Does god exist?

Q. Does god exist??
A. No until proven otherwise. "God" as a concept exists. We can imagine a god, but that does not make god real. Just like we can think of a pink unicorn.

Q. Does atheist have the burden of proof of the non-existence of god?
A. No. Any one can imagine some odd creatures and claims their existence. No one will be able to proof the non-existence of such creatures. Similarly, since theists assert there is a god, it is their burden to proof god's existence. Until proven, god does not exist.

Q. A lot of people believe in god, does it show that god exist?
A. No. Truth is not a popularity contest. A lot of people can be wrong. Just like people used to believe the earth is flat. We now know that it is not. The "common sense" changes as evidence progresses to demonstrate the real truth. "Common sense" is just the perception of most people. This is not a reason to assert the truth of the ideas. There are many different religions all claiming their is the true god. They cannot be ALL correct, but they can be all wrong.

Q. This world is filled with lives of complexity and wow. Where do they come from? Does it show that god created them?
A. No. We do not yet know how life is formed. The correct answer is "we do not yet know". A "do not know" answer does not imply "god created it". A "do not know" answer is an honest answer. "God created it" is an arrogant and naive conjecture with no logical base.

Q. A lot of smart and intelligent people believe in god, does it show that god exist?
A. No, these people are not smart and intelligent enough.

Q. Some people claim that they have been touched/felt/enjoyed/...[choice your own word] by god. Why do we not believe them?
A. Witness evidence have been proven to be laden with pre-conception and error. Some are claiming that with selfish reasons. If god exists, there should be repeatable, demonstrable evidence of its existence. Again, show the miracle. Words worth nothing in front of evidence.

Q. Life is coded in DNA. Does it not demonstrate god has created life using DNA as its language?
A. How DNA started is not understood yet. The honest answer, again, is "we do not know". There is no logical linkage between "do not know" with "god creation".

Q. How does the universe begin? Does it not demonstrate god created the universe?
A. Just like the origin of DNA, the honest and correct answer "we do not yet know". Science has formulated the best understanding we have about the origin of universe, that's the big bang theory. Science does not say anything about the universe before the big bang. Banana man claims that scientists believe nothing created everything. That's a misrepresentation. He is completely mistaken. The equivalent is 'nothing created god'.

Q. God existence is proved by the scripture, isn't it?
A. No. The bibles are just a compilation of a number of books written by some men about 2000 years ago. It does not prove anything. I can write a book about a god I created. My book is not the prove of the existence of my god. It may describe a god. Such a description does not make god real.

Q. The bible contains a lot of historical facts. Does it not make it a credible source of proving god's existence?
A. No. The bible also contains a lot of claims which have been proven wrong. Each claim should be evaluated by its own merits. There is no logical relationship among the truth of different claims within the same work. I can write a book about a god with some known historian facts mixed it. The truth of those historian facts does not make my description of my god real. It is still a work of fiction.

Q. Religion is the source of human moral. Without god, we have no moral. Since we have moral, it shows that god exists.
A. The statement "Religion is the source of human moral" is false. The falsehood is demonstrated by the existence of similar moral values by cultures with and without god. Since the first statement is false, any conclusion that follows does not have a logical foundation to base on.

Q. God answers prayer. Does that a prove of god's existence?
A. Yes only if god has answered prayers with an occurrence better than by pure chance. There is no such evidence yet.

Q. How can you make me believe in your god?
A. Show me the evidence of the existence of your god. Until then, your god does not exist and I do not believe in whatever that follows from the assumption of god's existence. That is all your religious BS is just BS to me.

Q. Why am I hostile against religion?
A. First of all, I have very low tolerance of stupidity. I am a teacher by trade. I like to see you able to reason. That is, I like to teach you to be slightly less stupid. Second, just like you would stop a crime (e.g. you see some one stealing from another, you would yell thief to stop the crime from happening), I am yelling to stop the organised criminals.

Q. Why I equate religion to criminals?
A. Religion is spreading unsupported claims. It is guilty of misinformation. It is also giving false hope to people. It is also a parasite to the society - it does not pay tax! Religion is hindering human progress - in both realms of morality and scientific progress.

Is God necessary for morality

I am a science student and hence will look at evidences. Here is a possible experiment to find out if religion is necessary for moral.


