Kelly from the RRS blogs about faith. Something I think a LOT of people get confused with.
No Faith in Science
Submitted by kellym78 on Mon, 2007-11-26 10:46.
Response to Paul Davies’ “Taking Science on Faith”
NY Times Op-Ed
11/24/07I have faith (pun intended) that at some point in his studies, Paul Davies has held a dictionary in his hands, and possibly even opened it. These days, it’s even less cumbersome with the advent of online dictionaries and the added benefit of providing multiple sources from which one can gain a better understanding of a particular word. In order to correct the compilation of fallacies presented in this piece, we need to start at the beginning—definitions.
From the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, “faith” is defined as: complete trust or confidence, strong belief in a religion, or a system of religious belief. From Dictionary.com, it is defined as: confidence or trust in a person or thing; belief that is not based on proof; belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion; belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.; a system of religious belief; the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.; the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one’s promise, oath, allegiance, etc.
Looking at these definitions, one can see that every definition is antithetical to the foundational principles of science. A scientist who tests a hypothesis with “complete trust and confidence” in the outcome is doing a disservice to all of those who adhere to the principles of logical and rational inquiry, and who expect the scientific community to do so as well. Does Mr. Davies really believe that science is “belief not based on proof?” If so, perhaps a refresher course in the scientific method is the solution to that problem. Even the least innocuous definitions include words like “obligation”, “allegiance”, and “fidelity.” An honest rationalist would be made a hypocrite by maintaining any of the above qualities in their quest to discover the nature of reality.
Davies’ assertion that science assumes that nature is “ordered in a rational and intelligible way” is simply not accurate. Most scientists understand that while we can use inductive logic to predict with reasonable certainty that what has occurred with regularity in the past will continue to do so, such as the earth continuing to orbit the sun in 365 twenty-four hour days. Any scientist worth his salt would admit, though, that there is no absolute certainty—just reasonable expectations based on past observations. The fact that we have not seen any major variations in this supposed order is solely because our life spans are just not long enough. All of our anthropological history is not long enough to observe these kinds of massive changes. Davies’ statement that the scientists’ “faith has been justified” betrays his ignorance of the nature of this argument. “Justified faith” isn’t faith. It’s reason. Replace the word “faith” with “hypothesis.” Now we’re talking science.
Read the rest here… No Faith in Science | Rational Responders
I keep seeing the claim pop up where it is stated that we shouldn’t force our morals on others.
While I agree that it might seem nicer than the view of fundie xtianity, I honestly think that the xtians are being more self-consistent in this case (despite their distasteful values).“Don’t impose your morals on others.”
Why?
Because it’s immoral in your view to impose our morals?
Don’t impose your moral belief that I shouldn’t impose mine!/rant
Georgia Governor Angers the One True God by Praying to Yahweh for Rain | Rational Responders
Georgia Governor Angers the One True God by Praying to Yahweh for Rain
kellym78’s picture
Submitted by kellym78 on Mon, 2007-11-19 15:09.Rational Response Squad News Service
Associated Atheist Press
Staff Writer: Bizarro Kelly SapientMon Nov 19, 1:04 PM ET
Atlanta, GA – It’s completely obvious that the damage caused by rainstorms in drought-stricken Georgia was caused by their blatant blasphemous beseeching of Yahweh–another one of those false ancient deities–for rain. Witnesses at Governor Sonny Perdue’s prayer service reported that he seemed completely unaware that if Yahweh did exist, his bible specifically calls those who pray in public hypocrites. (Mat 6:5-9).“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
The Flying Spaghetti Monster was riled up by such blatant disregard for his supreme sovereignty sent rain to assert his power over all of creation. The wrath of FSM poured down upon Atlanta like Holy Marinara from the heavens. Damaging a Baptist church, an ambulance service, and even a city hall building, FSM is tearing down the temples in the high places–All praise His Noodly Appendages. He also completely demolished a home and injured three children.
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust :: Sam Harris
help protect ayaan hirsi ali
if you were thinking of donating to the protection of ayaan hirsi ali but were still undecided, you may want to visit sam harris’ FAQ about the ayaan hirsi ali security trust.
read it even if you weren’t already thinking of donating.
Found at Toomanytribbles.
Submitted by TheSarge on Mon, 2007-11-19 11:14.
1.)James Kirk can trust his crew to not fuck things up while he’s gone. Jesus Christ’s crew started the Catholic Church.
