Comments by D'Arcy

Comment #110100 by D'Arcy on January 10, 2008 at 1:38 pm

The unquestioning acceptance of capitalism by modern economists somewhat reminds me of the Christian attitude: It's always been, it always will be and it's the best of all possible worlds.

It's a view I completely disagree with. A short glance at nature shows us that over time things change, they evolve. The Greek word was dialectics.

I don't think that a world in which the four richest individuals have an income greater than the poorest 50 countries; where something like 25,000 (10,000 children) a day die of poverty related causes; where land is deliberately not used for food production so as to keep up prices, is either God given or inevitable.

However the modern economists believe this and their god is the mighty Market, where the great become greater and the without miss out.

The whole concept of a market implies buyers and sellers. I agree with Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto, where they call for the abolition of buying and selling. The wealth of the Earth should belong to all humans, not to just the privileged ones.

352. Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up

Comment #109700 by D'Arcy on January 9, 2008 at 2:13 pm

No doubt this mathematician will be able to answer the biblical assertion that pi=3, whereas the rest of the world uses something like pi=3.14159....

Nifty footwork with the figures by some biblical apologists can explain why "pi=3" in the Bible also means "pi=3.14159..."

353. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108744 by D'Arcy on January 7, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Intelligent design is a theory advocated by conservative Christian groups and some scientists in the United States, which says that complex biological organisms cannot be explained by evolutionary chance alone and must be the work of an intelligent designer -- namely God.

Intelligent design is an idea with no substance whatsoever. The dishonest way in which the creationists distort, deliberately misunderstand, ignore and falsify evolutionary theory, can only be explained by an obstinate and closed minded attitude to evidence that contradicts their Bible.

The fact that Hickabee (sic) is opposed to the theory of evolution speaks volumes of ignorance, or deliberate self deception.

The theory of evolution is one of the most soundly based explanations in science. Religious propagandists make much of "it's only a theory", without realising,that in science, a "theory" is as good as it gets. The best available explanation for observed phenomena.

The so-called "intelligent designer" merely pushes the problem of origins back a step, it explains nothing as indeed does religion.

The religious viewpoint of the universe has no basis in fact, and has nothing to add to human existence.

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

Comment #108713 by D'Arcy on January 7, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Hey guys don't just pick on the Daily Wail, it also appeared in the Grimes and Daily Bellyache as well as the Guardian.

The point is do we have to wait for 150,000 years for the extinction of Dinesh D'Souza? Or will the parasites (fleas included) adapt their insidious lifestyle to the warm blood then available elsewhere?

We know for certain that the dinosaurs did die out, the details are not known very well. Dinosaurs obviously were not able to adapt to the changes in the world around them and became extinct. No chance for the velociraptors and human children to play together as characters like Ken Ham would have us believe.

To people like him the universe was created on 23rd October 4004 bc, (was it 7.30 am?), and any mention of dinosaurs dying out 65 million years ago is just a darn conspiracy of godless scientists.

355. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108323 by D'Arcy on January 6, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Without getting into long drawn out arguments, let me just say that IMO morality is a product of the human society it springs from. Whilst bride burning and infanticide, might still be considered "moral" in parts of India, China and elsewhere, there is no such thing as "absolute" morality. Morality changes according to the circumstances. As far as I'm aware, most Christians no longer believe in killing witches, burning heretics at the stake or the devil.

356. Russia prohibits denial of Santa

Comment #108320 by D'Arcy on January 6, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Anyone brought up like me and my brother, never believed in Santa. We knew who the real tooth fairy was, and we knew where she hid the presents before the great event, (we didn't have a tree). The presents were opened well in advance of the great celebration and played with. On the great day we were lucky to get a tangerine and a nice meal, perhaps with a cracker or two. Ah well each to their own!

357. The battle of the butterflies and the ants

Comment #108311 by D'Arcy on January 6, 2008 at 1:05 pm

To me, this is great stuff. I must admit, I get a bit fed up with long discussions about why "God" allows evil in this world. In my mind there is no place for any deity in this universe. Just the real thing itself - nature. The more I learn about the universe, thanks to research like this, the more I am appreciative of the efforts of my fellow humans in providing me with some knowledge.

Chemical warfare among insects, although known about, is a field where much research remains to be done. If for no other reason than food production, this research could prove vital stuff as far as humans are concerned.

Long live the knowledge providers! Silence from the priests!

