Isn’t technology wonderful? It allows the woo-woos to spread their nonsense so much more rapidly, and to look slick and shiny and modern while they do it. Take a look at this report and polls on a site called AOL Health — AOL Quackery is more like it — which describes a survey that says 16% of Americans claim to have experienced a “miraculous healing”, as if that somehow increases the credibility of the experience. It does not. All it means is that the gullible have been primed with an explanation that they will regurgitate when queried.
Do they think this through? No. They even cite that “Pentecostals and African-American Protestants were far more likely than other groups, such as mainline Protestants or Catholics or Jews, to say they have either witnessed or experienced a miraculous healing firsthand.” If reporting were equivalent to actual intervention by a deity, wouldn’t that mean god favors Pentecostals and Protestants with darker skin color?
A silly article must be accompanied by silly polls. This one has two!
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Of course: 79%
Absolutely not: 12%
I’m not sure: 9%
Have you experienced a miracle?
I believe so: 73%
Not that I know of: 19%
I don’t believe in miracles: 8%
Those numbers sure look wacky. Do you think they will have magically, miraculously changed for me by the morning?
You must feel quite powerful, with your poll-smashing horde of angry citizens!
AOL: That’s all you need to know. This one’ll be tough: six thousand votes already for the first question.
[*soft, modulated, angelic voice*]
I am an angel, and I am here to heal…
[*screeching record noise*]
[*not-so-soft voice*]
…Wait, you’re an atheist? Never mind.
Come on now, I believe in miracles.
…
(Where you from? You sexy thang…)[/hotchocolate]
You know there’s a problem with this country when we have this many people with these kinds of beliefs; did you know that Sarah Palin is amongst those who feel this is true? http://brainrageblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palins-demon-haunted-churches.html
This is going to be hard, the AOL loonies are numerous. Thousands believe. I got my three votes in.
This is going to be hard, the AOL loonies are numerous. Thousands believe. I got my three votes in.
Aussie New Wavers believe in angels:
I predict that by morning they will have been replaced by a different, equally silly poll.
fly44d: So would that be six votes total?
Did my part, though I wish there had been an option for “I’ve fixed my health problems through a strict diet (or surgery, or medicine), without divine intervention.”
Mu-ha-ha-haaaa!
I was vote #666 for “I don’t believe in miracles.”
Didn’t you just say that postmodernism is not that bad, and imply by recommendation that apples are no more real than God, and that science is a mere verbal convention with no correspondence to reality? How come you now want angels to heal a poll about miraculous healing? Doesn’t postmodernism teach us that miraculous healing is just as valid and legitimate as real healing? Why do you try to impose the hegemony of science, if at the same time you think science is just a subjective way of thinking, without anything to do with the truth?
fuck! i hit the wrong choice on the 1st one… sunday night, too much grog
I’m a little leery about that top poll. Notice that before you click in, “Absolutely Not” is in the bottom position. But when the results appear, it’s in the middle position.
I hope what’s happening is that the graphing program arranges them by size of response.
Re: #1: I don’t think of myself, or us, as “poll smashing.” I think of us as citizen responders. If you post a public poll and people give their honest answers, then the answer is whatever it is, whether you like it or not. Obviously many of these polls pander to Christians, but if they get an answer they don’t like, it’s not the fault of the people answering.
It’s a pity the ‘angels’ don’t seem to have a cure for cluelessness. It’s also sad for all the doctors and other dedicated medical professionals to have what is most likely the result of their expertise and hard work ignored in favour of magic and ooga-booga.
Hm,
the woo is strong in this one.
Still 70 % pro miracle healing.
If these stats are true then why is the US health system in such trouble? Surely these people, if they genuinely believe in this garbage, would stay at home and pray rather than see a doctor or go to a hospital.
Or do they believe that the ‘angel’ only heals them after conventional medicine is used? Teh stupid! It burns!
Right. It’s not a miracle until a doctor says so.
Delete the aol cookies and vote again. Repeat as needed.
Voted for reality.
Current state of polls:
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Of course 73%
Absolutely not 19%
I’m not sure 8%
Total Votes: 6,808
Have you experienced a miracle?
I believe so 68%
Not that I know of 17%
I don’t believe in miracles 15%
Total Votes: 6,812
We raise awareness about the stupidity and distortion of online polls by demonstrating their inherent weaknesses.
When used in the usual polemical fashion, the word postmodernism doesn’t have much meaning over and beyond what could be conveyed by calling somebody Mr. Poopy Pants. Scientists get very unhappy when they realize that nonscientists haven’t bothered to learn any science, but many of them don’t feel any obligation to look outside their own encampment at the wider world, even at what lies just beyond the tent flap. What gets slimed under the rubric of postmodernism actually includes all sorts of valuable things, including the really remarkable flowering of the history, sociology, and philosophy of science that has taken place over the last half century. No doubt plenty of nonsense gets published in these fields, but then plenty of crap gets published by empirical scientists too.
I had a conversation once with a rather distinguished mathematician who was just on the verge of retirement. He allowed that he had one regret. His interests had been too narrow, he told me. With his career at an end, he realized that there was more to life than real analysis. There was also mathematical physics.
Come me hearties, these polls ain’t half done yet! The navy of enlightenment has a paltry 20% to go for it!
Think of this as my thanks to PZ for this wonderful blog.
Enjoy everyone :)
Is no one safe from PZ Myers’s insane poll-crashing?
Nope.
Morons. They haven’t even blocked multiple voting. Back to Vote, refresh page. Vote, refresh page……
No. There was only about 6000 votes when PZ posted. Even in the graveyard hours of a Monday morning, Pharyngula will deliver at least 400 votes an hour. By 6am CST that’ll be over 2000 votes. Then west coasters will start coming online, we’ll see closer to 1000 votes an hour, I suspect. Smashed by lunch time, I’m guessing.
Have you experienced a miracle?
I believe so: 73%
The really amusing thing to me about this, is, having been raised Catholic (not any more, thanks very much), that miracles are supposed to be rare. One in a century, maybe. If 73% of the people who have merely answered the poll (not everyone out there, but just the tiny amount of Earth’s population that own a computer and answered the poll) believe they’ve experienced a miracle, by the standards of most churches, they haven’t. Instead–again by the standards of their own churches–they’ve experienced supernatural phenomena created by the Devil to lead them astray.
For those who believe that crap, anyway.
What? We’re supposed to be minions, ilk and angels?
I’m adding those to my CV if the list gets any longer…
Actually, the majority of criticism of “postmodernism,” in my experience, centers around the appropriation of the label for a school of epistemology baseda round the application of the core postulate of moral relativism to matters of empirical fact.
400 votes/hour? Not on my watch :)
By my calculations, it’s about 27,000 an hour.
But I’ll stop. We’ve already won.
If anyone feels like completely crashing the poll worse than I’ve done, enjoy:
http://pastebin.com/m345fad6d
The power of pharyngulization is, well, a little frightening. I voted about 10 minutes ago and went to finish making my tea and refreshed and the vote count went up about 4,000 votes and the percentages reversed. Amazing…
I don’t know how much this affects the results, but… I may have accidentally voted more than once.
goddamn; currently:
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Absolutely not 67% 11,083
Of course 30% 5,041
I’m not sure 3% 542
Total Votes: 16,666
Have you experienced a miracle?
I don’t believe in miracles 63% 10,006
I believe so 29% 4,669
Not that I know of 8% 1,191
Total Votes: 15,866
LOL
Pharyngulated.
67% against
I love poll smashing!!
i know its pointless, but i always imagine some religious people seeing the results and being shocked
@#9 Gregory…. no, my finger twitched on the submit button and I posted twice.
