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October 9th, 2013
02:27 PM ET
Creationists taunt atheists in latest billboard warBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)– A new video billboard in New York's Times Square has a message from creationists, "To all of our atheist friends: Thank God you're wrong." The video advertisement at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan is one of several billboards going up this week in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, paid for by Answers in Genesis. Answers in Genesis is best known as the multimillion-dollar Christian ministry behind the Creation Museum outside Cincinnati. The museum presents the case for Young Earth creationism, following what it says is a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, which says the Earth was created by God in six days less than 10,000 years ago. Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, said the idea for the advertisements came from an atheist billboard in Times Square at Christmas. During the holidays, the American Atheists put up a billboard with images of Santa Claus and Jesus that read: "Keep the Merry, dump the myth." “The Bible says to contend for the faith,” Ham said. “We thought we should come up with something that would make a statement in the culture, a bold statement, and direct them to our website. "We're not against them personally. We're not trying to attack them personally, but we do believe they're wrong," he said. "From an atheist's perspective, they believe when they die, they cease to exist. And we say 'no, you're not going to cease to exist; you're going to spend eternity with God or without God. And if you're an atheist, you're going to be spending it without God.' " Dave Silverman, president of the American Atheists, said he felt sad for creationists when he saw the billboards. "They refuse to look at the real world. They refuse to look at the evidence we have, and they offer none," Silverman said. "They might as well be saying, 'Thank Zeus you're wrong' or 'Thank Thor you're wrong.' " Silverman said he welcomed another competitor to marketplace, noting that after atheists bought a billboard two years ago in Times Square that read "You KNOW it's a myth," the Catholic League purchased competing space at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel for a sign that read "You KNOW it's true." "I would suggest, if they're actually trying to attract atheists, they should talk about proof and reason to believe in their god, not just some pithy play on words," Silverman said. Ham says part of the goal of the campaign is to draw people to the website for Answers in Genesis, where he offers a lengthy post on his beliefs for the proof of God. Ham insists that this campaign is in keeping with their overall mission. "We're a biblical authority ministry. We're really on about the Bible and the Gospel. Now, we do have a specialty in the area of the creation account and Genesis because that's where we say God's word has come under attack." Ham said Answers in Genesis made the decision to split its marketing budget for the ministry between a regional campaign for the museum and this billboard campaign, rather than a national campaign. IRS filings for the ministry in recent years have shown a yearly operating budget of more than $25 million. Ham said the marketing budget is about 2% of that, about $500,000 a year. Though they are waiting for all the bills to come due for this campaign, he said he expected it to cost between $150,000 and $200,000. Silverman noted that his billboards were not video and cost approximately $25,000 last year. He said another campaign was in the works for this year. "They're throwing down the gauntlet, and we're picking it up," Silverman said, adding that his group would "slap them in the face" with it. Ham said that despite criticism from other Christians for being negative and the usual criticisms from secularists he received on his social media accounts, the advertisements have been a success. "We wanted people talking about them, and we wanted discussion about this. We wanted people thinking about God," Ham said. The Creation Museum and the theory of Young Earth creationism are widely reviled by the broader science community. In a YouTube video posted last year titled "Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children," Bill Nye the Science Guy slammed creationism, imploring parents not to teach it to their children. "We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future," he said. "We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems." The museum responded with its own video. For the past 30 years, Gallup Inc. has been tracking American opinions about creationism. In June 2012, Gallup's latest findings showed that 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution. For as long as 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. The Creation Museum said it recently welcomed its 2 millionth visitor since its opening in 2007. soundoff (8,748 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 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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I bet if you pray hard enough, you wont have to pay the bill for the advertising you just wasted. If you still get the bill, you didnt pray enough.
Ha ha ha.. As an atheist, I can only laugh at the attempts of religious people to convince me of their fairy tales by referring to yet other fairy tales as "evidence".
Life without healthy relationship with God is meaningless. No matter how hard you try to succeed, without a relationship with Jesus, life is empty inside. I support the work of these Christians.
If that is true for you, then I feel sorry for you. My life is pretty good without the hocus pocus. But then, I've never relied on the super natural to get things done for me.
So life is empty for the billions of people worldwide who are not Christian? It scares the hell out of me to think you really believe that...
Why do you care if someone that doesn't have religion? If it makes you happy, be happy. Stop trying to convince the rest of the world to believe what you do.
