Chris's comments (member since Apr 21, 2009)

Chris's comments from the Atheists and Skeptics group.

rgb wrote: "This leaves me with lots of time to play Diablo II (expansion) instead.."

Well, there really couldn't be a better way to waste time. Whirlwinding your Barbarian through hordes of nefarious spawns of the Underworld is a most satisfying endeavor.

Koe, as I mentioned in the other thread, this tactic seems tough to pull off. I wish I knew of an alternative way to approach this outside of basing your debate on mere logic, reason and fact. It's quite obvious that those aren't enough.

I'm having a one sided debate with someone at another site after I posted a link to the Texas Star Party video. The remark that started it was his "How can people see that and not believe in a creator?" Not knowing if I really want to start to this discussion on this particular site, I slowly raised my hand. After his reply of "Sure, I will talk about beliefs any time," I pointed out very clearly how someone can see that and not believe in a creator.

His response was, and I'm paraphrasing, "The Bible has time and again proven science, but science has yet to prove the Bible as wrong." After plucking the low-hanging fruit of Genesis off of the tree of stupidity, he flat out refuses to answer a simple and direct question.

The reason I'm saying all this, is that the majority of people are willing to talk about their beliefs as long as, and only if, they are in agreement with their own. You might have them for a while, but ultimately and inevitably, they will show their true colors and turtle.

rgb wrote: "
Better interfaces are coming; I've seen talks by a few of the people working on them."

Excellent - I've been looking to upgrade to Chris v2.0. This old model is getting rundown.....

rgb wrote:
I live with it hotlinked, and refer to it constantly. Honestly, if one could ever get a BICC to read through it, and ..."

And here I thought your 8,000 word posts were mere streams of consciousness. I'm so disappointed... :-P

Actually, Massachusetts was first. And RI is the only NE state where it isn't legal. Yet.

The Onion sums it up perfectly once again -

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/...

Lauren - I think you've been had.

Wow, after reading some of these people's comments complaining about the Google logo - the Google logo! - I have to say, I'm a little bit ashamed to be a human being.

I was having the same thoughts - Angry as well. It is truly amazing to me how ignorant and naive people are in regards to fact. I have zero respect for them. None. The ultimate irony to be to evolve into a new Homo Reasonus Skepticus classification.

It really is a Zombie flesh-eating story. Jesus rises from the dead and every Friday his minions eat his flesh and drink his blood.

Definition of Christianity: "…the belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree…"

HA! No one to debate with and people start attacking their own.

Look what has happened over at the Evolution vs ID group since Charity posted the link. It's basically rgb, RC, Nathan and Dan having their own discussions, rgb has been made moderator, and the natural order of things is quickly restored.

You guys are forgetting that gravity is ONLY a theory....

I suspect it won't last that long.

Lauren wrote: It is 75%!

WooT!!! - I initially did a quick search and the first number I saw was 70% so I thought I was off by a bit.

I find the results of the first two questions more disturbing.

rgb wrote: Take their status away, and they're just nobodies once again -- poorly educated, no prospects, no interest in or ability to develop an intellectual life or inner life that can sustain them.

It's not a coincidence that the largest pockets of fundamentalists live in impoverished, poorly-educated, rural areas. That is easily extended to a global scale.

Lauren wrote: Same as 59% of Californians didn't know the percent of water covering the Earth.

HA! I consider myself a fairly well-educated person and even I had to look that one up - I knew it at one point but my brain must have gotten full and I guess I misplaced that number. Though I guessed 75% initially - Once we lose the polar caps I'll be spot on :-)

Jesus is like the rest of the Bible, fiction. Even if he was a real person, the stories we know would be the construct of imagination and misinterpretation. The first gospel was written 30 years after his death in an age where the life expectancy was 25 years.

Dude's got a sweet website hawking his book. I'm glad he cleared up the location of hell for me - I was under the impression it was in Hattiesburg, MS....

Isn't there a direct correlation between the NYT bestsellers list and how poorly written a novel is? Seriously - Pynchon and Powers have new books coming out this year and they won't even crack the top 10. It's amazing how few people actually read these days and then you see what they are reading...and...it makes me....sad.

Back on topic - I heard the review of the movie on NPR yesterday and it got hosed. TDVC was the final nail in the coffin for me in my understanding of the level of ignorance and stupidity in this country.

Jake wrote: "Of course, being a non-Believer didn't sit well with my Southern Baptist family."

Tell me about it - I very recently moved to Mississippi from Boston(With a short stay in SC). I may as well have moved to Jerusalem.....

Jake - Having watched my father die from Melanoma, I can relate to what you are going through. One thing he always told me was to come to conclusions through your own critical thinking, not by what you were told - Which might be surprising coming from the patriarch of a large Boston Irish Catholic family. I would assume that some people here were allowed the same freedom as a child. I wish you and your family the best -

To get back on topic, somewhat, I saw a video the other day with Carrie giving an interview at Liberty U(surprise, surprise, surprise.....). She is actually ignorant enough that at the end of interview when the host says "Hate the sin, love the sinner," she replies "That's right, it's all about tolerance."

I was giving her the benefit of doubt calling her ignorant, but screw that, she is just a moron. Your 15 minutes are up Carrie....

Ultimate Reality is a philosophical and theistic construct. If you do not believe in a God, you most likely dismiss the notion of Ultimate Reality. The universe as we know it, is reality - It is a tangible thing we can explore, investigate and study using scientific methodology.