401. Republican candidates range from ignorant to dishonest, part 2

Comment #48516 by the great teapot on June 8, 2007 at 8:20 am

What is the Bewler reference he makes about. Not living in the USA that passed me by. Can any americans not hiding from shame enlighten us.

402. Christopher Hitchens on Religion

Comment #48354 by the great teapot on June 7, 2007 at 2:49 pm

"We didn't Know the sun went around the earth."

That is still as true today as it was 2 thousand years ago.

What's so funny about that Priapus.

403. Christopher Hitchens on Religion

Comment #48353 by the great teapot on June 7, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Yes , it is the same interview.
Who could forget Hitchens telling the "Pasta" that he was either a fool or a charlatan and outright "disgusting" for believing that the Lord answered his prayers for the life of his daughter while ignoring the prayers of others. (Although we have since discovered from Mcgrath that this can be explained by the fact that god makes one or two random interjections but wouldn't want to be seen to be showing off by curing everyone- after all who would want to live in a pefect world)

404. Atheism is pretentious and cowardly

Comment #48187 by the great teapot on June 7, 2007 at 2:06 am

bitbutter

I think reading all that once was enough, no, too much for anyone.

405. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47811 by the great teapot on June 5, 2007 at 3:08 pm

Krogercomplete

You just used the word tawdry, have you been reading Hitchens by anychance. I am coincidently reading the chapter in his book "the tawdriness of the miraculous".I really should get a girlfreind.
I love the word though ,it spits contempt.
Why does everyone call me teapot. You just can't get respect around here.

406. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47801 by the great teapot on June 5, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Krogercomplete

I don't think anyone on this site objects to the use of philosophy, it is the misuse of philosphy we object to.
Contrary to popular belief richard dawkins has probably read, volantarily, more religious texts than the average "believer" . I can't remember where I read that 50% (or so) of Xians didn't know who delivered the sermon on the mount. I have never believed my whole life and even I know that.
Those "philosophers" who accuse him of being naive are actually just critisizing him for
not using their language. Dianelos appears to be clever because he is well versed in this language.
However the vast majority of what he says is nonsense. If he was applying his arguments to anything but religion he would be mercilessly ridiculed. He certainly hasn't convinced me with anything he has said, my dictionary is more exhausted than my brain.(I thank him for that atleast)

407. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47456 by the great teapot on June 4, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Billy
my thanks was sincere. I actually like them both.

408. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47443 by the great teapot on June 4, 2007 at 2:17 pm

james and dianelos, welcome to this site.
You are the best unwelcome visitors we have had.
I look forward to your posts. Many thanks.

409. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47281 by the great teapot on June 3, 2007 at 11:48 pm

Dianelos

Unfortunately I have to go to work, otherwise I would reply in depth to your nonsense.
Unless the deeper reality of god speaks to me in the next 8 hours I will pick holes in your horseshit later.
Sorry for the agressive nature of this post it is completely unwarranted,I was obviuosly in a bad mood this morning.Monday bloody mornings.

410. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47173 by the great teapot on June 3, 2007 at 10:08 am

thank you Russell for restoring my faith (mmm not the best choice of words) in the noble science of philosophy.

411. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47112 by the great teapot on June 3, 2007 at 3:24 am

Re comment 114

Most atheists are well aware that there is more to the world than we can imagine. But what we do not subscribe to is viewing fanciful notions of the world as anything more than a parlour game. Fictional world views may well be true but we shouldn't treat them with any seriousness until we have reason to believe they may be true.
Atheists do not yet see any validity in the claims of any religions which would entice them in to belief.
Excuse me for my naiveity.

412. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47099 by the great teapot on June 3, 2007 at 2:33 am

Did I dream the proof for x2+y2=z2.
I must have ate a lot of cheese when I went to bed in my early teens.
Why do people seem to think it is some sort of emprical or finger in the air proposal.

413. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47088 by the great teapot on June 3, 2007 at 1:57 am

Dianelos Georgoudis

I do not understand your position.
Your appear to be saying that philosophically we can prove nothing, and then go on to say that scientists or intelligent people who do not believe can not see the wood for the trees.
You can choose to believe without evidence but I don't see how you can criticise others for not believing when you have already argued that every belief could be false.

414. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #47053 by the great teapot on June 2, 2007 at 11:52 pm

Dianelos Georgoudis wrote in comment 89

"And here is an indisputable fact: Contrary to what popular atheism dogmatically believes there are several good arguments for the existence of God, and knowledgeable atheist philosophers have to struggle long and hard to try to counter them. Examples of such arguments are the argument from morality and the argument from consciousness"

That is a very good point. The argument from morality.
Imagine if there were no moral codes, what would life be like. It would be a short, brutish hell.
All we would have to do would be to go out killing and stealing, No more nine to five for me killing and stealing that's my bag from now on. We could all do it. Put down your plough, your trowel, your scalpel, your pen everyone from now on it is a killing and a stealing for all. No more need for work there is plenty for all.
Thank god for morals, how would we have thought of them without the lord.

415. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #46967 by the great teapot on June 2, 2007 at 12:40 pm

On the subject of evidence for God.
The instigators of your religion are very cute on this subject. They clearly saw this one coming.
God wants us to believe in him, if he presented us with incontravertable evidence we would no longer believe in him,we would simply know that he exists. Therefore ,although proving his existence is a breeze for him it would defeat his purpose.
I would believe if the stars were used to spell out the 10 commandments in the night sky ,exclusivley in the language of the observer.
Or failing that if i fainted when someone dabbed me with some olive oil.(sorry that was a good natured tease - no offence intended.)

I don't know if has anything to do with camera angles but from the above video it would appear that the left hand side of the brain handles reason while the right hand side deals with bullshit.

416. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #46963 by the great teapot on June 2, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Does it have to be extra virgin olive oil?

417. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45699 by the great teapot on May 29, 2007 at 2:37 am

It never occured to me you were refering to me, no.
Your post invites comment.
And it wasn't sarcasm but sympathy with my fellow bad spellers. It was only through trying to learn Dutch that I realised It was English that couldn't spell and not me.To my relief.The Dutch continually review the "official" spelling of words which keeps it more logical.

418. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45642 by the great teapot on May 28, 2007 at 4:19 pm

I think it was the sheer frustration of you being extremely impolite and insincere in your aplogies that made her remove them. It had little to do with their content. She was showing that in hindsight you weren't worth talking to.
My apologies for any misspelling I will learn to spell as soon as the English language does.

419. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #45479 by the great teapot on May 28, 2007 at 1:58 am

I was amazed to see Edwards has forsaken the Lord.
I always thought he jumped for Jesus.
A bit of googling confirmed the reports are true if not the facts.

A couple of interesting quotes from the article

"For convenience - and as a financial investment - Edwards has bought a flat near Westminster. Last week the flat and his home in Gosforth were besieged by journalists seeking to confirm rumours that his loss of Christian conviction had led him into the path of temptation."

Interesting. So loss of faith will lead you into temptation.The archaic view of atheism rears its head again.

"He has a deep, theological comprehension of the Bible, making his spiritual meltdown even more unlikely"

Apparently not.

I can only echoe a comment posted beneath the article "Welcome to the real world Jonathon."

And finally from the telegraph

"Such was Edwards's reputation as a great athlete and decent man that even officials at the world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, would privately joke that if he ever tested positive for drugs, the sport's credibility would never survive."

For "decent man" read christian. Given the only thing that separates him from other honest athletes was his proclamations that he believed without evidence in a God who made him jump further than anyone.Now he is no longer a Xian perhaps we should be taking the piss and testing it.

420. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #45473 by the great teapot on May 28, 2007 at 1:05 am

I haven't seen the film or read or heard anything Al Gore has to say, but isn't he a bit late on the scene. Every housewife who has suddenly discovered that her lifelong wish was to swim with dolphins already agreed with his views on climate change before he published them.
Isn't the debate swinging back the otherway to climate change rather than global warming.

421. Aiming for knockout blow in god wars

Comment #45403 by the great teapot on May 27, 2007 at 3:14 pm

She forgot to mention that Dr R Dawkins views are childish and well worn..
Obviously without feeling the need to answer any of these childish well worn questions.
And after all ,Religon can answer all of those difficult questions that science can't.
Because qualified scientists can only answer scientific questios whereas non scientific questions can only be answered by those of us not qualified in science. Makes sense to me.
By the way for any questions beyond the reach of philosophy and religion I am completely unqualified in both philosophy and religion, make way the teapot cometh all shall be revealed.

