461. The New Theology

Comment #113319 by robotaholic on January 19, 2008 at 9:27 am

"Love persuades, it doesn't force," Haught says. "God doesn't compel the world to be a certain way, and that's because of how love works. God lets things be, and lets the weeds grow up with the wheat."

462. Interview with Michael Behe

Comment #112958 by robotaholic on January 18, 2008 at 10:33 am

what a nasty little fellow he is- Behe reminds me of a cult leader preaching his biological cult message

463. Interview with Neil Shubin, author of 'Your Inner Fish'

Comment #112951 by robotaholic on January 18, 2008 at 10:24 am

I'm afraid I found myself thinking wow that seems far fetched even though I know it's basically true. Science has a long way to go with public opinion in the United States... but having the fossil right there on the table was a good start

464. Gigantic fossil rodent discovered

Comment #112697 by robotaholic on January 17, 2008 at 10:25 pm

I like how they spent nearly a year estimating its bodymass by comparing it to other rodents - the care spent is what gives science its credibility. Science is truely awesome. It seems funny that science needs publicity in the usa when there are discoveries like these. I wonder how the creationist crowd who think humans & dinosaurs lived together put this rat on the ark lolllll

465. Dinesh D'Souza: Winner of the 2007 Bad Faith Award

Comment #112493 by robotaholic on January 17, 2008 at 10:15 am

wow, you were in a scientology compound Walk? :O - I don't know why but I find scientology so interesiting- L Ron Hubbard is so strange and cryptic - Don't worry I wont be taken in to any cult (after being raised by jehovah's witnesses and then completing an exodus away from it, I'm impervious to cult indoctrination)I don't know any Scientologists and I'm curious lol

466. Canadian fossil makes waves in Huckabee's presidential run

Comment #112147 by robotaholic on January 16, 2008 at 12:46 pm

the actual story that we are all part of is in fact gorgeous if you ask me - seeing a star go nova is wonderful and the idea that the matter that makes us up gets blasted at nearly the speed of light in all directions when our star dies and that this could possibly be viewed for millions of light years in all directions is kind of neet -

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?' Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

467. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #111798 by robotaholic on January 15, 2008 at 7:37 pm

robotaholic

468. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #111797 by robotaholic on January 15, 2008 at 7:34 pm

robotaholic

469. Why Christopher Hitchens is not Great

Comment #111679 by robotaholic on January 15, 2008 at 12:40 pm

one place where all those religions CAN be grouped together is that they all believe in invisible people with superpowers- and I think Hitch is correct in pointing that out-

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

Comment #111368 by robotaholic on January 14, 2008 at 12:40 pm

don't bother finding that book - it's filled with misrepresentations of evolution like when speaking of mutations: "if you jab a stick into a stereo will it ever make it play better? - therefore evolution is wrong" - things like that -

471. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111362 by robotaholic on January 14, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Thank you sir for your donations toward reason and science. There is definitely no better cause. We hope you fly through the comming procedures and are back to being as good as new very quickly!

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

Comment #111262 by robotaholic on January 14, 2008 at 7:12 am

I think I expect Harris to pump out books like one a month which is completely unrealistic. I have been rereading the God Delusion and I'm surprised that there is so much I had forgotten. I'm sure the same thing will happen with The End of Faith. For example I had forgotten that Dawkins quotes Gore Vidal. Also there are many people that Dawkins quotes which I'm sure have great books that I intend to investigate. Anyway, thanks for such great books both of you.

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

Comment #111138 by robotaholic on January 13, 2008 at 6:04 pm

Jehovah's Witnesses really are a terrible cult. Inforcing ignorance is their #1 crime. I experienced it 1st hand and now I can't get enough science. Thanks to Richard Dawkins for the god delusion!

474. Why people believe weird things about money

Comment #111119 by robotaholic on January 13, 2008 at 4:21 pm

Since this "choice" is hypothetical and utterly unrealistic and since life tends to give you what it does (even despite one's most admirable goals) what you make of your life and how you balance everything that comes your way is what matters in my world.

Having said that, I really do think money DOES (or can) make you happy. If you don't believe that, take some away from a millionaire and just see how happy he is!

475. The Moral Instinct

Comment #110781 by robotaholic on January 12, 2008 at 1:41 pm

I like Steven Pinker, but as with anyone viewer discretion is advised.

