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US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell
First time accepted submitter badford writes "Representative Paul Broun (Georgia Republican) said that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are 'lies straight from the pit of hell' meant to convince people that they do not need a savior. It would not be quite as shocking if Broun did not sit on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. What impact could this have on policy? What impact could this have on STEM education not just in Georgia but all over the U.S.?"
Post your anti-religious bigotry in the comments below.
Are they elected? Or just randomly assigned?
If you are religious, you should be prohibited from serving in public office. Further, you should have a guardian assigned to look after your affairs, since obviously you are very weak intellectually.
Probably bring about end of war, famine, disease, poverty, and all evil in the world, if we could just keep the religious from having influence.
It's an election year. Don't believe anything they say. Republicans this year especially have been saying the craziest crap because they know crazy people are more likely to vote than sane ones, who long ago gave up and decided the world was run by crazy people. Oh, did you just see what I did there? :( This guy has a long list of failures politically and personally (4 marriages)... I suspect he'd wear a pink tutu and sing songs from Little Mermaid if he thought he'd get more votes.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
is there even a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
It's on the internet. The fundamental enabling technology for the internet is the semiconductor. The semiconductor is a child of quantum mechanics - there is no classical behavior that would predict it. Even though quantum mechanics are present in all chemistry and even vacuum tubes, those both have classical behavior that can be seen with the naked eye, and appreciated without quantum mechanics.
Semiconductors can't. They're "Devil Science", just like those others.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
If you don't like evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory, and believe it's all lies, then just don't bother with it. Leave alone the poor guys believing such insanities. Let them do as they want, if it's not true, they should not achieve anything dangerous, right?
In the end, we will see who was right...
Video of some good progressive thrash music
I wonder what he would think of the Pope saying that there is no conflict between the theory of evolution and church doctrine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_evolution#Pope_John_Paul_II
Question
Hypothesis
Prediction
Test
Accept Jesus into your Heart
Analysis
Well, if the federal government didn't control education policy and funding, then it would have no impact whatsoever. If you advocate the involvement of government in education, you can have very little to say in opposition to elected officials' pedagogical opinions being leashed on the classroom.
If humans are mostly water, and beer is mostly water, then humans must be mostly beer.
Why I believe that we need to do a great deal of redistricting and add more congress-critters. 435 people are just not enough to get a decent cross section or represent enough of the U.S. How can 1 person represent an average of 716,000 people.
See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge64kMFoQEo
It has the greatest Youtube comment I've ever read too:
'You know what this video needs? More deer heads.' Thank you, Crossss8!
I know it's scary to think that this fellow will be making technology decisions for the rest of us, but just voting against him doesn't solve the problem.
It takes generations of well educated people to slough off these ridiculous old world superstitions. He probably has very nice salt-of-the-earth parents who worked hard all their lives and mis-attributed their success and happiness as gifts from a deity. A paycheck for living "good lives."
But in every generation kids question everything their parents stand for, adopting some, discarding others. If we keep educating them, if they see enough of the wide world to know that the only justice is what we make, that their are billions of people living good lives who believe completely different things, then they'll see through these lies, and pass along a different subset of their beliefs to their kids.
It's too late to fix this guy. if you want to vote out his successors, vote against ignorance; vote some of your hard earned money toward education. My parents did, and that's why this guy is now in the minority.
This makes me angry and depressed at the same time.
You can't really reach a consensus on many issues when such differences exist. Democracy makes the Majority "right" so it is important not to let their views go unchallenged.
But to be basically saying what he did to me is kind of a push of religon. That its self is fine, but not when you're in an official political role as we're suppose to have separation of church and state.
That's my thoughts anyhow...
I'll save you....oh wait never mind your not worth it....( OH and WHERE'S MY PIZZA )
His brain is not connected to a single rational thought, but he is a fucking elected congressman.
All the article says about his audience is that it was "a sportsman’s banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell". Can anyone provide more detailed information on the rest of his speech or put it in better context?
It's entirely possible to have a well developed sense of the divine (without knowing exactly what it is and understanding that it may be entirely neurological) and be entirely free of Christianity, Islam, or any other fan club affiliation that requires an unproven belief in invisible friends, holy war, talking snakes, ritual blood drinking and/or body eating or additional taxation in the form of tithing.
Cheers!
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I see no connection between evolution and my need for a savior - I'm a miserable sinner and I know it - except that evolution helped arrive at this understanding.
... is that it's true whether you believe in it, or not.
His brain is not connected to a single rational thought, but he is a fucking elected congressman. (This exact comment has already been posted. Try to be more original... )
Michele Bachmann serves on the house intelligence committee. She was probably appointed by the moron from Georgia.
I'd like to take a visit. Seems like there's some good science going on in there. I'll just wait by the edge and catch a few big ones.
(am i even allowed to post a comment on a story I submitted? I best consult the hell-pit.)
-badford
for conflict of interest
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
is why having Government run everything is a bad idea. Sure, you get your pro-science Obama (well... pro some selected kinds of science at least, try getting him to approve research into reprocessing nuclear waste and he'll give you a response that's the left-wing equivalent of this guy's speech), but then you get these wackos.
The typical Slashdot solution is to put the people they disagree with into concentration camps in the name of "science", but the smart solution is to make it so that people can be free to be whackos without wielding huge amounts of power over everyone else.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
I wonder what evolutionary trait creates people that accept belief as truth over scientific method and proven theories.
Can it be the fact that people who didn't accept authoritarian belief ended up being stoned and burned over it?
What exactly sets the people who create these beliefs apart? Do they really believe that or do they just use it to their advantage?
Even Einstein turned into a buffoon once religion got to him. All his great theories and discoveries were done during his "atheist" phase. What genetic trait triggered his switch to belief over theory?
http://xkcd.com/154/
... have declared war on the rest of us. They have declared war on modern society.
And no, there isn't any reasoning with these people, the Dominionists. They are stone cold nuts and they even use the vocabulary of war in their screeds. Any attempt to reason with them is assuming that they are capable of rational thought. They are not. Deep down, they actually and truly believe that science is *the* enemy. It is a position that is beyond the reach of any rational thought, so ridicule is the only tool left. If given half a chance, they would drag us back to pre-inudustrial society with just the Bible as the sole text.
He needs to be held up to ridicule from sea to shining sea.
Give him a piece of your mind https://www.facebook.com/brounforcongress
--
BMO
Curiously, the Big Bang theory was often attacked for being "religious", that is stating that the Universe didn't always exist but was created a finite time ago.
GOP = only for big biz.
First off, why does everyone pick on christianity. In fact quiet a few christians do fully accept big bang theory and evolution as science, and are not fundamentalist. of course there are some christians that do not accept science and think that only they are true christians, the fact is, many christians do except science.
Islam is far worse and far less tolerant of those who accept certain scientific facts. And, despite scientific information facts and so on being made available to them they refuse to allow any of this to be considered as many christians have. So, what we see is that Muslims are far more close minded than christians and far mroe likely to use violence against those who swerve in the slightest way from the fundamentalist islamic dogma.
it is worth pointing out that many are Christian and at the same time acknowledge evolution, big bang and so on. The suggestions here that christianity and science are incompatable are not true and perhaps it is people like Broun who do damage to christianity by presenting this extreme position of his as the only kind of christianity. Then, people hear this stuff and think that this is what all christians are like when that is simply not the case.
While atheist seem to have an elitist mentality, what is often seem to be happening to atheist communities seems to indicate severe shortcomings, the fact is many of them are not having many children, studies have been posted right here on slashdot that have shown that since religious people have more children, atheist are basically a shrinking and dying breed. And as well, the social damage that this is harmful to a country. A country does need to be able to maintain and regenerate its population levels adequately and we do need a social structure and fabric that makes sure that this happens.
