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August 27th, 2012
11:31 AM ET
Bill Nye slams creationismBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)–Famed TV scientist Bill Nye is slamming creationism in a new online video for Big Think titled "Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children." "Denial of evolution is unique to the United States," Nye begins in a YouTube video posted on Thursday. The video quickly picked up steam over the weekend and as of Monday morning had been viewed more than 1,100,000 times. Nye - a mechanical engineer and television personality best known for his program, "Bill Nye the Science Guy" - said the United States has great capital in scientific knowledge and "when you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in it, it holds everyone back." "Your world becomes fantastically complicated if you don't believe in evolution," Nye said in the Web video. Creationists are a vast and varied group in the United States. Most creationists believe in the account of the origins of the world as told in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories In the creation account, God creates Adam and Eve, the world, and everything in it in six days. For Christians who read the Genesis account literally, or authoritatively as they would say, the six days in the account are literal 24-hour periods and leave no room for evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth, and typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years. Your Take: 5 reactions to Bill Nye's creationism critique The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on creation and evolution for the past 30 years. In June it released its latest findings, which showed 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution. During the 30 years Gallup has conducted the survey, creationism has remained far and away the most popular answer, with 40% to 47% of Americans surveyed saying they believed that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years. Survey: Nearly half of Americans subscribe to creationist view of human origins "The idea of deep time of billions of years explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your worldview becomes crazy, untenable, itself inconsistent," Nye said in the video. "I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, that's completely inconsistent with the world we observe, that's fine. But don't make your kids do it. Because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems," he said. Creationists' beliefs about the origins of the Earth are often a narrow focus, based in large part on religious beliefs, and while they reject evolution as "just one theory," they often embrace other fields of science and technology. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter In "The Genesis Flood," the 1961 book that in many ways help launch the Young Earth creationism movement in the United States, the authors write: “Our conclusions must unavoidably be colored by our Biblical presuppositions, and this we plainly acknowledge." Their goal for the book was to harmonize the scientific evidence with the accounts in Genesis of creation and the flood. The idea of creationism has been scorned by the mainstream scientific community since shortly after Darwin introduced "The Origin of Species" in 1859. By 1880, The American Naturalists, a science journal, reported nearly every major university in America was teaching evolution. "In another couple centuries I'm sure that worldview won't even exist. There's no evidence for it. So..." Nye ends his video. soundoff (14,640 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 Next » |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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All you arm chair scientist all of the sudden are experts on anything evolution AND biblical! Reaching to make sense of what you can't comprehend and don't even begin to. Most of you feel as if your contribution to this form legitmize the little bit you remember from the last science show you watched, pitiful at best! I'm reading comments that even go as far as "explaning" evolution,, Ha, you guys are funny... please reframe from such if you only know a little about the subject, IDIOTS. Yes I am Speaking To YOU!
@wastedtime
The word is "refrain", not "reframe".
And isn't your post a bit self-referential?
MLK, Jr. offers insight to this whole argument:
"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism."
The problem occurs when religion tries to step into sciences role and concern its self with facts. This is the problem with creationism and the problem Bill Nye is addressing.
2 Points
1: The Bible says the sun was created on Day 4. Who/what claims the first 3 days were 24 hours long?
2. Science changes; the Bible does not. New scienctific discoveries make obsolete prior discoveries/"facts."
You guys all know that Evolution is a Hypothesis? hy·poth·e·sis
[hahy-poth-uh-sis, hi-] Show IPA
noun, plural hy·poth·e·ses [-seez] Show IPA.
1. a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis) or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.
2. a proposition assumed as a premise in an argument.
3. the antecedent of a conditional proposition.
4. a mere assumption or guess.
And creationism is not even a hypothesis; it is complete nonsense
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Nice troll though.
Evolution is a theory. Individual hypotheses to support the theory are developed based on fact and are evaluated mathematically. I have a feeling your experience with science is limited.
