301. What We Believe: Atheism

Comment #108854 by Enlightenme.. on January 7, 2008 at 6:25 pm

In the life raft;

I think generally the immortal young would be terrified and become irrational, the over-40's would be calm, rational, accepting of their fate.

The convinced atheists would be melancholic at first at how little they had amounted to, then drift more settled into sleep philosophically thanking providence to have given them life at all, & sucking up as much of the best of each others memories as they can.

The agnostics & theists would die in dread torment at a possible wasted life in foolish pascal's wager, or that they are going to go get their asses burned, not a one of the true believers would think they meet the standard. They would hang on the longest I believe.

302. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #108676 by Enlightenme.. on January 7, 2008 at 12:11 pm

^ Hey, interesting couple of links there Bluebird, cheers.

I like this bit;
"The big, glory-hog dinosaurs never mastered flight." (?!!)

BCWC;
"Hi all, latest raiding link ..."
Looking forward to checking this stuff out.. please [providence] give me more time!

...but, whilst I'd look forward for some raiders coming our way to engage in debate, experience suggests we should brace for disapointment!

303. Wisdom From The Founding Rationalists

Comment #108417 by Enlightenme.. on January 6, 2008 at 8:01 pm

I think Scandinavian & European countries tend to top the 'Quality of life' index, I imagine what would most displease the people who wrote that 'all human beings are created equal/have inalienable rights' &c would be the huge amount of inequality, especially in the Anglosphere. I'd like to have the US's freedom of speech, seperation of church & state in the UK, but I wouldn't want to live in the states lest I should require healthcare.

304. Russia prohibits denial of Santa

Comment #108310 by Enlightenme.. on January 6, 2008 at 1:01 pm

I remember worrying that my parents would find out the truth about father christmas - that is - my knowing the secret, the news on the grapevine was that when they find out you know the secret, you stop getting things like bikes, and start getting crappy books & stuff !

305. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #107829 by Enlightenme.. on January 5, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Only read up to comment 100 so far so I apologise if someone's said this already.
What I don't get is, when Sam counters the Rabbi about the 'values vacuum' in humananist-based societies by pointing out the values vacuum in religion, he concentrates on catholicism?

Of course the Rabbi nods his head, rather like the funny moment earlier when he said 'I hope you're not expecting me to defend the virgin birth of Jesus' (!!)

I would have rather heard his response to Sam's usual pointing out a 'values vacuum' inherent in Israel's going along with the Zionist belief that Jews should have domain over a certain bit of land.

To my mind this subject not even being raised in front of a Jewish audience by Sam was very puzzling.

306. Islam's Silent Moderates

Comment #105521 by Enlightenme.. on December 31, 2007 at 9:12 pm

Goldy,
Re: comment #55, may I ask what you mean by 'shit-stirring'
It appears to me after following the link, to be pretty straightforward public-interest reporting..

307. Jumbo shrimp, creationist astronomy

Comment #102060 by Enlightenme.. on December 21, 2007 at 1:46 pm

My favourite bit;
"Growing a large distant gas giant like Saturn or Jupiter poses an insurmountable problem for evolutionists"
oh, and that bit about multiple impacts should 'cancel out' spinning!!

what complete fukwits.

308. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #101774 by Enlightenme.. on December 21, 2007 at 12:48 am

Janchan:

Or was it the time when American Protestant majority had their beginnings when an English king made up his own Anglican church when the pope refused to divorce him from a wife that never gave him a son? That was one of the weirdest moments in history.

309. Merry Mithras 2007

Comment #97821 by Enlightenme.. on December 12, 2007 at 5:19 pm

Great to see a bit of QI on here, Steven Fry is definitely a hero of mine (along with Brand and O'Brien) We Brit's are lucky to have quality programmes from 'Auntie Beeb' like this.

310. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #93738 by Enlightenme.. on December 4, 2007 at 4:19 am

Thought I'd check for spelling of Muhammadanism;

www.muhammadanism.org/bush/default.htm

^ it's a hoot !

311. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #93735 by Enlightenme.. on December 4, 2007 at 3:51 am

I especially like Chris's little dig at the neo-idolatry of Muhammadanism, "a pet can't disgrace the name of Mohammad, but a human can, what if he's called Atta for example?"
..classic.

