101. The Bible's literary sins

Comment #63328 by GBile on August 14, 2007 at 12:10 am

Monoape,

If you doubt that Noah was incapable of stuffing all those animals into the ark (on time) just go to Christiananswers.net . God did it ! Beetles from Madagascar , kangoeroes from Australia, they all received miraculous travelling-powers to make it just before the rains started falling. And actually, before the flood there were no continents yet, so these creatures did not have to swim for thousands of miles.

Insert smilies into the above text, where-ever appropriate.

102. The vanishing jihad exposés

Comment #63203 by GBile on August 13, 2007 at 1:34 pm

This is scary stuff.
I tried to purchase an e-Book version from Books-on-Board (see comment #7 alpha695) but in the end no download was available (not good - money gone?). e-Books pulped too ??

Regarding the topic (sort off), I don't understand why western countries are allowing (big) mosques being built in their countries with Saudi money and accept that Saudi Arabia closes their border not only to churches, temples etc. but even to non-islamic religious literature (not only sale, but also possession). One-way multiculturalism indeed.

103. Atheist 'Metaphysics' and Religious Equivocation

Comment #62231 by GBile on August 9, 2007 at 2:19 am

I KNOW what an apple tastes like...

or even better:

I KNOW that my wife loves me.

DarkSun's article and many commentators have tried to describe their understanding of the four letter word 'KNOW' and sometimes I agreed, sometimes I disagreed, but was confused most of the time. Nevertheless I think that 'qualia/consciousness' is the way to go. Understanding these will dismiss what religion claims to be 'knowledge'.

I just KNOW!

104. They let anybody onto the faculty at Oxford nowadays

Comment #60897 by GBile on August 3, 2007 at 5:10 am

In the McGrath-interview I found the following

What I do think is enormously important is to mount a public defense of the Christian faith that shows it as reasonable, attractive and plausible.

105. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #57621 by GBile on July 20, 2007 at 9:25 am

Danielos,

Your comment 1535 is intriguing stuff and certainly shows that Idealistic theism is lots of fun. Your description of Gods nanosecondly timed feeding of the right experience into the consciousness of the QM scientist made my brain go in overdrive (God did it again !) and a number of possible experiments popped up in my mind.

The first concerns TWO scientists observing the photons fly and the screen lighting up. These scientists decided beforehand that when one would choose the 'particle' solution the other would go for the 'wave' (and the other way around). Does God have a problem here ?

A second experiment might be to train a cat that slits would mean food and fuzziness a (mild) shock. Does God concerns himself with animal experiments ?

106. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #57336 by GBile on July 19, 2007 at 1:12 am

Danielos,

I don't agree with what you said in 1511. The statement you quoted said : '... we are nice because we want to be liked ...'.
You responded with '... keep the money without anybody noticing ...' . This is impossible because you yourself will have noticed it. In my opinion: 'we are nice (among other reasons) because we want to be liked, also by ourselves'.
(Please do not accuse me of being anecdotal again on this one).

On a side note, I think that this comment thread is already more interesting than the original RD-McG talk (Apologies to these gentlemen).

107. Transcending God: An interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #55953 by GBile on July 13, 2007 at 2:52 am

CHWWer:

Did you say ANYTHING ??

108. Is Christianity Good for the World? A discussion between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson

Comment #55539 by GBile on July 11, 2007 at 1:26 pm

From the first contribution of mr Wilson:

If a professor takes credit for the student who mastered the material, aced his finals, and went on to a career that was a benefit to himself and the university he graduated from, the professor must (fairness dictates) be upbraided for the dope-smoking slacker that he kicked out of class in the second week.