358. Six Reasons to be an Atheist

Comment #108276 by D'Arcy on January 6, 2008 at 11:21 am

Mention was made earlier in the thread about God making Man from the dust of the Earth. Just as a matter of interest here are the relative elements found in humans and the Earth's crust:

These are the ten most abundant elements in the earth's crust:
1. Oxygen (O) 37%
2. Silicon (Si) 27%
3. Aluminum (Al) 8%
4. Iron (Fe) 5.8%
5. Calcium (Ca) 5.1%
6. Magnesium (Mg) 2.8%
7. Sodium (Na) 2.3%
8. Argon (Ar) 1.7%
9. Potassium (K) 1.7%
10. Titanium (Ti) 0.86%

These are the ten most abundant elements in the human body
1. Oxygen (65%)
2. Carbon (18%)
3. Hydrogen (10%)
4. Nitrogen (3%)
5. Calcium (1.5%)
6. Phosphorus (1.0%)
7. Potassium (0.35%)
8. Sulfur (0.25%)
9. Sodium (0.15%)
10. Magnesium (0.05%)

Note that Silicon, Aluminum, Iron, Argon and Titanium are not present in the human body in anything other than trace amounts, and that Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are present in the earth's crust in only trace amounts.

Rather tells against the Biblical account eh?

359. Changing my Mind

Comment #107437 by D'Arcy on January 4, 2008 at 2:05 pm

Sorry, haven't read the entire thread.

JWs are always welcome to discuss on my doorstep, weather permitting. I take a perverse delight in asking them about who Cain begat with, what the lion will eat when it lies down with the lamb, and such questions. Apart from getting a lot of fun out of such "discussions", I also feel that I may have made them think about some of their beliefs, and that I have wasted some of their conversion time.

Exchange of ideas can never be a waste of time.

360. A War On Science

Comment #107403 by D'Arcy on January 4, 2008 at 1:05 pm

An excellent programme. I remember watching this some months before even hearing of the RDF website. A second viewing was indeed welcome. To continue in the vein of the ID mathematician, (sorry forget name, was it Meyers?), the odds of my writing this message are vanishingly small, and the odds of each one of you actually reading it make the odds of a monkey typing Hamlet actually quite small. But unless we're all living in parallel universes, it has ACTUALLY happened! Empiricism rules over theory every time.

Even if Huckarbee has won the Iowa Primary,(he who doesn't believe in evolution), my feeling is that the Christians are in retreat at least in the USA. Ignorance is bliss, until you have to pay for it!

361. Jumbo shrimp, creationist astronomy

Comment #100914 by D'Arcy on December 19, 2007 at 3:23 pm

"In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood"

As usual from the the theological "experts", sheer crapology. Perhaps I'm being too insulting towards faeces.

362. God rest you merry atheist

Comment #100407 by D'Arcy on December 18, 2007 at 3:14 pm

My own singing is like that of a castrated bullfrog, unpleasant to all but Vogons.

There's no doubt though that some of the finest music and other art was produced in a largely religious atmosphere. Bach's B Minor Mass is surely the supreme example; pure masterpiece from first to last note.

Schubert, imo, wrote the best songs, Beethoven the best symphonies and I could go on.

The point is that these and all other artists are or were HUMAN BEINGS. We should all appreciate what other humans can do for us. All art is an expression of human existence.

Purves' pissquick criticism of Dawkins singing carols has all the hallmarks of column inches needing to be filled. In her own words she's "broadly a deist". A person who believes that a supernatural being created the universe and then sodded off to who knows where. Why would this supposed creator give a toss about what Dawkins or anyone else sings?

363. This Week's Flea

Comment #100369 by D'Arcy on December 18, 2007 at 2:30 pm

From the interview
"But if you ask me whether a scientific experiment could verify the Resurrection, I would say such an event is entirely too important to be subjected to a method which is devoid of all religious meaning."

Bingo...

James, you are exactly right! The absence of any scientific evidence for the existence of any deity, has gradually pushed the religios further and further from the real world. Apparently now God is "outside" of investigation by science as well as being "outside" of time. How the religios have a relationship with their god is forever a mystery to me. We mere humans just don't have the apparatus to detect God - according to the theologians.

Well that's fine by me, I'll just live without Him.

364. Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

Comment #100283 by D'Arcy on December 18, 2007 at 1:03 pm

Seriously though, if offending the Baptist Times is ruining their Santamas winterval period, then so be it. These dour buggers might get through life a bit better with a sense of humour.