You do realize that atheists are not the only non-Christians right? There are about 6 Billion non-Christians.
So what you're saying is, all those prepubescent boys who are molested by priests are actually having a healthy relationship with God?
They are fools for all to see. They have no atheist friends, so the billboard is BS from start to finish. Delusional idiots wasting money declaring their worthless and empty arguments for nothing. How pathetic.
I have creationist friends.
Your statement leads me to believe your either angry or sad. Either way it's rude. Do you need someone with whom to speak? I'm sure you must have someone you can turn besides letting it out on a blog meant for discussion.
*you're oops. Surely I'm not really pathetic and an idiot for that mistake.
Picture a billboard showing the instant that a jet slices into the WTC on 9-11 with the caption "How's that god thing working for ya?"
So ... basically, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
No – more like "Why do people use religious belief as an excuse to commit horrible acts".
"Bad" things happen to "good" people because things happen. Chances are some "good" will happen to the "good" and the "bad" and vice verse.
"You know it's a myth." "You know it's true." How about one with the actual truth: "You don't KNOW anything." We believe lots of things – we believe in a god; we believe earth is billions of years old; we believe we were created from dust; we believe we evolved from primordial goop; etc. But unless you were actually there, you don't KNOW anything, it's all interpretation and theory.
Do you not get out of bed in the morning in case your bedroom floor is actually the mouth of an inter-dimensional space lizard hungry for some human feet?
While 100% knowledge (KNOWING) anything may be impossible because of our subjective experience, we can reach a level of confidence in proposition that it becomes a statistical certainty so us. Not 100% but maybe 99.9999999999999999999999999% sure. That's why you don't have to check to make sure the floor is there each morning.
Sure, we know with reasonable certainty that the reason why objects fall is because of gravity. We have a reasonably reliable model of that that has been proven time and again in the past. Evolution, it's a bit shakier. Certainly we know there is an evolutionary process where species make adaptations that result in similar but distinct species. Whether we can extrapolate that to mean that we are the result of a bunch of primordial goo coming together and eventually evolving into us is less certain. There's some wiggle room for debate. With regards to the actual formation of the universe, at that point you're getting into the realm of educated (and sometimes not so educated) guessing. For instance, not long ago we thought the earth was only 2 billion years old. Being wrong by half is a pretty big margin, especially when you're talking billions. Who's to say that we aren't still wrong?
Or, maybe we're right. None of that precludes the possibility of an intelligence of some kind directing the whole thing. Who's to say that there isn't a God up there creating man from the dust of the earth by forming that "dust" into amino acids, and into proteins, and into DNA, and into amoebas, and into fish, then dinosaurs, then mammals, and eventually into man?
The fact is we're no where near 100% certainty.
These guys are welcome to believe whatever they want, and spend their money however they wish, so long as my tax dollars don't help subsidize it (via their being tax exempt). I don't think any religious group should be tax exempt, but especially those that perform no public service but just evangelize for their views. (To be honest, I'd also prefer if they couldn't vote, as their rejection of science means that they push politicians hard to support views that I consider dangerous for the country and the planet – but they undoubtedly feel the same about me. Of course, I'm right and they're wrong...)
Evolution is a theory.
Gravity is a theory.
atheism is a theory
Atheism, gravity, and evolution are theories with enormous amounts of objective evidence supporting them. Religions are theories with no objective evidence.
Religion isn't even a theory. It never made it past the uneducated guessing stage.
Actually, it's a standpoint logically derived from current available evidence.
You need to be less subtle. They don't understand that in science, the word "theory" doesn't mean what they think it means...
Interesting how people somehow misunderstand scientific "theories".
Geocentric theory
Evolution theory
Theory of Gravity, well, the Law of gravity.
All theories!
Gravity is observable just like evolution is observable.
Cientific journal published and article in 10/11 observed a species of birds evolve into super birds. That is proof that man evolved and shares common ancestry with apes.
Gravity is also observable, try suspending yourself in mid air!
You clearly don't know what the word "theory" means in terms of science. A scientific theory is the best explanation we have that is supported by evidence. It doesn't mean...somebody took a guess as is so often thought.