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

Comment #110014 by robotaholic on January 10, 2008 at 9:45 am

Since my parents are jws and I was raised as one I think I can say in all honesty that jehovah's witnesses are a christian version of islam without the violence. The level of brainwashing is truely insidious.

Freedom from religion is magnificent!

477. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #110010 by robotaholic on January 10, 2008 at 9:34 am

He said he celebrated christmas. I kind of cringed. Mabye in this setting overexplaining would have been too difficult.

478. Blind Faiths

Comment #109411 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 2:49 am

uggh i don't want muslim future lol- i can't even predict because it's so grotesque

479. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109410 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 2:46 am

You people are not thanking The Professor Richard Dawkins enough.

480. Another critic who hasn't read the book

Comment #109407 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 2:39 am

Paula Kirby you are a razor of accuracy. You really should write a book!

481. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109403 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 2:25 am

Your book makes it so plain that people shouldn't base their lives on Yaweh's rules. Yaweh is evil as described in the bible. We shouldn't and DON'T get our morals from scriptures.

I am tired of the idea that we get morals from the bible. The old testament is barbaric and the New Testament is just as bad. It claims that it's so superior but instead the theology and punishment idea that it preaches is just as bad as the old testament.

Somehow one persons "sins" can be redeamed by SOMEONE ELSE. This is viscious, sado massachistic and repellant. If we have sins why not just forgive them and get it over with god?

The God Delusion is an amazing book and I cannot say that enough.

Oh and why should gold and silver be sacred to the "lord"- this is utterly barbaric and so obviously man made.

If any god commanded me to 'exterminate' any people I would tell 'it' to do it itself.

The bible is a farce. The religious upbringing of children is a form of child abuse when accompanied by enforced ignorance. I experienced that type of upbringing and remarkably escaped once an adult. I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy!

482. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109397 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 2:05 am

Thank you Professor Richard Dawkins so much for you book "The God Delusion."

Thanks from the heart.

(the brain actually)

so much-

483. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109396 by robotaholic on January 9, 2008 at 1:57 am

I don't care about any of the comments before this post.

Thank you Professor Richard Dawkins for this wonderful book.

Thank you so much.

484. Blind Faiths

Comment #109177 by robotaholic on January 8, 2008 at 2:01 pm

brian why would I help a theist?

485. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109176 by robotaholic on January 8, 2008 at 1:56 pm

I absolutely LOVED that book and it's definitely in my top 10 books of all time

486. Another critic who hasn't read the book

Comment #109118 by robotaholic on January 8, 2008 at 11:34 am

one cannot hate what doesn't exist, and by the fact that Dawkins calls god a delusion pretty much means that

Far from the vitriolic diatribe of a God-hating misanthrope like Richard Dawkins, Hitchens's work is both appropriately respectful and right.

487. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109058 by robotaholic on January 8, 2008 at 8:31 am

A Sunday school teacher asked the children just before she dismissed them to go to church, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?"
Little Johnny jumped up and yelled, "Because people are sleeping!"

-sorry, couldn't resist lol

488. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109054 by robotaholic on January 8, 2008 at 8:27 am

One day the zoo-keeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books - the Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species.

Surprised, he asked the ape, "Why are you reading both those books?"

"Well," said the orangutan, "I just wanted to know if I was my brother's keeper or my keeper's brother."

lol

- I like the fact that we all belong to the designation "great apes"- :->

489. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108891 by robotaholic on January 7, 2008 at 7:58 pm

scooternyc - I don't know for sure but aren't there even a few unexplained fossils or ones that seem to be out of place? - I don't mean from the creationist museum either lol

490. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108748 by robotaholic on January 7, 2008 at 2:11 pm

I am tired of presidents being elected based on popularity. We need to elect the smartest person available. I think you know who(she is).

491. Changing my Mind

Comment #108429 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 9:06 pm

The REAL word one could use to describe us all regardless of our interests is "scientist"- because the opposite of believing in fiction is believing in fact. Science is all about the quest to accurately locate facts...
I don't mind if someone calls me atheist and I will self-identify as one. However in no other case do I allow someone to describe me in relation to something I'm not.-

I'm sure you will think of the scientists who claim also to be religious. In those cases I would just say they're mental dissonance is so great a fracture that they're literally two different people at different times- and besides- explaining nutters like that should be up to them.

492. Wisdom From The Founding Rationalists

Comment #108426 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 8:47 pm

I swear that's propaganda - every country says they're the freeist...I mean they don't go around saying we're the least free--yay!

493. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108424 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 8:40 pm

My parents are christian and I am definitely an atheist. I was raised a christian and decided I didn't believe in invisible entities when I was about 20 or 21 and when I moved out on my own...since that time my parents and I have had a relationship that has definitely suffered but that is not why I am writing this. My parents and I have pretty much put our differences aside for the past 4 or 5 yrs and we would just talk about superficial things in order to put on the faccaid of a normal human relationships between parents and child. Today my dad decided to bring up religion and he asked me why I went from being so happy and religious in my younger years to learning about the strange things I'm interested in now such as particle physics, the origin of the english language and the history of mankind. I tried to ignore the question and just revert back to the superficiality but he persisted. I told him I'm interested in science generally as well as technology. He said "Why do you think that for thousands of years humans didn't progress but in the last couple hundred of years we finally went past the 'horse and buggy stage'?"- I instantly said "due to the accumulation of information"- he replied well don't you think ppl thousands of years ago could talk just like you or I and at that point I was forced to explain that I really believe that humans or humanoids have been on the earth for hundreds of thousands of years and we just recently developed language and then were able to write it down as well as agriculture etc...- he cut me off and said the progress was inspired by satan and I just smiled. I told him: "look, the bottom line is that you want me to believe in invisible people with superpowers..for example angels and demons and spirits and I just don't" he then proceded to tell me that the "lesson" that they went over today (in church) explained that atheism is a religion." I replied that actually it means the absence of belief in a god and that by his definition my being an a-astrologer could be a religion since I have absence of belief in astrology" The conversation escalated to the grand conclusion when he asked me again "Why did you stop being such a happy kid with all your christian friends?...What made you change and want to learn about all this stuff (incidentally he thinks that protons, electrons, neutrons, and anything on that subject is a religion somehow or spiritual" - I looked at him and said "The reason that I now can't get enough of science and history and biology and all the other things I'm interested in is because when I was a child and religious I was prevented the knowledge of anthropology, biology, and all the things humans have discovered for thousands of years before I was born through enforced ignorance (I instantly had a picture of Daniel Dennet in my mind)" and at that he said I would have to hit the road - or leave in other words. He got upset at the reference that he enforced ignorance upon me as a child. In fact he wouldn't talk to me anymore even to say goodbye. My mom looked at me and smiled and said it would be alright and for me to just leave.

The reason I wanted to share this story is because we sit here and type our responses to christian or religious things and it's true, we have the explanations. What we don't realize is that we are talking to Zombies - Zombies that we love who are our parents, and people we have to see at work and when we're out. Sometimes I think that they really are genuinely two different types of people genetically- the religious and the nonreligious. The sad part is that it has really ruined my relationship with my parents and even people who were my friends in the past when I was a christian. But when I think about it, those people never were my friends in the first place if they just dropped me like a brick because I started to learn about science and history and threw away superstitions. We really are battling with people who are beyond change in a lot of ways. I'm just happy I can come here and not be surrounded by zombies for just a few minutes a day!

494. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #108353 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 2:29 pm

this paper didn't seem very substiantive & I lost a little respect of Sam Harris for writing it - then I saw the debate between him and the rabbi and I completely changed my mind about him - he has a very very sharp mind and his manner of speaking is so relaxed and positive - I really have a lot of respect for him after seeing the debate -

495. Researchers use neuroimaging to study ESP

Comment #108350 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 2:26 pm

guess what I'm going to type... you were wrong -esp doesn't work...next

496. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108338 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 2:13 pm

ADH the fact that you have to somehow figure out what the gospels were talking about or mean would seem to indicate to me that the inspirer (sic(lol))of the book didn't do a very good job... how can you not see this?

497. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108281 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 11:44 am

Paula Kirby - I think you should debate Denesh D'souza - you'd have him begging you to stop! lol-

498. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108133 by robotaholic on January 6, 2008 at 4:57 am

wow Vinelectric, that was awesome.

499. The battle of the butterflies and the ants

Comment #108030 by robotaholic on January 5, 2008 at 9:03 pm

you know the well made banana debunks evolution everytime... =))

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9zwbhAXe5yk

"the atheist's nightmare" lmao- I think the word "nutter" was coined just because of these kinds of people...

500. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108020 by robotaholic on January 5, 2008 at 8:36 pm

then Rtambree I would say it's your god, your rules, YOU go to hell :) (not to you of course)