201. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #213593 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Why does everyone need 'convincing' that Islam is a supposedly peaceful religion? And why are so many leader types so interested in 'convincing' us? I'm pretty sure that in the Lama's case he's doing everything he can to convince himself that if he says just the right words that Islamists won't blow up any more Buddhist temples. Good f'ing luck, Lama. It's the same question I ask myself when I see all the little Jesus fish on the backs of vehicles, here in Texas, that are speeding, running red lights, forcing other vehicles off the road, throwing beer bottles out of the vehicle windows ... you know what I'm saying. If they followed the better teachings of Jesus, they wouldn't need to convince me with a fish. And, as it is now, I see nothing of the better teachings of Jesus in their behavior and I think 'convincing' is a day late and a dollar short.

202. Texas State Board of Education approves Bible course for high schools

Comment #213575 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Pardon me while I play devil's advocate for education for a moment. My feeling, and this is just me, is that the public schools in Texas should actually teach subject's like math, English, reading, science, geography, history ... you know. I mean, have the kids able to read on at least a sixth grade level by the time they graduate from high school, maybe have the skills to balance a checkbook, know that astronomy is science, astrology isn't, be able to find Texas on a map of the US and be able to find the US on a world map, know that Shakesphere actually existed and maybe know that there is such a thing as history. I know this is a radical idea but a guy has to start somewhere. Lastly, can we please postpone the Bible stuff until college or never and just keep it trapped at church and church schools until then?

203. Texas State Board of Education approves Bible course for high schools

Comment #213569 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 3:15 pm

'many schools might unknowingly create unconstitutional Bible classes that promote ... disparage, etc.' 'Might' my ass. 'Unknowingly' my ass. 'Unconstitutional' yes. 'Promote' certainly. 'Disparage' for sure. TWP ... the bomb has gone off ... it's just not real loud yet. Being a Texan, this makes me sick. There's a good interview on Fox today about this with Barry Lynn and some wing nut. Like there aren't enough churches and church schools in Texas to teach Bible stuff ... Oh, well, just another nail in the coffin of Texas education which had already gone to hell in a handbasket.

204. Calling World Conference on Dialogue a Symbol of Unity Among Different Traditions

Comment #213563 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Hello? Pouring gasoline on a fire doesn't put the fire out. Religion IS the problem. More of it won't help. Or, maybe it's just me; maybe I'm delusional. Where did I ever get the idea that religion inspires violence? King Abdulla's speech sounds like one of those really bad Nigerian phishing spams I get all the time that promise riches for a small investment from my bank account.

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

Comment #213154 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 8:17 am

Religions, which are generally DEATH/BLOOD/SACRIFICE cults, are NEVER respectful of life except in the sense that they can latch onto 'life' in some emotionally charged way so as to boost their control issues (at least in their own minds) over other people. And for you guys who weren't raised as fundamentalists I can tell you that they want to control ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that involves that little three-letter word ... sex. It's really not even about the life of a newly conceived human (or whatever the correct medical definition is), it's about wanting to control the sexual behavior of everyone on the planet ... except, of course, their own.

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

Comment #213141 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 7:59 am

'A respect for life is one thing all established religions have in common' ...

I love jokes!

207. Ten Commandments' of race and genetics issued

Comment #213126 by Border Collie on July 18, 2008 at 7:38 am

I'm so glad that there are groups of people out there who get together and decide how everyone else should think.

208. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #212503 by Border Collie on July 17, 2008 at 9:13 am

Surgical ... perfect ...

209. 'Condoms won't change HIV rates'

Comment #212499 by Border Collie on July 17, 2008 at 9:06 am

Preaching abstinence to humans has worked so well over the past hundreds of years. I'm sure that aids will disappear shortly in Africa.

210. Let's Get Rid of Darwinism

Comment #212488 by Border Collie on July 17, 2008 at 8:59 am

I don't see Darwin as being 'wrong' on anything. He simply did an astonishing job with what he had. It's always easy to judge the past with that 20/20 hindsight if that's what one chooses to do. A hundred fifty years from now, if we're not all a bunch of eastward-bowing rug-bumpers, there will be people saying that today's scientists were 'wrong'. The statement will be literally true ... so what? Today's scientists are doing the best they can with what they have.

211. The Return of Religion

Comment #212451 by Border Collie on July 17, 2008 at 8:28 am

Scientists/atheists/reasoning people are the ones who 'gaze out toward the transcendental' ... they have the guts to live with the question(s) ... they don't want or need simplistic, stoneage 'answers' to the unknown.

So, why have preachers of every ilk screamed and shouted for the past two thousand years or more? Every time I see the word 'strident' I can see the maniacal Southern Baptist preachers of my childhood striding and stomping, rapidly with giant steps, across the stage while screaming, shouting, sweating, spitting, trembling, turning purple, pounding their Bible ... all the while thinking about which deacon's wife they were having sex with next.

