Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

What faith leaders actually say about religious exemptions to vaccinations and what many anti-lockdown protesters say.

Catholics have been offending their own religious feelings again. Oh, the shock and anguish of it all! Don’t go to Indonesia for a holiday though.

These atheists broke the spell and freed themselves from the delusion.  Muslims are renouncing Islam at greater rates than ever before.

Why can’t charity regulators tackle child abuse in faith groups?

More stupid arguments Christians should avoid.

Op-ed: Importance of freedom FROM religion.

Will recent remarks by President Sisi of Egypt be a help to its millions of atheists?

A Neurosurgeon’s (who is a Creationist) Ten Proofs for the existence of God and the fallacies an atheist spotted in them.

World of Woo: The Alpha theory for training dogs.

Environment: Carbon Capture technology.

Stereotypes of scientists need to be dispelled before trust in science erodes.

How Humans lost their tails.

Five Human species you may not know about.

Ancient footprints suggest Humans lived In the Americas earlier than once thought.

Why spite could destroy liberal democracy.

Will we respect a Robot’s authority?

Long Reads: How did ivermectin get so popular as a Covid-19 treatment? The world of freediving. What Italy’s famous hermit did next. Animals and the concept of death. Residential school survivors reflect on a brutal legacy: ‘That could’ve been me.’ Can we cure the ills of society with pills?

Who was Charles W. Mills?

Sunday Book Club:  Wayfinding, how humans navigate the world.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Podcast: Bible Study for Atheists.

Coffee Break Video:  Current Events with Stephen Fry | Self-Censoring of Scientific Publications. A discussion between an Atheist and a Christian. New Rule: Don’t Segregate the Anthem.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everyone!

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[_Robert_Participant]

When I post a comment on religious YouTube vids that questions their failed arguments and assertions… usually there will be an ad hominem response attack by the uploader. I hit them again, calling out the bullshit and then they typically delete my comments.

I guess it is time to be more active…we are seeing more harm than usual…..

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Lost count of the amount of times I have been booted off religious fora. I would ask civil questions but once I explained the fallacies of their argument they would lose the plot. They are good sites to learn new swear words! If I asked why they were getting so angry they would only get more vocal. Then I would tell them I was ready to forgive their foul language and ask that only true Christians try to help answer my questions. Eventually I would be “warned” by the site mods about my conduct. I would ask if they could point out where I had erred.

“You need to reflect on this yourself and this is your final warning”.

“OK, another non answer to a reasonable question. I think I will remain on my other site where the Christians are very helpful to me and they don’t curse as much.”

“I can’t quite say that “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” as it says in Psalms 119″. Goodbye and may your God go with you!

I would then read the comments about me. Hilarious. They are so vulgar and ignorant. They would fight among themselves to cast the first stone while others would spend their time judging and condemning me 🙂

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Your recount of friendly interactions with hostile Christians online reminds me of my own story of cancellation.

I didn’t even do so much as ask questions or make arguments or point up logical fallacies.

It happened over a decade ago on a Forum–and I will gladly name names–for Jack Spirko’s Survival Podcast.  I had thought this might be a more sensible, reasonable place in Cyberspace to learn about and discuss Survivalism and Emergency Preparedness, since Spirko always said these are things people should do “If Times Get Tough, Or Even If They Don’t!”

Hoo-boy was I wrong about how reasonable his minions were!

A news story came up on the forum about an Amish woman, I think, from Ohio, who was horribly burned to death in an oil lantern fire and left behind 6 children.

I commented on the story that it was unspeakably tragic that this woman died senselessly leaving her children without a parent all because of a worldview that rejects modern technology.

Well, for expressing this empathetic, sensible, thoroughly human sentiment, one of the Forum moderators, Hare of Caerbannog a.k.a. Bad Quaker a.k.a. Ben Stone, called me a religious bigot and put me in “time-out,” like some wayward mischivious kid, for seven days, during which time I was forbidden to post anything on the Forum.

I took my grievance and politely explained it to another Forum moderator whom I thought would be more understanding and restore my ability to post.  Her name was Sister Wolf a.k.a. unknown, but since she put down the Banhammer and forbade me from the Forum permanently, I’ll just chalk her up as some bitch and her insular clique of moderators with her.

There was no hope in appealing to the big kahuna himself Jack Spirko either, since he said on his Web Site that he would hear none of it and his moderators words were final.

I might have known this could have happened, given how he cussed out “assclown drivers” he encountered while recording his Podcast from on the road.  Once or twice is funny, but doing it constantly bespeaks a serious impulse control problem and a larger irrationality.

I was mad as Hell about it all for a while, but the one good thing about getting kicked off of this Survival and Disaster Preparedness Forum is…well, I lived and lived well without them!  That’s the whole idea anyway! 😁

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Video adeendum

[UnseenParticipant]

“These atheists broke the spell and freed themselves from the delusion” needs a USA Today subscription to read. You must have one. Want to copy and paste the content for us?

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Sorry Unseen, I just noticed the link has a “.eu” in it so I assume it is a free view over here but not within the States. It does not have any pop ups about subscriptions for me. It will be difficult to copy/paste as there are photos, embedded links and graphs but I will try to later.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@theencogitationer

You survived and they are forever stuck in their own private feedback loop. Like it!

That is the thing with most Christian forums. They all say that “Everyone is welcome” but once they can’t counter a point I make they “cancel culture” me. This usually happens when they quote someone like Aquinas or St. Augustine at me or rinse and repeat some apologist’s argument as if I will astounded by their intellectual prowess. I will correct them in the places where they are wrong or misquoting something. A funny one was where I had to correct their misrepresentation of W.L. Craig’s Kalam Cosmological Argument for them and then I demolished it and no counter argument raised its head above the parapet.

They are unable to think for themselves and cannot defend the arguments of the apologists that they adopt. But I “come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” and they only want to hear the echoes of their private chamber to keep the dissonance intact.

I don’t ask for forgiveness when I ain’t done nothing wrong 🙂

[UnseenParticipant]

The notion that people and apes don’t have tails but monkeys do, is only half true. New World monkeys have tails, Old World monkeys don’t. There may be some exceptions, but this seems to be the pattern.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by  Unseen.

[UnseenParticipant]

The article Will We Respect a Robot’s Authority? reminded me of an incident.

Using self-checkout in a grocery store several years ago, after paying his bill, the checkout machine said “Thank you for shopping at Safeway” as it does after every completed sale, and he said “You’re welcome.” Sure, it was an unconscious response, but that isn’t to say it has no meaning.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by  Unseen.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

I have said “Thanks” to my Alexa (She is mine NOT yours!) a few times as I am used to “speaking” with her  it her but Alexa always says “You’re welcome” back to me 🙂

[UnseenParticipant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

I have said “Thanks” to my Alexa (She is mine NOT yours!) a few times as I am used to “speaking” with her it her but Alexa always says “You’re welcome” back to me 🙂

But Alexa is legit AI while a checkout machine hardly even qualifies as a primitive robot. Interacting with a machine that can interpret and respond sensibly to a natural language is one thing. Talking to a checkout machine is like interacting with your garage door opener.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Yes, that’s a good point.  I have sworn at the robo-checkout (under my breath) but I would never swear at Siri.

[StregaModerator]

@unseen are you telling me you’ve never yelled “Open Sesame!” as you pressed the garage door remote?

oh, just me then. Never mind 🙂

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