To counter said sign with an updated creed:
Only for the new visitors to this blog-
The Apostles' Creed 2013 (updated by yours truly based on the studies of NT historians and theologians of the past 200 years)
Should I believe in a god whose existence cannot be proven
and said god if he/she/it exists resides in an unproven,
human-created, spirit state of bliss called heaven?????
I believe there was a 1st century CE, Jewish, simple,
preacher-man who was conceived by a Jewish carpenter
named Joseph living in Nazareth and born of a young Jewish
girl named Mary. (Some say he was a mamzer.)
Jesus was summarily crucified for being a temple rabble-rouser by
the Roman troops in Jerusalem serving under Pontius Pilate,
He was buried in an unmarked grave and still lies
a-mouldering in the ground somewhere outside of
Jerusalem.
Said Jesus' story was embellished and "mythicized" by
many semi-fiction writers. A bodily resurrection and
ascension stories were promulgated to compete with the
Caesar myths. Said stories were so popular that they
grew into a religion known today as Catholicism/Christianity
and featuring dark-age, daily wine to blood and bread to body rituals
called the eucharistic sacrifice of the non-atoning Jesus.
Amen
(References used are available upon request.)
Do you believe in God?What if your wrong.I think it sad that people go through life with no hope for the future (dead) I suggest that you non-believers read "The Magic Man In The Sky' BY Carl Gallups if you have the guts.If not just go through life like you are....so sad.
Weird how the truth only makes YOU sad, lol. Not the ones who won't follow you.
Why do you believe that Jesus existed and that he was crucified and that he is buried in an unmarked grave. You didn't explain your reasoning for that. I would think, due to the fact you would bother to write a novella, that you would continue to explain your beliefs. You stated your disbeliefs.
Added details :
Saving Christians from the Infamous Resurrection Con/
From that famous passage: In 1 Corinthians 15: 14, Paul reasoned, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
Even now Catholic/Christian professors (e.g.Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown) of theology are questioning the bodily resurrection of the simple, preacher man aka Jesus.
To wit;
From a major Catholic university's theology professor’s grad school white-board notes:
"Heaven is a Spirit state or spiritual reality of union with God in love, without earthly – earth bound distractions.
Jesus and Mary's bodies are therefore not in Heaven.
Most believe that it to mean that the personal spiritual self that survives death is in continuity with the self we were while living on earth as an embodied person.
Again, the physical Resurrection (meaning a resuscitated corpse returning to life), Ascension (of Jesus' crucified corpse), and Assumption (Mary's corpse) into heaven did not take place.
The Ascension symbolizes the end of Jesus' earthly ministry and the beginning of the Church.
Only Luke records it. (Luke mentions it in his gospel and Acts, i.e. a single attestation and therefore historically untenable). The Ascension ties Jesus' mission to Pentecost and missionary activity of Jesus' followers.
The Assumption has multiple layers of symbolism, some are related to Mary's special role as "Christ bearer" (theotokos). It does not seem fitting that Mary, the body of Jesus' Virgin-Mother (another biblically based symbol found in Luke 1) would be derived by worms upon her death. Mary's assumption also shows God's positive regard, not only for Christ's male body, but also for female bodies." "
"In three controversial Wednesday Audiences, Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit (angel/demon) or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language. This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved, since it is tied to the temporal order in which this world and we exist. In this he is applying the philosophical categories used by the Church in her theology and saying what St. Thomas Aquinas said long before him."
http://eternal-word.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2HEAVN.HTM
The Vatican quickly embellished this story with a lot CYAP.
With respect to rising from the dead, we also have this account:
An added note: As per R.B. Stewart in his introduction to the recent book, The Resurrection of Jesus, Crossan and Wright in Dialogue,
p.4
"Reimarus (1774-1778) posits that Jesus became sidetracked by embracing a political position, sought to force God's hand and that he died alone deserted by his disciples. What began as a call for repentance ended up as a misguided attempt to usher in the earthly political kingdom of God. After Jesus' failure and death, his disciples stole his body and declared his resurrection in order to maintain their financial security and ensure themselves some standing."
p.168. by Ted Peters:
Even so, asking historical questions is our responsibility. Did Jesus really rise from the tomb? Is it necessary to have been raised from the tomb and to appear to his disciples in order to explain the rise of early church and the transcription of the bible? Crossan answers no, Wright answers, yes. "
So where are the bones"? As per Professor Crossan's analyses in his many books, the body of Jesus would have ended up in the mass graves of the crucified, eaten by wild dogs, covered with lime in a shallow grave, or under a pile of stones.
