General

[Listessa]

Years from now they are going to look back at us and laugh while thinking something along the lines of, "Wow! They believed in science! What morons!"

[pillage]

Originally Posted by Listessa

Years from now they are going to look back at us and laugh while thinking something along the lines of, "Wow! They believed in science! What morons!"

The world used to be flat, and everything was composed of five elements then too.

[davidwirth]

Originally Posted by Christian Nelson

If you like doing something, never get a job doing it, it will kill all your fun with it.

Thats why I tell people the H8TR project isn't a job, its a profitable hobby

[John Satclaire]

Originally Posted by stevedavidson

Personally, I prize COMPREHENSION over either spelling or grammer

You do understand that the latter two exist to facilitate the former, no?

[davidwirth]

Originally Posted by John Satclaire

You do understand that the latter two exist to facilitate the former, no?

Yeah spelling and grammar are important, but I think in a forum, if you can convey what you are trying to communicate while using bad (or is it "not well") grammar and spelling, it should be over looked. Usually we are writing from the heart or typing really really quick so mysteaks are going to happen. A lot of times, our brain is working so fast in what we are trying to put on the board that our fingers can't keep up. Plus who wants to re read something we just wrote to check for speellign and garmer? And checking your own writing is like checking your own design drawings. It shouldn't be done. If it is so bad or another poster doesn't understand what you are trying to get across, well we do have edit buttons and we can always post our response and let the original poster clarify.

[John Satclaire]

Originally Posted by davidwirth

A lot of times, our brain is working so fast

David, even the briefest of glances through this thread convinces me that such is not the case for most posters.

[stevedavidson]

Look. I write for a living, so when I go to forums and post, its being done casually. Like I said, if you want formal text from me, go buy one of the books.

Now lets get to this 'belief' bs, because its part of the whole problem.

No where did I say that I 'believe there is no god'; I most carefully stated that the statistical probability of existence was so vanishingly small that it amounted to the same thing and then, even if there were such a being, you're only pushing the argument back a generation. Ok - there's a superbeing that created us and the universe. Who/what created the superbeing?

Religiophiles have coopted the word belief, so I try not to use it in order to avoid confusion, because what I operate under aren't 'beliefs' in the religious sense of the word.

As far as the insulting part - good. Its about time that they had to defend their 'beliefs' against people who aren't giving them deference just because its religion.

I saw Lewis Black the other day and he repeated a comment he's made elsewhere. He said that the worlds major religions are based on a book written by Jews and, as we all know, Jews are good at BS...

Originally Posted by agentSmith

I'll happily go quoteless until the end this time if it's bothering you.

I work midnights, often 12s as I did yesterday.

'nose-leading'? You're the one who said you were smart. A smart guy aught to be able to write a LOUSY paragraph so someone with my not inconsiderable experience can understand it. Oh that's right, it's MY fault you don't make sense. Everything is everybody else's fault.
If you want people to think you're smarter than the average 12 year old on PBN, THEN WRITE LIKE IT!

I must admit my respect for you and your guts has waned a bit with that answer. You not only insulted a majority of the people alive today, but a greater majority of all the people who ever lived with your ranting against religion and those who practice it and you're worried what I think? You're smarter than any fool who believes in god, fools like Martin Luther and Albert Einstein, right? so why didn't you know I'd misinterpret your post?


What I think is this:
The vigor of your arguments and your emotional tone mark you.

Religious folks Believe God exists.

You Believe God doesn't exist.

a scientific mind doesn't 'believe', it has theories with no emotional attachment that are discarded when they're found inadequate.

Now, let's chop the unimportant parts off those first two and we get this:
Religious folks Believe
You believe

so not only are you just another believer from where I sit with your tirades, but you're a poser with your own religion of 'there is no god' yourself, trying to push it off on us with your imagined glibness.
I'm not on board with that, in spite of the fact that we may end up agreeing on everything else in the world.


Now for my beloved quote, it's from you:

SMART people understand that COMPREHENSION is what spelling and grammar ARE FOR!

Rob

[John Satclaire]

Originally Posted by stevedavidson

and, as we all know, Jews are good at BS...

The esteemable Mr. Davidson here, on the other hand, merely slings it around with gusto.

[Mayvik]

Preface: I was raised Catholic-ish but became very Catholic, was the star student in religious school, the King of the Altar Boys (no, no one touched my peen except me, I guess our local priest liked little girls instead), etc. Then about halfway through high school I said "er..wait. This is dumb." I now describe my belief system as "intrigued apathy"; religion fascinates me more as a study of humanity than anything supernatural. I don't presume to know or even believe if there is a God or gods, and if there is some magical mysterious being driving the entirety of creation, I DEFINITELY don't presume to know his/her/it/their motivation(s) for doing anything. I'll live my life doing what I think is good and making up for things I did which I think are bad as best I am able, and if that's not good enough, F it. It's not worth spending any portion my life, which is certainly finite, on what amounts to a guess about what I should do to please a deity which may not exist or may not have the same feelings about good/bad that I do, in order to be happy in a possible afterlife. If my behavior is that important to the universe, than Omnipotent Being(s) can just as easily say "Do this or else" or just make me into their cosmic hand puppet and force me to do it.

Meat of Post: Believe whatever you want, I can't stop you and I don't think it's worth my time to try. I'd much prefer that you do it in private, keep it off my doorstep and out of my face, don't brainwash your kids with it until they're old enough to think for themselves, and don't evangelize (which includes killing people that don't agree for all you Islamic fundamentalists reading this). If you end up being right, yay for you and have fun in the afterlife. You can laugh at me while my ignorant self is roasting somewhere. In the meantime, leave me alone or expect a surly reply.

A quote of mine: "Mankind's two worst inventions are God and Country."

[Walking_Target]

Hey, Mr. Davidson

Why don't you rail at me some? I "believe" in the concept of "Karma" as a mathematical principal that applies to every day life.

simply put, you do good things and eventually it comes back to you in one form or another, you do bad, it also comes back to bite you.

you can cite as many examples of guiltless lives that have been horrible, but i see too many connections going on out there to just turn a blind eye to the fact that there has to be some statistical correlation