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Monday, July 09, 2007

[+/-]
 "What if you're wrong?"

A question I often hear from xtian fundies is "What if you're wrong?"

What this question means, of course, is "What if you are wrong about your disbelief in my gawd."

The appropriate response, I believe, is "What if you're wrong about Zeus?":

A man... remains hospitalized Monday after he was struck down by a bolt of lightning which flew from clear blue sky on Sunday. He was selling religious materials when he was hit....

"He's unconscious, he's in a coma," said Francisco Perez, leader of the Puerto Rico-based group. "It's difficult what happened, you know, but what can we do? Things happen in life, but we still believe in God."

I wonder if these fundies have lightening rods on their church buildings. If they do, isn't that professing lack of faith that their gawd can protect them? Isn't it a tacit acknowledgment that Zeus exists? :)

4 Comments:

Blogger Bukko Boomeranger said...

If I'm wrong, I hope that God, or Allah, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is merciful...

Zeus, on the other hand, will have me rolling that rock whilst the buzzards snarf my liver!

7:17 AM  
Blogger Jake said...

Indeed, Christians I know often ask me that question as well...'what if you're wrong'...but I think you summed it up pretty well.

7:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The "many gods/many hells" objection to mysticism in general doesn't hold.

It *is* a valid objection to specific priesthoods.

Specifically, if the Muslims say you must not drink booze and the Christians say you must not eat meat on Friday, then you can reasonably object that if God is using these folks to communicate, they are failing to convey His message.

If, on the other hand, you look at all spiritual experiences as having common elements, those common elements do add up to a consistent perennial philosophy. So one can have mysticism without religion.

5:48 AM  
Blogger Duane said...

As a former atheist, I find the "what if you are wrong" line of argument weak and unconvincing. It unfortunately fits the pre-operational moral maturity of many believers whose lives serve little evidence for the impact of God. To believe something because it serves as a safety net doesn't satisfy a jealous God.

In short, I share in your disdain for this rhetoric, but I dislike it for entirely different reasons.

3:57 PM  

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Friday, July 06, 2007

[+/-]
 Christian Exodus move postponed

The AP is reporting that the co-founder of a movement to get conservative Christians to move to South Carolina so they can take over the government through the ballot box has delayed his own move to the state.

Christian Exodus co-founder Cory Burnell planned to relocate from California to Anderson County sometime this week. But he said the publicity surrounding the move caused his would-be employer to take away its offer. He wouldn't name the company.

Christian Exodus plans to move families into Anderson County to influence local elections, then spread throughout South Carolina.

1 Comments:

Blogger vjack said...

They have been talking about this for years. I wonder if anything will ever come of it?

8:34 AM  

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[+/-]
 New poll says impeach Cheney

American Research Group, in a poll of 1,100 respondents taken from July 3-5, found that 54% of Americans favored impeachment. Only 17% of Republicans in the poll favored the impeachment of Cheney, while 76% of Democrats supported the move in the House of Representatives. However, of independents polled, a slight majority of 51%, also supported impeaching the Vice President.

0 Comments:

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[+/-]
 Brain imaging studies reveal biological basis for human cooperation

Morality evolved. Suck it, creationists:
Functional MRI scans have revealed a "biologically embedded" basis for altruistic behavior, with several characteristic regions of the brain being activated when players of a game called "Prisoner's Dilemma" decide to trust each other and cooperate, rather than betray each other for immediate gain, say researchers from Emory University. They report on their study in the July 18 issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press....

"Our study shows, for the first time, that social cooperation is intrinsically rewarding to the human brain, even in the face of pressures to the contrary, " said Gregory S. Berns, M.D., Ph.D., co-investigator and associate professor of psychiatry in the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and member of the CBN. "It suggests that the altruistic drive to cooperate is biologically embedded-- either genetically programmed or acquired through socialization during childhood and adolescence."
That is, not from the bible.
"Reciprocal altruism activates a reward circuit, and this activation may often be sufficiently reinforcing to override subsequent temptations to accept but not reciprocate altruism. This may be what motivates us to persist with cooperative social interactions and reap the benefits of sustained mutual cooperation," said Dr. Rilling.

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

[+/-]
 Masturblogging

It bothers me when bloggers write about their blogs, rather than other things. You will never see it done here, except once per year on the blogiversary. This post is for my records, not for you, dear reader. So move along, nothing to see here....

July 1, 2006 to June 30 2007
Total visits: 22,508
Total page views: 31,080
You still here? I asked you to move along.

Well, since you stuck around, I will say thanks for reading and commenting on Nanovirus during the past twelve months. It has been a needed outlet for me personally. I hope it has challenged and entertained you.

And now, back to our regular programming.

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