312. Downward, Christian soldier

Comment #84329 by Enlightenme.. on November 1, 2007 at 6:29 pm

Brother John:

...give me a chance to show you both that(1) I hate (probably most of) the things you hate...

313. Make Richard Dawkins a Knight

Comment #83410 by Enlightenme.. on October 30, 2007 at 1:07 am

As I've said before, and another poster here has said, what stands out like a sore thumb is that RD hasn't been knighted by now.

Richard, would you in fact like to sit alongside Sir David's brother in the upper house?

314. Does fundamentalist religion cause the rejection of evolution? or is it the other way around?

Comment #82963 by Enlightenme.. on October 28, 2007 at 11:16 am

I think the main thing that assists us to intuit Darwin's theory post-facto is the later knowledge that fits, not the least of which is Atomic theory explaining how the Sun can burn for aeons. Before this knowledge came, there was a big problem with Darwinism, some scientists pointing out that the Sun's mass as 'burning coal equivalent' could only give some tens of millenia.

315. A new website addition: Debate Points

Comment #81581 by Enlightenme.. on October 24, 2007 at 11:30 pm

"...and have well structured retorts already made for common theist arguments."

We could program our very own 'pale blue' to wheel out and take on McGrath.

It will eventually spit out the conclusion: 42

316. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80143 by Enlightenme.. on October 20, 2007 at 7:26 am

Sheesh why is this so hard.

[1] Proposition; God made all men.
Name something good...
You can't, see [1]

Hitch's 'punchline' always rings pyrrhic when I hear it delivered.

317. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80122 by Enlightenme.. on October 20, 2007 at 5:05 am

^ Windweaver,
I don't suppose I can call you on Godwin's law since we aren't actually engaged in a debate!

anyway, the operative word is 'mullah' (ie not muslim) geddit?

318. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80114 by Enlightenme.. on October 20, 2007 at 4:12 am

It's a long time since I was at sunday school - so please correct me if I'm wrong here; I thought this is what the good samaritan tale was partly about - a man made by God who acts good simply because he's made by God - not because he's a believer, nor has any knowledge of God, only knowledge of good and evil (from sin of Adam (!)).

So I have to agree with Riley, much as I admire The Hitch, he needs to drop this conceit because of its fallaciousness.

I certainly get pissed off hearing McGrath claiming a 10,000 to one superiority of good acts to Xtian genocidal campaigns, as much as the next man, but Hitch shouldn't be allowed to get away with hypocrisy either - we need to hold him to a morally superior standard, don't we !

319. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #79546 by Enlightenme.. on October 17, 2007 at 4:30 pm

The most exotic redefinition I have come across is that "number" too means a class of physical processes that take place in the brain..

320. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #79000 by Enlightenme.. on October 15, 2007 at 6:54 pm

390. Comment #78684 by Dianelos Georgoudis on October 14, 2007

Word games mean nothing.

321. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #77634 by Enlightenme.. on October 10, 2007 at 12:42 am

186. Comment #76643 by Richard Dawkins on October 6, 2007

146. Comment #76558 by Bonzai on October 6, 2007 at 8:53 am
117. Comment #76488 by Richard Dawkins

Sorry Richard, I got the idea that you picked Lennox as your adversary from some blog which commented on the debate. I should have known better to double check my source.

I wasn't reproaching you, but I would really like to track down the source of the information, so that I can correct it. Or, if you know where you saw it and are able to log on to that other blog, is it possible for you to correct it there? I'm about to take off for an 8-hour flight to England.
Many thanks
Richard

322. Dawkins - what can't he be blamed for?

Comment #77629 by Enlightenme.. on October 9, 2007 at 11:45 pm

Comment #75107 by Shuggy on October 1

I maintain that the consoling satisfaction of doing something, anything, together in a group, is one of the main things that keeps religions going.

323. Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America's unbelievers

Comment #77627 by Enlightenme.. on October 9, 2007 at 11:26 pm

"When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place."

324. I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

Comment #76597 by Enlightenme.. on October 6, 2007 at 11:56 am

It's all a bit scary really, this sort of power wouldn't mix too well with end-timer belief.

