What I do when I am bored with rational theists?

I hope the title attracted you attention. Now let me apologise to anyone who face palmed or who punched their computer screen out of frustration at the title. You are correct when you say their are no rational theists. However, compared to Monica Dennington of Tic Toc Ministries unfortunately I have to call all other Christian theists/apologists rational.

So, when I need a break from the apologetics of the half sane apologists I do something strange even by my standards. I will tune in a listen to Monica.She is a lunatic, but honestly it is sometimes nice to sit back and just chuckle at the lunacy .

Below is a video for all us atheists, agnostic and satanists. Sure she does not know that agnostic is not a belief position, but like I said she is not the brightest tool in the shed. Actually she does not even know what an atheist or a satanist is. So as you can see a video entitled "For the Atheist, Agnostic and Satanist" is not really off to a good start.

Monica is not interested in truth, as is evident when she says she does not value anyone's opinion, hell even her own. Yet, she claims atheists (oh and satanists) are not looking for the truth either. So we are all the same really, but she is better as she follows the truth. I mean, you know those truths that atheists worship Satan, and that Jesus really rose from the dead.

Yes, she is bat shit crazy. But, I have said before I like the bat shit crazy.

Molecules to man is a fallacious argument

I have noticed that one of the new catch phrases in creationist circles is show me the evidence for evolution. They then continue you to say by evolution I mean molecules to man. Well this is extremely dishonest as a human never came from a molecule. Humans evolved from an ancestor who evolved from another ancestor who many many many generations before evolved from a basic cell.

In fact as any one with a basic knowledge of biology knows evolution in fact does not claim to know how life started ie. molecules to man. All evolution is defined as is: descent with modification.

Anyway this argument got me to thinking why are creationists using this line now. Honestly I think the answer is that transitional fossils between species are now so well known that they can no longer hide behind this fallacy. For this reason I thought I would include some of what I consider some beautiful transitional fossils between different species. Those fossils that prove beyond a doubt that evolution is a fact.

Archaeopteryx The transition between feathered dinosaurs and bird.

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Tiktaalik The transition between fish and four legged animals.

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Eupodophis The transition between lizard and snake.

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Please realise these are only the obvious three that should erase the evolution doubt in any persons mind. There are hundreds of other fossils that bridge gaps that are not meant to exist according to creationists. This is why I believe abiogenesis is the last hiding place for honest creationists, as to deny evolution or to call it molecules to man is absurd. The problem is even abiogenesis as a hiding place is disappearing at a rapid rate.

Idiot of the week - Father Simon Lokodo

The idiot of the week has to go to Father Simon Lokodo (Minister for Ethics and Integrity) of Uganda. This fool while speaking to Stephen Fry about the new anti-gay bill in Uganda said some of the dumbest things that have ever been said by a human in the space of 3 minutes. In fact this guy was so dumb I was doubting if he is really human, but then I remembered he is a theist and an ex-Catholic priest.

Highlights of the video of the short interview include.
His belief that homosexuals recruit people and children. In fact, he says he cannot be influenced by Fry's homosexuality as he is a straight male.
He also believes your back will get destroyed by homosexuality, I will be honest I have no idea what he is on about. Its like saying homosexuality makes you have 9 toes, if one of your toes gets shot of?
Then the winner, apparently heterosexual rape is better than consenting homosexuality. (It starts at about 2:30). I listened a few times and so if I am misinterpreting please point this out.


This guy is a straight up moral monster, not just a blathering idiot. If this is what the Minister of integrity and Ethics says, then no wonder Uganda has problems.

Ironically, this ex-catholic priest would not fit in well at the Vatican as he does not believe raping little boys is acceptable.

Dishonesty wins no points

I am sure most readers have heard the adage "If you cheat, you are only cheating yourself". My wish is simple, that more creationists/conspiracy theorists/theists/anti-vaccers etc will realise this. It is really frustrating to try debate someone when they are blatantly dishonest, and are constantly shifting the goal posts because they do not want to admit a mistake on even the smallest point.