Bill Nye obviously doesn't follow the standard procedures of science. Evolution is still and always has been a THEORY. At the current state, Evolution is no more proven than Creationism. And to state that Evolution is the end-all matter of the beginning life is in itself unscientific, acceptable only to the uneducated. Until Evolution can be proven as LAW, like thermodynamics, it remains an alluded but unproven answer.
But boniman can google and copypasta like a BOSS
"Evolution is no more proven than creationism." THis is an absolutely ridiculous statement. Evolution is strongly supported factually while creationism is not
What's wrong with teaching the theory of evolution in a science class? How can we ever know more about evolution if our posterity doesn't know anything about it?
Actually it is the Theory of Evolution, not an hypothesis. The difference being that even after something has been proven, or at least widely accepted as fact, can still be called a theory. Music theory, for example. Surely you don't deny that music exists, and that it is represent able on paper? (not the greatest example granted, but makes the point)
yeah, but evolution, the theory, the hypothesis, is supported by 100% of the evidence ...
creationism, the theory, the hypothesis, is supported by 0% of the evidence ...
@ bon-ton boniman. Are you really that STUPID?
@Dan
"Evolution is strongly supported factually while creationism is not" Key word is supported. "Proven" is a complete and irrefutable term. In essence, you have just repeated what I said. Just because it is supported (and refuted in certain experiments too), does not make it a law.
There must be a sale on idiots that don’t know the meaning of the word theory today.
No. It is a theory, which is vastly different from a hypothesis. Your lack of knowledge of scientific principles doesn't surprise me at all, and helps proves Mr. Nye's point.
@tet1953
"The difference being that even after something has been proven, or at least widely accepted as fact, can still be called a theory. "
2 mistakes on that account. 1. it is not proven. 2. just because it is widely accepted does not make it a law. In fact, the article says it is actually not widely accepted at all.
The Theory of Evolution is a theory, not a hypothesis. Hypotheses, in scientific terms, are postulated to attempt to show a correlation of events and explain them... aka, answer questions. Theories start as hypotheses, they become theories when they are supported over and over by all the evidence at hand. Should a scientist find evidence that contradicts a hypothesis (or theory) the the hypothesis/theory is "proven wrong." In science, you can never "prove" a hypothesis or theory, you can only continue to find support for it or prove it incorrect. This is because you can never test every possible universal permutation of the theory/hypothesis, and because none of us were there 8 billion years ago when the Earth was first formed.
So far, all of the evidence uncovered has supported the Theory of Evolution. No evidence has been brought forth to disprove the theory. And no, a narrative in a 1500-year old collection of short stories is not considered scientific evidence or proof of anything, no matter how many people believe it.
No, things like creationsim or God in general are hypothesis. Evolution is a theory- "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world. The theory of biological evolution is more than "just a theory." It is as factual an explanation of the universe as the atomic theory of matter or the germ theory of disease. Our understanding of gravity is still a work in progress. But the phenomenon of gravity, like evolution, is an accepted fact" From the AAAS.
@srvctest
But there is a difference between a theory and a law. Evolution hasn't proven, therefore remains a strong THEORY. Therefore it is unscientific to accept it as a law as so many people so willing do. To deny a faith based religion based on a strong theory is in itself an act of the uninformed.
God created the universe in 6 calendar days about 10,000 years ago. The thing is, the universe He created had a cosmological and evolutionary history going back billions of years.
And his storybook got the stories wrong...
Now you're just mangling the bible in an attempt to justify the cognitiive dissonance. When you have to rearrange your truths and reword them to fit reality, then it is you that are introducing the needlessly complicated factor into the scenario.
Ugh, you spelled your name wrong. It's stewpid
The nice thing about that idea, which cannot be disproven so is not a theory, is that it further reinforces the notion that creationism is pure BS. In fact, I wrote a paper many years ao that asserted creationism is actually anti-religious, since it takes away the fundamental mystery that is God, negating faith. But I am sure that argument is way above the typical fundamentalist nutcase.
A previous poster brought up this article: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/sun-082310.html
Please read and respond.
