B28-Comments.txt Graham L. Kendall Email: grahamkendall74135@yahoo.com I am found on IRC Efnet/Undernet as glk All these files are available on http://www.grahamkendall.net/ Modified 10/31/2008 All are free to use any of this material without limit. ******************************************************************************* ===== In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which, rather than making a certain statement directly, a speaker expresses it even more effectively, or achieves emphasis, by denying its opposite. For example, rather than merely saying that a person is rather attractive (or even very attractive), one might say that he or she is "not unattractive". By its nature, litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of subtle emphasis. However, the interpretation of litotes can depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be said in such a way as to mean anything from "mediocre" to "excellent". == Whig Both names were originally negative terms: whiggamor is a Scottish Gaelic word for a cattle or horse drover, while tory'," derived from Tóraidhe," was originally used to refer to an Irish outlaw and later often applied to any Confederate or Royalist in arms.[4] ======= The origins of Amsterdam lie in the 13th century. It is thought that fisherman living along the banks of the river Amstel built a bridge across the waterway just before it entered the IJ, then a large saltwater inlet. The oldest document that refers to the settlement of Aemstelledamme 'dam on the Amstel', as it was then known, mentions that in 1204 the inhabitants of Kennemer penetrated the aggrem Aemestel, the Amstel dike, resulting in the destruction of the house of Gijsbrecht van Aemstel. == The ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece. They were thought to have began in 776 B.C. Open only to free men who spoke Greek, they were played within the context of a religious festival honoring Zeus, the king of Greek gods. Athletes prayed to the gods for victory while crowds of over 40,000 watched their performances. They sacrificed small animals, and gifted the gods with produce and small cakes in thanks to their successes. Dying out several centuries into the reign of the Roman Empire, the Olympics were revived in the modern day by Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator and sportsman. == Some Books I Recommend: * A Brief History of Time (by Stephen Hawking) * A History of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle (by Giovanni Reale and John R. Catan) * A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future (by Charles Van Doren) * A History of Private Life, Volume II, Revelations of the Medieval World (by Phillippe Aries, Georges Duby, and Arthur Goldhammer) * A History of Religious Ideas (Mircea Eliade) * A History of the Arab Peoples (by Albert Hourani and Malise Ruthven) * A Short History of Myth (by Karen Armstrong) * Abusado: O Dono do Morro Dona Marta (Caco Barcellos) * Africa: A Biography of the Continent (by John Reader) * Antropologia Cultural (Franz Boas) * Architects of the Culture of Death (by Donald De Marco and Benjamin D. Wiker) * Bad Medicine : Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Distance Healing to Vitamin O (by Christopher Wanjek) * Beyond Good and Evil (by Friedrich Nietzsche) * Bizarre Beliefs (by Simon Hoggart and Michael Hutchinson) * Case Studies in Abnormal Behavior (by Robert G. Meyer, L. Kevin Chapman, and Christopher M. Weaver) * Christianity Before Christ (by John G. Jackson) * Cidade de Deus (de Paulo Lins) * Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (by Jared Diamond) * Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (by John Perkins) * Consciousness Explained (by Daniel C. Dennett) * Contes et Legendes de la mythologie grecque (by Claude Pouzadoux and Frederik Mansot) * Cosmos (by Carl Sagan) * Crime and Custom in Savage Society (by Bronislaw Malinowski) * Crimes Against Logic (by Jamie Whyte) * Cultura: um Conceito Antropologico (Roque de Barros Laraia) * Dictionnaire des oeuvres politiques (de Francois Chatelet) * Direitos Humanos na Pos-Modernidade, Os (Jose Augusto L. Alves) * Discours de la methode (par Rene Descartes) * Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inegalite parmi les hommes (par Jean-Jacques Rousseau) * Du contrat social (par Jean-Jacques Rousseau) * Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (by Hannah Arendt) * El Collar Del Neandertal (Juan Luis Arsuaga) * El Regreso Del Idiota (by montaner, vargas Llosa Mendoza ) * Emotional Intelligence (by Daniel Goleman) * Estacao Carandiru (Drauzio Varella) * Ethics and World Religions: Cross-Cultural Case Studies (by Regina Wentzel Wolfe & Christine E. Gudorf) * Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution (by Ray Jackendoff) * Freakonomics (by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner) * Freedom Evolves (by Daniel C. Dennett) * From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East (by Bernard Lewis) * From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest (by T.Z. Lavine) * From the Origins to Socrates: A History of Ancient Philosophy (by Giovanni Reale) * Gulag: A History (by Anne Applebaum ) * Historia das Ideias Politicas (EVELYNE PISIER ) * Hitler's Pope (by John Cornwell) * Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen) * Humanhood: Essays in Biomedical Ethics (by Joseph F. Fletcher) * Illustrated Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe (by Stephen W. Hawking) * Inevitable Illusions : How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds (by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini) * Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas (by Daniel J. Flynn) * Interpretation of Cultures (by Clifford Geertz) * Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology (by Paul Broks) * Islas de Historia (by Marshall D. Sahlins) * Jogo do Belo e do Feio, o (JOSE ARTHUR GIANNOTTI ) * L'ensauvagement : Le retour de la barbarie au XXIe siecle (de Therese Delpech) * L'obsession anti-americaine : Son fonctionnement - Ses causes - Ses inconsequences (par Jean-Francois Revel) * L'Opium des intellectuels (de Raymond Aron) * La Bible devoilee : Les Nouvelles revelations de l'archeologie (de Israel Finkelstein & Neil Asher Silberman) * La logique des orientaux (Christian Jambet) * La pensee sauvage (par Claude Levi-Strauss) * La Refondation du monde (de Jean-Claude Guillebaud) * La societe de consommation (de Jean Baudrillard) * Le normal et le pathologique (par Georges Canguilhem) * Les illusions de la psychanalyse (de Jacques van Rillaer) * Les tabous de l'Histoire (de Marc Ferro) * Lettre a Monseigneur de Beaumont (par Jean-Jacques Rousseau) * Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain (by Antonio Damasio) * Mao: The Unknown Story (by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday) * Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda (by Scott Peterson) * Moral Relativism : A Short Introduction (by Neil Levy) * Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (Karen Armstrong) * Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (by Oliver Sacks) * Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel--Why Everything You Know is Wrong (by John Stossel) * Naissance de Dieu (de Jean Bottero) * Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (by Ian Buruma & Avishai Margalit) * On the Genealogy of Morals (Friedrich Nietzsche) * Orientalism (by Edward W. Said) * Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (by Paul Farmer, Amartya Sen, and Paul Farmer) * Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences (by Pauline Rosenau) * Pouvoir et contre-pouvoir a l'ere de la mondialisation (par Ulrich Beck et Aurelie Duthoo) * Pragmatic Naturalism & Realism (by John R. Shook) * Preconceito Racial em Portugal e Brasil Colonia (Maria Luiza Tucci Carneiro) * Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence (by Terence Hines) * Psicologia Social para Principiantes (AROLDO RODRIGUES) * Quand les nations refont l'histoire : L'invention des origines medievales de l'Europe (par Patrick J. Geary et Jean-Pierre Ricard) * Que Nos Faz Humanos (de Matt Ridey) * Religion and Science (by Bertrand Russell) * Rota 66: A Historia da Policia Que Mata (Caco Barcellos) * Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims (by Massimo Polidoro) * Skeptical Odysseys: Personal Accounts by the World's Leading Paranormal Inquirers (by Paul Kurtz) * Stalin: Breaker of Nations (by Robert Conquest) * Talking to the Dead : Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism (by Barbara Weisberg) * The Alarming History of Medicine (by Richard Gordon) * The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates The Complexities of Human Thought (by Gary Marcus) * The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense (by Michael Shermer) * The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine (by Roy Porter) * The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (by Samuel P. Huntington) * The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan) * The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and Delusion in the Course of History (by Robert Conquest) * The End of History and the Last Man (by Francis Fukuyama) * The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (by Jeffrey Sachs) * The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (by Brian Greene) * The Human Condition (by Hannah Arendt and Margaret Canovan) * The Human Story : Our Evolution from Prehistoric Ancestors to Today (by Christopher Sloan, Meave Dr Leakey, and Louise Dr Leakey) * The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity (by James VanderKam & Peter Flint) * The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 (by Ben Kiernan) * The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule (by Michael Shermer) * The Secret Origins of the Bible (by Tim Callahan) * The Sins of Scripture : Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love (by John Shelby. Spong) * The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Peter L. Berger & Thomas Luckmann) * The Universe in a Nutshell (by Stephen William Hawking) * The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor (by David S. Landes) * Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (by Peter Godfrey-Smith) * Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche) * Tristes Tropiques (par Claude Levi-Strauss) * Une histoire de l'esclavage (de Christian Delacampagne) * Une histoire du racisme (de Christian Delacampagne & Laure Adler) * Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture (by John Conroy) * War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race (by Edwin Black) * Welcome to the Genome: A User's Guide to the Genetic Past, Present, and Future (by Rob DeSalle) * Welcome to your Brain: Ein respekloser Fuhrer durch die Welt unseres Gehirns (by Sandra Aamodt and Samuel Wang) * Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (Alasdair C. MacIntyre) == the great Muslim festival the Eid al Fitr -- Much of the Bible is symbolic and anything can symbolize anything. Adding a God only adds complexity. Anybody can start a new religion and define its laws. All gods are based on faith claims. Assertions are not validation. Adam almost chose a sheep when God showed him all the animals for selecting a possible mate. Anything can symbolize anything. A preacher hit me in the nose to prove God exists. All science lacks evidence for gods or their actions. Adding God to science never improves science and only adds complexity. All religions are based on faith. Ancient religious stories have a wide variety of opinions. Almost everybody I meet tells me the opinions of a god. Atheism can be refuted by showing just one god exists. Accident is not a physical process. All science is approximate and tentative. Adding God to science never improves science and only adds complexity. Anybody close to a disaster is automatically an authority on God. Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby. All the popes in the world can not refute a single science fact or validate a single error. All fossils are transitionals or lead to extinction. All past species are intermediates or lead to extinction Atheism is rational as gods are not detected. Animals all have ancestors Any fantasy can be supported by faith. B -- Baily Smith, once president of the S. Baptists, said God does not hear prayers of Jews Bible stories tend to become state laws in the US. Belief can lead to thousands of gods Bible stories violate laws of physics. Big bang -> Hydrogen -> Stars -> Heavier atoms -> Solar system -> Single cell life -> Multicell life -> Fish -> Amphibians -> Reptiles -> Mammals -> Primates -> Hominids -> Homo sapiens -> glk This gives the purpose of the whole universe. That is the SUPER anthropic Principle. glk C -- Children are not wise. Christianity is founded on myths. Christians can not seperate fact from fantasy. Christianity is not based on reality D -- Dead people stay dead. Designers are not default explanations for science mysteries. E -- Evolution is valid science. F -- Fantasy can support any religion Faith claims are not validation. Future events are not present evidence. Faith can support ANY fantasy. Feelings are not good sources for facts. G --- Geological Periods of the Earth. Pre-Cambrian,(Archean, Proterozoic( Ediacaran Period), Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian,/ Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,/ Tertiary, Quaternary None of the gods can be refuted. They can be outgrown. Gravity+God and gravity without God work equally well, God stories have no science value. Genesis has earth before sun, stars, and light. Gods are not detected. Gods do nothing. God stories are based on faith. Genesis has earth before sun, stars and light. Genesis has modern plants before sun moon and stars. Genesis has animals without ancestors. Gods can not be refuted. They can be outgrown. Gods write no words. People write holy books. God stories have no science value. God stories have no predictive value. God stories are fantasy. Gods write no words. People write words about gods. God stories vary widely. Gods can not be refuted. They can be outgrown. Geological Periods of the Earth. Pre-Cambrian,(Archean, Proterozoic( Ediacaran Period), Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian,/ Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,/ Tertiary, Quaternary. Gods tend to resemble people. H -- Holy books tell stories about gods. I -- If the Bible does not mean what it says, what does it mean? I fear no gods. If you have no evidence for your religion, attack science. If all memory of God/Jesus/Bible were lost, it would never be recovered. If all memory of science were equally lost, all could eventually be recovered. I meet many experts on God. They differ. I do not sin I meet many experts on God. They differ. I am immune to religion. I know none of the gods, Aton to Zeus. It used to be a sin for Catholics to think the earth goes around the sun. I meet many experts on gods. They differ. Insults never refuted a single fact. It would take several ocean volumes to flood the earth 5.5 miles deep. J -- Jesus stories sound fictional K -- L -- Life was short and full of disease and superstition, before science was invented M -- Modern people lived over 200,000 years ago. Cave art dates to 30,000 years old. Many people I meet tell me the opinions of God. Much of the Bible is fiction. Make any religion claim and it is as good as any other religion claim. No science or history reference has a Noah flood. Many people tell me the opinions of a god. They differ. Melting all ice would raise the sea about 30 feet. Monkeys are close relatives, not our ancestors. N -- No modern species is found earlier than 65 million years ago Nothing is detected to be created by any gods. No science or history reference notes a 6 day creation or Noah flood. No geology reference notes a world flood occurred. No science or history reference agrees with Genesis. No science reference refutes the fact of evolution. No trace of a Noah flood is found anywhere on earth. No science or history reference has a world flood. No physical trace of a world flood is found anywhere. O -- P -- People write holy books with stories about gods. People invent gods. what kind of crazy reasoning is that? People evolved over millions of years from primate ancestors People invented Jesus stories. Poetic symbolism only. People evolved over millions of years from ape like animals. Presently, a high percent of US Christians oppose evolution and the rest of modern science. Priests with an army are infallible. Priests tell people the opinions of gods. People evolved from earlier primates over millions of years Proof is for math. Science seeks validity. People