BUT! (@ #27 llewelly ) I have come back and see that things are much improved. llewelly, I should not have despaired over the large number of wo-believers to be overcome. They are being overrun by the hoard of which I am just a minion. I also discovered (@#19) how easy it is to delete the aol cookies and vote again… so yes, I have contributed at a dozen more votes. Are you sure cookies don’t have to be deleted Cowcakes?
> What gets slimed under the rubric of postmodernism actually includes all sorts of valuable things, including the really remarkable flowering of the history, sociology, and philosophy of science that has taken place over the last half century.
What people call postmodern history or sociology of science is almost invariably dictated by hateful and fictitious epistemology written by people who are completely illiterate in scientific matters and who don’t even set about with an intention of being fair. After all, fairness is just a myth of the Enlightenment, isn’t this what postmodernism teaches us? “Truth doesn’t matter, just say what you need to say”: postmodernism is to academia what machiavellianism is to politics.
As for the philosophy of science, it is almost invariably opposed to postmodernism (and when it isn’t, it’s astonishingly puerile and absurd).
People who aren’t familiar with pomo might wonder why we hate it so much. Well, it’s because it’s that painful to read it ;-)
Dayum, David. Nice work!
Always nice to join the De”vote”ies in a pollsmashing
Dave, should’ve expanded the script to do both polls at once
The hordes of Pharyngula have done it again:
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Absolutely not 77%
Of course 21%
I’m not sure 2%
(Total Votes: 23,766)
Have you experienced a miracle?
I don’t believe in miracles 75%
I believe so 20%
Not that I know of 5%
(Total Votes: 23,592)
Mission accomplished.
Aleph sounds like Gollum: “Postmodernism we hates it!” It’s evil, it’s machiavellian, it’s a hateful and fictitious epistemology. Actually, I kind of like the notion of a fictitious epistemology. Imagine trying to devise a fictional epistemology on purpose. Might be fun. It would certainly be difficult to judge by the inability of science fiction writers to invent credible fictional philosophies for their characters.
Anyhow, there aren’t a huge number of people of any description who call themselves postmodernists. The term itself goes back to Lyotard in whose writings it had some meaning. Otherwise, it is a word pinned on people the speaker does not like and made to mean ” Even the term “Poststructuralism” is preferable if you’ve gotta have some way of lumping together thinkers that emerged after 1960 or so. It is true that a lot of people have raised questions about enlightenment values–better they should take ’em on faith?–but they haven’t done so in one fashion and, anyhow, putative postmodernists have no monopoly on such critiques. Or do you count Theodore Adorno or Kierkegaard or Nietzsche or any number of Marxists as postmodernist too?
By the way, I don’t know if fairness is a myth of the Enlightenment, but I reckon it’s fair to say that the Enlightenment is something of a myth, not because there weren’t all sorts of interesting ideas proposed during the 18th Century or because nothing significant happened in that era but because just exactly what counts as Enlightenment is pretty hard to define. The Scottish Enlightenment, for example, was a very different phenomenon than the French Enlightenment. The funny thing is, what get identified as Enlightenment values or views are often pretty obviously more akin to 19th Century and early 20th Century positivism than anything you’d find in Voltaire or Adam Smith or Rousseau or Edward Gibbon.
Not that it’s needed now, but here’s one for the second poll:
http://pastebin.com/m3589720b
Jim Harrison: Any response to my reply?
Thank you, David. The rest of us mere minions continue to think ourselves useful notwithstanding your skullduggery.
David,
the fun bit is crashing a stupid poll by the sheer numbers of Pharyngulites participating,and then having a giggle about it in the comments while we reverse the numbers.
We kinda realize that there are scripts out there to achieve the same,but,and the others may correct me if im wrong,we think its rather stupid,and certainly not fun.
God is real. There are miracles. I hope you will all get a 2nd chance to accept God and the truth that surrounds him. I hope he doesn’t judge you by your thoughts expressed about this topic. I will pray for each of you who have left negative postings. Shame on you. Take a good long look at your own body. YOU are a walking miracle!!
Yeah, 73%…sort of takes the “miraculous” out of “miracle”. Of course, these people only “believe” they’ve seen one, so this of course could be yet another case of belief in belief.
Dana,
//Take a good long look at your own body. YOU are a walking miracle!! //
hmmm so your body is a miracle too? Will you show me???? Pleeeeeze !
4:22 am EST 10-6-08
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Absolutely not 85%
Of course 14%
I’m not sure 1%
Total Votes: 37,126
Have you experienced a miracle?
I don’t believe in miracles 84%
I believe so 13%
Not that I know of 3%
Total Votes: 36,044
Hi Clinteas…
//I will show you one small portion of my body called the “fist”.//I’ll show you one large portion of your body called a swollen lip.//At this point you may be praying for your first miracle. Actually, I’m only teasing but I hope it doesn’t take a traumatic experience in your life to direct you to believe in God and miracles. So many people wait until they are faced with some type of trauma or tragedy before they will lower their pride and turn to God!!
//I will show you one small portion of my body called the “fist”.I’ll show you one large portion of your body called a swollen lip//
Kinky,hm?? Thats ok with me hun,got a safeword? Let me guess,is it “Transsubstantiation” ?
//So many people wait until they are faced with some type of trauma or tragedy before they will lower their pride and turn to God!!//
So what you are saying is that it is a normal human reaction to turn to belief in higher powers if faced with desperation,fear,trauma and tragedy? I couldnt argee more with you !
But just think it through for a moment Dana,what does that say about your God?
I will physically assault you if you do not believe in my war god, Yahweh Sabaoth. Ha ha, only serious. Jesus loves you!
Minion #654789 reported for duty
I’m proud that I’m one of these angles =P
It seems someone else has a much faster script.
Perhaps one which uses simultaneous persistent connections and does not wait for the server’s reply after submitting the form, giving it the capacity to submit several hundred votes per second if the creator so desired.
Trust godless liberals to know things about science and technology!
Ermm Dana, just to save you some time, you don’t have to pray for me.
For further information please consult this link – warning, contents contains the unforgivable sin!
http://teafueledmadness.blogspot.com/2008/07/please-do-not-pray-for-me.html
Voted on Poll, take that AOL!
:)
Take a good long look at your own body. YOU are a walking miracle!! – Dana
I suggest you address that stupid, condescending remark to those suffering from brittle bone disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, retinitis pigmentosa, cystic fibrosis, Huntingdon’s disease, microcephalism, haemophilia, sickle cell anaemia, or any one of hundreds of other painful and/or disabling inherited disorders. Incidentally, to say “I will pray for you” to an atheist is extremely insulting – but you probably knew that.
Someone go over to http://news.google.com/ and scroll down to Sci/Tech. Tell me, am I the only one seeing a horoscope there?
@Dana: I especially need a lot of prayer. Could you fit in 2 hours of fanatical, devout praying for me? I wouldn’t want to waste your time of course, but I’m such a stubborn, evil, devil-worshipping heathen, that I truly need someone to pray for me for lengthy amounts of time.
For that matter, could you get your entire church community to pray for me for 2 hours?
Thanks!
Come on, Nick. We all know that only sinners get cystic fibrosis.
Nick G,
could you shut up with your reality BS mate,Im trying to get myself a date here for dogs sake !
False
clinteas….
What does that say about my God??? My God is always there for you. But, he will not force you to serve him. He is there for you when you decide to accept him. That says a lot about my God. He is also your God even though you choose not to claim him. He actually did make you and the world you live in which declares him to be your God, however, he will not force you to believe in him or serve him. I’m not a religious fanatic but I saw this topic and it captured my attention because so many people deny God after all he has done for everyone of us.
