Update: Hahaha!

A week ago I told you that creators of this poll weren't getting the reaction they wanted, so they pulled it down. They put it back up, and it still wasn't getting the reaction they wanted. Today we find that they moved the goalposts yet again. Read the options from the first poll from January 22, then read the ones from today (below), and you tell me who's being dishonest.

Since they changed the questions again, I took the liberty of voting again. You shouldn't be surprised that the results of the poll have more or less stayed the same.

Note to Christian creationists

Over at Ray's blog there has been this ongoing argument from creationists that goes something to the gist of "The following were scientists who believed in creation...". Then they proceed to produce a laundry list of creationists who have long been departed. If you're a creationist and this is a favorite tactic of yours, I have bad news for you. You have failed. Miserably.

Not one scientist who is alive today is going to take anything away from the work of the beautiful minds like those of Faraday, Copernicus, Mendel, or Kepler. Yet you seemingly live to shred the very fabric of the sciences as we know them today - namely evolutionary biology and Big Bang cosmology, two disciplines that have overwhelming evidence to support them.

So, listen up, you primates! (Yes, you're technically a primate.) Here are three reasons why this tactic of yours only makes you look stupid and naive.

1. For every one Christian creationist, I can give you 10 Muslim creationists who were making scientific discoveries that pre-dates Copernicus by at least 500 years. Many Muslims have put their signatures on chemistry, geography, astronomy, and perhaps most important, medicine. Are you willing to give these scientists the same credit that you are willing to give Mendel? I'm guessing no, simply because they weren't Christian.

For every one Christian creationist, I can give you 3 non-theists and agnostics who have made discoveries without the urge to "find God". It might be a surprise to you that it was a non-theist, Teddy Hall, who revealed the hoax of the Piltdown man. Yet, many of you love to sit in your ivory towers laughing at the idea that science is a self-correcting process, of which Hall is an example. But don't be too ready to applaud Hall just yet. It was he who also proved that the Shroud of Turin is a fraud as well.

It might also surprise you to know that every time you watch the space shuttle lift off, you can thank Jack Parsons for helping to make it possible. Jack Parsons was a genius when it came to aeronautics and rocketry. He was also a devout occultist and satanist.

2. Most of the scientists that creationists love to mention, like Babbage, Mendel, and Copernicus, have been dead for at least 100 years. When evolutionary biology was in its infancy, scientists were struggling to understand the diversity of life. They had little to go on except "God-did-it". All that changed when Darwin came along, and after 150 years of intense scrutiny his theory of evolution is still alive and well. And none of these scientists were alive when the Big Bang became a valid theory based on scientific fact.

Times have changed. 150 years ago, evolutionary biology was just emerging as a science, and not well-accepted by the scientific community. Now, over 95% of the scientific community accept evolution as fact. Sadly, Americans have been duped into believing creationism over science, when even a basic understanding of facts and a little detective work destroys creationism.

3. Just because you mention these scientists, it does nothing to detract from the validity of evolution or the Big Bang.

In short, you've done nothing more than make yourselves look like fools (again), and given us more ammo to beat you down with. But keep doing what you're doing. Someday the fact that creationism is garbage will begin to sink in. When that day comes, you will be well on your way to true academic and personal freedom.

Put this lame, tired argument to bed.

Interesting

In light of the current travails and struggle of the Iranian people to secure democracy and basic human rights for all of its citizens, who would have thought that it was Persia, now Iran, that created the first human rights charter? Furthermore, who would ever have thought that it was the Persians, namely Cyrus the Great, who ever brought about religious freedom, not only for themselves, but for the Jews as well?

Irony of ironies.

Hahaha!

Thanks to PZ Meyers for bringing this story into the spotlight. This is classic!

Apparently a poll was posted at thisisyourbible.com that asked the question, "Is the Bible really inspired by God?" It didn't yield the results that the creators of the poll had hoped for, so they temporarily took it down. Shocking!

However, they have since put the poll back online, and it's still getting a negative reaction. Just in case the website says everything is fine and that the overwhelming majority of people believe that the Bible is the word of God (which it's not), I've posted the image below.

