1. Faith Attack

Comment #266178 by Fire1974 on October 18, 2008 at 8:18 am

FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING FUCKED UP BULLSHIT RELIGION!!! YOUR DOCTRINE IS FUCKING HORRIBLE AND YOUR FUCKING UP CHILDRENS LIVES WITH IT!!! STOP SPOUTING YOUR FUCKING BULLSHIT!!! IT'S NOT FUCKING TRUE! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! LEARN YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS! LEARN!!!

Yes, I'm damaged. Sorry.

2. Does faith have a place in medicine?

Comment #250387 by Fire1974 on September 19, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Why go to medical school if you can learn how to treat patients in sunday school?

3. Texas Fiction Science

Comment #219026 by Fire1974 on July 26, 2008 at 5:53 am

22. Comment #218947 by bachfiend on July 25, 2008 at 9:13 pm
You don't need to be competent in scientific method to become a doctor or dentist

4. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #215976 by Fire1974 on July 22, 2008 at 4:07 pm

Perhaps they should run some cartoon images depicting a cute and cuddly Muhammad character being nice to people?

5. Losing Sight of Progress

Comment #215421 by Fire1974 on July 21, 2008 at 9:11 pm

It's amazing how you can show these salamanders to creationists and they will still persist in their indignant foolishness.

You'd think THEY were the ones with the useless ocular cavities!

Or perhaps it's their cranial cavities that are vestigial?

6. Bush Bureaucrats at Dept. of Health and Human Services Redefine Contraception as Abortion

Comment #213102 by Fire1974 on July 18, 2008 at 6:56 am

RationalFreeThinker:

I received and sent my Action Alert on this issue from the Secular Coalition yesterday.

All U.S. citizens on this site should do the same! Please!

7. Man Sues Church Over 'God Injury'

Comment #210202 by Fire1974 on July 14, 2008 at 4:35 am

This brings to mind something I've always wanted to bring up in conversation with faith-heads: Insurance.

Is not insurance for the faithful just a signed and paid for contract declaring "no confidence" in the "Lords plan" for their lives? How can they justify having it? Cognitive dissonance?

8. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208772 by Fire1974 on July 11, 2008 at 8:31 am

JAMCAM87:

Aye!

9. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208752 by Fire1974 on July 11, 2008 at 8:02 am

Here is what I sent.

Dear Dr. Bruininks,

As I am late to the task, I am sure you are well aware of all the influx of support for Dr. Myers
regarding the issue of cracker desecration. I wish to add my name to the list of those in full support of Dr. Myers
freedom to express his opinions on these wafers.

I would also like to point out Dr. Myers stated position and proposed actions in this matter do
not, in any way, inhibit any freedoms or abilities of those who wish to promote the wafers to superhuman
status. Mr. Donohue and The Catholic League fervently believe in the superhuman status of certain
crackers. Dr. Myers does not. However, only one of these parties wishes to silence, censure and foil the career
of the other through pleas to vicarious authority.

Please do not grant the Catholic League's request to have their particular beliefs about transubstantiation be
authoritative for those who do not hold them. Dr. Myers is an asset to the cause of freedom and education
at your institution and wherever else he may go. You would do The University of Minnesota a great disservice
to loose him.

Sincerely,

(name)
Rhinebeck, NY.

10. An Original Confession

Comment #207260 by Fire1974 on July 9, 2008 at 12:04 pm

I read this earlier today. I thought it was great. I'm ashamed not to have read 'Origin' yet myself. Now I want to really bad.

Wheehew! First time, first post!

11. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #205727 by Fire1974 on July 7, 2008 at 6:22 pm

ertu,


You never did, nor do you now, know anything about Evolution. Your comments make that obvious.

I suggest you stick around this site and learn something; but save the arrogant declarations until you know what your talking about. I'm embarrassed for you.

12. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #205656 by Fire1974 on July 7, 2008 at 3:36 pm

I'm beginning to doubt evolution...
Its coming on strong...
Still doubting...
I'm still doubting...
Where are all the transitional fos...
Oh wait...

Wheew!
Glad thats over. Damn those vestigial synapses! They flair up every now and then. Sorry.

13. Does the Pope wear Prada?

Comment #204533 by Fire1974 on July 5, 2008 at 5:56 am

"Marini predicted that the pope would continue to offer communion wafers into the mouths of kneeling pilgrims in future celebrations.

He said the practice "aids the devotion of the faithful, and makes it easier to enter into the sense of mystery"."

14. 'Uncontacted tribe' sighted in Amazon

Comment #186613 by Fire1974 on May 30, 2008 at 8:48 pm

Scientifically, we're advanced beyond their comprehension. If we're careful not to destroy them, we may be able to improve their lives by allowing them to make informed decisions about what technology is actually beneficial to them.

