The floor is yours, Amy2.

Amy,

Welcome to my blog.

Here, you will find a much different environment than the one that you are used to at Ray's blog. In this environment, the First Amendment is honored, not tread upon like a doormat. Here, you can state whatever you wish, no matter how much it may offend your audience. In this place, no posts are screened nor will they ever require my approval. Anything you say will be automatically uploaded. No post will ever been censored, nor will they ever be deleted, even those that I disagree with or defeat my argument.

There are no rules here. There are no moderators. There is only the pursuit of truth, logic, and reason.

While I respect the faith of others, I have nothing but contempt for the type of dogmatic faith that tries to involve itself in science and politics. That should not suggest that I don't believe faith can be used to advance science and humanity. And I absolutely detest the kind of faith that is used to injure or kill others who don't subscribe to their point of view.

While I do not accept Christianity, I am not an atheist. I believe that the goodness that you have is in spite of your faith, not because of it. I believe that anyone who claims to know the will of God and make extraordinary claims, like raising the dead, is at the absolute height of arrogance and should not be trusted. I also believe that God, whoever He/She/They/It may be, is far too dreadful and powerful for any and all of the world's religions to claim as their own.

Without hesitation, I accept science over faith. And while I believe that faith can be used for both good and evil, I believe that same can be said of science. For all the triumphs that science has given us, it has also given us many dark chapters in human history. I also believe that if a divine Creator does exist, and created all of the rules that drive the physical Universe, then that Being also gave us the curiosity, creativity, and intellect to discover the mysteries of that Universe. In other words, I don't believe that God would give us a brain and not challenge us to use it.

With all that said, you are welcome to choose any topic you like for discussion. As I stated in Ray's blog, you are welcome to post as many links and quotes as you like.

I yield the floor.

Number of creationists are falling

The results of a Gallup poll regarding creationist numbers were released on December 17.

First the bad news. Forty percent. That's the number of Americans who believe in a literal 6-day creation, a global flood, Noah's Ark, that snakes can talk, and that goats get their stripes because their parents had their way with each other in front of a row of poplar rods. Some still believe that the earth is flat.

Now for the good news -- acceptance of evolutionary biology is rising while the number of creationists slowly falls.

The evolution/creation "controversy" is a misnomer because it's been a beatdown in every sense of the word. When a creationist asks for evidence of evolutionary biology, they have that evidence handed to them by the boatload. But they summarily reject it because they're too afraid to honestly look at the evidence and admit that they're wrong. Conversely, when you prove to them why biblical creationism is wrong, they simply regurgitate the mantra "You're misinterpreting things," or "You're taking things out of context," or spout some other non-sense about things they don't understand.

It's not that creationists are too stupid to understand evolutionary biology; it's that they're blinded by a dogmatic worldview that doesn't require evidence -- only faith. As Youtuber AronRa stated in his video series, Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, in order to be a creationist you don't need to know anything about astronomy, physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, genetics, plate tectonics, meteorology, paleontology, taxonomy, zoology, optics, or even geography. Creationists choose to remain willfully ignorant, and that, to me, is worse than stupidity. What makes things even more irritating is that they claim to know science better than scientists do.

Ask a creationist on the spot what a theory is, and they typically can't answer you. Ask them what genetic drift is and they'll give you the deer-in-the-headlights look. Ask them if an alligator and a crocodile can mate and they'll shut right up. Ask them to tell an astronomical unit from a light-year, an allele from a zygote, an atom from a photon, a monotreme from a marsupial, or a quasar from a red dwarf, and they'll usually panic. Most creationists believe that evolution is not science, but when you ask them how it's not science, they'll squirm as if they're in a dentists chair having a root canal.

The evidence continues to grow in support of evolutionary biology by leaps and bounds. It is the foundation of modern medicine, food production, and forensic science. More people are waking up everyday from their dogma-induced stupor, observing evidence and realizing that they have been lied to for years. If creationists wonder why that is, and why atheism and agnosticism are on the rise, they only have themselves to blame.

So, if you're a creationist, keep it up. In the long run, you're only doing science a favor.

Answering Ray's distortion of Einstein

Over at Ray's blog, in the header you fill find a picture of Einstein and one of his quotes that Ray cherry-picked to try to steer you toward Ray's perverted way of thinking.

