Posts Tagged ‘creationism’

Supporting the Free Speech of “Them” (Guest Blog)

AndroidAR

Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:44 am by AndroidAR

I’m sure most Leaguers (especially those who frequent chat) have heard of my creationist archive project FundieVideoHell or FVH for short. As the name might suppose, FVH is a treasure trove (or virtual hell, depending on the user) of creationist and fundamentalist seminars, presentations and other assorted videos.

While I had anticipated support and thanks from my fellow rationalists, I was surprised to see support from creationists too. It seems that FVH is a common ground for both sides: rationalists can use it as a resource for material to debunk (though, sadly, I have yet to see it used this way), and creationists have a source of entertainment.

So why do I spend my time and hard drive space on the opponents to rationality, freethinking, and science? The answer is simple: as long as FundieVideoHell exists, they cannot (or rather, shouldn’t) claim they are being censored by us. Well, at least they cannot claim all atheists are censoring them.

Now, I have, so far, done this entirely on my own resources. I enjoy finding out what is new and happening from the other side. But when I came across the brochure for the “2010 Creation Supercamp,” which is only a few hours drive away, I realized something. Something that deeply frightened me: I wanted to go to this conference. I want to film creationist conferences. But I also don’t want to be an e-begger like VenomFangX.

So I was wondering, should I start a PayPal so that I can take donations from those who are willing to support FundieVideoHell? And would you (the lucky readers) be able to spread the word about FVH? I think there may be creationists out there who would help support the spread of their message, both by word-of-mouth and monetarily.

Discussion (2) • Add Comment Tags: Censorship, creationism, free speech, FundieVideoHell, YouTube
Posted in Censorship, Entertainment, Religion, YouTube

If Science Is A Conspiracy, Why Does This Computer Work? And Other Stories

Th1sWasATriumph

Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:38 am by Th1sWasATriumph

Believers.

Why can’t I just leave them alone, eh? Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?

Ok . . . because some of them think I’m going to hell, think I have no morals, and think my life is meaningless until I open my heart/wallet to Jesus/Allah. I find that fundamentally impolite. It’s hard to say who casts the first stone in these cases, but since I tend not to take issue with the fuzzy sort of believers – y’know, the nice ones who believe in love and redemption rather than bigotry and scientific wank – I only ever attack someone as a result of something they’ve said.

Then the issue was raised of “who’s to say who is right? Creationists take things on faith, atheists take things on scientific proof. Who’s right?”

It’s generally about this point that my brains start to drop out of my ears. Science is right. It has even been suggested to me that, since I haven’t analysed the data myself, scientists are feeding everyone bullshit.

Two words. Peer review.

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Discussion (6) • Add Comment Tags: atheism, creationism, Creationist, peer review, Science
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Reason, Religion, Science

On the Origin of Stupidity…

AndromedasWake

Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:26 pm by AndromedasWake

Isn’t it amazing what League of Reason bloggers get up to? Sure, some of us lead very mundane lives, doing absolutely nothing but drinking coffee and and tweeting about it. But others spend their days trying to make good use of speaker’s corner. And every so often (though arguably not often enough), one of our number produces cartoons with a very low frame-rate, that is more than made up for by the punchy writing and suspiciously brilliant voice acting.

Every week there’s some exciting new scandal involving a Leaguer, and I can’t tell you how proud this makes me. After all, scandal makes the world go round*. Perhaps then, you can imagine the smile on my face when our very own Godless-Romanian-Vampire-Gypsy-Witch captured the attention of not only atheist overlord PZ Myers, but also the Huffington Post. There’s no need for me to explain this story, when you can just watch the video after the break. Then read on…

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Discussion (22) • Add Comment Tags: creationism, darwin, evolution, Kirk Cameron, Living Waters, Origin of Species, Ray Comfort, Way of the Master, ZOMGitsCriss
Posted in Literature, News, Reason

Andrew Parker Lost The Game (And The Metro, Happily, Did Not)

Th1sWasATriumph

Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:47 am by Th1sWasATriumph

The last few hours have been full of nonsense.

Initially, a brief article in the London Lite detailing how a medium has told Jade Goody’s mother how Jade still loves Jack Tweed – the violent, sociopathic ass that he is – but doesn’t like him sleeping with other women.

That must have been the easiest work the medium ever did. “You’re the mother of a famous recently dead quasi-celebrity stupid racist bint . . . who could we possibly be here to talk about?”

There is no afterlife and anyone who says they can talk to the dead is either deluded or knowingly deceitful. And anyone who says they can talk to the dead and pretends to do so for bereaved relatives is just . . . reprehensible.

And this morning I found an article in the Metro, an interview with one Andrew Parker - an Oxford Uni biologist – who claims that God is behind the big bang, and has written a book (The Genesis Enigma – Why The Bible Is Scientifically Accurate). I was expecting to read the interview and find it full of mealy-mouthed delicacy and tolerance, but it seems the interviewer, Graeme Green, certainly isn’t taking Parker’s claims at face value. In fact, within the constraints of civility, Parker leaves with his ass in a sling. Instead of respecting Parker’s beliefs, something which happens with depressing regularity these days, Green submits him to fairly rigorous criticism – even levelling accusations of quote mining, a foul deed that all too many fundamentalists remain unchallenged on. In fact, I need to isolate that segment as you can practically hear Dr. Parker stumble:

“You say the second ‘Let there be light…’ refers to the evolution of the eye but you edited out the rest of the line, which clearly refers to the Sun, Moon and stars. There’s no mention in Genesis of the evolution of the eye.
Um, OK. I’ll probably have a look at this in more detail again. The first page of the Bible doesn’t spell out the eye but it doesn’t spell out any of the science in detail.”