As far as the superstition and god bothering they will be inevitably curious about, (thinking we're gods ect.) we should explain to them that there hasn't been any progress from or in that department.

15. 'Uncontacted tribe' sighted in Amazon

Comment #186606 by Fire1974 on May 30, 2008 at 8:22 pm

How do we keep the Missionaries from "saving" them?

16. Five Things Humans No Longer Need

Comment #184019 by Fire1974 on May 23, 2008 at 12:19 pm

I lucked out of have wisdom teeth, but then I was cursed with an inflamed appendix that had to be removed 2 years ago.

I guess "The Lord" intended for me to have a short, painless life. Quack!!!

It seems impossible to me that anyone could know even the basics of anatomy and physiology and still be a creationist. Does anyone know of a creationist who's gotten through Med-School?

17. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #176162 by Fire1974 on May 6, 2008 at 5:51 pm

And if anyone in this debate can be credibly accused of racism, it is the western apologists and "multiculturalists" who deem Arabs and Muslims too immature to shoulder the responsibilities of civil discourse.

18. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150307 by Fire1974 on March 26, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Happy Birthday, Richard!

It seems like yesterday I was posing on this thread last year[?] as an
actual "New Atheist". Brand spanking new really.

Thank you again, for creating this site and for all your Books and writings and lectures I've enjoyed so much in this last year, and for years to come.

19. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #149824 by Fire1974 on March 26, 2008 at 9:10 am

The girl's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to "apparently they didn't have enough faith," the police chief said.

20. Discussion on PZ Myers being expelled from Expelled

Comment #148165 by Fire1974 on March 22, 2008 at 8:24 am

tgibbs: You beat me to it.

I should've known my tawdry understanding of cellular function would be trumped here.

I think the main point is that these cellular functions, although amazing in the sense that they actually occur, do not go about in the efficient and streamlined way they are depicted in the videos. In reality, evolution has jerry-rigged these processes from 'spare-parts'. They are very clumsy and could do with some more evolving if it be advantageous to the organism.

While I still think the films are a great teaching tool. They also can be easily misconstrued and anthropomorphized by the ignorant to propagate this idea that, "It's so brilliant, it must be designed". Which is absurd in itself but, as we see all too often, the DUMBino effect clamors on.

21. Atheists claim censorship by billboard company

Comment #146292 by Fire1974 on March 18, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Opinion shall never be governed!

This law is absolute!

Feel free to disagree.

22. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143782 by Fire1974 on March 14, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Fucktard, Fucktard, Fucktard!

I've seen both debates with Hitch and Harris.
Fucktard vehemently defends...no position at all.
Every statement is just a long, drawn out load of combative white-noise. I couldn't imagine watching an idiot contest between him and some xian fundie.

He's a complete waste of time.
Makes me angry that I bothered.

23. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138057 by Fire1974 on March 3, 2008 at 8:34 pm

Damn!!! I'm going to be out of town when he's in NY.
I hate to miss it. Oh well, I'll just have to be another lonely atheist
in Florida that weekend. I never can find many fellow, free-minds down there. : (

How about a stop in South Florida Professor?

24. The Giant Tortoise's Tale

Comment #133765 by Fire1974 on February 26, 2008 at 5:55 pm

"The Ancestors Tale is simply crying out to be the next major 13 part series for BBC2."

25. Evidence can't shake your faith if your faith excludes it as evidence

Comment #132464 by Fire1974 on February 24, 2008 at 7:29 pm

When confronted by the faithful, I like to say that I'll believe in [insert your favorite dogma] for any reason at all. As long as I actually think it's true. Even if I can't verify that belief to anyone else. But as it stands now, I think that [insert your favorite dogma] sounds like a pile of mind suppressing, unconvincing horse-shit.

If there come a day when I have some 'road to Damascus' moment that actually convinces me to believe in [insert your favorite dogma] there I'll be, believing it. But what I sure-as-hell won't do is insist that other people give me the slightest bit of credibility for my unverifiable convictions.

26. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #132318 by Fire1974 on February 24, 2008 at 3:35 pm

I'd be remiss if I didn't strongly recommend The Inheritors to everyone here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inheritors_(William_Golding)

27. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #132303 by Fire1974 on February 24, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Just sticking to fiction fav-OR-ites:
The Inheritors-William Golding
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises-Ernest Hemingway
A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
Middlesex- Jeffery Eugenides

APPlet: I can't believe I'm not the only one here to have read Aztec. I loved it, but it just couldn't mingle with the above company.

28. Richard Dawkins talks about The God Delusion

Comment #122941 by Fire1974 on February 6, 2008 at 9:32 am

I literally just finished TGD just now, at 12:10pm EST, it has been a long time coming. I had meant to read it months ago but was already sold on the idea that god was a delusion. However, as with all Prof. Dawkins books I've read, it has fantastically removed much of my conceptual 'burka'. Thank you!