wrote the Bible. The authors of the gospels are unknown. People like to explain mysteries by "God did it." -- Q -- R -- Real people are not born of a virgin or resurrect. Religion comes from a mixture of intelligence plus ignorance. Revelation is fantasy. Religion is frozen opinions from long ago, by fallible people. Rainbows were once called a miracle of God. It really is a result of complex optics. S -- Science had more mysteries in 1900, since solved without including gods or designers. Science has millions of facts and observations to validfate it. Christianity has one old book. Single cell life -> Multicell life -> Fish -> Amphibians -> Reptiles -> Mammals -> Primates -> Hominids -> Homo sapiens Science changes as new data is discovered Science keeps make more accurate predictions each year. Science can not explain how a pumpkin turned into a coach. Satan is a minor Christian god. Some Christians pick errors and gaps in science to refute the whole system, to replace it with Bible literalism. Souls are not observed. Science works very well in making accurate predictions Science gets more accurate each year Science has general validity . T -- The same book quoted as proof of God also claims there was a world flood and fire breathing Leviathan. The Egyptians never noticed the Flood. The maximum evaporation rate is 160 inches a year. The oceans do not go climbing mountqains for a year. The Bible has the sun going around the fixed earth. The voices in your head might not be gods speaking to you. The first life was single cells 3.5 billion years ago found in the Apex chert of Australia. The Bible has many errors. That is not how science operates, it is how propaganda operates. Things have been dying for 3.5 billion years. The Bible literalists claim all the formation and fossils were deposited in one year by the Flood. The world operates in precisely the manner one might expect if there were not an all-powerful being in charge The universe is not limited to what a religious person can understand and accept. The opinion of a priest is the law of God. The Bible records the sun goes around the fixed earth. There are thousands of gods to choose from, Aton to Zeus The Egyptians never noticed a world flood. The authors of the gospels are unknown. The universe was produced to support glk. Everybody else is supporting cast and special effects All must behave or I will wish them into the cornfield. The only alternative to evolution is magic. There are hundreds of empty tombs over there, thus hundreds of resurrections. To a Christian, words are the ultimate reality, not physical reality. Since words can claim ANYTHING, there are no fixed physical laws The origin of cells 3.5 billion years ago is a chemical mystery. U -- V -- Very poetic, but not science. W -- Who can validate Jesus stories? When people do science and evidence is unclear, errors are possible, eventually detected and corrected. Who can show a god exists? Without the fall of Adam, there is no original sin requiring sacrifice of the Son of God. Y -- You can quote no science reference to validate Genesis stories. ==== These comments are adequate to answer most religious claims. == FLOOD I find it fascinating that you demand detailed specifics for other theories of origin, but accept the wildest speculation for your own. No oil company uses creationist geology maps as there are NONE. A wooden craft the shape and size of the Ark would collapse. There is a mile layer of salt 5 miles below the Gulf Coast. Explain that. The Encyclopedia Brit. says the Flood was not historical. The maximum evaporation rate is 160 inches a year. The Egyptian civilization goes back to the stone age. The total mass of the atmosphere is equal to 32 feet of water. There was no Noah flood except as a literary event. The ice caps have 420,000 yearly layers. Melting them would add 270 feet of water. List observations supporting the flood story. Major geological changes take a long time, uplift or erosion. There is no significant water under the earth compared to the flood volume. The pressure in the earth squeezes shut any holes or cracks below a certain depth. The Arctic tundra is still frozen. Christians find force often works better than their faith claims to convert people or silence critics. How could 8 people care for millions of species? There has been normal weather on earth for billions of years. Why do the land and ocean show no widespread Flood deposits? That is not a physical observation. Why do no geology reference journals world wide include a Noah flood? Tell me any modern peer-reviewed scientific publications which support a Noah flood or 6 day Creation. The atmosphere can hold one inch of water on the average. Mountains are formed by continental crust collisions or volcanos. This is why sea life fossils are found in mountains. Valleys are made by erosion. The disease smallpox could not survive in only 8 people. The cave paintings of the ice age survive, over 12,000 years old. A flood would not lay down crinoidal limestone, salt, helium or anhydrite. Find the source for 5.5 miles of additional water and then get rid of it. The physical evidence refutes the Flood story. Air circulation in the Ark would be a problem. Where did all the mass come from for the miles of deposits? Tha total amount of carbon in the crust is vastly more than could be in a pre-flood atmosphere. Tree ring sequences exist going back 11,500 years. How were all the plants saved? An Ark sized wooden object would collapse. If all the stories about the Ararat region are true about the Ark, the whole area is one vast Ark parking