The beauty of the experiment is that anyone willing to spend the effort and time can repeat the experiment and find out for yourself what is the answer to that question.

Virgin Mary

Quote

Hat up to Daniel R. at Kiva.org

Recognition for Ms. Herrera came a few years after her husband’s death, at 98, in 2000. “Everybody says Jesse must have orchestrated this from above,” Ms. Herrera said, shaking her head. “Yeah, right, Jesse on a cloud.” She added: “I worked really hard. Maybe it was me.”

See source

Adam and Eve

Women, be silent, submit and obey

Where do I come from?

We are thinking animal. We like to know. We have been creating all kinds of things. Our perception is that all things are created.

While we are wowed by the beauty and complexity of the universe and when we think of ourselves about how the universe and we have come to being, the knee-jerk answer is someone has created us. Many a times this was reinforced by someone in a position of authority. But it is really the case?

Where do we come from? The correct and honest response is "I don't know". "I don't know" seems to be a very difficult response for a lot of people. That's strange. We really do not know. Admitting that we do not know is showing our intellectual honesty and humble character. Unfortunately, a lot of people use the "god filler".

Are those who tell us that god created us in a better position than we are in answering the same question? Do they have any evidence to show us that they know something we don't know? Sometimes the answer was "bible says so". Now, the bible was written by men (I am using this as gender neutral term to refer to human kind). These men were supposedly inspired by god. The bible was the "true words of god".

Let's take the story in Genesis 22:1-24 in which god asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. Although Abraham did not kill his son "because an angel stopped him", transfer the act to modern times, what would we think about a person, who was told by god, to kill his own son? The person would definitely end up in a mental hospital if not in prison. Men who wrote the bible were primitive and childish. How can we believe the bible can be the words of a god who is all knowing?

The bible also contains many contradictions. Again that can only lead to a conclusion that the bible are just a bundle of stories written by men. The inspiration by god is hardly seen.

Back to the question of where we all come from, the correct answer is again "I don't know".

What is wrong with the god filler answer?

Using a god filler does not answer the original question. We were asking, in a way, where the complexity came from. If we were created by god, god must be very complex. Where did god come from? The god filler is actually a think stopper. If we are satisfied by the answer, we would stop seeking answer to the original question.

ps
Even if we accept there is a god who created everything, the jump from such cosmic god to a personal god also involves huge assumptions difficult to justify.

Why people call Americans dumb?

It was question asked back in 14 Jan, 2006 by American Chronicle
In 2007, here was how Americans response to some pretty common knowledge.



In 2008:


If Bill O'reilly, a TV host, was allowed to spread wrong concept of how law should be respected, that may explain some of the American's stupidity.

Take a look on the issue of evolution - which is a scientific theory (ie generalisations based on a huge number of observations and can be used to explain a lot of other observations). In 2007, 48% do not believe in evolution. That's is a remarkably high percentage of people with complete lack of scientific literacy. [source]

The American Chronicle's 2006 article pointed out USA became rich because of

The main factor is probably the culture built on Protestant work ethics and solid North European common sense. People work hard and they work smart. They know how to solve problems. While some may call modern Americans "wastrels", the past generations had been very thrifty. The country was built on free enterprise and for hundreds of years the government had a laissez fair policy towards business. The culture is forward looking with a "can do" attitude. People are enthusiastic and believe that they can achieve their individual dreams through discipline and never giving up. Add to this the fact that education is much more accessible to many more people than how it was in Europe and the fact that the society has a much less rigid class structure and you've got yourself a rich country. And don't forget the fact that the country has lots of natural resources and unlike the European countries there have not been any major invasions for the past 200 years or so.

Now that the education system in USA is able to produce 48% of the population who are unable to comprehend the significance of one of the most basic scientific theory, the future of USA is not that bright!

Quote

Why are these devout believers so desperate to have everyone believe as they do? Are they so insecure in their unfounded beliefs that they must compel others into them, no matter what, including being arrogant, conceited and condescending? - D.M. Murdock


People will then often say, ‘But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?’ This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would choose not to worship him anyway.) - Douglas Adams

What is good about a god who cannot prove his/her existence to human? - me (Albert Ip)

Dr? Hovind

Kent Hovind's PhD dissertation (submitted to Patriot University on 25th May, 1991) was leaked to the Internet. The scholarship was ... Sorry, the wrong word. The writing was grade two according to a comment on The Private Bay. The Introduction starts like this:

Hello, my name is Kent Hovind. I am a creation/science evangelist. I live in Pensacola, Florida. I have been a high school science teacher since 1976....

