Comments on: Being Polite and Being Right

By: goldie08

goldie08 — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:08:40 +0000

God never made a religion. God is Life.

By: Christopher Johnson

Christopher Johnson — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:11:56 +0000

I actually once saw a man on TV declaring that whenever he hears someone say “Happy Holidays!” he wants to punch them in the nose, because these horrible people are supposedly “taking the Christ out of Christmas”. Unfortunately, in the US, you do not have to go far to encounter this widely-held sentiment.
People who say “Happy Holidays” are genuinely trying to be polite to people of all beliefs, and yet somehow this act of politeness still incites violence. One despairs.

By: What If the NCSE Stayed Silent on S&R? - Science and Religion Today

What If the NCSE Stayed Silent on S&R? - Science and Religion Today — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:34:41 +0000

[...] make statements on the compatibility of science and religion (as the “new atheists” would have it): Religious believer: I know you say that evolution is good science, but I’m afraid of what my [...]

By: Civil discourse and our goals at Main Street Plaza | Main Street Plaza

Civil discourse and our goals at Main Street Plaza | Main Street Plaza — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:10:09 +0000

[...] kuri, I’ve just read a great post on being polite and being right. I’ve always held that tact and honesty aren’t mutually exclusive, and Sean does an [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:32:51 +0000

The accommodationists are wrong. Why? Because no religion that currently exists is compatible with science.
That being said, that doesn’t mean the idea of being inspired or of having a feeling of being somehow part of something larger isn’t compatible with science. Many people are religious precisely because they experienced these feelings while attending church. I happen to get this feeling while learning more about the world (& the universe!) around me, and how much a part of it we all really are.
So, if an accommodationist wishes to reconcile those types of feelings with science, then I’m all for it. Carl Sagan expressed this very same sentiment numerous times, as did Albert Einstein. Unfortunately. modern day accommodationists are trapped in the “holy-book” -driven form of religious dogma, which is fundamentally incompatible with modern science.
BTW, nice post!

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:21:50 +0000

Last one, in your way out turn lights off, please.

By: Accomodationists v. Obnoxionists: Physicist Sean Carroll Coins a New Term in Reply to Those New Atheists Who Call Him a “Faitheist” « Prometheus Unbound

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:35:54 +0000

[...] a comment » For the New Atheists, physicist Sean Carroll suggests the word “obnoxionists”: The irony is that the pro-obnoxious crowd (obnoxionists?) is [...]

By: coolstar

coolstar — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:55:22 +0000

I MIGHT be willing to give the Bald Astronomer more BOD if he didn’t do things like make his claim that James Randi’s famous denial of AGW didn’t actually make Randi an AGW denialist. Of course, the BA was still being paid by Randi at the time (which may or may not have been causative, the BA himself probably doesn’t really know but I’m sure he has an opinion).

By: J.C. Samuelson

J.C. Samuelson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:10:43 +0000

Peter:

Thanks for the response. Yes, it does seem we were arguing at cross purposes. I also got a chuckle out of your response because you must’ve seen my response within 10 minutes of my posting it, because your quotes are prior to a couple minor, clarifying changes I made.

Just good timing, I’m sure.

As far as slogans, I like the atheist bus campaign slogan, for example. You know, the “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and go enjoy your life” or something very close to that slogan. There are other positive expressions that aren’t exactly “slogans” (or even slogan-ish) too, but at the moment I’m pressed.

And this thread has about run its course for me. I got to spout off, now I can go read my Kindle.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:49:00 +0000

Here is some Thomas Paine:
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
– Thomas Paine, (1737-1809), The Age of Reason, pt. 1, “The Author’s Profession of Faith” (1794), quoted from The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations

Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system.
– Thomas Paine, as quoted by Joseph Lewis in Inspiration and Wisdom from the Writings of Thomas Paine (which contains no pagination or source citations)

It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.
– Thomas Paine, as quoted by Joseph Lewis in Inspiration and Wisdom from the Writings of Thomas Paine (which contains no pagination or source citations)

There is scarcely any part of science, or anything in nature, which those imposters and blasphemers of science, called priests, as well Christians as Jews, have not, at some time or other, perverted, or sought to pervert to the purpose of superstition and falsehood.
– Thomas Paine, as quoted by Joseph Lewis in Inspiration and Wisdom from the Writings of Thomas Paine (which contains no pagination or source citations)
john adams:
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/adams.htm
Ben Franklin:
[1706-1790] American public official, writer, scientist, and printer who played a major part in the American Revolution.

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1758

“Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.”

“He (the Rev. Mr. Whitefield) used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.” Franklin’s Autobiography

“In the affairs of the world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it.”

�Some volumes against Deism fell into my hands. They were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle�s Lecture. It happened that they produced on me an effect precisely the reverse of what was intended by the writers; for the arguments of the Deists, which were cited in order to be refuted, appealed to me much more forcibly than the refutation itself. In a word, I soon became a thorough Deist.�

“I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies.”
etc etc