I am now proud to say that I have read: The God Delusion, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, Breaking the Spell, God is Not Great, The Ancestors Tail, The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene, Guns, Germs and Steel and Carl Sagan's Cosmos within the last year and a half.

They have changed my life.

29. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118906 by Fire1974 on January 31, 2008 at 6:40 am

Happy Birthday Josh!
You do great work.
I appreciate it every day.

30. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116936 by Fire1974 on January 27, 2008 at 8:29 pm

This experiment is awesome!
Isn't it great how scientists will put their biggest and most hard-sought theories right on the front line to be proven or proven wrong.

For all I know, this could prove god's existence and I would accept that. But when it doesn't, and likely contributes, once again, toward the opposite result; will those who already "know" everything "through faith" give up an inch? Even after they've bravely risked nothing?

Absolutely not.

31. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116924 by Fire1974 on January 27, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Would you mind saying where you are? Only as specifically as you wish to.

32. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116922 by Fire1974 on January 27, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Radesq:

I did.
I also tried to explain that WE are a transitional species and how
antithetical the idea of an 'accident' is to evolutionary theory.

I think their unconscious tactic is to just keep jumping
topics as if the new topic refutes my last point.

I can only hope that I got them thinking... perhaps for the first time.

33. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116916 by Fire1974 on January 27, 2008 at 7:26 pm

[Off Topic]

Sorry,
I just had a couple of JW's at my door.
I was giving them my usual diatribe,( telling they were
full of shit in the nicest way I could) when the evolution topic
came about.
The guy said he was a science teacher ('god' knows where) and he then attempted to ask me where all the the transitional fossils were and gave me the 'wrist-watch in a whirlwind' argument.

Science Teacher !!!?? SCIENCE TEACHER !!!??

I was horrified.

They then proceeded to tell me they positively wished for a world theocracy! It was all I could do not to slam the door in their sick little faces. I'm not a violent person, but I feel like punching something; thought I'd make it a keyboard.

Had to vent.

Sorry

34. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #116497 by Fire1974 on January 26, 2008 at 4:12 pm

I want to believe John will go to a museum and read TGD, I really, really want to.

[Muttering to myself ] 'John will go to a museum and read TGD. John will go to a museum and read TGD. John will go to a museum and read TGD. John will go to a museum and read TGD. John will go to a museum and read TGD.'

Damn! This just isn't working. I still don't believe he will.
Oh well.

35. The God Delusion: Now Available in US Paperback

Comment #113174 by Fire1974 on January 18, 2008 at 6:43 pm

Just HAD to burst my bubble didn't you.

36. The God Delusion: Now Available in US Paperback

Comment #113158 by Fire1974 on January 18, 2008 at 5:38 pm

I bought it 2 days ago at Barnes & Noble, along with the paperback of Letter to a Christian Nation. I'm so In-Vogue these days!

37. 'Letter to a Christian Nation' now available in paperback

Comment #111790 by Fire1974 on January 15, 2008 at 6:58 pm

I Just bought the paperback. Even though I have the audiobook that I, (like Jayday) have listened to a number of times. It is quite therapeutic to listen. I my world, there are so few people who want to have this conversation so the audio is akin to a sort of Pavlovian satisfaction.
Anyway, the new afterward is fantastic. I've heard much of it before, but it is nonetheless beautifully and concisely put together as always. Worth the $11.00 absolutely!

38. Two Ex-Jehovah Witnesses to Tell Why They Became Atheists

Comment #110266 by Fire1974 on January 10, 2008 at 7:36 pm

I too am touched by the stories from fireface & Strigoia.

I would like to bring to light the fact that ANY religion (if taken seriously) is just as mind mind shackling and controlling as another.

I am a refugee from a fundamentalist Christian/Lutheran upbringing. I can remember being taught how crazy and misguided those JW's and Mormons were by my sunday-school teachers. In my formative-christian years I would engage in debate with those missionaries and "pioneers" who knocked on my door about their "misinterpretation" of the bible. Little did I know, I was just as misguided and subjugated as they were.

Even though I love it when Sam Harris says, "Mormonism is just Christianity, plus some rather stupid ideas." All religion is just consciousness, plus some rather stupid ideas.

39. Two Ex-Jehovah Witnesses to Tell Why They Became Atheists

Comment #109968 by Fire1974 on January 10, 2008 at 7:38 am

I recently had a long talk with two JW women who came to my door. They were completely unprepared for someone who knew the bible well, yet had no respect for it's authority.

They repeatedly sited verses where god declared his greatness and his wonderful, totalitarian vision for our lives and souls. They were aghast at my polite, yet outright dismissal of these "because I said so" statements. It had never occurred to them to ask themselves why they've accepted this "deal".