lot. The distribution of animals and plants worldwide shows no migration from Turkey about 2300 BC. How did all the Australian and American plants and animals return home? Coral reefs die under deep water. All plants and animals need special environments on the Ark and afterwards on a flood ruined world. The fossils are not usually in flood deposits and are seqregated by geological periods. Water life would die in the Flood. Where is a flood deposited layer to be seen? No petroleum geology journals include the flood story. Why are no modern species of plants found in coal beds? The end of the ice age 10,000 years ago was the last world change. == I don't have to disprove something that was never validated in the first place. They do not know what the first genetic system was. The very early earth was bombarded during the billion and a half years, when this process was happening. The surface rocks were metamorphosed by this process. All past species in the fossil record are transitionals or lead to extinction. Since the first genetic system, there was genetic continuity all through all life. Astrology and theology are both popular among the public. Creationism is 100% religion and 0% science. List a science journals where descent with variation is refuted and animals without ancestors is promoted. Explain where all the extinct species came from. A theory is an explanation for a group of associated facts. No modern species is found in formations earlier than the Tertiary period. Humans have the same psuedogenes as chimps. These no longer code for vitamin C operational in humans and other primates. Evolution is a fact explained by associated theories, like natural selection. Evolution has been observed by science. No modern species is found in formations older than the Tertiary. Humans evolved over millions of years. Humans and chimps have 98% identical DNA. Design is not a legitimate explanation for the origin of biological features in science. Many of the leading experts in science have spelled this out. Science is about finding explanations that involve nothing more than the laws of nature. Evolution is supported by all science journals which discuss the matter. What science journals refute evolution? Spartina townsendii is a new sea grass, first observed about 1870 and is now quite common. The whole of all living things shows a sequence of life forms. There is a law of genetic continuity in biology which states "After the initial life form, ALL living things come from ancestors by biological processes." Speciation is usually a slow process compared to the duration of science observation. Evidence seperates fact from error. The whole of the science community supports evolution in the reference journals, where mentioned. Modern humans have been around 120,000 years. They recently found a whole cave full of ice age art in Europe and 4 human footprints. Animals and plants came from ancestors over millions of years. Science has a LONG record for making accurate predictions and that validates its assumptions and methods. Humans invented the chin, a noble addition to the face. The first observable life forms in the fossil record are prokaryote bacteria, 3.85 billion years old. Evolution is descent with variation, both widely observed. ==== Adding a deity never adds to the predictive value of any science model. Facts are seperated from error by external evidence. The poetic stories of the Bible can be interpreted many different ways. The authors of the Gospels are unknown. They were selling a religion. Christianity is so great Christians want everybody else to become a Christian, OR ELSE. Faith has no process for detecting and correcting errors. Tell us about a walking talking snake and magic trees. Both God and Hitler claimed to be Catholics. Faith can support the sun going around the fixed earth. A Deity which does nothing differs not any from one which does not exist. If you ask the wrong questions you get answers like '42' or 'God'. Any thinkable idea can be accepted by faith. Millions of people have no science understanding and preacher stories are all they know. The 2.7 degree radiation, the expanding universe and the ratio of light elements supports the big bang model. The big bang model exactly predicted the observed nature of the radiation to one part in 100,000. I suggest THE WHOLE SHEBANG by Timoty Ferris. and THE INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE by Guth. also The Splendid Universe by Greene No science claims are ever proven as proof is for math. Elements heavier than heliom were formed in stars formed after the BB Atoms heavier than iron were produced in supernovas. The errors of science are observed and eliminated by more and better science. Adding God to science models only complicates the model and never improves its predictive value. Science models which include deities are more complex and not more accurate than non-deity models. I am too ignorant to understand deity stories. I see theology to be like math. It is a game played with symbols having no necessary relationship with the physical world. Why do Christians think that quoting the NT is more impressive than quoting their butcher? Faith is belief without evidence. It can "validate" any thinkable idea. Christianity is based on Hebrew myths. Christians think that destroying science will leave their system as valid, by default. Many people claim to hear the voices of deities in their head. The voices vary in their advice. Science is not infallible but it is superior to all competitors. Sin is violation of a religion rule so how is that transmitted