See, when I hold a flamethrower to your head and say “serve me or die,” that’s just good old coercion. Not force.
Mike #37 wrote “I love poll smashing!! i know its pointless, but i always imagine some religious people seeing the results and being shocked”
I don’t think it is pointless. The credulous are very suggestible, they are prone to appeals to authority, and they don’t think critically. Although an internet poll is not going to influence the people of the reality based community, it may influence the sheeple of the fantasy based community.
@ Jim Harrison
1. Not all postmodernists call themselves that way, but there’s no point in objecting to applying this concept to all of them just because they think it doesn’t apply. They might be wrong, might they not?
2. Yes, devising a fictitious epistemology might be fun if a. it is actually funny, and b. you do it in a responsible fashion. But when you promote the postmodern (mis)understanding of science, which is basically a cargo cult, in the public sphere, the results are disastrous. Bruno Latour has already recognized this, and he has attempted to apologize:
Is it enough to say that we did not really mean what we meant?
For more information about what this ‘fun’ really means in practice:
Religious Fundamentalisms, Modernist and Postmodernist
Postmodernism and Pseudoscience
Finally, you remind me that there have been people who satisfied my definition of postmodernism in previous centuries. Yes, this is correct. As a matter of fact, the oldest known postmodernists were the famous Sophists of Ancient Greece. Nietzsche, too, became akin to a postmodernist once his syphilis entered the third stage, and he started having will-to-power delusions of grandeur. Adorno, too, was just as epistemophobic as later postmodernists (he was also screemingly ignorant when it came to science and jazz – on which he also published a couple of stupid articles).
Finally, you insist the Enlightenment is hard to define. Yes, obviously, like all other movements, currents, and historic periods. However, this does not an argument for scepticism make.
As for Positivism, I consider it the most intelligent, humane, and beneficent philosophy that has ever existed. Just because a bunch of epistemophobic cowards can’t live up to it doesn’t make it any less admirable.
Kel, that blockquote bonanza makes for a delightful piece of free verse.
Dana, #66:
Prove it. Or, at the very least, explain to us how you would tell if your god wasn’t there – because I’d love to know what the difference is.
Dana,
Just to clarify,
I assume you refer to your brand of the judeo-christian god in your post? Or which god are we talking about here? You sound anglo-american,so I assume you are not talking about Allah here,or any other god,since if you were born in Tehran or Islamabad,thats the god you would be worshipping or thanking for your perfect body.
//He is also your God even though you choose not to claim him. He actually did make you and the world you live in//
My god is a guy called Luca Toni.He didnt make the world,but he scores lots of goals.I was made by a catholic girl who didnt know contraception and a guitar player,to make a stand against my grandmas oppressive catholicism.So yeah,you might say god was involved.
Yea, I’ve heard that line before. Buy me a drink and maybe we can go over the finer points of our miraculous bodies…
Seriously tho, yes our bodies are amazing. But they are far from perfect and without modern medicine, I would not be here today. My mother would have died in childbirth (I and both of my siblings were born through cesarean sections). Even if she didn’t I would have died from having dermoid tumors in my ovaries at 21. The “miracle” of my life can be attributed to untold generations of ancestral organisms who managed to survive and (more recently) the science and medicine that humans discovered and utilized for our benefit.
Have you thanked your doctor lately? How about the university that trained him/her? Have you donated any money to help fund the scientific research that might save your life one day?
Or do you just pray? Fucking useless. My born again aunt and her husband and friends prayed day in and day out for me while I was immobilized for a month waiting for my insurance company to approve the surgery I needed to remove the 3 dermoid tumors I had which cut off most of the circulation to my lower body. Guess what…they only got bigger. It was the surgery which helped. Not the prayers.
My nephew would be dead without modern medicine (born 2+ months premature at 2.1 pounds).
Both of my parents would be long dead without modern medicine (dad had a cyst on his brain and my mom has diabetes…ooooh and they’re both atheists).
So, yes, our bodies are “miracles,” but of natural selection. And many of us are still around due to the “miracle” of modern medicine. The majority of my immediate family would not have existed 100 years ago no matter how many prayers were said. I thank the scientists and doctors who have made my life and the lives of those I love possible. I give my time and money to further scientific progress and help people in need. Exclaiming that my body is a miracle and lifting my hands up to an imaginary sky fairy does nothing. Keep doing it if you want to, but don’t pretend that you are a better person if you do so.
Wowbagger, #71:
I know my God is always here for me. I have never known the experience of him not being here for me so I can’t really reply to your question. I can’t answer how I would feel if he weren’t here because I have never known the experience. I can tell you that I received a miraculous healing when I was sixteen months old. My mother has a remarkable testimony that she shares with others. I have no choice but to believe in miracles because I truly had the experience in my own life as a child. My family members witnessed, my doctors witnessed it, and the entire hospital staff attending me witnessed it. You can’t argue with facts.
Godbot #66 wrote “My God is always there for you. But, he will not force you to serve him. He is there for you when you decide to accept him. That says a lot about my God.”
And ‘he’ will torture unbelievers for eternity. What does that say about your god? Sounds more like a Mafia protection racket. You don’t have to worship/pay, but if you don’t, say goodbye to your kneecaps.
What does it say about you that you would worship such a character?
And if you had been raised in another culture (Hindu, for instance), wouldn’t you be just as adamant that Ganesha existed?
Just added my vote to the 50-odd-thousand saying no to miracles.
Sorry, it wasn’t me. Must have been Baal. I was trying to kill you, actually.
“Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!” — Psalm 137:9
So saith the Lord.
#74 = perfect example of brainwashing.
What the hell happened there?!?
So if God is all you’ve experienced, how is that distinguishable from God not being there? Wouldn’t your God, simply be, reality?
Clinteas….
I should have you converted by now. You want to see my body yet you worship Luca Toni…not a good mix. LOL. You’re funny. And your mother knew not a contraceptive nor the guitar player, however he must have been good looking. You owe her a big one for not knowing a contraceptive. You’re here and you’re alive and well. Actually, I serve Jesus, the one and only forever living God who made the universe and all within and without. I am American born and raised, actually in Arkansas. But, I am not a hillbilly. I am college educated and life educated as well. College does not teach religion, however, life does. However, you must have an accepting mind to be able to know and trust God. You must also have experiences that support your belief and I have had many.
Yeah buddy, what of it?
You don’t like it, you can try your luck with another of the Sons of El.
Well said, my child.
They listen carefully, but do not understand, watch closely, but learn nothing. I have hardened the hearts of these people. I plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.
Dana,
my email is terminate111 at the hot place(no,not that one) in case you want to say hi.
//You want to see my body yet you worship Luca Toni.//
How can I worship your body if I havent seen it yet?
//Actually, I serve Jesus, the one and only forever living God who made the universe and all within and without//
Says who?
//I am American born and raised, actually in Arkansas//
Why am I not surprised?
//You must also have experiences that support your belief and I have had many.//
NDE’s? Say it aint so,Kenny !!!
Kel, I have already said my God is real. He is Reality. College education (and Tom Cruize) are misleading so many minds. QUESTION: Am I the only Christian on here this morning?
Dana wrote:
Why do you think your god healed you when he lets so many other children die? Are your parents are the most devout and faithful people in the world? Would you say you had more people (or more faithful people) praying for you than pray for the children who do die?
What did you do to deserve what so many millions of others did not get?
If your god did exist he could, at best, be described as capricious; at worst, a heartless, manipulative monster. If your god did exist I would no more worship him than I would a great white shark who, for some reason, chose not to eat a random surfer.
