Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Pew Research: Religion is declining worldwide in a predictable sequence.

The ongoing replacement of older, more religious generations by younger, less-religious ones suggests the percentage of “nones” will keep rising. This trend is reflected in the rise of secular voters in U.S. politics.

A congressional resolution reaffirms the principle that government must not privilege religious beliefs or impose them.

Vice President makes false and alarming statements dismissing the constitutional principle of separation between church and state.

‘People assumed we were in church.’ It was a city council meeting in Arizona.

The Child Catcher Big Red Bus is at the forefront of an evangelical movement to take kids out of school for indoctrination.

The tax-exempt status for religious bodies is not untouchable: when state actions treat religious organizations differently, constitutional problems arise.

An article from Americans United underscores that protecting secular governance means affording atheists full legal equality, arguing the majority should not dictate exclusion of non‑believers.

World of Woo:  The ‘Medical Freedom’ movement.

Environment: Have 30 years of COP climate summits made any difference?

The reason for further outbreaks of measles should be easy to spot. Cases are now at a 34 year high.

[REDACTED] is a religion of peace. Can you guess which one it is?

Science journalists worldwide are fighting White House health misinformation. But what about the daily doses of A.I. “factslop” we will be fed?

Facebook is a criminal organization.

Long Reads:

There are serious ethical implications to sexualising AI chatbots.

Our first terraforming goal should be the Moon, not Mars.

How authoritarian states sculpt a warped alternative reality in our news feeds.

Scientific progress depends on disagreement. Consensus should be provisional.

Why scientists found lead in protein powders.

On the Bill Gate climate memo.

Sunday Book Club:  The Land in Winter (Booker prize tomorrow?)

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Videos: Decoding the secrets of life with AI. A discussion between Alex O’Connor and Alain de Botton.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week!

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Once you no longer reserve a hidden compartment in your reasoning for “maybe there’s a divine exception,” the entire field of view opens up. You stop having to protect contradictions, and patterns that were once blurred by reverence or taboo become visible. I don’t carry a residual conceptual veto. When you remove that invisible constraint of magical thinking, you start to see causality, emergence, consciousness, morality, all of it. as natural phenomena rather than special exemptions. It doesn’t make the world smaller or colder; it makes it cleaner and clearer because there is no lingering pocket of deference to something beyond evidence. That is “free thinking”.

[jakelafortParticipant]

I had Mr. Lloyd for 7th grade social studies. Pretty sure my teacher would not have had the courage to look the lefty’s in the eye.

Churchill would roll over on his cloud and fall through a wormhole into a different dimension to avoid the stench.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Pope i don’t think the great majority of MAGA care what he does. Only thing that seemed to be an issue for them….Epstein bar virus.

I cited a poll about the supporter’s and their proclivities concerning King Trump. They don’t much care about democracy.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

jakelafort wrote:

They don’t much care about democracy.

I still have hope they can shed their cult uniforms. They surprised me with their gullibility and falling for a malignant narcissistic style of self-confidence, arrogance, and bullshit “solutions that will save America”, and they WILL suffer some consequences when it hits rural America even harder than urban America. (Even if somehow he’s not in the Epstein files, or if he/them manage to destroy all the files.)

Trump & Company can’t just hide all economic outcomes and health care declines forever. Or pandemics, or at least dead, unvaccinated children and a few more family members. Unless it becomes illegal to report such things.

They also HATE liberals, and all empathy for atypical sexuals, minorities, non-Christians, well-trained scientists and medical professionals, and anyone with a significant level of higher education.

I still can’t think of such human-nature deficits as much other than a temporary illness or dysfunction. I believe that Trump himself is extremely dysfunctional and has been since childhood, and too many people don’t get this, or they refuse to admit they’ve been duped by his cult-level leadership. It just can’t last like this, unless a full takeover manifests in a more obviously permanent regime that discards Trump and continues to live on as a kleptocracy and/or oligarchy.

(Yet I have to admit, I’ve never even used the term “kleptocracy” until now.)

[jakelafortParticipant]

Pope, that is a decent mini & semi rant.

As the nation declines the exigency for the Trump takeover is accelerated. In other words he must seize power before it is too late. Things get too FUBAR and most of his support disappears. Independents almost entirely i would think. And even a significant segment of his hard core backers. No way he is gonna win a legit election.

The other part of the dynamic is the need to sustain the chimera if the reality is unfavorable. So he keeps saying the broken down jalopy is a brand new pink cadillac. When the citizens realize his ridiculous characterizations are deliberate and political he will need to be more authoritarian and undemocratic to maintain power. Further erosion. Act soon or forever hold your fantasies.

[jakelafortParticipant]

A wise man is quoted:

Once you no longer reserve a hidden compartment in your reasoning for “maybe there’s a divine exception,” the entire field of view opens up. You stop having to protect contradictions, and patterns that were once blurred by reverence or taboo become visible.
I don’t carry a residual conceptual veto. When you remove that invisible constraint of magical thinking, you start to see causality, emergence, consciousness, morality, all of it. as natural phenomena rather than special exemptions. It doesn’t make the world smaller or colder; it makes it cleaner and clearer because there is no lingering pocket of deference to something beyond evidence. That is “free thinking”.

…………….

Removing divine exception or more broadly religious belief is necessary but not sufficient to achieve free thinking. Quotes are noted around free thinking.

Ideology, political or religious negates free thinking such as it is. It is stunning how many critique the bejesus out of opposing ideologies but remain ignorant and blind to the contradictions, lies, hypocrisy of their own.

True intelligence is always extra skeptical at ideological certainty because it recognizes the foibles of human nature and of history. Anyone who stays in a bubble and has a strict diet of confirmation bias is a fool. If you fall for the bs you are not imo intelligent. You have failed to learn fundamental lessons that should have been evident as a teenager let alone an adult. Just my take.

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