It is fully understandable that most people never want to be wrong. It is a natural human response. However, the only way to actually progress is to realise your faults and move on. When you counter a fact with a lie or a misrepresentation, you are fooling no one but yourself. The problem essentially is this dishonesty is not winning you any points.

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In fact, no one wants to debate a poor loser. An analogy to this is you watch children choosing teams for a game, the poor loser gets picked last for the team. The poor loser is also the kid with no ones friend. This is not bullying, this is the reality of life. People do not want to be surrounded by idiots. When someone stops engaging you in debate (but have pointed out your dishonesty), it does not mean you have won always it may just means you are been dishonest and the person has given up wasting their time. You are that child no one wants to play with. You are the sore loser.

Don't be a poor loser, grow up and admit you are wrong.You can still believe in your god/UFOs/Dumb pseudoscience/Ark story, just realise it is irrational and dumb.

Politcally Incorrect?

There has always been political correctness by a lot of atheists I listen too (podcasts) and read (blog). Political correctness is not a bad thing, however there is a problem when it starts going to absurd levels that make no sense. So I thought I would address this, and hopefully the people that read this can understand that I am not trying to be an ass, but just reaching for the rational.

I was listening to a Non Prophets episode recently where they were discussing the word hideous and its negative connotation towards women. Basically, they were replying to a listener who was saying the use of the word hideous in a previous episode referring to Sylvia Brown was inappropriate as it reflected negatively on women. Now, I am sorry but whoever this listener was you need to grow up. If that is what you are taking away from the conversation, then you are focusing on the wrong things. The fact is Sylvia Brown was not a good person and when the word hideous was used I don't think anyone was trying to point out she was ugly, they were referring to the character. Additionally, if someone did think she was ugly so what? Its a personal opinion, I mean I think Angelina Jolie is ugly its my opinion and if someone chastises me for that well they can go $%%#@ themselves.

The thing to remember is the total message an not focus on one word that you disagree with. Missing the whole point of a debate by focusing on one point is only important if the definition is completely wrong. Every conversation is about context, unless you are overly politically correct and sensitive about a word that drags some emotional feeling out of you. This is especially important when we chastise theists for playing stupid word games and not actually getting to the point.



Basically, if I insult a few so be it. Not everything can always be perfect for everyone. We grow up in different cultures where words have different meaning. So if you are offended by some simple language you are not focusing on the bigger issue that is getting addressed.

Gods orchestra - funny

Some of my readers may know I live in Asia, as such I get exposed to some funny English signs.

I thought you may enjoy this one.

In case you are wondering, no I didn't get to go.

Idiots of the Week - Kevin Sorbo and Steve Malzberg

I saw this gem on raw story, and decided that Kevin Sorbo and Steve Malzberg definitely deserve the award this week. Here is the interview segment from a show they did together. Watch it and then I will address the few issues I have with it.

Firstly, why does a compliment refer to insecurity? I mean maybe I am really dumb and don't understand compliments, but from what was said it seemed like a compliment. If anything, its Sorbo's insecurity that makes him believe it was an insecurity on Maher's part?

Secondly, why do you not see the funny in the Noah jokes? They are funny, and what makes them not funny to you is that fact that you realise the truth in these jokes. That truth is that God is a dick.


Thirdly,  comedy does not come from anger! Bill Maher is a comedian, and his comedy (in my opinion) is based in reality. Its not anger, its realistic even if it is dark. I think you need to study some more before you make ridiculous blanket statements about a subject. Or does Christian Comedy also come from anger?

Lastly, why are you such idiots? Oh sorry that's why you got the award.

xxx
Oh for good measure learn why Bill Maher has not been struck down by God yet. Yes this is the idiot Bryan Fischer.

Religion of Peace vs Religion of Love in Nigeria

There has been an ever increasing amount of violence in Nigeria as Muslims desiring Sharia Law are attacking Christians who clearly don't want to be subject to another religions tenants. Now in the wake of the most recent killings when about 200 people (the number may be greater) were murdered by these Islamic terrorists in Kaduna state (ironically named the Centre of Learning?) I think its time the Government did something big.
 