Clinteas…
My mom always taught me to never make the first move…LOL. However, you can yahoo me at iscdana1 and we can continue our discussion. You’ve been a hoot.
Like what?
And I already said he isn’t. Unless you have some evidence, I’m sticking with the null hypothesis.
http://www.fstdt.com/fundies/comments.aspx?q=32303
*Loves Pharyngula*
Wowbagger…
You are asking me to explain things that I can only explain to God believing people because people like you only bash me when I reply. I would also like to ask you something. Who do you believe made your eyes to see, your ears to hear, your nose to smell, your tongue to taste, your heart to pump your blood, your kidneys to filter, your brain to think, your nerves to send messages, and everything else within you to work so perfectly and in order?
I cannot address the reason God does not heal some people. I can only imagine that he has a reason for them on the other side if they are a believer in Jesus. If they do not believe and refuse to believe, he has no obligation to heal them. He said if you will ask in “my name” I will save the sick. His name is Jesus. You must be a believer to receive these things from God. If you are a believer and God chooses to let you die, I can only imagine he has plans for you in heaven. If you do not believe in God and heaven, what hope for the afterlife do you have? I can’t imagine not believing. That would be a total torture.
I am who am.
Also, I am war. Like I said, Sabaoth.
Life is competition, pain, and then death.
Desire is suffering.
I can tell you that I received a miraculous healing when I was sixteen months old. My mother has a remarkable testimony that she shares with others. I have no choice but to believe in miracles because I truly had the experience in my own life as a child. My family members witnessed, my doctors witnessed it, and the entire hospital staff attending me witnessed it. You can’t argue with facts. – Dana
We only have your word for that. And Christians are notorious liars.
Kel, I have already told you that I was miraculously healed at the age of 16 months. Should I have more evidence than this?? I have much more evidence but this is all I ever needed. I would have died if God hadn’t healed my body. My doctors, nurses, and entire family witnessed my miracle. I am sure they are all believers now and I am glad I could be a part of helping them find salvation.
Dana,
girl you better be way hotter than Luca Toni or Pam Anderson,because that there brain of yours has got some serious malfunction in its logic circuits….
//If they do not believe and refuse to believe, he has no obligation to heal them//
Sounds like Bush saying if youre not with us,youre with the terrorists.
No. Now I’m pissed. You haven’t been reading your Bible. I do these things for my own glory.
Also, because I just hate some people. Pretty much anybody who reminds me of Esau.
MH @ 75,
Looks like Hindu deities don’t perform miracles on non perfect bodies without the intervention of modern medicine either. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t have much power over the lowly human papiloma virus.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/10/02/treeman.wart.skin.disorder/index.html
Hey Dana if you can organize a prayer vigil that can cure this guy I promise I’ll worship you god.
Nick, I do not lie and I do not appreciate false accusations. I am amazed at the remarks on this site. Are all of you Satanists or are you only athiests? I think it is time for me to move on away from here. I don’t deserve such punishment for being an honest believer, one who DOES NOT lie.
Wow. You are equating a college education with Tom Cruise’s bullshit?
Question: What is the difference between your story of a supernatural overlord who sent himself down to earth to sacrifice himself in order to satisfy the bloodlust that he himself mandated to forgive the sins of the people that he created and knew would need salvation and the story of the overlord who stuffed all of humanity in a volcano and nuked them, thus releasing thetans who now inhabit the bodies of modern humans making them do bad shit and/or just feel crappy?
Why is your story more credible? Please show your work.
Why are you attributing the work of Brahman to the work of Yahweh?
About that, again. I just text messaged Baal, and he said he remembers answering your family’s prayers. He’s kind of pissed that you haven’t been giving him burnt offerings. Hemp and myrrh would be nice.
clinteas….
he only asks that his people believe in him. Have you read the Bible? He states, “if you ask in my name” xxxxx will be done. This is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. He only asks that we believe. How easy is this. I never would compare my God to Bush. I voted for Bush but I am very disappointed in him. That is another story.
Dear God, please kill Dana immediately. If you do, I’ll believe in you.
Thank you,
Kel
Sounds like somebody went to Bob Jones University, amirite?
It’s okay, though, Dana. All I ask of you is abject, mindless devotion, and you’ve come through. You and I are going to get the last laugh when I toss all these
Canaanitesatheists in the lake of fire.High five!
Colour me unsurprised.
That should tell you something. Anything logical should be able to be explained to anyone, not just your credulous co-religionists.
So, at the age of sixteen months you were capable of asking him this? And you remember doing so? Both seem unlikely, I’m afraid.
How convenient. If your heaven is such a great place why doesn’t your god just take everyone there straight away? Why bother with this life at all? If it’s relative to your actions – i.e. reward or punishment – what happens to children who haven’t had time to make any choices on doing good or evil?
Well, I’m wearing glasses to correct my vision, and I’ve got an appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow for my back; kind of puts paid to your suggestion of everything working ‘perfectly and in order’, doesn’t it?
Seems your god hasn’t done that great a job, has he? Really not that great at all, is he?
I am not giving up on your people. I am leaving because I must go to work. Some of us live real lives. I don’t worship Satan. I worship Jesus and he expects me to do what I can to make the world a better place. I hope you will all see the light one day and come to your senses before it’s too late. Goodbye to all. I have actually enjoyed this :)
Nick, I do not lie – Dana
Liar.
I quite agree it’s time for you to move on, you tedious, lying godbot.
I voted for Bush – Dana
Could there be more conclusive evidence that you’re a moron?
Sorry, drunk on sake. Meant to say:
You and I are going to get the last laugh when I toss all these
Canaanitesatheists in the lake of fire.Okay, so I’m not exactly the Lord of Webhosts.
Bingo!
Have a good day, Nick. You have been such a pleasant person to talk to. May God bless you and help you find the truth along the way. I will pray that an experience will come your way to show you how wrong you have been. Bye, sweetie!
@Dana – if you take away one thing from this exchange, let it be this:
Do not pretend to be certain of things you CANNOT possibly know.
Dana, don’t leave me hanging on that high five.
I am a jealous god.
And the Lord of Fiction saith unto the polls, “become sensible.” And lo, a wave of reason did spread across the land, and the partakers of irrationality were marginalized; and yea, even the polls of America Online were adjusted, for the Lord of Fiction, Anointed One of the Internet, the Price of Polls, spake unto the Internet, and caused it to become.
And on reading of the polls of America Online, unto the minds of the irrational sensibility was learned, and they came to know science and mathematics. They cast out from their schools the teachers of astrology and the doctors of holistic medicine and all the teachers of false science. Yea, it came to pass that all the obscurants they did fire. And the Lord of Fiction looked out over the polls of the Internet and saw that his word had come to pass, and was pleased.
Nope she didn’t die. Yahweh doesn’t exist. Next time I’m trying Thor.
Also:
Keep up the good work Nick, you’ll be knee-deep in Christ pussy very soon.
Like what? Making googly eyes at him for eternity?
Or do people in heaven get to intervene for others on earth…but that’s getting a little polytheistic and taking away from Yahweh’s super-duper god powers, so we can’t have that. After all, if I get to heaven and get to watch over my loved ones as a guardian angel or some such, doesn’t that mean that your god needs help and/or that I get to have a say in what happens and if, say, my child dies a torturous death, then I must have been caught up in a game of heavenly chess instead of watching out for her? What sense is that?
What other plans are there in heaven besides basking in the glory? Is it like Second Life? Do we get whatever we want? Where does free will come in after we die?