We dont need to make atheists look stupid. The fact that the majority of the world is religious and laughing at them already makes them look stupid enough lmafo. They're like the annoying bug that just wont go away even though nobody wants them around lol.
lmafo...lmfao.
sheeeiiit,
Speaking of looking stupid, please tell us all about the unicorns, talking non-humans, and dragons that the Bible claims are real. lol.
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
Religion………………………… Adherents
Christianity ……………………..2.1 billion
Islam…………………………… 1.5 billion
Irreligious/agnostic/atheism…… 1.1 billion
Hinduism 900 million
Chinese traditional religion 394 million
Buddhism 376 million
Animist religions 300 million
African traditional/diasporic religions 100 million
Sikhism 23 million
Juche 19 million
Spiritism 15 million
Judaism…………………………………….. 14 million
Baha'i 7 million
Jainism 4.2 million
Shinto 4 million
Cao Dai 4 million
Zoroastrianism 2.6 million
Tenrikyo 2 million
Neo-Paganism 1 million
Unitarian Universalism 800,000
Rastafari Movement 600,000
How many atheists?
He always seems to forget that stat doesn't he?
Does It make a lot of difference whether people are irreligious, agnostic or atheist? Regarding the statistics, the problem involves the differing definitions used by data collectors of these three groups. That is why they are put together as a group.
And he still doesn't know.
How stupid do you look spewing self-righteousness?
Pretty stupid, indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEu1dFLwf3E
You're kidding, right? Its the religious people who are the big joke – atheists have been laughing at them ever since religion was invented – because that is what religion is, a human invention.
You know, you're right. I just asked my wife, kids and close friends and they really don't want me around. I guess they're afraid I'll ask for all my money back!
The majority of people believing in something doesn't make it real. The fact that so many people believe something without evidence (and a book is not evidence, unless you also think Harry Potter is real) is just proof that the human mind is capable of deceiving itself.
Prove God exists and you can say "I told you so" as long as you want. Until then, being so sure of yourself is really a marker of a lack of humility. It's very un-Christian, but then again, most "Christians" aren't very Christian as far as the Bible is concerned.
There was a time when virtually everyone believed the sun went around the earth.
Great example. They went so far as to arrest Galileo and put him on house arrest for making the correct claim. How's that for being laughable?
What's really laughable is that it took until 1992 for them to issue an apology for the Galileo fiasco.
CNN, why are you even pandering to this crap? We need to stop addressing them so much; creationism is faulty and provides no real evidence for why they believe what they believe. All they do is tout misinformation and lies, trying to pass it off as reality and brainwashing people who don't want, or possibly can't, do the research and studies themselves. Stop running stories like this, please. It is a waste of everyone's time.
There are literally no new arguments from them, just more of the same tired and worn out lines. If you are still falling for it, you haven't done enough research. If you aren't, you are probably as sick of hearing them as I am.
It's all just for ratings. These stories always generate tons of comments, which equals tons of web-clicks. Tons of web-clicks produce usage numbers that please advertisers, which translates into money. As with everything in this world, it's about the money. How many comments did the Scalia story get, upwards of 4k? This one has the potential to be bigger, and that's exactly what CNN wants. It's good business.
Of all the knowledge that is in the universe, what percent would you say you know? If you are intellectually honest, you will have to say, "less than 1%". If that is true, then isn't it possible that God could exist in the 99.9% of information you have not come across yet? Science requires human observers, and since none of us were there at the beginning, isn't the subject of origins outside the realm of science?
Of course it is possible but there is no evidence of that. Also each religion claims to have that knowledge already and their creation myths are not only not supported by the evidence but are refuted by the evidence.
anything that can be asserted with out proof can be dismissed with you proof
Amen brother (mistakes aside).
Christopher Hitchens, is that YOU? At least give the Hitch credit for that comment.
Why are we still talking about this ? Look some people believe, some people do not believe and some people like me are happy that we can admit we don't know, will never know and not going to worry (fight, kill, hate) others for their beliefs or none beliefs. Is it really necessary to keep crusading for your beliefs ? Does anyone think spending $2,000 or $20,000 on a sign will actually change some ones beliefs ? Spend your money on things that matter and where you can do some good, like the hungry, poor, homeless, etc. !
