David1955's Profile

This "christian" woman tried to hire someone to kill her mother-in-law, saying that she could always...

David1955 comments on Mar 6, 2021:

Three Our Fathers and two Hail Marys should cover it. Hey it worked for lots of predatory priests so why not here?

Makes sense to me. Fairy tales are fairy tales.

David1955 comments on Mar 4, 2021:

Yes, I've said for ages that any link between even the myth of Jesus, and the vile thing called Christianity, especially these evangelical forms, is impossible to see. It's like if the myth of Robin Hood transformed into a character who propped up the rich and ripped off the poor and downtrodden. Weird.

Trump wants to be known as a candidate for president in 2024 so he can say he cannot be investigated...

David1955 comments on Mar 2, 2021:

Michael Cohen got this right in an article recently. Trump is going to spend the next 4 years fleesing his gullible base of morons to grift as much money as possible on the basis that he will run. Stupid them for falling for this grifter again and again.

Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president sentenced to jail in historic ruling - CNN

David1955 comments on Mar 1, 2021:

Hey America, look over at France. Maybe they're on to something here, you know about past crook Presidents, even if gaol is avoided. Someone tell America please.

Agnostics may be the carriers for the most important vaccine in human history.

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2021:

More anti atheist nonsense from you. Tiresome agnostic self- congratulatory wankery, and that's being polite. The only reason I haven't blocked you up to now is because, like the entry on Earth in The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you are mostly harmless. I'm glad you are not here to sneeze on me and spread your own strain.

Why the term Atheist Conservative is a true "Oxymoron"- from this educational review; "There is a...

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2021:

I've never understood how someone could call themselves conservative and an atheist, but they do and that's that. I agree that conservatism is based on elitism and this is hardly consistent with atheism which should also encompass science, reason and progressive social and economic values. Best not to confuse these modern right wing people who call themselves conservatives, however. Many are reactionaries and closet authoritarians. One could at least recognise classic conservatism and its roots. These modern right wing crazies deserve nothing but contempt.

What religion began, nationalism has completed, with the nation as the secular substitute for God.

David1955 comments on Feb 27, 2021:

What i read here is a lot of conflation of issues, garnished with little paranoia and spiced with a touch of conspiracy theory. You lost me with your first pananoia revealing sentence.

I have noticed that from time to time, a debate will ensue on line here, about whether Jesus was a ...

David1955 comments on Feb 26, 2021:

The comments already have dealt with the mythicist/historicists debate about Jesus, so that's covered. I think all these figures were either fictional or largely fictional. Some real people are interweaved into the story, like Pilate in the Jesus story. These days we call it historical fiction, and we find this kind of thing in the fiction section of a library. Moses in another case in point. Until a few decades ago he was considered based a real person. Now the mainstream historical view is that he was a fictional character around which some history and a lot of myth was placed. I think the same will happen with Jesus, eventually. Same with Abraham I suspect.

America's back!!!!!!!!! "The operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to ...

David1955 comments on Feb 26, 2021:

You'll get roasted by Americans I'm sure, but I get your point. Americans are quick to condemn the world for its inadequacies while maintaining at home a corrupt political and legal system, an archaic and corrupt voting system, government agencies that intervene in the world covertly where ever and whenever they like, while squealing like pigs when other countries interfere with the US, conducts extraordinary rendition (kidnapping) enhanced interrogation (torture) and collateral damage (death of innocents) while singing loudly about American ideals and exceptionalism. And then again there are the gross social, economic and racial inequalities of the US. If any country in this world needs to clean up its own act, its the US. Americans will always take such comments as anti Americanism, which it isn't because my solidarity is with millions of good Americans who live under their corrupt system. If you, or anyone, expect Biden to make fundamental changes to America, disappointment will follow. His goal is to revert to Obama minimalism, with some window dressing in the hope of winning the next elections.

Believing widely doubted conspiracy theories satisfies some people’s need to feel special – ...