If you can’t make sense of the things that happen to us, then how can you possibly attribute them to an entity that you claim to have a close, personal relationship with? That thing is either mysterious or knowable…you can’t have it both ways.
//He only asks that we believe. How easy is this//
And he needs money !!
Yahweh, Lord of Hosts, I haven’t actually replied to you but you have been a pleasure as well. Maybe we will meet again!
Dana,
You’re a scumbag.
Okay, okay, let me explain. Mother’s Day comes around every damn year, and Asherah gets lonely when I don’t call. You know how Jewish mothers can lay on the guilt. I have to buy her something nice, and what do you get for the goddess who has everything?
//Keep up the good work Nick, you’ll be knee-deep in Christ pussy very soon. //
Yeah great,as opposed to me,thanks to all your efforts,bloody reasonable people !!
I’m sure of it.
Especially if you promise a foot massage. I love foot massages. With rainwater and scented oils, you know? I get sand up in the cracks of my feet. Ugh.
I think there would be drawbacks of being knee-deep in christ pussy. There’s a higher chance of catching an STD, there’s also the chance of pregnancy because apparently abortion is a worse sin (when it’s not mentioned in the bible) than premarital sex (which is mentioned in the bible). Then there’s the problem of a shotgun wedding (poor Levi), then having to be part of the church community.
At least you know they’ll be dirty in the sack.
Kel,
Yeah, it seems that with these Christian women, treat ’em rough and they’ll pretend to love you! I was being nice to her really – just think of the thrill of moral superiority she must have got from posting that last message!
Yes. That is a personal anecdote, not evidence.
Then you are an idiot. A personal anecdote is not evidence.
What about all the other people he let die? You’re better than them, or your god is a capricious and immoral jerk who runs a death lottery for babies?
I sincerely hope the doctors and nurses are not all such credulous imbeciles. I have an easier time believing that your entire family might, indeed, believe this unmitigated horseshit, though — religious delusion seems to run in families.
Kel,
tempted as I am to spin this dirty in the sack fantasy a little ,seeing that its getting late and I would just be over the legal limit was I to drive a car or operate heavy machinery now,I will refrain from doing so,especially since I would run the risk of incensing SC…
One thing’s for sure,poor old Levi will regret that particular drunken one night stand for the rest of his life.
Works for Jesus ;)
Back to the topic.
“Poll results are not reflected in real time.”
And now let’s all smile mildly at comment 2:
There are more Pharyngulites on Earth than your philosophy can dream, Prof. Bleen!
Kel @ 114
“Knee deep in christian Pussy”?!
Sex – UR doing it wrong
Re: saved at 16 months
I was saved by God when I was a teenager. I was diagnosed with an advanced stage of a terribly deadly type of bone cancer, and told I had two weeks to live. They shipped me off to another hospital for emergency treatment, hoping maybe I’d live for a couple of months. I prayed and pleaded and promised. When I got to the other hospital, they redid all the scans. The cancer was gone – the only thing wrong was a blood clot in my leg, and an infection caused by the flu. God had saved me.
Years later I realized this is what doctors call a “misdiagnosis”.
No, it was meant in the Patrick Bateman way.
I would like to express my gratitude to all the religiously deluded commenters that visit Pharyngula,this place would only be half as entertaining without you !
Jaban,
//I was saved by God when I was a teenager//
*headdesk*
You need to read my last sentence to put it in perspective ;) It was a misdiagnosis, not intervention by God.
Jaban, I would really hate to be in your shoes after this. Blasphemy is something that is not redeemable. I am so sorry.
Dana @49
Don’t let my wife catch you calling my body a miracle, she’s very jealous that way!
But you are right ;)
“Priests will pardon thieves but not philosophers.” – Lemuel K. Washburn
Uhoh,
//Blasphemy is something that is not redeemable. I am so sorry. //
now youre in trouble Jaban !
Dana,
would love to have a chat sometime,up to you hey…
//Years later I realized this is what doctors call a “misdiagnosis”.//
Is that a word?
Thank you CosmicTeapot, glad there’s one on here who isn’t sick and twisted.
Worse still is presuming to know my final judgment. See Matthew 13:29.
First no high five, then not even a mention of a footrub. And now such arrogance as befitting of Lucifer?
It’s the lake of fire for you, Dana.
“Is that a word?”
I know ‘to misdiagnose’ is a used term, so if misdiagnosis is not actually in a a dictionary somewhere, I’m sure we can find it a good home.
It’s a miracle!
Dana, you have been hanging with these guys a lot longer than I could have. This is a site full of freaks. You should talk to me!!
In reference to #138…..
I was only quoting the Bible. It says what it says!
Tommy,
back in the queue !
If anyone gets to Dana’s miraculously perfect body first,its me !
I would just like to state , for the record, that not all people called “Dana” are religiots. I am a rational atheist, thank you very much.
That said, Yay! fresh troll meat…
Tommy, sorry but from what I’m learning on here, I should only talk to guys who treat me bad. You’ll have to be mean or I will not be interested. Sorry, it’s the rule.
There are however some quite famous Danas with bodies some consider perfect…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_international
What counts as blasphemy is not up to your sensibilities, it’s up to God’s. As I understand it, he didn’t name you judge.
But let’s ask him – he’s here.
Hey, Jah! When I said that everything that happened could be explained by a person being wrong and needed not rely on divine intervention, indicating I realized you don’t exist, was that blasphemy?
Also, are you going to judge Dana in equal measure to the judgment she passed on me?
As opposed to bigotry, murder, rape, genocide, domestic violence and the other niceties that constitute a huge proportion of the involvement of the christian god in the old testament. Those are fine. Cognitive dissonance there?
Blasphemy is a victimless crime.
Oh no, you’re not. You’re a nasty sanctimonious douchebag who gets off on contemplating other human beings being tortured for eternity while you are “saved”, just like all the other members of your foul and primitive cult of smug schadenfreude, death, torture, and guilt.
I voted against magic and I left a comment about what I thought about the religious scum who do believe in magic.
Yahweh @77
“Sorry, it wasn’t me. Must have been Baal.”
Sorry old bean, wasn’t me. I was fishing that day.
But how you doing? Your lad’s doing quite well for himself these days, isn’t he. You must be so proud.
Anyway, got to go. How about you, me and Thor going out for a beer some time, just like the old days.
Book, chapter, and verse, please.
I don’t think you know my Word.
I think you’re a prideful little ape who delights in lording it over her neighbors, eager to cast the first stone.
Re #149:
I am trying to help all of you get some common sense. I don’t joy in your ignorance!
Dana, may I email you at the email address provided above? We need to talk.
That’s it, I’m calling Poe.
If you really want to get technical about it, John Calvin was right all along, so if you’ve blasphemed, it was all part of my plan. As I said earlier in this thread, and in Isaiah, and Mark, I’ve closed your eyes and ears to me anyway. Dana just doesn’t pay attention. She is of the crowds, to whom I speak only in parables, that they may not be saved.
At least. Right now I’m leaning toward seventy-fold.
Dana, I thought you had to leave for work over an hour ago…
//That’s it, I’m calling Poe. //
That was my initial thought.
Tell you the truth, he’s kind of been sitting around the mansion for almost 2000 years. I mean, there are many rooms, sure, but I still run into him in the hallways, and he stinks the place up with his frankincense.
Sounds brilliant. I’ll have the monks whip up a brew.
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8513/34968/360051.html?d=dmtContent
See the above link for a summary of “faith healing” studies on a variety of ailments.
