Ah…evolution
OK, time to tackle comment #3 in response to this post.
Here, we are talking about Question #4 (If we are ancesoters/descendants of Apes, then why are there no transitional fossils or species to support this theory?)
A question of purpose
My response to comment #2 from a fundamentalist Christian.
On question 2 (If there is NO God, then there is NO meaning or purpose to Life. So without a God, does life have purpose or meaning? Without God, does the Atheist have purpose?)
Six comments? Really?
Almost a month ago, I posted my responses to ten condescending questions some fundamentalist Christian felt all atheists should answer. They were badly crafted and annoyed the hell out of me.
I answered them in a way that I hoped was both honest and amusing. Yesterday, I received six comments from a Fundamentalist Christian (his blog is here).
I wasn’t sure whether to respond to his comments or leave it be. There isn’t much use debating him as his beliefs are so deeply engrained, I can’t hope to make him think about them. As for me, I find his perspective so horrifying, it only makes me dislike fundamentalism all the more.
Ten incredibly condescending questions that completely miss the point
My blog was recently followed by someone who is going through the difficult transition from Fundamentalist Christianity to being an atheist. I linked to a blog entry that includes ten questions for atheists. They are condescending and filled with fallacious assumptions but OK, whoever wrote this crap, I’ll answer your questions. In the spirit they were asked.
I also did not edit the questions so misspellings and grammatical weirdness remain.
1. If there is NO God, then there is no Measurement or Standard for morality? Then What will define morality?
What a great start, right? No god = no standard for morality.
So the question begins with a false premise. Why is god needed to provide a standard for morality? Is God the only thing that prevents you from treating those around you decently? Is a quick read of the bible the only thing that is holding you back from murdering your neighbors? If so – please keep reading.
Thou shalt not kill??? What the fuck? That is so totally not fair!
God does not tell us what is right and wrong. If he does, he is doing a shitty job of it. Some very religious people believe that the bible tells us to look down on homosexuals. Other very religious people believe that is incorrect. If God were responsible for defining morality, I’d like to see him/her/it get on the ball and actually fucking define it. Jesus told us to throw out the ten commandments and, basically, just be fucking nice to each other. Did we need God to do that?
I’m pretty sure most of us have figured that out for ourselves. Society defines morality and it is defined because we are social creatures and we need rules in order to live together.
Why is Molly an Atheist?
Over at Geeks Without God, we’re putting up posts about why we are atheists. Molly wrote a great post and it just went up. Go read it!
In just over a week, we’ll be recording our first podcast! Woot!
Shit that Pissed me off This Week – 6/15
Megachurch Pastor Beats up his Daughter and his Flock Praises him for it
Let me begin by saying that I don’t know if his daugter’s allegations are true. But let’s just assume for a moment that he did, in fact, “put his hands around her throat and…then slammed her to the ground, punched her and beat her with his shoe. ”
How many parents think that is appropriate behavior towards one’s child? Teenagers can be a pain in the ass, I get it.
But choking, throwing to the ground and beating with a shoe?
Here’s what one of his supporters who seems to accept his daughters’ allegations had to say:
101 likes for kids getting their ass beat!!!!! God bless America!
Holy shit people! He was beating the shit out of her before she called the cops! That isn’t discipline. That is abuse.
Prometheist
Herein lie the spoiler filled thoughts on Prometheus from one atheist’s viewpoint.
So..you know…don’t click through if you would rather not read about plot points from the movie. You have been warned.
Shit that Pissed me Off This Week – 5/11
The Heartland Institute Goes for Broke on a New Series of Billboards
The Heartland Institute is a Climate Change Denial think tank and they just put up a series of billboards to support their point of view. Let’s see if you can tell why the campaign pisses me off:
OMG!!! He’s crazy! I don’t want to be crazy too!!!
They also have billboards planned featuring Charles Manson and Osama Bin Laden.
You know, because only crazy people believe that Climate Change is real and caused by human behavior. It is a spurious and insulting argument that has nothing to do with facts or science.
You think 97% of the world’s climate scientists are wrong? Prove it!!! Don’t waste time saying that they must be wrong because some crackpot out there believes them. It’s like saying that I shouldn’t be against the death penalty because most prisoners on death row are also against the death penalty.
Update: after extensive public outcry, they have decided to take down the billboards. They haven’t apologized for them, of course, but they took ’em down…
Alphabetical Movie – Hotel Rwanda
Hotel Rwanda is a mercifully sanitized account of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. I say mercifully because I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch as many as a million men, women and children hacked to death with machetes. After some amount of time, things would start to get a little bleak.
In all the talk about how Mao and Stalin and Pol Pot were atheists, you would think that all of the senseless killing in the 20th century was perpetrated by atheists. We are the scourge of the planet, mercilessly wiping out those who would oppose us by believing in god.
Grail Diary 