Creationist arguments are becoming more and more stupid with every pass. Just when you thought you’ve heard it all, they come up with yet another massively moronic attempt to condemn evolutionary theory using utterly junk science. This is a perfect example, with so much wrong in its understanding of the theories of the origins of life that it would take months to explain it all to them.
A special thanks to irReligion.org for finding this one.
Christians continue to crack me up. I haven’t been able to verify if this was a real event, but the pictures and videos sure seem to point to it.
Apparently a group of concerned Christians went down to the wall street bull, in order to pray to God to turn around our economic bear market.
Yes, you read that right. They prayed over a bronze bull idol. Something about Exodus comes to mind…
On another board I got into an argument with a group of Christians who claim that there is no problem with mixing science and religion. The Big Bang could have happened by the instigation of God and science should not have issue with this. Furthermore, it is counterproductive to invoke argument between science and religion, as it may have the effect of turning away the more dogmatically religious, further widening the gap between religion and science.
After reading the various arguments to this extent, I felt myself slipping into the Twilight Zone, unable to understand how it was that a naturalistic system (science) could even begin to add on a supernatural system (God), without corrupting the very nature of science itself. No political persuasion should change this dynamic, as far as I’m concerned.
For this, I was labeled a confrontational “New Atheist”, as if it was somehow worse than being an “Old Atheist”.
Frankly, I wasn’t familiar with the term, I had to look it up. I still haven’t figured out who coined the phrase, but it is a label for those like Richard Dawkins, who feel that not only should science be separated from religion completely, but science should challenge religion for the superstitious nonsense that it is. At first being labeled a “New Atheist” left me feeling confused over the implications, but now that I understand the meaning behind it: I accept the label and thank all you deluded Christians for it! I’m quite happy to be thrown into this new class.
You cannot mix science and religion. The reason is a very simple one (one that those I was in argument with refused to accept as even a possibility) that once you apply any supernatural entity, no matter how petty or large, into a naturalistic system – you have corrupted the system. Science is ruled by evidence and there is no evidence for gods, pixies, unicorns, flying spaghetti monsters, or honest politicians. Once you open the door to that without evidence, you have thrown out science and taken on philosophy. The scientific method starts with observation of the empirical, not mental musings of the ethereal.
Until it can be shown that the interjection of the supernatural into a naturalist system can occur, without corrupting the naturalistic system, there simply is no room for it. Inserting supernatural answers into a naturalistic system is far more than just being counterproductive – it destroys the system.
I have had many tell me that my “love” of science is my largest downfall – that it leaves me overly skeptical and ignorant of the good that religion has brought to the world. I counter with this simple test: compare what science has done for humanity in the last 200 years, with the entire history of religion on this planet. Which has produced more, created more, improved more, furthered knowledge? Which has ultimately done more for mankind?
Pray all you want, but science landed us on the moon.
I’ve come to the conclusion that following the Mormon faith makes you into an idiot, even if you didn’t start out that way.
Case in point, the drivers in the state of Utah. This morning, while motorcycling to work, I once again nearly died due to the amazing ignorance of the typical Utah driver. I call them Utards, for short. It started off typically enough, with two cars on the south bound two lanes of a divided highway, driving side by side. Neither would speed up or slow down. They were a moving wall. Eventually the one to the left decided that he wanted to merge to the right and signaled (a rarity) but when he tried to speed up to make some space, the car on the right sped up as well, to keep in parallel with the other.
This stalemate lasted for about twenty or thirty seconds, until the driver wanting to merge finally decided that he needed to speed up more than he had been and finally got ahead and merged to the right, in front of his previous dancing partner. They remained in this position for several seconds, with no sign of change, so since we were still about ten miles per hour under the limit and the car which had been on my left had fallen well behind, I decided to change left and pass them.
About the time I was half way past the rear car, with a conveniently placed metal guard to my left, he decides to merge into me without signaling his intention, or obviously checking his blind spot. He didn’t even check his mirror, to be honest. I clamped down hot on the brakes and for once managed to hit the horn at the same time (often I don’t have time to do this.) He suddenly spots me, over-compensates and nearly goes off the other side of the road into the ditch.
With my heart in my throat, I make my way past both of these dimwits and take a left turn off onto a freeway entrance ramp. This ramp leads up to it’s own lane on the freeway, which ends after about a quarter mile – to allow for smooth merging during rush hour. As I’m approaching the last eighth of a mile of this lane, moving faster than the freeway traffic to my left, another moron decides to merge to the right – right into me. No checking of the blind spot. No checking of his mirrors. He just cheerfully starts to merge into me, as I’m moving past. A quick downshift and twist of the throttle and I’m barely out of harms way again, with the driver merging in behind me, suddenly braking hard as he spots me.
