B7-Deep.txt Graham L. Kendall Modified (11/10/2008) Email grahamkendall74135@yahoo.com I am found on IRC Efnet/Undernet/Dalnet as glk Files on science and religion are found at http://www.grahamkendall.net/ All are free to use any of this material without limit. ******************************************************************************* Deep Thoughts Any errors here are automatically sombody else's fault. == Geological Periods of the Earth. Pre-Cambrian,(Archean, Proterozoic( Ediacaran Period), Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian,/ Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,/ Tertiary, Quaternary. The Bible has only two geological periods, Pre-flood and Post-flood. == Preambrian Time Archean Era 4600-2500 million years ago( Proterozoic Era 2500-570(Tonian Period 1000 - 850 / Cryogenian 850 - 630 / Ediacaran Period 640 - 542 million years) Phanerozoic Time Paleozoic Era/ -- Cambrian Period 570-505 /Ordovician Period 505-438 / Silurian Period 438-408/ Devonian Period 408-360/ Carboniferous Period (Mississippian and Pennsylvanian/360-286 / Permian Period 286-245/Mesozoic Era /Triassic Period 248-208 / Jurassic Period 208-144 -- Cretaceous Period 144-66.4 /Cenozoic Era Tertiary Period/ Paleocene Epoch 66.4-57.8/ Eocene Epoch 57.8-38.6/ Oligocene Epoch 38.6-23.7 /Miocene Epoch 23.7-5.3 / Pliocene Epoch 5.3-1.6 /Quarternary Period /Pleistocene ====== "I have invulnerable proof that evolution can't happen!" "Oh, yes, what is it?" "I'm. not going to tell you ...." == Prepare your proof before you argue. == Asgardian, God of Mischief == I think we all need to take responsibility for this culture that grossly devalues science and discourages curiosity. == Individual people are smart, compassionate, or reasonable. Groups have appalling tendency to become hysterical when the individuals within them feel powerless. == To believe in God is first of all to know that we can be deceived all the time. == If alcohol is illegal in prison, why are there so many bars there? == Douglas Adams said, I'll take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day. == Hey, if the Flying Spaghetti Monsterıs noodly appendage doesnt save you, itıs because you are supposed to die that way. == Famous politician excuse what you heard me say wasnt what I really said. == You are simply confusing your own ignorance with reality. == "It's not smart or correct, but it's one of the things that make us what we are." - Red Green == "The slave holder in the south were on the winning side of the theological debate" - Sam Harris == The word 'replenish' used to mean fill, back in 1611. == When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that pisses me off." ~Stephen King == I think we should privatize the government. == You can't always want what you get. == I self medicate with Mountain Dew and Oreos. glk == Where is the "Any Key" on my computer? == If you torture them enough, they'll confess!  Thus proving you were right all along.  If they haven't confessed yet, you haven't tortured them enough! == I am half irish, half scotish. which makes me drink but I dont want to pay for it. == All these solar panels are wearing out the sun. glk == Not everyone shares your quaint superstitions. == I got Onstar for my bicycle. glk == There is no way to teach anything (except perhaps mathematics) without running afoul of someone's ideas. == Napoleon, Jesus, and the King of the Universe here all agree I am sane. glk == Eurasia is our friend! We've always been at war with Eastasia! == klg is my evil twin. == "You can tell if you've created God in your image if He hates all the people you do." == I am a guilty bystander. glk == A dyslexic guy here tried to hold up a store, using a gnu. == I know all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire. I am vicious. == If the Flood is a morality tale, I'm not sure of the moral, since God promises at the end that he won't do the bad thing to us again, however wicked we are. Of course he has many other bad things to do to us. == Protons are made of quirks. glk == Throughout history, whenever religion is married to politics, the inevitable result is the loss of personal freedom and the increased dominance and subsequent corruption of government. == The power of accurate observation is commonly called called cynicism by those who have not got it. == What I like about Genesis is the kinky parts, like where God tried to get Adam to mate with the animals == Nothing is foolproof because fools are so clever. == The difference between mathematics and the natural sciences is that in math one does not simply state something and wait for a rebuttal: one is expected to actually *prove* that what one says is true. == Some mysteries are only known by God, Herself. == How to become a great leader. Ignore facts, tell big lies, stand by them, look confident, and attack anyone that doesn't agree with you. == How come you never hear father-in-law jokes? == It's always one prophet up on a hill when no one else is around that God decides to give the secrets of the universe too. == The Catholic Church has Missals and Canons to defend the faith. glk == Palintology is the study of why God hid dinosaur bones all over the world 6,000 years ago. == A fool can always ask more questions than a wise man can answer. == "What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence." == A successful liar and manupulator knows that the con can only be run on someone who has a dream they want so much they are willing to give their power over to someone else. == Home school your kids. My kids like their burgers medium. They can always discuss their spirituality as they flip burgers or mop floors. == There are always those who will reject reason for the comfort of the certainty that they are right and everyone else is wrong. == I asked to buy a CD at the bank but they did not have the songs I wanted. glk == Religion claims, like a cascading chinese whisper, a rumour mill, and in a society where such forces could go unchecked by external forces, it would be allowed to spread unimpeded. Just because someone's effect is great, doesnt mean they are not deluded, remember, many of the great visionaries of history were also touched by a degree of madness, thats what gives them the edge over the rest of us. They are not limited by reality. == The very best confidence trickster is one who actually believes the delusion he has spun, and that does take a schizophrenic and psychotic personality rolled into one... very rare. == I got an air freshener for my motorcycle. glk == Never forget that for many folk, itıs always easier to believe than to think.­ A. D. Foster == I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.--Susan B. Anthony == It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious. --Socrates == The problem with homeschooling is that your kids will grow up to be as stupid as you are. == The science community keeps learning. Christians, who are infallible, are usually incapable of learning. == The excess of a virtue is a vice. -- Greek Proverb               It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds. -- Samuel Butler == Christians are atheists regarding all gods but one. == Reason must be allowed room to adjudicate between fact and fantasy. == I refer you to Matthew 5:9, "Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Peacemakers are guns, in the old west.. == God is an action figure you find in the Bible. it won't do anything until the author dictates its duties and attributes. == "What is the biggest problem in America? Is it ignorance or is it apathy?" They are likely to answer, "I don't know and I don't care!" == Christian people wave off questions because they clash with their bedrock conviction. == Reality is a function of probability. == The great Yankee baseball player and manager, Yogi Berra, once said You can see a lot by observing. == There is no such thing as the supernatural, nature itself is super. == "Why does everybody take an instant dislike to me?" "It saves time." == Some people detect gods the same way winos detect snakes. glk == "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." ~Johann von Neuman == Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson.-- Vernon Law == Idealism increases in direct proportion to oneıs distance from the problem. == My Blackberry had a rotary dial. glk == I will defend your right to agree with all my opinions. glk == I am a Board Certified Carpenter. glk == True story I saw some Christian tracts taken from a dead Nazi soldier. It said "He will protect you from your enemies." == If a Democrat wins, I am moving back to Mars. glk == If all the other gods are delusions, how are you immune to equal delusions? == We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are. == There's been quite a lot of psychological research done on "true believers" -- they all act the same, whether they are religious fundies or Maoist ideologues or whatever. == "Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you." - Abraham Lincoln == According to your stupid theories, I would still be a monkey if there was no god. Obviously, I'm not a monkey. Right? == If there's no god, how do you explain this voice in my head, huh? == Christians are willing to hurt real people in a crusade to promote belief in mythical people. glk == The main point of Christian education is to eliminate critical thinking in favor of only seeing the world through a Christian perspective. == With soap, baptism is a good thing. == The more antiquated and archaic a body of knowledge is, the more authority religion grants it. == The fact that Christianity allows people to commit loving atrocities is a very huge problem. == "Hitler burned Jews for being Jewish. For that, we call him evil. God burns Jews for being Jewish, forever. Christians call him 'good'" == "If God wanted us to be atheist then we would have been born that way" == We have fought long and hard to escape from medieval superstition. I, for one, do not wish to go back. -- Amazing James Randi == I am a problem thinker. gl= == Dreams and religions seem real until you wake up. glk == Because we are all brought up to respect faith, it leaves open a gap through which fanatics can charge. == Nietzsche wrote "To man, any answer is better than no answer." == That's the problem with trying to satirize creationists -- there's NOTHING anyone can say that is soooooooo silly or stupid that some creationist somewhere hasn't preached it in all earnest seriousness. == I don't have a God complex? Let me tell you something. I am God. == "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein == I am scornful of deliberate ignorance and deceit. == What do you get if you cross a JW and a Satanist? Someone who goes door to door, telling people to go to hell. == God is very interested in Texas High School football. == "Funding cutbacks force Government to cancel Wednesday" == They found a petrified rainbow from the Flood. glk == I tested positive for wisdom. glk == Liar=someone who disagrees with me. glk == This is your brain on religion. ()*&()&*(&* glk == I have a nasty habit of denying things that aren't true. glk ==== Empathy is hard-wired in children's brains. Christians think you can only get it by going to church. == People are in danger of being burned at the stake and that tends to make atheists rather circumspect about their true beliefs. == I found God, and all I got was this lousy straight-jacket. glk == When you speak to God it's called Prayer. When God speaks to you,. it's schizophrenia! == If you don't want to learn, I hope you at least find some bliss in your ignorance. == New movie "Finding Nematode" glk == When god gives you lemons, find a new god. == We come in peace. Shoot to kill. === Britain gave Australia the criminals and they gave the US the puritans---- the Aussies got the better deal. == The very tenets of their Christian faith have immunized them against the power of conversation and appreciation of facts. == The Bible is infallible in the original Klingon. glk == Magic purports to know the cause of something whereas science confesses ignorance pending the gathering of more data. == People do not understand gravity and gravity does not understand people. == What does a dog do on its day off? George Carlin == NOTE Product contains no field mice. == Most fish don't have fur. == I wunder if the Bible code is mentioned in the Bible code. glk == Evolution is a combination of the inevitable with the serendipitous. == File Deletion is Murder! == The problem with Baptists is that they don't hold them under long enough. == "Nothing that you enjoy is waste of time" Bertrand Russell == I think there should be Creationism taught in public schools. All children should learn that Brahma created the world out of a lotus seed. == You'd think in a fancy restaurant like THIS, they could keep the snails off the plates!!! == Each circuit has a puff of smoke installed when made. If the smoke leaks out, it no longer works === War is god's way of teaching Americans geography. == [This space unintentionally left blank] == Atheists hold truth in high regard and understand the link between justice, truth and objective, corroborated evidence. == Why do some of the most devout Christains sometimes lack that inner sense of kindness? == The zealots are making a lot of noise, in the hopes that the masses will confuse noise with controversy. == The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance. [Robert R. Coveyou] == Yogi Berra said, "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is." == New book "The Impotence of Poofreading" === In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher - Dalai Lama == Fundie motto Students need to be able to jump to their own conclusions. glk == We dyslyxics worry about spending eternity in the fire and brimstone being tortured by Santa. == ³Nature is not human hearted.² (Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC) == I was once mugged by a blind bandit...he said "Stick 'em up! ... are they up?". == When I was born, everything was fine for a while, then a doctor spanked me and another one cut my on my wee wee. glk == I am criminally sane. glk == I used a special secret code on the Bible and it said "glk is old and wise." glk == Richard Feynmanıs sentiments: ³But I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose - which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me." == Several psychological studies appear to support [17th-century Dutch philosopher Benedict] Spinozaıs conjecture that the mere comprehension of a statement entails the tacit acceptance of its being true, whereas disbelief requires a subsequent process of rejection. We seem to accept appearances as reality until they prove otherwise. == When men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place. -- Pearl S. Buck == The captive in my basement is banging on the floorboards again. == The Christian guy on the Simpsons said Jesus died and reincarnated as bread. == Russell observed: "Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case." One of his maxims: "Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed." == Start out understanding religion by saying everything is possibly wrong. ... As soon as you do that, you start sliding down an edge which is hard to recover from. ... ? -- Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (1981) == "If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else." === Science is as liable to be used for inhumane purposes as any other human institution. Indeed, given the enormous authority science enjoys, the risk of it being used in this way is greater. == Make English America's ofical language! == There are some people who, if they don't already know, you can't tell 'em. . ---Yogi Berra == Dyslexics are teople poo. == Recent events loom large in the minds of men. glk == I've met many who are probably mentally ill AND religious and the propensity to be ill magnified the religious delusion. == The delusional see a thing even when it is not there. == ...the being cannot be termed rational or virtuous who obeys any authority but that of reason.