I've been reading a couple of articles of litigations initiated by atheists and it seems to me that some atheists may be taking it a little too far. For instance, I read of this atheist group trying to get some roadside crosses removed even though they were meant as a memorial for firemen that died there. As far as I know they were all Christians.

Do you think that stuff like that might be going a bit too far and may, in fact, damage the public's view of atheists?

So, everyone knows the Bible mentioned fantastical creatures. Talking animals, unicorns, sea monsters, dragons...

...Wait. fucking dragons?

A diverse class of reptilia that is sapient, covered in armor plating, able to both fly and breathe fire, and rivals even sauropods in size and weight (some figures suggest lengths of more than 140 ft long and 80 tons in weight, depending on the sourcebook or beastiary you flip through)?

I understand the creationist argument for dinosaurs on the Ark. I even think it's a little bit cute. "Moses only took the adorable lil' infants aboard, so there was lots of room for everybody and nobody fought."

Aww.

But wait a minute... sure, I guess most dumb beasts would just sit there and watch their little ones walk-off into the care of an old windbag human (?), and there wouldn't be much they could do after the proverbial hammer fell. But dragons?

Bilbo Baggins wasn't able to take one single piece of treasure from Smaug's lair without the great monster getting pissed and going on a town-wrecking rampage. How do you suppose they would react, then, to the sight of two of their newly hatched offsprings zipping-off to some unknown destination - and then finding that some lowly human had herded them onto a giant, rickety wooden boat?

This is a good question that was raised in a video posted to a different thread. I think it's a good one to ask here:

Intelligent Design proponents, Scientologists, New Agers, Creationists, etc:

What practical applications do you see as eventual byproducts being created by your exploration of a supreme being, or 'ultimate' purpose?

http://www.randi.org/joom/swift/swift/swift-may-2-2008-2.html

From the description of the video:

Just remember...

God loves you.

God loves you.

God loves you.

He loves you so much that he would do this to you.  It's love.  Real love.

Oh, and YOU BETTER CONVERT YOUR FRIENDS OR THEY'RE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!   GOD LOVES YOU!!!!!!!  YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO DIE!!!! FOREVER!!!!!!

God loves you.

During my most recent bout of insomnia, I busted out the Netflix and found the series, "Sexual Healing."  I'm a little surprised that I'd never seen it before, but it's not a bad show at all.  Each episode follows two or three couples for a week of daily relationship and sex therapy.  Unlike so much reality claptrap, this is emotionally mature stuff about real people having very real problems.

If you don't have netflix, or something similar, here's a link to the episode that made me quit watching -- not because it was a bad show, but because I was so mad for the couples whose relationships and sex lives had been completely fucked by Christian beliefs.  (It's episode 4, by the way.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SE7VGE

Briefly, there are two Christian couples.  One had a great dating life, and the woman was adventurous, sensual, and had great fun in bed.  Then, they decided not to have sex until marriage -- a year and a half hiatus.  The poor girl says at one point that she just had to "turn off" her desire for sex and all the pleasure she got from it.  Well, it worked.  They're married, and she doesn't want to have sex.  The guy is, to be blunt, one of the worst kinds of Christian sons of bitches.  He's a control freak who thinks that if he just smiles constantly and tells you about Jesus, everything will be perfect in his little world.

I have a question and was looking for some clarity on... Often the question about afterlife is posed to the atheist. My answer is there isn't one. I can remember some bits of my childhood but obviously nothing prior, also memory itself is not 100% I have many nights in my 20's I can barely remember for example. So it doesn't seem like a huge leap to recognize our minds not our "spirits" are responcible for memory, so when we die memory ends as it began. My assumption here is that the "Spirit" is the vessel that houses both thought and memory for the theist that believes in a spritual afterlife. If that is a false assumption please clarify.... Do theist that believe in a spiritual afterlife remember being born, their first steps, their first words, via this "spirit" or are their current memories bound by the mind? When does this spirit start to work and house "Memories" and "Thoughts", at time of death? Does the "spirit" exist before death and if so why doesn't it compensate for the inadaquacies of the mind then, and start working?

...Or wherever you happen to live.

He approaches you (let's skip the part where he proves that he's really Satan. He just is, and you just know it, at this point in the hypothetical scenario) bearing crucial news:

You've been had!

He's not really the bad guy. God is. All this time, God's had you convinced of the 'Ten Commandments' and 'Sin' and 'Confessing' so that he'd have the goods on all your fears, desires and dirty secrets when you kick the bucket - so when you follow Jesus up the golden ladder, *BAM!*, he'll have the perfect set-up to have you screaming in agony for all the rest of forever (an awfully long time).

Hell, man - that's the fucking ticket. He *BAMFS!* you into the abyss for a quick look, and mostly, it's a lot like the 6th video down on the far left hand column of this page. Essentially just a lot of lusty indulgence in all of lifes pleasures.

He then *BAMFS!* you back to Earth, and points out all the evidence in the Good Book that God isn't a very swell dude. Finally, he contends that there is no convincing evidence that he himself is so terrible, and the God has unfairly manufactured an adversarial relationship between humans and him in order to deny people a comforting afterlife.

Now what? How would you grill Satan to find-out the truth of the matter? Would you bother grilling him at all?

Oh, and curiously, God remains his mysterious self during the whole affair - and wholly absent (physically, anyway).

A lot of times theists says that they are happier or more comfortable believing in god, that god gives hope and so on.

But the more i try to understand this point of view, the more it looks dull and depressing.

Ok, lets assume that god created universe, and you KNOW (not only believe but know it 100%) that. Let me ask is it comforting knowing that some all mighty god created universe - suddenly all answers are answered and theres no need to search for truth. You know that you are going to heaven and so on, but your mind is bored, because you know the answer to life, the universe and everything (42 ). So the point is that the main drive to the point where we are now (curriosity) is left behind.

I just say, that i am much happier believing that death is the end, but still having curriosity, and still awaiting for the answers.

The universe is so great that so simple explanation (god did it) for it would be so depressing that i wouldn't want to live any more.

Sapient,

If you could take the time to answer this, I would greatly appreciate it. I know you are busy running this website, so, if you do not have time, I understand.

My question is about your claim that the universe is eternal, meaning it always existed. This is the claim you made on Night Line to Kirm Cameron. I have a question for you about the second law of thermodynamics. I understand that the second law of thermodynamics DOES NOT mean evolution cannot happen. Many Christians have tried to state this before and they misunderstand the concept altogether and they misuse the word "disorder" in doing so.

Yet, I do understand that, according to the second law of thermodynamics, the universe is being brought forth to a state of entropy, meaning that while there is energy, it is reaching a state of being unusable.

My question for you is this: if there is an infinite amount of time behind this point in time, how do we still have useable energy in stars and in other places in the universe?

Some secondary questions are these: Doesn’t the mere presence of useable energy mean there cannot be infinitel time in the past? Should not all hydrogen have morphed into heavier elements by now?

Thank you for your time.