Glen D

@-Robert-

I empathise.

My ex wife returned to the [catholic] church after we had been married for 8 years. I was peeved, but her right, couldn’t day anything.

I did have something to say when after the divorce when the hypocritical cow applied for an annulment. No kids so there has never ben a need to contact her since. I’m grateful for…[Read more]

In my experience anti communists  I’ve met have seldom actually read ‘Capital’ or even the Manifesto. I read both at University. That was over 30 years ago, so please don’t ask me to explain it. I’m aware that I may also have misremembered, so please don’t yell at me.

My opinion was and is that Marx provides a brilliant analysis of nineteenth…[Read more]

Is trump stupid like a Fox?

That latest racist behaviour can also be seen as classic popularism. That behaviour would have appealed to a significant number of white males, who may have voted Democrat, but share the views expressed by Trump on the four female Democrats.

The guy ain’t operating in a vacuum. Popularism plays to the lowest common…[Read more]

@ana

Welcome.

From what you’ve written, your friend seems seriously disturbed. A pop psychology answer is that her extreme religious  beliefs  may be her way of coping with some devastating life event(s). In any case, nothing you can do to help her. Like deeply disturbed people generally, she will almost certainly have no insight into her c…[Read more]

@Davis

According to Huffpost UK, people are livid that no English politician actually used the word”racist” to characterise  Trump or his rants against the four Democrat congresswomen:

“The president of the United States is racist.

He doesn’t merely court racists. He doesn’t just use racially charged language. He doesn’t sympathise with r…[Read more]

“@simon, so what to do then? I would like to help her, I am almost sure that she is unwell but every intent of contact from my part was rejected. Should I just let it go? I don’t want to be negligent of her needs.”

Never ceases to amaze  me ; the level of kindness, acceptance and compassion I find on Atheist forums, vs from “big C’ **(loud mo…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

Even people who accept evolution believe in “heaven”.

Yeah, and Elvis is a live and living in Tweed, Ontario. He performs twice a year. You should go check it out.

Well yair, Evolution is officially accepted by Catholics. No conflict is seem with the Book Of  Genesis, which is not seen as literal.

At the Catholic school I atte…[Read more]

Want to know what death is? Anyone who’s been under general anesthesia knows what it’s like.

Indeed. (I have)

Also if you have ever experienced a dreamless sleep. (I have, and still do, regularly)

Not so much friends who converted, but a couple of Christians with whom I was friends.

One, simply lost contact over the years. The other, I upset: I admit, I was friends with this girl mainly because I badly wanted to explore her person. Yes, shallow, I know. What can I say, I was very young and very horny—

Anyway, she dragged me along to a…[Read more]

“And I don’t know where you got the idea that I’m an atheist.”

Oh, I’m terribly sorry. What with being an atheist forum and all , I simply assumed.My bad.

“And I find a lot of the arguments that are made against the existence of God pretty tiresome.”

That’s fine. You have every right to feel so. Unfortunately,  that statement falls under the…[Read more]

I’ve been told that at age 3  I had an imaginary friend called Mr Bailey. Seems it was my practice to blame Mr bailey for anything I did wrong.

At five, I went to the good nuns for instruction.   After a few weeks, if  I had done anything untoward,  I simply said  “the devil made me do it”. Mum had words with the head nun. The second time was w…[Read more]

Yair, the idiocy of Pascal’s wager. Seems to be based on the assumption that God is especially stupid ,and overlooks basic Christian teaching that god can see into everyone’s heart. I mean really,  that anyone could get away with lying to god , as Christians describe him.

Irrelevant to me. I read perhaps 40 years ago the honest atheist who has…[Read more]

A better place?

As far as I’m aware, when brain function ceases, you’r dead. IE no longer aware , of anything., so you will have no idea of where you are..

There are two choices; into the ground or into the furnace.

Harder to argue any kind of consciousness once one is reduced to a small box of fine ash. The skull often doesn’t burn to ash, so…[Read more]

@Ivy

Apologies, I didn’t mean to mislead. What I mean is my position is based on the LACK of objective proof.

I suspect we may actually agree. I accept that because of the apparent impossibility of objective proof, all that is left is subjective experience . That of course IS evidence, but not proof.  OK?

@Ivy

“Yawn

And around and around we go….”

That’s most unhelpful, and a little patronising..

I would really like to learn of the evidence of which you speak.

I need always to learn. An important part of being a skeptic for me is to always question, especially my own strongly held positions.

I’ve learnt that the more sure I am of being right t…[Read more]

@Ivy

“There’s way more evidence that God does exist than evidence that he doesn’t.’

Absolutely!

The bible is evidence, as is 2000 years of written testimony, personal accounts, tradition and even historical evidence (written after the fact)

What there is not is proof. There is no objective proof for the existence  of God. If there were, ther…[Read more]

@Ivy

Just so.

Simply put, the existence of god is an unfalsifiable claim. God cannot be argued into or out of existence.

For that reason, I don’t get involved in arguments  of  a definition or  qualities of a putative god.

Instead, I will post a favourite quote; Epicurus on god and the existence of evil:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but n…[Read more]

The one Reg told the rabbit and  toasties reminded me of this one;

Surgeon George Abernathy stops by his favourite bar on his way home every night. The bar is owned and run by his friend Richard Thomas.

Each night, the surgeon has his favourite cocktail, an almond daiquiri.

This particular night, Richard is out of almonds, so he substitutes…[Read more]