212. Fury at funeral songs ban

Comment #211564 by Border Collie on July 16, 2008 at 7:02 am

Try a Southern Baptist funeral in Texas ... the deceased and the funeral become nothing but vehicles for expounding church dogma and opportunities for preaching hell fire and damnation ... all for the glory, amen, etc., etc.

213. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #211558 by Border Collie on July 16, 2008 at 6:41 am

'Unrepentant science-heathen' ha, ha, ha, ha and ha!

One would think that one day, some day, the wingnuts would let go of the need for the blood sacrifice even if only in wafer/grape juice form.

214. Taking a Cue From Ants on Evolution of Humans

Comment #210897 by Border Collie on July 15, 2008 at 8:12 am

I'd like to read a book someday by one of the 'greats' that hasn't been eviscerated by a publisher. Yea, I know, dream on.

215. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #210881 by Border Collie on July 15, 2008 at 7:44 am

Up until now, I thought the DL was a fairly intelligent guy ... I reckon Hitchens was right.

216. The Politics of God

Comment #210407 by Border Collie on July 14, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Shoot low, boys, they're riding ponies ...

217. Church Cancels Teen Gun Giveaway

Comment #209834 by Border Collie on July 13, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Hey, it IS Oklahoma and it IS a Baptist Church afterall. You Euros are expecting WAY too much from the colonies.

218. Host Desecration is Old Anti-Semitic Nonsense

Comment #209830 by Border Collie on July 13, 2008 at 12:03 pm

So, if we could get enough consecrated crackers and wine together in one place and mix it all together, we could make a new Jesus? Scary.
I've found that in the South when enough crackers and wine get together there's usually a shootout or a pickup gets turned over.

219. Man Sues Church Over 'God Injury'

Comment #209824 by Border Collie on July 13, 2008 at 11:59 am

It does seem as if he did receive his 'real' experience ...

220. Lourdes fears priestly scandal will make profits dry up

Comment #209821 by Border Collie on July 13, 2008 at 11:57 am

So what's new? This scam is at least 2,000 years old.

221. Pope confirms sexual abuse apology

Comment #209816 by Border Collie on July 13, 2008 at 11:53 am

Afterall, we do live in an age when stating the obvious is considered profound.

222. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #209111 by Border Collie on July 11, 2008 at 3:22 pm

Must be a slow day in the UK ...

223. Weak US dollar hits papal profits

Comment #209102 by Border Collie on July 11, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Oh, my, what IS a Pope to do?

Well, actually, for those numbers, I'd wear a little red pope suit and do all sorts of gesturing and babbling Latin.

224. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208753 by Border Collie on July 11, 2008 at 8:03 am

I'm as much of a hard case as many of you guys. The faith healers are worse than fingernails on a chalkboard to me also. This makes me very sad, however. I just try to have compassion for those people who are suffering. Maybe the whole thing is sickening but I can't pass judgment on a father whose daughter has internal organs on the outside esp. in a country wherein medical care is disappearing and has disappeared for tens of millions.

225. Bisexual Species: Unorthodox Sex in the Animal Kingdom

Comment #208739 by Border Collie on July 11, 2008 at 7:45 am

Damn, how dead does a horse have to be before the beatings stop?

226. Flatfish Fossils Fill In Evolutionary Missing Link

Comment #208734 by Border Collie on July 11, 2008 at 7:33 am

I really wish that the so-called opposing viewpoint of creationism would not even be addressed and or alluded to in articles such as this. It gives them, by default, credibility they don't deserve. Who cares what they think? Addressing the point of 'missing links' or transitional forms falls right into their hands. It wouldn't matter if scientists found every possible transitional form from the earliest fossils to now, the creationists wouldn't get it and they would still be wailing and gnashing their teeth over evo. Just do the science for the sake of science and forget about the creationists.

227. McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry

Comment #208219 by Border Collie on July 10, 2008 at 6:07 pm

McDonalds burgers make me cry. So what's new?

228. New legal threat to school science in the US

Comment #208217 by Border Collie on July 10, 2008 at 6:05 pm

I think they should have a 'debate' about evolution and creationism/ID on a TV show something like American Idol or Pet Stars with celebrity judges on a rotating schedule coming and going. Of course, they'd need lots of bright lights, noise, prompted applauders, good makeup, mouthfuls of shiny white teeth and, of course, lots of cute young females with large bosoms revealed by low-cut attire. I'm certain that this would work in the US for a couple of seasons anyway and probably so in the UK. And that, my friends, would settle the whole thing.

229. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208088 by Border Collie on July 10, 2008 at 3:08 pm

What a bunch of whiners ... on both sides. Why didn't someone else do the ceremony or why didn't the couple just go somewhere else? Good grief ...

