hello all,
i'm fairly certain every member of this site is going to tear anything i say completely apart, and if that didn't happen i'd be shocked. i have been raised a charismatic catholic but throughout my life have been taught to listen to other's beliefs or disbeliefs, and no matter what they believed or did not believe, i should show them love. why was i taught to love? because as my parents (and i) believe the greatest lesson of christianity is to "love one another as i have loved you".
so tonight i spent several hours speaking to one of the founding members of this website and honestly i thought he would try to convert me. but instead we had a discussion in which i was told i'm "not fun to debate". i do not take my religion at face value. instead i have searched the basic tenets of my faith and discovered that the reasons most (not all) atheists have issues with theists is because they do not look into the reasons behind their faith. i see faith as completely irrational. i accept that there is no indisputable proof behind my beliefs. instead i see the effects of my beliefs. i try (as much as i can i am no where near perfect) to be an example of what i believe jesus to be. i believe that jesus acted out of love and hoped that his display of love would encourage others to do the same. i believe that if i show the same love i have learned from the teachings of jesus (whether or not he existed as my atheist mentor tried to explain this evening) maybe someone else will feel that love and pass it on. maybe they or someone down the line will continue this love and somehow in small ways that love will eventually touch the whole world. am i ridiculously optimistic? yes. i know this and i accept it. but it does not make me want to give up it only makes me what to try harder.

Interesting discussion about religion, government, politics and spritualism.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-293722740290609247&q=Jim+Marrs+History+of+Secret+Societies

This entry focuses on secret socities and mentions religions near the end of the presentation.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8701863412120241475&q=Matrix+of+Power&total=396&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yJk74Vfs2s#1nRGNYssiHs

Not in chronological order

I just wrote this little ditty on the Richard Dawkins forum.
A retort of the "Watch on the beach argument"

What is it with creationists and strawmen of evolution?

It's getting to the point that some creationists are willing to reject anyone correction to their strawman view of evolution.

Just idiotic.

If you want to argue against evolution, let someone who believes in it tell you what it means and what it is.
Unless you don't mind someone like me shoving a false idea of what creationism is at you.

If you don't want to hear the other side, shut up, and go away.

First off let me say, in my opinion intelligence is not measured by how much technical jargon one can use in a post. Rather, conveying your thoughts on a very complicated topic in an easy to understand manner with out ‘losing’ your reader, is a true measure of intelligence. There are some members on the forums who do this well and there are some who do not, I am not going to name names or point fingers.

I know the old saying, “opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one”, and that is why I said it was MY opinion. I do not need anyone to point out what IQ tests actually measure, I understand what those tests take into account and that is not what I am discussing.

I know I want to teach my own children logic as soon as they can understand it, but what about having a class in school about it. Probably done in highschool or middle school like a health class or an elective.

I've noticed english classes teaching things like ad methods and science classes expressing logical ideas, but I'm not sure if this is really good enough. Now I wouldn't expect college level out of these students so it might just be called critical thinking, but I think a basic understanding of arguments would improve a students all around education.

Something to push for? Something for people to be against?

Not surprisingly, it has been revealed today that the disastrous floods in Britain this weekend are just another one of God's temper tantrums...

From today's Telegraph:

There is a very interesting article on Ars right now that concerns the fate of cosmology and the universe. Most of the technical stuff flies right over my head, but the concept intrigues me. Going outside ~100 billion years from now (probably a good guess to say that humans, in their current form at least, won't be around) and seeing a shrouded sky at night would really be sad and unfortunate. Enjoy it while you can. I always grin when I see a picture of some distant galaxy, or star cluster, or nebula, etcetera. The Hubble Deep Field is my favourite picture of the cosmic deep; everyone should have the chance to see it.

Am I the only one who thinks this truthism stuff is like dadaism?

All I know is we need a special group for people called attention-whoreism!