In the meantime I wish all readers a happy winter solstice, a day of true planetary significance!

365. Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

Comment #100275 by D'Arcy on December 18, 2007 at 12:53 pm

But "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition"...

No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

366. Golden Compass author hits back

Comment #91311 by D'Arcy on November 28, 2007 at 2:36 am

Sorry, I haven't read through the thread yet and may repeat what others have said.

The Catholic Index is a list of forbidden books and authors. Here are some of the authors:

Luther, Copernicus, Zola, Voltaire, Joyce, Marx, Dumas, and there's loads more. See for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum

These would be censors no longer have the same clout as they used to and are seen for the buffoons they are.

Incidentally, I thought His Dark Materials was more anti church than anti religion, and not enough of either.

367. Mitt the Mormon

Comment #91303 by D'Arcy on November 28, 2007 at 2:19 am

What's the big deal with Romney? Is his brand of mysticism any more pernicious than Bush's or Clinton's? Nixon was a quaker, but it didn't stop him running and escalating the Vietnam war, did it?

If Romney's tactic is to keep his religion a personnal matter, because otherwise it might upset mainstream Christian voters in the USA, then that's a judgment that he has made pragmatically.

I believe Obama and Hilary Clinton are both Christians, surely the most mystical of all the religions.

In Britain, prime minister Brown's government has been caught in a scandal of its own making, where the governing party has been taking money off millionaires and keeping quiet about it in moves to evade the legislation that they, (the Labour Party), brought in to demand full details of monies paid to political parties. Brown is the son of a Scottish presbytarian minister and comes over all devout. For all I know he could well attend wee flea's (David Robertson's) Free Church of Scotland.

Until people can free themselves of the mental chains that all religions impose on believers, then our "leaders" will be able to get away with all sorts of nonsense no doubt in the name of a higher power.

Don't forget God always gets the credit for good things, but we sinners are always to blame for the bad things.

368. Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Comment #88533 by D'Arcy on November 17, 2007 at 1:15 pm

The insidious tactics and stategy used by the IDers remind me of the methods advocated by Lenin as "boring from within". In Lenin's view a lie told with the right motives was no longer a lie. Lenin of course completely emasculated Marx's ideas in his quest for political power in Russia.

Incidentally Marx had written to Darwin in 1859 to congratulate him on his book Origin of Species.

It strikes me as ironic that in the "land of the free" the Christian creationists are using the same tactics as the arch enemy, Lenin, used to further his objectives.

The dishonest attitude shown by the creationists is shown by their willingness to accept and use the latest science insofar as it suits their ends, but to try to undermine any science that conflicts with their holy book.

I would say "bah humbug" but it's not that close to christmas yet.

369. For the glory of God

Comment #88523 by D'Arcy on November 17, 2007 at 10:20 am

The new atheists' view of religion is far too crude, critics say. They ignore the fine and subtle thoughts of great theologians and dwell instead on literal readings of holy books, divine intervention, miracles, fundamentalism, televangelists, terrorists and other fringe elements

It always amuses me how the believers move the target when the arrows are getting too close. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of cant, may well be a clever man, but the defence that "That's not my religion that Dawkins is criticising", is wearing very thin. Williams has his own problems in the CoE. Earlier, this year during the record wet summer, the Bishop of Carlisle blamed the subsequent floods on the sinfulness of the Brits, particularly homosexuals. God was apparently letting us know that we were going astray.

When this story made it into the mainstream media, the bishop's representative had to try to extricate him from looking ridiculous in most people's eyes. Apparently his views had been "misinterpreted" or were taken "out of context", or similar type excuses.

If God does intervene by flooding sinners (as is claimed for Noah), then there must be a lot more sinners in Bangladesh than there are in England!

370. Onward Science Soldiers

Comment #87907 by D'Arcy on November 13, 2007 at 2:58 pm

Nevertheless, most scientists seem to prefer as a practical matter that science should stay clear of religious issues.

Presumably most scientists are too sensible to bother with the complications that religion is unparalled in offering.

371. Antony Flew's Bogus Book

Comment #87143 by D'Arcy on November 11, 2007 at 10:20 am

The whole thing reminds me of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Sorry!

372. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85945 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Sorry to persist, but because the link doesn't work here's Wikipedia's explanation of the Index:

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") is a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. The avowed aim of the list was to protect the faith and morals of the faithful by preventing the reading of immoral books or works containing theological errors. The various editions also contain the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling and censorship of books. Books that passed inspection were printed with nihil obstat ("nothing forbids") or Imprimatur ("let it be printed") on the title page.

The list was not simply a reactive work. Catholic authors had the possibility to defend their writings and could prepare a new edition with the necessary corrections or elisions either to avoid or to limit a ban. Pre-publication censorship was encouraged.

Enough said.

373. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85942 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 2:28 pm

Sorry, the link hasn't worked. Here's the list of some notable authors banned by the Catholic church:[edit] Some notable writers on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Mary Faustina Kowalska
Joseph Addison
Francis Bacon
Honoré de Balzac
Simone de Beauvoir
Cesare Beccaria
Jeremy Bentham
Henri Bergson
George Berkeley
Thomas Browne
Giordano Bruno
John Calvin
Giacomo Casanova
Auguste Comte
Nicolaus Copernicus
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Erasmus Darwin
Daniel Defoe
René Descartes
Denis Diderot
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Desiderius Erasmus
Johannes Scotus Eriugena
Gustave Flaubert
Anatole France
Frederick II of Prussia
Galileo Galilei
Edward Gibbon
André Gide
Vincenzo Gioberti
Graham Greene
Heinrich Heine
Thomas Hobbes
Victor Hugo
David Hume
Cornelius Jansen
Immanuel Kant
Nikos Kazantzakis
Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais
Pierre Larousse
Gregorio Leti
John Locke
Martin Luther
Niccolò Machiavelli
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maimonides
Nicolas Malebranche
Karl Marx
Jules Michelet
John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy (placed on Index in 1856)[2]
John Milton
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Blaise Pascal
François Rabelais
Ernest Renan
Samuel Richardson
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
George Sand
Jean-Paul Sartre
Baruch de Spinoza
Laurence Sterne
Emanuel Swedenborg
Jonathan Swift
Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde
Voltaire
Gerard Walschap
Émile Zola
Huldrych Zwingli

And these are the same people who are hell bent on making Mother Teresa a saint!

374. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85939 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Ms Gaylor did alright in the circumstances. Since when was the Catholic church so full of freedom and democracy? Never.

For more information on the Catholic Index of forbidden authors see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum

As Ms Gaylor said the alter boys have more to fear than the kids that watch "The Golden Compass".

375. Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Comment #85927 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 1:45 pm

ID apparently stands for intelligent design. It could also stand for idiotic deficiency. Either way, the judge at Dover, apparently decided that ID was religion and was therefore not permitted, under the US constitution, to be be taught in US public schools.

What is depressing is that it took a court case in the world's most "advanced" nation, to decide whether or not ID is a viable alternative to the theory of evolution. Will American supremacy in science be swamped by these stone age Christians?
Probably not, but it will be a struggle.

376. Same Flea, Different Name?

Comment #85898 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 12:43 pm

That is a horrible book cover, right enough. I wonder what "O.P." stands for. I've never come across that before. Old Person?

I may be wrong, but I think OP stands for opening post.

377. Richard Dawkins at AAI 07

Comment #85893 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 12:35 pm

ADH writes:

On the issue of eternal separation from God, well it is actually what atheists want, is it not?

The way ADH phrases the question is rather like: "Did you stop beating your wife yet?"

This particular atheist has no more wish to be separated from ADH's God than from the clutches of the Hydra. To me, ADH's God is on the same level as and derives a lot from Greek mythology. Is ADH an atheist when it comes to Zeus? I suspect yes.

So please ADH or anyone else, please show us why we non believers should take your point of view seriously.

378. Richard Dawkins at AAI 07

Comment #85872 by D'Arcy on November 7, 2007 at 11:18 am

Other posters have targetted ADH. For what it's worth, here's another perspective. When I was at school, a girl joined the school in the 6th form (last 2 years in England), and she was the daughter of a vicar in the CoE. Now this same vicar had previously been to our school to explain his church's view. We had also had a rabbi, and other luminaries to explain their viewpoints. Our particular school was one where no religion was taught, although we had the odd bible story.

Anyway, this vicar apparently liked the school, and went on to send his daughter there. Now she had been brought up like ADH's daughters, with no pressure to become one of the faithful. She was great and fitted in straight away into this "rational" school. I don't know if she believed or not, and she got plenty of teasing about her dad's job, all taken in good part. She went on to do great things in the theatre.