This is the FIRST time I read a PhD dissertation starts like that!

Now on the first 'serious' part of a dissertation presented for a degree:

THE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION
Where in the world did the idea come from that things left to themselves can improve with time? Who would start a crazy idea like that? This idea is the opposite of everything we observe in the world today. For instance, all the highways in our nation today left to themselves decay, deteriorate, and fall apart....

Evolution was in a book called The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Hey, when writing a thesis, do the research, find the answer and cite the reference!
Let me just quickly answer the question why highway decays without constant human intervention - because highway is built AGAINST nature.

I cannot read the rest of the BS. I felt very sorry for the children who have been taught by this man. These children would be better off having no teacher!

Season Greeting

Please accept, and/or renew, without obligation, implied or implicit, the best wishes, referred to as this greeting hereafter, for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, non-specific sexuality, celebration of the winter solstice holiday in the northern hemisphere and summer solstice holiday in the southern hemisphere, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your preference, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. This greeting, without implied obligations also extends to cover a financially successful, personally fulfilling, emotionally enchanting and stimulating, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, in a world filled with love, peace, joy, harmony, diversity, tolerant, good will, respect and happiness, clean air and plenty of water, less pollution, reduced green house gases, and having regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith and your preference to the choice of blogging software, RSS reader, email system, web browsers, including but not limited to the free Firefox and/or Internet Explorer with due considerations of their respective differences to the interpretation and implementation of W3C web standards, computer platform, brand of microprocessor, type of visual display unit, keyboard, mouse or any other pointing device, operating system, including but not limited to singular or a plurality of variations, whether for a fee or free open source, and Internet service provider connected by modem, permanent modem, broadband, or otherwise, or dietary preference of the wishee.

This greeting must not be read if you do not accept the terms and conditions of this greeting. By having read this greeting, you have indicated your explicit acknowledgement of accepting this greeting in the aforesaid manners.

This greeting inclusively, exclusively and non-exclusively cover you, your spouse, whether same or different gender and/or whether such relationship is legally recognized or illegal in certain jurisdictions, including singularly and plurally, previous, present or future, your children including natural, adopted, by-law or sponsored, dead, alive, or unborn, and/or your parents, related by blood, by-laws, adopted, or sponsored dead or alive. Upon being covered by the greeting of the aforesaid greeting in the same aforesaid manner, those covered wishees will extend the aforesaid greeting to the same relates they have recursively and infinitum.

By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms:

* This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal.

* This greeting, including but not limited to all its associated tangible and intangible good will and best wishes, is freely transferable, duplicated, distributed, copied and reproduced subject to the conditions below.

* This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes.

* This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor.

* This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, or automatic renewed.

* The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor.

* Any proprietary rights associated with this greeting, including but not limited to the intellectual and moral rights, publishing rights including but not limited to publishing via the blogosphere, by email, by web sites, on CD and/or any electronic means, the right to perform in private and in public to a small, medium or large group of present or remote audience and or the broadcast rights to transmit, preserve and retransmit by any physical or electronic means are the property of the wishor.

* This manifestation of the greeting, copyleft under GNU license or other open source license similar to GNU license and or Creative Commons when and if such license(s) is/are enforceable in certain jurisdictions, is freely transferable, duplicated, distributed, copied and reproduced provided that any further addition or alternation shall not impose any limitation beyond those implicitly or explicitly expressed by this clause.

* Any alteration and addition, including but not limited to the syntactic, semantic, linguistic, artistic, aesthetic, spiritual and material improvements, shall only be made to the original greeting in the same good faith and honour of any reasonable person.

* Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", "Santa" or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.

* Any names or terms used in this greeting, whether trademarked, copyrighted, copylefted, patented or have been placed in the open source under GNU, Creative Commons or other open source licenses belong to their respective owners and promoters.

* The wishee expressly agrees, by the acceptance of the greeting, that the greeting is accepted and enjoyed at wishee's own risk. Neither the wishor, its affiliates, nor any of their respective employees, previous or current employers, friends, relatives, spouse past, present or future, agents, third party providers or licensor's warrant that the greeting will be uninterrupted or error free; nor do they make any warranty as to the results and effectiveness of the greeting.