“I’ll probably have a look at this in more detail again”? He’s already written the book, how come it’s only now that he’s deciding to reassess his source material thanks to a well-aimed question during a short interview? And he thinks creationism is unfounded and dangerous despite apparently subscribing to just that belief by thinking Genesis is completely true.

Full interview here.

And, of course, Parker would seem to be one of those people who doesn’t get how the eye could have evolved. For a recent diatribe on creationist tactics regarding ocular evolution CLICK THIS THING

Discussion (67) • Add Comment Tags: andrew, bang, big, creationism, graeme, green, parker
Posted in News, Reason, Religion, Science

The Argument From Design Is Pretty Bad

Th1sWasATriumph

Fri May 29, 2009 9:35 am by Th1sWasATriumph

You’ve probably come across this one a lot. Variations on the theme of “Everything is really super complex\the universe is obviously custom made for our please\life is designed, it couldn’t have happened by chance ERGO GOD” crop up all the time.

When you think about it, it’s pretty disgusting. It reveals a shallowness of intellect and reasoning that’s staggering.

The evolution of the eye is the most oft-quoted piece of “evidence” for intelligent design. “Look at this thing,” they’ll bluster, spit rolling down their chins. “Look at it! It’s really super complex! How could it possible have happened by chance? It’s perfect! Can you lend me a nickel?”

Ignoring the fact that the eye’s evolution has been pretty well covered by a number of people, the eye is NOT perfect. Not by any means. It is our most important sensory apparatus, far more so than hearing or smell, and yet this apparently God-patented design can be rendered inoperative by simply poking at it a bit too hard.

The eye manages to be one of the most important and most fragile parts of our body at the same time. Get a piece of grit in it and you’ve pretty much lost the rest of your day. Expose it to minimal pressure and it’s gone. A lot of people don’t even have eyes that work properly in the first place; I wear contacts to correct the flaw that God must have deliberately inflicted on me.

How could anyone look at the eye and think it could be designed? How hard would it have been for God to cover it in a thick protective layer instead of leaving it moist and vulnerable to the world? If people are going to appropriate natural evolution as proof for intelligent design, they MUST take into account all the flaws and room for improvement. Except they don’t, of course. The standard response is something like “Everything was perfect until SIN (even though God knew it was going to happen and could have stopped it and therefore we should be absolved of all responsibility but shut up SHUT UP don’t tell anyone) and then everything started to degrade.”

It’s pretty bad.

Worse still are the tactics used to support this “evidence”. Probably the most famous quote mine of all is the one that seems to have Darwin saying “I freely admit that the eye happening by itself seems impossible” (to paraphrase.) This quote is launched by IDists the world over. However, the full quote doesn’t end there; Darwin goes on to say “oh wait, I was trolling. It’s entirely possible in small steps. See how I talk in detail for a few pages.”

To quote mine in this way, the miner MUST have read it in context and then decided which bit best supported his cause. This tactic goes beyond cunning, sly and underhand – it enters the realm of reprehensible duplicity. It’s really not cricket. And yet this tactic attends creationist arguments constantly; misquotes from Einstein, Hawking and even Dawkins pepper the creationist world.

Sensible people can see this as simply more proof for the shaky foundations of intelligent design, but it’s still pretty annoying.

Discussion (0) • Add Comment Tags: creationism, darwin, eye, intelligent design, quote mine
Posted in Reason, Science

Introducing djarm67

djarm67

Fri May 15, 2009 12:58 am by djarm67

A quick scan at the overall membership of the “LOR” (which in my opinion should replace the common usage of “LOL” and would be a worthy activity for us all to work covertly across the internets to accomplish) and it is apparent that I am in the minority to a dramatic degree. That’s correct! I am an Australian.

Us Australians understand all too well how misguided those northern hemisphere folks are with their map making activities. They have even managed to infiltrate the ultimate education system with their unholy doctrine of Northpoleisupism. Yes you read it here first. I can boldly declare that the organisations who have traditionally targeted nautical navigation establishments and small travel book stores in Notting Hill have managed to reach their Holy Grail. Google Earth.

On a less serious note, I am actually quite honoured to be invited to contribute to this blog. It is a bold step by the organisers to invite someone to contribute to their blog where upon reading only a handful of my emails it is apparent that my writing skills are crap. I am encouraged however by the inclusion of someone with even less ability in this area, Theo Warner. If not for the inclusion of him, I might feel somewhat intimidated (lor). Much thankness must go to the “sporks” (cosmic or otherwise) for the amazing work accomplished on the technicalities of this site, e.g. should the light bulb be a bayonet or screw in fitting (P.S. I’m glad he went with the screw in. A wise choice in my opinion). We should also thank our resident Astrologer, Andromeda’s Wake for selecting the correct date to launch the updated version with optimal planetary alignments. I was puzzled for sometime over the constant emails with something about a Venus entering Uranus, but I finally worked it out.

So what role will I play as a blog contributor here at LOR? For those of you that are aware of my YouTube channel “djarm67″, you would no doubt be aware that I am a theist. Shock! So I guess my role here would be primarily to make fun of religions from the inside (lor) Alternatively, I could simply extend my attacks on creationism and its attempts to subvert the educational systems of the world. Who knows, we may even have a few interesting discussions.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I contribute. You may not always agree with what I contribute, but that’s OK. Just understand that you have been indoctrinated from a young age into the cult of Northpoleisupism.

Discussion (4) • Add Comment Tags: creationism, theism
Posted in Introductions