I beleive in science but I also believe most people need religion in their life to provide moral guidance and as a part of the social fabric needed for our population to regenerate. Many People need the structure that religion provides and basically many need to have a respect for god and life. When we take the structure that religion provides out of peoples lives the results can actually be in many cases disasterous. Murder, drug dealings, theivery, dishonesty, self centeredness, greed, all of these things are condemned and discouraged by christianity. In fact, Christain churches really do teach good values like, viewing children as our most precious gift and responsibility and the main purpose of marriage is to raise healthy children and provide them with a loving, safe household, respect for life, kindness to others, thinking about others feelings and needs, good work and labor to contribute to society, raising children in loving, caring stable households with a husband and wife, honor, decency, compassion, love, charity, kindness and so on. Is this the only way to get these values? No. But many people do in fact benefit from this and basically many do need thec concept of god that insists that they behave in a decent way and that as well that they have family values in which to raise healthy, intelligent children. Many people do need the structures set up for them to guide them. Christianity provides the structure to raise, decent, honest, caring, hard working people.
We forget tht science is capable of many obcene atrocities and when we leave out ethics it can lead to the most monstrous invasions of peoples rights, such as the danger posed by security cameras everywhere to our privacy and electronic tracking of everything people do. Science can tell you exactly how to totally enslave and violate every freedom people have, kill huge numbers of people and so on. All of this is perfectly in line with "science". science just tells you whats possible. It does not tell you whats right and wrong. That is why we need ethics in our lives.
There are many different kinds of christians some who find ways to be compatable with science while keeping their religion. There is no need to throw out religions, which
Should invalidate him to serve on that particular committee.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
What's really scary is not that this guy is an idiot, or even a liar. One has come to expect that from Republicans. What is scary, are the people who voted for him. In a mature, sane, society, a guy like this wouldn't get elected dog-catcher. The fact that he is in a position of power is sadly all too easy to understand if you look at the mental state of the people who voted him into office.
I didn't know ignorance went that far north in the US.
Posters seem worried about federal funding for STEM education. I assume the house committee this guy is on is also responsible for approving funding for many programs such as NIH, NSF, NIST, DOE labs, military labs and programs such as DARPA, Wright Patterson, Naval Research Lab, an many more. All of them accept the basic principles of chemistry, physics, biology, geology, etc., including genetics, bacterial and viral cause of disease, quantum mechanics, and on, and on.
For comic relief perhaps the House of Representatives should set up a committee on alternative science with him as head.
Smile, blather and shake hands, preferably all at the same time.
And some people want Congress to decide what happens to the entire health care system in the U.S.?
The likes of Broun, Pelosi & Reid are NOT capable of deep thinking. Deep fundraising, maybe, as long as they get theres.
We need less Federal government. We rose to the top of nations without the Federal government in charge of education. I sure looks like ever since the Dept. of Education was implemented in the 1970s that the general education level has been dumbed down. Get the Feds out. They do not know what they are doing...except feathering their own retirement programs.
People like this guy are worse than terrorist. A terrorist attack makes at most tens of thousands of people suffer. These Christian fundamentalists in high places can make sure that 100s of thousands of children don't get enough chances in life because they don't get the education they need.
-- Cheers!
No use calling it a democracy anymore, it's a mockery of what a democracy should be.
In a true democracy, you actually have people representing different sides of issues. This is clearly now no longer the case.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
... republican inquisition!
Privacy is terrorism.
I think that scientist ignore politics and such ludicrous claims too often. There should be strong visible position of the scientific community against these claims so that any sane even uninformed person could see, that such opinions are insane and unacceptable in modern society.
http://secretsecret500.blog.com/2012/10/06/hello-world/ I've been trying to get some discussion going on this, but it's a royal pain in the ass to use slashdot with tor and privoxy enabled. Would anyone like to discuss it here in this thread? The message will most likely go viral if posted on facebook and twitter :)
Personally, per my subject-line above & the phrase I used? Well... assuming that God is perfect, then why wouldn't God build an adaptive creature that can survive just about anything, due to evolutionary adaptation being a "built-in feature" due to 'natural selection'?
* I've always looked @ it that way...
APK
P.S.=> Is there a God? Oh, I tend to know so... he's come into my life more than a few times (seeing it in hindsight later, that is) - I wish I listened more is all!
All I know is, that WHATEVER created this universe, and all the life on this planet alone, is in my estimation, truly a God...
... apk
Fuck it. I'm about to punch through an MS in Comp Sci. What's it take to immigrate to Canada nowadays? You know, a nation that's rational? Sigh.
> If humans are mostly water, and beer is mostly water, then humans must be mostly beer.
Shouldn't that be:
If humans are mostly water (70%), and beer is mostly water (95%), then beer consists of diluted humans, or does it? ;-)
I like my spaghetti with source.
I think you see people "picking on" Christians in America because Christianity is the only religion in this country really picking on our populace as a whole. I'll grant you that it's the "fundamental" Christians that seem to be doing most of the picking, not the moderate Christians, but still.
I haven't heard of American Buddhists in a place of power - if there are any in places of power - trying to get reincarnation taught as science. I imagine there might be problems with Islam trying to teach their faith as science in this country. . . if they held enough of a bloc of power to make that a problem.
Having a Christian Fundamental - any religious fundamentalist, really - that doesn't believe in science and preaches his or her minority and narrowly interpreted view of that religion as science sitting on a national committee of science is a frightening thing to those of us who'd like to see the sciences taught in this country.
Evolution is fact, it happens, we know it happens, there is proof. I have one question for him, "Can you prove creationism?" , The answer is no. I'm not about to debate what the right answer is but if your sitting on a board that regulates part of the school system then you must bow to logic and reason and evolution is the only reasonable choice. If you pick creationism then you need to bow to every single possible variant. There is no difference between Jesus and Harry potter as far as science goes, both had "wands" both used "magic" and both at least to me don't really exist.
he is a Representative from Georgia, right?
BROUN'S 4-WAY TEST
I am committed to protecting the constitutional rights and pocketbooks of every American. I will apply the following four-way test to every piece of legislation that comes before the House for a vote:
1) Is it Right/Moral?
2) Is it Constitutional?
3) Is it Necessary?
4) Is it Affordable?
Ask Slashdot: Is Paul Broun fit to be:
1) A US legislator - responsible for national policy affecting Science, Space and Technology.
2) A medical professional - tasked with health care of the sick and ill.
3) An American Citizen - (ideally) part of a rational, responsible, and well-informed electorate.
4) A Christian - committed to following the teachings of Christ.
5) A Homo Sapien - the name, more or less, means "of the same wisdom/intelligence".
========== "Hello World" in my programming language of choice: ATG - LET THERE BE LIFE - TAG ==========
As a native and resident of the state of Georgia, let me apologize to the Slashdot community on behalf of this representative. I can assure you that he does not represent my district. Also, I went to a Magnet high school that was focused on math, science, and technology, so there is a significant number of Georgia residents that do not actually believe that evolution, the big bang (maybe The Big Bang Theory, but that's another topic), and genetics are not, in fact, tricks and lies of Satan.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
He is apparently running unopposed in November.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Georgia%27s_10th_congressional_district_elections,_2012
Representative Paul Broun (Georgia Republican) said that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are 'lies straight from the pit of hell
You're an embrassment to yourself, Billy-Bob...