Kaduna State (Source)

Its not that I think this act is more disgusting that any other act that has been perpetrated, its now become a point where the Christian populace is saying its time to defend ourselves at whatever cost. I do not blame these people for wanting to defend themselves, but its this kind of thing that escalates in a situation that you have in Sudan. So the government of Goodluck Jonathan needs to stand up and make a difference in these people lives and stamp out stupid religious retards. Then again this government needs help on so many levels as is evident when we consider that recently there was a stampede for jobs that killed 16.

Its ironic that the religion of peace is slaughtering hundreds and the religion of love is now getting ready to take up arms. Maybe these religious people need to read their holy books. Actually maybe they don't then they will learn to do far worse things.

Don't picket Fred Phelp Senior

Here is my simple request for anyone that thinks they should picket Fred Phelp Seniors funeral in the future. DON'T DO IT.

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The Bloggosphere and Atheist community among others has been abuzz since the news of Fred Phelps declining health has been reported. Some views are neutral, some are positive and some views are negative (link, link), so before I get onto why no one should picket Fred Phelps funeral let me just say I am happy he is dying. Too soon? I don't care, he was a horrible man and so I can't say I am going to miss him.


So why should no one picket this mans funeral? Here are two good reasons.
1) If reports are correct Fred Phelps has already been excommunicated from the Westboro Baptist Church. So the church that is behind funeral picketing is not going to be at Fred Phelps's funeral, as such picketing the funeral is pointless.

2) Why sink to the level of idiots? Seriously we are not children give the people that will attend the funeral time to mourn. It does not mean you cannot be happy (like me) that he is dying. It just means you are prepared to let people mourn at what is essentially a private function.

Lets hope this picketing does not happen. On a side-note, it is a possibility that the WBC will picket the funeral already if they think this man was fallen and why would you want to associate yourself with idiots?

The Noah disclaimer

I have blogged before about how excited I am about the new Noah movie. But now, my excitement has waned and I am just irritated. Granted I will still watch it, but I am highly irritated now by Paramount studios for putting a disclaimer onto it. Not just to the movie, but to the previews and commercials too. The reason they have to put this disclaimer on is because a bunch of uppity Christians believe it is not a true portrayal of the Bible.

Well guess what, its not a true portrayal as it never happened. That's why I was excited about the story as it was going to show a large portion of the Christian population around the globe just how dumb their biblical stories are. Granted it is still going to show how dumb the story is, but now a theist can say "of course this is not really what happened" as they fall cataclysmically into cognitive dissonance.

Here is the disclaimer:

"The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis."

I guess the Christians thought Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ was a real description of a biblical story. Which is amusing since Jesus in that movie lost enough blood to fill three people and was still walking around. Sometimes, irrationality is just to hard to overcome.

Rationally irrational

Have you ever encountered the following argument?
"But, this Nobel laureate x is a theist and he /she is rational. This means belief is god y has to be rational as they are a rational person."
If you have heard this before I am sure you have planted your hand firmly on your face as you exhaled deeply and shook your head.


What many theists and apologists fail to realise is that to be irrational in one aspect of your life does not require you to be irrational in every aspect of your life. Knowing this will not make sense in simple terms to someone who adheres to this argument, let me give some examples of what I mean.

A chemist wins the Nobel prize in chemistry, this chemist believes that UFOs visit Earth and abduct humans. The chemist is clearly rational in chemistry, however no one would say the belief in UFOs is rational as it has no proof.

The president of the greatest nation in the world believes UFOs visit the Earth and abduct humans. Even though this person is the president, no one would say the UFO belief is rational as it has no proof.

Both arguments used above by people that believe UFOs visit Earth to abduct humans are appeals to authority. Additionally, in both of the examples above the person could be totally rational about everything in their life, except the UFO claim.Now, lets rephrase these arguments.

A chemist wins the Nobel prize in chemistry, this chemist believes that god exists. The chemist is clearly rational in chemistry, however not in the god claim as it has no proof.

