Tenn. 'Bible in Schools' Act Awaits Approval

ERVs »

Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:25 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

"So where exactly in the bill of rights does it say they shouldn't?"

servent, Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Respect it or get out of my country.

Tenn. 'Bible in Schools' Act Awaits Approval

ERVs »

Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:24 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

HyperionOverseer, some hick flagged me. Was that you?

Battle Over Teaching 'Weaknesses' of Evolution Moves to Texas

ERVs »

Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:01 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 1

I wonder how Hovind is doing in prison. He sure was a wacko. He had this crazy idea that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time. Really. He was really that insane.

Battle Over Teaching 'Weaknesses' of Evolution Moves to Texas

ERVs »

Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:23 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

Karl, now I get it. Your comments were spam. You were advertising your website, which I noticed is full of ignorance and dishonesty. Good luck with your worthless business.

Battle Over Teaching 'Weaknesses' of Evolution Moves to Texas

ERVs »

Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:21 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

Karl, you were a math teacher and you taught a science lesson? Why didn't you stick with what you know? It's not fair to any student to have a science teacher who knows nothing about science, and it's obvious you don't even know what science is (Hint - Intelligent Magic is not scientific).

Battle Over Teaching 'Weaknesses' of Evolution Moves to Texas

ERVs »

Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:58 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

“the sun is the center of the universe - not the earth, etc.”

Who said that? Who said our star is smack-dab in the middle of the entire universe?

Somebody needs to repeat first grade.

ACLU Says Bibles Shouldn't be Handed Out at Ohio School

ERVs »

Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:25 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 2

Tomas, thanks for your respect for the Establishment Clause. You correctly pointed out, if this was allowed, how could Christians complain if free Qurans were given to students during class time. I wish more Christians understood our wall of separation between church and state is in everyone's best interest.

Operation to Give 100,000 Bibles to U.S. Troops in 100 Days

ERVs »

Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:30 pm Agree: 4   Disagree: 9

"Operation to Give 100,000 Bibles to U.S. Troops in 100 Days"

This is more evidence the Iraq war is a religious war. I noticed the other side reads the Qur'an. Everybody is murdering everybody else for a different God.

Has anyone noticed virtually all 21st century wars are religious wars? Religions are good for nothing but violence. Kill for Jesus. Kill for Mohammed. They're all nuts.

Judge: 'Expelled' Film Can Use Lennon Song

ERVs »

Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:43 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 10

She didn't want Lennon's anti-religion song used in a religious anti-science movie. The producers of Expelled didn't have the decency to ask permission to use Lennon's song because they knew the answer would be NO. So they just stole it. Typical immoral Christians.

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:32 am Agree: 4   Disagree: 3

oldstudent: "When Dawkins (or you) can bring an answer to the simple question..."

Why did you use Dawkins? There's thousands of biologists. Why did you choose a biologist who is also a famous atheist? Collins could answer your questions about evolution, but you chose Dawkins. Are you implying that the science of biological evolution is atheistic? Collins would disagree.

Agentorange answered your question and he asked you if you want more examples.

It's obvious you are not interested in the answer. You have no desire at all to learn anything about biology. Like most creationists, you are happy to live in your childish everything-is-magic fantasy world, and the last thing you need is knowledge about scientific facts that conflict with your idiotic religious beliefs.

Believe what you want, insult the integrity and competence of brilliant scientists like Collins if you want, but please keep your childish belief in magic out of our schools.

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:23 am Agree: 4   Disagree: 4

"The greater story of evolutionary theory isn’t that only we and Chimps share close ancestry, rather in the abstract, it’s that we as humanity are a piece of a greater whole of extended common ancestry of all living things, past, present and future."

Definitely I agree. When talking to the creationists I like to emphasize the fact that their closest living non-human relatives are the chimpanzees. They need to get rid of the childish idea that humans are the biggest deal in the universe. So I remind them they are just apes.

"Neanderthals had on average perhaps larger brains than current Sapiens do, and they were around a good 75,000 + years before the first modern Sapiens become apparent in Africa, so whatever they had, they still didn’t have we do or they couldn’t make use of it, because if they had they would’ve been the ones having this conversation."

