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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
April 29, 2014 at 4:15 pm
(April 26, 2014 at 11:43 pm)nogodchick Wrote: (April 26, 2014 at 11:40 pm)Luckie Wrote: I! don't like them either  Someone should think of a better word.
"Bar."
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
April 29, 2014 at 5:08 pm
(This post was last modified: April 29, 2014 at 5:08 pm by Coffee Jesus.)
(April 29, 2014 at 4:15 pm)Tonus Wrote: (April 26, 2014 at 11:43 pm)nogodchick Wrote: Someone should think of a better word.
"Bar."
I like that. It makes it seem like we're having a good time rather than conspiring.
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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
April 29, 2014 at 5:35 pm
From what I gather, people give you the same weird look when you say you're an Atheist in America, as you do when you say you're a Christian to a normal person over here.
Most Christians over here don't mention it, possibly in case people think they are a bit crazy. I don't think I've ever heard a Christian (bar one nutter I met) mention God or Jesus. I have friends (actually a gay couple), one of whom is religious. They make the very occasional joke about the others beliefs, and it is all very amicable.
The whole Christian America thing I find funny and scary in equal measure. The idea of George Bush standing over the nuclear armageddon button, thinking what Jesus* would do is terrifying.
*The racist, homophobic and warmongering Jesus in his imagination.
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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
April 30, 2014 at 9:27 pm
(April 29, 2014 at 5:35 pm)FreeTony Wrote: The whole Christian America thing I find funny and scary in equal measure. The idea of George Bush standing over the nuclear armageddon button, thinking what Jesus* would do is terrifying. The day-to-day stuff can get annoying, because in a culture like this one, even in a pretty liberal place like New York City, you get people who cannot stop waving their religion in everyone's faces. No matter how fucking loony you are, people are determined to "respect your faith," even when it gets to where a person is pretending to have a direct line to "angels" who tell her about the future and provide her with "healing powers" which coincidentally don't stop her from taking more sick time than she manages to accrue.
She should be in a padded cell. Instead, she's the receptionist where I work.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
May 5, 2014 at 9:22 am
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
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RE: I was wondering about religion in America
May 5, 2014 at 11:14 pm
(April 29, 2014 at 5:35 pm)FreeTony Wrote: From what I gather, people give you the same weird look when you say you're an Atheist in America, as you do when you say you're a Christian to a normal person over here.
Most Christians over here don't mention it, possibly in case people think they are a bit crazy. I don't think I've ever heard a Christian (bar one nutter I met) mention God or Jesus. I have friends (actually a gay couple), one of whom is religious. They make the very occasional joke about the others beliefs, and it is all very amicable.
The whole Christian America thing I find funny and scary in equal measure. The idea of George Bush standing over the nuclear armageddon button, thinking what Jesus* would do is terrifying.
*The racist, homophobic and warmongering Jesus in his imagination.
Well said, and absolutely true. It is indeed frightening how close we can be to 'Armageddon!' when a loonie is in charge.
Murica, rather. We're a whole new generation of people who "are afraid of what we don't know".
I can only hope my 20 something year old generation takes over and flushes out all those individuals in government positions that are mentally unbalanced enough to allow religion to dictate their action.
Too bad you can't be an atheist and president! Man, we atheists sure know how to persecute, don't we?
If I were to create self aware beings knowing fully what they would do in their lifetimes, I sure wouldn't create a HELL for the majority of them to live in infinitely! That's not Love, that's sadistic. Therefore a truly loving god does not exist!
Quote:The sin is against an infinite being (God) unforgiven infinitely, therefore the punishment is infinite.
Dead wrong. The actions of a finite being measured against an infinite one are infinitesimal and therefore merit infinitesimal punishment.
Quote:Some people deserve hell.
I say again: No exceptions. Punishment should be equal to the crime, not in excess of it. As soon as the punishment is greater than the crime, the punisher is in the wrong.
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