Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

If you live in the United States then please participate in this Secular Communities Survey.

The majority of new parents are raising their children without religion.

In Iraq, where religion is the cause of much of the horror the country endures, The Cuddly One prays that religious hope is more powerful than religious violence.

Evangelicalism IS white nationalism.

Three Polish women have been found not guilty of offending religious feelings over poster depicting the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo. For readers who don’t know much about the Virgin Mary, she was about 13 years old when she gave her consent to be magically impregnated by the Creator of the Universe. That does not make me Christianophobia as I am attacking the belief, not the person.

On how religious freedom’s PR crisis affects the Equality Act debate.

A Baptist preacher and God’s Gift to women no longer does marriage counseling.

EL Diablo and the Satanic panic in Cyprus.

Does the American public think that there are more than two genders?

This week’s Woo: Having been signed up to Fitbit since 2014 I am now considering quitting. They started off on a solid scientific footing but have stumbled into pseudoscience. Not a wise move.

Environment:  The Gulf Stream slowdown will have a serious impact on climate.

White supremacists are very wrong about the Byzantine Empire.

After Georgia, the devil drove back home to Alabama.

This is not how your brain works.

The evolutionary advantages of playing victim.

Richard Dawkins on Science that could change the post-Covid world.

Imaginary numbers may be essential for describing reality just as the discovery of four new particles at the LHC is.

What is the probability that Schrödinger’s Cat is living in Copenhagen?

What happens if Perseverance finds life on Mars?

Long Reads:  A modern day quest for immortality.

This week I will order this book: Science and the Good. The tragic quest for the foundations of morality.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  You and AI with Prof. Brian Cox. How many people did God kill in the Bible? The endless turf wars between cousins.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everybody!

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[_Robert_Participant]

The discovery that gulfstream current is slowing down as predicted is frightening. Here we go….

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Three Polish women have been found not guilty of offending religious feelings over poster depicting the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo. For readers who don’t know much about the Virgin Mary, she was about 13 years old when she gave her consent to be magically impregnated by the Creator of the Universe.

This gives rise to an interesting question:

If an Omnipotent, Omniscient Being–that, remember, has tormented and slaughtered untold millions of both humans and other species of animals and indeed destroyed a whole Planet once–came up to you and propositioned you for sex, knowing his past and present capabilities, are you really going to say “no?”  Does “consent” have any meaning here?

If I recall correctly from the story, the angel just came down to Mary and basically said: “This is how it’s going to be.  Might as well lay back, kick it, and enjoy the ride.”

That does not make me Christianophobia as I am attacking the belief, not the person.

Neither “Christophobia,” nor “Christianophobia,” nor “Islamophobia,” nor even “-phobia” are valid words that capture the essence of Atheism, Anti-Theism, or Anti-Religion.   If a suffix is needed, it needs to be one for disgust or contempt.  Must investigate further.

[KristinaParticipant]

I ended up following links through to the random Chopra quote generator, and you know what? I really like this little gem:

The Higgs boson is at the heart of personal silence.

edit: I see now you specifically linked to it yourself. Honestly, that would be a great party game for me. Everyone takes a turn trying to attribute actual meaning to the randomly generated quote.

 

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@kristina – Everyone takes a turn trying to attribute actual meaning to the randomly generated quote.

Yes, but only at the Quantum level. Using the term “Quantum” imparts Woo statements with so much more meaning. 🙂

[DavisModerator]

There used to be a website but I think it’s offline now. Basically you had to decide whether a sentence was a fake quote generated by the Chropra generator or if he actually wrote it himself. It was actually pretty difficult to guess and I only got half of them right.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@Encogitatoner – Does “consent” have any meaning here?

Many junior schools in Ireland are still managed by a foreign state, namely the Vatican. We have campaigned to get them to stop telling young girls that is it a good thing to just “Say Yes” if a man comes into their bedroom, even if they are confused and afraid.

[KristinaParticipant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

@kristina – Everyone takes a turn trying to attribute actual meaning to the randomly generated quote. Yes, but only at the Quantum level. Using the term “Quantum” imparts Woo statements with so much more meaning. 🙂

That’s why I always refer to one-night-stands as ‘quantum entanglements’. Make’s the void seem just a little less empty.

Anecdotally, adding nudge-nudge-wink-wink completely counteracts the quantum effect.

Science, amirite?

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Some more on the impact of changes to the Gulf Stream current.

[KristinaParticipant]

Davis wrote:

There used to be a website but I think it’s offline now. Basically you had to decide whether a sentence was a fake quote generated by the Chropra generator or if he actually wrote it himself. It was actually pretty difficult to guess and I only got half of them right.

I doubt I would do well. I’ve always loved Jabberwocky because it is so evocative despite having little tangible meaning. I love that people had to translate the nonsense words into other languages. I have a strange fondness for parsing sentences as if they were puzzles to solve.

Conversely, I have a very low threshold for wisdom™. Canned quotes, aphorisms/ adages, or sloganeered pseudo-philosophy in particular really get under my skin. I find they can rarely be applied to much of anything without a great deal of reductionism and are readily rendered insipid even if there were limited contexts where they might have been thought-provoking.

Even without the pseudoscience, I can’t stomach listening to Chopra for real.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@kristina – Science, amirite?

Yes, once the experiments are repeatable 🙂 I have been following up on research from an old post of mine for years and can confirm the Science is not wrong. The void can stare back if it wants to. It does not bother me 🙂

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@kristina – Conversely, I have a very low threshold for wisdom.

I think we need to get you a calendar! Some of their posters are great!

[UnseenParticipant]

In the survey, there was a question asking if there was anything I missed about the period in my life I was participating in religion (I belonged to an Episcopal/Anglican church).

I was tempted to say “Yes, the potlucks,” but I figured that was not the sort of thing they were looking for since it had nothing specifically to do with religion.

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