Apparently he believes in Intelligent Gestation.
https://sites.google.com/site/intelligentgestationinstitute/
----
True Creation dot info
http://truecreation.info/
What I do know is that between the political environment, the sheer dumbification of americans and religious bigotry, I will choose other destinations for my holidays or visits.
Dover was not the feds attempting to change the local education and impose a creationsit absed federal agenda. In fact you are much much more likely to have local crazy creationsit which can get their election and turn the local school to shit, than creationsit do that on the fedral level which would be much more visible and rise very quickly baricades. In fact the local student had to sue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District
Which is why I laugh when i see people speaking against feds in such matter. The least likely ton bring in on a creationist anti science agenda are the feds. Not the locals.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
So why is it that these mental midgets get elected?
Regardless of what district they come from, why not heavily fund the competition in these elections?
Give money to whomever is running against them.
All religion is mental illness and should be treated as such.
These people are a danger to themselves and others and should be locked up.
It's a shame that both major parties feel the need to pander and sometimes outright lie to people. If Republicans weren't so crazy with religion and were actual fiscal conservatives, and Democrats would stop pandering to the far-left socialist crowd, it might be easier. So I just vote for other people who will never win but my conscience is clear. I didn't vote the bums into office, so I can laud it over the rest of you. Smug self-righteousness is the way to go here.
Please, relate to me from your ONE book that you believe in that science is from the Devil, or from hell.
I hate even saying "believe" in evolution because it sounds like an act of faith, and it isn't. Evolution has many different meanings, and I think that is a point of contingency on both sides. I won't argue the many different ideas of evolution from natural selection, to speciation, to implied origin of species.
It isn't difficult to believe me when I say it is close minded people that are causing the problem. There are people who can't understand that God can exist, yet one of their theologies can be flawed. If people opened their minds and just accept the fact that,"God is so wondrous you can't know everything about him or how he did things." the world would be better off. I mean that is the reason there are different denominations in Christianity. We all accept Jesus saving us and wanting to live together in love, but because God is so big, we can't know everything about him.
In conclusion, don't listen to close minded people who say God can't exist when evolution is true.
I authored an article that explains one of the alternate literal Creationism that also accepts evolution: Long Day Theory"
God spoke to me
It's not about christianity, it's about subsets of christianity that not only reject science, but try to force their idiotic beliefs onto others.
...that ne alien civilisations monitor the progress of earth. If there where any, this would be the point they'd nuke us from orbit...
People like him are straight from the pit of hell, he's as bad as the Taliban, espousing religion in order to gain or maintain power over the sheep that believe in him.
People of his ilk probably were big fans of the "Dark Ages" and would like to bring them back. Funny thing is the nature of religion has been debated for years this is how we came to have the various Christian Variations (Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian etc.) due to debates among scholars, this return to we take the bible literally
is a turn back.
Except:
1) The Big Bang theory is something that arises from the study of physics. Saying it's "evil" says that the fundamentals of theoretical physics are evil. Of course physics will be affected if some idiot with a bit of power starts mouthing off that people studying the origins of the universe are evil. Some of those people are quite devout Christians.. Think it doesn't affect them and their state of mind, which affects their work? Technology arises due to knowledge of physics; they're very tightly interlinked. Railing against one part of it has knock on effects everywhere.
2) Saying evolution (which has been observed) is not important? Hello? There's no problem with having a design base? Well, hey, no problem with doing theology as long as you don't have anything to do with God I guess.. It's a part of Biology, and explains much about how things have arisen, the interactions, and why things have become the way they have.
No, America isn't anti science. The guy that's the subject of this is, quite frankly, and idiot. He's a member of a scientific board. What should happen is everyone calmly sits down and says "Interesting postulation. Lets see your working, experimental evidence and ensure it's repeatable in objective controlled environments. If it can't be proved, or disproved, it has no place in this environment, and you don't have the beginnings of an understanding of science, so please give up your post on this board, as you have no right to be here".
This is just another reason why the world laughs at Americans.
You cannot read a map, you cannot spell correctly, you still think the world is flat, and that the universe revolves around the world.
America is like a child with a fire-cracker in one hand, and a loaded gun in the other - someone is going to get hurt!
Computer science and engineering are not science. Your ramblings about biology are incoherent. And then you just discount the take on physics.
Remember, Congress has the power of the purse. How do you think funding of the National Science Foundation will work with nuts like this on the Science Committee?
Well, mankind has steered evolution of a lot of living things. Think of all the different kind of dogs, both the Great Dane and Yorkshire terrier descend from wolves. OK, the breeders provided environmental pressure so you could argue that it is unnatural selection, but the mechanism is proven. Same thing goes for cattle, poultry, roses, wheat,...
Multiple states across this country have laws that state, "School textbooks shall be up to date and accurate." Evolution should NOT be taught as fact, but as theory. The same with creationism (which consequently isn't taught at all). Present both of them as theories along with evidence that supports them, then let students create their own beliefs based on evidence. Isn't that how science works anyway?
The problem here is that we allow people like that at all to dictate policy that the government has no business of being in. If you don't allow government to set policy on things it has no business being involved in, this would be a non-story.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
USA, the world is laughing. you know this right? We read shit like this and facepalm. You are a laughing stock, you need to sort this shit out. Please I'm British and most of the world thing we are related or something. Cousin Jimmy has been seen playing with himself in public again. Unashamed, dick in hand and he dosn't know people are laughing at him. Pointing and passing judgement. Stop it! just stop...
PendragonUK http://flavors.me/pendragonuk
If this fellow and those who share his views are sincere, then they ought return all those things which Science hath given them. That means they don't even get to live the life of the Amish, because they still use simple machines like pulleys and gears and those could clearly not exist without Science.
Let them return their cars, their modern fabrics, their TVs and computers and cell phones. Let them not travel upon paved roads, for those are marvels of modern Science and engineering. Let them have nothing save that which was constructed by hand using tools of no greater sophistication than bronze implements. Let them herd sheep and goats and spin wool and till the soil and walk everywhere they need to go, communicating by speech and clay tablets.
If they do all those things, then it's fine by me if they serve in Congress and make decisions about matters of Science.
But if they don't, then they can GTFO and take their brain damage with them.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Broun can believe whatever he likes but he has no business being on the Science, Space and Tech committee. And how the heck did he get an MD?
" I also believe most people need religion in their life to provide moral guidance"
Really? You can't get moral guidance just from your own common sense, you have to have some guy in the sky handing it to you?
Funny, I'm VERY MUCH an atheist, and I have no problem understanding that killing, stealing, hurting other people (physically, mentally, and even emotionally) is wrong. I know not to fuck around on my wife. I don't need a guy in the sky for ANY of that, why do you?
!! GOOD ON YOU PAUL BROUN !!
Export the fool to Iran.
Has all this religion made southerners better people? Not according to my history book.
Seriously, you guys in the USA need to improve your general education, get rid of all your crazies and spend less time being concerned with religious issues. After all, you have established freedom of belief in your beloved constitution, now haven't you ?
My prediction is that his voice will be censured as biased and contrary to his position as a congress critter, and that the net effect will be that it backfires,. I also predict that is his plan all along.
Anyone in congress should more than anyone know the first amendment, and I doubt he is ignorant of the concept of separation of church and state. For him to open his mouth about this is bold and surely he knows that he'll probably be called on it for that reason.
If you're in government generally you are expected to keep your mouth shut about religion, especially when offering positions that could be construed as government sponsored.
Clearly.
There is every need to throw out religions, for they are all enemies of the search for truth, for which they substitute dogma. There is no need to "reconcile" Superstition with science.