[Pope] Innocent III was considered a vigorous opponent of heresy, and had campaigns to force the heretics to convert. Under his authority, measures were taken against those accused of being Manichean heretics and under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, against the Albigenses (Cathars), the Albigensian Crusade (1209–29). The latter, strongly supported by Innocent, was one of the most controversial moves of the medieval church, being mostly directed against other Christians and soon turning into a mere conquest campaign by the northern French barons against the more tolerant Midi. This was a prelude to the legitimization of the Inquisition in 1233, wherein heresy was said to be punished for the spiritual good of the individual as well as for the preservation of the Church. The pope supported two new holy orders: the Franciscans and the Dominicans, as well as smaller ones like the Holy Spirit Order.
And:
Arnaud, the abbot-commander, wrote to Pope Innocent III: "Today your Holiness, twenty thousand heretics were put to the sword, regardless of rank, age, or sex".[3] The population of Béziers was then probably no more than 15,000 but with local refugees seeking shelter within the city walls, the number claimed, 20,000, is possible.

109. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #55288 by GBile on July 10, 2007 at 1:12 pm

The dazzling production of Comments is confusing. Does mr. Georgoudis suggest that we are just episodes in Gods latest wet dream ??

110. Floods are judgment on society, say bishops

Comment #53592 by GBile on July 2, 2007 at 6:27 am

WOW, a funny grin, an outlandisch attire, some bling-bling and an oversized umbrella, and there you have it: 'a spritual leader'.

111. I believe that there is no God.

Comment #52731 by GBile on June 28, 2007 at 12:25 am

I might not believe that there is a god, but let's face it: When I am out in the open and the skies will part and a bearded face will command "Attention !!",
I will stand at attention ... for about three seconds and then I will turn around and try to sink my putt.

112. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #52723 by GBile on June 27, 2007 at 11:52 pm

The 'Made in His image' believers are by now floating in the air: all the legs of their favorite chair have been sawed off.

Let's welcome them with open arms when they eventually crash to the ground.

113. In Defense of Witchcraft

Comment #52448 by GBile on June 27, 2007 at 3:53 am

MIND REBEL back !!

Sorry mr. Harris, great article !

114. Egypt mufti says female circumcision forbidden

Comment #52205 by GBile on June 26, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Of course cutting of body parts for no medical reason is pointless. Some time ago somebody on this site proposed the 'gunk theory of circumcision'. How silly can it get.
Culturally or religiously motivated mutilation practices should stop, certainly for children.

Good move, Grand Mufti.

115. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #52060 by GBile on June 26, 2007 at 4:25 am

Mr. Georgoudis,

You chose to ignore my question to you in comment #808 so far, but nevertheless I like to give my opinion to what you wrote in a later comment:

Suppose that in that desert island there is some potable water but no food whatsoever and no possibility of catching any food. After a week or so of waiting for a passing boat you are both becoming weak. The best strategy for one's own survival is to kill the other person in his sleep and eat him to keep alive until a boat hopefully passes (while making sure to leave no evidence of the murder that the rescue party could discover). Of course the above is a very nasty course of action. The question at hand now is who is the one more likely to seriously consider or even resort to this course of action: the naturalist who believes that death is the definitive end, or the theist who believes that death is just a door to the next life in which our actions in this life will have relevance?

116. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #51851 by GBile on June 25, 2007 at 10:37 am

M. Georgoudis,

A worldview may result in a lifestyle.
Does the existence of your marvelously intelligent God makes you pray 5 times a day on a rug, makes you reluctant to eat certain species of shellfish, causes you to worry about the 'sinner inside', expects you to be with him in 'a loving embrace (Andrew Sullivan-style) after you die ?
What do you do as a result of your worldview ?

117. In the name of the Father

Comment #51509 by GBile on June 23, 2007 at 7:16 am

Again 'the man is a sinner' myth:

But even if religion did disappear, which of course it won't, we human beings would still be here, organised in groups of various kinds, still beset by the same lack of self-knowledge, viciousness and moral weakness.

118. In the name of the Father

Comment #51507 by GBile on June 23, 2007 at 7:05 am

Again 'the man is a sinner' myth:

But even if religion did disappear, which of course it won't, we human beings would still be here, organised in groups of various kinds, still beset by the same lack of self-knowledge, viciousness and moral weakness.

119. In the know

Comment #50254 by GBile on June 16, 2007 at 4:06 am

Mr. Vernon may have been good in assisting his flock fondling their spiritual genitals every sunday, but he apparently doesn't have a clue what life is like when you consider that the possibility that a god or gods exist is negligible and therefore call yourself an atheist.
He likes to impress us with statements like:

But we are also far from wise like the angels

120. A Compass That Can Clash With Modern Life

Comment #49579 by GBile on June 12, 2007 at 12:42 pm

There are no comments on this article.

121. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #49427 by GBile on June 12, 2007 at 12:20 am

Dianelos Georgoudis:

An other believer, an other God ...

122. Manliness is next to godliness

Comment #49204 by GBile on June 11, 2007 at 2:20 am

Disgusting.

Let us double our efforts to get rid of the reli-madness.

Just a thought: What would mr. Prager do when he saw 10 of these guys coming from a bible-class ?

123. Can we really learn to love people who aren't like us?

Comment #48759 by GBile on June 9, 2007 at 2:16 am

For the great strength of religion is that it creates communities, and its great weakness is that it divides communities

124. Atheism is pretentious and cowardly

Comment #48076 by GBile on June 6, 2007 at 1:44 pm

Is this 'the arguement from ignorance' :

Nobody can say what religion precisely is ... so it must be true ??

125. What I Think About Evolution

Comment #46779 by GBile on June 1, 2007 at 2:35 pm

Darwin 2,
If consciousness continues after death, we might then learn that:

We all spent our eternity in the Hell of Popocatetettel, whom mankind forgot to follow 22000 years ago.

We have to work, for eternity, in the celestial Fast food chain of Angel Hut (many vacancies) feeding obese winged beings.

There are no virgins over there.

We are alone ...

E^(i*pi) = - 2

Is there anything that you know that points to what is true , not true, probable, improbable ?

126. Photos of The God Delusion Event in Second Life

Comment #46761 by GBile on June 1, 2007 at 12:31 pm

What about Third Life, or Fourth ??

127. What I Think About Evolution

Comment #46760 by GBile on June 1, 2007 at 12:24 pm

Mr. Brownback thinks he is able to become 'President of the USA'. Wow.

I firmly believe that each human person, regardless of circumstance, was willed into being and made for a purpose

128. Hitchens and Prager Debate

Comment #46190 by GBile on May 30, 2007 at 1:56 pm

What a terrible, black, depressed mind mr. Prager shows to the world. This is exemplified by his 'conviction' that every man, woman and child is basically evil. Goodness must be rammed down their throats and it takes a God to do the ramming.
Likely mr. Prager is also of the Rick Warren school of 'the moment I stop believing, I will stop being altruistic'.

No, mr. Prager, mankind is not like that. 'Man the sinner' is a lie, thought up by men (of course 'men') with compacted minds and sinister agenda's. Please shut up and let mankind cast away its religious shackles and regain its natural way to goodness and happiness.

129. The Dawkins delusion

Comment #45869 by GBile on May 29, 2007 at 12:34 pm

I recently equaled "quasi-religious" to "engaging in spiritual masturbation". Masturbation, treating yourself to a nice feeling, is perfectly acceptable.
Would it be a good thing to to separate these quasi-religious people from their hobby? Would the 'houses of worship' become as sparsely populated as a desert when they discover that genuine 'nice feelings' do not require imaginary friends or mirages of 'eternal places', but that the world around them offers all they need?
My answer would be Yes and Yes.

130. I'm Sure God is Scared

Comment #45773 by GBile on May 29, 2007 at 7:25 am

Bonzai,

I don't have any problem with masturbation. People going to a church to have a 'soothing feeling' in the groin, oops, make that 'in the head', are Ok with me. But certainly these feelings can also be had on a trip to the zoo, reading a book or having dinner with 8 friends. Nothing supernatural required.

131. I'm Sure God is Scared

Comment #44789 by GBile on May 25, 2007 at 9:38 am

I just love lite religion. Soothe your conscience by sitting on a pew for an hour a week,...

132. Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

Comment #44686 by GBile on May 25, 2007 at 7:18 am

An planet, star, or other celestial object at a distance of X m(eter) from the earth, that would be rotating AROUND the earth, would move 2*Pi*X m in 24 hour = 86400 seconds. The fastest speed that can be achieved is the speed of light = 300.000.000 m/s. In one day light travels (3*10^8) * (8.64*10^4) = 25.92*10^12 m. A circle with that circumference has a radius X = (25.92*10^12)/(2*Pi) m = (25.92*10^12)/(6.2832) m = 4.13*10^12 m = 4.13 billion kilometer.
Sounds impressive ? The sun is 150 million km away, our sister planet Neptune is 4.5 billion km away, so it must already be moving faster than the speed of light if the 'geocentrists' have their way.

'Inerrancy of the bible', doesn't science spoil everything ?

133. Christopher Hitchens Is a Treasure

Comment #43380 by GBile on May 21, 2007 at 8:06 am

Gee,

An other believer, an other God. This time :

Suppose that God is not a Rationalist, a Logician, a straight-line Geometer-of-the-skies

134. The Fastest-Growing Religion

Comment #42426 by GBile on May 18, 2007 at 7:29 am

Uzi,
Spirituality is a word with some dubious meanings, but I can understand your use of it with regard to your 'rock-climbing'.

On the other hand 'worshipping' is a word I don't like in whatever context. It is an ugly, degrading word, no one should have to use it, ever.

135. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42414 by GBile on May 18, 2007 at 7:07 am

In comment #41783 I introduced the Delud-O-Meter, which indicates the total of humankinds religious delusion. Earlier this week we saw the Delud-O-Meter going back in the direction of zero, by 1.0 Fw (Fw = Falwell, the (temporary!) unit of delusion).

One could speculate how the indicator of the Delud-O-Meter would move when mr. 'Whatswrongwiththeworld' Larison would pass away.
I find this hard to say. If mr. Larison believes what he writes, the change could well be 0.8 Fw (again in the direction of zero). But maybe mr. Larison is not deluded at all (religiously that is) but thinks along the 'religion is Good for the masses' line. Could this be the case ? If so, CBUH, contempt be upon him.

It would put him in the neighborhood of Leo Strauss and this is a not neighborhood I would like to run out of gas in.

136. Christopher Hitchens to God: Drop Dead

Comment #41902 by GBile on May 17, 2007 at 9:32 am

But millions of believers wrestle with their faiths and don't take doctrine at face value-
these are women who want to maintain their tradition, only make it better-
Muslim women who refuse to pray behind the men in mosque and who denounce last year's attempt in Ontario to adopt sharia-based law to settle Muslim family disputes-
Religion offers community, a framework in which to celebrate lifecycle events and mourn loss of life, distinctive recipes, and a code of values for moral living, among many other positive things-
What happens in the world and in the Church does not depend on God. It depends on us-

137. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41783 by GBile on May 17, 2007 at 1:55 am

The passing of mr. Falwell could be used to do a little science. I propose to measure mankinds total religious delusion on the 'Delud-O-Meter' (patent pending). Mr. Falwells death moved the indicator of the Delud-O-Meter by a considerable amount to the zero-point.

Of course the Delud-O-Meter would not be scientific if there was no 'unit' attached to it.

How much delusion can be attributed to a certain belief ?
Belief in a 'virgin birth': 0.05 unit ?
Belief in 'going on a horse to heaven': 0.1 unit ?

Is assigning these values not a worthwhile task for the people calling themselves 'theologians'? Or maybe a committee including some atheists could be working on this ?

Now in science we are accustomed to give the units of measuring something a name (sometimes the name of the discoverer). The change of the indicator, mentioned above clearly was 1.0 Falwell (Fw). Using the Fw as the unit on Delud-O-Meter might give mr. Falwell somehow the 'eternity' he so desparately craved, but I personally think it will give the man too much 'honor'.
So what to use ? As the inventor of the Delud-O-Meter I might suggest the 'Bile' (Bl), but I suspect that a much better name can be found.

Any suggestions ?

138. Atheism in America

Comment #40274 by GBile on May 14, 2007 at 4:17 am

'Our kids are good Christian kids - they wouldn't do that...'

139. True faith is greater than the ranters

Comment #40266 by GBile on May 14, 2007 at 4:04 am

The 'religious' truth is that it is indeed a 'social institution'. A church is a 'sing and pray club'. No more and no less than a cricket club or a club of people interested in bird-watching.