If our ancestors somehow went extinct before entering Europe and competing with Neanderthals, I bet Neanderthals would have become a very successful species. Instead they were wiped out. We will never know for sure but I bet genocide might have had something to do with it. It's too bad. It would have been interesting to have more than one human species alive today.

How do the creationists explain the fact there used to be more than one human species living at the same time? New DNA evidence shows that successful interbreeding between the two species was not likely. They were closely related but different species. The creationist liars will deny all this. That's all they're good at, constant lying.

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:05 am Agree: 3   Disagree: 4

agentorange, thanks for all that information. I think you would agree that biological evolution is many times more interesting than magical creation. The creationists don't know what they're missing.

"The great apes have very similar brains to ours, but even the Chimps and Bonobos which are our closest living extended relative still lack what we have, it’s definitely not identical. Quite similar yes, but not identical, not in structure, nor in wiring."

OK, similar is more accurate than identical.

A quote, as best as I can remember it, from PZ during a debate with a everything-is-magic creationist: "The human brain and the chimpanzee brain have the same structure. The quality is the same, the difference is in the quantity."

I just spent about 30 seconds researching this using google and I found this:

They act like us, they look like us, they can understand our language to some extent, and now researchers say they have evidence that chimpanzees have some of the same brain structures for communication as humans.

Chimps, our closest cousins, may have smaller brains, but the part of the brain believed to control language is similar, physical anthropologist Patrick Gannon of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine and colleagues reported.

He and a team at Columbia University and the National Institutes of Health found similarities in a small area on the side of the brain called the planum temporale.

The planum temporale is normally bigger on the left side of the brain than on the right in people. It was also enlarged in the same way in all but one of 18 preserved chimp brains directly observed by Gannon's team using a low-power microscope.

Gannon said the findings support theories that chimpanzees do use language, just not in the same way that people do.

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/4451/ChimpsLikeUs.html

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:16 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 3

As Collins pointed out, humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor. Collins, who should know what he's talking about, considers our close relationship to chimpanzees to be a scientific fact. We have the complete genome of both species, and Collins has seen with his own eyes the DNA analysis that shows this evolutionary relationship to be correct beyond any doubt. The evolution deniers, also known as creationists, have not seen this evidence. They know nothing about it. Yet they think they know more about it than Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. To give you an idea of how insulting this is, imagine telling a brain surgeon you know more about brain surgery than he does.

Here's an interesting fact. The structure of the chimpanzee brain and the human brain is identical. The only difference is the human brain evolved to become larger. This is a fact and it's an example of something that can be predicted by evolution.

What does magical creation predict? Nothing. Magic is a worthless childish idea. Collins is a Christian, but he didn't become the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute by believing in magic like the creationists do.

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:52 pm Agree: 5   Disagree: 2

oldstudent asked "please give one example of a positive, random mutation that has been demonstrated to be beneficial to mankind's evolution, we will take your theory of random mutation seriously."

There are mutations, or changes in DNA, with every single generation. Mutations that help a species survive accumulate. The mutations are random, but the natural selection of favorable mutations are not random. After thousands of generations new species can and have developed.

I don't understand the point of your question. Are you denying humans developed from other animals? If that's your problem, you should talk to Francis Collins. He's the guy who said "Once evolution got under way no special supernatural intervention was required. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes."

oldstudent, you're a creationist. Francis Collins is not a creationist. When it comes to biology Francis Collins agrees with me, not you.

Your belief in magical creation really is insulting to Collins and other scientists. Instead of complaining about me and instead of complaining about biological evolution, why don't you study it? How hard would it be to learn about how your species developed? Don't you care about these things? Or would you rather forever live in your everything-is-magic fantasy world?

"your bluster and childish spitting out of venom"

You are making things up mister. All I did was point out that creationists are uneducated. That's a fact. If creationists made any effort to educate themselves, they wouldn't be creationists. I ask you again to study evolution instead of complaining about it. By being willfully ignorant, you disgrace your religion.