The president of the greatest nation in the world believes UFOs visit the Earth and abduct humans. Even though this person is the president, no one would say the god claim is rational as it has no proof.

When a scientist or whomever believes in god, this is not rational. It does not mean the person is always irrational in everything they do. It means they are irrational in one specific aspect of their life.

Idiots of the week - Israeli Ultra Orthodox Jews

This week the idiots of the week are the Israeli Ultra Orthodox Jews. Who have proven again that certain religious people think they are entitled to special privileges.

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Israel has taken the positive step to not discriminate against its predominantly Jewish population by deciding to make it compulsory for these ultra orthodox males to attend military service. For those of you don't know all males and females are obliged to go into either military or civil service. The reason for this is pretty obvious, every country surrounding Israel pretty much hates them, but that's not the point of this post.

Why do these fools think they should be exempt, surely if the are even closer to god the bullets will bounce of them. Surely these males believe they are as good as ladies. Please I am not trying to be sexist, its just these fools  are usually highly oppressive towards females. As for the ladies, I am not sure maybe they don't want to be equal? So what is their excuse really? The only thing I can think is that they are absolutely chickenshit.

You orthodox nuts are rightful idiots if you want the protection of a society you live in but are not prepared to give back to said society.

Just answer the bloody question

I was listening to the almost recent Reasonable Doubts podcast debate between Christian apologist Randal Rauser and Chris Hallquist this last weekend. So why write about this debate you may wonder? Well, I think I may have found a Christian apologist that is the absolute worst. Before I have commented that William Lane Craig and his mental gymnastics irritates me, but at least he answers the bloody question.

Through this debate one thing stuck with me and I think it will stick with any rational person who cares to listen to it. In this debate Chris Hallquist issued the problem of evil, with a twist that requires an answer. Basically, Chris asked Randal the simple question "would an omnipotent all loving god let a little girl get raped and killed?"

One would think this would be a simple yes or no answer. In fact one would expect anyone that is not morally bankrupt to answer "no, a god would not let this happen." However Randal dodged the question and refused to answer it throughout. William Lane Craig would have answered this question I guess even if we might not like the answer, but at least he would have answered it.

I completely understand why Randal cant answer this question, as he would sound like a moral monster (or just a monster). The truth is if you want to believe this rubbish you should have to answer the question. These are the types of questions you have to deal with when you have an irrational belief. These are the types of things you have to wrestle with as you dwell in the certainty that your beliefs are ridiculous and you need to justify them in some crazy way.

Set of pre-debate questions.

I think it is time that I make a set of pre-debate questions for theists, specifically for Christians as other religions don't do as much mental gymnastics as Christians. I am not not sure if this is a good or a bad thing as I noted in a recent post about killing the infidel. So here are my list of questions.

Do you think god was justified in the genocide of the Amalekites?
Hereby I avoid the raving lunatics.

Do you take the whole bible to be the word of God?
Hereby I avoid the whole New Testament is the real word of god stupidity, otherwise known as the god is not omni-everything argument.

Do you know the difference between embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells?
This eradicates the people that think stem cell research is all about killing babies.

Okay, I have probably eradicated 90% of debate opponents now.

One last thing, I have not included the obvious do you have proof question. As well, they don't even if they say they do. But the list above will clarify if I am making a complete waste of my time, or at least the person can still be reached.

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Abiogenesis is absolutely a credible process

A fantastic new study has been published in JACS by Griffith and co-workers entitled "Photoinitiated Synthesis of Self-Assembled Vesicles". This is a nice piece of research as it gives further credence to the abiogenesis theory for the start of life on our planet.

In this study the authors showed that using an artificial sunlight source a lipid vesicle could be formed. In itself this should amaze us, as the authors have not used heat or special conditions. This argument for special conditions is a valid one, yet usually the proponents that make it are not prepared to say what the conditions were. I suppose its the only way to defeat the argument repeatedly, as you can always use the same excuse. Back on topic, the authors only used a water solution with a fatty acid included and sunlight. This means in effect that could repeat this experiment at home if you were careful.