First off, why the hell was he merging into a lane that was going to end in less than an eighth of a mile? There was clear visibility on a straight, flat shot of road – with at least one sign indicating that the lane was going to end. Secondly, why would either of these idiots merge without even the slightest check of clearance? Thirdly, why do they react with absolute shock that a vehicle is suddenly in the position they never checked? It’s like the time I was rear ended in my truck and the driver of the car behind me claimed to the police officer that I was in his “blind spot”.
From conversations I’ve had with various Mormons in the state of Utah, I’ve come to understand that they are completely, utterly ignorant of anything outside of their religious teachings. A great example was a conversation with a supposedly “open minded” Mormon, who’s first question asked of me was “what religion I was”, as if everyone needs a religion to exist. When I told him that I was atheist, he clearly couldn’t understand the concept that I don’t worship anything and when I stated that I saw at least some reasonable ideas in Buddhist concepts, his reply was, “So you worship Buddha, then?” Silly me, here I assumed even Buddhists don’t worship Buddha. Buddhists don’t worship anything. Never would I have guessed that finding reasonableness in some religious tenant is a declaration of worship of the religion’s namesake.
It wasn’t until I had a conversation with another Mormon acquaintance that I found the answer to the driving dangers and other stances of ignorance in Utah. He is a lapsed Mormon, much to the ire of his family, and he plainly stated that most in the church have a deeply entrenched belief that God is protecting them from all harm. They believe that a mystical, magical figure is guiding their hand in every action and keeping them safe – no matter what.
So, there you have it. They merge without even looking in their mirrors, they turn and change lanes without signaling, they make U-turns through red lights at intersections, they check their makeup in the mirror while rolling backwards down a mountainside – because they believe that God is guiding them and keeping them safe. Like religious ostriches, with their heads planted firmly up God’s ass, they remain blissfully unaware of their surroundings, with the unwavering belief that their mystical maker is going to co-pilot every aspect of their life for them – allowing them to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility and any action of caution that others outside of this delusion would take for granted as required.
Perhaps I should just be thankful that they’re blissfully ignorant. If they knew what was going on around them, I’m sure the reaction of shock would be more than those outside of the Mormon church would want to deal with.
If this kind of thinking doesn’t scare you, then you’re not thinking at all.
The original KSLA news report.
President Bush signed several Presidential Directives allowing for full Executive Office control of all Federal, state and local offices under certain conditions; which have been kept mostly secret since their signing. What we know of it, is that these decrees allow the ability for the Executive Office to declare martial law over the United States, without any authority of Congress required, in the case of an “emergency” within US borders. This means that another 9/11 style attack, or a false flag of such an attack, is enough to suspend the Constitution and put every American under military rule.
There is absolutely no need for martial law in a Constitutional Republic. There is no excuse which supports the suspension of inalienable rights. President Lincoln was the first to commit this vile act and with the Posse Comitatus Act, it was never to happen again. I’ve mentioned it before and bears repeating, Congress had repealed the Posse Comitatus Act when it signed onto the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. That heinous act has since been partially repealed, bringing the Posse Comitatus Act back into it’s original wording and force, but that it was ever off the law books to begin with, should be a healthy warning to all who value what this nation stands for and shows just how much fear and ignorance guides our nation’s ruling body, even outside the Oval Office.
Though it does stand to reason that the government would want aid from the local clergy in times of national distress, the behavior of these clergy themselves is damnable. Once more they have proven themselves to lack the clarity of thought needed to be trusted. Their delusions hold total sway over their thinking. That deranged thinking will guide their flock as well, making themselves into admirable slaves, but very, very poor citizens.
One of the things not well known about 9/11, is that on that morning, when the real attack was taking place, the CIA and NORAD were holding an exercise of the exact same scenario, where aircraft were being used as guided bombs to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This Wikipedia article covers more. Coincidence, some would say. Coincidences like this bother me, especially when they are that unlikely. Whoever performed the attack on Sept. 11th, 2001, at least knew that the exercises were being held. As I’m convinced that all three buildings of the World Trade Center were brought down with controlled demolitions, I suspect major political backing from some government – not a bunch of sheep herders living in Afghan caves. Russia and Israel seem the two likely suspects, each for different motives. Russia, to cause our economic collapse through our over-reaction, just as they suffered with their over-extension over the cold war and the Afghanistan invasion and occupation. Israel, to expand their war against all things Arab. Those who think that the Israeli government would never cause harm to us in order to get their way, hasn’t kept up on all the information coming out these days on the Israeli attack against the USS Liberty or the number of incidents where they’ve planted fake radio transmitters, trying to goad our military into action. Now, before some drooling idiot accuses me of an anti-Semitic stance: it’s the government of Israel I’m pointing a finger at, not the People. They’re as innocent in this as we are in the US with our own out-of-control government.