Supply EVIDENCE and prove the Superstition!
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
... and this is what we get. Any Congressman with a halfway credible opposition candidate wouldn't dare say something this stupid.
who will have a hell talking his fellow GOPper out of this
Broun also said that he believes the Earth is about 9,000 years old and that it was made in six days. Those beliefs are held by fundamentalist Christians who believe the creation accounts in the Bible to be literally true.
- DAMN! Is the inflation so high today it even devalued the 6000 time years to mean 9000? I mean I remember seeing stories saying that it's 6000 just 1 year ago, so that's 50% increase in 1 freaking year, if this stuff compounds soon enough this creationist belief will catch up with the actual Earth's age and then shoot right past it.
In only 33 years with kind of inflation 6000 years will exceed 5.8 billion, which is 1.3 billion years more than the actual Earth's age!
You can't handle the truth.
The country with more firepower than the rest of the world combined is governed by an apocalyptic cult. Does that strike anyone else as scary?
He believes that he needs to be on the front lines of the war against secular humanism.How else can he make a meaningful difference?
Please no Cheers!
Zealots need not apply, on either side of the fence. The major difference between an extremely scientific mind and an highly biblical one is that at least the scientist is willing to look at the evidence both contradictory and confirming. A religious, literal interpreter of the bible will never consider anything seriously that isn't written in his precious pages. Those on both sides that can't look at their own beliefs and understanding with a critical eye have no right to be in a position of authority.
It's entirely possible to have a well developed sense of the divine (without knowing exactly what it is and understanding that it may be entirely neurological) and be entirely free of Christianity, Islam, or any other fan club affiliation that requires an unproven belief in invisible friends, holy war, talking snakes, ritual blood drinking and/or body eating or additional taxation in the form of tithing.
Yes, but LSD is illegal.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
To understand his phrase about "straight from hell" one must understand his theological viewpoint.
Unless he was the sole member on the committee, I don't see any of what he said as problematic. Dissent is healthy. This is a democracy, and he as well as anyone else has the ability to speak their mind.
As a scientist myself, I don't take offense at his viewpoint, though his choice of phrasing is very politically incorrect.
...I consider you an enemy of the world.
So, will you let him continue?
Because I sure as hell won't let you continue act as if you're livestock without a free will.
How in the hell did an anti-science cretin get a spot in the bully pulpit for science in this country?
For that matter, how do we get him fired for incompetence and inability to perform the duties of the position?
How does he know they aren't a message from God?
Isn't Venter writing info into the DNA he creates?
A fucking medical doctor who doesn't understand evolution. WTF?
(Unless of course he's from the 17-hundreds.)
Hey, I can play this game. Here you go:
1 - As a self-declared religious (specifically Christian) person, he is declaring that he gets his perception of rights and morals from a 2000 year old book of anomalous bullshit. Therefore, he is unable to evaluate legislation in the context of modern society. For instance, it is no longer "ok" to engage in involuntary slavery, despite the constitutional provision that assigns such a right to the US federal government, and which the states also engage in. On the other hand, it is now "ok" to eat shellfish. We now understand that women are of generally equal cognitive capacity to men, and that all prior presumptions of women being subservient to men are born of misapplication of power brought about by physical differences and the often significant convenience of dominating them. I'd say these things (and a bunch of other, similar things along the same lines) pretty well rules him out as qualified to be a legislator in my view. I'd not vote for him unless the alternative was specifically worse in some obvious fashion.
2 - As a religious (specifically Christian) person, he almost certainly believes his imaginary friend has influence upon worldly matters (since that's the basic claim of Christianity), which would include disease processes and remedies thereto. I'd say that rules him out as qualified to be my doctor, although he might be perfectly acceptable to other Christians. Me, I want someone who understands random processes and statistics and is fully aware that they stand entire free of magic influence -- just to start with. That whole "life after death" thing also makes me want to avoid him as a medical practitioner. I want someone who completely understands that when brian death occurs, it's all over, and therefore will not do any hand waving or positive value assignment, literal or figurative, WRT "life after death."
3 - He's most likely qualified to be a citizen. You just need to be a member of our species who is born here, generally speaking. There's no intelligence test, you're ((etc.)grand)fathered in. Unless you're an immigrant, in which case you are presently subjected to a ridiculous set of immoral and unethical metrics no one else is, in order to draw an artificial line between the incoming labor pool and those already here -- a matter of some convenience and utility when those-already-here attempt to present themselves on the local job market.
4 - Anyone can qualify for Christianity, though the closer your critical thinking processes are to those of a cabbage, the better you will fit in.
5 - Homo Sapien isn't self-defining of its class members. It's just a (somewhat arbitrary) class name. It might as well be "AnyRandomWord(s), usually from obsolete latin." Look into taxonomy for (many) more examples. This isn't reasonably up for question or interpretation, unless we're talking about an actual cabbage.
Yes indeed... a short-lived experiment at a democratic republic that (a) never managed to even come close to adhering to its own constitutional authorizations, veering further and further from them by the day, and (b) is currently only able to operate courtesy of loans from other countries, and (c) is now possessed of an entirely corrupt political and legal framework, starting at the bottom (legislation) and working right up into all the various human factors (law enforcement, judges, lawyers, politicians and the sundry minions of all the foregoing.)
I agree: Being religious doesn't make you a useless piece of shit. Just a critical-thinking challenged human being. Neither uncommon or particularly reprehensible. But people being religious does appear to have had a great influence on making our government a useless piece of shit. I know, correlation is no guarantee of causation, but on the other hand, we rarely find massive, consistent and repeatable effect without significant correlation, do we now?
It is fat (and wasteful) and much of that excess comes straight from Muslim countries that have been attacked repeatedly on the flimsiest pretexts (i.e. it is stolen).
Take away that gluttonous windfall and there is no evidence that the 'nice' Christian teachings would prevent them from reverting to savagery that made Muslim exploits look like a Teletubbies episode.
This is why I think your whole "But we're superior" post is a load of BS. Christian morality only looks passable from inside its own insular navel-gazing.
Actually, evolution increasingly helps explain why people gravitate toward a sense of morality. But in the process it shows us things that put certain aspects of religion in a negative light: Christianity would be no exception.
Either he's trolling or the man is a bona fide cunt. With it being Ametrica[0], it's hard to be sure.
[0] Started off as a typo, but actually kind of apposite.
How does anyone in 2012 believe this crap?
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
In the meantime, the atheist psychopaths can have fun jumping up and down and foaming at the mouth and screaming that America is anti-science. It's fun to watch.
And yet you're the one slinging the vitriol which you characterized above, and I'm the one watching and laughing... hmmm.
You know the result: This.
So you're a democracy with freedom of speech etc. etc. so where are your mass-media communicators that shrivel this ball of idiocy into a cinder? You may have a few obstreperous icons but that's not the same thing as a must-watch 'spitting image' on every week to lampoon the whole lot of them.
to the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge64kMFoQEo
in case you're like me wondering what species of slime mold a "Paul Broun" is,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broun#Controversies
unfortunately i have not found a web page to explain how this mouth-breathing brain-dead no-talent ass-clown continues to cash a government paycheck. I've been to Atlanta, and its people are quite intelligent, unfortunately theyre outnumbered by the hicks in the sticks straddling mobility scooters and sucking down big macs as usual.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Some sort of God created the Big Bang.. evolution etc etc. There is soooooo much we don't know.
However, one thing I do know is............... I am sure this guy would not get my vote if I lived in Georgia.
Full disclosure -- it's me
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fishman-For-Congress/238525136213826?sk=wall&filter=12
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
I send a president to do a job to do that job he has to have the numbers in the house and senate or you get a party of no like we have in the house now.