422. Group Threatens to Sue Pentagon Over Military Role in Evangelical Festival

Comment #45401 by the great teapot on May 27, 2007 at 3:01 pm

Breaking News...
American threatens to sue....

423. The Blairs' Witch Project

Comment #45083 by the great teapot on May 26, 2007 at 9:53 am

Does anyone understand the last paragraph?
I haven't got a clue what it means.

424. Christian sports workers degree ridiculed

Comment #44741 by the great teapot on May 25, 2007 at 8:39 am

Religion and sport.
Who could forget the freindly banter between Celtic and Rangers fans.

425. The Conversion of the Casual Evolutionist - You can't spell love without evolve

Comment #44193 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 3:14 pm

He is a Catholic.
No wonder she needed a break.

426. 'Einstein - His Life and Universe'

Comment #44190 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 3:09 pm

I have always considered reading a bit of Spinoza, thanks spinoza you have just convinced me of the errors of my ways.

427. Despite what the scholars say, God isn't dead yet

Comment #44099 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 10:13 am

Re comment 40 It is worth thinking about. It demonstrates that evil doings should never be used in the arguement for or against religion. The only thing that counts is where is the evidence.
The rest is a distraction.

428. Despite what the scholars say, God isn't dead yet

Comment #43889 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 3:31 am

"The trouble with the present flight from religion to the welcoming embrace of atheistic scientists and philosophers is that they offer precious little more than a new conviction that religion is the cause of evil in the world"

Is that the only thing they have to say against religion. I must be hallucinating when I read all the arguments against religion and I must have being a sleep every time a religite has come up with a good reason for believing.

Clearly people kill for religion and people kill without religion. But they seriously can not expect people to ignore the cruelty carried out in it's name.

429. Prayer can improve physical health

Comment #43862 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 2:28 am

Bonzai

I hope there is no funeral.

430. Prayer can improve physical health

Comment #43842 by the great teapot on May 23, 2007 at 12:28 am

Speaking of Prayer..
God still hasn't turned up with Madeleine yet.
I know that sounds a bit sick and a bit like using a terrible situation to our ends but isn't that what the church did by offering prayers.
I realise it forms another function, to offer comfort and support to the family, but If it that was the purpose, why not just console the family honestly. The truth is hard sometimes.
I notice they are offering millions of pounds reward money.That reminds me of the " ok. Thanks God. Is there anyone else there who CAN help" joke posted yesterday on the site.
Did the Aus scientists have any success with the amputees.

431. A meeting of unlike minds

Comment #43279 by the great teapot on May 21, 2007 at 3:47 am

How did he reply?

432. Where Is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?

Comment #43165 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 3:05 pm

Priests tell us they died so the gun man could express his freewill Let us all praise god and freewill and the little baby jesus..

433. The Paradoxical Hatred of Christopher Hitchens

Comment #43120 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 2:17 pm

I hope Ryan enjoyed his mass.
He pobably couldn't concerntrate the whole time.
Thinking about how he was going to sock it to us with his next post.
Gods little soldier.Bless.
Don't post him- any abusive replies will be in his next Xian newsletter. Look at what those nasty control freak atheists think.

434. The Paradoxical Hatred of Christopher Hitchens

Comment #43088 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 1:51 pm

I find it staggering that abortion should be termed control of the reproductive process.
Are all women this callous. Surely it should be a last resort only in very extreme circumstances.
All of a sudden it's her reproductive process is it. No one else is involved.
I would imagine that I was not the only one who was wondering what Cristopher had against contraception until she furnished us with the quote. I have no hard and fast position on abortion but children can become bothersome in their early adolesence.

435. Goodness without Godliness

Comment #43046 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 10:39 am

I am listening to talks on the 4 noble truths on the Beeb website now. I haven't any crap yet.

436. Goodness without Godliness

Comment #43037 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 10:09 am

True BaronOchs, The lack of divine revelation does make a very big difference.
And I love the notion of living free from desires but If I were them I would ditch the crap.It's bad PR. Though it never hurt the church- until now.