from generation to generation? All deities may exist. None can be refuted. They can be outgrown. No cultist thinks he is a cultist. EVERY cultist KNOWS what he was told is TRUTH. Just ask him. Atheism requires no evidence, as it is lack of belief in deities. Theism does. Without a deity, there is no theology. Weak atheism is basically the literal definition of atheism; a weak atheist is simply without any gods, but does not proclaim that they do not exist. "Indifferent" would be a good word to describe weak atheists. A strong atheist is also without gods, but is willing to assert that it is highly probable that all gods do not exist. Technically, an agnostic is one who asserts it is impossible to know if God exists or not. In common usage, though, agnostics are usually those who say that they don't know, not that they can't know. Unscientific religious journals have different standards than science journals. There is a complete dearth of evidence to suggest that Christian theology is in any way reflective of reality. I'd like to think I have an open mind on this subject, and entirely willing to change it the evidence shows my current views to be incorrect. Perhaps my views on the matter were formed prematurely, based on incomplete and inaccurate information; I accept that possibility and/or likelihood. Nothing in modern science assumes Christian theology has validity. I am too ignorant to understand deity stories. I have seen many wild stories called miracle. Some are frauds. Others errors. Clearly, "overwhelming" evidence cannot exist in respect to a "negative" claim about the real world. Since the absence of something leaves no mark, those demanding "negative" proofs will always be able to point to some unnoticed or unobserved realm in which to tuck their invisible claimed entity. Christian theology has the universe controlled by the whim of God, variable from day to day. I am a brain in a vat of Mountain Dew. The presence of sufficient credible evidence is a reasonable basis for accepting a statement as true. Belief without evidence leads to error. Proof in the sense of "absolute confirmation" or "absolute negation" is not possible except within the confines of axiomatic systems in which terms are precisely defined. I see no evidence for any deities anywhere around me. Space, time, matter, and energy came from the big bang. If the "presumption" that the world is governed by consistent natural constants, itself consistently yields testable predictive theories that work -- then that's pretty good evidence that the underlying presumption is trustworthy. All deities are equally real as all are based on faith. The Bible has the sun going around the fixed earth. The methodologies of science can and do consistently yield reliable predictive statements about the physical world. Where there is no evidence for God, it is easy to doubt the story. Theories in science are more than guesses. Science theories have to demonstrate predictive value and explanatory value. I do not sin so I need no salvation. The Hebrews had a simple primitive world view and a deity to match it . The secrets of religion are found in the Dead Sea scrawls. If Christians stopped quoting, they would be almost silent. I was called a satanic swine by some Christians. All deities are equally based on faith. According to the Bible, resurrections were common. It was harder to stay dead back then. The Lutheran who hit me in the nose disproved all of science and educated me about the love of God. Cultists are always telling me how unhappy because I am not being one of them. Christians use special code to talk to each other. Ordinary people can not understand it. Priests and preachers make rules of right and wrong. The fossils show our primate ancestors. There was no known religion at that time. "Every man thinks God is on his side. The rich and powerful know He is." Science is basically natural selection applied to ideas Cave men lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. People invented science by testing things and generalizing on the result Lies in religion just make another religion. Human habitation caves in Europe are widely known. They found a new one recently with much art In math, I learned about the sin of the angel Theta. A claim which can be saved only by a miracle is not science. Only survivors can pass their genes along to the next generation. It would take a miracle of a deity to PREVENT evolution. People invented science by testing things and generalizing on the result. Nuts and bolts do not self assemble. Atoms and molecules self assemble. Each geological period has unique species. A universe controlled by the whim of a diety is a universe where science is impossible. Evolution is animals with ancestors. Creation is animals without ancestors. Which is more logical? God plus gravity laws is no more accurate then gravity laws alone. Earlier ancient humans were smaller and had less brain volume and had very simple stone tools. Christian fundamentalism is not the default explanation to a scientific mystery. Evolution is descent with variation, both widely observed. Evolution is descent with variation. It is seen in the lab and in nature. The early earth had no life 4.55 billion years ago. It had prokaryote bacteria 3.85 billion years ago. The period before which nothing is knowable is called Planck Time= 10^(-43) seconds. Matter originated in the early stages of the big bang about 12 billion years ago, as the false vacuum decayed. The big bang produced this universe. No deity was involved. Evolution is a blind process, not knowing the future. Deities do