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	<title>Comments on: Falling Away</title>
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	<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/</link>
	<description>I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:09:40 -0600</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>By: Damon</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-213528</link>
		<dc:creator>Damon</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:07:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-213528</guid>
		<description>I think your sarcasm-detector is broken, Sardines. You failed to catch the awesome humor-- and truth-- of Vanderleun&#039;s post. Phil DOES attack religion as much as possible-- more than necessary, definitely-- and all you snobby old men lap it up like good little fanboys.

Am I joking?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think your sarcasm-detector is broken, Sardines. You failed to catch the awesome humor&#8211; and truth&#8211; of Vanderleun&#8217;s post. Phil DOES attack religion as much as possible&#8211; more than necessary, definitely&#8211; and all you snobby old men lap it up like good little fanboys.</p>
<p>Am I joking?</p>
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		<title>By: vanderleun</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-213097</link>
		<dc:creator>vanderleun</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:52:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-213097</guid>
		<description>Thank you Mike for clearing that one up! Keep coming back for more reports on dinky stuff in the area of church vs. state.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thank you Mike for clearing that one up! Keep coming back for more reports on dinky stuff in the area of church vs. state.</p>
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		<title>By: mike burkhart</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-213029</link>
		<dc:creator>mike burkhart</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:13:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-213029</guid>
		<description>This is good because if the extremist Christans get ther way then Phill , nonChristans and moderate Christans like me ( those who are belevers in Evlotion and love science ) will be put in concintration camps and brainwashed  and our schools turned into indoctration centers. Althro I am Christain ( Catholic) I am not an extreamist and I want religon out of goverment . I don&#039;t want the goverment telling me what to beleve. and I beleve in sepration of curch and state I am sure most readers of this blog agree with me I say keep up the good work Phill or else we will have an American Inquasition.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is good because if the extremist Christans get ther way then Phill , nonChristans and moderate Christans like me ( those who are belevers in Evlotion and love science ) will be put in concintration camps and brainwashed  and our schools turned into indoctration centers. Althro I am Christain ( Catholic) I am not an extreamist and I want religon out of goverment . I don&#8217;t want the goverment telling me what to beleve. and I beleve in sepration of curch and state I am sure most readers of this blog agree with me I say keep up the good work Phill or else we will have an American Inquasition.</p>
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		<title>By: Dori</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-212934</link>
		<dc:creator>Dori</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:21:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-212934</guid>
		<description>I&#039;d have to agree with #16 Miko&#039;s observations.  The turnout was under 20% for all eligible voters, and about one third of them voted in the Democratic primary.  While I agree with Phil that the number who did vote for her is 2178 people too many, I don&#039;t think it&#039;s all that big a deal.  You could probably get the same percentage of people voting for someone running on that identical platform in my solid-blue state of Maryland.

It&#039;s disappointing that so many people DID vote for her, but encouraging that there weren&#039;t far more.  Think of it that way.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;d have to agree with #16 Miko&#8217;s observations.  The turnout was under 20% for all eligible voters, and about one third of them voted in the Democratic primary.  While I agree with Phil that the number who did vote for her is 2178 people too many, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s all that big a deal.  You could probably get the same percentage of people voting for someone running on that identical platform in my solid-blue state of Maryland.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s disappointing that so many people DID vote for her, but encouraging that there weren&#8217;t far more.  Think of it that way.</p>
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		<title>By: Flying sardines</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-212915</link>
		<dc:creator>Flying sardines</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:50:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-212915</guid>
		<description>@17 vanderleun :  Huh?

I really don&#039;t get what you&#039;re trying to say there.  

Are you saying Phil shouldn&#039;t mention this lady&#039;s anti-Science pro-one denomination and ideology of religion election policy*? Are you really trying to tell the BA what he can &amp; can&#039;t post about ..coz he can direct you to a page here about that issue you know. 

Anyhow lets break this down &amp; see :

&lt;i&gt;I think 1.2% should be the event horizon for getting chatty about them evil Christianists at Bad Astronomy. &lt;/i&gt;

Okay seems like you&#039;re in an event horizon of your own here.   Not sure I&#039;ve heard that term &quot;evil Christianists&quot; here before - certainly not from the BA or many of the regulars. 

Fundamentalist purveyors of nuttery woo and those that try to impose their own politico-religious dogmas (eg. Creationists) are, quite rightly, not given much exxaggerated respect here. Nor, I think, should they be.  But I don&#039;t see any particular singling out of Christianity, in fact a recent thread began by a joke attacking Islam. If extremist Christianity does gets more of a mention then I suggest its because its more directly pertinant and directly affecting and better known to most of the posters here. Nothing more, nothing less.

&lt;i&gt;Nothing above that percentage should be seen as trivial enough to report. &lt;/i&gt;

Er, did you mean below? That would make more sense. But sometimes a 0.001 % difference can make all the difference. For instance say if   0.0001%   of your food intake is contaminated with the ebola virus or say if an 0.001 % chance of a nearby gamma ray blast supernova  happens today. 

Besides even if low probability or fringe events *are* trivial - or if they&#039;re not - they can still be entertaining and or interesting to discuss and muse about which is what this blog is for, I think.
  