230. New legal threat to school science in the US

Comment #207343 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Trying to save Louisiana from creationism is like trying to save Louisiana from mosquitos, Tobasco sauce and crayfish. It isn't going to happen. Louisiana is one of the most backward states in the US, if not THE most backward. I'm surprised that anyone can even spell 'evolution' there.

231. An Original Confession

Comment #207331 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Origin, boring? How does one get into Darwin's mind without reading Origin? I don't even have a degree in biology and I've read it two or three times. Whatever.

232. The BBC announces a major season marking the life and work of Charles Darwin

Comment #207326 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 2:05 pm

If any of you Brits have information on how we Yanks can see this on satellite, Internet, DVD, etc., here in the US, please post it on this site. Thanks.

233. IT'S A GODDAMNED CRACKER!

Comment #207322 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Doesn't this just make one long for the good old days ... when men were men and sheep were nervous ... when the faithful actually sacrificed their 'kings' and stripped and ate the raw flesh from their bones while they were still alive? THEY didn't screw around with this pansy-assed 'cracker' bullshit. I mean, no symbolism for those folks. And here we are today, thousands of years later, and they're still screaming for blood ... over symbolism ... OVER SYMBOLISM! Damn, I love the religious mind.

234. Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination

Comment #207308 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Death cults will be death cults ...

235. A trip to the Creation Museum

Comment #207295 by Border Collie on July 9, 2008 at 1:09 pm

I just love it when atheists support things like this with their money ...

236. Atheism on the buses

Comment #206577 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Good for a smile ...

237. Landlords protest after pub swearing ban gets them sacked

Comment #206574 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Damn, now this is big news ...

238. McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry

Comment #206572 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Oh, well, McDonalds is as good a target as any for personal issues to be projected upon. I wonder if their burgers are any better now?

239. Degrees of religion

Comment #206565 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Not hurting anyone and staying within normal behavior boundaries doesn't deserve any respect. To me, that is zero. It's like showing up at work with clothes on. 'Oh, hiiiii, I have clothes on, I didn't murder anyone today, I didn't blow up a building, I didn't molest a child ... respect me!' Sorry, I think one has to go way past zero to deserve respect. F'tards ...

240. Sir John M. Templeton, Philanthropist, Dies at 95

Comment #206532 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 12:50 pm

I had my tonsils (sp?) taken out when I was seven or eight. I woke up from the surgery and there were about eight people standing around my bed praying at about sundown. It scared the hell out of me. I thought I had died. Oh, well.

Can't fault Templeton for his money making ability. He must have had some good backing. Ten grand was a LOT of monty to borrow during that time period.

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

Comment #206480 by Border Collie on July 8, 2008 at 12:00 pm

It could be an actual insect with a hook through it ... me being a fisherman and all ... but, who cares?

The dumber the book is the more the Creationists will belive it anyway. Seriously.

242. Teaching Evolution in Mexico: Preaching to the Choir

Comment #205841 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 8:13 pm

Missionaries ... cluck, cluck ... scratch, scratch ...

243. Churches' secret talks to stop gay surge

Comment #205675 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 4:06 pm

Seems to me that they're about 2,000 years too late ...

244. Origin of the Novel Species Noodleous doubleous: Evidence for Intelligent Design

Comment #205673 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 4:05 pm

How do the Italians feel about this research? I've heard that there is a group of Islamists who are already planning a lawsuit.

245. Harper says new mosque shows 'the true and benevolent face of Islam'

Comment #205652 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Damn, just knowing that there's another mosque on the North American continent makes me absolutely joyous and tingly all over ... Will someone please tell me where the Muslim ass-kissing line starts so I can get in line?

246. Religion's role in the climate debate

Comment #205645 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 3:20 pm

I was going to say something ... Seems like everything's just about been covered, though ...
I loved the 'high priest of atheism' bit ...
Screw 'em ...

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

Comment #205640 by Border Collie on July 7, 2008 at 3:08 pm

Burn it in the fireplace on a cold night ...

248. The Boundaries of Belief

Comment #205120 by Border Collie on July 6, 2008 at 3:55 pm

If you interview 35,000 Joe Blows off the street, more than five percent of them won't even be able to read and I'd guess a fairly large percentage would misread 'atheist' or not know what it means.

Is there a monetary prize for being first post? Seems like such a big deal to some people.

249. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204789 by Border Collie on July 5, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Wonder why they're treating this like it's something new. There's nothing new about world redeemer mythology. It was going on a long, long time before Mr. Jesus.

250. Prayer refusal pupils 'disciplined'

Comment #204788 by Border Collie on July 5, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Not just another isolated incident. A sypmtom of overriding, permeating pathology.