Cafeeine, I had to get ready for work. I am doing that as I am typing. I am finding it hard to leave all these friendly beasts.
http://xkcd.com/485/
Hah! 32,767 angels on the head of a pin add one more there’s 32,768 devils… I guess if you use pins in your acupunctural healing you have to be real careful. However that leads me to wonder how many angels can fit on the head of a needle? Anyone have an exact number for that?
the chic will not even respond to me. guess i was too nice.
Let me guess. Something genocidal, yes? Truly you were born in the wrong age, BobC.
Where were you when I was slaughtering and raping the Midianites?
Dana,
Funny (by which I mean unsurprising for a typically intellectual dishonest religious believer) how you haven’t addressed my points back in post #104.
Re: #165
intellectually dishonest. Apologies.
Blasphemy is something that is not redeemable. – Dana
Amazing how quickly the threats come out isn’t it? My diagnosis of Dana as a lying scumbag who pretends to love others while actually revelling in her imagined moral superiority (and as Emmet notes, delighting in the thought of her god torturing people), seems to have been accurate. But then, she worships a psychopathic sadist and megalomaniac, the apotheosis of an abusive parent, if the Bible is anything to go by, so it’s no surprise.
For each one of the Midanites you slaughtered, about 200 billion atoms from each person exists in my body today. So I was there, and in the sun & earth, and in distant stars and galaxies. I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Just like an omnipresent deity made up by gullible middle eastern farmers 4000 years ago.
Wowbagger, I actually never saw that post. It will take me a while to reply to that one. I have so much to say. Give me a few.
Kel wrote:
Actually, I’m more of the opinion he was made up by some clever people who wanted the gullible middle eastern farmers to give them some of their hard-earned meat (they weren’t pork fans, obviously) and grain – and tricked them into thinking there was such a deity in order to get it.
Times haven’t changed much, have they?
Touche, my little morning star. How brightly you burn.
Hey, I totally delight in that too. It’s pretty much all the fun we get up here.
I am leaving because I must go to work. – Dana@105
As I said, you’re a liar.
Yes, that sounds more likely. Made up by clever people to exploit the gullible / fearful.
Goodbye Nick, you sweet and precious being. I am making your accusation a reality so you won’t be a liar. Have a good day. May many blessings come your way.
We don’t need, or want, to grovel before your cruel imaginary despot. Spare us your sanctimony and go mutter some vacuous drivel to your pathetic delusion.
And I don’t happy in your grammar.
Kel wrote:
That was the best laugh I had tonight (and there was one good moment on Family Guy), with that I think I might hit the sack.
Geez,Kel,
its not even 11pm yet,Im about to go out lol
I hope you sexist arseholes realise Dana is also a male name.
11 pm? Are you guys the Aussie/Kiwi patrol? not even 3 pm here.
FYI…that happens to be CORRECT grammar. So, who’s laughing now?? Have a good day all of you. I am outta here. I will be happy in knowing I am saved and enlightened. I had no idea there were such educated yet weird and twisted birdbrains in the world. I will be praying for all of you. So, if a miracle comes your way, you can thank Jesus for it. Goodbye!!
Its funny to read a post like this the morning after. I went to the poll fully expecting that your followers would have done their jobs…and did they ever. 81% and 79% for the rational thinkers. I, of course, did my duty as well. The rapid change in percentages…could it be considered a miracle?
It’s been fun, all you heathens and other hellbound rabble! But I’ve been up for like six days straight now, and I really need to get some rest.
New rule: be nice to Sodomites! That was totally a misunderstanding. Those angels were the sexiest among my Sexaphim.
(Personal to Dana: I wasn’t not kidding about Matthew 13. Read it until you understand it, or at least until you no longer revel in your hatred of your fellow humans. For mine is the power and the glory, and all the judgment. Not yours. Mine.)
You and me both.
Irony of ironies.
Nobody saw me do that! Get ready for another flood, people.
I plainly stated I was only stating what I read in the Bible. God said blasphemy was unforgivable. I didn’t say it. I only repeated what he said. I would never judge another human personally. Have a good day.
coffee > nose > monitor
Nick @#167,
All part of the psychopathology caused by the Human Intellectuodeficiency Meme (HIM), which first attacks and disables the critical faculties of the host’s frontal lobes before infecting those who spend a lot of time in contact with the host, usually children. The disease is incubated in bath houses called “Churches”, “Synagogues”, and “Mosques”, where infected persons deliberately seek to spread the infection, which seems to affect the victim’s brain much like the Lancet fluke. Luckily, the early-stage infection is amenable to treatment with deprogramming via rational thought, and vaccination with evidence-based critical thinking skills has been found to be effective.
God also said that he is blessed who smashes the infants of enemies against stones. That God fella is a bit of a bastard. But that’s what happens when you are born of a slut out of wedlock
Yahweh, do double negatives occur often in your correct grammar skills?
Thy will be done, Ia Myers wgah’ngal fhtagn.
Well I was going to go and watch Dexter before sleep…
One more thing as I’m on my way out the door. I hope you all vote McCain/Palin so our world will not come to an end under the rule of a Muslim. Have a Good Day!!
Definitely a poe!
//I hope you all vote McCain/Palin so our world will not come to an end under the rule of a Muslim. Have a Good Day!!//
That settles it.Poe…..
Yeah, if you’re a contemporary of Milton.
Me.
… and Kel (probably).
The Herring is present and taking notes.
Also leaning heavily towards Poe.
Concerned Poe is Concerned.
Do you mean “definitely” or “definately”? Definitely is past participle of definire. Is this correct? Huh??
Re “Definately”
http://www.squidoo.com/definitely
In my book, there is a special place in Hell reserved for people who misspell this word (along with apostrophe abusers and people who mispronounce “nuclear”).
What?
Anyway, what I was thinking while reading that exchange was that this is a myth. My anecdotal experience is limited as I haven’t been with other women, but comparisons based on conversations with my friends (to the extent that the more religious could bring themselves to talk about sex at all) and what men have told me about women they’ve dated from more religious/traditional cultures has me pretty convinced that women brought up in more repressive environments tend to be repressed in bed and those who were raised not to be ashamed of their sexuality are much more wild. Of course, there are exceptions…;)
Dana, didn’t you say you were leaving?
Only if he monograms his miracles like his underpants so I know it’s one of his and not one of Sathya Sai Baba’s.
I simply asked which is correct? You guys know I have made your morning to be brisk and enjoyable. You have not been bored the past hour because of me and I have not been bored because of you. You have all brightened my day. I really have to go now. I love all of you!!
As for “definire”, somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not even an English word. Possibly Italian, but it’s not in any English dictionary I have.
//You guys know I have made your morning to be brisk and enjoyable. You have not been bored the past hour because of me and I have not been bored because of you//
This is just hilarious….
Oh,hello SC..:-)
//that women brought up in more repressive environments tend to be repressed in bed and those who were raised not to be ashamed of their sexuality are much more wild//
I guess the thing is that women brought up in repressive environments would have no clue as to how to enjoy themselves in bed in the first place,and would take some sort of awakening,and a partner that would be understanding and patient….
Poebama.
Taken from Merriam-Webster: Main Entry: def·i·nite
Pronunciation: ˈde-fə-nit, ˈdef-nət
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin definitus, past participle of definire
Is this candid camera or what tonight?
/As for “definire”, somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not even an English word//
Ahem,
Ed,
its from a language called Latin.
Thanks – and it’s El, not Ed (short for Elwood)
No Candid Camera, I was just trying to understand what Dana wrote, and (more to the point), why?
ahem!! If bed is all you think about in a relationship, then I suppose you need a wild woman because you wouldn’t have much more to offer. That is very sad. I didn’t realize I was in a forum with a load of perverts. Now, I am disappointed. I now know for sure that you poor guys have never had an experience. Yes, I am leaving. I am only here for a few more moments. My office doesn’t open until 8:30am. I thought I was spending my last few moments with you but now I realize I am only wasting it.