Somehow, I don't think she will burn in hell; and I suspect, nor does ADH about his daughters.

IMHO, the CoE in England has mellowed so much that even Dawkins admits he is fond of it. It really is more of a social institution than it is a religion. It's just something that many people feel comfortable with like Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal.

How the CoE theologians reconcile this cosy attitude with scripture is really their problem, not mine.

379. Richard Dawkins at AAI 07

Comment #85606 by D'Arcy on November 6, 2007 at 11:43 am

Like others I found the talk persuasive and interesting. Dawkins had a few minutes on selective editing, which although it doesn't surprise me, strikes me as the utterly disgusting tactic of people who are not so sure of their ground as they make out. Why do people seek to misrepresent what Dawkins and others say? For the same reason that Darwin was vilified and misrepresented, and still is, - because the views undercut the house of cards that religions are built on.

The American electorate will no doubt be exposed to many such examples of selective editing next year when they have the chance to vote for their president.

380. The smallest signs of retreat

Comment #68574 by D'Arcy on September 7, 2007 at 4:11 pm

Is it really 10 years since Princess Diana died?
Perhaps we should hang out the Bunting?

381. We need a more intelligent religion debate

Comment #68561 by D'Arcy on September 7, 2007 at 3:45 pm

Hobson asks:

What is this thing that is hated so much? What is religion?

He doesn't answer his own question, so let me have a stab.
Religion is organised superstition.

382. Honest Mistakes or Willful Mendacity

Comment #68253 by D'Arcy on September 6, 2007 at 2:14 pm

I have very briefly read through the above comments owing to pressure of time, so apologies if there is repetition.

I heard the interview this morning (Thursday, England), and what struck me was that it was accepted by all parties that Cornwell was not going to question Dawkins about whether or not God existed. Instead he blustered on about paedophilia and what he and Dawkins should be saying about extremists. Not a word about the old bugger in the sky and His guidance. Of course the "virus" of religion was briefly talked about in a rather unsatisfying way. But then what can you expect of a 5 minute 3 person "interview".

In my view, Dawkins was far too accommodating in trying to answer the strawman arguments of Cornwall. He should have taken the broader picture and insisted his opponent put his own point of view on the mess that Cornwell's God has made of this world.

383. Bible Belter

Comment #68236 by D'Arcy on September 6, 2007 at 1:04 pm

One of Hitchens's central themes is that gods are made by man, rather than the other way around

Dawkins, as usual, has his finger on the pulse. Of course all of the gods were products of the human immagination. Arising out of an ignorance of nature, spirits like Aeriel or Puck were summoned by the Prospero of the time to perform things that humans were incapable of. Each particular god reflected the society it came from, as did the after life. The (dare I say it?) Red Indian happy hunting ground was a lot different from the harps and angels of the European Christian heaven.

I look forward to the time when members of society can say "this is it. There is no heaven or hell, and we're lucky to be here."

384. Christopher Hitchens and Bill Donohue on Mother Teresa

Comment #67741 by D'Arcy on September 4, 2007 at 3:08 pm

Everyone knows the the American Irish are more Irish than those from the Emerald Isle. St Patrick's Day in New York has more 4 leafed clovers and leprechauns than in the whole of Ireland.

This particular Catholic "Irishman", who is obviously used to getting his own way, said something like "the Catholic Church is standing behind Mother Thereza". Well I couldn't help musing that with Hitchens and Donahue on Mother Thereza and the Church behind her,(represented by the pope?), the old girl might have found some satisfaction after all.

The bully boys of the Catholic church will bluster about grace, faith, sanctity and sin etc., but to me they are just a holy mafia protection gang. "Confess now and pay up, or you'll fry in Hell".

385. The Flea Circus moves to your iPod!

Comment #67590 by D'Arcy on September 4, 2007 at 12:42 am

Yawn. So Jesus has gone hi-tech and is now available on your i-pod. You wonder why the most powerful God ever invented by the human immagination now has to rely on some rich American Christians to try to refute what Dawkins has written. Why can't He of the Great Spirit deal with the flea Dawkins Himself instead of sending some money making ignoramuses into the battle field. Three guesses:

1) He doesn't exist.
2) He never did exist.
3) There's money to be made, forget saving souls.

"Yes" to all three gets full marks!