That was the one about radioactivity and the sun, right? It was interesting but irrelevant. I would think he/she was trying to use it to poke holes in radio carbon dating but all it does is show there is a slight change in decay over different periods of time. The overall decay rate would still be, on average, constant. One year would have the same emission as the next and ect. But throughout the year it would change slightly.
So like I said, interesting, but irrelevant.
That's really cool. What's your point?
I have a saying thats fairly simple.Sometimes our opinions are not warranted or welcome and the thing to do is shut-up.How dare you even suggest you have any right to tell any parent what they should teach thier children.Oh thats right you're smarter than we are.You believe you have evolved over the rest of us and have a higher order of thinking skills.We home school our daughter because of people like you.
values
Your comment indicates that you don't understand evolution and would have benefited from more teaching on the subject as a child. Thanks for proving his point
I feel very sorry for your daughter. She doesn't stand a chance in her current environment.
I hate people.
Yes, because removing her from exposure to differing view points is healthy and productive.
Virtually all developed nations have outlawed homeschooling. You're why.
You say "values" at the end, I can only assume to imply Nye, and those who accept the facts of the world around us do not have "values" and you do. From you statement you clearly have no idea how evolution works. Nye is no more evolved than me or you or anyone else alive right now. Were you not indoctrinated into your religious beliefs as a child you have grown up and looked to the world around you and tried to understand the information it gave you. Instead you deny this information in favor of a book which you have been told came straight from God. Yet if God exists there is only one thing which came straight from him and is indisputable and that is the universe. So you deny what God gave you in favor of what Man has told you. In the order of things, God's create universes, men write books. If god exists, science will find the true god, everything else are just men trying to control other men.
If I taught my children with all certainty that the earth was flat, would that be the right thing to do?
So brucey, SHUTUP
Bill Nye is not good for kids.
Neither is Jesus.
Or is it questioning things in general that is bad for children? I would like to teach my kids to think for themselves, question authority, and NOT believe something simply due to the fact that their elders crammed something down their throats that THEY themselves had no empirical proof of. To teach children to follow without evidence is idiotic and will create a future of followers, not leaders. Complete load of hogwash.
Ridley Scott just said it best with Prometheus,
We come from an earlier form of a Wiggly Wiggly Creature first encountered on LV-223 !
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. these comments are awesome
Hi Spencer! get back to work! 🙂
not believing in a higher power takes a HUGE leap of faith!!! you had better be right!!!
OBAMANOS!!!
Higher power or not evolution is still true.
It takes just as much faith to not believe in god as it does to not believe in Santa Clause, or Allah, or Zeus, or...oh you get the idea.
Noel, it doesn't take any faith at all. Like many theists you don't really understand atheism. You're an atheist too, I just reject one more myth than you do. think about it for a second, you don't believe in Ra, Odin, Zeus, Posidon, Apollo, Athena, Hades, etc... Do you feel that your disbelief in all these gods is about faith they don"t exist or a lack of evidence of they're existence, or perhaps their existence just makes no sense.
t its most fundamental level, Christianity requires a belief that an all-knowing, all-powerful, immortal being created the entire Universe and its billions of galaxies 13,720,000,000 years ago (the age of the Universe) sat back and waited 10,000,000,000 years for the Earth to form, then waited another 3,720,000,000 years for human beings to gradually evolve, then, at some point gave them eternal life and sent its son to Earth to talk about sheep and goats in the Middle East.
While here, this divine visitor exhibits no knowledge of ANYTHING outside of the Iron Age Middle East, including the other continents, 99% of the human race, and the aforementioned galaxies.
Either that, or it all started 6,000 years ago with one man, one woman and a talking snake. Either way “oh come on” just doesn’t quite capture it.
Amen. Well said
Good post.
Reason on this board seems to be unreasonable to some...
Explain to us the precambrian explosion and how it is exactly opposite of what Darwin hypothesized...Oh come on, won't you?
OBAMANOS!!!
@Noel, there were no humans in the precamberian. Where were they? That is not evidence of your position in anyway.
