601. Facing Off on Evolution

Comment #40661 by pewkatchoo on May 14, 2007 at 4:36 pm

She is certainly a pleasantly breasted lady.

602. Why Christopher Hitchens is not Great

Comment #40636 by pewkatchoo on May 14, 2007 at 3:55 pm

This is fuckwittery of the absolute highest order. It made me laugh anyway.

However, I had a thought (probably not very original) about religious belief and why it is so difficult to erradicate. It is possible that it has become a defense mechanism. After all, in the not so distant past (and still in some areas of the world) people were persecuted, tortured and burned at the stake for apostasy or heresy. Perhaps this has become genetically imprinted at some level (help me out here I am not a biologist) and that it is only lately that the imprimateur is weakening because, at least in western society, there is less need for it. However, genetic traits, particularly survival based, are difficult to do away with entirely. Stronger minded people may overcome these genetic based inclinations quicker than weaker minded people.

Thoughts please. At least a discussion on the above is surely more thought provoking than the original nonsense.

603. Let us pray for the soul of Richard Dawkins

Comment #40262 by pewkatchoo on May 14, 2007 at 3:56 am

I posted a rebuttal to the Guardian site, though it probably will not be printed.

This is without doubt the most disgraceful and truth bending article that I have ever read. To call a person who has written a book, and a very honest and rational book at that, as rabid is totally dishonest. I agree with much of what Professor Dawkins says, though not everything, and for this creature to dismiss me as a camp follower I take as a personal insult. Dawkins has stimulated me to read the Bible in full, rather than rely on vague memories of upbringing, in my personal quest for answers. He is a thoughtful, painfully polite individual, as anyone who has actually seen or heard him in debate will testify. Ms Odone is referring, in this passage, to an interview last week with Ruth Gledhill. Ms Odone has jumped to some very weak conclusions. I suggest that people read the original interview first before taking what ms Odone says as literal truth. Yet another piece of journalistic hackery posing as serious opinion.

604. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40173 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 2:16 pm

Dianelos
The number pi does not exist. Nor do the numbers 1, 2, 3 etc. Numbers are an abstract concept without an existence of their own. I really cannot be bothered with these dopy arguments. Semantics are nothing, words are nothing if you cannot make sense with them. Please take your silly games somewhere else.

605. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40171 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 2:08 pm

mjr, you are the evidence. I am not going to indulge in an argument with you, life is just to short for that. Also my 10 year old is to busy with important stuff. My advice is still stop digging.

606. The meaning of freedom

Comment #40104 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 5:48 am

/religious_nutter_on/ But religion is the basis of all morality! /religious_nutter_off/

607. The Case Against Intelligent Design: The Faith That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Comment #40103 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 5:41 am

How is 'uniqueness' an argument against evolution? Or am I just thick? Well, OK, I know I am a bit thick so that second question was rhetorical.

608. The Debate: Can We Live by Reason Alone?

Comment #40102 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 5:36 am

I believe that, in TGD, Dawkins discussed both the genetic and Zeitgeist theories for moral behaviour. However, the most important point he makes and keeps making is that the belief in God can not and can never be a basis for morality. The social imperative must be the major basis for morality with the moving zeitgeist as the basis of our legal systems being the clear imperative for moral behaviour. No religion necessary. One only has to look at the secular laws of a society such as Britain or France and then look at Sharia law to see where a religious law takes us. We have in the past had laws based on religion in Europe too. This led to burnings at the stake, torture, slavery, social deprivation, disease, child abuse, female persecution, etc. Only with the separation of state and religion did some sort of sustainable morality start to be imbued in law and the body politic. Sharia law, as practiced in Iran and Saudi Arabia, among others, would take us back to the middle ages.

According to the devout, we are all going to burn in hell for all eternity and they really want this for us. I just think that some day they and we are all going to die so enjoy your life. Who is the most moral?

So the imam, though the best of the 3, was still incorrect in his proposals. The psychobubble was intellectually dishonest and obscurantist while the woman simply talked a load of old bollox.