So to prevent that I and other vote the ticket anyone in my case no matter the nut job they are I have to give them the vote.
Or else my elected president can not do what I sent him to do.
Poor US of A. ;-(
Because Christians are very bad at policing their own.
Fugue for Aaron Swartz
That what a critical thinker calls a "hallucination."
When it comes to public office, what we need to guard against is not the religious, or atheists, or whatever other philosophy someone might follow. What we need to guard against are people who are utterly unwilling and incapable of living in a pluralistic society. People who are dogmatic whether from fear, lacking all empathy, lacking the ability to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes, and/or an aggrandized persecution complex and self-righteousness. Putting this type of person in a position of power is incompatible with a peaceful, pluralistic, free, and democratic society.
This nut isn't a lawyer. He's a doctor. A medical doctor.
How he managed to obtain an MD whilst holding these kinds of insane ideas is beyond me.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
The Big Bang theory is something that arises from the study of physics. Saying it's "evil" says that the fundamentals of theoretical physics are evil.
I assume the thought process goes something like this:
First, the initial assumption: the Bible tells us that the Earth is young (6k years, 9k years, even 50k years, it doesn't make much difference for Evolution or Big Bang)
Once you take that as true, the rest falls into place fairly logically. Since you *know* the Earth is young, there *can't* be evidence contrary to this. This means anyone who observes anything else is at best mistaken. One or two people could conceivably make an innocent mistake like that. Thousands of people though? It could only be a conspiracy. And who would be the source of this conspiracy? Satan, obviously. Therefore, Evolution and the Big Bang Theory are "Lies straight from the pit of hell."
Of course, the starting point is a crock of shit, but if you take it as a given, the rest is actually logical.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Representative Paul Broun (Georgia Republican) said that evolution, embryology and The Big Bang Theory are 'lies straight from the pit of hell'
If he doesn't like The Big Bang Theory, CBS tells me that he can see 2.5 Men afterwards, or the Veep Debates after that. ...or does he think that Vice Presidents are all full of lies straight from the pit of hell, too?
coding is life
So, God's word is true. But, all that evolution, embryology, and Big Bang theory that results from a careful study of God's world? Oh, that's all lies. Oh, and why did God create this amazing world? Oh, to create lies that teach the understanding that one not need a savior. Sounds like an enactment of Job all over again. You know the funny thing about the story of Job? It's not that Job personally suffers or how its done all on the behest of Satan to "prove" Job's inherent faithfulness or how it all boils down to a "test" and "don't question the acts of God because you didn't make the universe". It's how God kills Job's kids then in the end proceeds to produce new kids for him as if they're magically some sort of replacement. In other words, not only is God a dick to the most pious for the most dubious of reasons, but "God's word" makes it very clear that as a rule you *are* a number and trivially replaceable. Is it any wonder people in power, who view themselves as special, would be so willing to embrace "God's word"? It must make it easier for them to sleep at night. But, then, that sort of presumes they had any sort of empathy in the first place that needed to be quieted somehow.
Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
If I were an intelligent person who, for whatever reason, leaned toward the GOP point of view, I would have to rethink my position. The parade of idiots they presented as potential presidential candidates early in the campaign, dopes like this guy Broun, etc., would make me ashamed to call myself a republican. In fact, I would be deeply insulted that the party I support would present these sorts of people as serious presidential contenders. Apparently the GOP doesn't want anyone with any brains at all.
The problem for the rest of us is that there are many more stupid people in the US than smart or even just reasonable people. The GOP knows this and bends over backwards to appeal to the dopes. I'm beginning to think that democracy, at least as practiced in the US, is grossly over-rated.
Actually, it's something like 50% of the American population that believes that way. *sigh*
And if people need an example, here's a direct copy and paste of a comment left by some mouth-breather in response to the linked article about this guy:
If the earth is billions of years old, due to the magnetic pull the moon would have been almost on top of the earth during the time of dinosaurs. Additionally, DNA loses pieces and becomes weaker with time it does not develope and created new pieces. Carbon dating of a mammoth was sent to two different labs and each lab dated the mammoth 20-30,000 years apart (so much for carbon dating). Are you aware there are fosils of trees standing up and going between the multiple layers of earth. How could a tree transend millions of years of layers and grow straight through the layers. The answer if GLOBAL FLOOD and the layers aren't as old as evolutionists believe. I agree you can see micro evolution within the same species but saying that suddenly an amebia grew a respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system and muscularskeletal system all at the same point do be able to reproduce it very, very far fetched. By the way if big bang was true, where did the energy come from to creat the bang? GOD IS THE ANSWER.
When I read stories like this one it makes me glad I'm not an American, and then I remember that America dictates the law for many contries, such as my own. Bugger :-(
Every single time, the evolution deniers make me laugh with this. They can't even get right what they are denying - climate change deniers and Holocaust deniers aren't that far wrong.
'Evolution' is the short-hand name for Darwin's theory, which is actually the Evolution of species by natural selection. Evolution is an observation. Natural selection is a mathematical principle. The theory was the part about linking the two.
So whether you accept the theory or not, evolution is the part that is entirely factual.
I hope the fucking moron meets his savior tomorrow
Sounds like the time I was elected to the municipal school board and then tried to abolish the local public schools because they were worthless and did not provide anything recognizable as an education. That didn't go over so well for me, and nor should this for him either. The difference: I had a point, and he is a crackpot pushing an extremist agenda.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
This is one of the best replies in this whole thread. If I had mod points I would give you an insightful AND an informative. One thing I would point out though is that without God as an outside reference point, all morality and ethics are only opinions of you, me or other people. As a society, we mostly agree for example, that it is wrong to lie, steal or murder. However, in some other society all or some of these things might not be considered wrong. After all, the Nazis murdered millions of Jews, whom they did not consider to be human. Even in our society murder is not considered wrong by many, if it is done to unborn children, who are also considered by many to be nonhuman, but merely a piece of biological tissue.
Like you wrote, science itself is morally neutral. It does not consider ethics or right and wrong. Islam is indeed a greater threat to scientific progress. Almost all early scientists, those who laid the foundations of all of our science, were mostly Christians. These people believed in an intelligent, supremely powerful and wise God, who created an orderly universe following set laws that could be studied. Great institutions of learning, such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Duke and many others were founded because of Christianity and on Christian principles.
All science is the study of nature, that is of God's creation. Scientists explore HOW this creation works, but only the Creator himself can tell us WHY he has chosen to create the universe and us in it. I believe that he has indeed chosen to answer this question in a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors over a period of over 1500 years. It has become known to us as the Bible.
A sufficiently advanced simulation is indistinguishable from reality.
for life
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
people who believe stupid things are often also people who have an obsessive need to impose, by force, belief in those stupid things on others
which pretty much explains a lot of the history of religion
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Christianity seems to center around the idea of who's going to heaven and who's going to hell, but that's not the case with Judaism. (I can't speak for Islam.) It's true that "the wrath of God" is detailed in the Jewish texts, but I've never heard it mentioned as a means to frighten people. If you're Jewish, the interpretation is one of history; that God made a contract with the Jewish people, then did these things to save them from enslavement. Sure, the Jewish people screw up and incur some of God's wrath, but it's nothing like suffering in hell for all eternity. The interpretation I learned was that God's feats represented God fulfilling His part of the contract, and now it's our turn to fulfill our part. There's no threat implied in any of that, it's just stated to show that something was done for you (through your ancestors), and now you have a responsibility to uphold.