@Noel,
I think you talk of Cambrian Explosion and it spans a period of 70-80 million years. Now you gave the answer of how it doesnot suggest god yourself. The Precambrian animals!!!
Thew problem with this comment is that it shows a complete lack of understanding of what's in the bible. If you read it and understood it, you would know that God is outside of time and thus does not have the same concept of time nor is bound by it like we are. The book you dismiss as being made up already address this issue in 2 Peter 3:8 "But beloved do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and thousand years as one day." In the genesis account, it's record that the day and night were one day for the first three days except, the 24hr rotation as we know it today was not created until day 4. AND THUS MY WHOLE PROBLEM WITH YOU CLOWNS!!!. You never disprove anything about the bible, you merely take what you believe to be in the bible and say that's not true. In other words, you're disproving your on personal opinion about who and what God is, not who or what God is as he has defined himself in the bible. I mean this is you guy's logic, I'm not going to read the bible because it's not true and I don't believe anything in it and I'll show you that nothing is true in it by disproving what I think a book says even though I have never read it nor understand it. And that makes sense to who?
Noel, try studying theh Cambrian fossil record somewhere other than a creationist web site. There are many reasonable explinations for the sudden appearance on fossils. None of them have anything to do with god. I don't suppose you'd care to explain the path of the pharangael nerve in the absence of the obvious one supplied by evolution.
I will always believe there is a God and that He created what I know as earth and heaven and as long as my daughter is my responsibility that is what I will teach her. When she becomes an adult she is welcome to follow wherever her heart leads her, but don't you dare Mr. Nye tell me how to raise my child. Besides, doesn't evolution teach that humans evolved from Apes? If that's the case, why the heck are there still Apes roaming around?
That's not at all what evolution suggests.
Sadly, Angela is retarded...and so is her child.
Angela, why are you so afraid of this guy? Anger comes from fear so think about where it comes from. Do you think you might not be right?
That statement is beyond ignorant. If you are not going to believe something can you at least understand what it is you arent believing? The Apes that exist now have also been undergoing selective pressure for millions of years. We didnt come from those Apes. Those Apes came from Apes that came before them. Somewhere down the line we have a common ancestor that looks nothing like current Apes or humans.
Based on your response I would suggest that maybe you SHOULD let Bill Nye tell you how to raise your kids. You're probably doing a horrible job.
@ Whatever – okay, then why where do people like me that don't believe in evolution get that idea? It came from somewhere, I know I didn't make it up. Evolution means one "something" evolves into another, if that's the case (and I'm no scientist and don't want to be either) why would there still be the first "something" if it evolved?
Angela, I pity your child.
Sadly Angela, that is why you are retarded. Please dont pass your retardation to your child. Allow them to learn form someone, not so completely retarded as you.
Angela, it was started by people who knew you would not second guess what they said, and you did not. Now you are embarrassing yourself.
Angela,
One example for you: Do you know that squirrels and mice are related, as evidenced by DNA, body structure and function? They both evolved from a common ancestor who lived MILLIONS of YEARS ago. I have never heard anyone say, "If we have mice, why do we still have squirrels?"!
Angela – Apes and humans share a common ancestor – the human branch broke off over 10 million years ago. Apes continued to develop on their branch, while various human species continued on another. It's not that hard to understand.
Eternity wasn't so bad before I was born, why should it be any worse when I die?
Evolution is 95% proven
Creationism is 0% proven
All you knuckleheads who say evolution is not proven need to read the endless proof that is readily available anywhere outside a christian bookstore.
America has become the laughing stock of the modern world. What an embarrassment!
Not so, only the gullible believe that. The Bible and religion aside, evolution is NOT a viable answer, keep looking sir.
I have yet to see a shred of proof for evolution. Please provide some that can counter this book's evidence for creation... http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/
There is no evidence at all that there is inter "evolution" among species. So monkey is monkey. It can be black monkey, white monkey or other colored monkey but it can never be a human being.
We cannot be self-denial saying that we come from a random chance existing with no purpose .
oh my.