I bet this critique deals with the God Delusion in an intellectually honest and genuinely inquiring frame of mind ...... NOT!

386. Teresa, Bright and Dark

Comment #67058 by D'Arcy on September 1, 2007 at 3:52 pm

If there is no God, there is no point to life.

A completely vacuuous statement, supposedly intended to blackmail non-believers into belief. My life has no purpose, but that doesn't mean that I can't try to make the best of it. The promise of ever lasting life is a strong inducement to become one of the faithful, but it still has no basis in fact. The priests who promise ever lasting life can never be proved wrong.

387. Teresa, Bright and Dark

Comment #66595 by D'Arcy on August 30, 2007 at 2:46 pm

Mother Theresa, the Catholic would-be-saint, was other things apart from being anti-abortion. The Catholics have the "go forth and multiply" attitude driven into them from childhood, much as the Jews have. In their view sex before marriage is a sin, and in marriage (real) contraception is not permitted. The only purpose of sex is to produce the next generation of believers in whatever faith the child happens to be born into.

This "saintly" Theresa was manifestly as incapable of having a good shag and enjoying it, as she was of needing an abortion or of producing a few new Catholics. No wonder she was frustrated that Jesus didn't visit her!

388. They let anybody onto the faculty at Oxford nowadays

Comment #61065 by D'Arcy on August 3, 2007 at 2:06 pm

McGrath writes:

I am very happy to be challenged about that because I believe in being open and accountable.

It seems to me that he should have said something along the lines of:

"I am very happy not to be challenged about that because I believe and I like to appear open and accountable".

But that's not fair of me to put words in McGrath's mouth. It's just that I don't believe the ones he writes.

It seems the main quality required of a theologian is the art of invoking a mystical fog whenever reality pokes its ugly head near their "ideas".

389. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60330 by D'Arcy on August 1, 2007 at 3:43 pm

What a profound insult to an extremely useful artifact, produced by human labour, a toilet, to throw a Koran into it. The Ukrainian has defiled the toilet, and must suffer the wrath of the great Turd in the sky.
Give me sewage over religion any day.

390. The Flea Circus Invites a Newcomer!

Comment #60306 by D'Arcy on August 1, 2007 at 2:30 pm

Readers might be interested to know, that on one of the bbc Christian message boards today, atheists were accused of being "ants on an elephants back". Whether this simile is inspired by Yeats or Dawkins' use of Yeats doesn't matter, it's just not very original, much like the book titles of the flea circus.

I agree with the poster above who said that up till recently religion had to be accepted and not questioned, and that it was not used to fighting the battle of ideas. The Christian priest class certainly has lost influence in the west and they don't like it. Wee Flea may be pleased to learn that I intend to buy myself a new Bible. Any ideas about which edition it should be?

391. The fundamentalist delusion

Comment #59119 by D'Arcy on July 27, 2007 at 12:52 pm

My previous posting went up the electronic Swannee, so 2nd time round.

Zwartz says: "No religion has all the answers".
I say: "All religions have no answers".

Enough said.

392. At Fermilab, the Race Is on for the 'God Particle'

Comment #58645 by D'Arcy on July 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Let's just hope that there are no preachers or shysters involved in this experiment, who may introduce some bias into the results. Or that any "result" is declared too early because of rivalry with the LHC.

Hopefully this experiment will be pure science and will lead to the furtherance of knowledge about the universe.

Although I'm not a scientist, I love this stuff, this is the cutting edge of scientific knowledge. Even if it throws up results that put the world of physics into turmoil, that in itself would prove the validity of the scientific method.

Unlike the Godsquad, science is capable of change, and has many times, changed its view in the face of evidence. Bring on the God particle!

393. Religion beat became a test of faith

Comment #57847 by D'Arcy on July 21, 2007 at 3:14 pm

I admire Lodbell's account of his faith and its subsequent tests. I imagine that it is far from unusual. The trouble is for the ordinary believer, that they actually expect the old man in the sky with the grey beard to live up to what is claimed on his behalf. When He allows His earthly representatives (in the form of the Catholic Church) to actively abuse, and cover up the same abuse, of children, it would make any believer consider his/her position.

The sooner people can rid themselves of the idea of God, the sooner they will be able to look at the world in a fresh light untainted by superstition.

394. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #57695 by D'Arcy on July 20, 2007 at 3:33 pm

Sharon,you have expressed my impatience very well:

I lost patience with DG very quickly, though I learned a great deal from the others on this thread who did not.

