sort of question for kids at pre-school/elementary age, probably because they're deemed to be too young to understand - yet they can learn a foreign language quicker than most adults.

One profound event occurred while we were "tidying up" the front garden one evening at dusk when my 3 year old spotted the full moon. We then went round the back of the house and he spotted the moon again, asking me "why are there two moons daddy?" I had a sort of epiphany when I realised that we're all, at best, three year olds in terms of our understanding of what really makes the universe tick.

39. The challenge of finding peace in Lourdes

Comment #124525 by Noodly on February 9, 2008 at 5:33 pm

I drove through Lourdes a couple of years back on my way to the Pyrenees. I wasn't expecting much, but I was still amazed at how tacky it all is. I didn't stop. Having said that my parents-in-law were taken to see the site of Moses's "burning bush" when in Egypt.

No doubt the atheist struggle won't finally be over until the Oxford open top buses are offering the Dawkins tour to include:

- the pub where the the uncaring landlady "selfish Jean" inspired our hero to write one of his greatest works

- the blind watchmaker's where you can buy pairs of grandfather and grandmother clocks, place them next to each other and watch them evolve into digital alarm clocks over time

- a magnificent hologram of God

- the Alister McGrath half-man, half-flea exhibit (note he jumps over the Bodleian library at 11am and 3pm weekdays, weather permitting)

and so on ...

40. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123985 by Noodly on February 8, 2008 at 4:41 am

As many have pointed out, this is a back door attempt to preserve Christian priviledge. He wants to appear unselfish in promoting the rights of other faiths in order to hang on to his own.

Fortunately for those who oppose him, his public relations skills are so inept that he does a better job than the opposition.

41. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123786 by Noodly on February 7, 2008 at 4:04 pm

I think this will go down as the own goal to end all own goals. There isn't a hole in the ground big enough to swallow this gaff up. He's shot himself in the foot so much that he hasn't got a leg to stand on.

Of course he may our best undercover secret agent: "your mission is to adopt an airy fairy name and academic unworldliness, penetrate the higher echelons of the CofE and slowly, subtly at first, mismanage and discredit the church until finally calling for Sharia law in the UK".

In a co-ordinated coup de gras for Abrahamic religion, fellow agents Ratzinger and Ali Khamenei will then call for all Catholics to be circumcised and BLT sandwiches to be handed out to pilgrims arriving at Mecca. The Jews were not infiltrated, but we will reveal that all chicken soup has been injected with flavoured shellfish over the last decade or so.

42. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123602 by Noodly on February 7, 2008 at 11:47 am

The Archbishop is worried about losing the priviledges granted to Christianity in the UK.

He knows that defiantly placing his deckchair in the sand will be useless against the tide of reason, therefore he is trying to engineer a multi-faith pile of deckchairs in order to create a little breakwater that he can shelter behind.

43. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #119529 by Noodly on January 31, 2008 at 4:44 pm

I pressed the Test button (don't use)

44. Morality and the 'new atheism'

Comment #119525 by Noodly on January 31, 2008 at 4:42 pm

So if you're thinking of becoming an atheist so that you can murder, rape and pillage... think again.

It's more fun kicking away psychological crutches!

45. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116107 by Noodly on January 25, 2008 at 1:52 pm

I believe you mean anathema. :-)
Steve

I stand corrected - but at least I got close enough for you to understand what I meant :-)

46. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116093 by Noodly on January 25, 2008 at 1:28 pm

DeepThought (Didn'tThinkAsDeeplyAsWeExpected):

So you mean they are fighting internet websites not the entire thing.

Both. They, obviously, cannot allow unfettered thought. Therefore the effectively ungoverned nature of the Internet is an anachronism to them.

I'm not trying to point out that they are complaining via the same medium that they are complaining against, but, instead, pointing out that they have implicitly accepted the dominance of the Internet and are desperately trying to divert the attention of the "faithfull" in their preferred direction.

Didn'tThinkAsDeeplyAsWeExpected was meant as a gentle jibe, not as an insult. I should have ended it with a smile so here it is :-)

47. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116074 by Noodly on January 25, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Clarification for Didn'tThinkAsDeeplyAsWeExpected:

Religionists, in this case Christians, are keen to censor knowledge and are struggling against the Internet. Hence the desperate measures to create alternatives to popular Internet sites such as GodTube, MyChurch (MySpace) and Conservapedia (Not Wikipedia).

48. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116066 by Noodly on January 25, 2008 at 12:42 pm

What is interesting here is not so much the video, which is, as many have pointed out - the usual drivel - but the fact that GodTube exists at all.

The uncensored dissemination of knowledge is the answer to all problems - eventually. Give everybody the true facts and the majority (different combinations depending on the issue at hand) will arrive at the best answer.

Religionists, in this case Christians, are keen to censor knowledge and are struggling against the Internet. Hence the desperate measures to create alternatives such as GodTube, MyChurch (MySpace) and Conservapedia (Not Wikipedia).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GodTube

49. Secrets of bird flight revealed

Comment #115555 by Noodly on January 24, 2008 at 10:10 am

This will get the creationists all in a flap!

Assuming humanity evolves to the point where we can create new life from scratch - will we then have evolved into creationists?

50. Survey finds most Americans believe Jesus born of virgin

Comment #102354 by Noodly on December 22, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Barna isn't the quite the Christian stooge that you might think at first sight.

From http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm:

"Divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience.

George Barna, president and founder of Barna Research Group, commented:

'While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages.'"

Apparently he took a lot of stick from Christians on this, but stuck by his results. No doubt the formulation of this latest survey is open to question, but cut him some slack over his intentions.