Who do you think is best atheist of our times?

[Anomalocaris]

There's a largish rock in my front garden.  It has never given any indication that it believes in gods, minds its own business, and doesn't go about pissing people off for the sole purpose of pissing people off.

It's got my vote.

Boru

I own a meteorite. The age of my rock beats your rock of ages.

[J a c k]

I like Hitchens...


But I’ve always had a crush on Bill Maher. That man si so fine, he so fine, he so fine...


And I don’t care what people say.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

There's a largish rock in my front garden.  It has never given any indication that it believes in gods, minds its own business, and doesn't go about pissing people off for the sole purpose of pissing people off.

It's got my vote.

Boru

I own a meteorite.   The age of my rock beats your rock of ages.

Well, you can't possibly know that, but OK.

Boru

[purplepurpose]

GGG, товарищ, better get yourself busy with work and don't torture yourself with religious topics too much.

[GGG]

Why isn't my name on that list?

JFM, I never make onto the popularity polls.

do you have same  effect on people's minds like Hitchens or Harris? thats why. read earlier posts

[brewer]

Why isn't my name on that list?

JFM, I never make onto the popularity polls.

do you have same  effect on people's minds like Hitchens or Harris? thats why. read earlier posts

Of course I do. You just haven't met any of them yet.

[Anomalocaris]

I own a meteorite.   The age of my rock beats your rock of ages.

Well, you can't possibly know that, but OK.

Boru

Yes I can.  Virtually every meterorite that falls on earth is significantly older than the oldest rock ever found on earth or ever likely to be found on earth that is not itself a meterorite.

[LadyForCamus]

Bill Maher is an anti-vaxer. He shouldn’t even be on this list if we’re taking about people who use media outlets to advocate for science and rational skepticism.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

[Anomalocaris]

Yes, but vast majority of meterorites did not originate from the moon or mars, and all those that didn’t come from the moon or mars dates to around 4.56 billion years ago, or just before the earth was formed.  I have an iron meterorite, it originated from the core of a sizeable differentiated body that was later shattered.  So it certainly did not originate from the moon or mars and almost certainly is 4.56 billion years old.  

In any case, no earth rock dates to more than 4.0 billion years.   What you refer to are the ages of zircon crystals contained in younger metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. That is hugely different from saying the rock is 4.4 billion years, just as a building built 50 years ago from 100 million year old rocks is 50 years old, not 100 million years old.

The existence of 4.4 billion year old zircon does prove there were zircon containing igneous rocks forming on earth 4.4 billion years ago. These rocks were then eroded into debris, some of the debris were the zircon crystals in them ended up in sediments that later turned into sedimentary rock. Over time these sedimentary rocks became deeply buried and turned into metamorphic gneiss. It is these much younger gneiss wth embedded debris from 4.4 year old rocks we found, not actual 4.4 billion year old earth rocks.

So my meterorite is bonafides 4.56 billion years old.   The oldest actual rock still on earth is only 4 billion years old.  There are relative few rocks on earth more than 2.8 billion years old.  So the chance of your earth rock coming anywhere close in age to 4 billion years is slim. And its chance being as old as my 4.56 billion year old meterorite is zero.