Simon Mathews

I agree, Ron, it’s barbaric what they did. Where do you stand on the “nothing to do with Islam” debate. Some people claim they literally are just thugs and happen to be using Islamic ideas such as a caliphate (presumably because they are too stupid to come up with anything original). Others say they are the quintessential embodiment of Islam -…[Read more]

Hi Michelle, I agree with @bellerose. The idea of Heaven is one way of dealing with grief and some people do find it effective but I think it has its problems. It’s one of those concepts that as soon as you start to analyse it issues reveal themselves. Just one example is: Let’s say you have two people who are basically good people and will both…[Read more]

Here’s an example study but there is a wealth of academic research on the topic if you search for it.

I used to work at the University of Surrey with a professor who’d essentially spent 20 years of his career investigating flavours of this hypothesis which is how I know about it. It’s amazing how many studies are done in academia about seemingly…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
How are these two words different from “light blue” and “dark blue”? Also, if there are two words, then I would think it would make determining which word to use in borderline cases more confusing than easier.

The difference is that the use of the two words describe a distinct boundary (like our blue/green). There is no distinc…[Read more]

Language is only one of the faculties in which we have a greater capacity than animals. Of course other animals communicate but no other species has the richness and nuance that we are capable of (as far as we know).

One of the other important ways in which we differ from animals is our frontal cortex. Whilst our hind and mid-brains are still…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:Just enjoy his antics knowing that he’s a clown.

Without having followed proceedings this is pretty much my take on it.

An amusing and cringe-making sideshow before the real business begins.

I tend not to follow the news as it depresses me so when someone told me about this I seriously thought it was a joke. Here’s a recent tweet from Trump:

“Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!”

Wow.

That’s great. Very well written.

Hi @dubitator, welcome to AtheistZone. Yes, this is the legitimate successor to Think Atheist. There were various reasons for the change in site, notably issues with how the old site was hosted. The TA content has been retained as an archive.

If you want to read the background see the TA forum post

Unseen wrote:
How about a license to kill 007-style on drug dealers? “Drug dealer hunting season runs from November 15 through March 15. $10,000 for each verified drug dealer pelt.”

I like it.

I’ve kind of gone in the opposite direction from Simon P. I used to think horoscopes were a load of rubbish but then I saw this one that completely changed my mind. Amazed by its accuracy.

Unseen wrote:
Money made issuing hunting permits is used in conservation efforts…

I see the dilemma here but wouldn’t it be the same if it was stated that money made from selling sex slaves or selling heroin was put into conservation efforts? I don’t think we would then condone this.

SteveInCO wrote:…the (fake) flat earther’s response was perfect; he claimed the astronauts couldn’t possibly have actually gone up or they’d have seen he was right.

Ha… love this. Even though the site was satirical I’ve heard people give similar sorts of responses in arguments. You have to admire the sheer bullishness of it.

@simonpaynton – That is a good answer as it contains no woo and is straightforward. I agree with the part that the act of shuffling the cards will result in a different configuration for each person, which could be said to be a reflection of their part in the grand cause and effect scheme of things. I can even understand that if the symbols on the…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:@Davis – it’s just a strong pattern that I notice, and that people remark upon. People who disrespect Tarot cards always seem to have something terrible happen to them soon after. Why, I don’t know. The cards seem to have some kind of dark forces associated with them.

My friend had a Tarot reading from the same lady I go…

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