437. Goodness without Godliness

Comment #43028 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 9:51 am

I'll take my cherry picker with me.

438. Goodness without Godliness

Comment #43021 by the great teapot on May 20, 2007 at 9:38 am

Buddhism.
yeah, great. What we do in this life determines what happens to us in our next life.
Well that's fine if your an airhead Hollywood star looking for a vacuous meaning to life.
But don't expect people on a website dedicated to rational thought free from conclusion jumping to treat it with respect.
Just because Budhhist monks don't go round killing people doesn't say anything about the rights or wrongs of their religion.And it is a religion with Articles of faith like the rest.

439. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42754 by the great teapot on May 19, 2007 at 11:16 am

Having visited the web site of the author of this bilge it appears to me we are pouring over the private mail of a few nut jobs. It really is not worthy of our consideration. It almost seems impolite to comment. I wonder if they know the source of their sudden attention.
I liked the comment "who let the dogs out"

440. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42608 by the great teapot on May 18, 2007 at 3:45 pm

Good to see Yorker has returned to the fold -once again- I thought we had lost that wonderfull weighty intellect and master of the English language for good this time.
I am sure your , I mean your "friends" prediliction to bicycle seat sniffing is just a phase you, sorry, I mean ,he will grow out of in time.
Another Betjeman quote-
"Trace me your wheel track you fortunate bicycle"
Who would've thought it, a snager achieving the status of the Queens personal poet.

441. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42570 by the great teapot on May 18, 2007 at 12:37 pm

Luthien
I used to be perplexed by the logic of high crossbars on the male bike, but after being forced to stop sharply on three occasions the mystery has been solved.
Inertia throws me over the handlebars thus resulting in me safely landing on my head leaving my important male thinking organs intact.

442. Freethinking Ruins All Things

Comment #42252 by the great teapot on May 18, 2007 at 1:47 am

"the wisdom contained in scriptures and hymns--from which virtually all great Western art and literature derive and to which all of it pays often unwitting tribute."

Off course it does dear.
Care to provide any backup to that statement.
I suppose the scriptures gave us our brains and our language too.Pompous pseudointellectual tripe.

443. Navy vet: Chaplains tried converting me

Comment #42107 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 4:00 pm

I can sympathise with him entirely for not wanting to eat nonkosher foods.I can't understand his dogma but, as a vegetarian, what I do and don't eat is important to me.After all tomorrow it will be me.

444. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42093 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 3:38 pm

Luthien.
I had no idea you were a woman.I had always assumed you were male.
I shall treat your comments with less respect in future.
Like you I cycle to work, but I can assure everyone my crossbar is very high indeed and I have no need for such feminine fripparies as chain guards.

445. Unbelievable: That's what religion is, says Christopher Hitchens in his profoundly skeptical manifesto

Comment #42082 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 3:21 pm

Why are there so many Buddhist supporters around.
Don't they believe in reincarnation?
Horseshit is horseshit whatever colour robe it wears. Correct me if I am wrong.
Eastern religions may be exotically vougeish but they are still nonesnse.(and religions don't need gods- just to head that one of at the pass.)

446. Pedal power takes Islamic shape in Iran

Comment #42067 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 2:52 pm

That's right mock.
But if you owned one of those women how would you like other men looking at them.

447. Faith-Based Fraud

Comment #42004 by the great teapot on May 17, 2007 at 12:37 pm

Nope, never heard of him before.
Doesn't sound like I've missed much.

448. Hitchens' flat world

Comment #41687 by the great teapot on May 16, 2007 at 3:09 pm

I agree with him, science deals with all the quetions which can be answered by reason alone.
Religion takes over where intelligence gets off.

449. Brazil's Indians Offended by Pope Comments

Comment #41677 by the great teapot on May 16, 2007 at 2:49 pm

Waiter!
Quick, we need another barrel, this one has just run out of fish.

450. Why Christopher Hitchens is not Great

Comment #40689 by the great teapot on May 14, 2007 at 5:18 pm

is the author ( of this article) actually aware that God is Great is the final mantra of all homocide bombers.