not speak to me. I do not hear their voices in my head. Evolution is a fact of science. It is observed. Modern humans lived during the ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago. There are limits to what is knowable due to the Uncertainty principle. No part of any science includes any deity stories. If you do not know what you are talking about, call it spiritual TRUTH. Animals without ancestors is mythology. There were stars before the sun formed. Genesis has animals and plants without ancestors. All sorts of cultists claim I am unspiritual as I do not agree with their cult teachings. Birds were not the first land animals. The universe was 8 billion years old before the sun formed. The Bible was written by prescientific people. The Bible says there were trees before sun moon and stars. It has a world flood and the sun going around the earth. Science is independent of all religion. That is why it works so well. It is hard to tell the difference between deities and things which do not exist. A fact is an observed condition. A theory explains patterns of facts. A theory does not mature to become a fact. It is hard to refute facts with ancient Hebrew tribal tales. Genesis has plants before sun, moon, and stars. Science has an excellent record for making valid predictions. An honest person checks his claims for accuracy before promoting them to other people. A theory in science is an explanation for observations. All sorts of people pray I will stop thinking and believe what makes them happy. Nothing in science is absolute. Science does not deal in absolutes, merely models of varying degrees of probability. I can not assign probability for undefined systems. Deities tend to die and resurrect. It was harder to stay dead back then. I know nothing about God or other deities. I do not fear God. I fear His servants. The best science model of today is open to correction or replacement in the future. Do not attempt to manufacture my opinions for me. All science models are approximate and tentative. Little is known about Jesus. The authors of the Gospels are unknown. Science does not have a deity, dogma, holy book, ritual or Pope. If laws are ignored and deity stories are assumed, all is possible and no science can occur. Theology has nothing useful to add to any area of science. No part of science includes deity stories. Science is atheist in that it lacks belief in deities. All science ignores all deity stories. I see praying has as much value in getting knowledge as clapping your hands. Science ignores deity stories. Individual scientists may have a personal faith. Valid ideas can stand any honest test. There will be religion as long as rascals can find fools. There are about as many opinons about God as there are believers. Proof is for math. Oil companies find oil the old fashioned way, They do geology and paleontology. Preachers are not famous for finding oil fields. They find oil at service stations. "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering!" -YODA The religious opinions of a scientist have no particular authority. If you have no education, facts or logic, all you have is faith. I see no evidence for gods or godesses. Science has a very good record for making valid predictions, without including any deities. You live in a society which promotes that belief. You caught a meme. The former head of the Southern Baptist Church, Baily Smith, claimed God did not hear the prayers of Jews Animals without ancestors is mythology. Evolution is observed and is a fact, explained by associated theories, like mutation and natural selection. Atoms heavier than iron were produced in supernovas. The canon was sent to the council in 325, then made canon in 397 and then confirmed later. My files will survive and continue teaching for another geological period. Even today some Christians oppose the heliocentric model. I meet many experts on God. They differ. My files have the Klingon seal of approval. A God can be used to temporarily fill gaps in science knowledge. This deity must move on to new gaps when old ones are filled. Science has no deities and works very well with that approach. In times of rapid environment changes, evolution is rapid and extinction is common too. The heliocentric model was opposed by the Catholics and Luther both. Most individuals do not fossilize. Which of the hundreds of cults and denominations is TRUE Christianity? The Christians in the U.S. passed laws to threaten teachers with prison if they taught modern science. You have theological assertions only, with no external evidence. Modern humans have been around since the ice age. Satan is a minor Christian deity. People who hear voices of deities in their head need meds. Why does the Bible say there were plants before there was sun moon and stars? Carbon dating can be accurate with proper samples. Only people driven by theology oppose evolution. No science observation has refuted evolution yet. It took centuries to explain the heliocentric model to Christians. Science has no deities as deities know all and can do magic tricks. The universe will expand forever, according to present knowledge. Christians who think tend to becomes ex-Christians. All past species were ancestors of later species, or lead to extinction. Satan is a minor Christian deity. Deities are not refuted. They can be outgrown. All past species are links to future species, unless they became extinct. My atoms will be recycled. I only borrow them. Magic tricks by a deity can save any story. The earth formed about 8 billion years after the universe. Animals without ancestors is mythology. In