Another big difference between Judaism and Christianity is in personal responsibility, and the purpose of life. Christianity seems to dictate that we're all powerless vessels floating on a sea dominated by currents of good and evil. Satan lures you one way, but you need to believe to be saved and reach heaven. The purpose of life is simply to find that belief and stick with it, avoiding the temptations of Satan. By comparison, Judaism focuses on more "practical" things. According to some texts, God left Earth to Man; that is, we're tasked with turning Earth into a paradise. Satan exists in Judaism, but he isn't a source of evil. Rather, the belief is that when you die, your soul goes before a "spiritual court," where Satan is the prosecutor who points out all of the evils that you committed. Basically, while Christianity views evil as some external force, Judaism recognizes that evil can come from within, and claims that everyone should take responsibility for it themselves.
Honestly, it all sounds pretty silly if interpreted in a literal manner. Being Jewish (although "spiritual but not religious") I am obviously biased, but one of the things that I really appreciate about Judaism is that it seems designed to be a guideline to living and finding meaning in life. The focus is on being a better person, improving the world around you, appreciating and enjoying your life. If you can do all of that without reading the Bible or praying to God, wonderful! Formal religion may not recognize you for it, but there's a line in the Bible which claims that you would be considered Jewish simply for that. This is one reason (among others) why you don't see Jews going around trying to convert people. Not pushing the beliefs on people, I might add, is another appealing factor to the Jewish belief set.
TL;DR: What you say accurately describes most forms of Christianity, but there's at least one religion (Judaism) that doesn't quite fit it. I don't think anyone needs religion, but please keep an open mind and don't condemn all religious beliefs just because Christianity can get a bit nuts.
2. render all financial influence in any election illegal. if you get enough signatures, you are given a modest warchest of equal size as your opponent(s) straight from the taxpayers to campaign
3. fillibusters: no
4. line item vetoes: yes
5. elected representatives are paid the average american salary. yes, this will go down when the economy is sick (and will go up, if they do a good job)
6. what the post above me said. fix 1 congresscritter at a unit of 50,000 citizens
7. no more gerrymandering. districts are decided openly, with citizen input, the input of both parties, and must adhere to general rules, such as preserving obvious boundaries of cities and attempting to retain compact form and observe obvious elements of geography
8. anything else?
i think pretty much a vast decisive majority of americans would agree with these modest, old proposals, left and right
and it will be hard with our current system to get any of the measures passed
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Someone please inform this idiot that he can no longer use a cell phone or any modern technology, and by modern technology, i mean anything created after his fucking savior took it up the ass on two sticks.
Seriously. The big bang isnt real? Ok dipshit, then explain to us how your cell phone works, or your computer works? explain to us how your fucking stove works? I bet you he cant.
The fucking problem with these morons is, they USE technology but cant fucking accept that its not magic. They cant accept the FACT that incredibly smart minded human beings, MANY OF WHICH READ THIS SITE... (thank you for all your hard work)... but this fuck can not accept that WE MAKE THESE THINGS... and WE FIGURE SHIT OUT FOR IDIOTS LIKE HIM.
This dumb fuck cant understand how we got to the big bang, but still has the BALLS to turn on his stove expecting the same outcome. WHY does he get such a luxory? Take it away from him. No more technology for him, because according to him... its all bullshit from hell.
What a fucking moron. Representative Paul Broun (Georgia Republican) is a FUCKING IDIOT. Shove your bible up your ass you FUCKING ARROGANT PILE OF SHIT
may i suggest you do everything you can to get the assclown kicked out of office so georgia is not a laughingstock?
this is one of the best universities in the nation, and the world:
http://www.gatech.edu/
every single person at this institution should be horrified disgusted revulsed and feeling nauseous that this douchebag speaks for their state
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
many science projects have to be backed by the government because they are huge expensive endeavours with no business case
think about what will not be or was not, because some assclown in washington dc didn't back it
here's one example, i'm sure there's 10,000 more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider
i know you are talking about policy decisions, like stem cell research. but now you are asking government to not be regulating things that, i'm sorry to say government has every right and need to regulate. if you have to ask why then we veer off in into intellectual charity land and so i have nothing more to say
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
and there's nothing wrong with beliefs that mean science is wrong
but there is something very wrong with such a person holding substantial amounts of power
and there is something enraging about such an imbecile with power over the science and technology policies of a powerful nation
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism."
This is true, obviously, about religion.
It's true about communism
It's true about militant atheists
iI's true about free market fundamentalists
It's true basically, about every belief you can describe. Intolerant idealism is fundamentalism: the belief you have is not to be questioned, and knows no exceptions. This is the root of all evil, right there.
The lesson of life is moderation in all things. As soon as someone takes a belief, any belief, even some beliefs you cherish mightily, to the point where they think they have a right to impose that belief on others, we have the root of all human-caused suffering in the entire world and in all of history.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Vice-President Honey Boo-Boo in 2040, that's fucking where.
Honey Boo-Boo has more political clout than you do. Think about this.
If you want a McJob at minimum wage, expect to be fingerprinted, probed and studied. You will take tests, have your references checked and be watched constantly while on the clock and off. Your FeceBook and other activities will be scrutinized, your credit checked and you better not pick your nose where a street camera can spot you.
If you want a job in Congress, all you need is a big mouth and enthusiastic handshake. Ethics, intelligence, education not required. You will be guided; told what to say, what to do, when to do it by the best handlers that money can buy. Make a mistake and they will cover for you. Usually.
...omphaloskepsis often...
lol.. But the bible doe not say the earth is young. Nowhere in it does it say it was created on X day 6000 some years ago nor does it try to. the 6000 figure is some dogma derived from someone counting the age of the major players in the bible.
And if you wanted to counter this guy in a way that would really set him back, instead of arguing from the side he already considers evil or trying to insult him, just say that God created that so man could be the master of his domain. Genesis tells us that mankind has dominion over all the animals and the earth and when presented with a problem, we would need a way to understand it in order to retain dominion over earth. Therefore evolution and the big bang had to be created by god in the creation of man and man's dominion.
He is refused medical aid cuz he thinks science is shit
So what does it make people that didn't vote for this guy? From what I gather, about 10 Million people live there. Of those, roughly 25 are under 18. That gives us about 7.5M people eligible to vote. I have a strong doubt that over 3.75M people voted for this guy.
Also, with the way USA democracy works, chances are that it was either this guy or just one other guy. It could very well be that the other guy was the worse option of the two.
Democracy sometimes means that a minority chooses the less bad of 2 horrible options, not the best candidate for the job.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Computer science and engineering are not science.
While I agree with you that the GP is an idiot; I do feel like I should point out that computer science most certainly is a science (assuming you consider practically applicable mathematics to be science). General "computing" or whatever it is that's taught in most schools is most certainly not a science, but computer science is.
Remember: "Computer science is as much about computers as astronomy is about telescopes".
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
Very fitting:
http://www.dilbert.com/2012-10-07/ :)
Hey, he did it for teh lulz.
Who the hell voted this religion nutcase into office??? He doesn't belong in church either, more like an insane asylum!
Saying that the origin of the universe is evil would be a rather new spin on "original sin"!
Democracy makes the Majority "right" so it is important not to let their views go unchallenged.
Wrong. Democracy protects minorities. Majorities would get their way by sheer numbers. Democracy is there to protect the minority from the majority.
With respect, people keep wheeling that old one out without having a clue. About 99% of the situation was about directly insulting his old colleage the Pope and the other 1% was worry about a loss of political power for those that were currently teaching astronomy. The Pope had to let the insult stand and lose respect or go after him, and he was probably pissed off enough to go after him anyway.