True. Even then, though, it’s not only a matter of overcoming ignorance but of overcoming the resistance to the very idea of pleasure, and the horror and disgust this can evoke in minds that have been warped by culture or religion. For example – and I’m not trying to paint all Spanish women with one brush – an American guy I dated there said that most of the women he’d gone out with had never masturbated, experienced oral sex, etc., and had little interest in exploring anything new, or even talking about it.
Dana #210,
God’s special offer: One-track mind FREE with every pair of testicles.
How fast they see the satanic in an atheist, and the pervert in a man. Just some boyish gibbering …
I do not think, she will be leaving soon … if she [i]is[/i] a she … after all, there are no proofs …
Dana, I can’t speak for anyone else but I can assure you I am not a pervert! This site is however quite liberally populated with very hard-headed atheists, so by coming here you must expect to get raked over the coals quite enthusiastically and mercilessly. The arguments presented though are valid ones; they have all been argued over countless times and never been satisfactorally answered or rebutted. You won’t change the minds of anyone here, I can guarantee that, but we hope to enlighten you a little. If you want to play in our ball park, you’ve got to accept our rules!
I didn’t realize I was in a forum with a load of perverts. Now, I am disappointed.
Exhibit A.
OTOH, beware the internet, clinteas:
http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Tony_Sidaway
SC,
*shivers*
all those atheist women i have been with who were devils,raw animals in bed,that sucked the soul out of me and left me an empty shell when they were done with me….
I WISH LOL
//it’s not only a matter of overcoming ignorance but of overcoming the resistance to the very idea of pleasure, and the horror and disgust this can evoke in minds that have been warped by culture or religion//
Guess thats true,keep in mind tho that about 20% of females is anorgasmic in the first place.
I wonder what Dana is like LOL
SC,
what was the link for???
Clinteas, I will guarantee that you will never have the “pleasure” of finding out.
Clearly you’re not meeting the right atheistas. :)
Dana, How can we miss you if you don’t leave?
Cool poll reversing. I can’t call it “crashing” because we (with few exceptions I hope) are just voting once in an internet poll open to the public. I only voted once, although it was heavily tilted toward sanity by the time I got there.
Cheers,
Ray
I think Dana is a unhappy little girl. Shes probably alone, delusional and a bit drunk. Something has happened that challanged her fate and this is her first flirt with the other side. The dark side :) What would mommy say if she knew… Read between the lines of this totally insecure girl and find that she wants to have her belifs crushed. She needs reality to take her further, but just doesnt have it in her so she comes to PZ, where she probably have been before, just reading….
Pharyngula thread or cheesy porno? It’s hard to tell.
How can we miss her if she won’t go away?
//Clinteas, I will guarantee that you will never have the “pleasure” of finding out. //
Dana,
I dont travel to theocratic countries like the USA,Iran or Afghanistan,so no,looks like we have to wait until you can come here.
We could cam of course !
Kaela Mensha Khaine … FYI … I am very much female. I have blond hair, blue eyes, dark tan, and I am proud to be who I am. I am ALL femine and proud of it. But, it is disappointing to know how all of you think. You are missing out on so much in life.
Just to point to the fact that not everything on the internet is what it seems to be. If you’re just playing and don’t care if the woman you’re talking to might really be a man, no problem.
I wouldn’t be too intrigued by anyone who considered pleasure worthy of scare quotes.
Cam yourself Clinteas! I won’t waste my time. The girls are running me off so I will go for sure. Bye Guys! I hope you will all wake up and smell the roses one day. The grass is REALLY greener on the other side.
“You are missing out on so much in life.”
That’s true. There’s no limit to what my world be like if I didn’t care about what actually exists, the truth about the world, facts & observable reality.
None of which are exclusively feminine attributes. From that description, you could be Brad Pitt.
Sure, sure. That’s why you need an imaginary friend to feel secure about yourself.
Welcome to the Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are federal agents.
Get blessed, Dana.
Dana, I am very much male. I have red hair, green eyes, am pale as a slug (love my Irish/German heritage) and I am proud to to be who I am.
But… so what? You have no idea who I am or how/what I think. Your disappointment affects me not at all. I accept reality in my life, and it fulfills me in ways you obviously can’t understand. My disappointment is that people can’t look at the world and find wonder in it without making stuff up.
It’s been interesting reading this morning, but I’m off to bed.
Cheers,
Ray
//If you’re just playing and don’t care if the woman you’re talking to might really be a man, no problem. //
You are talking to a net veteran SC,I dont believe anything is female online until I have seen proof lol….
//The grass is REALLY greener on the other side. //
Sounds like an ad for LSD.
#37:
You misspelled “pleased”. Surely you know how much they enjoy that “persecuted minority” shtick?
Or an infection.
Not exactly:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anorgasmia/DS01051
That figure may be true (or even higher) for intercource, but the percentage is lower for anorgasmia generally. Don’t know if there have been any studies relating this to cultural-religious upbringing…
OK, cool.
Wow. I Definitely just voted about 50 times. So apparently they get that online polls are useless, but have one anyway…this does explain how they became so skewed, so quickly.
In addition to medical causes, the Mayo page also notes that
SC,
not sure if this is the place and time,but while we are at it…
Females are wired differently of course,and each one differs from the next,so while some are anorgasmic with penetration only,others are anorgasmic from anything at all.
Now,is this related to cultural-religious upbringing? One would think that to be a good bet…
Now,is this related to cultural-religious upbringing? One would think that to be a good bet…
I don’t know what research that Mayo information is based on, but I suspect there are studies out there. I wanted to point it out because I sometimes think that female sexual problems or dysfunctions are either ignored or considered biological and inevitable when there are sociocultural or psychological (or relationship) factors at play that can be dealt with.
Almost 1 am,acceptable alcohol level,I should retire…
‘night! Sorry for throwing a wrench into your little late-night fantasy. :)
SC,
you will never get in between the special thing I have with Dana !!
It thought it could convert me LOL,that was most hilarious.
Dana belongs to me. I have already emailed her though not expecting anything in return. But, hoping regardless. She would never reply to my postings. Like I wasn’t even there. I think it proved what kel was saying about being rough with women.
Thanks to the great deity CH3CH2OH I experienced the miracle of dating a model for a while in university.
The correct response, when someone volunteers to pray for you is:
“If you promise not to pray for me to save my soul, I promise not to masturbate to make your head explode.”
I would suppose it depends on your definition of “miracle.” If you mean an extremely improbable event, then that would be acceptable. If you mean divine intervention, then that’s just stupid.
here are some easier ones for you, Dana…
1. Why would God heal a baby, a life that is obviously replaceable and has no experience to lose, but not raise from the dead a father of and provider to three children who was killed by a drunk driver last night?
2. Why does God not heal amputees – especially amputees resulting from fighting the
infidel hordesrighteous war in Iraq? In fact, God has never healed an amputee, IIRC, not even in the Bible.3. God wrestled with Joshua, if I recall, in the Bible. Why does God not show up now for UFC and whup some ass, thereby making some great TV and boosting Christianity?
4. On what basis do you make the claim that you were divinely healed? Can you demonstrate for us that there is no possible way medical science, your body’s own systems or even the passage of time could not possibly have solved whatever issue you had? (example: did you regrow a limb? This would answer #2 above)
@Dana (who will be here, no doubt)
Yeah … so you say.