Likewise, when the bombings occurred in the London Underground on July 7th, 2005, they happened exactly the same way as the civilian exercise which was going on during the actual attack. Let me be clear about this, according to Peter Power, who is a crisis management specialist who was coordination this exercise, the exercise mirrored the exact locations and times of the bombings! As I’ve already said, I don’t like coincidences like this. This implies, at the very least, that those who coordinated the attacks new the agenda of the drills, using it to their advantage to cause confusion.
Why do I bring all this up now?
This coming week another major exercise will be run. National Level Exercise, 2-08, which will be a large scale Homesec, Northcom and FEMA event in Washington state and Oregon, between May 1st and May 8th. Some ex-military think this may lead to a false flag event. I’m not convinced of that and it is easy to dismiss such rants as just another conspiracy theory. It staggers our sensibilities to even dwell on the idea. However, with our nation looking more and more like 1930′s Germany, I can’t help but worry that I’m wrong and the effect of the Reichstag fire is playing itself out again and again in modern times.
Bush has but a few months left. He’s proven himself both irrational and full of hubris. If he wants a war with Iran, which seems likely, then he has to win over the People to accomplish it. All it would take is another 9/11 to get people off of their worries about fuel prices, the popping housing bubble, middle class job loss and artificially constructed rice shortages; to rally once more around the flag to wield death on our “enemies”. If you can’t believe that this administration would stoop that low, you might remind yourself they they avidly support torture in interrogation and imprisoning people without evidence, warrants, due process or even simple legal representation – all on the whims of Presidential decree. They believe that the Executive Office does not need to account to the Legislative or Judicial branches and are on record, over and over again, of having modeled their view of our current situation in terms of, “You’re either with us, or against us.” Seriously, how much more scary do they have to get before you’ll believe that they’re willing to do anything to achieve their ends?
Time, as usual, will tell. I don’t want to be a clarion of wolf-crying proportions in any of this, but I don’t want to be caught off guard, either. I hate to think that such a false flag would ever be perpetrated or aided by elements of our own, but perhaps it is not so strange to think our government capable of such devious planning. After all, they’ve actually been caught doing this before.
Even if you close your eyes and discount Operation Northwoods and cannot bring yourself to believe that such false flag operations would ever spring from our own, bear this in mind: at least two major terrorist attacks happened exactly at the same time, in exactly the same fashion as the drills running at those moments. This alone should make people a little nervous about any of the drills being run, which are simulating terrorist attacks on the country. At the least, the copy-cats are out there and they seem to known our schedules as well as we do.
I’ve been asleep at the wheel over this story and wasn’t even aware it was going on until I stumbled onto a broadcast this morning on CBS, covering the story of Spc. Jeremy Hall.
Hall, like myself and others who deal with the empirical, just happens to be atheist because of this view of the world and such has gotten him into a world of hurt from his own associates in the military. As Hall’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense stipulates, he is being harassed and threatened with physical injury and death by many members of the military, who have come to conclude that the US military is a body of the church. All he’s asking for is equal respect for his beliefs. What he’s gotten so far is a round the clock body guard and the aid of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in his lawsuit. The MRFF press release sums up the current situation.
Austin Cline writes further on the egregious action, where Spc. Hall had gone through all the proper channels to attempt to hold a meeting of like minded individuals at the fort where he was stationed at the time in Iraq, which was sabotaged by an attending Maj. Freddy Welborn. Welborn had described himself as a “freethinker” but ended up instead berating the others at the meeting and said that he would charge Hall with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice and prevent his reenlistment.
Now, if Spc. Hall had only seen the Major’s MySpace page, he would have known the sabotage was coming before it did.
The most obvious risk in this environment, would be instilling a sense in our soldiers that we’re fighting a “holy war”. Pitting faith against faith, in this case Christianity against Islam, would do nothing but further Islamic distrust and hatred toward our forces, as our already untenable position becomes a new crusade. I can predict no good will come from delusional religionists pushing their distorted view of the Apocalypse onto impressionable youth (most of the military, that is). Knowing the Bush administration and it’s connections to Christian fundamentalism, I highly doubt anything is being done to slow this process down, but rather – like torture – they will promote it as being part of the general good and needed to face the “dangers” against our nation. Ludicrous, but predictable.
Like all things in history, what goes around comes around. As a recent documentary points out, we are back to the days of Constantine.
CNN covers more of this story. TruthOut has an interesting story on Christian fundamentalism in the military.
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