I'm sure there are plenty of examples, even in the last 100 years (eg. evolution) that fit, but the tired old Galileo example doesn't. Isn't is funny that this is coming up on a discussion about levels of education, and even funnier that it's an engineer that had a better education in history?
Thank God there is someone sensible in Congress!
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Don't be surprised if, when you use science to attack people's religion, they start to hate science.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
Religious nut jobs armed with nukes. What could possibly go wrong?
Yes, exactly. However, Broun is running unopposed, so people who disagree with him don't even have an alternative choice to make.
You guys really need to get your fricking democracy in order.
Athens-Clarke County elected THIS guy?!
Rather than just invade and murder him?
Alternatively, why not apply the Iraqi solution with this guy? Invade Georgia and put him on trial for execution and allow democracy into the mid-west. (or wherever).
You know, the "Ice Age" was initially interpreted as supporting creationism, essentially as evidence that God had erased a prior instance of creation and started on the current version at some point in the relatively recent past.
Gravity *is* evil. You may think that every time someone drops a piano on the head of an animated character, it's just a funny cartoon, but in reality you've been indoctrinated as a child by the propaganda of evil, socialist gravitationists who want to destroy the fabric of our society.
You know who also uses gravity? Terrorists.
Government's role in technology ought to be primarily to promote it. Government's role in science ought to be to utilize it.
Government ought not to regulate stem cell research, except to say that you can't kill people for their stem cells; wait, we do that already, because that would be murder one. We already have regulations on medical research, and there is no more need for new ones which apply to stem cell research than there is a need for patents which end "...on the internet." Existing laws cover the issues more than adequately.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If this is legitimate devil science, the universe has ways of shutting the whole thing down ;-)
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Oh please. "It was never perfect, it never truly reached its potential, therefore it's a failure and it's all the Christians' fault." That's not only a logical fallacy (ironic coming from one who criticizes others for being "critical-thinking challenged"), but If it wasn't for the Christians, the USA would not exist.
Here is what happens when atheism (which opposes religion) creates a government: Communism, a government which sees its citizens not as human beings, but as bags of random organic goo, resources to be exploited--and why not, since their lives are ultimately meaningless and amount to nothing in the end? It's so trendy to complain about the aristocracy--well that's just what you get when the atheists are in charge: with no ultimate foundation for moral values, they will do whatever they want, and whatever they can, to maintain their power and elite status, no matter the cost to humanity.
There is no human who is not religious. One either worships God or worships his own god: himself. The sin of self-worship is the utter core of the evil in the world today: putting oneself above others is the fundamental problem facing humanity. Oh, and guess what? Christianity teaches that one should love others as oneself, and even to the point of giving one's life for others. Hmm, how about that. But, of course, since every Christian is still human, and still just as broken as any other human being, every Christian still messes up, and the rabid atheists pounce on them for not being perfect, and cite it as evidence to invalidate Christianity.
Of course, that's a generalization and a logical fallacy, but most people don't think critically enough to see through it. But the wolves on Slashdot are keen to pull the wool over the sheep's eyes, and the sheep are happy to mod them up for it.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
It's sad how these gross generalizations and logical fallacies get modded up all the time.
"Any person who doesn't hunt down and silence any person who claims to believe the same things yet is an 'extremist', such a person must be collaborating with the 'extremist'."
I don't agree with "extremists" like this, but I am not responsible for him. I am responsible for myself. You are responsible for using your brain and discerning--as you appear to be capable of--the extremists from the rest, and for discerning the differences between them, and for not piling them all into one lump group.
If you fail to do this, you are just as guilty as the people whom you accuse--moreso, I would argue. You're just passing the buck onto "the rest of them" for not "putting in place" "their own."
At least you admit that you're guilty of assuming.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
I can hear the liberal douches scream, "If only we had the right people making decisions for us?!?!" When will you realise that only freedom - in this case to compete and holding the one-size-fits-all government monopoly accountable - allows people to choose what is right for their unique situation? Yes, even in technology "investment" (i.e. government spending) and education.
Forget that conversation. Let's go back to crying about out of touch politicians projecting their idea of right and proper upon all of us.
Look @ the universe, look @ this planet & all the life on it - whatever created THAT much, is most definitely a God...
* I couldn't do it, and neither can you, or anyone else here...
(I don't know what your explanation is of all of it, but that's mine...)
APK
P.S.=> That's good enough for me... & yes, perhaps you've never had it happen, but God does come into folks' lives (has mine more than a few times, & no other way to explain it here @ least, & it's of a very personal nature for me)... Lastly - See my subject-line above!
... apk
...is how embryology can be a lie. There's obviously ethical disagreement on things like abortion and embryonic stem cell research, but neither of those is embryology.
As an engineer and a computer scientist, I quite agree with you. That said, it is impossible to be competent at either without a firm grounding in the science that underlies them. Alas, it is quite possible for anyone - including distinguished scientists - to be abysmally ignorant of matters outside their specialties.
I am never surprised reading headlines like this one before discovering the person is a Republican.
Oh no. Penny seems real enough to me.
Parts of Bernadette seem unbelievable, but seeing is believing..
8^)
erasing contravenes infallibility
I hate high tax brackets, but insanity is not an option. How far into insane will the GOP go? The U.S. cannot afford lunatic zealots writing energy policy; influencing foreign policy focusing on prepping the world for Jesus; running the Dept. of the Interior (Earth is the devil's playground), allowing Koch Bros. to determine energy policy into the foreseeable future (they drive the trending towards idiocy in govt.); being illogical obstructionists in the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Do you truly believe this world is merely a test gate from which one either enters heaven or hell, that Earth is temporary, therefore unimportant? Zealots want this world to end. Get your zealots and carbon fossil fuel lobby out of total power. Maybe then humanity can manage to keep the biosphere hospitable to life as it has evolved to this point.
And this is exactly what central planning gets you. Enjoy!
Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the world should have been due to secondary causes, like those determining the birth and death of the individual.
Whether or not people need a saviour is unrelated to how people got here. If this is an example of the mental processes of an elected representative, he should probably go back to kindergarten and start again, without the religious upbringing which has led to his derangement.
I wonder what would happen if the guy is right? I guess none of us will know until after we die. Too late then.
Okay, I've had it. I am a Christian myself, but this is just embarrassing. This guy is even a "young earth" creationist, which in my opinion should disqualify him from serving on any committee associated with science. If you agree, please consider writing your local news station to suggest that they report on this story. If it gets wide enough press, perhaps there will be some pressure to hand the job over to someone who actually accepts the tenets of basic science.
This is "relativistic time" that Einstein hinted at and examples abound in nature: the earth is always 6000 years old and new TLDs are two years away from whenever you ask; the latter has been true since 1996.
Need Mercedes parts ?
He's the kind of person that gives Christianity a bad name. I am a Christian. I support Intelligent Design. But I don't deny Common Descent and I certainly don't deny the Big Bang. The Big Bang is conclusive evidence FOR a creator! You can't claim that the universe is all that exists when it's plain as day that it had a beginning. This guy is just an anti-scientist, he's not worthy of the Christian faith or of the Republican party.
All religions do eugenics. They allow reproductive rights to those who support the administration. Eugenics is a crime against humanity. To avoid censure, the eugenicists deny that evolution is true, and thus breeding people to be good little (insert religion or state here) is impossible.
