IDoNotGetIt

It is such a pleasure to argue with intelligent people.  One of my co-workers is an intelligent person and as a biology major in college, he knows much more than I do about biology.  So whenever I have a biology related question, sometimes I run it by him before going to the web for the answer.

Today, this got us into an interesting discussion because although he accepts evolution, he still believes that it needed god to “kick-start” it.  His reasons for this are complicated but can be distilled down to… what enabled the first pieces of organic material to replicate and encode data.  “The real chicken or the egg question” as he put it.

My response was that it is still more believable that it happened for natural reasons that we do not yet fully understand than that it happened magically.  He argued with me over this, saying that I was applying faith to my argument.  I said no I’m not and made the following statement.  “it is always more probable that X happened for natural reasons than that X happened for magical reasons” and ask him if that was a true statement.  He seemed to agree but in a very noncommittal way.  I explained that this is why my view was more rational than his.  At this point he changed the subject to entropy, I took this as a victory.

The entropy was a very brief argument as I quickly explained that those laws only apply in a closed system with no energy input which is not the case for earth, thanks to our nearby star.

48. Could it possibly be that the missing link does not exist?!

Yes.  As a matter of fact I’ll say this, the missing link that will satisfy people who do not believe evolution, does not exist.  Every time a missing link is found, it just creates two more missing links.  It’s like Zeno’s dichotomy paradox.

“The” missing link is a red herring.  It will never be found and more importantly, it isn’t necessary to prove evolution.  The proven facts that make up the theory of evolution are unequivocally substantiated and grounded in science.  The proverbial missing link is just another idiotic card (like the “it’s just a theory” card) that creationist and their ilk like to trot out every now and then to make sure no rational person takes them seriously. It’s ok guys, we know you are ignorant fools, you don’t have to constantly reinforce that knowledge by showing your massive ignorance of the scientific process.

Rep. Barney Frank had some great “American” things to say today.

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business”

“I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

If we had more Americans thinking like this, we’d be much better off.

Rep. William Lacy Clay said he did not condone drug use but opposes using tax dollars to pursue what he feels is an arcane holdover from “a phony war on drugs that is filling up our prisons, especially with people of color.”

But the best was Frank pointing out the hypocrisy of republicans (who claim to be in favor of limited government) support of these archaic laws criminalizing marijuana.

I couldn’t agree more.

Here is the article.

47. If we are the product of evolution – by sheer accident, chance, then we are still evolving. Does it just so happen that we exist here today with everything so finely tuned for our living. as we now have it?

This actually made me laugh out loud.  I tried to remember if I was ever childish enough to ask a question like this, even when I was a Christian.  I don’t think I was.  What a monumentally silly question this is.

Evolution is a fact, yes we are still evolving as is every single other life form on this planet.  Evolution is a product of life as we know it, it has always occurred and it always will, it can’t be stopped.

So to answer this asinine question, Yes, it just happens that we exist here today.  I’ll let you in on a little secret, there is nothing special about today, different people lived here a few centuries ago and they could have asked that same silly question.

This article makes me sick.  These two cunts beat and left to die a mortally wounded 12-year-old girl and they are being charged with manslaughter!  They tortured and murdered this little girl.  I guess they were doing gods work though.  Manslaughter is bullshit in this case, they should be charged just like any other person.

I love this quote:

both women were “genuinely distressed” by the death

Of-fucking-course they were… they expected their god to fix her.  Maybe the girl just didn’t pray hard enough while she was writhing in agony.  This kind of crap is why I HATE religions.

Or how about this gem:

the standard of care they offered her had “grievously fallen short”

They offered NO care.  In fact, they offered torture and abuse in lieu of any care.  These two women are absolutely no different from another psycho child murderer out there.  They get off thinking that they are working for a higher power.  I hate to think of how much emotional damage they have, almost certainly, caused to countless other children in the foster home before murdering this girl.

46. We cannot confuse God with man. With God in the equation, all things, including miracles are possible. If God is God, he is Creator of all, inclusive of scientific law. He is Creator of matter & spirit.

This is just preaching.  Save it for your fellow followers.  I don’t believe in god (any of them) and therefore don’t have to waste my time contemplating silly questions like this.

What the hell is the difference between Bush and a democrat?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/budget_deficit

The Atheist Experience show, yesterday was probably the best in quite some time.  Lots of calls from kookie people and lots of laughs.  The topic was a good one and I really hope they revisit it.  It was about crazy atheist.  It was prompted by a particular atheist’s attempt to censure, by threatening with legal action, the bumper sticker that is pictured above.  As was mentioned on the show, it kind of backfired though, the web site selling the sticker did stop selling it but only because they decided to start giving it away instead.  Well, for obvious reasons, any patriotic American should be completely against such nonsense.  Well, the guy asked for other atheist opinions regarding his lawsuit so I sent him the following.

Dear Patrick,

I would like to write to ask you to discontinue your attempts to censure the ridiculous anti-atheist bumper sticker. Actually, I take that back, I don’t care if you attempt to sue or not because I doubt you will find a lawyer stupid enough to take the case. And if you do find a lawyer that stupid, I doubt, even more, that you would win.

This kind of attack on our freedom of speech is exactly what the Christian majority wants in this country. You do not have the right to not be offended, nor should you have that right. As an adult, you should be able to ignore speech that offends your senses. Christians and other theist have the right to believe we are fools if they wish just as I have the right to believe the same about them. And we both have the right to create signs and post them on our private property. This kind of freedom is guaranteed by our constitution.

I am well aware of the prejudices held against atheist, I deal with them every day at work and in my personal life. I live in the South Carolina and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that, were I to run for public office, my lack of faith would ensure my loss to even a completely inept opponent. However, in no way do I blame a bumper sticker or any other Christian signage for this. They have the right to be wrong and they have the right to advertise their stupidity. But I believe that it is this very freedom, the freedom to openly express unpopular ideas, that will allow the rational minority to increase our numbers, hopefully, one day becoming a majority. And even when this happens, I will fight for everyone’s right to express their ideas, no matter how repulsive I find them. This is an absolutely intrinsic component of an intelligent, health, free society.

Sincerely,

Shawn Morris

http://www.idonotgetit.com

P.S. I think the bumper sticker is funny, if for no other reason than the shear irony. If I may use an old cliché, this is definitely the pot calling the kettle black.

45. Stephen Hawkins has admitted; “Science may solve the problem of how the universe began, but it cannot answer the question: why does the universe bother to exist?”

How pathetic do your beliefs have to be to force you to grasp at any little insignificant thing that comes out of the mouth of any, authoritative, public figure you can find?  First it’s Albert Einstein and now Stephen Hawkins.  And this is the best you could do?  This is supposed to be a compelling reason to believe in god, Hawkins asking “why does the universe bother to exist?”

44. It is easier to believe that God created something out of nothing than it is to believe that nothing created something out of nothing.

As I’m trying to think of an answer to this, I realized that it was the good ol’ “do you beat your wife often?” question.  If I disagree with it, it seems like I believe that “nothing created something out of nothing” and if I agree with it I’m saying I believe in god.

So how many fallacies are in that one sentence.  At least two, loaded question and false dichotomy.

Perhaps, it is that the universe wasn’t created in the manner that Christians like to pretend it was.  Perhaps its creation was of a natural origin not requiring any intelligent being.