The Tree Lobsters have said exactly what I was trying to say over a year ago, only much more concisely and with a lol. Don’t you hate it when tree lobsters upstage you? I do!
Evolution is a sham! The earth is only 6000 years old, therefore there hasn’t been
enough time for all the species to have developed from a single origin. All you have to do is look at the…
Hold it right there!
Science Police. We received complaints that you’ve been willfully ignoring centuries of scientific progress.
Therefore, in accordance with bylaw 27B/6, you’ve forfeited your right to benefit from the technology derived from said science. Read the rest of this entry »
The Secret, which is all about the Law of Attraction (not a real law, or even real), is still bullshit. But Elizabeth found a great video from Australia that will make you laugh. It explains how The Secret works. It’s about 7 minutes long:
Notice how in the demo clips it’s always about some materialistic thing like a bike or a necklace? How shallow and self-serving! Why don’t all believers in this stupid lie wish for world peace or clean drinking water for everyone? Or everyone to be disease free? Instead they have to have a new Shiny. Pathetic!
Oh, and see the waves of rays coming out of the peoples’ heads? That doesn’t happen. That’s a special effect. So when you wish for something your thoughts don’t actually leave your head. Just in case you were wondering. Don’t believe me? Ask a neuroscientist. They have proof your thoughts don’t leave your head by magic (they only leave your head when you speak, write something down or perform an action based on those thoughts)
Oh OH! And when you ask for something, then believe it’s already yours, there’s no invisible man in the sky that says to you, “Your wish is my command.” You know that, right? The Universe doesn’t have a log of every time you wish for that new Ferrari. It doesn’t wait for the wish requests to reach 1,000 before it has it shipped to you. (Don’t move your house because it will get delivered to your old address! LOL!)
Apparently Abraham is the role model for how far god can push the faithful. Only in real cases, sometimes someone innocent actually dies. It seems that parents kill their children through denial of medical attention all too frequently these days. Often I don’t blog about these sad stories because I am so enraged I don’t feel I can do it without copious amounts of profanity and vitriol.
We have all heard about the Neumanns. They were both convicted of 2nd degree reckless homicide in the death of their 11 year old daughter Madeline. She had diabetes but it was undiagnosed. She died a horrible death at home, surrounded by praying sheeple who refused to call an ambulance until she stopped breathing. Doctors testified that Madeline could have been saved if she had received simple medical care like insulin and fluids before she stopped breathing.
The mother said that she and her husband believed their daughter’s deteriorating condition may have been the result of a falling out with another couple, and called them once the girl was unconscious and persuaded them to come pray for the girl.
“I asked her if she loved Jesus,” the mother testified. “She might have said yes. I know for sure she was acknowledging it. What sounds came out, I don’t remember. She was making noises. … My focus definitely was to pray.”
Their lawyer told the jury that Neumann sincerely believed praying would heal his daughter and he did nothing criminally wrong.
“Dale Neumann was doing what he thought would work for his daughter. He was administering faith healing. He thought it was working.”
What god would punish a young girl because her parents had a fight with another couple? Oh, right. The christian god. Of course. Dale Neumann had studied to be a pentecostal minister, but at the time of Madeline’s death the family didn’t belong to any organized religion. The mother said she didn’t have anything against doctors either. Then why is her daughter dead? Oh, right, because it was a spiritual illness. Yeah, the prayer really was helping. I see why they decided to hold off on the tried and true medical care in favor of pleas to an invisible man in the sky. Go with what (doesn’t) work, and keep doing it till your daughter is dead. Smart thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
While I am a 7th degree black belt atheist, I do have a heart of gold, as I’m sure you know. (just kidding! I’m trying to lighten the mood! Ok, you’re right, I’m not kidding, I really do have a heart of gold)
Where was I? Oh, right. When someone comes to me and asks me to have a conversation with them about religion and atheism, I feel it’s my responsibility as an atheist to show that a discourse is possible. I want to show religious people that I am indeed a living, breathing ethical atheist. I am rather nice to people, especially if they aren’t visiting my home for more than one night. (Then all bets are off) I try to show people how to use reason, logic and facts to find out things for themselves.
Sure, sometimes I can get a bit testy when a christian insults my intelligence or pointedly tries to manipulate the discussion into an argument. I am not a debater, and I can’t stand logical fallacies, especially when employed specifically to win unfairly. This is unethical and inexcusable to me.
Of course, people often use logical fallacies because they don’t know any better. I will then happily teach a person about the logical fallacy being used, and will then expect that person to refrain from further use of it as we go through our discussions.
Of course, often a person will stubbornly cling to their beliefs and faith and eschew reason, logic and common sense. They will pull out dirty tricks to try to show their beliefs to be the “truth”.
This is where we are with Beth. And I have come to a decision. I’ve written a short note which I am sending to her in a few minutes. Here it is in its entirety: Read the rest of this entry »
America has bought into the concept of Self-Esteem = Success. Every pop psychology self-help book touts the same fluffy nonsense: change your mind and it will change your life for the better. Think positively and you can succeed at anything you put your mind to. Unfortunately it’s unfounded and unscientific.
An Open Mind Is A Happy Mind! Here is a list of 9 things to focus on when raising kids (5:37 min)
Here is an articulate, bubbly 19 year old girl giving brilliant advice about how to raise a healthy, open-minded child. She was raised with dogma and indoctrination like the rest of us, so I get the impression that she’s already come a long way to rid herself of the brainwashing from her childhood. Looks like she’s doing a good job at it.
Now, like Laci here, I don’t have kids. Unlike Laci I’ve decided to refrain from being a baby factory completely. But I did manage to survive an extremely dysfunctional childhood full of brainwashing, dogma and craziness, so I’m thoroughly qualified in how NOT to raise kids. If I did have children, I’d be happy to have these 9 ideas from Laci as a starting point for making healthy decisions to raise a healthy, open-minded child free of indoctrination. Read the rest of this entry »
You know, this seems to be a serious point of contention these days. The majority of sheeple toddling around on their cell phones, driving their SUV’s, barely doing their jobs, letting TVs raise their kids, all seem to be proud of their ignorance in different areas. Here are just a few:
Philosophy (in this sense I am referring to morality, beliefs, etc)
Science
Math
Computers
Critical Thinking, Logic and Reason
Finance and Banking
The Concept of Responsibility
Now I’m not all saying we need to be Socrates, Einstein, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, a brain surgeon and a rocket scientist all rolled into one. But understanding the world around us is pretty important. Also how we think and what we believe is critical to how we make decisions. It’s also important to understand that even if we’re ignorant of something, we can still be personally responsible for our actions.
My parents weren’t very good at raising kids, to be honest. But my grandparents (on summer vacations) and public school took the time to teach me basic manners, a bit of common sense, the concept of cause and effect, personal responsibility for my behavior, basic money handling, and I got a good foundation in science and math at school as well.
I sometimes deal with younger people and they don’t seem to have any respect for knowledge, information or learning. They seem to refuse to be personally responsible. And the idea of thinking logically is as alien as an 8 track tape player.
When did it become cool to be so freaking ignorant? When did everyone collectively stop thinking for themselves? I’d say it’s just the youth of today, but I know many people my age and even older that refuse to think about their own belief systems or how they see the world. Most people are quite content to let a priest or pastor tell them what their morals are. Read the rest of this entry »
But it comes down to the fact that having high self-esteem and a delusional positive mental attitude is not helpful. The article is a bit long, so I’m going to paraphrase it for those of you with a short attention span: 
