Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

You might like to start with some background music from a godless choir or an orchestral cello piece which honors Bangladeshi atheists who were murdered by members of the religion of peace.

It is not easy for some to leave their religion behind but almost all find joy in the simple relief from its oppression. Some need the Wisdom of Solomon to balance their daily lives as atheists and for others it can depend on where they live.

Can you spot the flaws in these arguments from a Catholic who is a recovering atheist and who apparently loves Jesus’s wife and kids. I suggest he should stop displaying his ignorance in public and get angry with his own tribe instead. I think it is too late for that tribe to make a fresh start.

Mississippi wants atheists to put the words “In God we trust” on the rear ends.

Tony Perkins, the leader of the hate group Family Research Council is given a new job advancing religious privilege to the rest of the world.

Look lively as this is for real. So is this.

This weeks’ Woo:  Should we view “healing crystals” as we do blood diamonds?

Climate Change: The renewable energy debate.

The countries were Facebook censors the most content. Turkey tops the poll but has it had Enough?

A few years ago I was threatened with arrest for demanding to know why Bibles were on display in polling booths in Ireland. I eventually got a campaign going to have them removed from tables across the country on the very day of the Marriage Equality Referendum. I see I am not alone on this.

Henry Kissinger suggests that A.I. will bring about the end of the Enlightenment. There could be other ways to learn vast amounts of information quickly at a snail’s pace. Or maybe not….just yet.

I once had an agitated Creationist tell me that Evolution was a “load of bollocks”. I left him standing outside my house to cool down.

When people engage in violence could they be primarily motivated by their moral code?

The first stars to be born from oxygen in the cosmic dawn. As the Universe expands just how many galaxies have already disappeared from our perspective?

Some pictures of cute cats that may or may not be there when you click.

Some photographs taken last week.

We pause to remember: Tom Wolfe.

This week I am reading this book: The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli.

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

Coffee Break Video: Take a deep breath. OK, now imagine you get a friend request from God. Canada’s first Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan understands Science.  Francesca Stavrakopoulou on religion.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Reg the Fronkey Farmer.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week everyone!!

“If we go back to the beginning we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods, that fancy enthusiasm or deceit adorned them, that weakness worships them, that credulity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests.”

Baron d’Holbach.

[Strega]

Thanks, Reg!

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

As always you are most welcome Strega. I think I want to move to Canada for a few years after listening to Kirsty Duncan talk. She is an asset to the country.

[JadeBlackOlive]

Religion is just not a big deal here. Sure there are some Canadian places who seem into it more so than others, but it isn’t everywhere.

I live in a small city with many churches, but don’t see much attendance. The neighbours around us all seem to be at home doing yard work or snow shoveling, etc., than sitting in a church some place.

[.]

That is a powerful quote Reg…thank you for Sunday School!!!

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Thanks Bellen and he is not even a “new atheist” 🙂 (remember?)

[.]

LOL!

[_Robert_]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

As always you are most welcome Strega. I think I want to move to Canada for a few years after listening to Kirsty Duncan talk. She is an asset to the country.

Meanwhile in Florida our children are suing our climate change denying Gov’na
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16042018/florida-climate-change-children-lawsuit-sea-level-rise-flooding-extreme-weather-rick-scott-fossil-fuel

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

@Robert – That is good news to hear but when it comes down from on high then the State has an out as it can point to the EPA. People like Rep. Mo Brooks, a lawmaker on the Science committee who thinks rocks falling into the ocean raises sea levels don’t bring much to the table. Other school boards in Florida still entertain opponents of both Evolution and Climate Change – which in my opinion – is a threat to the economic future of the State. Many of the Southern States, especially Texas are trying similar stunts. I just hope we reach the tipping point soon and that secularists and the non-religious, now in the majority, push back harder against these Evangelical WASP types.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

@JadeBlackOlive – Investing in teaching of STEM subjects for all children is an investment in any nation’s future. Promoting Science leads to more rational decision making in parliament and in turn this leads to technical innovations and investment by big companies. That is something Ireland has done really well. Now if we can only just get the abortion referendum passed this week (25th) we might get back to business. Here is where we are at.

[JadeBlackOlive]

Yeah, you have had some big changes recently.

[Simon Paynton]

“coming into existence by accident is exactly what atheism teaches. The belief is this: Billions of years ago chemicals were randomly swirling around, just following the laws of physics. One day, a group of chemicals accidently formed into a self-replicating organism.” … “There simply is no scientific evidence that explains how non-living chemicals could have become complex self-replicating organisms in the first place. ”

This is why Bill Dunn gave up atheism.  There is plenty of evidence that explains how non-living chemicals COULD have become complex self-replicating organisms.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis

[Simon Paynton]

“When people engage in violence could they be primarily motivated by their moral code?”

– “Once everyone, everywhere, truly believes that violence is wrong, it will end.”

This is an interesting dimension to morality that I hadn’t thought about.  What they’re talking about – committing violence for morally justifiable reasons – is what the army and police do, and it’s seen as legitimate.

Seen in that light, things like honour killings or blood feuds are no different.  What to do?  There has to be a get-out clause – some other way of dealing with things, and also, an elevation of peaceful non-violence, and more importantly, respecting [the other] people’s need to thrive and survive.

Violence should be seen as a very last resort rather than one of the first and easiest.  When I was getting ill, before Christmas, without hesitation, I very nearly blammed somebody in the head with a bottle because they wouldn’t say sorry for being a dick, and carried on being a dick.  But they provided a get-out clause.  Looking back, I should have gone in armed with a get-out clause.

The author states that 10% of violent crimes are caused by psychopaths, but I’m betting it’s more likely to be narcissists.  They too act on moral principles: just different from the rest of us, where “anything against me is bad”.  Those are the gratuitously cruel ones in everyday life.

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