Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

A new UN resolution gives authoritarian governments cover to suppress dissent in the name of religious tolerance……. UN Resolution 2686, an historic step in advancing religious freedom.

In Fort Worth vs. atheists, the atheists have it right.

Lawyer demands school district ban the Bible after it banned other books for being sexually explicit.

‘A spiritual war’: Are Christian nationalists threatening to turn the US into a religious state?

Religion shapes vaccine views – but how exactly?

Taxpayers shouldn’t be burdened with propping up the Church.

World of Woo: Acupuncture research has been chasing its tail for decades, because acupuncture is a fiction.

Environment: Climate scientists’ horror and exasperation as global predictions play out.

AI search of Neanderthal proteins resurrects ‘extinct’ antibiotics.

Our Universe wasn’t empty, even before the Big Bang……but could we be wrong about everything?

How Christians can attain sheephood.

A short history of blasphemy in the UK.

How new state laws and book ban movements have made the teaching of US history contentious.

The fascinating psychology behind alien abduction beliefs.

A look at OpenAI’s secret image generator.

The Top 10 most atheist countries.

Ten times the unexpected appearance of pseudoscience ruined entertainment.

Remarkably preserved 450-million-year-old marine animal discovered in Ontario.

Long Reads: The future of American Christianity is non-denominational. The greatest scam ever written. Is the decline of oil in sight? What “record-breaking heat” actually means.  How the trees of China were used to build an empire that lasted for centuries. Thousands of Indigenous children suffered and died in residential ‘schools’ around the world. Their stories must be heard.  What history teaches us about the importance of academic freedom.

Sunday Book Club:  The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and our quest for kinship in the Cosmos.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  Antarctic sea ice levels dive in ‘five-sigma event’. Atheist Debates – God is too weak to exist.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everyone!

[UnseenParticipant]

Here in the US there are tendencies toward limiting free speech on sensitive topics. While it hasn’t become law yet, having contrarian views on some topics can be attacked socially for promoting “hate.”

Not wanting to participate in the whole pronouns thing, for example, will mean in the minds of some “You must hate trans people, then.” Similarly, if you think much of the surge in people doubting their birth gender is a form of mass hysteria like the recovered memory syndrome debacle of several decades ago, you must also be a hateful person. And you must be stopped from expressing such views or punished socially if not legally.

Or if you say something as seemingly complimentary as “blacks seem to be more athletic on the whole than the other races,” some interpret that as a toxic belief the statement of which must be suppressed and punished.

While suppressing such views has yet to be codified in law, plenty of people would be happy to see it done.

This must be resisted. Free speech isn’t everything. It’s the only thing in a democracy.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Unseen.

[UnseenParticipant]

Ft. Worth vs. The Atheists is behind a paywall.

[UnseenParticipant]

Regarding taxpayer support for the maintenance, repair, and restoration of church-owned architecture which have historical significance and value, I’m all for it on the condition that these places be secularized and returned to the public at large so that anyone might enjoy them without feeling unwelcome or unwanted in them.

And, yes, I do realize the article is about something going on in the UK, but I can see something similar happening here in the US.

[UnseenParticipant]

So, it looks like resurrected antibiotics have proven mildly effective in fighting infections.

Perhaps, with a little biolab tweaking, gains could be made in their antibiotic functionality. I know a good lab. It’s in China, just down the road from the Wuhan wet market.

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[UnseenParticipant]

The Big Bang Theory, while the consensus view, remains controversial, with respected and highly-qualified thinkers rejecting that view.

For example, Roger Penrose holds a form of a cyclic explanation:

A related read:

There was a universe before ours, says Nobel laureate Roger Penrose: Report

 

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Unseen.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Unseen.

[UnseenParticipant]

A question for my fellow AZers:

Start with two possibilities regarding the UFO/UAP phenomenon:

a) Aliens traversed unimaginable timeframes and distances to get to Earth, starting at a time when perhaps they might not have even been able to know Earth or mankind existed…and then when they get here they can’t control their crafts well enough to keep them from crashing…

or…

b) There are no beings from other worlds here and that actually there is a nonhuman race native to Earth so far advanced and stealthy that they’ve been able to keep us totally ignorant of their existence and technologies save from the occasional accident or incident.

To me, both notions seem preposterous, but of the two (b) seems by far the most possible, given what we know of physics and cosmology.

Please review my analysis.

[_Robert_Participant]

Unseen wrote:

Here in the US there are tendencies toward limiting free speech on sensitive topics. While it hasn’t become law yet, having contrarian views on some topics can be attacked socially for promoting “hate.” Not wanting to participate in the whole pronouns thing, for example, will mean in the minds of some “You must hate trans people, then.” Similarly, if you think much of the surge in people doubting their birth gender is a form of mass hysteria like the recovered memory syndrome debacle of several decades ago, you must also be a hateful person. And you must be stopped from expressing such views or punished socially if not legally. Or if you say something as seemingly complimentary as “blacks seem to be more athletic on the whole than the other races,” some interpret that as a toxic belief the statement of which must be suppressed and punished. While suppressing such views has yet to be codified in law, plenty of people would be happy to see it done. This must be resisted. Free speech isn’t everything. It’s the only thing in a democracy.