I don't see the problem. Communication is paramount. Billboards serve their purpose for both sides.
But they don't really fulfil a noble purpose. The purpose of these billboards from both sides is so people can have a self-righteous circle-jerk.
I'd prefer to spend my money on drugs and pizza and I also know beyond doubt that any gods dreamed up by humans certainly don't exist but I agree with the rest of your sentiment.
Iwould like to meet you in person to tell you how ignorant you are but i'm sure you have been told that many times.
You sound like a bundle of fun. Do you often insult people you've just met?
I don't believe in billboards.
Look at the sign carefully and you will start laughing at the mistake.
Okay, I give up. What's wrong with the sign other than its just plain dumb?
The text on the left should not be in the dialogue bubble, the text on the right should. It is backwards.
"From an atheist's perspective, they believe when they die, they cease to exist. And we say 'no, you're not going to cease to exist; you're going to spend eternity with God or without God. And if you're an atheist, you're going to be spending it without God.' " um, not what i was taught. god will judge, not these ppl. if he sends atheists to hades, it won't be for what they think, it'll be for what they do. god judges what's in our hearts, not what flies out of our mouths.
I always apologize. I am going to Heaven.
In the south, we love the baby jesus. Ever seen Steel Magnolias? I made a mix and match baby Jesus wreath too. In fact, I think that Darrell Hanna lady stole that idea from me.
Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin' there in your ghost manger, just lookin' at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors. I would like to thank you for bringin' me and my mama together, and also that my kids no longer sound like retarded gang-bangers.
Einstein believed the world and the universe was created by God, all intricacies, from sub-atomic particles, to solar systems and galaxies, in his perspective, was improbable if not impossible for all of that fall into place by chance, and have such strict laws that interact perfectly with each other.
Science today seems to want to disprove God, when many scientists are believers of one thing or another. Most people say that they don't believe facts without Proof, most theories out there governing the Big Bang, or Evolution are just that Theories, and have no undeniable proof that shows that those events were not guided by God.
Christians who say the world is only 10,000 years old, and created in 6 days are also misguided (misled as prophesied by Jesus). When it says in Genesis, that the universe was created in 6 days, why do we assume that its 6 earth revolutions, when the earth was not even created yet? Both sides "Big Religion", and "Science based Atheism", are simply there to confuse the masses to fight against each other. Which is what everyone does and have done for generations.
Truth is God exists, the greatest minds in history believed that to be true. Science doesn't have all the answers, and don't believe all what big church has to say. Look in the bible, Jesus said most will be misled, judge the tree by the fruit my friends.
Evolution is a theory. It has never been demonstrable. The bird with no wing, the bird with the stub. Where are all the missing links? Not currently living and not in the fossil record. Evolutionists say that it will be found because they have absolute faith in the theory even though it has not been scientifically verified. Where is the "reproducible verification" that is part of the scientific method. No one has ever been able to "evolve" on a macro level. No one has ever been able to create life. Sure you get mutations at a micro level. Heck, I've even had cancer which is a mutation. So, in the end it seems atheists do have faith that is not based on science! If I stumble upon a nail, I see the hand of man. I see design. With human life I see design and something completely immaterial: a will to make choices and a reason to process ideas and create.
What do you think antibiotic resistant bacteria are? They're an example of recent evolution. Open mind to that fact that your religion may be wrong about how things came about.
you poor ignorant fellow ...
It's clear to me that you don't even know what it takes for the science community to classify something as, "scientific theory."
Because of this simple fact, I'll just point at you and laugh.
3 words: DNA and "Scientific Theory"
When I stumble on a nail I get a tetanus shot.
Why are the links between ape to man missing?
Where are the fossils or evidence? Why the huge and unobservable gap?
Define "gap"
What missing link?
There is no gap.
Why is it that there is zero (0) evidence that ANYTHING bible thumpers believe is true.
There is no fossil of the split from ape to human, yes there humanoids but they are obviously not human.
Yeah, but aren't humans just a bit too far advanced from all the other species? Shouldn't the chimps, or gorillas at least be counting to ten by now? I mean, we went to the moon for crying out loud and the next closest animal to us can't even say hello?
I just find it hard to believe that for millions of years mankind has only advanced so much as fighting/working with sticks, and rocks. About 500 years ago, the first gun was created that was basically a more complicated way of throwing metal. It was only until 1945 that we advanced beyond simple metals, sticks and rocks.