609. Dawkins transcendent

Comment #40086 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 3:42 am

She is getting worse, not better. Her previous comments were more rational, now she is worried that she is letting her faith down. This points even more towards her having a crisis.

610. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40082 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 3:16 am

Dianelous
Objective evidence, in other words evidence that can be observed, is the only real evidence. All the rest is just semantics.

611. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40078 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 3:08 am

mjr
Do you have a masters in talking absolute bollox? Let me give you some advice, when you are up to your intellectual neck in shit, stop digging. My 10 year old lad could kick lumps out of your arguments.

612. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40077 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 2:59 am

dsquare
How about a nice lunch!

613. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40075 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 2:55 am

614. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #40074 by pewkatchoo on May 13, 2007 at 2:54 am

tolerance
I have never met anyone who believes fanatically in superstring theory. I have, of course, met several people who believe that it has interesting possibilities that could be taken into consideration until such time as it is proven or otherwise by feasible experiments. You cannot bait us like this because you are talking about two totally different things. The perspective views of scientific hypothesis/theory and those of religion are totally different. We do not have aberrations such as Phelps in the scientific community.

615. Unintelligent Design

Comment #39962 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 11:51 am

Disagreeing? Not at all! I was just stating how I interpreted Mr Dakwins position.

616. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39954 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 11:31 am

Oh that Westborough church video was just the business. It cheered me up no end! Not that my end was down or anything.

617. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39949 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 11:24 am

Elfinabout said: 'and for some reason a significant proportion of Scots are "lefties").'

You are not kidding, that is why Blair and Broon keep getting elected. )^8. Sorry, my politics are mostly right of centre (yes that is centre not center) with just a snippet of leftie opinions. But then Blair and Broon are fascists and I dislike them much more than the socialists.

618. Unintelligent Design

Comment #39943 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 11:14 am

Hugh Caldwell, Dawkins does not have delusions of a Utopia. I think he is well aware that, even if religion were to disappear tomorrow, that would not result in an ideal Utopian society. It does not matter much if it is Religious or Political dogma (or even the dogma that my football team is better than yours) that is the culprit for promoting man to man violence and misunderstanding. All Dawkins et al are trying to do is raise human consciousness to a higher level than it currently is on. That clearly requires questioning strongly held beliefs and convictions. To change human consciousness will be a long uphill struggle, but the results will at least be partially worthwhile. I think that the attacks on New York and London would have been perfect catalysts for raising consciousness(for the West at least) if we had had better leaders. At the time that we needed rational and intelligent statesmen, we got Bush and Blair the Cheech and Chong of international politics. Bush and Blair are clear indications that religion and politics should never mix.

619. Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual

Comment #39939 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 10:54 am

Hmmm. Not a good career move then!

620. Consciousness Comes from DNA

Comment #39938 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 10:53 am

I have renewed respect for oranges!

621. Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual

Comment #39935 by pewkatchoo on May 12, 2007 at 10:43 am

Who the fuck is Ted Haggard?

622. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39625 by pewkatchoo on May 11, 2007 at 10:46 am

elfinabout: While we are on about misuse of language. My pet hates are transportation (wots wrong wiv transport then?) and utilise (use anyone).

623. Postmodernism Disrobed

Comment #39504 by pewkatchoo on May 11, 2007 at 2:35 am

Mr Dawkins, as you well know we call it Gobbledygook in the UK. I have long learned to understand when a subject matter is simply over my head and when the writer is talking total rubbish. In the former, I will generally still get a glimmer of what the writer is saying though total understanding may still be beyond me. The better the writer the higher my level of understanding. Lots of disconnected big words and totally contextless sentences usually mean the writer is being intellectually dishonest. Incidentally, it is not just psuedo-intellectuals that are guilty of this. Lawyers, Bureaocrats and even some Journalists are equally guilty.