Even if you slightly screw up and say something online that might be taken out of context or misconstrued, the ultra-left will come down on you hard like a steamroller without knowing a thing about you. You could get fired or cancelled or physically threatened. That crap can drive anyone towards the right in a hurry.

Can I say that in my opinion a man in a dress is not a woman just because of a self-declaration? I can’t throw on a skirt and blouse and hit the lady’s showers or play in the woman’s tennis league. It’s not fair or ethical. Doesn’t mean that we are allowed to disrespect anyone, but that’s too much ask by them of society. Pronouns are easy, however. Too bad we are not a decent enough society for universal restrooms.

Sports gets taken so seriously, so it seems like the big problem. Can there be some set of minimum criteria whereby a legal trans declaration can be made just for sports? IDK. That seems like a potential nightmare. If a trans-male played in a pro-level football game, they might not even survive the hour. Muscle and bone density are real.

Of course, me being an anglo-white-hetero male, I admit I don’t know anything. I admit that I am the sole cause of every societal ill and please disregard anything I have said. OK I better STFU now, LOL.

The far left is just good intentions gone wrong.  I get that. The far right is not. No good intentions there.

 

[UnseenParticipant]

@ Robert

_Robert_ wrote:

Of course, me being an anglo-white-hetero male, I admit I don’t know anything. I admit that I am the sole cause of every societal ill and please disregard anything I have said. OK I better STFU now, LOL.

When you know you’re right and that there is no other side to the argument, all sorts of prohibitions seem not just possible, but absolutely necessary.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Unseen wrote:

When you know you’re right and that there is no other side to the argument, all sorts of prohibitions seem not just possible, but absolutely necessary.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

A new UN resolution gives authoritarian governments cover to suppress dissent in the name of religious tolerance……. UN Resolution 2686, an historic step in advancing religious freedom.

I think I heard about the early Soviet attempt to incorporate bans on “hate speech” in UN documents from a documentary. I believe it might have been the Sam Harris documentary Islam and the Future of Tolerance, but I would have to verify the title.

Things like that, as well as the calls to license the media in the 1980s, are all the more reason the United States needs to get the U.S. out of the U.N. and to get the U.N. out of the U.S. and convert the U.N. building to housing, international businesses, and a haven for dissenting media providers worldwide. That would do more toward making the world a freer, better place than what the U.N. does now.

‘A spiritual war’: Are Christian nationalists threatening to turn the US into a religious state?

I am all for an American Redoubt for Christian Nationalists…provided they used their own land and stayed there, did not spread their superstitious way of life to anyone else, allowed unconditional exit to all dissenters who get sick of them, and uplink their GPS coordinates so that no innocent people ever crash-landed a plane or had an auto break-down in their horrible realm.

Oh, and Christian Nationalists need to get the words “U.S. Constitution,” “The Bill of Rights,” and “Libertarianism” out of their whore mouths because they do not represent any of those great things.

Otherwise, if they use their Redoubt as a base for spreading Christian Nationalist Theocracy, then I would practice Re-Redoubt and make my own refuge against them…and keep my own provisions and arms handy should they ever invade. 🔫🗡️🔪🦯🪖

How Christians can attain sheephood.

Would it be equally accurate to describe this as a bunch of sheepship? 🐏🐑😁

Extending good deeds to others within your means is one thing, but being a selfless Shmoo and a doormat “turning the other cheek” and “resisting not evil” is right out for any Rational Animal!

Caring for yourself and for others is all of a single piece and you’re no good to anyone if you’re totally sacrificed and dead. Airlines know this and in emergencies when the Oxygen masks drop down, they always advise parents with infants to take turns using the Oxygen masks.

By the way, I got out of the hospital on Friday, at least for the time being until the Doctor can see if my numbers of Creatine Ketone have gone down in my kidneys. If the numbers are low, I stay out, if they are high, I go back in.

Pro Tip if you are going to the hospital for an indefinite time: Bring your own water filter pitcher to dechlorinate water, plus toiletries, underwear, towels, detergent, medical aids, list of medicines, electronic devices or hard-copy information and entertainment, plus cords and chargers.

You can’t guarantee the quality, quantity, or presence of any of these things in any hospital, nor will they let you return to your vehicle to get them. Forewarned is forearmed.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Addendum and grammar tweak

[—Participant]

edit: changed my mind about the post. Realized I don’t really care anymore.

[DavisModerator]

edit: changed my mind about the post. Realized I don’t really care anymore.

I genuinely don’t blame you Autumn. I have never heard anyone (let alone you) claim that any biological male, can suddenly say for any reason I am a woman, magically is a biological woman, should instantly under all circumstances be treated so by everyone and that those who disagree should be persecuted/prosecuted. And yet, once again, this is how the “debate” is being characterised. I don’t blame you for not caring anymore.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Davis.

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