That means for millions of years, we did pretty much nothing, and then all of a sudden within our lifetimes finally achieved something noteworthy? Did we all of a sudden get more brain mass/circuitry?
Define far advanced? I'd say most bacteria are more evolutionarily advanced than humans.
advance to live possibly, not advanced to make Watson (IBM)
anon, That's your evidence of a god and creationism? The fact that humans built better tools that accelerated the advances in knowledge – machines, transport, computers, etc. Surely the omnipotent god you advocate could have done that for the other apes.
Actually, bacteria are more USEFUL then humans. Everything else on this planet serves the planet in some way. Everything else "fits" in the ecosystem and pulls it's weight in keeping balance. Humans don't do that. We are the only species who contributes absolutely NOTHING. Yet we are here, and here we have been for so long.
We aren't here on the planets behalf, that's for sure and for certain.
@Santa
are you saying because the apes didn't receive a cpu there is no GOD? Please further explain...
oncler, There's no evidence of a god and no amount of faux controversy will produce any. Our knowledge of evolution may have some pieces missing but that does not mean a god did it.
Transitional forms:
Australopithecus
Ho.mo Habillis
Ho.mo Erectus
etc.
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils
Often the find a bone fragment, like a piece of a squirrel's jawbone, and create a fiber glass skeleton of what it might have been. No?
BBT – that's more evidence than the Creationists have...
@BBT,
Often they find fully intact skulls. Yes.
Did you even look at the Smithsonian site I posted?
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils
Here's another:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_evolution_fossils
How are you defining gap? There aren't very many primate fossils (thought to be hominids) dated between Salhelanthropus tchadensis (a possible hominid dated to around the time of the separation between our line and chimps) and the Ardipithicus specimens. That's a gap of about 2-3 million years, which is pretty big, but there's no reason to expect to find a lot of fossils from that time. Fossil preservation over that long a period of time is pretty unlikely to begin with and population sizes for these creatures was probably pretty small. However, there appears to be a bit of a population/speciation explosion about 3-4 million years ago, so we have dozens upon dozens of bipedal but otherwise ape-like specimens who show trends toward increasing "humanness" as we get closer to modern time that span the time from 4 million years ago until today. How many "missing links" do we need to find to make you people happy?
All that crazy wild genetics stuff must all be made up too, I guess?
"No one has ever been able to "evolve" on a macro level."
You are correct. Because evolution does NOT occur at the individual level. It's the populations that evolve, not individuals. Your comment demonstrates your lack of basic understanding of the process of evolution. It's no wonder you reject it. (But then again, people take up religion without a shred of understanding–because there's nothing to understand. So that's a bit of perplexity there.)
Gravity is also just a theory, but does that mean that it isn't true? I've not seen anyone float away from the Earth recently...
You do not know what a scientific theory is, therefore your entire argument is null and void.
im not going to talk about how stupid you have to be to try to deny evolution. but mr. mat if we're so intelligently design, why does our food and air travel thru the same esophagus. it tends to create these annoying medical emergencies called choking and drowning. there is also a blind spot in our eyes and many many more examples of how we are not intelligently designed. wouldn't an all-knowing and all-powerful CREATOR been able to give us a separate pipe for food and air, wouldnt our eyes not have blind spot etc.
You need to spend a little time learning what a scientific theory is. Scientific theories are statements about the elements of observed phenomena, providing explanations and predictions that can be TESTED and are supported by FACTS. A scientific theory is not just a theory, a scientific theory is, in its own way, a FACT. I get so sick of hearing people spout off about how evolution is just a theory. So is gravity, but you don't go around trying to say "Hey, gravity is just a theory, we should not be teaching it in school. We need to be teaching all of the theories out there about it!"
Except creationism is not a valid theory. Let's teach all of the theories in school. I am completely for that. Know why? BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE.
And that one? Evolution.
We athiests HAVE found the missing. They are called christians – halfway between ignorant and stupid.
sorry, you may have been out of the loop for the last decade. At this point, we have far more evidence in support of evolution than we do in support of gravity. It is one of the most well researched, tested and supported of all scientific theories.
Also, the term Theory does not mean what you think it means in scientific use. "When used in non-scientific context, the word “theory” implies that something is unproven or speculative. As used in science, however, a theory is an explanation or model based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning, especially one that has been tested and confirmed as a general principle helping to explain and predict natural phenomena."