624. Brazil Greets Pope but Questions His Perspective

Comment #39422 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 3:15 pm

Rio and Sao Paolo are where most of the violence is. Curitiba is very peaceful. It is the most Europeanised city in Brasil.

Cidade de Deus was a good movie, but a bit overworked. Though it did show the results of the disastrous policy of moving people forcibly from the country to the city. My favourite Brasilian movie is Central Station.

625. Lou Dobbs w/ Hitchens on Al Sharpton's Bigoted Remark

Comment #39421 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 3:07 pm

I think Hitchens is loving this. He is stirring it up for all its worth. I bet he leaves the studio and creases up with laughter.

626. Londonistan Calling

Comment #39322 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 10:15 am

It is sedition, pure and simple. But they cannot really win as they are primitive and stupid people. Primitive and stupid people have never been successful.

627. World's most prominent atheist takes on the Biblical God (and other topics)

Comment #39313 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 9:54 am

I have no problems with people right to faith, nor even to express that faith, just do not expect me to respect the fact that you need it! The US is in serious trouble. You have such a profusion of total nutjobs that it is scary. In Europe, other than the chief nutjob himself, we don't have this problem so much, or at least not within the Christian faith. Islam is our main problem. What is it about America, is it simply a desire to be seen on telly and to make scuds of cash without having to work to hard that creates these creatures?

628. Brazil Greets Pope but Questions His Perspective

Comment #39286 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 9:03 am

Incidentally, the leading causes of death in Brasil are cancer, heart attacks and the usual. Among the young, it is road accidents, denge, malnutrition (among the poor) and malaria. Know whereof you speak. I am not playing down the violence, but it is not universal. Brasil is a very cool place indeed, the governments' AIDs policies are amongst the most enlightened in the world.

629. Brazil Greets Pope but Questions His Perspective

Comment #39284 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 8:57 am

Mind_Rebel you are talking such utter tosh that you should be censured. My wife is Brasilian, from Salvador Bahia, and I have visited the country on several occasions. I avoid Rio because that is where most of the violence is, but in the North of the country it is no more violent than most US cities and cetainly less so than some. The Brasilians are the most sympathetic and cheerful people I have ever met, even though they are mostly very poor. My wife's family is middle-class and quite well off, but they understand and love their country more than any other nation I know. They are also the most tolerant of people I have ever met, even the extremely religious people don't force their religious views on others. It is one of the free-est and open societies I have ever seen with no hang-ups. We had a highly amusing and explicit discussion about the efficacy of Viagra, with even Granny joining in, the last time I was there. I could not imagine such a conversation taking place in a US or UK family unit.

630. Londonistan Calling

Comment #39244 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 8:11 am

The problem in the UK is that we keep electing into power the nutboxes that like to invite these hatemongers for tea and biccies. Red Ken Livinstone for example.

631. An ecumenical contempt for religion

Comment #39232 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 7:56 am

Steve99 said: I find this a very troubling point of view. It is a patronising "democracy is good enough for us but not for them" view.

Well it would appear that is the case, as that is what they seem to think! They seem to want a dominant theocracy, with a ruler for life and shariah law and all that entails.

632. God . . . in other words

Comment #39116 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 3:06 am

A relatively sympathetic interviewer, and Dr Dawkins was responsive to this! I can't help but agree with some of the more intuitive here that Ms Gledhill may well be in the process of questioning her own faith. Still, she sounds like a nice lady and has not allowed herself to fall into the self-opinionated ranks of so many so called journalists today.

633. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39076 by pewkatchoo on May 10, 2007 at 12:10 am

joshuaslocum: to which office should I apply?

The back-office of course (^8

634. Sam Harris in conversation with Oliver McTernan

Comment #38948 by pewkatchoo on May 9, 2007 at 3:50 pm

I have read the transcript and I can say that, although Sam Harris is American and McTernan is British, I have problems. It seems like Harris is talking in English whilst McTernan is talking some language that is totally alien to me. Pure gobbledygook. I cannot work out one thing he is trying to say. I had to re-read several passages and still could not make head or tail of it. Anyone else feel the same?