² -- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) == Mathematicians have an unfounded fear of dividing by zero. == Moderate religious people have done little to curb the excesses of the extremists of their own traditions. == What do you steal for the man who has everything? == Religion requires people to discard reason and critical thinking and to accept unverified assertions and dogma without without questioning. == Science is required to deal with the real world, not magical fantasy notions that people just make up. == "My mind is the key that sets me free." ‹Harry Houdini == Magic is the religion we don't believe in, religion is the magic we do" == Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life--except religion. == History is after all only a pack of tricks we play on the dead. == People imitating fundies should always admit to being imitators, because no matter how crazy they act, there is a real fundie somewhere who is just as crazy. == I will believe in God if you will believe in Santa. == The universe is obviously fine tuned to produce cats. People are waste products of the process. glk == Religion can change lives, like for followers of Koresh and Jim Jones. glk == "No matter how paranoid you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." == "Don't believe anything until it's been officially denied." == Satchel Paige warned, "Don't look back. It might be gaining on you." == No one likes being told where to go unless he is lost. == Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time. == Fundie claims The great rift valley in Africa proves there was a global flood. Evolution is racist. Creationism says there is a perfect race. All the water from the Flood disappearing through the hole in the ozone layer. All the evolutionists, tell me something. I know how the big bang has happened, but tell me, wouldnt an explosion, especially one that size, take away life instead of allow it? Think about it. Everyone knows scientists insist on using complex terminology to make it harder for True Christians to refute their claims. Apes are just creatures twisted by Satan to mock Jesus by giving EVILotion credibility. Furthermore, they are naturally lust crazed for human women. Since they are not natural creatures they should be exterminated forthwith as the tools of evil they are. Deoxyribonucleic Acid, for example... sounds impressive, right? But have you ever seen what happens if you put something in acid? It dissolves! If we had all this acid in our cells, we'd all dissolve! So much for the Theory of Evolution, == Since the people in power were the ones making the rules, appointing themselves as gods, and imposing the law and religion, I would venture to guess that the majority believed it only to save their skins. == "Hitler burned people like Anne Frank for being Jewish. For that, we call him evil. God burns Anne Frank foreverfor being Jewish. For that, Christians call him 'good' == "If Jesus is God, then it means that God sent himself down to earth to sacrifice himself to himself because it was the only way that he could convince himself to forgive all of us and change a rule that he made in the first place." - John Armstrong == I have no problem with actual religion, but scientific-sounding falsehoods uttered at the behest of spirits of unknown origin tend to bring out the exorcist in me. == Long ago Egyptians worshipped cats as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. - Unknown == War and genocide, when blessed by God, are perfectly holy. == Well what a surprise...a book that offers no evidence of its claims predicts that some people won't believe it! == One is not superior merely because one sees the world as odious. -- Chateaubriand (1768-1848) == To say the Bible was written by men and may contain inaccuracies completely contradicts the word of the Bible. == People who feel their lives are disintegrating can find comfort in the solidity of a strong authority figure. == Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do know history are doomed to watch them repeat it. == Lord Reith said that there are some people whom it is one's duty to offend. == Only a fool says there is no Mother Goose. == I keep in shape. Round is a shape. == If there is only one God, who is the god of this world? glk How is Satan god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)? == My sleep cycle had a flat tire. glk == Quoting an author is not quoting a god. glk == If you hang a cat by the front paws and its tail, you get a catenary. glk == "If a person doesn't already understand that cruelty is wrong, he won't discover this by reading the Bible or the Koran, as these books are bursting with celebrations of cruelty, both human and divine. We do not get our morality from religion." == The plural of anecdote is not data. == In the religious paradigm, it's more about "You can believe me or you can believe your lying eyes" == Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." == All powerful God has some interesting attributes. One is that such a being by definition, must be able to ignore causation, logic, and physical laws. (Otherwise, its not all powerful) == Evolution says it's okay for strong people to bully weak people, just like gravity says it's okay to shove people off cliffs. == My Turing machine halted. It ran out of punch tape. glk == Reincarnation is silly. I learned that when I was a soldier in Napoleon's army. == "Being Human Is Overrated." Rex the Chimp == Our government is based on sex and balances. == This is my favorite universe. == Religions don't have a non-violent way to express their proper hatred for the other groups without mucking up society at large. == Who needs Newton or Copernicus when you've got the Corinthians? == If it works, it is obsolete. == "All knowledge is interpretation" - Nietzsche == I was abducted by an alien. It turned me into a newt. But I got better. glk == Children are too young to consent to sex or vote yet parents at the same time allow their young children to make important religious decisions. == I view religious beliefs as a consequence of cultural evolution and a desire to explain what is unknown, and control it if possible.by words and rituals. == "If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities" -- Voltaire (1694-1778) == Ya know Jesus was a Jew til his Father sat him down and told him no more of that. == "Vote Cthulhu 2008! Why settle for the lesser evil?" == Rule number one of creationism: "Evolutionists" have to explain ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. Creationists, on the other hand, have to explain ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. == Christians have three gods for the price of one! glk == Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to believe. (Laurence J. Peter, American Educator) == "The scientific method with its reliance on evidence and experimentation is not perfect, but compared to other methods of gaining knowledge, it is the one most likely to be right." == Richard Feynman said, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled...I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy." == Bertrand Russell said, "Almost everything that distinguishes the modern world from earlier centuries is attributable to science..." == Carl Sagan captures the essence of the scientific approach to knowledge. Before an idea can achieve the revered status of "theory," it must survive round after round of skeptical criticism. === Sinclair Lewis said, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." === The Stone Age didn't end for lack of stone. == Gods dont kill people. People with gods kill people. == "The Romans killed Jesus on the cross. His death on the cross saved us from our sins. Therefore, we should worship the Romans." - Earle Jones == "The earth is flat, and anyone who disputes this claim is an atheist who deserves to be punished." [Muslim religious edict, 1993, Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, Supreme religious authority, Saudi Arabia] == "The bloodiest, most brutal wars fought, all based on religious hatred. Which is fine with me! Any time a bunch of holy people want to go out and kill each other I'm a happy guy!" - George Carlin == If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. -- Rev Jerry Falwell == While traveling near Tampa, Florida I passed the "Jehovah's Witness Assembly Hall" and was struck by the fact that that must be where they make them. - Gene Spafford == Nietzsche wrote "To man, any answer is better than no answer." == Flatworms don't care about innocence or guilt. == You do not need oxygen at the highest place in Kansas. glk === In the long run nothing can withstand reason and experience, and the contradiction religion offers to both is only too palpable. -- Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) == You might be a Calvinist if you have an overwhelming compulsion to burn me at the stake. == "...I become fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason..." Klaatu, The Day the Earth Stood Still == My school colors are ultraviolet and infrared. glk == "An error has occurred while creating the error message for an error that has occurred." == I am a defective in the Police Farce. == Homeopathic tablets: In the event of a headache, take one tablet. If symptoms are severe, take half a tablet == The voices in your head are not your friends. == Don't hate me because I'm atheist. Hate me because I tell the truth, which by default makes me atheist. == My guru taught me "Moderation in everything, including moderation". == Alpo is $1.29 a can. That's almost $8 in dog money. == Definition of blasphemy - disagreeing with a fanatic. == "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." - From Puddn'head Wilson's Calendar, by Mark Twain == One of the greatest flaws of religion is that it insists that it has all the answers, even when it's demonstrated to be false. == If you view morality as a way for people to live together instead of a ticket to get into heaven, it makes more sense. == Why, in a world chock full of facts, would you choose to base your life on something which is fact free, like religion? == I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. == glk approves of this page. == Homeless man sentenced to house arrest. === "Christian Scientist Pharmacist Refuses to Dispense Any Drugs." == I am a 7 Day Atheist. === There are plenty of assertions which are passed off as morals when in fact they are just someone's preferences. == Important: This message is private. Unless you know you are the intended recipient, do NOT read it. == Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pense'es, #894. == "One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others."--Robert A. Heinlein == In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower? - Warren Hutcherson == Evolutionary change of religion is known as heresy. == An opinion is not scientific evidence. glk == Religious people believe IN god. The religious right believes they ARE God. == At one point in time, many of us actually had Jesus as our personal lord and saviour. Unfortunately, we later had to dismiss him for incompetence, gross negligence, misconduct and consistent failure to show up for work. === Who needs a conscience when Jesus died for our sins? -- Ahriman == Do unto others before they do unto you. == "There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described"-- Gary Winogrand == "Nature is the final arbiter of truth." == Nothing is as effective as the notion of the sacred to motivate people to do really bad things in the name of good. == I got my PhD in Thinkology at Drive Through U. glk == There's plenty in this universe to satisfy our need for beauty and awe and wonder and romance without inventing nonsense beliefs. Acquiring the knowledge of how the universe works can only enhance rather than detract from those feelings. == Genetic continuity runs in my family. glk === I picked a hell of a day to stop sniffing glue. == Some people guide their actions and morals by those of ancient barbarians. They call themselves Christians. glk == I tell Christians "One of us should think about what you are saying". glk == I before E except in Einstein. === Our family was so poor that our Thanksgiving dinner was turkey buzzard. glk == As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. attributed to Josh Billings == I am a person of interest. glk == You can prove anything you want if you're given a free hand at picking your assumptions. == A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths." == Don't anthropomorphize computers, they hate that. == I see a real disconnect in not believing in fairies and astrology but still believing in gods. == "Klaatu barada nikto" = Meaning of life. glk == Someone who is surrounded by theists and raised by theists has no concept of theism until the theists start teaching theism. == Rational arguments do not work on religious people, otherwise there would be no religious people. == I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it. == If the cops didn't see it, I didn't do it! == There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots. == We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is. Kurt Vonnegut === If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you. == "Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense." -- Chapman Cohen == It is impossible to think like an ancient person. We know too much they did not know and they believed too many thing we do not accept. glk == As long as there is ignorance, emotion and superstition, religion will exist. glk == The whole religious complexion in the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum HAVELOCK ELLIS == All thinking men are atheists. ERNEST HEMINGWAY == Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; any thing but ...... live for it. CHARLES CALEB COLTON == What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite. BERTRAND RUSSELL === Human beings are often poor reporters of their own actions. == Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon logic rather than upon the crime that you must dwell. Sherlock Holmes === The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. A. Einstein === Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck on, a skirt to hold. What have we to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity! Isaac Asimov === If you do not like my answers, do not ask me any questions. glk === The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. -- Sir William Osler 1849-1919 == Ignorance is a renewable resource. P.J.O'Rourke == Unfortunately the world that you describe bears little resemblance to the world that the rest of us live in. == H.L. Mencken said that "The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It's the chief occupation of mankind." == Gandhi once said "An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it." === "It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion." - Bertrand Russell == This claim can not be proved. This claim can not be refuted. glk === Edward R. Murrow said it well: "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." == Where are the fossil Cambrian catfish?? After all, catfish are bottom dwellers. == We are all a product of the past. Change it and you never existed. glk == Free the Indianapolis 500. === Some people are not happy unless they are mad about something. === If a young deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap? == The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. == "There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life." - John Stuart Mill == The Preacher He is in his mind 'chosen' and 'anointed' to be some exempted creature that lives off others, in exchange for the special connection to God that he brings to true believers. He tends to become angry if opposed. If he has politically powerful friends, he is dangerous. "We have the mind of God and everybody else just needs to realize that and fall in line." === "I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishment after I am dead." -Kurt Vonnegut == Gods are silent, except for the voices in your head. glk == I took a vow of science. glk === I was a Roads Scholar at Tulane University. glk === It is a god eat god world. glk == When man becomes extinct, all of his gods will become extinct with him. glk === Reality is there whether we like it or not. How we perceive reality is the difference between delusion and rationality. == Evolution: Life's a niche, then you die. === If every trace of Christianity and the Bible were erased. None could be recovered. If all trace of science were similarly erased, it could all be recovered eventually. glk === Cannibals do not eat clowns. They taste funny. === Viking Motto: "It takes a pillage to raise a child." glk == I never have problems with computer viruses or any @##$%^%^#$%$^%^&&*%^(*(^&)*()(_)(& glk === "I'm an atheist and I'm OK! I know there's no God but I hate Him anyway". == Karl Popper said, "Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve." === Perfection is way overrated. glk == There is no problem so large that it cannot be solved with dynamite. == Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. -- John Adams === If you propose to deliver to me a message from God. first, tell me the password He gave me to expose and reject the claims of rascals, fools and mental cases. glk == The three brothers named their cattle ranch FOCUS because that is where the sons raise meat. == "I was driving alone one day and I saw a hitchhiker with a sign saying Destination Heaven. So I hit him." == "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan == Atheist n A person to be pitied in that he is unable to believe things for which there is no evidence, and who has thus deprived himself of a convenient means of feeling superior to others. Chaz Bufe, The American Heretics Dictionary === I am innocent. I was not there when it happened. Besides, it was self defense. glk == "The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next." Ralph Waldo Emerson == Everything I say is a lie, including this statement. == I tried to get a student loan, preferably a beautiful 18 year old lady. They told me that is not what the program is about. glk == There is a little known cookbook by Darwin, Origin of Spices. glk == Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. ~ Albert Camus == What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism -- Albert Einstein == In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences. --Robert Green Ingersoll === Man was made in the image of God yet God is undescribable and infathomable. == "Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of." - Mark Twain == The history of science shows us that patching the gaps in our knowledge with miracles creates a path that leads only to perpetual ignorance. == Intelligence is the ability to learn by experience. Gods already know everything so they are not intelligent. glk == The eternal laws of God are not as eternal as previously claimed. glk ==. Gods are magical people. They make universes and live up in the sky, but sometimes visit earth to do magic tricks and kill people. glk == No creationist I've ever asked to explain the theory of creation does so. Gosh, they're so reluctant to explain their theory, you'd almost think they don't even have one. == If you pray to Saint Christopher, You are out of luck. He was busted down to just Mr. Christopher. glk == You should not make a habit of trivializing the forefront of human scientific endeavour by suggesting your understanding would be required. == The basic trouble, you see, is that people think that "right" and "wrong" are absolute; that everything that isn't perfectly and completely right is totally and equally wrong. Asimov == God's Words change with each edition of the Bible. The true meaning of the Bible changes each century. == "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." - Albert Einstein == "Doubt may not be a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire == "One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding." - Richard Dawkins == Religious belief is founded on hearsay and requires unconditional belief. Scientific belief is founded on preponderance of evidence and is only held conditionally. == Fundamentalists can kiss my left behind. === Everyone has THE answer, but nobody tells the truth. == If there is only one god, he is not very good at communicating. == Press #1 for English. Press #2 for Klingon. Press #3 for %$@%&*( glk === I am overdrawn at the memory bank. glk == I like George Carlin's idea of worshipping the sun. It gives life and warmth, and it won't banish you to hell just cause you don't love it. == People who possess a faith that requires them to deny how the real world actually is and actually operates have a fraudulent faith. == What earthly good is learning about astronomy and evolution, unless you want to stare at the sky and think you're a monkey? == I used to fly a WD40 in World War 0. I won the Extinguished Flying Cross. The enemy was The Enemy. glk == I'm not arrogant. Don't confuse confidence and extreme will power with arrogance. == God is tripolar. glk == Jesus died for my sins. So I sin as much as I can, to bring glory to the Lord. The more I sin the more Jesus' sacrifice is worth. == Wisdom comes with age ... but sometimes age comes all by itself. == Whenever women approach me in bars and nightclubs and ask me for my number I tell them 127.0.0.01. == "The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right" -- Jill Ruckleshaus == I was close to my dad till he told me to get off his damn foot. == I am just a man from Planet Dirt. glk == I just wonder....if everybody tithes to the preacher, who does the preacher tithe to? == Floggings will cease when morale improves. == Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. -John Lennon) == Stupidity makes baby Jesus cry. == Mutations should be expected with any larger body of self-replicating behavioral patterns which explains the vast number of variations of any given religion == When the room is filled with nutballs, the normal person seems out of place. == Don't pray in my school, and I won't think in your church. == "This ain't rocket surgery." --G.W.Bush == This statement exists in a quantum superposition of states, and is simultaneously true and false. == Everyone knows English is God's native tongue He talks in a REAL language, namely, English. It's true that back in them days He translated that to some other language after Speaking it in English, but after all, it's His universe and He can do what He doggone well wants to do." == No wonder we are so violent. We are made of mean old acids. glk == I'm right. You're wrong. God told me so. End of dicussion. glk == It is easier to tell a lie than produce a miracle. glk == "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." == What is it: is man only a blunder of God, or God only a blunder of man? -- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), The Twilight of the Gods == The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. -L.P. Hartley, writer (1895-1972) === "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. Dawkins == A problem in science: people want to believe in the fantastic and the fantastic is often accepted without being tested. === Faith is a drug.. .and I am sober. == "The highest honour that a rational thinker can bestow upon religion is ridicule" == The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Alvin Toffler == "If you see a blind man, kick him. Why be kinder than God?" - Old Iranian proverb == On Pluto, you could have a superconductor at room temperature. == The bible is "clear" on many things. On most of them it is wrong. == The Christian god makes man human, then burns him when he acts like one. == The earth started out flat and it only warped into a sphere slowly as man's science got better. == "No public man believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced it says what he means." George Bernard Shaw == "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." == You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of people are even dumber than that. == About which Mark Twain said, in his book Letters from the Earth: "I have never understood how a just God could expect his creatures to pick the one true religion out of an infinitude of false ones by faith alone. It strikes me as a sloppy way to run an organization, universe or any other thing." == "I have always wonder how a Christian discredits the Greek mythologies as historicaly accurate?" == I think that people who embrace religious dogma fit into the following categories: children; the mentally ill; the uneducated, under-educated or deliberately misled; and the suffering. == "A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious." -Aristotle) == http://www.fstdt.com/ fundie quotes == "All gods pass through the mouths of man." == Human beings have a remarkable capacity to turn their imaginary God into a deity as vindictive, cruel, narrow-minded, and oppressive as themselves. == You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do - Anne Lamott == There is no mistake in learning only preferences. Daltoro == The TRUE name of the Hebrew God has been discovered recently. It is not YHWH. It is YAHOO. glk == Do you suppose there are Municipal Court Jesters? == Tolerance applies to how we treat people we disagree with, not how we treat ideas we think false. == It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. --Alfred North Whitehead) == I was baptized an atheist by Mother Nature. glk == People tell me I am past my shelf life. glk == The Bible has no errors in the original Klingon. glk == All of those who deny God... yes.. are fools. but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. == God loves all of us, but He loves the ones with really big guns more. == "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943 == Christians dont wanna follow logic. They want logic to follow them. == The universe is not perfect. The stars keep blowing up. The earth has many faults. glk == Funny thing about the Psychic Friends network going bankrupt. Gee, you would have thought they would have seen it coming. == Mental illness includes fixed beliefs in irrational ideas, however religion includes fixed beliefs in irrational ideas. glk == A good proof for God is the fact that if the earth were an inch closer to the sun, life would be impossible. glk === I achieved enlightenment and realized there are no gods. glk == Losing your faith is called growing up. == "All religions look equally silly from the outside..." --Robert Heinlein == "Insanity in individuals is rare-but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule." "When a hundred man stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one." == Science is good without faith and cares not a fig about religious fantasies. == I hated going to weddings. All the grandmas would poke me saying "You're next". They stopped that when I started doing it to them at funerals. == Fear is a powerful thing that prevents people from questioning what they suspect is false. == When you lose the power to laugh at yourself, you lose the power to think straight. --Clarence Darrow == I've developed a new philosophy--I only dread one day at a time. Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) === The two rules I have been taught by Christian leaders is "Might makes right" and "Power corrupts." glk == Blessed is the self righteous Christian, for his is the sure and certain knowledge that no matter what load of tripe he comes out with: God told him to say it. === glk= Worthless eater of Oreos, == I know who you are and saw what you did. Use Paypal. glk == Good results of prayer is proof God exists. Bad results proves God is mysterious. glk == To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming. == glk works in mysterious ways. == I am joining a Yoga extension class soon....cause if the end of the world is coming I will need to be limber enough to kiss my butt goodbye. == Americans conquered the moon. Look at all the craters. glk == I was going to buy an old math book at a sale but somebody named Isaac Newton scribbled all over it glk == They use pi in insurance statistics as they compute how long people will be round. glk == Dear Sir: You have won $1 in the Nigerian lottery. Send us $1000 for taxes owed and we will send your winnings. glk == I met Christians who strapped on a Bible and committed intellectual suicide. glk == If God is omnipotent, why does he always need a ghost writer? == In 1000 years, during the new Dark Age, the only record of our civilization will be a few National Enquirers. glk == No one can prove god but everyone wants to be His spokesperson. == Priests make up lists of sins and will remove them, if you pay and obey. glk == The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... logic can be happily tossed out the window. --- Stephen King == In Gold We Trust. == "Why should I allow that same God to tell me how to raise my kids, who had to drown His own?" -Robert G. Ingersoll == The mind is a great inventer. It can invent feelings, religions, TRUTH and gods galore. glk == This is all a bad dream and I am your worst nightmare. glk == There are many thinkable universes and only one real one. glk == All my enemies are paranoids. glk == All my statements are inerrant in the original version. glk == In fundamentalism, you have all the truths. In education, you are searching for truths. == That which does not kill us, usually requires stitches. == The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. There was no money in the Garden of Eden, thus no evil. glk == Mankind differs from the animals only by a little, and most people throw that away. - Confucious == Hard work may pay off eventually, but laziness is rewarded immediately. == The Catholics claim the Prots are mistaken. The Prots claim the Catholics are mistaken. I agree with both groups in this matter. glk == "Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic"---Fyodor Dostoyevsky == I can resist anything but temptation. == Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions which move with him like flies on a summer day. - Bertrand Russell - === One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another. - Rene Descartes - == Religion is fiction validated by fantasy. glk == "Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiment in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated" --- George Washington == "True virtue is life under the direction of reason." -- Benedict Spinoza == When asked why I don't believe in God, I always answer, "I believe in me because my magic works." === Warning: Do not remove this tag! --> |=| <-- If you remove this tag, God will send you to burn in hell. glk == "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous!" And God granted it." Voltaire == The 10th Commandment upholds the institution of slavery. "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns." == If you insult Lord Krishna, you will be reborn as a toad. Don't claim I did not warn you about this. glk == Civilization started approximately 8000 years ago, when beer was invented. glk == Science deals with the MOST important question of human life: what is the nature of reality and how can the answers to this question increase the human ability to survive? == Brahma, the Father of the universe. glk == If evolution always changes thing to the better, does this mean that all humanity will one day be Australians? == Old statistics experts are broken down by age and sex. glk == It's 12:30 AM, do you know where your God is? glk == I once visited Long Island Sound. I was disappointed because I did not hear anything. glk == "We have just enough religion to make us hate but not enough religion to make us love one another. -Jonathan Swift == The Christian god is PERFECT... if you make enough excuses for Him. == A massive tornado stuck Southern Arkansas on Saturday, causing millions of dollars worth of improvements. == It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain belief in one of the historical religions while obtaining a competent modern education in science and history. == Science is the technique of being wrong, but doing something about it. == Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows. "1984" George Orwell == Bibliolatry is a very seductive heresy. It requires no thought at all, really, since the Bible is the absolute authority and whatever the Holy Interpreters (of whatever cult) say it means is what it means. == Gods are silent, so priests must determine their opinions and tell them to the public. glk == God wrote the Bible in English for a reason: So it could be taught in our public schools." == When did it become necessary to believe improbable things without evidence, which is called faith. Why don't schools and parents teach critical thinking? == "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." Ghandi == glk killed a beer when he was only three. == There is no intellectually honorable surrogate for rational argument. == Religion is an attractive nuisance in the legal sense, meaning a structure that attracts children and young people and exposes them to dangerous ideas and criminal temptations, like an unfenced swimming pool or an unlocked gun room. == Science is always wrong to some degree, that's why it's ever improving. Religion is always right, that's why it condemns those who question its edicts == God is omnipotent... But he still requires worship, cash and tax exempt status from the government. == Jesus gives mankind free will to choose to worship him or suffer eternal punishments for not worshiping him. He makes you an offer you can't refuse. == "For science, God is not a valid category because God is by definition a reality beyond time and space and therefore does not belong to the world of our scientific experience." --Hans Kueng == Just because a rascal or a fool has an opinion, that does not make it false. Just because an expert or saint has an opinion, that does not make it true. However, probability points in that direction. glk == What the pure scientist is terribly nervous about is that people who aren't able to make the distinction between science and religion will hinder the progress of science." == "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." --Bishop Desmond Tutu == Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin." -- Thomas Henry Huxley, M.D., Essays on Controversial Questions (1889) == A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. - Emo Philips == The fact that one scientific model does, or does not, match some political or religious model has absolutely, positively, no relevance to the validity of that scientific model. == Thinly sliced cabbage. ~ Cole's Law === Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely. -- Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA == I was in a church and prayed to God for wealth. Somebody handed me a pail full of money so I took it and gave thanks for an answered prayer. glk == If you know only one idea, it is automatically true to you. glk == No gods are observed to make or do anything, except make my driveway gravel. It was obviously designed to just lay there. glk == The Catholic God made the pope infallible and the Protestant God made the Bible infallible. glk == I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster (PBUH). Prove He does not exist. == "No theologian could ever be a historian. The historian has only one concern: truth, whereas the theologian has something else at stake: his dogma." Joseph Ernest Renan (1823-1897) == Isn't it amazing how the more science helps humanity, the more the religious right tries to drag us back towards the Dark Ages? == The key to creationist thought: Words are the primary reality, like the Bible, other Holy books, and Church dogmas . Physical evidence has secondary authority, false if refuted by Holy Words, no matter what the physical appearance indicates. glk == Today the official spokesman for the Foxes agreed an investigation into what happened to the henhouse may be needed. == One of the greatest sources of evil in the world is the belief of some people that THEY inerrantly understand the mind of God. == Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it. --Benjamin Franklin == "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." --Jamie Raskin === There is no society in recorded history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable. == Fundie Motto "I dont believe in science, nothing will convince me, and everyone else is wrong" ==- A cat can handle just so much abstraction. == Should atheists sit down and shut up about evolution and science so that Christians don't feel unconfortable? No - some atheists may draw inappropriate conclusions, but no more than Christians, who aren't being told to shut up. If outspoken atheists do make it difficult for Christians to reconcile with reality, that speaks ill of Christians and religion, not of atheists. == I'm completely in favour of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. --George Carlin == Is it seven years of bad luck to walk under a black cat? glk == "If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people." --Chinese poet, 500 B.C. == Creationism is bad religion, seeking validation by doing bad science. glk == Theologians argue because they get paid to come up with meaningful sounding explanations for meaningless problems. == One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real. Klaus Kinski(German actor) == Things should be described as simply as possible, but no simpler. A. Einstein == The philosopher Bertrand Russell, with his magnificent insight, sums it up perfectly: "Men tend to have beliefs that suit their passions, cruel men believe in a cruel god, and they use their beliefs to excuse cruelty." == Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief. -- James Russell Lowell, Literary Essays, Witchcraft, Vol. II, p. 374 (1891) == There is no God. But it does not matter. Man is enough. -- Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, == "Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes." George Soros == A person can function "normally" in a million and one ways and hold the most irrational beliefs imaginable, as long as the irrational beliefs are culturally accepted delusions. ~~ Robert Todd Carroll, The Skeptic's Dictionary == If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate. --Carl Sagan == Not many adults are going to have their minds quickly changed, even by the best argument. == You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help? == I think it should be mandated that churches teach evolution, as well as lessons in every other religion known to humans. Teach the controversy, I say. == Charles Darwin was born on exactly the same day as Abraham Lincoln. One freed the slaves. The other freed our intellects. It's too bad that some have not yet chosen to accept that freedom. === I consider ALL arguments in support of my views. == My computer uses electrons made in China. glk == I read "War And Peace" in one minute. I think it is about Russia, glk == "Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own, you may be both wrong" == "Man prefers to believe what he prefers true." -- Francis Bacon == Western mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? toothpicks? == I prayed to Lord Krishna for wisdom and a long life. My prayers were answered. glk == 1 2 3 many A Kansas math lesson. Doggy kind, kitty kind, moo cow kind. A Kansas Biology lesson glk == The concept of God sacrificing part of himself to end a status of the world which HE HIMSELF created is nonsensical. == That the general education level among the US population has dropped considerably is relevent to why religious fundamentalism is on the rise...simply that it thrives in empty skulls. == Did anybody ever see a pork belly. Are they for eating or just for trading? glk == Everybody knows that that Moses brought stone tablets, written by God, down from the mountain. That makes sense, but Joseph Smith's silver tablets from the woods? That's crazy. == I am not hyper. I am just overclocked. == I am so old my social security number is XLIV. glk == Attention all personel. The sky is falling. This is no drill. glk == If God is the answer, then maybe we need to ask better questions. == Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." But you need to distinguish usefully between entertaining a conceptual model that may reflect literal facts, in order to explore it, and entertaining a myth with proper recognition of its mythological status and what that implies. == I studied the sin of the angel Theta. glk == God is an imaginary friend for adults. == Christians offer TRUTH like a whore offers LOVE. glk == The Christian system of faith attracts people who can not seperate fact from fantasy. glk == Muslims will get sex in heaven but Christians will not. Convert before it is too late. glk == Does the Australian Santa live at the South Pole? glk == What an indictment of your Christian brethren. You are saying if your fellow parishioners didn't have their religion they would become antisocial and kill, rape, and steal. == When the Christian community does not have political power, it talks about religious freedom. When they do have the power they no longer talk about religious freedom. === My Scottish Clan colors are Ultraviolet and Infrared. glk == Tell the voices in your head that they are wrong. glk == "When you cover up life with myth and ritual, you can't see anything for what it is." John Kaminski == Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid. John Wayne == I never coveted my neighbor's ass. That should count for something in my favor. glk == Christianity now knows and understands the art of spin doctoring. They have learned to create malleable rationalizations for ALL occasions. == Do deaf pentecostals sign in tongues? == "In childhood our credulity serves us well. It helps us to pack, with extraordinary rapidity, our skulls full of the wisdom of our parents and our ancestors. But if we don't grow out of it in the fullness of time, our ... nature makes us a sitting target for astrologers, mediums, gurus, evangelists, and quacks. We need to replace the automatic credulity of childhood with the constructive skepticism of adult science." Richard Dawkins == "Moses was a basket case." - Anonymous == How can I be overdrawn at the bank? I still have plenty of checks left in the book. glk == Does the Holy Ghost say "BOO"? glk == Is God irreducibly complex? glk == People have legs exactly long enough to reach the ground. What is the probability of that? == The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost their power of reasoning. -Voltaire == Since God has wings, feathers and talks, so maybe He is a parrot. I will be a pollytheist. glk == I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. == The only people who need faith are those whose intellects are insufficient to understand evidence. == The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G. B. Shaw == Education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get. William Lowe Bryan == Spies in Iraq found instruments of math instruction, requiring an immediate invasion. glk == Just remember: Thinking may be hazardous to your faith. glk == God of the Bible is a poor parent. When he had only two kids to look after, both went bad. glk == Blarney, The Irish Dinosaur! glk == I hear your church filed for intellectual bankruptcy. glk == My computer can read your mind and does not like what it sees. glk == They will never make a computer as smart as a person. It would be as big a bread box and require a muffin fan to cool it. glk == Many Christians display the Pope Effect, a feeling of infallibility. glk == Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a conqueror. Kill all and you are a God. == A casual stroll through a lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. == Do you call fifth grade your senior year? glk == "The World Trade Center destruction was caused by Pagans, Abortionists, Feminists, Gays, Lesbians, and the ACLU." - Jerry Falwell == The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral Creator. == I am in contact with my inner nerd. glk == Your delusions of self-importance are reaching unhealthy levels. Please seek competent psychological counseling. Do you also have delusions of adequacy? Have a nice day. glk == Religion is a product of a combination of intelligence plus ignorance. glk === Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.