There is not one word in the Genesis account of creation that indicates that the 'creative days' were each 24 hours long. In fact, the internal evidence in that Bible book shows that the word 'day' is, in fact, an indeterminate period of time allowing for the millions/billions of years that facts show the earth and the universe have been in existence.
Therefore, please accept the fact that one can believe in the correct bible account: 1. The earth and universe have been here for up to billions of years. 2. The complexity of the universe, earth, mankind and animal life demonstrate that life did not happen by accident. 3. There had to be an intelligent life giver that provided life. [Genesis 1:1 ]
Study the creative wonders and the conclusion makes sense that none of this happened by accident.
No more than if you found a watch lying in the desert, running or not, that you would or could assume it happened by accident. . . .common sense would dictate that intelligent life had to have made this watch as complex things simply do not 'create' themselves by accident, no matter how many millions/billions of years have passed.
As to whether the Bible is accurate or not, please don't confuse what the bible teaches with what 'creationists' SAY it teaches. Where the Bible touches on scientific matters, it has always proven to be correct. Example: So called Christians claimed centuries ago that the earth was flat. The bible doesn't say that. Isaiah 40:22 [NWT] refers to the planet as 'the circle of the earth.' The Bible never teaches that the earth is the 'center of the universe,' or that the earth 'revolves around the sun. False teachers that professed to believe in the Bible, taught that. So, beware of the false teachers, or 'prophets' as Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15, 16. He said they would be in sheep's clothing, meaning that they would look, on the surface, as if they were followers of Christ, his sheep, but inside they were 'ravenous wolfs,' destructive 'look-a-likes,' causing much harm to those searching for the truth. So, how does one find out who has the truth, Jesus simply said: " By their fruits you will recognize them." So, churches today that teach falsehood, that teach it is OK to go to war and kill their 'brothers' in another country, or teach ridiculous things supposedly based on the Bible [ for instance, that the creative days in Genesis were each 24 hours long ], these false teachers are the disgusting 'ravenous wolfs' that Jesus warned about and at some point in the near future he will say to them: "I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.' [ Matt. 7:21-23 NWT ]
Scientific teaching [ supposedly ] doesn't jump to conclusions. Neither should 'truth seekers.' Take a close look at the 10,000 so called Christian religions out there and one will stand out for you. The one that truly demonstrates love as the dominating motive for their actions. You can identify that 'true religion,' if you really study the Bible. Guess who can help you with that?
Bible: tl;dr
actually I did read it and it didn't change anything. I read a biology book, and astronomy book, and a physics book and things started to make sense.
Seriously: in the beginning – there was already some guy already grown up and ready to create stuff and rain fire down on the unbelievers. but its cool because he's on his 7th day right now and still resting...
So, Larry. I guess we may take it that YOU know the TRUE religion. Unlike, of course, the other plus/minus two billion or so humans who only think they know the true religion.
That must be comforting to you.
ok bill, keep your OPINION to yourself!!!
OBAMANOS!!!
At least Bill can defend his points. Theists have dominated the debate for thousands of years. Now it's time for reasonable and logical people to express their opinions.
Shut up.
Noel – a bit intolerant aren't we ... how un-American of you....
Just as the 1st Amendment protects your freedom to believe in what ever religion you wish – no matter how ridiculous – it gives Bill Nye the right to speak his mind and present his belief in science.
The ability to speak your mind is the American way.
Quite honestly, I am somewhere in between the two concepts. But I think Nye should keep his opinion to himself and let people decide on the basis of something other than the recommendation of a "celebrity." Many people are sick and tired of people like him trying to do our thinking for us.
No. If people were tired of other folks telling them what to think, they would chuck religion.
Bravo to Mr. Nye! We need more folks with balls to tell the truth. Those who feel threatened by scientific knowledge due to their belief in Bronze Age myths are expendable. We should leave them behind so the rest of us can adance.
Don't forget that Colonel Tigh was a Cylon!