635. Better God-fearing than sneering

Comment #38749 by pewkatchoo on May 9, 2007 at 5:29 am

Personally, having visited the Guardian site, I have become very tired of reading the arguments posted by the New Religiousts. With only one or two honourable exceptions, they are intellectually dishonest in the extreme. How on earth does one prove a negative when one cannot equally prove the positive?? Why would one even bother to try?

636. Atheists go on the political offensive in God-fearing US

Comment #37997 by pewkatchoo on May 6, 2007 at 3:44 pm

Well done folks. I have to admit one of the worrying trends of recent times for us in Europe has been the march of the religious (fascist) right in the US.

637. The moment a teenage girl was stoned to death for loving the wrong boy

Comment #37629 by pewkatchoo on May 5, 2007 at 11:53 am

Sorry weefree, but you are absolutely wrong. Antagonistic religious belief is truly what this is all about! We are living in cloud cuckoo land if we think this is just about a bunch of murderous savages. The men concerned will have sat around a table and discussed the case clinically and (in their eyes) objectively and have come to their decision (with regret of course). Then they would have gone out and done the deed. All in the name of bringing shame to their religious beliefs.

638. 4 Sermon for Matins: 'Dawkins and The God Delusion'

Comment #37346 by pewkatchoo on May 4, 2007 at 6:32 am

I am afraid that I stopped reading half way through the second sermon. It is just more pontificating gobbledygook. Different types of knowledge my posterior. He just does not get it. He has obviously not read TGD all the way through. The argument is that religion is not knowledge in any way, simply a very tenuous hypothesis. This adds nothing at all to the debate.

639. Now Muslims Get Their Own Laws In Britian

Comment #37313 by pewkatchoo on May 4, 2007 at 4:25 am

Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, said: "I am ab solutely appalled and find the prospect of such courts totally terrifying. Places like this should be closed down or else everybody will want to establish their own courts.

"How many more places like this are there in the UK? Who knows where it could all end? It simply cannot be tolerated."

Sigh, the intellectual quality of our politicians is the only thing that is really appalling. Try a bit more rigorous investigation Mr Davies. Both of the real case and what the law is on such matters.

640. Christians and Atheists to Debate Existence of God in First-Ever 'NIGHTLINE FACE OFF'

Comment #37294 by pewkatchoo on May 4, 2007 at 2:44 am

I hope that someone will be taping and digitising this show so that we Brits can see it!

641. Send The God Delusion to your MP

Comment #37291 by pewkatchoo on May 4, 2007 at 2:37 am

Re: Comment #20415 by AntonyR.

I agree. I read Sam Harris's book before TGD and, though I don't agree with Mr Harris totally, I think he makes some points very early in his book that are almost impossible to refute. Also, most politicians are not exactly intellectual giants and might find Professor Dawkins a little intimidating.

642. Christians and Atheists to Debate Existence of God in First-Ever 'NIGHTLINE FACE OFF'

Comment #37215 by pewkatchoo on May 3, 2007 at 5:43 pm

Good evening. I am new to this site, but I find it very enlivening and hope you don't mind my participation. First off a suggestion for the RRS, drop the word squad and simply call yourselves Rational Response. That avoids a total name change but sounds more adult and keeps it shorter. The RR symbology would also be quite effective (Rolls Royce anyone). Their approach during the debate should be to be polite and allow their protagonists to have their say without interruption. Once they are finished they can start responding calmly and quietly and with rationality. This will be like a red rag to a bull for the religionists and they will, probably, try talking over them thus undermining their own position. Works every time. Look at Richards so called interview on the Home Page. That was not an interview as I understand it, the interviewer had already set up a confrontation in his own mind. I am not going to agree with this guy whatever he says. That is normal for these people. They don't want to be convinced. But the more they protest the more ridiculous they look. Sorry, this is long for a first post.