* The wishee may not without wishor's prior written approval disclose to any third party the results of any benchmark test of the performance of the greeting.

* The wishee expressly acknowledges and agrees that in order to protect the integrity of certain third party mechanism of enjoying the wishes, the wishor may provide for security related updates that will be automatically downloaded and installed on your holiday itinerary. Such security related updates may impair the movement, enjoyment (and any other activities during your holiday which specifically depends on the said wishes) including disabling your ability to laugh and/or smile, i.e. certain way of enjoying a holiday protected by digital rights management.

* The wisher reserves the right, at any time and from time to time, to update, revise, supplement, and otherwise modify this Agreement and to impose new or additional rules, policies, terms, or conditions on your use of the wishes. Such updates, revisions, supplements, modifications, and additional rules, policies, terms, and conditions (collectively referred to in this Agreement as "Additional Terms") will be effective immediately and incorporated into this Agreement. The wishee's continued enjoyment of the wishes following will be deemed to constitute the wishee's acceptance of any and all such Additional Terms. All Additional Terms are hereby incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.

Birthday

Isaac Newton's birthday is coming soon. How do you prepare to celebrate?

BTW, here is a list of people born on 25th December. Who you will celebrate? [source]
* 1250 – John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor (d. c. 1305)
* 1461 – Christina of Saxony, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1521)
* 1583 – Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)
* 1584 – Margaret of Austria, queen of Spain and Portugal (d. 1611)
* 1628 – Noël Coypel, French painter (d. 1707)
* 1652 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)
* 1665 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
* 1667 – Ehrengard von der Schulenburg, English royal mistress (d. 1743)
* 1674 – Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian (d. 1712)
* 1700 – Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (d. 1758)
* 1711 – Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French composer (d. 1772)
* 1716 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (d. 1774)
* 1730 – Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)
* 1742 – Charlotte von Stein, German friend of Goethe (d. 1827)
* 1745 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges - "Black Mozart", African-French Swordsman, Soldier of Fortune, and Composer (d. 1799)
* 1757 – Benjamin Pierce, U.S. politician (d. 1839)
* 1763 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (d. 1805)
* 1771 – Dorothy Wordsworth, English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
* 1810 – Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves, Greek poet and statesman (d. 1892)
* 1821 – Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
* 1829 – Patrick Gilmore, Irish-American composer (d. 1892)
* 1856 – Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
* 1856 – Pud Galvin, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 1902)
* 1860 – Manuel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (d. 1921)
* 1861 – Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian founder of Banaras Hindu University (d. 1946)
* 1863 – Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (d. 1957)
* 1864 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)
* 1865 – Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1950)
* 1870 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist (d. 1965)
* 1873 – Otto Frederick Hunziker, Swiss-born American dairy educator (d. 1959)
* 1874 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano (d. 1944)
* 1875 – Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian archbishop (d. 1955)
* 1876 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan (d. 1948)
* 1876 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, Nobel laureate (d. 1959)
* 1878 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver (d. 1941)
* 1884 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (d. 1967)
* 1886 – Kid Ory, American musician (d. 1973)
* 1887 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (d. 1979)
* 1889 – Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (d. 1984)
* 1890 – Noel Odell, British mountaineer (d. 1987)
* 1890 – Robert Ripley, collector of odd facts (d. 1949)
* 1891 – Clarrie Grimmett, Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
* 1899 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
* 1901 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
* 1902 – Barton MacLane, American actor (d. 1969)
* 1904 – Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
* 1906 – Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born film producer (d. 1998)
* 1906 – Ernst Ruska, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
* 1907 – Cab Calloway, American bandleader (d. 1994)
* 1907 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (d. 1988)
* 1907 – Mike Mazurki, Ukrainian-born actor (d. 1990)
* 1908 – Quentin Crisp, English author (d. 1999)
* 1908 – Jo-Jo Moore, baseball player (d. 2001)
* 1908 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American automotive engineer (d. 1996)
* 1908 – Ernest L. Massad, U.S. Army general (d. 1993)
* 1911 – Louise Bourgeois, sculptor
* 1912 – Tony Martin, American singer and actor
* 1912 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)
* 1913 – Henri Nannen, German journalist (d. 1966)
* 1914 – James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (d. 2007)
* 1915 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-born composer
* 1918 – Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
* 1918 – Ahmed Ben Bella, politician, first President of Algeria
* 1919 – Naushad Ali, Indian music director (d. 2006)
* 1919 – Paul David, French Canadian cardiologist, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)
* 1919 – Noele Gordon, English actress (d. 1985)
* 1921 – Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, Pakistani journalist (d. 2000)
* 1923 – Rene Girard, French historian, literary critic and philosopher
* 1924 – Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)
