Results 11 to 20 of 83
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06-21-2007 #11Originally Posted by tsntx
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
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06-21-2007 #12
why is there no historical, non-biblical evidence that Jesus existed?
New Orleans, no place like home.
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06-21-2007 #13
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Originally Posted by muhmuh
As for Christian ethics, many people would disagree. They may not be viewed as one and the same, but are certainly viewed by many as hand-in-hand. Just because some of you seem to view teaching Christianity to children as synonomous with fundamentalism doesn't make it so. Some would be wise to actually learn what fundamentalism is.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the idea of bible-belters and fundamentalists. But some of you take this anti-everything-that-isn't-ridiculously-liberal stance too far. As much as you would like to make religion in and of itself appear destructive, it isn't. It is simply political entities which abuse religion to make it so. Raising kids with religion isn't the problem.
sometimes it feels like shame...less than two shades away from kindness.
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06-21-2007 #14
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- May 2006
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Religiosity and education are negatively correlated.
I'd bet Armani never finished college.
Look Marge, I'm reading The Economist, did you know Indonesia is at a crossroads?
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06-21-2007 #15
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Originally Posted by LOCpunks
the were right your wrong no matter what stance you often find in american born again christians and the vatican is the problem here
if you teach your children about your own religion as well as any other religion there is its a proper way of teaching them... if you give them a bible and simply tell them everything in there is the absolute truth and anything that disagrees with whats in there is wrong its bad parenting
Just because some of you seem to view teaching Christianity to children as synonomous with fundamentalism doesn't make it so. Some would be wise to actually learn what fundamentalism is.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the idea of bible-belters and fundamentalists. But some of you take this anti-everything-that-isn't-ridiculously-liberal stance too far. As much as you would like to make religion in and of itself appear destructive, it isn't. It is simply political entities which abuse religion to make it so. Raising kids with religion isn't the problem.
edit:
Originally Posted by Rogers
According to one theory, males rammed each other with their thick skulls in order to win females.
1-2 million years later... nothing much has changed
Elvis: I was dreamin'. Dreamin' my dick was out and I was checkin' to see if that infected bump on the head of it had filled with pus again. If it had, I was gonna name it after my ex-wife 'cilla and bust it by jackin' off.
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06-21-2007 #16
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Re: EVOLUTION is a figment of Chef Mike's imagination.
Originally Posted by ARMANIXXX
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06-21-2007 #17
Re: EVOLUTION is a figment of Chef Mike's imagination.
Originally Posted by ARMANIXXX
If that's the case then the Bible is a book of magic and fairy tales. I am so tired of hearing religious people say it's this way because there is no proof. Since there is no proof for about 90% of the bible then it also must be untrue. You are undone by your own argument.
People with intellect have figured out that it is easily possible to believe in both things if you aren't a nutjob extremist on either side.
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06-21-2007 #18
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The theory of evolution makes two main claims:
1. Species have some characteristics that are reliably inheritable, though they are subject to mutation. Darwin explained that many of the inheritable characteristics must somehow be encoded discretely in the genome, otherwise a characteristic that is underrepresented in a population would be quickly diluted and disappear, contrary to what biologists observe.
Today there is absolutely no controversy about the truth of claim 1. I believe everyone posting to this board knows about DNA and how it in essence digitally codes for the proteins that determine how we grow from a mere cell into a human being with brown eyes, black hair etc. Darwin’s prediction was nearly one-hundred years in advance of the actual discovery of the structure and function of DNA. That the code mutates is easily demonstrated with experiments geneticists have performed using fruit flies, bacteria, viruses, frogs etc. and also the experiments nature has performed on unfortunate human beings.
2. In some environments certain characteristics are beneficial and others are detrimental. If a population lives in a particular environment for generations, those genes responsible for detrimental characteristics will be selected against. Barring catastrophic accidents, those coding for beneficial characteristics will be selected for.
There’s nothing controversial here either. Put a population of alligators in northern Alaska and they’ll probably die out. Put a population of rabbits in Australia and they’ll probably thrive. Natural selection is just common sense. What’s not to believe.
Put the two claims together and it easily follows that populations will vary over time as their genetic codes mutate and natural selection acts on the resulting new sets of characteristics that arise. Since sexual compatibility is an inheritable characteristic, it can happen that two populations of the same species can diverge to the point where members of the one population are sexually incompatible with those of the other. In other words, now there are two species instead of one.
Now there are a number of questions to ask. Does it happen? Given the extent of geologic, time have populations varied? Yes. There are many examples within the fossil record. One can observe it happening on the Galapagos Islands. Unfortunately for us a non-sexual version of speciation demonstrably occurs yearly within the Asian populations of the influenza virus.
Next question, did humans evolve in this way from prior primate populations. The same DNA evidence that you use as a juror to send criminals to jail and acquit the innocent conclusively supports the affirmative answer; not to mention that fossil evidence that is never complete but seems to increase every year.
Next question, what does this have to do with religion? The answer is of course: nothing; it has nothing to do with religion. Isn’t that obvious? All this is just boring science. Most of us slept through it during high school and college. But what about the creation story in Genesis? Which one: the one where Eve was made from Adam’s rib or the other one? What about the story of the frost giant who was felled by Odin and became the Earth? Isn’t it clear none of those stories have anything to do with religion? What moral lessons are to be drawn from the story that the every thing was created in six days? How does that help you live your life? When the Bible, the Koran or the Tibetan Book of the Dead make physical claims it’s science…not religion. Often it’s bad science, often wrong science. But given the age of these texts, it’s forgivable science. So let’s forgive it and move on. There’s no need to support the physical, biological or geological claims of any religious text. There is a need to refute them only to the extent they continue to be unjustifiably supported. I think the moral here is: not every thing in the revered texts is religion. Sometimes the authors spoke about other things and sometimes they were wrong. So what? There’s plenty of religion in the good book that we can argue and that has nothing to do with science. But in the world of physical fact, modern science reigns.
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06-21-2007 #19
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Originally Posted by muhmuh
And even regarding Christian fundamentalism in general terms...who are any of us to take issue with their religious customs? Because the child has a "civil right" to not be taught Christianity? I think the very people who are concerned about civil rights should be more concerned about the parents' "civil right" to raise their children as they see fit.
After all, this is America. What are you, a Nazi?
I kid, I kid. Well, sort of. It's just funny to see in the social and political forum (No, not THIS forum...generally speaking) so many "liberals" telling a group of people how to live their lives, and trying to break down the only institution holding together millions of families and their communites. It just reaks of hypocrisy.
sometimes it feels like shame...less than two shades away from kindness.
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06-21-2007 #20
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Ahhh.
It seems as if I've sparked a little debate here.
Some questioning my authority, experience, education, some even seemingly questioning with whom I'm speaking to.
Where shall I begin?
Tell you what. I'm gonna use the ol KISS method a professor once taught me in college.
I'll just say this:
I've had this arguement MANY times with many of my biological professors. Guess what....NONE of them can answer with certainty...NONE. EVOLUTION is NOT a fact, it is an ongoing, working THEORY.
I'll tell you what, since I've personally seen many primates of the Ape genology, and since I've NEVER seen the GEICO Caveman,
I'll direct this challenge to any and ALL of you:
YOU FIND ME A BREATING AND LIVING MISSING LINK, I WILL GET YOU YOUR OWN GANGBANG WITH ANY AND ALL TS GIRLS THAT YOU WANT AND LIKE.
I promise
Now....be off with you, and sin no more. lol