-- Friedrich Nietzsche == Science has proven itself to be very reliable because it is based on evidence. If we just think it's all politics, religion and subjective information, the debate degenerates and you can't really reach a valid conclusion. == The hurricane was an Act of God. Sue the churches. glk == Not agreeing with something is no reason to be ignorant about it. == "One man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew Jackson == The Bible tells of staffs turning into snakes. That is evolution of species. Are asp and aspen the same species? == I studied volcanos in college. I graduated Magma Cum Laude. == I wanted to start a truck garden so I planted some lug nuts. glk == Christian theology: Holy Inadequate glk == I can not find the ANY key on my computer. == Christianity is the fossilized opinions of ancient barbarians. glk ==. Teach your kids science or else their children and grandchildren will be too busy freezing in the dark to worry about any "controversy." glk == In my youth, the periodic table, of the elements was EARTH. AIR, FIRE and WATER. glk == The power of God seems to vanish when chemical reactions or natural phenomena can be demonstrated but, only comes back when we don't know something. == Religious nutjobs are not easily discouraged because merely being demonstrably wrong for centuries rarely has much effect. glk == One of the reasons I can't see becoming a fundie is that my brain can't encompass the total amount of absurdity required to be a true believer. == "The mind of the fundamentalist is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you pour on it, the more it will contract." - anonymous == People claim God is infinite. Nobody went there to check it. glk == ID theory. "Please don't ask us for a theory because we haven't got one, but we don't like evilution." == Some people have emotional needs not met by mere reality. That is the basis of religion. glk == There is no Satan. It is really your parents. glk == Creationists have been shooting themselves in the foot so often that pretty soon they won't have a leg to stand on. == Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers. == Of all the Gods once believed in by our ancestors, none exists today. There are no more temples dedicated to the god Zeus, no more temples dedicated to the god Mithra, no more temples built to honor Asclepius, the god of health and healing no more temples to honor Apollo the sun god or the thousands of other gods once believed by the masses. All have been killed off by science, old age or competition. Eternal truths do not last long these days. == If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - - -Dan Quayle == The only certainty I have is that making garbage up contributes nothing of value in the pursuit of understanding. Like the religious, you see "I don't know" as a disenfranchisement, as some sort of weakness or admission of defeat. Those of us in the community of reason see it instead as tremendously empowering. To the religious, "I don't know" is some sort of end state. For us it is the the first step. == Why introduce a vague, ill defined, and immensely confusing term like "spirituality"? By using such a word you are allowing the mentally unwell to dicate the terms of reference. == Hell hath no fury like the lawyer of a woman scorned. == I choose science over faith because knowing too much didn't ruin it. == Reasoning with a Christian is like arguing with a bumper sticker. glk == Two youmg men once tried to get me hooked on LDS. glk == How come so many philosophers use so much text to explain so little? == In Australia, the number of the beast is 999. glk == Your philosphical comments are badly handicapped by not being familiar with what you are talking about. == No matter how long you boil an egg, it will not hatch. glk == I do not make errors; reality fails to live up to my expectations. == Teach a man to fish and he will drink beer all weekend. == This sentence contains threee misteaks. glk == If I am a fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of self-approved wisdom - Lord Byron (1788-1824), English poet. The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found. - Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), Spanish philosopher. == God sounds very like the barbarians who wrote the Bible. glk == I solved Floormat's Last Theorem. a^1+b^1=c^1 for many a,b,c integers glk == I am a bottle scared veteran of World War Zero. glk == When someone makes the comment to me that evolution is only a theory, I reply that "Yes, it is a well established theory, and God is only a hypothesis." == Paul commanded women must remain silent on the WWW. glk == Millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. == Division by zero is illegal in all states except Mississippi. == If the big bang occurred, where is the crater? == Priests are doing roaring business on God concept and created Holy Books to establish their claim. Then they spread the fear complex that nobody should question the Holy Books since they are revealed! Thus, cheating is systematised for centuries. == If God made people from dirt, why is there still dirt? == "Beware of the man whose God is in the skies." Bernard Shaw == What scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch? == Your statement seems to suggest that if we don't know the answers to absolutely everything simultaneously, it all must be wrong. That's a ridiculous position. == I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious. H. L. Mencken == If imagination was adequate to define all reality, the ancient Greeks could have figured out ALL science. glk == A man with an argument is not better than a man with an experience. == My learning curve has flatlined. glk == Why is it that only highly religious people get possessed? Atheists don't suffer from demons. == We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture." ---- Ray Mummert, creationist from Dover, Pennsylvania, 2005 == Children see powerful, wise and mysterious adults create things, houses, dinner, and clothes. The lesson sticks with them when models of the universe are constructed. They propose a Creator, powerful, wise, and mysterious, who makes things. glk == I am a prime ape. glk == I am waiting for a cell phone with wide screen TV. glk == Praying is like a rocking chair -- it'll give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere. -- Gypsy Rose Lee == The human mind seems hardwired to never see anything as "chance." Rain gods were worshipped for millenia. == it is hard to make good predictions, particularly about the future. == We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. - Benjamin Franklin == I have been called a "son of a bishop" but my parents were not Catholics. glk == Noah's wife was named Joan of Ark == The thoughts of a True Believer are so simple and obvious that it is no wonder they are unable to accept evidence contrary to their position. They have tied their God to some very silly notions, and now they have to protect them, or their God will sink along with them. == Christians like to add God to science as science works so well and it gives God something to do. glk == If a pope touches an antipope, do they both disappear in a burst of gamma rays? glk == Why does a flautist not play a flaut ? why is it called the United Kingdom when it is ruled by a queen? Why does a milch cow not give milch? glk ==== Satan is a Christian---he believes all the major doctrines taught by Christianity, and even acknowledges that God is Lord and Savior, doesn't he? == Children believe all sorts of fantastic things as it is good for their imaginations. Children even have invisible friends they talk to. But it is not regarded as good for them to take their fantasies and imaginary friends into adulthood. == It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into.--Jonathan Swift, Author/ theologinian == It isn't a lie if you believe it. --G. Costanza == This is the best of possible universes because it has glk. glk == There was never a century nor a country that was short of experts who knew the Deity's mind and were willing to reveal it. Mark Twain == Fundies got their degree at a drive through college. glk == The Great Grandchild of Lady Hope reported Einstein recanted Relativity on his deathbed. glk == Nothing can ever be proven to someone who lacks even the smallest shred of integrity. == Being surprised at the fact that the universe is fine tuned for life is akin to a puddle being surprised at how well it fits its hole -- Douglas Adams == "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo Galilei == "The recipe for perpetual ignorance is simple: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge." Juju O'Clair == The scientific method is the art of truth-telling, which is the highest system of ethics to inculcate morality in society. == Faith in God is the prelude to self-deception. == Pat Robertson stated on his 700 Club Program, January 14, 1991: "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don' have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist." Pat Robertson believes that only Christian people should interpret and benefit from the Constitution. Again, on his 700 Club, December 30, 1981, he stated that "The Constitution of the United States, is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society." == Remember, theocracy is just another name for fascism, with a little prayer thrown in. == It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.-- H. L. Mencken US editor (1880 - 1956) == Gods heal many more people since modern medicine was developed. glk == I plan to attend the time traveler conference which was held last week. glk == Where's the critical thinking required when you find something you can't explain and decide that "God did it"? == The believing mind is externally impervious to evidence. The most that can be accomplished with it is to induce it to substitute one delusion for another. ~ H. L. Mencken == "Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition." Stephen Jay Gould == Do you believe that Jesus is God? No, do you believe Jupiter is God? == Dyslexics of the world untie. == I think the problem is, God is still using pi=3.0 (2 Chronicles 4:2). == Claims made without evidence in science are called speculation or a hypothesis. In religion, they are called eternal truth. glk == President for Life International Organization Of People Named Graham Kendall If that is not your name, sorry about that. (If your name is Graham Kendall, ask about our dues!). glk == The only thing the religious truely hold sacred is their delusions, everything else is hundreds of times less important than anything a self proclaimed moral relativist can think up. And in their minds, it will all be forgiven, because it was done for the cause of making everyone else conform to the rules the fundimentalists just got through breaking. == With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all, irrevocably. == Jupiter used to be a great god. He was busted down to planet, first class. glk == "Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good." (Job 34.4) == Denying children access to knowledge that would help them to cope in the modern world is tantamount to abuse. Teaching them Creation prepares them for the 17th century. glk == I have found an elegant proof that arithmetic is inconsistent. Unfortunately the universe is too small to contain my proof. == Church and state should keep their dirty handy hands off science. Scientists may have disagreements. Let them resolve it without any outside busybodies coming in and trying to define what science is and what it's not. == I think we should start with the sciences that brought us the very first weapons -- geology (rocks) and botany (sticks). == The preacher I met was an ignoramus masquerading as an ignoramus. glk == "The philosopher David Hume urged that one should always hold it more likely that one had been deceived than that the laws of nature should stand suspended." == What is the French word for "detour"? glk == Answers $1. Valid answers $2. ETERNAL TRUTH $5. glk == It bugs the hell out of me when people try to tell me what I "really" think (for instance when they tell me that really, deep down, I believe in God and I'm running away from Him). == The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. --H.L. Mencken == All superstition is much the same . .the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more common. - Francis Bacon - == Which is worse, ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares? == "Science does not know everything but it is still searching. Religionist know nothing and yet they do NOT search." C. W. Dalton, == If God wanted us to believe we were related to chimpanzees, He'd have given us DNA 95% identical to theirs. == A scientist speaking of God is using either poetry or ignorance. glk == I used to be pure as the wind driven snow, but I drifted. == Religion attacks the attribute of science that distinguishes it from superstition - verification. == Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love." Butch Hancock == Christianity is "Cults Gone Wild." glk == I am aware that I am hideously wise. glk == None of the religions or their mythical deities are required to explain anything we know and none of them shine any light on what we don't know. == "Gorilla My Dreams, I Love You" song title == Maybe as mankind progresses, and realizes the folly of ancient superstition, the Bible can assume its rightful place on the shelf next to the Aesop's Fables, the Odyssey and Grimm's Fairy Tales. == Christianity has not put a man on the moon, but it has put many men to death for curiousity. == "I claim this planet in the name of The Empire of Mars." glk == Stand back! I have a little knowledge and I'm not afraid to use it! I have nothing to lose. == I hate it when people are so obsessed with reality. == The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking == I used to sniff glue but luckily I got no drain bamage. glk == The fundies want to declare me brain dead and take away my Mountain Dew and Oreos. glk == If you have to assume the very thing your trying to prove in order to prove it- then you've gotten