* 1924 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India
* 1925 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born author (d. 1998)
* 1926 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban composer and musician (d. 1987)
* 1927 – Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
* 1927 – Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player
* 1928 – Dick Miller, American actor
* 1929 – Stuart Hall, British radio and television presenter
* 1929 – Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (d. 1976)
* 1930 – Emmanuel Agassi, Iranian boxer and father of Andre Agassi
* 1930 – Salah Jaheen, Egyptian poet and cartoonist (d. 1986)
* 1932 – Mabel King, American actress (d. 1999)
* 1935 – Stephen Barnett, American legal scholar who opposed the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 (d. 2009)
* 1935 – Al Jackson, baseball player
* 1936 – HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
* 1936 – Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer (d. 2005)
* 1937 – O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (d. 1986)
* 1938 – Noel Picard, Quebec ice hockey player
* 1938 – Duane Armstrong, American painter
* 1939 – Bob James, American composer and musician
* 1940 – Pete Brown, English poet and lyricist
* 1943 – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
* 1943 – Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian racing driver
* 1944 – Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer
* 1944 – Kenny Everett, British entertainer (d. 1995)
* 1944 – Henry Vestine, American musician (d. 1997)
* 1944 – Nigel Starmer-Smith, English Rugby Union commentator.
* 1945 – Noel Redding, English musician (d. 2003)
* 1945 – Rick Berman, Star Trek producer
* 1945 – Gary Sandy, American actor
* 1945 – Mike Pringle, Scottish politician
* 1946 – Jimmy Buffett, American singer and songwriter
* 1946 – Larry Csonka, American football player
* 1946 – Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
* 1948 – Barbara Mandrell, American singer and actress
* 1948 – Alia al Hussein, of Jordan (d. 1977)
* 1948 – Joel Natalino Santana, Brazilian soccer coach
* 1949 – Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
* 1949 – Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Singer and icon of the Brazilian music
* 1949 – Sissy Spacek, American actress
* 1949 – Joe Louis Walker, American musician
* 1950 – Peter Boardman, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
* 1950 – Manny Trillo, baseball player
* 1950 – Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter
* 1950 – Karl Rove, former American presidential advisor
* 1952 – CCH Pounder, Guyana-born actress
* 1952 – Desireless, French singer
* 1954 – Annie Lennox, Scottish singer
* 1954 – Steve Wariner, American country music singer
* 1955 – Alannah Myles, Canadian singer
* 1957 – Chris Kamara, English footballer and commentator
* 1957 – Shane MacGowan, Irish musician
* 1958 – Hanford Dixon, American football player
* 1958 – Rickey Henderson, baseball player
* 1958 – Cheryl Chase, American voice actor
* 1959 – Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (d. 2003)
* 1960 – Ron Bottitta, British actor
* 1961 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
* 1962 – Dean Cameron, American actor
* 1962 – Darren Wharton, British Keyboardist (Thin Lizzy and Dare)
* 1964 – Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer
* 1964 – Tim Royes – Music Video Director and Editor
* 1964 – Bob Stanley, English musician (Saint Etienne), filmmaker and journalist
* 1966 – Toshihiro Arai, Japanese rally driver
* 1967 – Jason Thirsk, American bass player (d. 1996)
* 1968 – Helena Christensen, Danish model
* 1968 – Jim Dowd, American ice hockey player
* 1970 – Emmanuel Amuneke, Nigerian footballer
* 1971 – Dido, English singer
* 1971 – Justin Trudeau, Canadian media personality
* 1971 – Noel Hogan, Irish musician
* 1972 – Josh Freese, American drummer
* 1972 – Mac Powell, American musician, singer/songwriter (lead singer of Third Day)
* 1973 – Robbie Elliott, English footballer
* 1973 – Chris Harris, American professional wrestler
* 1973 – Alexandre Trudeau, Canadian journalist
* 1973 – Ewen Macintosh, English Actor
* 1974 – Nagma, Indian actress
* 1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
* 1975 – Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player
* 1975 – Rob Mariano, American reality show contestant
* 1976 – Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboardist and songwriter (Nightwish)
* 1976 – Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ & Producer
* 1977 – Uhm Ji-won, South Korean actress
* 1977 – Israel Vasquez, Current WBC Super bantamweight champion
* 1978 – Joel Porter, Australian footballer
* 1978 – Simon Jones, English cricketer
* 1980 – Marcus Trufant, American football player (Seattle Seahawks)
* 1980 – Reika Hashimoto, Japanese actress
* 1980 – Locó, Angolan footballer
* 1980 – Laura Sadler, British actress (d. 2003)
* 1981 – Katie Wright, American actress
* 1981 – Willy Taveras, baseball player
* 1982 – Shawn Andrews, American football player
* 1982 – Rob Edwards, Welsh footballer
* 1982 – Shystie, British rapper-songwriter
* 1982 – Trenesha Biggers, American professional wrestler
* 1984 – Chris Cahill, Samoan footballer
* 1984 – Alastair Cook, English cricketer
* 1984 – Georgia Moffett, British actress
* 1984 – The Veronicas, Australian singers (twin sisters)
* 1985 – Leon Pisani, Welsh singer
* 1985 – Perdita Weeks, British actress
* 1986 – Doug Loft, English footballer
* 1987 – Justin Sweeney, Australian rules footballer
* 1988 – Eric Gordon, American basketball player
Noop, Jesus was NOT born on 25th December. "The Bible itself tells us that December 25 is an unlikely date for His birth. Palestine is very cold in December. It was much too cold to ask everyone to travel to the city of their fathers to register for taxes. Also the shepherds were in the fields (Luke 2:8-12). Shepherds were not in the fields in the winter time. They are in the fields early in March until early October. This would place Jesus' birth in the spring or early fall. It is also known that Jesus lived for 33.5 years and died at the feast of the Passover, which is at Easter time. He must therefore have been born six months the other side of Easter - making the date around the September/October time frames. " [source]

