Naming 14,000 Types of Ants… Fun!

I’m in the process of moving, so my next update may not be for a few days. You know how fun packing and cleaning is, don’t you?

Unsolicited Email

I receive a lot of unsolicited email. Most of it could be easily categorized as “hate mail”, and I archive it away without a second thought. Rarely do I get email from people who appear to have intelligence. I appreciate email from people who have opposing viewpoints that respect that I’m not likely to be converted to their belief system. However, I dislike getting into long philosophical debates over email. I would much rather have these discussions in person, if at all. It’s not that I hate philosophy, I just hate that 9 times out of 10, people turn into self-righteous cunts when they get philosophical.

My goal with this website is to address modern day concerns of atheists and other non-believers. My goal is NOT to ponder the origins of the universe. You will not likely ever see the word “epistemological” or “intrinsic” on this website. That’s just not my purpose. There are plenty of websites out there if that is your thing.

This is rather long, so I’ll save my front page readers with a break tag. For my feed readers, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do for you.

Hello,

Just came across your website and was interested in starting a conversation with you about religion, the existence of God, or the lack thereof.

I noticed your website seems to be based on a distorted definition of faith, at least according to Christianity. Faith isn’t something that’s blind – that’s called wishful thinking and superstition. When it comes to religion, faith is something that is built on facts and evidence, at least according to the Bible (Hebrews 11). Blind faith isn’t faith, nor is it rational. It simply doesn’t make sense to believe in something there seems to be no evidence for. Faith is when we know by evidence and facts that what we believe is true. We can’t see God, which is where faith comes into place, but our belief in God needs to be heavily supported by facts, or it doesn’t make sense and isn’t true faith.

I understand many Christians out there are under the same mistaken idea that faith is somehow blind and belief against proof. Biblically at least, that’s far from the truth.

Second, you seem to strongly advocate science. Nice. So do I. But the presence of science doesn’t = the absence of God. Science, by its very nature, is never capable of proving anything doesn’t exist. Science operates on inductive reasoning, which means it observes the world, and then draws conclusions based on those observations. Therefore, it can only draw conclusions about things that can be observed in the physical world.

Also, science and religion address different categories. Science addresses the “how,” religion addresses the “why” and “who.” Ok, the world formed billion years ago in a Big Bang. But why? And who? What is the purpose?

I believe in evolution as much as the next intellectually equipped person. But even evolution doesn’t make sense without religion. What endows these organisms with a will to survive? Why do they want to live? What’s the point of living? Who or what gave them the will to live?

Your site seems to capture very well the present time’s separation of critical thinking and religion, but it doesn’t have to – and is not supposed to be that way. Religion is supposed to involve rational and logical thinking. So what you’re really taking aim at are the people who practice religion, and not God.

I’d love to hear your response.

Matt

Continue reading Unsolicited Email…

E-I-E-I-Ooooh!

I have such the temptation to do this to my friends’ religious bullshit

Another Hit for SMBC

Original comic found at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

One Jihad Coming Up!

I usually despise email forwards of all kinds, funny or not, but my father brought this to my attention and I just couldn’t NOT pass this along.

————————————-

A Muslim dies and finds himself before the Pearly Gates.
He is very excited, as all his life he has longed to meet the Prophet Mohammed.
Having arrived at the Gates of Heaven, he meets a man with a beard.

“Are you Mohammed?” he asks.

“No, my son. I am Peter. Mohammed is higher up.”
And he points to a ladder that rises into the clouds.

Delighted that Mohammed should be higher than Peter,
he climbs the ladder in great strides,
climbs through the clouds coming to a room
where he meets another bearded man.
He asks again, “Are you Mohammed?”

“No, I am Moses. Mohammed is higher up.”

Exhausted, but with a heart full of joy.
he continues to climb the ladder and, yet again,
he discovers an even larger room
where he meets another man with a beard.
Full of hope, he asks again, “Are you Mohmamed?”

“No, I am Jesus…You will find Mohammed higher up.”

Mohammed higher than Jesus!
The poor man can hardly contain his delight and climbs
and climbs, ever higher. Once again, he reaches an even larger room
where he meets a man with a beard and repeats his question:
“Are you Mohammed?” he gasps, as he is, by now,
totally out of breath from all his climbing.

“No, my son….I am God. But you look exhausted.
Would you like a coffee?”

“Yes, please, my Lord.”

God looks behind him, claps his hands and calls out:
“Hey, Mohammed, two coffees!”

Pat Robertson is a Nutter

Pat Robertson is an opportunistic hatemonger. Anyone who considers himself a Christian should be speaking out against the lies that this man spreads. How do I know he’s lying? Anyone who uses “true story” and “swore a pact to the devil” together in the same thought is off his rocker. Produce evidence to support your vindictive babbling or shut the hell up. Of course, producing evidence has never been religion’s strong suit.

Creepy PVC Jesus

I saw this driving to Birmingham, Alabama this morning along Highway 280. I can only imagine what this abomination looks like lit up.

On an unrelated note, here’s another image to ponder. This is of a box of limes at my old job. The passage referenced reads, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Is the sailfish saying that? What if Jesus came back as a sailfish. Would anyone take him seriously? J&J Produce just could help but muddy their packaging by adding an unrelated scripture reference. I mean, if you really going to do that crap, you could put something somewhat related, like Galatians 5:22.

Evangelicals Pray the Darndest Things

I hate it when people on Facebook post holier-than-thou prayer requests for people who have done them wrong. It seems like such an obvious cry of “Look how good of a Christian I am! I can forgive and forget!” Either way, I would like to post Matthew 6:5 for your consideration in viewing the following.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But then again, it’s sort of hard to be an evangelical without being somewhat of a complete braggart about your godliness.

Crass Consumerist Christmas

I’ve seen it every year, and this year brought no surprises. People rushing around from one retail locale to the next. Searching for the lowest-priced thing of choice to wrap in thin, cheap paper to give to their loved one so they won’t be thought a scrooge.

I used to work in retail and had a very firsthand view of the mean-spirited search for consumer packaged goods. Whatever delusions of “Christmas spirit” shoppers embody at home or church, they ditch them when they enter the store on a mission for sale-priced goods. I once helped a woman to her vehicle with a large item, and the whole way to her car she did nothing but bitch and complain about how every store was sold out of the things she “needed” (her words). Then right as she was getting into her car, she made sure to say “God bless!” Really? You search frantically for items to give as gifts, and you think that somehow fits in with the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus? I don’t understand how people reconcile all of these hateful, vengeful, and competitive feelings with the peace and mercy that is supposedly at the heart of the holiday.

Like several other atheists and non-believers I know, I celebrate Christmas, but I celebrate it as a secular holiday whose main tenet is togetherness and time with family. Yes, we exchange gifts, but we do so on a very limited scale. The whole point of a peaceful gift exchange is lost if you fight tooth and nail to acquire some last minute item. Besides, Black Friday or not, you can almost always find better deals on the internet than you can in brick-and-mortar stores anyway.

Only 359 days until next Christmas. So that means only about 300 days before the next phony “War on Christmas” begins.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Santa and Jesus, The Mythical Duo

I found an old post about the ridiculosity of Santa Claus and how any child with a brain would draw the parallels between the imagined toy-giving elf and the imagined eternal life-giving elf.