The Andromeda strain was on telly last week (one of my favourites)

Perhaps this is the reason we can't hear any other civilisations out there - the last parameter of the Drake 'equation' is only around 200 years or so.

325. I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

Comment #76560 by Enlightenme.. on October 6, 2007 at 9:07 am

I thought insulin manufacture had been using this technique for years already?

326. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #76556 by Enlightenme.. on October 6, 2007 at 8:41 am

I always look forward to the moment in these debates when Dawkins completely loses it & his voice goes up an octave to 'exasperated'.

Today's breaking point was 'How is a belief in the cosmos going to incite me to murder?'

I got the biggest laugh at the end though, when one of the radio guys called RD a flat-earther!
You have to give credit for that one.

327. Fossils Reveal Clues on Human Ancestor

Comment #74833 by Enlightenme.. on September 30, 2007 at 6:41 pm

'Traditions' are for overturning.

328. Critical Analysis of Case for a Creator

Comment #74831 by Enlightenme.. on September 30, 2007 at 6:31 pm

28. Comment #72532 by stephenray

"Science can say 'nyaah, rubbish, statistically as likely as a change in the melting point of ice'."

I'll take that statement with a pinch of salt.
;)

329. Faith schools should not be tax-funded, and here's why

Comment #73492 by Enlightenme.. on September 25, 2007 at 5:15 am

^
Maybe it was because you demoted Professor Dawkins to Dr. ;)

330. Scientists should unite against threat from religion

Comment #72979 by Enlightenme.. on September 23, 2007 at 5:04 pm

"Thankfully, humans are not animals.[sic] We can choose to repress our instincts. I'm still a virgin."

Is it just me, or should Bizarro be using 'suppress' here?

Though on further reflection, I think repressed is probably correct.

331. God Bless Me, It's a Best-Seller!

Comment #71949 by Enlightenme.. on September 20, 2007 at 1:28 am

Thankyou Riley,

God probably does not exist, but if he did, then he made us, and our innate morality.

Is this clear people?

332. The Fleas Are Multiplying!

Comment #68665 by Enlightenme.. on September 8, 2007 at 3:26 am

This should be the last for a while, as my cat has started sleeping on the floor in the living room.
I'll give you a shout when he starts jumping onto the kitchen cupboards again.

333. Are antidepressants taking the edge off love?

Comment #60789 by Enlightenme.. on August 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm

Hmm... I also wonder...
It seems to me that sister Teresa of Avila would have greatly benefited from a course of SSRI's to relieve her of those 'blessings of tears' she became afflicted with!

334. The Flea Circus Invites a Newcomer!

Comment #60217 by Enlightenme.. on August 1, 2007 at 10:32 am

Mcgrath thinks atheism's on the wane, so I look forward to him writing 'The end of non-faith'.

335. OUT Campaign Launched, 'Scarlet Letter' Shirts Now Available!

Comment #59379 by Enlightenme.. on July 28, 2007 at 10:21 pm

Would prefer one depicting the double-helix.
Or specifically anti-religious, like a relief-map style coloured globe depicting prevalence of female genital mutilation or something.

336. Come Out!

Comment #59341 by Enlightenme.. on July 28, 2007 at 8:40 pm

"I still have a fondness for my old Negativland T-shirt, which says in great big letters: "Christianity is Stupid. Give Up". That goes down well in the south. :-)"

I sell Cradle of Filth T-shirts to the kids in my shop - some great slogans on the back, such as;
'metal forged on the heat of wanking nuns', and the notorious 'Jesus is a [c-word]'.

337. Can the rest of us have our planet back?

Comment #59223 by Enlightenme.. on July 28, 2007 at 11:34 am

Richard Dawkins was mentioned 2 separate times on today's show, that's about five weeks running now.

Today's joke was about not claiming insurance for floods in Oxford as he refuses to acknowledge acts of god.

338. Lecture on Sex Ratio Theory and Sexual Selection

Comment #58648 by Enlightenme.. on July 25, 2007 at 3:31 pm

^ It's simply in the same sense as;

If Hitler didn't take on the Russians, we would all be speaking German now (of course *we* wouldn't exist).