nowhere in terms of rationally proving anything. == Faith is merely the dismissal of the requirement of reasonable premises to justify a conclusion. == In the beginning was the big bang, and it was very good. glk == Congratulations! you are the proud descendant of 3.5 billion years of survivors! == It is also interesting to note that people are suggesting that atheism is caused by gods messing with people's heads to prevent them from believing. Certainly a possibility, of course, but not an action any of the more popular gods would seemingly want to take. == There are none more ignorant and useless, then they that seek answers on their knees, with their eye's closed. == So since snakes are deaf, how could the snake HEAR Eve? Lipreading? == People that can't see facts, no matter how plainly presented, cannot be trusted to act in the best interest of those they represent == The American physicist Steven Weinberg has famously remarked, The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. == The powers-that-be (political, economic, religious, whatever) generally do not like "critical thinking". They prefer people under them to shut up and just do what they're told. As I have often said, the most dangerous question that any person can ask is "Why?" == A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets. -Arthur C Clarke, science fiction writer (1917- == Phrenology(reading head shape) is only useful if its claims are rigorously verified by the science of astrology. == "I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief." (Gerry Spence) == Freud was correct in leveling his criticism against religion. Fundamentalist religion is a very unhealthy and unbalanced form of religious expression. Fundamentalist religious belief should, in fact, be classified as a form of mental illness. == "Knowledge rests on knowledge; what is new is meaningful because it departs slightly from what was known before." -- Robert Oppenheimer == So long as we are bound by loyalties to a particular religion's dogmatic beliefs, we are not free in many sectors of human thought and experience to explore afield and more deeply. == "What A Fiend We Have In Jesus" song title glk == "Those who cavalierly reject Evolution, as not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported by no facts at all." == Most people I meet feel sorry for me as I have a total inability to believe religious nonsense. glk == "God" is just Santa Claus for adults. == Homo sapiens sapiens sapiens sapiens sapiens == glk. == The preacher who hit me in the nose apparently had taken a vow of violence. glk == I lost my job in the orange juice factory. They said I couldn't concentrate. == The Vatican is opening a casino. it will be called Gregorian Chance. glk == Some people are afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths. == Blind faith will not accept critical thinking and critical thinking will not accept blind faith. == Christian version of proof. "The thing that makes my Scriptural assertions correct is that I try to apply faith and accept the guidance of Jesus' Holy Spirit with respect to my understanding of Scriptural truths. It's not _my_ proof but the Holy Spirit's proof. Again, proof of God and Jesus doesn't come from any Christian or the Bible anyway. You can only get the insight you're looking for from the Holy Spirit." Thus, the voices in your head are infallible. == My claim is that ALL theists claim that THEIR method of approaching their beliefs is the correct one. Why should we believe your claims and reject all of theirs? Claiming that your beliefs are proof that your beliefs are correct is assuming your conclusion. You claim that your god objectively exists. (The alternative is that it subjectively [only in your mind] exists .) Things that objectively exist leave objective evidence of their existence. So either there IS evidence of your god, or your god doesn't exist anywhere but in your mind. That's what logic says. == If my religion says grass is pink, does the fact that you think grass is green make you an atheist? == Religion is the ultimate opiate, like a super-heroin. It lets you feel good about doing anything you feel inclined to do, such as hating others for their beliefs and dismissing the reality that surrounds you. == If we assume that man actually does resemble God, then we are forced into the impossible theory that God is a coward, an idiot and a bounder. H.L. Mencken == Missing information leads to misplaced values that leads to bad decisions. Bad decisions lead to personal and community suffering. == Science once said Newton gravity was a fact. Now it says Einstein gravity is a fact. You can not trust science as it changes so regularly. glk == The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. -- Bertrand Russell" == You can't buy much with a three-dollar bill these days. == Don't try logic to sell God. That only works on stupid people. == Ignore him. He is a barbarian and thinks the customs of his tribe are laws of nature. == I was fired from my job as a prooofreader for some unknown reason. glk == Ad homenim arguments are not effective. They are employed by those impotent and unable to provide rational refutation. == How can you work harder at doing nothing? == The first priest was the first rogue who met the first fool. --Voltaire == Science doesn't address morality at all. Neither does math. Does that make 2 + 3 = 5 immoral? == A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. -- Bertrand Russell. == The fundies aren't interested in understanding the world. Only in controlling it. == Faith is like a mirage... its built up like its something... but the closer you examine it the more you realise its all just an illusion. == Christian "I will pray for you.". Atheist "Thanks, I will think for you." == Native: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" Priest: "No, not if you did not know." Native: "Then why did you tell me?" == For those who need the amniotic warmth of certainty, dogma is the proper womb." --Ray Ginger, Six Days or Forever, 1958 (the story of the Scopes trial) == I will give Mountain Dew and Oreos to those who will convert to atheism. == How are we created in the image of an invisible God? == The demonic legion was cast into a herd of swine creating deviled ham. == If you do not agree with me, your psychosis is starting up again. == You only imagine you have a headache. In reality, it is just the wave functions behaving badly. == We have a whole nation of people with their hands over their ears singing hymns to drown out the uncomfortable truth. == It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow' disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. -- Richard Dawkins == The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.-Philip K. Dick == "The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief." - Sigmund Freud == My spill checker fines owl typical graphical arrows. glk == Mysticism is a manufactured reality for the temporarily unknowable. Timothy Rambo == The Universe is not Evidence for a God, it is Evidence for the Universe. Still no God required. == Religion is sort of like wearing lifts in your shoes. If it makes you feel better about yourself, fine. I don't have a problem with that. Just don't ask me to wear your shoes. ~ George Carlin ~ == I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. Richard Dawkins == Science is LOST on these people. They are way too into their own fears to actually concern themselves with mere FACTS! And they make a steady parade of suckers for the professional frauds who use them to gain money and political power. == Recently, it was discovered that in Alaska, where everything shrinks with the cold, pi is equal to three. It's called 'Eskimo pi'. == Cold makes things shrink. That is why days are shorter in winter. glk == So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. -- Bertrand Russell == I meet many Kamikaze Christians, who committed intellectual suicide for their religion. glk == Evolution is the most incomplete explanation for origins, except for all the other ones. == "My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns. We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand." James Watt, Interior Secretary under Ronald Reagan) == The real question is not, "What is truth?" The real question is, "Who gets to decide?" == I propose 7 is a random number. Prove it is not. glk == I have to give you credit for packing so much misinformation into such a small space. Maybe your degree was in topology. == I have been trying to become less critical of others. If you were not so stupid, you would realize that. == A good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem. == All the rocks in my driveway were all obviously designed by the Designer to appear undesigned. glk == The most accurate way to spell "one nation under God" is T*H*E*O*C*R*A*C*Y. == The snake in Eden could walk and talk, so why not sing and dance? == Every word in the Bible is true. It's the sentences that are the problem. == If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented? == "Vegetarian" is an American Indian Expression...meaning... extremely poor hunter. == "Reason is not one tool of thought among many, it is the entire toolbox. To advocate that reason be discarded in some circumstances is to advocate that thinking be discarded, which leaves one in the position of attempting to do a job after throwing away the required instrument." (George H. Smith, from "Atheism: The Case Against God,") == "I am arguing that faith as such, faith as an alleged method of aquiring knowledge, is totally invalid and as a consequence, all propositions of faith, because they lack rational demonstration, must conflict with reason." (George H. Smith, from "Atheism: The Case Against God") == "I call him free who is led solely by reason." (Spinoza) == "The Age of Reason" was responsible for making more people into infidels than any other book except the Bible." (Gordon Stein) == "The division between faith and reason is a half-measure, till it is frankly admitted that faith has to do with fiction, and reason with fact." (Sir Leslie Stephen, "Essays on Freethinking and Plainspeaking" (1905)) == "What I conclude is that religion has nothing to do with experience or reason but with deep and irrational needs." (Richard Taylor, "Will Secularism Survive?", Free Inquiry) == "You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason." (Voltaire) == "The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason." (Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1758) == I have come to the conclusion that they are generally not dishonest because they are Creationists, they are Creationists because they are dishonest. Adults with greater integrity and respect for the truth inevitably -and almost invariably- come to conclusions other than Creationism. == There is no shortcut to intellectual honesty. Atheism requires sacrifice -- in that you sacrifice the illusion of immortality and the sense of transcendent purpose. But, religion requires the sacrifice of critical thinking, self determination, your time, your money, and logic. I'll take the former. == Using science quotes without science knowledge is like using a microscope as a hammer. glk == Science has nothing to say about religion, either pro or con, except when religion is so utterly heretical that it becomes a pretext for the propagation of willful ignorance. == Of all of the useful information the omniscient, omnipotent deity who created the universe could have passed along to us, he neglected it so that he could instead devote the last 15 chapters of Exodus to detailed instructions on how to make a tent. (Farrell Till) == My boss says that if you don't like working on Saturday . . . don't bother coming in on Sunday. == Christian claim "I believe in science. I just do not believe in the corrupt unproved, materialistic unspiritual, atheist, mere fallen human claim the earth goes around the sun." glk == Religion actually makes more problems because faith is a way to make a virtue of things that make absolutely no sense. == Love is nothing to a tennis player. == "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981 == I am so honest, I never tell the same lie twice == These effects are to be explained by reason; but because you are unable to assign any, you have recourse to a Deity as your last refuge. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, 3.10.25 == The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching. - Assyrian Stone Tablet, c.2800 BC == Ideology is easier, because you don't have to know anything or search for anything. You always know the answer to everything. It's not penetrable to facts. == Consistency we should expect of philosophies, but perhaps not of philosophers. - Neal C. Gillespie - == Science is not the Bible. It does not demand to be absolute truth... just to strive for good explanations. == Newton was in error on a few details of physics. According to your "logic," gravity also must be "quite suspect" Are you willing to jump off a skyscraper to test it? == Next crusade: Intelligent Demonic Possession vs. The Germ Theory == The early bird gets the worm. The early worm, on the other hand, just gets eaten. == "We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." --George Orwell, 1946, "Under Your Nose" == Militant Agnostic Motto: I don't know and you don't either! == There are only two "levels" in evolution: extinct, and not extinct yet. == But you know what? You ban Science out of your classrooms and out of your life if you want to . . . but you're gonna know then what life in the Dark Ages is all about. == Saying "Amen" at the end of a prayer is like hitting the ENTER key. It tells God that the command is completed and He should then get busy to carry it out. glk == I think I see the root of your problem: You're under the mistaken impression that your beliefs can modify reality. == Thesaurus, a Mesozoic reptile with a large vocabulary. == To say that secular means irreligious implies that all the arts and sciences are irreligious, and is very like saying that all professions except that of the law are illegal.- John Stuart Mill - == A mystic is someone who wants to understand the universe, but is too lazy to study physics. == Sincerity is no substitute for fact. == We are, in fact, the moral backbone of the nation: Brights take their civic duties seriously precisely because they don't trust God to save humanity from its follies. -- Daniel C. Dennett == Genesis Seven Blunders of the Ancient World. glk == Science and theology don't mix. Probably true. If I want to create a valuable new product, I will need science. If I want a bunch of slaves, theology is most likely the better tool. == You cannot learn unless you try to learn. Many so-called Christians are intentionally remaining ignorant because they don't want their religious prejudices to be upset. They will _never_ learn to run because they refuse to walk. I have very often seen people who have been kept sheltered, to include being kept from knowing or discussing certain things, make spectacularly bad decisions when the opportunity presents itself. Tom McDonald == A great many people in the world do not think as I do about these things. But I care nothing for that. The knowledge that I am right is sufficient for me.