&lt;i&gt;Everything below that should be reported so readers can have no doubt as the virtue and essential goodness of Phil. &lt;/i&gt;

Well some of don&#039;t have any doubts as to Phil&#039;s virtue or essential goodness anyway! ;-) 

In both directions I could add...Personally, from all I&#039;ve read incl. both Dr Plait&#039;s books so far &amp; his blog here &amp; many of his other articles I&#039;m pleased to say I have none that the BA is indeeda good and ethical person. :-)  

Others, sadly seem to come here with the opposite judgement based on, well you&#039;d have to ask them really .. but I suspect not very much if any evidence.

&lt;i&gt;Good work, Phil. Keep fighting the goodness fight. &lt;/i&gt;

Aha!  *Now* you&#039;re making sense &amp; I second that line - if not perhaps quite in the sense I get the feeling Vanderleun was meaning it.. ;-) 

Of course I could be wrong.

------------------------------------------ 

* Because you know when this woman talks of getting more religion into politics I don&#039;t think she&#039;s meaning adopting the ideas of Aztec sacrifices, Greek pantheon bacchanlian rites, Norse God ceremonies or even prayers to Allah, the Buddha or Shiva ... :roll: 
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		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@17 vanderleun :  Huh?</p>
<p>I really don&#8217;t get what you&#8217;re trying to say there.  </p>
<p>Are you saying Phil shouldn&#8217;t mention this lady&#8217;s anti-Science pro-one denomination and ideology of religion election policy*? Are you really trying to tell the BA what he can &#038; can&#8217;t post about ..coz he can direct you to a page here about that issue you know. </p>
<p>Anyhow lets break this down &#038; see :</p>
<p><i>I think 1.2% should be the event horizon for getting chatty about them evil Christianists at Bad Astronomy. </i></p>
<p>Okay seems like you&#8217;re in an event horizon of your own here.   Not sure I&#8217;ve heard that term &#8220;evil Christianists&#8221; here before &#8211; certainly not from the BA or many of the regulars. </p>
<p>Fundamentalist purveyors of nuttery woo and those that try to impose their own politico-religious dogmas (eg. Creationists) are, quite rightly, not given much exxaggerated respect here. Nor, I think, should they be.  But I don&#8217;t see any particular singling out of Christianity, in fact a recent thread began by a joke attacking Islam. If extremist Christianity does gets more of a mention then I suggest its because its more directly pertinant and directly affecting and better known to most of the posters here. Nothing more, nothing less.</p>
<p><i>Nothing above that percentage should be seen as trivial enough to report. </i></p>
<p>Er, did you mean below? That would make more sense. But sometimes a 0.001 % difference can make all the difference. For instance say if   0.0001%   of your food intake is contaminated with the ebola virus or say if an 0.001 % chance of a nearby gamma ray blast supernova  happens today. </p>
<p>Besides even if low probability or fringe events *are* trivial &#8211; or if they&#8217;re not &#8211; they can still be entertaining and or interesting to discuss and muse about which is what this blog is for, I think.</p>
<p><i>Everything below that should be reported so readers can have no doubt as the virtue and essential goodness of Phil. </i></p>
<p>Well some of don&#8217;t have any doubts as to Phil&#8217;s virtue or essential goodness anyway! <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' />  </p>
<p>In both directions I could add&#8230;Personally, from all I&#8217;ve read incl. both Dr Plait&#8217;s books so far &#038; his blog here &#038; many of his other articles I&#8217;m pleased to say I have none that the BA is indeeda good and ethical person. <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' />   </p>
<p>Others, sadly seem to come here with the opposite judgement based on, well you&#8217;d have to ask them really .. but I suspect not very much if any evidence.</p>
<p><i>Good work, Phil. Keep fighting the goodness fight. </i></p>
<p>Aha!  *Now* you&#8217;re making sense &#038; I second that line &#8211; if not perhaps quite in the sense I get the feeling Vanderleun was meaning it.. <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' />  </p>
<p>Of course I could be wrong.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212; </p>
<p>* Because you know when this woman talks of getting more religion into politics I don&#8217;t think she&#8217;s meaning adopting the ideas of Aztec sacrifices, Greek pantheon bacchanlian rites, Norse God ceremonies or even prayers to Allah, the Buddha or Shiva &#8230; <img src='http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif' alt=':roll:' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: kuhnigget</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-212865</link>
		<dc:creator>kuhnigget</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:56:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-212865</guid>
		<description>Singing: &lt;i&gt; Van der loon&#039;s in da sky like da big piece o&#039; pi...&lt;/i&gt; 

No, wait, that&#039;s not it. Err...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Singing: <i> Van der loon&#8217;s in da sky like da big piece o&#8217; pi&#8230;</i> </p>
<p>No, wait, that&#8217;s not it. Err&#8230;</p>
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		<title>By: shane</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/comment-page-1/#comment-212864</link>
		<dc:creator>shane</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:47:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/13/falling-away/#comment-212864</guid>
		<description>@vanderloon

Normally I wouldn&#039;t respond to a troll but just what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@vanderloon</p>
<p>Normally I wouldn&#8217;t respond to a troll but just what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?</p>
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