Not sure if there's anywhere that anyone would notice blog entries if they don't use the recent posts link, so I thought I would toss this here...read my most recent entry at http://www.rationalresponders.com/blog/tarpan

I talk about Baby Killing...what is more fun than that?

My blog will be for my writings only.  I intend to focus on specific issues / faiths / logical problems I have with religion.  My delivery is intended to be respectful as to not scare away theists.  Please feel free to comment on whats there, and continue checking back as I should have at least one new entry each week.

Interesting article on why engineers are over-represented among violent Islamists. 

http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf

Abstract. We find that graduates from subjects such as science, engineering,
and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the
Muslim world, though not among the extremist Islamic groups which have
emerged in Western countries more recently. We also find that engineers alone
are strongly over-represented among graduates in violent groups in both
realms. This is all the more puzzling for engineers are virtually absent from
left-wing violent extremists and only present rather than over-represented
among right-wing extremists. We consider four hypotheses that could explain
this pattern. Is the engineers’ prominence among violent Islamists an accident
of history amplified through network links, or do their technical skills make
them attractive recruits? Do engineers have a ‘mindset’ that makes them a
particularly good match for Islamism, or is their vigorous radicalization
explained by the social conditions they endured in Islamic countries? We
argue that the interaction between the last two causes is the most plausible
explanation of our findings, casting a new light on the sources of Islamic
extremism and grounding macro theories of radicalization in a micro-level
perspective.

Heres the thing:

The basic reason for most peoples' disbelief in God is that they don't see evidence of God.  They say because they don't hear any booming voices or see something crazy and some because they feel like if there was a God, their life would be so much better, or the world in general. There are other reasons, but this is besides the point.  The fact is, atheists don't accept the evidence right in front of them.  There is an entire world, galaxy, and universe around us.  God's evidence is in His creation.  Trees, mountains, the ocean, stars, galaxies, and the people reading this post right now are all part of God's creation.  For there to be creation, there must be a Creator; a cause for the effect.  Now, you can say that all this came as a result of the "Big Bang," but that had to come from something, too. Existence didn't just happen, something had to start it.  Since this site is called 'rational,' let's be rational for a second.  How could something come out of nothing?  How could this immense universe just spontaneously exist?  Believing in an all- powerful God you can't see seems to make more sense than believing everything we know to exist just happened or came to be.  You may be able to poke holes of discrepancy into Theism, but God can take the root out of Atheism.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

-Jesus Christ 

Hi! I'm new to the forum and thought I'd throw a question out there.

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum, so please move it if necessary.

What's the possibility that God, and therefore Goddess, are nothing but Psychological Archetypes? There may be proof in this in the Bible verse "Jesus came upon a group of fishermen and said: Cast aside your nets and follow me and you will become fishers of men." So how do you then become a fisher of women? Would this explain why these Catholic Priests keep showing up on the news as homosexual pedaphiles?

I have no belief that an entity created the universe. I do have a belief that two people created me. When I start to look at the Bible from a psychological perspective, I do believe Jesus did save some people: he saved homosexuals from being persecuted (i.e. stoned to death) under Jewish law. He did come up with some of the same concepts that Ghandi did in his ethic of non-violence. But then there are other parts...

It makes me wonder.

What do you think?

Cry Havoc

P.S. This looks like a great forum...

This is the list of questions presented in the top thread with answers inserted. Have fun.



List of questions about God, religion and the supernatural have been compiled by IG over the years as well as some interesting ones by readers.

1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay

I would imagine that it is because they do not believe he did fulfill the prophecies while 'Christians' believe that he did.

2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?

If I had to guess I would say the garden of eden is a celestial place not an earthly one, at least in the context of this story. I'm not a fundamentalist so I don't believe this place is an actual location.

3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy

Men evolved from monkeys. This is another story that someone doesn't have to take word for word as factual in order to believe in a god.

(Disclaimer: Just feeling a little snarky today.) 

1) Take a plate from your cabinet.

2) Set it someplace it can sit undisturbed for an extended period of time.

3) Spend a few hours once a week telling yourself that the plate can fly.

4) Tell your children that the plate can fly.