As an atheist, I agree with most of what Bill Nye said, BUT what about religious freedom? The condescending way atheists usually talk to people of faith tends to create a rift, an us Vs them. And it makes religious people defensive and not be critical of their beliefs. At the end of the day, there is no evidence of how life started, and even if science proves a way, there will still be people that will say God did it. Respect and sensitivity goes a long way on both sides.
I personally think that the root of all religions is fear, fear of not knowing what happens after life, and that man created God through his fear in trying to explain things that he can't and give meaning to life. As I know for a fact that if it can be proven that there is no life after death, there will be no more religion on this planet.
And even if I am wrong in the end, and there is heaven and hell, I'd refuse to believe that a "God" (that has never shown me a proof of his/her/its existence) will simply put me in hell just because I didn't believe in him/her/it even though I lead a good life as opposed to someone that believed in God but judged others all their lives. Anger and revenge are characteristics of humans, I don't think they have a place in a holy being (if there is such a thing). Feel free to dispute my claims.
I don't believe you are an atheist.
VocalAtheist –
You don't believe people have the right to make stupid decisions?
An argument can be made that if someone came to you and said "I have a 300lb diamond buried in my backyard.I've never seen it but I know it's there"...you'd raise an eyebrow and probably say 'oooooo k" but in the back of your head your thinking this guy is nuts.
Just because a lot of people believe it? doesn't mean it's not nuts.
I believe in religious freedom too...up to the point that those beliefs start dictating laws I have to live by.Once that happens (and it happens everyday) I'm calling them out and I'm not holding back
@TheVerbalAtheist - I think you're right about "Reasonably." If anything, Christians are condescending to anyone who doesn't believe exactly as they do, and they tell you they'll "pray" for you so you, too, can be Saved, and join them in their version of Heaven.
That is the first time I have heard of a sane atheist, the VocalAtheist is probably right, then because it doesn't seem there is a sane atheist.
@brian
Absolutely, I believe everyone has the right to make stupid decisions. Isn't that the way we learn? Here, take this hammer and hit yourself in the head. How many times would you have to do that? I know a lot of people that continue hitting themselves in the head everyday.
@moshe
Oh you have it wrong brother. I can see you have the skill I do, you can sniff-out a deceiver and a liar. Atheists are a smart group of people, a bit smarter than your average bear. Did you know we have around 6 million hairlike silica in our noses whereas a Beagle has around 600 million? Well, I'm like a dog, I can sniff out the BS pretty darn quick. And look at you! You have some potential there! Better sniff yourself though, just to check.
@Jonah
You're right Jonah. The religious, especially the Christians are the creepiest mother fu*ckers you'll ever meet. They will lie, cheat and deceit their way into their after life, their all so very selfish and would kill their mother if Jesus told them to.
Funny how the reasonably atheist just disappears isn't it?
Wow, I am an atheist but I respect anybody's beliefs whether you are an atheist or not. I was raised a christian but I formed my own opinion a few years back and stopped practicing. So if I am not born-atheist like some of you claim to be, that doesn't make me atheist? All I am saying is that, there are good values Christianity or other religions teach you. Having said that, there have been wars waged between religions claiming "my imaginary friend (God) is better than yours"... I feel like as a reasonable person, I am above that, and I wont get into emotional responsiveness that can incite anger in others, leading to an unproductive discussion.
I believe that any religion is flawed at the foundation because it is based on fear, fear of not knowing what happens after we die. Once I noticed that people were claiming to believe in God just in case there is hell (cowardice in my opinion) is when I started questioning my old religion and eventually not believing in it.
Hope you doubters are satisfied.
Reasonably: Don't get too worked up about Vocal and the others. Too many of the athiests on this blog are just as intolerant as the believers. If you don't conform to their viewpoint they must correct you or call you names. This hostility of course is counter-productive. I would hazard a guess that there are more athiests and theists that are reasonable people than is apparant on these boards.
go to hell everybody!
even me?????
@gop: how very christian of you. i love it when religious people come out of hiding and reveal whom they truly are...............hateful, scared children.