2.)Jesus Christ turned water into wine. James Kirk, given the uniform on his back, the boots on his feet, a universal translator and the mineral deposits and plant life on a planet, made a cannon out of bamboo, saltpeter, coal and sulfur and blew away a Gorn.
3.)Peter once cut off a Roman guard’s ear. Spock nerve-pinches people.
4.)When all seemed lost, Jesus cried to his father to take this cup from him. James Kirk grinned, flipped open his communicator and said, “Kirk to Spock, its been two hours. Are you ready?” to which Captain Spock replied, “Right on schedule, Admiral. Just give us your coordinates and we’ll beam you aboard.” James Kirk then stood, cocked an eyebrow at Lieutenant Saavik and said, “I don’t like to lose.”
5.)In Jesus Christ’s most desperate moment and nailed to the cross he cried, “My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?” James Kirk, after losing his son and having Enterprise crippled, said, “I swear to you, we’re not finished yet.” He then disposed of over half the Klingon crew by activating Enterprise’s self-destruct, threw the Klingon commander into a pit of lava and hijacked the Klingon Bird of Prey, took it back in time, retrieved several humpback whales and returned to 2286 in order to save the planet yet again.
6.)In Jesus Christ’s presence, Lazarus returned from the dead. In James Kirk’s presence, at least Dr. McCoy and Captain Spock were returned from the dead.
7.)Jesus Christ’s last words – “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” James Kirk’s last words – “It was… Fun. Oh, my…”
8.)Jesus Christ died saving an entire race from an unproven, intangible ‘threat’ called ‘Hell’. James Kirk died saving an entire star system from a very real threat, having their star imploded, and successfully saved humanity and Star Fleet on multiple occasions – and survived the vast majority.
9.)Jesus Christ was imprisoned, flogged and crucified. James Kirk has been imprisoned on multiple occasions, and escaped every single one of them.
10.)What would Jesus do? Turn the other cheek. What would James Kirk do? Change the rules, cheat death and go down fighting.
Winner – Captain James Tiberius Kirk, U.S.S. Enterprise, Commanding
Excerpt: Why James T. Kirk is cooler than Jesus Christ | Rational Responders
Does Ray Comfort have some kind of point system for getting into heaven or something ?
A few days ago I went to the O.C. Atheists get together. I’ve been a bunch of times before. We get together at a local IHOP and discuss lots of different things ranging from atheism to tv shows. Usually there’s a big turn out with 20 to 30 people attending. We sit, we eat, we talk for a few hours, it ’s all very nice.
This time however we got spammed. As people were coming in, a man walks in and starts handing everyone these little booklets called ” The Atheist test “. It looked like this…
At first no one knew what to make of it. Was this another atheist passing out some sort of joke ? What was going on ? Problem was, we didn’t have any time to ask because as quickly as he came in, the coward ran out.
On inspection we realized that this was one of Ray Comforts little booklets. It had the much laughed at banana argument, the coke can argument, etc. Just about all of Comforts arguments rolled into one little booklet. The problem being of course, that anyone who passed their high school science class would be able to see that it’s all full of shit. Completely. However, I’m not here to discuss the booklet. What I want to discuss, is the idiot who brought the booklets and ran like a coward.
I seriously don’t get this. Hit and run preaching ? Is he trying to earn points or something ? What kind of man walks in and interrupts others like that ? I felt violated. Here we are, a group of people who are simply trying to have a conversation not interrupted by theistic mentality, and this dumb fuck comes in and spams us. Does he really think that he’s going to open someones mind ?
What really gets me is the audacity of it. It’s one of the reasons I can’t stand xianity. It’s the idea that they know what’s better for us, and we better all just step in line or we’re going to be assaulted by people like this Comfort follower. A person who obviously never thought for himself and is trying to spread the mind virus of theism. Currently I’m having a talk with a theist on Myspace a lot like this guy. He talks about spreading the love of Jesus but he has no idea about what he confesses to believe. He doesn’t know the history of the bible. He hasn’t even read the bible, and when asked direct questions he replies with ” Well you just don’t understand. “. As if somehow his faith gives him extra knowledge then the rest of us.
It’s all willful ignorance. The spamming, this guy on myspace. It’s all about sticking your head in the sand and ignoring reality. And now, they want to shove our heads in the sand along with them.
No thank you.