5) Remember, do not test the plate (i.e. throw it, drop it, etc.) It doesn't like that. 

6) Hang out with a bunch of other flying-plateists.

7) Read books about flying plates in your spare time.

If you try this, you'll believe in the miracle of the flying plate. I just may change your life. 

You see, if you just open your heart to the flying plate, you'll understand. 

If you don't have any books about flying plates, I've got a copy of a really old one. It's amazing because events that are predicted earlier in the book, occur later in the book. 

-Triften 

A video of a cargo cult can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7RA4UnEuQ0&NR=1

Cargo Cults seem to have originated around WWII, when cargos loaded with food fell from the skies of Africa, and many tribes thought the cargos came from angels. Today, many tribes build land strips hoping planes piloted by angels will land in them. Most cargo cults believe evil white men stole the airplanes from angels, but soon the truth will be known to all.

Cargo cults usually have priests who build boxes that resemble radios and claim they are getting their beliefs, laws from the gods themselves.

While cargo cults may seem dumb, let's face it, at least they can see airplanes. And failure to understand how airplanes work is exactly what made them worship airplanes in the first place.

_____________________________________________________________

http://www.cttemplates.com

This topic intents to measure the possibility for God's existence or at least to discuss that possibility.
Although it questions the science and scientific theories, the topic might not be accepted in the "Science" section of this forum.
I'll leave it to the moderators to find the right place for it.

The Universe

There were two theories about the nature of the Universe:

1) 1 There is no moment of creation and the Universe is ever existent

2) 2 There is moment of creation, therefore the Universe has beginning

I was lying in bed on Tuesday morning. I'd just finished a load of essays and felt I deserved a lie in. And there was a knock on the front door (which for some strange reason actually opens into my room anyway, so normally we all go in and out by the back). So I get up and answer it.

"Are you interested in Jehovah's Witnesses at all?" said the stout middle aged man.

"Not really sorry mate." I replied. It was true, I really wasn't interested.

"Ok, no problem."

He looked miserably dissappointed. I mean I guess if you spend your entire life knocking on people's doors trying to convert them to a life of knocking on people's doors then you're not going to have much luck. I felt so bad, and thinking that he might want to release some of that holy fire and brimstone that religious folks enjoy so much, I decided it might be the humane thing to let him have a little rant. Plus, I mean its fun to be told you're going to hell by an angry nutter and know that you won't.

"I'm pretty much an atheist mate. I think religion is a waste of time."

Here it goes, I thought, any minute now...

But he looked calm and smiled politely.

"And have you always felt like this?"

"Err... Yes pretty much."

"Well some people never find God."

"Well I haven't. Maybe next time?"

"Yes, maybe next time. Thankyou for your time. Goodbye. God Bless."

"Ok, goodbye."

Hi

I was invited here from a Facebook fellow with the promise that you don't delete topics just because you can not refute a statement, idea or theory.
It is not the promise that brought me here.
It is the attitude behind the rule.

Just few seconds ago I was banished in the Facebook group "Atheism: A Non-Prophet Organization".
For the sake of atheism I hope it won't happen here.
I'm a non-religious supporter for the idea of God's existence.
I say that I don't believe in God, because I know that he exists.
Why am I so certain is a long talk and soon I'll post a topic in which I'll try to give you the answer for my certainty.

I'm Bulgarian living in Johannesburg, South Africa.
50 years old male, married, father of two children. Musician who works as a carpenter.
Love science. Love people. Love the Love.

And just to make this topic more entertaining: - Do you know that Darwinism derives from the Bible?

Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. » 75 comments Read more « first‹ previous…136137138139140141142143144…next ›last »	Syndicate This site is part of the Rational Response Squad network of sites. Your username/password will work at these sites: Rational Response Squad Atheist Volunteers Free Thinking Teens Way of the Master Ask The Atheist Archive Purpose of Christmas     Sapient's Blog A little victory against a squatter rationalresponders.blogspot Sorry our site was down for over 12 hours. Can you make a donation? This Winter Solstice buy stuff via our links to Amazon! more Close Friends Sam Harris Famous Atheists Christopher Hitchens Freethought Nation Truth Be Known Hambydammit
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