Ray would like you (and himself) to believe that Einstein not only believed in God, but a very personal God at that. As always, Ray distorts the truth, if not outright lies through his teeth. While Einstein certainly did believe in God, he did not believe in the kind of God who played an active role in our daily lives. And though Einstein had a certain disdain for using his quotes regarding faith and God, here's one that Ray is wishing that Einstein never put to paper:

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Chew on that for a while, Ray. Watch the clip by Penn Gillette below, in which he reads the above quote from a letter that Einstein wrote to philosopher Eric Gutkind on January 3, 1954.

Just a thought

Last night I was enjoying a beer at Otto's with my friend, Dave, when we started having a discussion about Christianity. And it got me to thinking about something. According to Christians, Jesus is perfect by default since he is God. Christians also believe that stoning is wrong, as is slavery, along with a torrent of other nasty crimes against humanity. This is where the wheels start to fall of the wagon for Christian fundamentalists regarding the myth that the Old Testament doesn't matter because Jesus gave us a new covenant.

Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law (although he never mentions which law or group of laws), not to condemn. But if Jesus fulfilled all of the laws in order to clear the way for mankind to gain access to Heaven, including this law, then he's guilty of murder. He killed witches so you won't have to.

If you are a Christian, how then can you say that Jesus is God?

It's coming, Kentucky!

Sometimes the stupidity and willful ignorance in this country becomes so painful that I imagine for a moment what life would be like in Germany. I don't even know where to begin on this one.

Developers in Kentucky are asking the state government for tax exemption on a Noah's Ark-based theme park. AiG and Ark Encounters, LLC (whoever the hell that is), are joining forces to get this creatard funfest up and running by the end of 2014. Developers are hoping that it will bring in 1.6 million visitors a year and create 900 jobs. They're also hoping that it will have a ripple effect over a large geographic area. But the only effect it's going to have is the continued intellectual, downward spiral throughout Kentucky and the rest of the south.

If you're one of those that work for AiG, Ark Encounters, or the Kentucky state government that is seeing this travesty through, or if you are considering donating your hard-earned money to this cause, please spend some time examining the parallels between other flood myths to that of Noah's. Watch the videos below by Youtuber ItsTheSuperFly, in which he absolutely eviscerates the myth of Noah's flood/ark. After kicking yourself in the head for about an hour after realizing that you've been duped into believing this crap, consider putting that money toward something useful, like an education. Then go buy yourself a nice, hot, fresh cup of coffee and remind yourself that Noah's Ark was only a myth.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go buy a nice, hot, fresh cup of coffee of my own.

Meet John Shimkus

I have to admit, despite the fact that I try to stay informed of political goings-on, I have never heard of Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL). And now that I have, I'd like to introduce you to him if you haven't made his acquaintance already.

Last March, Shimkus inferred that climate change is a myth by stating that sea levels will not rise and that God would never destroy the earth through a flood again, as stated in Genesis 8:21-22 and 9:11. Clearly, Shimkus is anti-science, but perhaps the most frightening aspect of Shimkus is that he aspires to chair the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Furthermore, he recently sent a letter to his colleagues in which he states that he is "uniquely qualified among a group of talented contenders to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee."

One could only assume that such a person is well-studied in climate change, energy production, and commerce. Of course, he has none of these credentials, but he does have a teaching certificate from Christ College in Irvine, CA. However, to be fair, he also has an MBA from Southern Illinois University.

So we have now reached a point in our political system where a Bible-thumping, climate-change denier who gets kick-backs from the oil industry with no scientific background in energy production or climate change seeks to take the wheel of our nation's energy policies.

I don't know about you, but this man makes me a wee bit nervous.

John embraces sex ed! (Sort of.)

If there really is a hell, it just dropped about ten full degrees.

You may recall in March 2009 when John Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, made the ridiculous, unsubstantiated claim that the use of condoms would only serve as a catalyst for the increased spread of AIDS throughout Africa. He even followed up said jackassery in September by urging Africans to pray for AIDS patients and forgo condoms to prevent the spread of the disease, as opposed to embracing education like the rest of the civilized world has.

Fast forward to today, as John has done a complete 120°. I can only assume that John has given in to the public outrage over the stupidity of the aforementioned use of condoms in Africa. But don't give him full credit for his sudden turn around. He says that condoms should not be used to prevent conception, but for preventing the spread of AIDS amongst male prostitutes.

Male prostitutes? Please. One would hope that he gives all sexually active Africans the green light on condoms in order to stem the spread of AIDS.

Eh, what the hell -- it's a start.