-- Mark Twain (Letter to Virginia City, 1864) == Standard prayer. Lord, please break the laws of the universe for my convenience. glk == "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize." Steven Wright == Apparently original sin comes with a time-delay fuse: you're born with it, but it doesn't actually kick in until you reach puberty. == I claim 13 is a prime number, at least in the United States. glk == Creationists do not have to produce any external evidence for their claims as the Holy Spirit is their source, God Himself. glk == You can't teach an old god new tricks. glk == Ignorance on your part about natural processes does not imply intervention on God's part. == The Old Testament boasts of atrocities committed in the past. The Qur'an instructs believers to commit atrocities in the present. The New Testament gloats over atrocities to be committed in the future. == There are many missing links in evolution at present. In 100 AD, all links were missing. glk == "The problem with the "God" hypothesis is not that it cannot explain anything -- the problem is that it can explain everything."--J. Smith-Slattery" == "The simple believeth every word." - Proverbs 14:15 == There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the dark ages. - Ruth Hurmence Green == Nothing can be proved beyond an unreasonable doubt. == I once uttered a Buddhist prayer. I prayed: May my house be safe from tigers. So far -- so good. == Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today and tomorrow... dead. == Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own reason! - that is the motto of enlightenment. Kant -- What Is Enlightenment? 1784 == There is nothing worse than infinite punishment for a finite transgression. I got to pity that poor bastard that was found picking up sticks on the wrong day, first he gets stoned to death, then he gets to spend eternity in hell. Tortured forever for picking up firewood, that's gotta suck. == The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart. --Robert Green Ingersoll == Geocentrists don't appreciate the gravity of the situation. == I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her. - Arthur C. Clarke - == Fundie science "The first land animals couldn't have survived on land because, being so ill-adapted, they would have been eaten by predators." == The hydrodynamic sorting argument in the Flood is an admission by creationists that order can come from disorder without intelligent design. == "In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell == The Ohio school board vice president called scientists who raised serious questions about Ohio's "Critical Analysis of Evolution" lesson plan "a bunch of paranoid, egotistical scientists afraid of people finding out [they] don't know anything." == There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is contempt prior to investigation. == Two proofs the Bible is true, from Billy Graham. The Bible is true because the alphabet is true. The Bible is true because the multiplication tables are true. glk == Why be born again, when you can just grow up? Jason A Cortina == I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.-- Clarence Darrow == Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.-- H.L. Mencken == "It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to arm them with the terrors of death."-- Thomas Jefferson, 1779 == Is the universe fine-tuned for us, or are we fine-tuned for the universe? == I am so skeptical, I can hardly believe it.- Chip Denman == I'm not reclusive, my cave is always open. == I have problems seperating religious people from mental people. They both tell me unlikely stories with great certainty and no evidence. Both are easily angered when opposed. glk == The set of claims without evidence is infinite. == The idea of respect for people of other religions has no basis in the Scriptures. == There is no science, without a statement of statistics, AND any statement without statistics, is a conjecture of faith by the professor of such statement, and the believer. == We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs.--Carl Sagan == The real intent of the Religious Right is to create a science-free zone where creationists can set up camp and rule the nation. glk == "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." -Ambrose Bierce == The universe seems to be a "No God Zone". glk == "All models are wrong but some are useful." -- George E. P. Box == I believe in the Misanthropic Principle: the universe was designed solely for the purpose of tormenting humans. == Time is never wasted on the exposure of ignorance and error. glk == Churches only enlighten us when they are in flames. - Argentinian Graffiti) == When I die, I'm donating my body to science fiction. -Steven Wright == It is the mark of the marvelous toleration of the Athenians ... that it wasn't till Socrates turned seventy that they broke down and forced him to drink poison. - Isaac Asimov == Why Universe is so perfect? Perfect? It's held together by strings. == JW's and Mormons have no success converting each other--- they can never find the other at home... == To "explain" reality by stating that an unknowable being created it by unknowable means, for unknowable purposes is no explanation at all ---it is magic. In fact, faith only lives by denigrating reason in order to create a sphere of influence for itself. Historically, faith has always claimed that reason is flawed and inadequate, and that faith alone can provide full answers to human questions and desires. Faith is opposed to reason. If faith were reasonable, the term would not be needed. It claims to be an alternative means to knowledge, but it cannot demonstrate that claim in any manner. Every scientific advance can be directly attributed to what the Bible calls worldly, foolish, unspiritual,fallen, materialistic earthly ways of thinking. == Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.--Carl Sagan == I do not see how all the animals fit into that Ark which the Hebrews carried around. glk == If the Indians had not invented Sanskrit, we would all be pointing and grunting at each other. glk == Did Jesus take off His halo at night? glk == Science does not 'set out' to disprove religion - it is just collateral damage along the way to validity, just like destroying any other superstition. == Science is religion liberated and writ large. == Is beating your slave a sin? Is smashing a baby against a rock a sin? glk == Pascal chose the wrong god and is burning in hell now. He lost the wager. glk == Only by attempting the absurd can we achieve the impossible. == Can't we discuss this like adults, Stinkyface? == Centuries of repeated intellectual failure does not impress Christians of each age, who feel in their heart they understand the matter. glk == DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of GLK Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day. == If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, how much more dangerous is complete ignorance? == All rights reserved 4004 BCE - 20000 CE glk == Cult: A religion that has not yet received its tax exemption. == "In the beginning, there was nothing. And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a lot better. --Woody Allen == When astronomers are measuring distances in space, do they add an extra light-day for every four light-years? == For the holidays, I am going to set up statues of middle age men, a Manager Scene. glk == Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are. == "Faith is a cop-out. It is intellectual bankruptcy. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." Dan Barker == Sticks and stones may break my bones, but so would an eighty-pound carrot. == How do you distuinguish between a universe that is fine-tuned to produce cats and happened to produce humans as a nasty waste product and your putative universe fine-tuned for humans? Ask your cat his opinion as to the goal of this universe. == God must have loved hydrogen as there is so much of it. glk == "I try to be cynical, but it's hard to keep up." --Lily Tomlin == The Good Samaritan stood before Jesus at Judgement Day. Jesus asked one question of him. "Did you get baptized and accept me as your Lord and Savior?" GS replied, "I obeyed the laws of my Hebrew religion, given by God, all my life and helped people as best I could." Jesus replied. "Go to hell to be burned forever. Away with you. Next!" glk == I got through first grade with help of Cliff Notes. glk == Why do they call it 'tourist season' if you cant hunt them? == I am old and wise, not odd and wide. glk == The organization "Veterans of Future Wars" is accepting new members. glk == My parents raised me to be honest and seek knowledge. That is why I am not a Christian. glk == "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." C S Schiller) == "There is no other door to knowledge than the door Nature opens. And there is no truth but the truth we discover in Nature". Luther Burbank (1849-1926) American horticulturist == Maybe I just got hit in the head and this is my life flashing before me. glk == I had a Gutenberg Bible but I threw it away. Some fellow named Luther had scribbled all over it. glk == Religion is a way of taking individual illusions and making a mass movement out of them by emphasizing their commonalities and glossing over their individuality. == It's sad to see such a fine instrument as a human brain under the thrall of religious illusions. It's like seeing an exquisitely machined Vernier Calipers being used to hammer nails. == It's never too late to have a good childhood! The older you are, the better the toys! == Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), The Bacchae, circa 407 B.C. == Common is the man who can be fashioned into a reflection of the era in which he lives. Rare is the man who can take the era in which he lives, and fashion it into a reflection of himself. == I studied all night to pass my Turing test...test...test... Eliza administered it. glk == The Ultimate Truth is that there is no Ultimate Truth. == Atheists who are cruel to other people are not TRUE atheists. glk == Ignorance Is The Cosmic Sin, The One Never Forgiven ! == I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. --Mohandas Gandhi == I need no gods. I have enough trouble with the invisible elephant. glk == I never try to disprove any gods. Billions of them could exist. glk == That which does not destroy me has made its last mistake. == Noah's Ark was made out of cubits. glk == Got mole problems? Call Avogadro at 6.02*10^23 == If science evidence is fallible, how can faith claims not be even more fallible? == When Columbus landed, the Indians said "There goes the neighborhood." glk == Not knowing is much more interesting than believing an answer which might be wrong. --Richard Feynman == To teach is to learn. Japanese Proverb == Gods are like people, only more invisible. glk == Science is what happens when preconception meets verification. == "How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares "God wills it thus." Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet." -- Napoleon Bonaparte == The culture of masters and serfs in the Middle Ages did not work very well and they could not fix it, no matter how hard they tried. That is why they called it the Futile System. glk == This space intentially left blank. glk == "If you make yourself a sheep, the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin == Fortunately, Latin hasn't changed very much in the last 45 years. == Aliens stole the Statue of Liberty and left a fake exact copy. glk == A 'saviour' is a creation of the terrified mind. == "Gods always behave like the people who created them" Zora Neale Hurston == "If you must believe in anything, believe in yourselves, in your senses, in your minds. To accept a religious creed is to accept another's mind in place of your own and generally contrary to your own. When religious belief comes in, brains go out" Marilla M. Ricker == "As people become more intelligent they care less for preachers and more for teachers" Robert Ingersoll == Whoever dies with the most toys wins! == If you're being chased by a bear remember: you don't have to outrun the bear; you only have to outrun your hiking buddy == A definition of "fitness" in biology: Has more grandchildren (and greatgrandchildren and...) than others do. == "What the hell did you do to the cat? It looks half dead!" -Mrs. Shroedinger == Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever does. - Margaret Mead (1901-1978) Anthropologist == "We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death." --John Calvin == I applied the Bible Code method to the Bible and only got the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" glk == "Theologian: An uncommon individual who, though possessing finite abilities, has been called by God himself who, though possessing infinite abilities, requires the assistance of the former in explaining Himself to the rest of us." [Translation: if God existed, theologians would be out of work.]" -- "Rev." Donald Morgan == If complexity proves an intelligent designer, shouldn't imperfection prove the intelligent designer is imperfect--which brings into question the designer's intelligence in the first place. == There are only 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary, and those who do not. == "I am treated as evil by those who feel persecuted because they are not allowed to force me to believe as they do." -- Sources unknown ==: "Although it is said that faith can move mountains, experience shows that dynamite works better." == After global warming, Talahassee, Florida will become Talahassea. Seattle, Washington will retain it original name. After global warming, Canada will change its maple leaf flag to a palm tree. glk == If I state a claim which is not a fact, it is a lie. If the Bible does the same, it is great spiritual TRUTH. glk == Drug: A substance that, when injected into a rat, produces a scientific paper. == Words are more powerful than all of the laws of nature, according to preachers. A single prayer can overcome all four natural forces, at least within the solar system. glk == Evolution says a great deal but, like any other scientific process, it does not cover the subject of God - it describes what is observed. If God is not observed then it cannot say anything about it. == Judge Roy Moore should have gotten a real BIG piece of granite and posted all 613 commandments. glk == "Now creation science ... is really pretty bogus. ... I think there's a lot of hocus pocus in that stuff." Pat Robertson, 700 Club) == http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/sex/long.htm == You can remove a curse with a hex wrench. glk == Nobel Laureate Dr. Steven Weinberg said. "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." == Religious leaders are a dime a dozen, so whatever they try to pass as truth is worth less then one cent. == "If the sum of credible evidence we have is that the universe lacks anything like a god, then we shouldn't be shy about concluding that there isn't one." --Neal M. Stevens == Scientists have far better things to do than deal with every nutty idea. == Sanity and rationality can be cured. Millions of people have succeeded. glk == The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination -- but the combination is locked up in the safe. -- Peter DeVries == "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. -- Richard Dawkins == "Faith is powerful enough to immunize people against all appeals to pity, to forgiveness, to decent human feelings. It even immunizes them against fear, if they honestly believe that a martyr's death will send them straight to heaven." -- Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene == There are more thinkable universes than real universes. Choose wisely. glk == I said it, I believe it, and that settles it. If you want more proof, I will say it again. glk == Fundie reply to opposing science facts "I just don't believe we have all the information yet and my faith and belief in the God who Created the Universe is much stronger than man's theories and, of course, superceeds them." == I wish I had a knob on my TV to turn up the intelligence. There's one called brightness, but it doesn't seem to work that way. == This file is a natural product. