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Comment by doone on Wednesday

Creationist Ken Ham wants to end the space program because aliens are going to hell http://slnm.us/XVdOslp 

Comment by doone on July 19, 2014 at 8:51am

I saw this on Brain Picker

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/12/12/montaigne-on-deat...

“To lament that we shall not be alive a hundred years hence, is the same folly as to be sorry we were not alive a hundred years ago.”

French Renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne(1533-1592), celebrated as the father of modern skepticism, pioneered the essay as a literary genre and penned some of the most enduring, influential essays in history. Collected in Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays (UK; public library; public domain), they explore — much like those of Francis Bacon across the English Channel around the same period — subjects like fear, friendship, government, the imagination, and other intersections of the seemingly mundane and the profoundly existential.

Comment by doone on July 13, 2014 at 4:25pm

From the Dish

Sinking Noah’s Ark

JUL 13 2014 @ 2:58PM

Noting that it’s “the only biblical story, violent or otherwise, that has spawned Fisher Price toys and nursery decoration” and that “it holds the dubious honour of being the Bible text most often given as a present by religious relatives to the children of atheist parents,” Myra Zepf makes the case against Noah’s ark and its place in our culture:

It struck me recently why this story makes believers feel warm and fuzzy and leaves me cold. Fundamentally, they identify themselves with Noah in his self-righteous smug destiny, being saved by God for their purity and goodness, whereas I recognise myself among the rest of humanity in my watery grave, sitting as I do on the wrong side of divine judgement. Noah’s faith saved him, and I’m toast. This makes it all the less appropriate as a fluffy introduction for our children to the wonders of religion.

Comment by doone on July 8, 2014 at 5:08pm

States where atheists technically can’t hold public office | By @hunterschwarz: http://wapo.st/1zmQXuI  pic.twitter.com/qJSkiyaPV3

Comment by doone on July 6, 2014 at 6:34pm

Amazing Maps @Amazing_Maps · Jul 3

Countries with State Religions Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_religion … - pic.twitter.com/MlnhGKYmmm

 

Comment by doone on July 6, 2014 at 11:39am

Image credit: KnowYourMeme.com.

As always, all glory to the hypnotoad! 

A would be God,,

Comment by doone on June 22, 2014 at 6:13pm

Are You A Heretic?

JUN 22 2014 @ 8:55AM

In an interview about his recent book, Know the Heretics, professor and priest Justin Holcomb lays out a definition for the term:

A heretic is someone who has compromised an essential doctrine and lost sight of who God really is, usually by oversimplification. Literally, heresy means “choice”—that is, a choice to deviate from traditional teaching in favor of one’s own insights.

For Christianity, the Nicene Creed is a historic, globally accepted creed that encapsulates the Christian faith in a short and rich summary. If someone holds to the Nicene Creed, we should not call them a heretic. Not even if we believe they are in error on the details or on other doctrines. I think a good shorthand for heresy, is to ask, “Can they say the Nicene Creed and mean it without their fingers crossed?”

His take on the heresies most prevalent today:

I think many of the old heresies are repackaged today. For example, there is plenty Sabellian Modalism—the belief that God is one actor wearing three hats—floating around today. Also, I think a repackaged version of Pelagianism is most “live” today. (My summary of Pelagius’ heresy is “God has already given us the tools we need.”)

Pelagius correctly saw human nature as something good created by God, and there is no such thing as original sin. Adam’s sin in no way makes humans guilty or corrupt. Humans by nature have a clean slate — a state of neutrality — according to Pelagius. Potentially, then, one could live a sinless life and merit heaven, for there is nothing intrinsically sinful about humans. To me, this sounds like lots of the gobbledygook that is passed around today in popular Christian TV, radio, and publishing.

Comment by doone on June 13, 2014 at 8:36am

From Kevin Drum, who hates who in the USA

Third, here's yet more confirmation that atheists are still the most distrusted people in the country. An astounding 73 percent of consistent conservatives would be unhappy if a family member married an atheist. Hell, even 24 percent of consistent liberals would be unhappy at the prospect. Jeebus.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum

Comment by doone on June 9, 2014 at 11:19am

From 3QD

SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL (II): WHY WE GET IT WRONG AND WHY IT M...

by Paul Braterman

Science, some say, rejects supernatural explanations on principle; this is called intrinsic methodological naturalism (IMN). In Part I I argued, following the work of Boudry et al. (here, here , and here), that this strategy is misguided. Here I go into more detail, using actual past and present controversies to illustrate the point.

“I have no need of that hypothesis.” So, according to legend, said the great astronomer and mathematician Piere-Simon, marquis de Laplace, when asked by Napoleon why he had not mentioned God in his book. If so, Laplace was not referring to the hypothesis that God exists, but to the much more interesting hypothesis that He intervenes in the material world. And Laplace’s point was not, fundamentally, philosophical or theological, but scientific.

The planets do not move round the Sun in circular orbits, but in elliptical pathways, moving fastest when closest. All this and more Newton had explained using his laws of motion, combined with his inverse square law for gravitational attraction. There is one small problem, however. The planets are attracted, not only to the Sun, but to each other, perturbing each other’s pathways away from a perfect ellipse. These perturbations are not trivial, and in fact it was the perturbation of the orbit of Uranus that would lead to the discovery of Neptune. Newton himself surmised that they could, eventually, render the entire system unstable so that God would need, from time to time, to intervene and correct it. Laplace devoted much of his career to developing the mathematical tools for estimating the size of the perturbations, and concluded that the Solar System was in fact stable. So Newton’s hypothesis of divine intervention was redundant, and it was this hypothesis that Laplace was supposedly referring to.

Continue reading "Science and the Supernatural (II): Why we get it ...

- See more at: http://www.3quarksdaily.com/#sthash.YWYD7RLb.dpuf

Comment by doone on June 8, 2014 at 6:35pm

From 3QD

HITCHENS, DAWKINS AND HARRIS ARE OLD NEWS: A TOTALLY DIFFERENT ATHE...

Chris Hall in AlterNet:

More and more, the strongest atheist voices are talking about nonbelief less as an end in itself, but as part of a larger conversation about social justice. It could hardly be any other way: atheism is growing not only in numbers, but in diversity. When Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens were at their most prominent, a frequent (and credible) criticism was that the faces of atheism were all white, male and affluent. To make the same claim now is to deliberately ignore some of the most vital atheist and skeptic voices that have emerged in the last 10 years.

Greta Christina, the author of Coming Out Atheist describes the changes in organized atheism: "[T]he movement has become much more diverse -- not just in the obvious ways of gender, race, and so on, but simply in terms of how many viewpoints are coming to the table. The sheer number of people who are seen in some way as leaders... has gone up significantly.... And the increasing diversity in gender, race, class, and so on are important. We have a long way to go in this regard, but we're doing much, much better than we were. And that's showing up in our leadership. It's absurd to see Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris as representing all organized atheism -- it always was a little absurd, but it's seriously absurd now."

More here.

- See more at: http://www.3quarksdaily.com/#sthash.4kC4tUR5.dpuf

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