"Philosophers have interpreted the world in many different ways, the point however is to change it" Again not my words, but a statement I agree with.

395. Must the US president believe in God?

Comment #57665 by D'Arcy on July 20, 2007 at 1:44 pm

Perhaps the motto on the dollar should be "In God We Trust. All Others Pay Cash".

As someone who lives in England, I find it amusing that our Queen is the head of the Church of England, and the Achbishop of Cant is no.2, whilst she is also the head of state, equivalent to a president, but unlike a president without real political power. The Church and the State are closely intertwined. The House of Lords (American equivalent the Senate), is appointed by basically the ruling party and the CoE has an automatic right for bishops in the House. Also the state schools in Britain have to provide a certain time for RE, religious education. In the good old days this would have meant CoE Christianity, but now it is also supposed to include other faiths. The private schools probably give more time to religion than the state schools. And yet Britain it seems to me is largely uninterested in its established church. Sure people go through the motions, christenings, marriages, deaths, plus a few Christmases, Easters, etc. etc. In other words the CoE is a dying church, its adherents are voting with their feet, or from their coffins.

Those of you in the USA who may be worried about the theocracy about to gain absolute political power should look no further than Britain where the theocracy is built into the state machine.

The fact is that whatever the religion, the political imperatives assert themselves. The president in Iran is a "hard line" Islamic who loves to taunt the great Satan west, but he also has to deal with the problems of Iranian capitalism, including doing the business in selling oil and gas.

The ruling class throughout the world will always use religions and its mouthpieces as a justification for their actions, in the same way as they use "democracy" or nationalism.

396. All the mistakes of the godly are merely metaphor

Comment #57652 by D'Arcy on July 20, 2007 at 12:28 pm

Hobbit asks:

Why do I torture myself!

Hobbit, I don't know why you torture yourself, but I hope it's not with a crown of thorns. I find this debunking of religious ideas quite stimulating and good fun. To me the whole idea of God has always been laughable, so why shouldn't we have a good laugh about the believers? They are ridiculous in their attempts to justify faith in general and theirs in particular. Laugh especially, if at the back of their minds are thoughts like: "God will repay your insolence with eternal hellfire", and the like. These people are preposterous; they are to science what Monty Python is to Delia Smith's cookery books.

My advice to Hobbit is enjoy the deconstructing process of this evil and pernicious fantasy of organised superstition called religion.

397. All the mistakes of the godly are merely metaphor

Comment #57477 by D'Arcy on July 19, 2007 at 1:18 pm

So according to Myers' summary of Kleiman, inside his faith there is another more abstract faith:

True Religious People™ know that everything in their religion is a metaphor. They don't really believe in an anthropomorphic god … why, that is only a symbol for "an infinite, omniscient, beneficent, immortal being".

Slippery character this God. Just when you think you're getting to grips with Him He disappears into a deeper metaphorical world. A sort of divine dance of the Russian dolls. Maybe the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies would be a fair description of Kleiman's faith.

398. Inferior Design: Richard Dawkins reviews Behe's lastest book

Comment #57197 by D'Arcy on July 18, 2007 at 2:15 pm

Having spent hours reading through this board, I'm wondering if I've wasted my time. The interesting thing is the way the religios sidetracked Dawkins review into one about morality, a bog almost as impenentrable as theology.

Still I ploughed through it, and I still think that Dawkins has got Behe by the short and curlies.

399. The Great Mutator

Comment #56865 by D'Arcy on July 17, 2007 at 3:10 pm

Donald, 67 above, obviously knows far more about this than I do, and I thank him for his comments. From the, dare I say it, common sense point of view, it is obvious that an organism with an evolutionary advantage is likely to prosper and produce viable offspring. As they say in golf, (British Open starts Thursday), if you don't make the cut, you're out. No genes, no dna, no heritage, and plenty of food for bacteria and other uni-cellular organisms about which we know almost nothing. These critters are the real rulers of this planet.

400. Kenya: The Death of Religion And Rise of Atheism in the West

Comment #56612 by D'Arcy on July 16, 2007 at 2:33 pm

As usual, the existence of the "church" and the omnipotent creator is assumed without question. What else are churches for but to turn them into flats, nightclubs and libraries (for the devout of course).

We should remember that things are different in Nairobi where you will be very wealthy if your toilet flushes into a main sewer, or if you own a digital camera.