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty, and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects. == The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike. (Delos McKown) == The deluded are always filled with absolutes == Science, as a practice, process, or institution, has no metaphysics other than the assumption that if you can measure it, you can study it . . . - John Wilkins - == "I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism" Randall Terry -- Operation Rescue "Intolerance is a beautiful thing...There are people that are politically correct that want to say the cardinal sin of the hour is intolerance and I think that is a bunch of junk." [Randall Terry, Operation Rescue] "I honesty believe that in my lifetime we will see a country once again governed by Christians . . . and Christian values. What Christians have got to do is take back this country, one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one state at a time." [Ralph Reed, Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, May 1, 1990, Religious News Service] == If religion is true, it does not need science to support it. If it is false, science can not save it. glk == If God truly values free will, then he would not punish those who choose other than He desires. == If God wanted us to believe we were related to chimpanzees, he'd have given us DNA 98% identical to theirs. == Creatures inveterately wrong in their inductions have a pathetic, if praiseworthy, tendency to die before reproducing their kind. - Willard van Ormand Quine - == Knowledge is true opinion. -- Plato == Dogma is a dangerous thing. Religion seems to inspire it. == You may not like this universe but then, who said reality had to be nice. == "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God - The wise man says it aloud." == Christian: Christian theology is logical. glk: Explain how it is logical. Christian: If you were not so sinful, you would see it is obvious that Christian theology is logical. I will pray that you get saved and receive the Holy Spirit. Christian theology is very logical. Believe it or I will have to hurt you. glk == Religion is vampiric: it tends to spread quickly, but dies out when exposed to the light of reason; but has a nasty tendency to return from the dead! == When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know", the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives. --Robert A. Heinlein == Supernatural causes can produce any conceivable effect from any conceivable set of initial conditions. == I realize that this God is described differently in different places, but the God of Israel seems to have changed from one storyteller to the next. == 66666666666666666666... - the number of the obsessive compulsive beast == "Creation science" isn't science. It's not really theology. It's barely even an "-ism". --Daniel Harpe == Which are you going to believe, God's own infallible Bible, or the lying universe? glk == The peril of negative arguments is that they may rest on our lack of knowledge, rather than on positive results. - Michael J. Behe - == Christian claim If something is nice, like a pretty sunset, God did it. If something is bad, like a tornado, God merely allowed it or Satan did it. glk == "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."--Saul Bellow == The universe started 13.7 billion years ago. It was a Monday. That explains a lot. glk == Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte == Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. --Isaac Asimov == The Mormons claim that their feelings (burning in the bosom) prove that the Book of Mormon is true Why should I believe any of your feelings have more authority? glk == You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, half of everyone else is even dumber than that. == Deathbed recantation is in the great christian tradition. Tertullian tells us that the early heretic, Marcion, on his deathbed recanted the views he had held for most of his life. Tertullian later drifted into heresy himself, but of course he recanted on his deathbed. == Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the universe, but they should be. glk == "My psychologist tells me I'm paranoid... but what does he know? He's one of THEM. == I will sell you end of the world insurance. Just send me $100 and I will provide you with a $1 million dollar policy payable the day after the end of the world. == In those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles ceased; but in those parts that are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue. -Letters of Ethan Allen to Thomas Jefferson == Clones are People Two == I will try to be nicer if you will try to be smarter. glk == It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle == Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Sheep drowned in morning, global warming. == Children are not considered smart enough to vote, but they are assumed to be smart enough to choose the One True Religion. glk == Reply to a poorly stated claim "You know, my command of English suddenly seems to have failed me. I recognize the words individually, but I've never seen them assembled quite this way." == Religion is good for creating certainty, a cheap commodity. == A man does not attain the status of Galileo merely because he is persecuted; he must also be right. --Stephen Jay Gould == Teaching children creation prepares them for the 17th century. glk == Very large numbers of people seem to WANT some authority that will tell them what to do and believe. There are always spiritual leaders willing to satisfy this need. glk == Scientists do not know to the millimeter how far away the moon is. Thus they do not know how far away it is. Thus it might be farther away than the sun. glk == Sometimes, in the interest of dispelling one's ignorance, one has to sacrifice comfort for knowledge. == "Any sufficiently advanced parody is indistinguishable from a genuine kook." -- Alan Morgan (talk.origins) == "They're trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous." --Frank Herbert, "Dune Messiah" == The translaters of the Hebrew Old Testament made many mistakes. It REALLY said the universe is 13.7 billion years old starting with the big bang, evolution and all. The translaters came up some wild story about a man named Adam, a rib and a world flood. glk == "Fundamentalism is a problem, NOT an answer." == "The universe is full of amazing things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper" == Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. - Isaac Asimov == Reality is a crutch for those who can't handle religion. == If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.--Douglas Adams == Does entropy increase in a closed mind? glk == The most serious doubt that has been thrown on the authenticity of the biblical miracles is the fact that most on the witnesses in regard to them were fishermen. Arthur Binstead == If I wanted to hear your opinions, I would give them to you. glk == Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers. --Bruce Calvert === Christianity might have died out except for Paul. He had to destroy Christianity to save it. glk == I own a vast collection of seashells. I keep them on beaches scattered around the world. == The bible is a mostly fictional, confusing piecemeal work written by men and full of contradiction. That's really why it's so popular among the public. glk == A truly unselfish act would be a Christian volunteering to have his soul take your soul's place in hell, so yours could go to Heaven. Don't hold your breath. == It was easy to count cards in Blackjack. I always got 52. glk == 9 of the 10 voices in my head voted that I am sane. glk == There are many fundamentalist and fringe churches or cults such as The Door that discourage any form of higher education. I guess they know that education tends to make people ask questions. == If the universe is so complex that it must have a creator, then surely that creator, who would have to be even more complex than the universe, also needs a creator by the same logic. It is creators all the way up. That, of course, leads to the problem about what created a creator complex enough to create a complex universe. And if the "creator" itself didn't need a creator, why should the universe? == The flat earth is hard to explain to the spiritually blind. glk == Christians often say that there's no such thing as chance, because God has a plan for the world... but, if that's true, then why does He keep changing his plan to accomodate people's prayers? == "AIDS is God's way of weeding his garden" - Pat Robertson == If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought - not free thought only for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought we hate. --Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. == Since this is a Christian nation, the protection of the Constitution does not apply to atheists, and science teachers. glk == I prayed and the voice in my head said ignore previous voices. glk == If a nation expects to be both ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be. - Thomas Jefferson - == Stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting. - Robert Heinlein - == The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. - Groucho Marx - == I have heard preachers give sermons supporting slavery, conquest, genocide and baby slaughter in the Old Testament. I never heard a sermon opposing them. That tells me something. glk == When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there staring at carpeting? == Doing away with Genesis 1-12 removes original sin, thus the need for a Savior. == The voices in my head disagree with the voices in your head. glk == If all records of God and Christianity were totally lost, they would stay lost. If all records of science were lost, they all could ALL be reconstructed by observations of nature. That is the difference between science and Christian theology. glk == Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world. - R. D. Lang == Promising salvation to atheists is like promising scuba gear to a fish. -- Sverker Johansson == Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain. - Anonymous == If I waked up to see Jerry Falwell staring at me, I run into the closet where the monster lives. glk == Philosophy is little more than an elegant way of repeating the mistakes of brilliant thinkers of the past. == Sun God! Sun God! Ra! Ra! Ra! glk == Corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. == Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.-- G.B. Shaw == After twelve years of therapy, my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, "No hablo ingles".-- Ronnie Shakes == "The map is not the territory." Alfred Korzybski == Theologians claim people use only 10% of their soul. glk == We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. -- Tom Robbins == Atheism: the position that each religion is right about all the others. == There is no greater hatred in the world than the hatred of ignorance for knowledge. - Galileo Galilei == Science thrives on the unknown. Religion denies it. It is an oversimplification, but seems to characterize the age-old dispute between the two methods of understanding the world. == The great tragedy of science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact." Thomas H. Huxley == Religion has been used to explain our collective fears, that's why science is such an enemy to them. Smaller and smaller pockets of fear and irrationality will hold on till the bitter end. == Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. (Richard Dawkins) == If it were discovered that religion made soldiers less willing to kill people and break things, all the chaplains and chapels would disappear overnight. The Nazi army had Christian chaplains. glk == Gods like me have no problem with megalomania. glk == Forever is a long time -- especially the last part. --Woody Allen == "The way of the world is, to praise dead saints, and persecute living ones." Nathaniel Howe == Liberation from superstition is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for science. - Carl Sagan - == Immediate assurance is an excellent sign of probable lack of insight into the topic. Josiah Royce == Fundie motto We have seen the past and it works. == 79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42.35% are made up later on. == Virgin Mary was made pregnant by the Horny Spirit. glk Christians claim refraining from premarital prevents pregnancy. It did not work for Mary. == There are things that science wasn't meant to explain and doesn't try to, such as what is morally right or wrong. There are things that science can't yet explain but is working on, like the origin of life. And there may be things that science would like to explain but never can. It is a simple (but distressingly common) fallacy to presume that if something is beyond science, it is not beyond religion, too. Richard Dawkins == "If we really know Truth, we do not fear hearing falsehoods or half-truths; if we are not sure of the truth - we shudder and try to shout down every utterance." - A. J. Mims == There has been only one Christian. They caught him and crucified him -- early. -- Mark Twain -- == "Hamlet" was one of Shakespere's less successful comedies. == The ultimate measure of