Why there is so much intellectual dishonesty from the religious?

The header of Ray Comfort's (aka the Banana Man) Atheist Central is a quote from Einstein. When challenged, he responded:

Notice that although Einstein didn’t believe in a personal God (as revealed in the Bible), he wanted to know "His" thoughts, referred to God as "He," acknowledged that He reveals "Himself," asks how God "created this world," and refers to "His" thoughts. In other words, it is clear that he wasn’t a pantheist (that God and nature are one in the same--see his below quote: "I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist."): [source]

Now, the christian god is a personal god. That's a fact.
Einstein, as quoted, said he did not believe in a personal god. I.E. He is NOT a christian.

Comfort is either unable to think logically or deliberately deceptive.

Science by leading theologian

Check out these videos on the view of science by the leading theologians:
On creationism/Intelligent Design

Are we along?



It is the conservative religious right which is deliberately trying to dumb down Science education.

Bus slogans

Out of the slogans at Freedom From Religion Foundation, these are those I like:

Religion Once Ruled the World. It Was Known as the Dark Ages. (Ruth Hurmence Green)
Science flies humans to the moon. Religion flies planes into buildings.
Religion - root of most wars.
If there is a God, why is there poverty--and baldness? --Woody Allen
Fairy Tales are for Kids.
Religion is the Placebo of the Masses (Dr. Gregory House).
Be creative - not created - Evolve
Man created God in his image: intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.
All religions can't be right. All religions can be wrong!
Atheist: A person who has REALLY READ the Bible.
Stop praying for help and start helping
Why be "born again" when you can just grow up?
Science delivering on promises while religion keeps on promising.
Why is it that both God and Unicorns are invisible?
Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions.
Atheism is a non-Prophet organization
No one was ever persecuted in the name of Atheism
Education not indoctrination
What could we accomplish if we focused on this life instead of pretending there's a next one?
Religion. Over one billion fooled
I like a dog as long as it's not spelled backwards
A lie is a lie no matter how many people believe it. Truth is the truth even if no one believes it.
Religion is for people who don't understand Science!

Providing eye care for 20 Rupees

That's right, for about USD0.43, yes 43 cents at today's rate, Aravind in India is delivering quality eye care to many at 1% the cost of the equivalent in UK.

