Comments by notsobad

201. Taking a Cue From Ants on Evolution of Humans

Comment #210802 by notsobad on July 15, 2008 at 4:48 am

I call this the politically correct theory of natural selection.

202. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209942 by notsobad on July 13, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Sane decision at last.
And I hope it will piss off all the politically correct armchair "humanists" too.

203. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208517 by notsobad on July 11, 2008 at 2:13 am

done...
even though my Germanic-Slavic name may sound like a pseudonym :)

204. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208513 by notsobad on July 11, 2008 at 2:07 am

Stupid is as stupid does, eh.

205. Atheism on the buses

Comment #206615 by notsobad on July 8, 2008 at 2:49 pm

They need to come up with a wittier and more offensive slogan than this.

206. Degrees of religion

Comment #205957 by notsobad on July 8, 2008 at 1:18 am

A straw man in the first sentence already ... not surprising.
The author mentions god, but talks about religion. She doesn't offer any evidence for the first, nor any evidence that the latter is valuable and necessary.

207. Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

Comment #203459 by notsobad on July 3, 2008 at 1:19 am

If the achievements promoted by faith-based programs are related to "creationism" or any form of "intelligent design," the results will be a society rated as a bunch of dumb-asses.

Will be?

Read a great response to Obama's faith-based proposals at FFRF.ORG
(Check out News Release, July 1st)

That news release should be featured here. I especially like this bit:

On a related topic, we are appalled at the arrogant, presumptuous hubris of politicians who claim to know "God's will." Obama joins an unfortunately long line of political candidates and public officials (which includes more than its fair share of despots), who talk about "fulfilling God's will" and "doing the Lord's work." Why are these politicians so special that they possess a direct pipeline to a divinity? The presidential candidates have crossed the line between acknowledging sincere personal faith to wearing faith on their sleeves and unapologetic political pandering. Both John McCain and Obama have been burned by their past close associations with pastors. Why can't they see that religion mixed with politics is always a combustible mixture?

208. Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

Comment #203315 by notsobad on July 2, 2008 at 3:58 pm

It will always be about lesser evils if a big party nominates them.
Anybody who thought Obama was some kind of an ideal hero was deluded.

209. Can't Darwin and God get along?

Comment #202517 by notsobad on July 1, 2008 at 3:04 pm

No, not with an interventionist god. And worshiping any other kind of a god is pointless.

210. Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?

Comment #201824 by notsobad on June 30, 2008 at 9:46 am

WTF is the point of this comparison?

211. Charles Darwin was not the father of atheism

Comment #201823 by notsobad on June 30, 2008 at 9:44 am

More bullshit from the Telegraph.

212. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201691 by notsobad on June 30, 2008 at 4:27 am

After reading some of the quotes, especially the one about the pope being the only advocate of reason, I conclude that this is a mental asylum worthy material.

213. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201405 by notsobad on June 29, 2008 at 4:10 pm

too much time on his hands

all these things, unfortunately, can be used by the agnostic imagination to paint our local and tribal gods with the colours of parochial absurdity

unfortunately?

214. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #201089 by notsobad on June 29, 2008 at 2:02 am

Religion needs to be ridiculed more so that it loses the undeserved protection from criticism it has now.

215. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200914 by notsobad on June 28, 2008 at 1:02 pm

"Ratings disabled
Adding comments has been disabled for this video."

so typical

216. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200908 by notsobad on June 28, 2008 at 12:53 pm

It makes perfect sense to me. Psychiatrists treat mental illnesses...

217. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200431 by notsobad on June 27, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Lucas,
the sample size is large enough as long as it was a representative sample.

218. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200338 by notsobad on June 27, 2008 at 10:38 am

Carlin on voting:

Now, there's one thing you might have noticed; I don't complain about politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens.
This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out.
If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders.
Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans.
So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.'

219. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200287 by notsobad on June 27, 2008 at 8:55 am

There are still enough idiots to vote so ...

220. God hates Mars

Comment #200146 by notsobad on June 27, 2008 at 1:37 am

Reality is a package deal.

t-shirt worthy slogan

221. An Interview with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Comment #199299 by notsobad on June 25, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Good to see original questions for once ;)

222. Carlin on Religion

Comment #198741 by notsobad on June 24, 2008 at 12:18 pm

In the meantime, it's time for a new talent show: America's Next Top Atheist Comic.

Carlin was much more than just an atheist (everybody can be one) and a comic.

223. Carlin on Religion

Comment #198738 by notsobad on June 24, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Sagan, Clarke, Carlin dead, Pratchett has Alzheimer's ...

224. Should We Rid The Mind of God? A Debate

Comment #198733 by notsobad on June 24, 2008 at 12:09 pm

McGrath? He has nothing new to offer.

225. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #197938 by notsobad on June 23, 2008 at 1:08 am

One of the few people I didn't know personally yet adored.

226. 'I despise Islamism': Ian McEwan faces backlash over press interview

Comment #197668 by notsobad on June 22, 2008 at 1:09 pm

Was he also called racist by politically correct busy bodies, or only by Muslims?

227. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197076 by notsobad on June 21, 2008 at 3:37 am

Let's use DI's reasoning:

"Should Strident Jewish Preacher Jesus Christ Dictate Education Policy to US States?"

228. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197056 by notsobad on June 21, 2008 at 2:11 am

The chauvinistic remark at the beginning was a sign where the article was going.

Anyway:
Christianity 'could die out within a century'

229. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #196945 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 4:33 pm

Jack Rawlinson

I sometimes swap the two. It's like when you have rubbish in one hand and something useful in the other and almost throw out the useful thing :/
corrected

230. Muslim countries win concession regarding religious debates

Comment #196933 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 3:51 pm

The difference is that I have a Constitution that protects me with guaranteed rights which I can use to challenge my government.

