But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn what it is!
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn what it is!
They’re liars. Kent Hovind attempts to explain the contradictions in the Bible, and it’s easy. The Bible is a trap. God intentionally put in errors so he can catch the people smart enough to notice them, and drive them away from the faith. Because, apparently, he only wants irrational people to believe in him.
If I was god…I would write the book in such way that those who don’t want to believe in me any way would think they found something — “a-ha, here’s why I don’t believe” — and then they could go on with their own life, because they don’t want to believe in god any way.
…
I would put things in there that appear, without digging, to be contradictions. I don’t think that’s deceptive, that’s really wise for our heavenly father to weed out those who are really serious.
I know this is difficult for an ethically-challenged person like Hovind, but that actually is deceptive.
I have been told that I must deal with a “misogynistic” statement expressed on Freethoughtblogs by Lux Pickel. They said, “Centering our pro-abortion rhetoric around women is inherently erasing of the existence and needs of trans individuals.“
I have two points to make here.
My conversation with Perry Marshall about “evolution 2.0” is now online on the radio show Unbelievable.
Marshall is sales and marketing guy who has written a book titled Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design
He has a challenge with a $100,000 prize. All you have to do is show an example of Information that doesn’t come from a mind. Basically he’s making the clueless argument that there are no processes in genetics that produce novel information. I think Jeffrey Shallit ought to step up and claim it. Actually, he might have to fight through a mob of information theorists to get his money (if it exists, and if the judging wasn’t rigged).
See, this is useful. We need to know what makes this god business work, and apparently, you need to be up high in the sky, and you need to be undistracted by those demons in a long metal tube
, that is, plebeian airline passengers, so definitely no flying in coach, and even first class isn’t good enough — you want to talk with god, you need to have your own private jet.
Well now I know why I’m an atheist — I’ve had a lack of opportunity for conversations with gods. All you Christians out there need to click on that donate button in the left sidebar a lot. I’m sure I could be brought to Jesus if only I had my very own Gulfstream and a pilot on retainer.
It would be nice if the IRS could hear that rationalization from the prosperity gospel practitioners, but I rather suspect that the IRS also only listens to you if you’re calling on a satellite phone from your private jet.
By the way, the video cuts out just before we get the Biblical revelation of Amos 6:1, so here it is:
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
What it means, I don’t know, and I wasn’t interested in tracking down their interpretation. It probably means something about how they need to upgrade to a bigger, more luxurious jet.
I like the review, because it’s exactly how I felt about the movie.
One difference in our backgrounds, though: I started out as a big Star Wars fan. Loved the first one. Saw the second one and thought it was even better, because it was adding more depth and complexity to a fairly simple story. Saw the third and realized it was all going down the toilet in the name of marketing. And don’t even mention the prequels to me.
Of course, the best summary of the recent movie, even better than Sarkeesian’s, is this one.
the only TFA spoilers i've seen are that the cast consists of a badass female, an interracial gay couple & a disgruntled hot topic employee
— madison (@mtaucoin) December 28, 2015
Over on Twitter, I was startled by the assertion that many scientists convert from evolution to creationism, convinced by the evidence.
Many scientists convert from evolution to creationism, convinced by the evidence. #science #evidence https://t.co/G83RRSQvKl
— yecisscience (@Prophecy_YEC) December 26, 2015
What was startling about it was that I’m getting used to mainly hearing from atheists calling me a mangina or such on that medium, so it was a break from the usual. On a lark I took a look at the video.
It’s Jerry Bergman. I’ve debated that loon.
How anyone can be convinced by that babbling incompetent is a mystery — I guess he just tells them what they want to hear.
There have always been wretched racists in this country, but it’s troubling that even now some of them seem to take their prejudice as a matter of course. Watch this guy go up to a small group of anti-fracking protesters and calmly declaim some vile racist remarks. He clearly thinks there will be no consequences.
There were consequences, fortunately — he was fired by his employer. But still, it says there is a population of deeply deluded people in America who think that their racism is perfectly normal. That’s what ought to worry us.
Orac once again takes down Vox Day. Day read a study and misinterpreted it, which isn’t too surprising — Day is not particularly bright. In this case, the study was looking for correlations with Personal Belief Exemptions (PBEs). That is, they were trying to figure out what kind of traits underlie anti-vaccination attitudes. What wasn’t surprising is that they found a lot of well-off white people who oppose vaccination.
That played right into Vox Day’s biases. He opposes vaccination, so smart people oppose vaccination; he’s white and well-off, which to him is synonymous with being intelligent and right, so it turns into a regular orgy of confirmation bias.
The news that anti-vaxxers are whiter, wealthier, and better-educated than those who place blind faith in vaccines won’t surprise anyone who has actually engaged a vaccine enthusiast on the subject. None of them know anything about history, few of them know anything about science, and all of them are prone to simply repeating the usual vaccine scare rhetoric
There’s this insanely popular mullah, Zakir Naik, with lots of videos flooding youtube. He reminds me a lot of Kent Hovind and Ken Ham: the same ignorance, and the same absolute confidence that they’re always right, but with no evidence to support their conclusions other than their own belief. But then I ran across this video, and I actually agreed with Naik in the first part.
He argues that if a school is hiring a teacher, it ought to matter whether they believe 2+2=4 or 2+2=3, and they ought to employ only the one who’d teach the correct answer. I was floored! I’d argue exactly the same thing. Of course, he doesn’t carry through on that ideal: he’s also a creationist, of exactly the same primitive ilk as Hovind and Ham.
Where it all gets familiar and stupid is in his answer to the original question, which is why Islamic countries don’t allow places of worship for other religions, while Western nations allow a diversity of faiths to flourish. His answer is that that’s because Muslims know absolutely that Islam is true, so why should they allow false religions to proselytize? And how does he know that Islam is true? Because the Koran says so. When pressed on the fact that many Christians are as adamant about the truth of their beliefs, he simply asserts that the reason other countries allow mosques to be built is that they are less confident that their native religions are true.
It was a mistake to have Bill Nye debate Ken Ham. The debate I really want to see is Ham vs. Naik. They’re indistinguishable from each other, but both are totally convinced that the other is completely wrong. Please make it happen!