140. God . . . in other words

Comment #39321 by GBile on May 10, 2007 at 10:13 am

So we may find 'something' in dimension 6 who's most important messages (commands) for mankind are:

I am the Lord your 6th dimension-entity
Thou shall have no other 6th dimension-entities before me
Thou shall not make for yourself an idol
Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of your 6th dimension-entity

141. The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it

Comment #38311 by GBile on May 7, 2007 at 1:19 pm

From the link mentioned in comment #8 (Journal of Religion and Society (2005)):

There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms (Aral and Holmes; Beeghley, Doyle, 2002).

142. God Exists. A Formula Proves it.

Comment #37697 by GBile on May 5, 2007 at 1:27 pm

I must admit that I read Tiplers 'The Physics of immortality'. One thing he suggests in the book is to send 'selfreplicating robots' to 'every corner' of the universe. The purpose, as far as I recall, is to gather enough information about every particle in the universe to be able to predict the future en thereby 'the end of times'. Immortality is supposed to come from recreating the personalities (souls?) of every person in ... giant computers. Presto, you have achieved immortality (but you could be hacked, scary idea). I like the 'selfreplicating robots' idea, but don't care much about the immortality.
Maybe the God-equation is Tiplers next scientific breakthrough.

143. The kiss that brought immorality debate to a head

Comment #37662 by GBile on May 5, 2007 at 12:35 pm

This is a revolting story. Islam has been branded 'a backward culture'. I agree, also because no demonstrations will be held by 'moderate muslims' to protest what is going on in Iran.
But then again, all cultures founded on religion are backward.

144. For Motherly X Chromosome, Gender Is Only the Beginning

Comment #37461 by GBile on May 4, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Certainly this cute article holds more useful information for mankind than 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel combined, not to speak of sura's Jonah 1..109.

145. 4 Sermon for Matins: 'Dawkins and The God Delusion'

Comment #37342 by GBile on May 4, 2007 at 6:14 am

I read all the 'sermons' and found many words and little meaning. What I picked up was not a believe in a God, but a sentiment, deeply held by Dr. Sagovsky, in my opinion best described by this quote:

In religious ritual what is being enacted is a whole way of experiencing the world. It is enacted symbolically - often with the use of dance, chanting, music, and readings from sacred texts.

In response to Dawkins' attack on religion, we might well ask what happens when you take away from society the belief that God or the gods exist. Dawkins argument is that this sets us free; mine that it sets us adrift.

146. Was Muhammad Epileptic?

Comment #35189 by GBile on April 26, 2007 at 2:09 pm

Put the thing under the 'Plagiarism scanner' and it will fail miserably.
'Holy books', how silly can you get?

147. Dinesh D'Souza says I don't exist: an atheist at Virginia Tech

Comment #33451 by GBile on April 20, 2007 at 6:17 am

Denoir,

Wishful thinking and delusions can be comforting. Those people are tragically dead and nothing will change that. So what remains is the question of how the families and friends will cope with the loss. The truth, which is that their loved ones died a pointless death and that they are just gone and dead isn't going to comfort them. Reality does not owe us anything.

148. Where Is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?

Comment #33439 by GBile on April 20, 2007 at 5:35 am

The Dailykos story, mentioned in Comment 10 above, is a devastating answer to mr. D'Souza's verbal garbage.
Please read it and be moved as I was.

149. The Great British Literary Census

Comment #31486 by GBile on April 12, 2007 at 11:51 pm

I would have liked 'The Ancestors Tale' on top of the list. That book tells what everyone should know, the amazing journey of life.
Books about religion are basically a waste of time and effort. But alas, where so many still cherish their delusions and don't hesitate to try to force their inability or unwillingness to accept their 'natural' life upon their children and their fellow men, books like 'The God Delusion' are very necessary.

150. The God Debate

Comment #29236 by GBile on April 2, 2007 at 7:10 am

Easily the most horrifying sentence of 'Evangelist' Warren is :

If death is the end, shoot, I'm not going to waste another minute being altruistic.