But probably really. You seem very happy to get so much attention. If I had to make up some far-fetched, short-sighted analysis of your personality, I would say, it is the result of a mild social disorder, combined with some lack of recognition by the peer group (alternative symptom: invisible friends). But to think of a theory about some other humans personality, when you just have read a dozen comments in an internet thread – that would be stupid, so I don’t.
Jesus, this poll was murdered.
I did my part on the polls. They were well trashed by the time I woke up this morning.
Dana should stick around to meet Patricia and Bride of Shrek. I’ll start the popcorn going.
Reminds me of a long Internet conversation I had with someone a while ago (on a site about music) who claimed to be a young attractive female. She posted a picture which she claimed to be of herself but looked to me like a shot of a model posing for a clothing catalogue. I queried the authenticity of the photo but at the same time stressing that it didn’t matter to me what she looked like; it was her opinions I was interested in. She immediately got very ratty and argumentative, started calling me names then stopped posting altogether.
Same goes here. I don’t care if Dana is a beautiful blue-eyed girl or a morbidly obese middle-aged male internet junkie with a three foot beard and no friends. It’s what you say that counts, not what you look like (or want people to think you look like).
btw I don’t have a beard!
Kinda makes you wonder what’s so miraculous about it if ~70% of the population thinks it’s happened to them personally. Wouldn’t that just make it status quo?
Evidence or GTFO.
*sigh* Dana is from Arkansas. Why is this always the kind of exposure AR gets?
I’m an AR-native too, we’re not all self-righteous zealots, don’t give up on us yet.
“The grass is REALLY greener on the other side.”
How would you know, you haven’t BEEN on both sides?
I have, and let me tell you, the religious side is a dull, drab world indeed compared to the atheist side.
Regarding bible quotes, it will be interesting to see what arguments will ensue when this goes online next year.
Dana,
Instead of praying for us, (cause we all know you’re just being a self-righteous condescending asshat when you say this), why don’t you do something useful.
Pray that no child be raped and/or murdered. when that prayer is answered, I can assure you that all us atheists will get down on our knees and praise jesus. and while you’re at it, why don’t you pray that your god find a set of morals worthy of our praise and worship.
Oh what’s that? prayer doesn’t work like that?
No, you mean prayer doesn’t work.
Now why don’t you take that self-righteous crap out of here and go spread it somewhere else.
Indeed, which bring to mind Carl Sagan’s famous quote:
Have to share this one too – quote mining Carl Sagan is an excellent way to spend an afternoon!
All those atheist women I have been with who were devils, raw animals in bed, that sucked the soul out of me – yes, that’s called foreplay… and left me an empty shell – Oh I see the problem. You are supposed to participate too honey…abandoned me – that’s code for I am a selfish little git, and I went home and cried into my diary.
Miles above, Azkyroth writes “the majority of criticism of ‘postmodernism,’ in my experience, centers around the appropriation of the label for a school of epistemology based around the application of the core postulate of moral relativism to matters of empirical fact.” Well, the usual ritual condemnation of postmodernism does come down to a bleat about relativism. There are two problems with this notion:
1. Relativism is actually a difficult concept to pin down. When I hear it being denounced, I really don’t know exactly what is being denounced. The apparent fact that proclaimed moral standards differ from place to place? The claim that there is no way to rationally prefer one moral standard to another? The idea that truth is just a matter of opinion? Absent some clarification, I don’t know whether I myself am a relativist in the reviled sense of the word and I sure don’t know whether its fair or merely accurate to lay that charge against an ill-defined group of thinkers, most of whom do not identify themselves as belonging to any one group and certainly not to a school of epistemology.
2. Most contemporary philosophy and history of science, at least the stuff I read, isn’t skeptical at all. “Relativism,” however defined, is not very relevant to its actual concerns, which have more to do with such issues as the social and historical preconditions for doing science and the rhetoric scientists use to convince each other of the validity of their findings. In investigating such things, one properly brackets the question of whether a particular theory or fact is true or false, not because one necessarily doubts it or thinks that there is a better way of finding out than current scientific practice but because truth or falsity is irrelevant to the investigation. It’s not about that.
Meanwhile, Gollum writes:
As for Positivism, I consider it the most intelligent, humane, and beneficent philosophy that has ever existed. Just because a bunch of epistemophobic cowards can’t live up to it doesn’t make it any less admirable.
This sort of thing isn’t argument. I’m not sure what it is. An expression of faith? Anyhow, if there aren’t very many philosophers around who call themselves positivists any more, I doubt if the reason is cowardice or epistemophobia (whatever that is). Positivism came to be seen as inadequate either as a description of how science is practiced or as a canon of how science should be practiced because it was based on a number of covert assumptions that it could not ultimately justify. Hardmindedness defeated positivism. That doesn’t mean, by the way, that the Positivists weren’t admirable or insightful in many ways. I’m not interested in pulling a reverse Gollum on ’em.
#254 – Elwood – Thanks for the link. This is really interesting. Unfortunately by next June I will have forgotten all about it.
The fundies will ignore it completely.
Indeed, thanks for that link in #254.
Patricia (#260): from the comments on that page, it seems the fundies already know all about this stuff. The last comment I read says something along the lines of, “Of *course* the Bible was written by man, but it had life breathed into it by God.” Now, if that’s not a concrete, verifiable, convincing statement, I don’t know what is!
The amputee argument is a good one (re #246). This now adds another wrinkle to miraculous healing: it can happen as long as it’s not too obvious that it had to be divine (i.e. an amputee wakes up the next morning with a whole leg. either their mom was a salamander or God really does exist). At some point the “logical” contortions one has to make to justify believing in a 2000 year old desert religion just become too much. Or at least they should, I mean damn.
whywontgodhealamputees.com
(Presumably the answer can be found at umcuzheworksinmysteriouswaysyeahthatstheticket.com)
Miraculous healings? Sometimes I don’t even notice getting hurt, but I’d hardly call finding a scar I didn’t know I had a sign of miraculous healing.
When I was a child, I had an ugly wart on my left hand. My uncle told me that warts thrived on attention, and if I didn’t give it any attention, it would go away. I wore a glove on that hand for 5 weeks before my Mom finally made my take it off. (The idea was that if I couldn’t SEE the wart, I couldn’t give it any attention.)
When I took the glove off, the wart was gone. Miracle. Spooky.
My grandmother said she had prayed the wart off.
My uncle just kept telling me he was magic.
So did God get rid of my wart? Or was it my uncle? Who was responsible? Or did the wart die of loneliness? ;)
I vote loneliness that or it just moved somewhere else on your body you can’t see.
They move around you know.
Looks crushed to me (:
Since no-one else has, I’ll note that Dana reported she had doctors and nurses helping her survive that health crisis. Her parents didn’t take her to the church for the duration, they took her to the hospital.
Medical science does the work, and then the religious give the credit to the priests and their lies.
co – Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll go back over there and look at the comments.
A few fundies may trickle through, but I don’t think the majority will. If the thing says anything they don’t like, they’ll just ignore it.
Do you believe in miraculous healing?
Absolutely not 82%
I’m not sure 12%
Of course 6%
Total Votes: 82,950
Have you experienced a miracle?
I don’t believe in miracles 80%
Not that I know of 14%
I believe so 6%
Total Votes: 78,658
Well, that was odd.
Usually, it’s harder than this to beat the AOLoonies.
script voting will do that
Script voting? What are you talking about? I stayed up all night and clicked the “vote” button 50,000 times.
So did God get rid of my wart? Or was it my uncle? Who was responsible? Or did the wart die of loneliness? ;)
Was there a little ball of lint and a dime left in your glove?
Then it was the wart fairy.
definitely.