It is clearly ALL about submission in this cult.

40. What have you changed your mind about? Why?

Comment #105609 by Fire1974 on January 1, 2008 at 8:05 am

I'm almost embarrassed to say that last night I was actually reading The Selfish Gene, in bed, at midnight! I finished Ch7 and started Ch8, actually. And the coincidences abound this morning finding this article. I'm almost inclined to think something spooky is going on...Oh right, that's just my mammalian, superstitious tendencies. Thank Goodness!

41. Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

Comment #104716 by Fire1974 on December 29, 2007 at 8:05 am

Is everyone sure this isn't the crafty work of the Onion or some other spoof artist? That was my first reaction. Sometimes I really can't tell the difference.

42. When Congress Interferes With Science, Who You Gonna Call? (Hint: It's not Ghostbusters)

Comment #85822 by Fire1974 on November 7, 2007 at 9:20 am

I'm a member. ARE YOU???

I have not been bombarded with email nearly enough by them. I love to get emails where a simple forward can help the voice of reason be heard in public policy.

"(before our "one nation indivisible" was divided, in 1954, along religious lines.)"

43. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #83953 by Fire1974 on October 31, 2007 at 7:46 pm

EXCELLENT!!!
In my favorites. Can't wait to read it again.
This is precisely the approach Hitchens needed against D'souza.
That little weasel hid behind so much obscurity it was like watching Hitchens catch flies with chopsticks.

44. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79446 by Fire1974 on October 17, 2007 at 9:20 am

USA_Limey:

I agree. It is fantastic to have these books mentioned. Especially in those circles. However, it is irritating to hear them blatantly misrepresent the arguments and recommend "starting early" with indoctrinating children and so on; but of course, what should I expect?

45. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79431 by Fire1974 on October 17, 2007 at 8:45 am

If you don't mind being outraged, or need a new monitor anyway, you can follow this link to their website and watch their slanderous video.

http://www.coralridge.org/

The misrepresentations, straw men, and just plain mind-numbing ignorance are almost too much to bear.

46. Sam Harris seems like a nice fellow, but very confused

Comment #77385 by Fire1974 on October 9, 2007 at 7:20 am

I wholeheartedly agree with both Sam and PZ. They're both making the same point from opposite corners of the ring. The painless solution is for US to say, "Call me what you will, this is my position..."
WE'RE better off putting this bantering behind US before WE split into denominations,(Dawkholics? and Harrisians?). Yes, WE have a common cause. But WE don't all have to wear the same T-shirt! I like the "A" shirts and I would gladly stand behind Sam on any platform while wearing one.
OUR diversity is unavoidable, and OUR greatest asset. LET'S get past this. And do it quickly.

47. Good News: Both our Foundations are now Officially Recognized as Charities

Comment #70451 by Fire1974 on September 15, 2007 at 2:29 pm

I can't wait to tell my accountant about this and make a donation!

I've been wondering what to do with all those dollars I've saved from the church collection plate.

48. Bible Belter

Comment #68177 by Fire1974 on September 6, 2007 at 9:44 am

Hitchens uses the term "mammal" not only to refer to his opponent but to himself as well. In reading the book (which I've done a couple of times) his use of the word is clearly intended to proclaim the obvious truth, that we are all evolved creatures who's, "prefrontal lobes are too small and our adrenal glands too big an our thumb and forefinger opposition isn't all that it might be and we're afraid of the dark and afraid of dying..." as he's said in other places.

I also think his "no child's behind left" is intended to be vulgar in order to emphasize the vulgarity of the situation, but can easily be mis-construed as callousness. I like his other "left behind" joke better; in reference to the pathetically so named books by Jenkins and Lehay. These two morons have obviously been 'left behind' in educational and literary sense.

49. Teresa, Bright and Dark

Comment #66349 by Fire1974 on August 29, 2007 at 6:37 pm

Hitchens is not alone among the "Four Horsemen of the Counter-apocalypse" to be disenchanted with the idea of a woman in a situation where she feels it necessary to destroy her fetus. Sam Harris finds it an "ugly reality" and so do I.
However, if you are Pro-Choice, you think that the government (much less the church) should never have authority in her decision, and so do I. But I think we can all agree having an abortion is never a pleasant experience emotionally or physically for her and, says Harris, "we should all hope for [scientific] advances in contraception that will make it unnecessary."
They also write that whatever sympathy for or understanding of the fetus we may gain, it will be by the light of science and reason (not faith) that makes that possible, as it has already with sonar imaging.

50. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #65021 by Fire1974 on August 22, 2007 at 4:41 pm

This is the least we can do. I posted but sent it to quickly without saving it. You all don't need to read it anyway, 'they' do. I hope everyone here posts, even Darwin2 and Wee Flea and the like. Although, I doubt they'll have anything interesting to say to their own ilk.