"unwarranted extrapolations made from such a small box full of bones"

Are you talking about fossils? You should listen to Collins. I will repeat his quote again. This time why don't you actually read it and understand it.

"Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things."

Is God a Cosmic Monster?

ERVs »

Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:30 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 2

"Is God a Cosmic Monster?"

The Old Testament God is a bloodthirsty barbarian. Fortunately all gods are imaginary.

"How do we explain such tragedies in light of the fact that in most churches it is taught that there is a God who is loving and all-powerful? If this is true, why is there so much excruciating pain and unspeakable suffering in the world? Is God simply a cosmic sadist or a monster who visits mayhem, destruction and death on innocent people?"

God is a childish idea for people who are afraid of reality. Reality will never go away, no matter how much religious cowards wish it would go away.

"The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."

-- Richard Dawkins

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:17 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 2

Here's another quote from Francis S. Collins, a geneticist and the former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute:

"Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things."

It's obvious Collins loves evolution and it's obvious he is convinced evolution is a scientific fact. He has seen the DNA evidence with his own eyes and he agrees it "provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things."

The creationists have never seen what Collins has seen, and the creationists don't have anywhere near the understanding of molecular biology that Collins has. So who is right about biological evolution? The former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, or the uneducated creationists who know nothing about science?

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:54 pm Agree: 5   Disagree: 1

oldstudent said "Collins is still a creationist..."

Most people would agree that creationists, like yourself, deny the facts of evolution.

If you read the following quotes from Collins, you should be able to notice he completely accepts evolution.

"While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time."

"Once evolution got under way no special supernatural intervention was required."

"Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes."

"But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature."

His 4th sentence is exactly what I would expect a Christian to say, and I think we can agree he's a Christian.

His first 3 sentences are exactly what I would expect any evolutionary biologist to say. Notice he doesn't even invoke God for the development of the first living cells, even though scientists have not solved that problem yet. Most Christians want to immediately invoke God for every gap in human knowledge, but Collins is a competent scientist so he doesn't do that. He knows that scientific problems will never be solved if people give up and say God did it.

Collins says in the 2nd sentence that God had absolutely nothing to do with biological evolution ("no special supernatural intervention was required").

In the 3rd sentence Collins says we are cousins of the other ape species, and no creationist would ever agree with this.

Collins is most certainly NOT a creationist. It's obvious he completely accepts evolution, and your claim that evolution "has not be shown to be true" is an insult to Collins and all other competent biologists.

Your denial of the facts of evolution can only be explained if you think Collins and the rest of the scientific community are incompetent and/or liars. You owe Collins and thousands of other biologists an apology. It took 150 years of hard work by tens of thousands of scientists to create the mountains of evidence for evolution, and the creationists want to completely ignore all that hard work so they can live in their fantasy world.

Renowned Christian Geneticist to Retire from Human Genome Research Institute

ERVs »

Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:03 pm Agree: 2   Disagree: 4

Collins might call it theistic evolution, but he doesn't invoke God to guide evolution. He doesn't use God to explain the development of humans from other animals.

He has seen the history of life in the genome of humans and other animals with his own eyes, so of course he agrees that evolution is a scientific fact. The flat-earthers who deny the facts of evolution should explain why they think Francis Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, is incompetent and/or a liar. Better yet the creationists should apologize to Collins and thousands of other biologists for insulting their competence and integrity.

Creation Museum Prepares Anniversary Celebration

ERVs »

Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:22 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 1

agentorange, you might want to see this video. (Creationists, don't waste your time, you would never understand it).

http://tinyurl.com/4cm76h

"Description: Basic biochemistry and cutting edge molecular research leads us to a powerful explanation of a large set of biological observations. These observations only make sense using the REAL science of evolution."

Creation Museum Prepares Anniversary Celebration

ERVs »

Sat May 31, 2008 1:50 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 1

slime: A despicable or repulsive person.

According to Grace2 the entire scientific community, and anyone else who loves science, is despicable and repulsive. I bet this is what most Christians believe, but very few are willing to admit it.