339. Can the rest of us have our planet back?

Comment #58009 by Enlightenme.. on July 23, 2007 at 1:09 am

@#13 kev;

Thanks Kev, it was great to see that old Dave Allen clip.
I sometimes say it was the IRA and the 1991 xmas lecture (especially richard's argument from geography) that helped me out of religion, but there were other great blasphemers in my youth to whom I'm also indebted.

I'd like to know who first popularised the comparison of mapped religious belief to 'scientific theories for dinosaur extinction' concept, if it was not actually RD's invention.

340. Beyond Belief: Atheism (with AC Grayling)

Comment #57722 by Enlightenme.. on July 20, 2007 at 6:49 pm

Collins, how much is that Templeton prize again?

341. Sadly, an Honest Creationist

Comment #57574 by Enlightenme.. on July 20, 2007 at 1:22 am

We obviously don't crack the time machine, or else some future IDologist would (will?) have craftily planted some rabbits in the precambrian.

342. All the mistakes of the godly are merely metaphor

Comment #57445 by Enlightenme.. on July 19, 2007 at 11:27 am

He'll just be another a-humanist whose deception is practised for the good of absolutist morality, PZ

343. Is there an Artificial God?

Comment #57301 by Enlightenme.. on July 18, 2007 at 8:27 pm

^ We're still working on this area of consciousness-raising in the UK, dear.

344. Darwin or Design

Comment #56689 by Enlightenme.. on July 17, 2007 at 12:45 am

M'okay..
More unfinished correspondence with a darwinian heavyweight.

Sciphishing?

345. The fundamentalist delusion

Comment #56477 by Enlightenme.. on July 16, 2007 at 1:11 am

Re; 38. Comment #56404 by CJ22 on July 15, 2007

@Enlightenme - are you sure you didn't just discard a false one? Did you actively replace it with a new one? When I take my shoes off at night, I couldn't in any sense be said to be changing my shoes. Just a thought.

Worldview 1: This life is simply a transit to eternal destiny.

Worldview 1 junked.

Worldview 2: I guess is get busy living rather than having been busy dying.

346. Believing the Unbelievable: The Clash Between Faith and Reason in the Modern World

Comment #56433 by Enlightenme.. on July 15, 2007 at 6:05 pm

"Galileo's theory of relativity, and Einstein's electromagnetism uuhm..such and such"

There's always something fresh from the Q&A sessions

347. The fundamentalist delusion

Comment #56389 by Enlightenme.. on July 15, 2007 at 3:04 pm

Re; 20. Comment #56294 by OhioAtheist on July 14, 2007
"...In any case, the one point I really want to take issue with is McGrath's ridiculous insinuation (repeated time and time again) that atheism is a "world view." It assuredly is not. ...
...I am astonished at how difficult this concept seems to be for theists to grasp; just because their religion is an all-encompassing system of the world (in theory, at least) doesn't mean our rejection of that religion is similarly systematic."

I had to think on your post Ohio atheist, and I think I have to disagree.
Maybe being bought up as an Anlican has some bearing on this!

Once I came to feel that there is no divine purpose behind either my, or the universe's existence, it radically changed my entire worldview.

348. The fundamentalist delusion

Comment #56334 by Enlightenme.. on July 15, 2007 at 6:06 am

GWB: 'this war is still winable'
AMcG: 'atheism is failing'
Zwartz: 'scientistic philosophy' (?)

Stupid religionistical twit.
Spheres have no corners :)

349. Borehamwood eruv granted planning permission

Comment #56138 by Enlightenme.. on July 14, 2007 at 1:40 am

I really thought Douglas Adams' light switch on a saturday joke was just a satirical exaggeration!
My ignorance obviously respects no boundaries.
How on earth does Yahweh's, I can't see how that one is s'posed to work?

I really think these people should be required to put it up late friday nights, and then remove it early sunday mornings, at their own expense.

350. Sean Hannity with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #54782 by Enlightenme.. on July 9, 2007 at 1:04 am

^ I love it, Hitch doesn't appear as if he's gonna convince fencesitters with his aggressive, 'snobby' bearing, and that's why I think he appeals to people who wish to 'interview' a 'nasty anti-theist'.
However, I think he's great at soundbytes, like 'celestial North Korea', and 'people dictating to you that they know his mind' and these will sink in especially well with a nation of people who purport to value freedom.