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What makes this study even more special is that the vesicle formed in this study is unique in that it is made of double tail fatty acid building blocks. The first step leads to two single tail fatty acids forming a fatty acid that has a double tail. This is important as a double tail fatty acid is the core component of modern day cells.

This double tail fatty acid then arranges (in a second step) into a vesicle in which the basic components of life can start to work. This means we are able to get unicellular life eventually by trial and error.....or dare I say it natural selection. This means we have gone from non-living to living!

As atheists we often encounter theists that call abiogenesis by another name namely evolution which it is not. As such theists like to hide behind this "lack of knowledge" to defy evolution (go figure). Fortunately, there is not a lack of knowledge, its just not that well known compared to evolution. Lets try make a difference and share knowledge to defeat irrational arguments.

Idiot of the Week - Pope Francis

 

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This weeks idiot is none other than the Pope. He earns this honor by saying that the "The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility. No-one else has done more. Yet the Church is the only one to have been attacked,". This is in response to the allegations of sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church and the Vatican's role in stopping or not stopping said abuse.

Maybe the Pope needs to be reading the newspapers,( link2 , link3, link4) watching the news@8 and reading some books. Hopefully then when he has educated himself he will realize that all the cover ups by the catholic church are the reason people are attacking the church. He would then also see that no one believes the church as they harbor criminals even when they know about them. Paedophilia is rampant in the Catholic Church and I would applaud the Church if they were doing something about it 40+ years ago.

The Catholic Church's voice of god rightfully deserves his title this week, oh and that's not Pope its Idiot of the week.

The troll among the ignorant

Every blogger, debater or commenter online will encounter the following three people at some point in their online activity. These people consist of the ignorant, the troll and the liar. The unfortunate and sad part is that often it is difficult to tell who you are dealing with when you encounter them online. The truth is there is only one of these characters that is worth engaging and that is the ignorant person.

Ignorance is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact I will happily state I am ignorant of many economic principles. However, to combat that I am trying to learn more about them. In the same way the ignorant person is going on line asking questions as they really do not know.

On the other hand the troll. Is just out to raise your blood pressure and get you punching a hole in your computer screen.

  

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The liar is similar to a troll in that this person lies on purpose to defend their position. They raise your blood pressure as well the difference is they think you are an idiot while a troll knows you are not. This is the creationist that denies the fossil record.

But here is the problem the following question could come from any of these three people.
Why are there still monkeys if humans evolved from monkeys?

The only way I have been able to discern sometimes who is trolling, ignorant or lying is if I have met the person before on a forum or comment thread. This is why I will sometimes engage even the most randomly absurd question from a commenter.

What do you do to determine who is trolling, who is ignorant and who is a liar?

The infidel talks to the infidel slayer

Last week I met a friend of a very close friend. Turns out she is a Muslim, which made me laugh aloud while my friend scrambled to tell her I am a huge atheist and think all religion is a waste. On a side note is it ever appropriate to laugh when someone tells you they are religious. Almost every time in this situation I laugh, as usually it makes me think of how I can ask questions that I know they will have to justify with awful consequences. So, yes I do get a twisted enjoyment out of the whole situation.

Back to the story. I asked this friend about the whole kill infidels question that is found in the Koran. Basically, I said to her you have to kill me right? I got a quizzed look and then I said in the Koran it says you have to kill the infidels(unbelievers) as is lined out in the Surah below. And hence I am an unbeliever so you need to do some murder.
Surah 2:191 And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers.

But this is where it gets interesting. Her reply to me was that this is out of context as it does not mean all infidels. It in  fact refers only to those apostates of the Islamic faith. Now I have read the versus surrounding the one I quoted above, and it does not seem to me to be this way. However, I am sure there are Hadiths that explain all these things in "un"sensible apologetic way.

But, before we digress any further as to what these interpretations of the prefect word of god mean. It still means there are people you are allowed to kill if they do not believe in Allah. Religion of Peace my arse.