symbolism, anything can symbolize anything. Science ignores all deity stories. One Baptist preacher called a cop to have me put into prison for not believing in the Bible. The cop told him it was not against the law. Atheism is lack of belief in deities. There are hundreds of deities to doubt. How many do you lack belief in? A Lord who would torture all people who do not follow Him is an evil Lord. Evolution is descent with variation, both widely observed. The Catholics have more words of God than the followers of Luther. When Jerry Falwell proposed every public school teacher be threatened with prison for teaching science, the Christian community was silent. When several states passed anti-science laws, it took the Federal Courts to stop the Christians from putting science teachers into prison. Nobody else could or would stop them. The first genetic system had chemicals as origins. All religions are valid. Just ask their followers. Sin is a religious violation. It may or may not parallel civil violations. "God made science." People made science. Science is not perfect. Why would God make imperfect science? Christians are the only people I ever met who think I need an excuse to get more knowledge. God is silent and invisible. Christians need police power to establish their system as they have no facts or logic to do so. Present science answers work very well. The different religions agree the other religions are false. I agree with them on that claim. Science keeps making discoveries. Did Neanderthals or Cro-Magnon people sin? Did they go to heaven or hell? The Bible supports slavery, genocide, conquest and baby slaughter, thus is spiritually perfect. Christians are always trying to tell my fortune, usually involving eternal fire. The fossil record shows an evolutionary process. Faith is belief without evidence. Belief in deities does not make them real. The rainbow was once considered a miracle. Modern humans lived during the ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago. Anyone who can persuade you to suspend disbelief can ultimately control your mind. People want magical ways to control events and escape death. Preachers offer that. Does a loving God send disease and natural disasters? All deities are based on faith. Any thinkable idea can be supported by faith. God is as believable as a world flood, a talking snake and a fire breathing Leviathan. The Adam story is in a time of agriculture and domesticated animals. Genetic continuity is a LAW in biology. There are many people who see and hear deities. They keep these people in nice safe places, churches and hospitals. If you refused to kill Midianite babies, you would commit a sin. I never met a true Christian. All I met support slavery, genocide, conquest and baby slaughter. Ordinary ideas from this time do not apply to the big bang. The Bible was written, edited and selected by fallible people. All living things on earth have a common ancestor in the initial bacteria. Genetic continuity is a LAW in biology. Deities are the product of intelligence plus superstition. Their Bible had TRUTH and the scientists had only theories, like gravity. Genesis is mythology. Trees are not older than sun moon and stars. Science is a body of knowledge to be applied, not worshipped. Man cannot make even a virus, but creates gods by the dozen. Religion stories violate too many laws of nature to be considered real events. Astrology sounds like foolishness to those who will not believe. Science seeks only facts. They leave theology to the preachers and priests. All deities exist equally, in the minds of the faithful. It took the Federal Courts to stop the Christians from threatening all the teachers with prison as nobody else could or would. God is a mystery explained by a myth. Humans appeared by evolution and not a magic trick in a garden. If the Bible is written in secret code, why am I expected to understand it and believe it? Science has no parallel with religion as religion is totally based on faith and science is based on observations. Laws are generalizations from observations. Belief in deities does not make them real. Who is the official expert on the nature of deities? If evolution works by natural, physical means, why not abiogenesis? If Adam is myth, there was no Fall needing divine sacrifice. Why not the Big Bang? I understand that the Pope was quite enthusiastic about the scientific studies into the origins of the universe. Up to a point. He made sure to admonish a conference of astrophysicists that calculating the universe's origins back to the first nanosecond was fine and dandy...but, um, don't look any further back than that. That's *God's* territory. I've heard of cramped quarters, but really. If God's primacy extends only as far as the pre-first-microsecond of the universe, why bother with it? -- China (1st origin of kings by Hsia family close to 4,200 years ago; 1st writing appears in Shang dynasty close to 3,300 years ago; Chou kings take over Shang dynasty close to 3,000 years ago - Chou kings told those they had conquered that they, the Chou, had ousted the ancestors of Shang kings from heaven and that heaven was occupied by their supreme god, a god they called "The Lord on High," who, they said, had commanded the downfall of the Shang kings. Like emperors in West Asia, Chou kings claimed that they ruled by divine right. Chou rulers admitted into their pantheon of gods some of the gods of Shang civilization... Chou rulers fell out of power close to 2,771 years ago) Kong Fu-tse (551-479 BC), better known in the West as Confucious ======= == End of B28-Comments.txt