Please help urge the world leaders ...

Since I am more concerned with the climate change than religion, I am linking a poster here for those church-goers to bring a bell to urge leaders to agree to a more effective climate strategy in the coming week. [source]



thank you ZaMa for the head up.

Science Is The Dumbest Religion!

Best god in show

Who designed the designer?

The biological complexity that we found in our world today is explained by evolution, namely all life from has originated from a single source and via random mutation, some forms out-perform some other forms and become more abundant.

Intelligent design has a different explanation, namely the complexity is created by a divine being.

How do we choose between these two "possible" explanations?

1. We need a question for designer of the designer because the divine being must be more complex than the sum of the complexity we found in order to be able to create such complexity. Here we end up with an entity which is more complex than the artefacts being explained. Saying god is only a mind without a body and hence is more simple is non-sense. A mind without body cannot create things. In order for a bodiless god to create thing, we need further assumption that god can do so. That's complexity on complexity. Evolution demonstrate ONE way (may not be the only way) how complexity can be created out of simplicity. Evolution reduces the complexity. Yes, there is still a first cause unexplained by evolution - and evolution does not claim to explain that too.
2. We also may look at the predictive power of the explanation. Can the theory lead us to discoveries which further support the theory? God leads us no where in terms of finding new species. Evolution can and has. Note: the acid test of a theory is whether the theory can predict in the domain where the theory applies. If we apply god as an explanation, then god must be used to predict outcome about biological complexity. So far, none! For those interested, read Francis Collin's The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, p86-87, how a devoted christian scientists reject intelligent design.

I really find it very interesting to look at the amount of mental contortion religious has to do in order to fit their god into things when they use god as a gap-filler.

Bible is out of date

Intelligent test

The State of Religion

Anti-theism

Common Sense Atheism quotes The New Atheism and the Erosion of Freedom by Roberty Morey:

Militancy is the difference between [historical atheism] and the modern movement of “anti-theism.” The atheists of the old school… felt that if people were foolish enough to believe in religion, that was their problem…

In today's political climate, USA in particular, religious lobbies are blocking many actions which atheists consider as progress, such as abortion, stem cell research, gay marriages... I believe that is one of the reason atheism can no longer leave the religious alone.

Story has it that if you put a frog in water and slowly start heating up the water, by the time the frog realised that it was too hot, it would be too late to escape. We are in EXACTLY the same situation as the frog in the climate change issue. While we may still have time to rescue ourselves, the religious right is blocking the way in every step. There is no god who created the universe for human. Although human is the dominant species on earth to day, many of our close relative species are now extinct. [source] Nature will go on with or without us. I just wish the religious can leave the scientists alone to do their research and the governments of the world can listen to the best science and do whatever it takes to let us out of the hot!

Quote

Science is as much a mindset as a body of knowledge; its premise is that thought is to be guided by publicly testable and rationally consistent evidence. The discipline of this approach makes short work of the foundation of today's religions, which lie in the ignorance of people living several millennia ago. - A.C. Grayling

A caller has proof of Creationism

The caller cannot think nor argue! Is that the result of too many blessings from his god?

The Atheist Christmas Carol

Lyrics:

It's the season of grace coming out of the void
Where a man is saved by a voice in the distance
It's the season of possible miracle cures
Where hope is currency and death is not the last unknown
Where time begins to fade
And age is welcome home

It's the season of eyes meeting over the noise
And holding fast with sharp realization
It's the season of cold making warmth a divine intervention
You are safe here you know now

Don't forget
Don't forget I love
I love
I love you

It's the season of scars and of wounds in the heart
Of feeling the full weight of our burdens
It's the season of bowing our heads in the wind
And knowing we are not alone in fear
Not alone in the dark

Kiefer and the Christmas Tree

Religion in the curriculum

Dan Dennett proposes to include religion (all religion) in every level which covers "history, creed, rituals, music, symbols, ethical commands and prohibition" - facts which everyone agrees on.

That's why I am fascinated by Physics

That's why I am fascinated by Physics when I was young and why I am still fascinated by Physics some 50 years later.


If looking at mother earth from one of Saturn's moon is not exciting enough, watch how science figure out the black hole at the center of our own galaxy.


Do we still need the imaginary god to give us wow?

An Atheist Christmas: Reason For The Season