John F

I have a high functioning Asperger’s niece (who is the apple of my eye).

At around 12 or 13 years old, she suddenly panicked that should something happen to her right hand, she wouldn’t be able to do all sorts of things. So she decided to be left handed for a year.

She reflects now on how difficult it must have been for her teachers to read her…[Read more]

Despite being left handed, I was instructed to play all sports with my right hand/arm: throwing, hockey, football (both kinds), bowling, tennis etc. Even in the martial arts you are almost invariably instructed to grip with your right hand/arm (predominantly). There was definitely no left handed mouses back when I learn’t IT. I insisted on…[Read more]

We actually have a very strong union

Get out of here! I am left-handed and I have never received an invite. They must have gotten my email address wrong or something. Or maybe this is just “elementary school team selection” all over again !!!

Not sure if I belong in either category, but can at least say that not all Atheists are as alike as many others might assume.

Indeed. You must all know by now how much I deplore overgeneralisations about atheists. When most people say such things, they are for the most part referring to Western sceptical rational atheists, which are actually a…[Read more]

Tell me about it. I start a Hi-how-are-you thread and all of a sudden

Yeah…you started with a Hi how are you and were greeted cordially, and then you made some dubious blanket statements on atheism later and were fairly challenged. You are a moderator of discussion boards, you should know that such replies are not unusual nor unreasonable.

I’m b…

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 Am I allowed to point out that the advent of the secular, rationalized, managed society hasn’t produced the freethinking utopia we’d expect if religion were the sole source of all our woes?

Could you please not misrepresent what I have said. At no point have I said “freethinking utopia”. However yes, a secular society with a minimal sets of righ…[Read more]

Hey, if it doesn’t make sense to us, that’s probably why we’re atheists.

It doesn’t make sense to us because we live in a secular environment where we are allowed to question religion and openly state it doesn’t make sense and not pay serious or dire consequences. Most religions ruthlessly persecute those who question believing in either that…[Read more]

Ironically, this is the same blind spot that many atheists have toward what we call reality. To my way of thinking, if someone can’t deal with metaphor or ambiguity, they’re mistaking the finger for what it’s pointing to.

This is post-modern rhetoric. If a metaphor cannot be explained, then it is poetry and should be enjoyed as something poeti…[Read more]

Okay. If we’re going to dog fundies for being literal-minded, we should avoid being similarly literal-minded. That’s all.

You haven’t elucidated anything there.

I don’t see why not. Daniel Dennett observed that from the point of view of the religion, there’s no difference between a Muslim who prays five times a day because he literally believes in a literal Allah and the literal truth of every word of the Koran, and a Muslim who prays five times a day because that’s what Muslims do. It’s the behavio…

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there appears to be a growing contingent that isn’t all that strict about biblical literacy

Indeed, that is why I said “at least some” instead of all. Some religions are more nebulous about some claims than others, or the totality of claims that are important. However, when you no longer hold a certain number of core claims as literal, you can n…[Read more]

note to mod: I hit edit instead of reply to Istvan’s message and I don’t have emails of posts, could someone restore his original message please?

where’s-your-evidence phase

So what phase are you in? Is it a: “whatever sounds good to me” phase? “Whatever someone I admire says” phase? Some other phase we would love to hear about?

 don’t see religion as a set of literal claims about the world

How did you arrive at that conclusion? The overwhelming majority of adherents of religions incl…[Read more]

Hello Istvan and welcome to AZ!

Once you’ve got your bearings, check out the group “Sunday School” which is curated by the amazing Reg the Fronkey Farmer every week.

There you will find topical links and book recommendations all fresh weekly.

I look forward to hearing from you on the forums 🙂

Strega

I’ve rather quickly reached my limit of ridiculousness and wtf here. Enco, hold up a mirror of intellectual integrity to your ideas and learn to challenge yourself and accept being challenged. Not conceding things and not learning to reshape your world view is not a virtue.

What theory are you invoking to support the notion that amoral people are insane?

Indeed. Every day millions of teenagers bully other teenagers and make other people’s lives miserable creating terrible harm for them for the tiniest short-term personal benefit (if any). Are they all crazy? Humans are fundamentally flawed. Otherwise good people can…[Read more]

Very cool Reg. Let me know how the book is when you are done!

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but no one has a right to their own facts

Oh my dear lord what a bloody rabbit hole we have here. As though gay people shouldn’t be protected from the “fact” that they are all podophiles trying to turn children gay and will definitely burn in hell and that all black people are all criminals living on…[Read more]

Okay. So yeah, a tiny minority of people, are paralysed by the anaesthesia but are aware (to some extent) of the surgery and recall or somewhat recall) events which may include the sensation of pain. It is called Anaesthesia awareness and there have been varying levels of awareness during surgery ranging from vague memories of what doctors said…[Read more]