You do know that nonssense posted repeatedly under different names is still nonsense?
We need to not just focus on Jesus and God, but hold meetings and put up bill boards concerning the santa thing. Just like the bible nuts, he didn't used to be a problem, but lately, people have been getting seriously injured and sometimes killed in mall/ store violence over the santa issue. It has gotten out of hand. Parents need to quit brainwashing their kids every year with santa stories, and NORAD should be sued over using taxpayer money to "track" Santa.
Encouraging obesity and home break in's on a massive scale should not be tolerated!!!
Get back to me in a million years or so to witness examples of macro-evolution. You people have no idea how deep time actually is and just how long it takes for incremental changes to add up to create new species.
Also "survival of the fittest" isn't accurate. It's survival of the most adaptable. 99% of every species that ever lived is now extinct. Only those lucky enough and adaptable enough live through environmental changes to pass on their genes.
There has been life on this planet for over 3.5 billion years but flowering plants didn't appear until just 400 million years ago. Fossils are everywhere. Oil throughout the world is the fossil remains of ancient forests. Limestone is the fossil remains of coral and shellfish. Millions of years in the making. But large preserved animal fossils are rare occurrences needing special circumstances.. Otherwise we would be neck deep in fossilized carcasses across the entire planets surface. But all this is moot because evolution is proven by DNA evidence alone. No fossils required.
Creationists don't need anyone making them look foolish. They've got that covered themselves. Grown adults with imaginary friends...
"Grown adults with imaginary friends..."
Imaginary friends like your girlfriend.
Wow, great comeback.
NOT believing in God is sort of a no win in some areas. Let's use the simple logic of if/then for a minute: There is an advantage to believing in God. IF I'm wrong, THEN I'll NEVER know. IF I'm right, THEN I'll find out and (hopefully) get to gloat. IF the atheist is right THEN he/she will never know and (sadly) not get the opportunity to gloat. IF (s)he is wrong..............again, no gloating going on, (except by maybe the sky fairy nuts).
Since it is good to be FREE THINKERS, reasonable and totally logical, then just based on the information above, what would be the most logical course of action?
that's pascal's wager. And the logical outcome is the opposite of what you think.
The possibility of gloating is what drives you to believe in a magical sky fairy? Really? REALLY? GLOATING is what drives you to believe in something?
Okay, so WHICH god are you going to believe in? And what if you pick the wrong one? Or don't follow the "true" religion?
Very good question. My God of choice is the one who is above ALL else. Literally ALL else. That includes Thor, and the many idols of Hinduism that I don't even know the name of. All the mini gods, and demi gods even are beneath the one I serve.
Christ I hope you are trolling.
My God of choice is the one who is above ALL else
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Is there more than 1?
Says your god... Convenient isn't it?
John said it already. Which god? If I choose the wrong god, I'll only make the real god angrier which means I'll get flat beer and STD riddled stri.ppers in the afterlife.
is that the best argument you have, anon?
dragging out pascal's wager?
Give them a break. They only have arguments based on illogical fear-mongering.
If you think about it; do we really want all these people to free up their minds? If they can believe in something this ridiculous, what would they do with their time, what other hate groups would they form that are even worse if we leveled the playing field for them? My guess is enough of them would just go insane and become anarchists.
anon,
This is another tired repeti.tion of Pascal's Wager - thoroughly refuted since the 17th century (where have you been?)
- What IF the real "God" is Allah, or Vishnu, or Zeus, or Quetzalcoatl, or any of the other of thousands which have been dreamed up over the centuries? Some of them are very jealous and vengeful and will relegate you to nasty places for not worshiping them. You'd better cover your butt by believing in ALL of them and fulfill their wishes and demands.
- What IF the real "God" prefers those who use logic and reason and punishes you as a silly sycophant?
- What IF the real "God" detests those who believe something just to cover their butts in eternity?
What if the REAL God were made of cheese, and anyone who eats cheese is offending the real god every day of their lives?
I consider myself a winner for not having devoted 20% of my income to a pedophilia organization.
"I'll get to gloat"
That's the most infantile version of Pascal's I've ever seen. Too bad so many Christians feel exactly the same way.
At least this guy doesn't hide it like the others.