I'll be keeping my eye on this one so you don't have to.

On Avatar

I finally got to see James Cameron's 3-D blitz of a movie, Avatar. If you haven't had the chance to see it, go do so at your earliest convenience. Not even 30 seconds had past before I muttered to myself, "Wow." The graphics are simply amazing, and make me feel guilty for not pursuing my art career more intently.

Of course, not to be outdone and unheard, paranoid Christians emerged over the past few weeks to rip the movie to shreds as if it were a threat to their religion. Christian critics have called the movie "pagan", "anti-human" and "abhorrent" with anti-capitalist and environmentalist overtones. Anti-capitalist and environmentalist I might understand, but anti-human and abhorrent?

Please.

Over at God's news site, critics Ted Baehr and Drew Zahn published their views on the film, which is fine. I agree with them in the respect that the film may be anti-capitalist and environmentalist, but my response to them is a resounding "So what?" I believe in capitalism (to a point), but unrestrained capitalism gets people killed, and please show me the harm in taking care of our world. The two intentionally ignored the multiple biblical references in which God instructs mankind to take care of the planet and resources that he gave not destroy it for the sake of making a quick buck.

They both go on to say that in reality mankind is evil and in need of a savior. Keep in mind that Baehr is the very same person who attacked the movie as anti-human. How much more anti-human can you get than saying humanity is evil?

Over at Baehr's website he furthers his critique by mentioning the following (don't laugh, this man is serious):

- "hints of bestiality"
- "reverse racist ideology"
- "people caught in the mouths of large creatures"
- "occult"
- "creepy tree grows into people"
- "brief alcohol use"
- "ugly alien creatures could cause children nightmares"

There's a reason the movie is rated PG-13, Mr. Baehr. No parent should be taking children to see it. And seriously...bestiality? Seriously?

However, as expected, they both gave The Book of Eli a two-thumbs-up review. Although there is implied rape, physical abuse of women, and spurting blood (none of which were in Avatar), Baehr calls the movie uplifting and awe-inspiring.

With this in mind, last week Ray started blabbing about moral relativity on his blog, without considering for a moment that Judeo-Christianity is the end-all-be-all of moral relativity. Christian fundamentalists like Ray miss the glaring irony in their stance toward moral relativity - that their religion is morally superior to all others, when even a child could tell you that large portions of the Bible are altogether evil.

According to Baehr and Zahn, protecting the environment and fighting against corporate corruption are evil, but maiming and killing for the sake of Christianity is holy. Would you care to explain how this is not morally relative, Mr. Comfort?

Oh, and for the last time, pagan is the Latin term for "country dweller". By that definition, half of the Christians in the world are pagan. Get over yourselves.

Perfect

Delusional Christianity

It's okay if you're a Christian. If you believe in Jesus, that's your business. It's personal to you, and you should keep it that way. And it's your constitutional right as an American to believe in anything you want, even if you believe that pigs can fly, unicorns exist, or there's a scared little man behind the curtain furiously pulling levers and spinning dials to keep you deluded and confused.

But when you start making claims that you can raise the dead, it's time to be tossed in jail before another Jonestown takes place. This guy makes Ray Comfort sound like the poster child for sanity and well-being. Is it too much to ask for video of said dead raising?

Funny, Jesus can use this dirtbag to raise the one child from the dead, but he can't save 15 million children from poverty, AIDS, and death by starvation every year.

The next time you're raising someone from the dead, please have a team of coroners, scientists, and a camera crew on site, asshole. In the meantime, please see a psychiatrist. Either that or join the human race and work on becoming a decent human being instead of providing false hopes and hocus-pocus to unsuspecting, desperate, and destitute citizens of the world.

In related news, Pat Robertson blames that the recent earthquake in Haiti on the Haitians. According to Robertson, the Haitians signed a deal with the devil when they fought for their freedom from France, hence they called down Gawd's wrath on their heads.

What do you expect from a psychopathic piece of shit like Pat Robertson? Thanks to White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs for shoving it back in Robertson's face.