Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

The reasons “Nones” don’t identify with a religion.

The Cuddly One is coming to Ireland later this month. 10,000 of his sheep have signed a declaration to make their homophobia known. Our former President accuses him of bad manners.  But as far as I can tell, the Catholic Church just does not care about its victims.

The leaders of Willow Creek Megachurch finally quit of sexual misconduct scandal. At least they did not murder a baby for Jesus.

Five bogus reasons to trust the Bible.

On raising children with or without religion.

This weeks’ Woo: The wellness industry is bad for your health.

Climate Change:  The Hothouse Earth scenario.

Being hardwired to delude ourselves is one thing but engaging in Denialism of the truth is different. Learning to spot the fallacies in arguments is a good skill to have.

We need to improve the relationship between State and Science in all countries.

Rethinking Evolution time-frames for the first life on Earth.

Removing some of the knots from String Theory.

Does everything break down into individual quanta or can emergence explain how complexity arises?

Watch the Parker Solar probe successful launch.

This week I am reading this book: The Upright Thinkers by Leonard Mlodinow.

We pause to remember: Heather Heyer.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil…..

Coffee Break Video:  Can faith be rational? (2.5 hours!) What is Light? Ted Talk: Why it’s worth listening to people we disagree with.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week everyone!!

Peter Griffin: You were right about everything.
God: Say that again.
Peter Griffin: You were right about everything.
God: That’s all I needed to hear. That’s what religion is. It’s not about being good or bad. It’s just blind subservience to an imaginary being.

Family guy.

[_Robert_]

RE:On raising children with or without religion.

“The good news for parents struggling to decide how to deal with religion and their kids is that there’s no bad choice—or at least, no definite, foolproof good one. Gervais concludes, “a lot of religious folks assume that religion would be good for kids and atheism would be bad for kids. A lot of prominent atheists assume the opposite. They’re both probably wrong.”

Social studies once again tells us nothing. There are so many variables, no control groups and what you get is a conclusion the author wanted from the start.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I fully agree. Given the length of the article I was expecting something a little more conclusive. What I find silly is that people think that telling children they must obey the laws of an invisible but ever watchful authority figure on pain of eternal damnation is better than developing their innate understanding of human behavior with education and setting a good example themselves. And teaching them to write shorter sentences too!! I just cannot see why a parent would want to hand that role over to someone who was not related to the child. What makes them feel so inadequate or unqualified to do so?

[JadeBlackOlive]

Visiting Ireland……what a ”thrill”…….

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

@JadeBlackOlive – You are visiting? or are you referring to the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City and Servant of the Servants of God, a.k.a The Cuddly One?

[JadeBlackOlive]

I can’t travel, so no, not us. I meant the religious nutter.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I found myself getting annoyed today when discussing the case of Raif Badawi plus some other recent cases relating to the treatment of women (including his sister) in Saudi Arabia. I was the only one critical of the lack of international support given to Canada for the stance they have taken.

Anytime I pass the Saudi embassy in Dublin I roll up my sleeve to show them my “I am Raif Badawi” tattoo (written in Arabic). 🙂

[JadeBlackOlive]

We hear a lot here in Canada, but not much of anything from others.

[Davis]

The pope and homophobia. I have to say, the pope often does things that surprise me. He tends to take an enormous leap by adopting humanist principles (and when I say humanist…I mean humanist…not some new found Christian interpretation). I think…hey, he’s not so bad. It’s great that he did this! Less pointlessly murdered citizens by the government. Less LGTB+ people pointlessly suffering for being LGTB+.

But then I realize, he only seems not so bad, because the bar, when it comes to the vatican and when it comes to Popes, is set so abysmally low. He shines because most others around him are rusty religious apologists for cruelty. The Popes changes of mind seem amazing because many of his other positions are horrible.

He still has a very very very long way to go.

[Davis]

I LOVE that list of not so good reasons to be an atheist. I love number 4 (never quite though of it in that way before). However I think the last one should be a little better qualified “it’s cool to be an atheists”. It’s a little difficult to suddenly lack a belief because other people lack that belief. I mean…the belief is usually there or its not. Otherwise great list!!! It seems inspired by Raymond Tallis’s why Im an atheist. It’s finally available without subscription (though you have limited reads in the journal). Recommended:

https://philosophynow.org/issues/73/Why_I_Am_An_Atheist

[Davis]

JadeBlackOlive wrote:

We hear a lot here in Canada, but not much of anything from others.

I have a little more respect for Trudeau. Obviously he faces a lot of pressure over the backlash from Saudi Arabia (usually from business lobbyists and friends with interests in the gulf). I was very disappointing to see Trudeau utterly fail on an important promise (proportional system), badly implemented promise on marijuana (took forever, still insisted on arrests for possession meanwhile and placed an enormous amount of limits on it), ensure door-to-door post (rather important for many).

Whats your opinion on the guy? Does his stance on Saudi Arabia change your opinion of him? Does his failure over electoral reform, speedy pot legalization and post service effect much your opinion on him?

And a question for everyone: Does how a leader meet their top 3 or top 5 promises dictate if they are a good one?

[JadeBlackOlive]

Davis wrote:

JadeBlackOlive wrote:

We hear a lot here in Canada, but not much of anything from others.

I have a little more respect for Trudeau. Obviously he faces a lot of pressure over the backlash from Saudi Arabia (usually from business lobbyists and friends with interests in the gulf). I was very disappointing to see Trudeau utterly fail on an important promise (proportional system), badly implemented promise on marijuana (took forever, still insisted on arrests for possession meanwhile and placed an enormous amount of limits on it), ensure door-to-door post (rather important for many). Whats your opinion on the guy? Does his stance on Saudi Arabia change your opinion of him? Does his failure over electoral reform, speedy pot legalization and post service effect much your opinion on him? And a question for everyone: Does how a leader meet their top 3 or top 5 promises dictate if they are a good one?

I didn’t vote for him, but I do have a better opinion of him than I did. Yes, he falls short in many things, but he is showing some backbone as well.

I find it difficult to vote for any candidate as I don’t usually like any of them, but I feel slightly better about him when he’s not acting like a rock star.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by PopeBeanie. Reason: blockquote fix (but did I get it right?)

[Davis]

JadeBlackOlive wrote:

I find it difficult to vote for any candidate as I don’t usually like any of them

It is actually astonishing how similar the platforms are between the five major parties. Even the difference between the Conservatives and the Greens is utterly tiny compared to the difference between the Democrats and Republicans in the US. And compared with European grand coalition states, the Greens and Conservatives in Canada seem virtually identical. The Belgian far left vs the Belgian extreme right for example. I think in the long term, Canadian politics are so non-extreme with a pendulum ticking left right…over the course of 10 or 20 years, it seems as though its all been one long centrist political machine, often at the forefront of introducing humanist laws long before other countries do.

I can imagine Americans being really really really bored during a Canadian election.

[JadeBlackOlive]

Yes, they all seem the same to me too, which adds to my voting choice difficulties.

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