In theory.
In reality I don't trust the government of the country I live in any more than international organizations or other governments.
Patriotism and nationalism are just brainwashing techniques.

231. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #196916 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 3:25 pm

What does the cross burning say about the eighth-graders?! I don't know about the rest of you, but if any teacher would have approached me with an electrostatic device with the intent to burn anything into my skin, I would have kicked him in the nuts!

This seems to be a case of both fucked-up parenting and fucked-up education. I wouldn't be surprised if the parents actually supported that nut.

232. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #196740 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 11:51 am

This is why you need to educate your kids at home, teach them to question information and authority and discuss things that go on at school with them.
I would storm into the school the day after some idiot teacher tried this.

233. Lawsuit filed over 'I Believe' plates in S.C.

Comment #196717 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 11:21 am

Someone point those people to their commandment number 2, the one about idols.

234. Muslim countries win concession regarding religious debates

Comment #196493 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 3:32 am

We refuse to abide by law that would take away from our sovereignty.

Sovereignty of your government, not yours. The US government is good at taking your liberties without the help from any international organization.

235. Muslim countries win concession regarding religious debates

Comment #196452 by notsobad on June 20, 2008 at 2:02 am

Fucking political correctness. Sometimes these always smiling always so correct people do more damage than dogmatic theists.

236. Darwinists for Jesus

Comment #196314 by notsobad on June 19, 2008 at 4:19 pm

You can accept evolution and believe in some kind of god. But evolution and the god of the Bible? That's mutually exclusive and only shows that the person is a master of cognitive dissonance.

237. It Doesn't Take an Einstein

Comment #196175 by notsobad on June 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Einstein is not the greatest mind of the 20th century. Nobody is.
He would probably frown on such a piss contest too.

238. Oystein Elgaroy - the Christian defender who became an Atheist

Comment #195596 by notsobad on June 18, 2008 at 3:23 pm

The God of the Bible.

You are either lying because you don't follow all the rules from the Bible or you do follow them and belong to prison. Which is it?

239. Oystein Elgaroy - the Christian defender who became an Atheist

Comment #195518 by notsobad on June 18, 2008 at 11:46 am

Now that's an honest man.
You can tell that many other "Christians" actually don't believe but they don't want to give up the label for some reason (cultural, socialization, cognitive dissonance...).

240. George W Bush meets Pope amid claims he might convert to Catholicism

Comment #194554 by notsobad on June 17, 2008 at 12:27 am

He added that while the Holy See deplored the war in Iraq, "on ethical matters he has always had a line that is practically identical to that of the Vatican."

Never mind that thousands of people had to suffer and die needlessly and enormous environmental damage was done, as long as a person hates gays and opposes stem-cell research, the ethics are sound for the Vatican.

How come an institution with such fucked-up moral standards get so much commendation still?

241. Stephen Hawking: ministers' �80m error puts science at risk

Comment #193410 by notsobad on June 15, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Separately, it has emerged that he has turned down the offer of a knighthood. "Professor Hawking does not like titles. In fact he dislikes the whole concept of them,"

As if I could respect him any more!
Medieval bullshit needs to go.

242. As the world becomes smaller, the need to understand each other's faith grows

Comment #192825 by notsobad on June 14, 2008 at 2:41 am

Each other's? People don't even understand their own.

...world's great faiths, must be prepared to learn from their stores of wisdom...

What wisdom would that be? My god has bigger balls than your god? Infidels and women really are unequal?
Dogmas can't coexist peacefully is the largest wisdom I see here.

243. From Big Bang to Us - Made Easy

Comment #192607 by notsobad on June 13, 2008 at 3:23 pm

So where is the torrent?

Any chance there are spanish subtitled versions of these?

Time to volunteer ;)

244. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192557 by notsobad on June 13, 2008 at 11:32 am

Linking religious belief and intelligence in this way could reflect a dangerous trend, developing a simplistic characterisation of religion as primitive...

Where is this religion 2.0 then?

245. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192390 by notsobad on June 13, 2008 at 12:40 am

Steve Zara,
you had a good post about conception asking where soul comes in on your blog. I can't find it now. Could you give me a link to it?

246. Saving Us from Darwin

Comment #192384 by notsobad on June 13, 2008 at 12:02 am

Miller is good at presenting evolution, but what about the second part of the book, which I assume is trying to make evolution and the Christian god compatible? Is the book one of the biggest examples of cognitive dissonance put on paper?

247. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192167 by notsobad on June 12, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Intelligence and education. Intelligence alone is not enough if you are brainwashed.

248. New British Petition: Stop the Nightmares

Comment #191884 by notsobad on June 12, 2008 at 3:48 am

THE place to start in the UK is education. We must reign back Faith Schools. We must improve the quality of education in the areas of critical thinking skills, morality, civic behaviour etc. The political rhetoric would be-

"RE and Philosophy, Education to heal a broken society."

Stop rearranging the deck-chairs.

well said

249. New British Petition: Stop the Nightmares

Comment #191731 by notsobad on June 11, 2008 at 2:20 pm

I am not concerned that any government would actually do anything with this as it's far too vague, and the issue would be a political minefield even if a government had an inkling as to how a revised law would deal with the issue of "religious bullying."

I agree.

And finally we could look at how to address the remaining issue, in realistic, pragmatic ways that don't open the door to abuse through overreaction from whatever agency would enforce such measures.

Indeed. We need diplomacy not force. Talk about it (in schools no less).

250. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190664 by notsobad on June 9, 2008 at 10:52 am

And if there was a proof, what good would faith be?