When people have been brainwashed into having a particular belief, they can't explain it, they have no facts at their command, and they get angry when challenged. The desk that you're sitting at isn't as solid as it "looks". It's an electromagnetic field, that just looks solid because it reflect light to your eye. Other wavelengths of light go right through that desk like it wasn't even there. Physical reality is a matrix of electromagnetic fields. Where does all this energy come from? Where does life come from? The Theory of Evolution doesn't even pretend to explain the phenomena of life, and yet you've been brainwashed into believing that it explains everything. When you watch a Western... the town is made to look like it's old... really it was built a month before the movie was made. Was the Earth created to look old? To give us a more real looking stage? Fossils are part of an electromagnetic field; what created it, what sustains it, can it change? Religious organizations, in the Middle Ages needed to be discredited for human developement to continue. Were fossils created then to discredit the Church? Who knows? Has the idea of fossils evolved? A Big Bang created life? That doesn't explain anything? What created the Big Bang? What created God? You always have to come back to the conclusion.. it can't be explained. Life is a Phenomenon. That said, why do you believe that it's an accident, or a finished product? It's so well planned, well articulated, life has such integrity and organization on many levels of consciousness. Did life start as an idea, then become a dream, then evolve into physical reality? Open your mind, you're more than a collection of gray matter. There is obviously psychic abilities that can be developed. Look at your artists.. inspired works of art. Inspired by what? Religions have decayed into a worship of dogma, created by men, but Artists... we naturally worship them and want to be like them. Think, brainwashing limits you, think your way out of your prison. You can see beyond the horizon if you just look up. The creative arts hold the key... unlock the prison door. mensunion org
most senators are incompetent morons and we're all doomed
Then people like Broun and his kind could've had their perfect utopia. Let these people secede and be done with it. I'm tired of supporting freeloaders like this down South.
Yes, and you can't be omnipotent and omniscient and all-good and allow mudslides to bury schoolchildren. But that doesn't seem to bother them either.
We already know that there's a congressman who believes you can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape," so the fact that idiocy like this exists on the Hill isn't surprising at all. I do wonder how he managed to get on the Science, Space and Technology committee though. How are committee appointments determined? My guess is that he volunteered (and almost certainly has an ulterior agenda).
Theorized by a Belgian priest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lemaître
Please don't put all Christians into the same bag as this guy.
I have a feeling we agree much more than we disagree. I consider mathematics and logic the underpinnings of computer science. And while there is a great deal of overlap between math and science, I consider math outside the sciences. It might just be my take on the lack of "scientific method" or that math tends to be more "pure."
So anyhow, I quibble, but I've always thought of the hard sciences: Biology, Physics, Chemistry, etc.
The soft sciences: Psychology, Sociology, etc.
And then you have math and formal logic living outside the sciences but clearly supporting them.
American politicos,
At least when the nukes are launched the rest of the world will no why.
"You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate."
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
In a way I think we should be happy when this kind of idiocy bubbles to the surface from the festering mire that is politics in the US (and to some etent, elsewhere). I am confident that most people are, on average, fairly sensible and intelligent, and putting the bottomless stupidity of certain people in power on display like this can only benefit us in the long run. That is the thing about reality - it remains real no matter how much some try to deny it.
So anyone who does not agree with you is part of some conspiracy to do terrible things to children?
Come on, this character you are playing is just not believable at all. Give it up and play a more interesting game since it's already been done as a better parody in the film Idiocracy.
Of course, the starting point is a crock of shit, but if you take it as a given, the rest is actually logical.
So what? If you take the Nazis' belief in The Master Race and extrapolate it "logically" to the Holocaust what does that prove?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
But ... but ... it's one of my favourite shows!!!!!
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
It's entirely possible to have a well developed sense of the divine (without knowing exactly what it is and understanding that it may be entirely neurological) and be entirely free of Christianity, Islam, or any other fan club affiliation that requires an unproven belief in invisible friends, holy war, talking snakes, ritual blood drinking and/or body eating or additional taxation in the form of tithing.
Yes, but LSD is illegal.
Alcohol isn't illegal but you still get that "oceanic" feeling of universal connectedness and love just the same, plus it's much less likely you'll suffer a psychotic breakdown in the short term.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The only people more dangerous than this imbecile are the dopes who voted for him. Creationism is not a discredited theory, it is matter of faith and mythology. Please do not give credit where it is not due.
Wow, as a Christian reading at +3, I've never seen such a intolerant, hatred-filled discussion on Slashdot.
Reddit, sure, it's typical and expected, but wow.. my heart sank with comment after comment.
It won't be long now before Christianity is actively, brutally, persecuted in this country. Get ready, Christians and others, if you can.
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous...
Actually, "Democracy" is simply rule by majority. The USA is intended to be a REPUBLIC, and as such is intended to protect us from the tyranny of the majority. I know that the common use of the word "democracy" agrees with your description, much like the term "computer virus" is misused to represent any form of malicious software.
Think about it. We are MUCH better off with a republic than we would be with a true democracy. Remember the USA's Puritanical roots. If the USA were a democracy, we'd have state-sponsored religion, national "blue laws", slavery, women still not having any significant rights, etc.
This is like a "regular" protestant having a discussion with a Mormon. Unless you carefully define your terms, they can both walk away from the conversation thinking that they agree, yet have very different beliefs. We need to be careful about the words we use and their definitions so that we can communicate effectively.
Atheists are religious the same same way "off" is a TV Station.
Sorry, but you are ignorant: you don't know what the word "religion" means. Now, if you were to say your atheist friends were "adamant," "aggrandized," "animated" or "galvanized," you would effuse the appearance of knowledge.
Yeah, right.
With people like that working in the government of the USA, should Canada be voting to move to a different part of the world?
Roman's comment here is most amusing, but also incredibly salient.
It's like listening to banjo with 3 broken strings.
Is there any other kind?
On what evidence do you base that opinion? Go and find a top theology school and see whether you can beat them at philosophy and logic, then let me know if you still think that. I know people who are rational about religion and people who are irrational; the same applies for atheism (and most other subjects - politics for example! :-)
Generally though, those who say they can't see any rationality on the other side are the ones who either haven't talked to the other side or who aren't being rational themselves. I'm guessing you probably haven't met many smart Christians then. ;-)
If you study the natural world, the universe in all of its wonder it is easy to be filled with a sense of awe. The kind of feeling people often only experience through religion.
Anyone who seriously devotes time to studying the world, and chooses to believe in a 'god', would never think that the 'god' who authored the universe is the same 'god' that is supposed to have authored the Bible, or any other religious text.
If there is anything that would mark a creator, it would be that they were always 100% consistent. I'm not claiming there is a creator, but if there is that creator is always self-consistent and never contradictory. I don't think that can be applied to who ever or what ever wrote the Bible.
Sorry, 100% self consistent and an inoordinate fondness for beetles.
Don't confuse intelligence with wisdom (refer to AD&D 3.5 for further explanation). The pursuit of happiness is a valid struggle/goal, However you get there, barring harm to others, is up to you. If you find it through technological advancement then great....go for it. But remember, however people achieve self-actualization is their own business.
Both religion and science require faith to believe in and follow. Theories of evolution, origin of man, the beginnings of the universe, etc are theories and not likely to ever be proven....just as religion requires faith, so does science. I have personally spent much of my life as studying both in my own quest for truth. Don't make the mistake of thinking everyone who does not agree with you is an idiot. Open hostility is not necessary and is counter-productive - especially on the Internet where there is no accountability. Get out there and vote and talk to people face to face to make your difference. Work on making the world a better place. Don't perpetuate the problems of man by your own actions. You will not win people over to your side by defaming them.
Salivorin A isn't, mostly, neither is the Hawaiian Woodrose and its seeds, Morning Glory as well.
I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.