David1955 comments on Feb 26, 2021:

Yes, believing that the US conspired to keep the US in the Vietnam War through lies, deception and false flag operations, and CIA and FBI criminal program activities, and Nixon's criminality and cover up attempts, and other crazy conspiracy theories have always made me feel special, especially while I'm watching documentaries and reading history books detailing them.

Australia passes law to make Google, Facebook pay for news [apnews.com]

David1955 comments on Feb 25, 2021:

When this started i thought it was just the old media using their political hacks to protect them at a time when their monopolies are under threat. I still think that. But this issue has gone around the world, and encouraged others to think about these new tech monopolies and their actions. That is good. Pity that people just can't just use other resources. I don't use any of Zuckerberg's crap sites, use Duck Duck Go to get what I need, and other alternatives. But most people are sheep and follow the herd.

When I talk to atheists I feel they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

David1955 comments on Feb 25, 2021:

Some bathwater should be thrown out, including anything that's in it, know what I mean? Do agnostics also throw out babies and bathwaters, or are they unconvinced as to whether babies in bathwaters exist or are either known or knowable? Just curious.

Somewhere along the way I seem to have lost my agnosticism.

David1955 comments on Feb 22, 2021:

And then you become an atheist and focus on more important issues. Are you an atheist now? I hope so.

Just got 'hailed' by the neighbourhood Evangeloon.

David1955 comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Mate, this is better than Days of Our Lives. Not that I should talk, since if I see my criminal neighbour on my place I'll order him off, lest I call the police for trespass. Do you think he prays for you? :-)

Among my Christian friends here in the Deep South USA I find there is a high correlation between ...

David1955 comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Believe in one myth makes it easier to believe in more. Also I suspect that despite their religious pretentions they are just right wingers at heart who reject anything in the modern world they don't like.

The last several weeks, this site has had a number of odd malfunctions.

David1955 comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Thinking the same thing. The colour theme option seems to have just died.

Idk if I'm an Atheist tbh but I'm leaning twoards it from being Christian however in the bible it ...

David1955 comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Religion is based on 5 falsehoods: 1. Bad history. 2. Mythology based on bad history. 3. Absurd theology based on 1 and 2. 4. Supernatural claims, unproven. 5. Emotional blackmail and fear. Of the above, the last one, no 5, is the most insidious. Conquer or outgrow that, and the rest fall away and become irrelevant. Then you are on your way to being an atheist, not just calling yourself one. Welcome.

Blocking: I'm curious... What do you (specifically) use it for on this site?

David1955 comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I joined in 2017 and until just recently had not blocked anyone. I consider I have a thick skin and not a snowflake and can take it, or just avoid certain people. But when I'm attacked as an atheist, targeted, insulted and threatened by an agnostic, then I block. So I have. Religious sprukers don't worry me, and some toxic conservatives are annoying, but not worth blocking. So, my bar is high, but it's there.

Australian law could make internet ‘unworkable’, says World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee...

David1955 comments on Feb 19, 2021:

The best way to deal with these tech monsters is to 1. Regulate them, and 2. Tax their appalling profits globally, so this wealth is distributed. Our government's protect the traditional media approach is typical right wing thinking, while pandering to their industry support base, like Murdoch.

I was in the kitchen having toast and coffee in my slippers and pajamas reading agnostic.

David1955 comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Are you saying that they may be atheist about the Christian God but agnostic about all other gods? Well, I've come to learn that the term 'agnostic" can mean a lot of things here, indeed anything one wants to include in that position, but I've not read any agnostic claiming that or even suggesting that. If anything I think you've got it the wrong way around: they are agnostic about the god they grew up with ( and still might 'get' them) but functionally atheist about all other gods they didn't grow up with, don't know, or don't care about. It's a position as an atheist i find cognitive dissonance inducing were I to try it.

Cool.

David1955 comments on Feb 19, 2021:

And in the meantime we will have even more photos, in ever higher definitions, of red rocks, red sand, red deserts, red cliffs with more red rocks and sand, with landscapes of red sand and red rocks, and even more red plains and rocks in the distance. Oh goody. Maybe they'll get lucky and find a bone sticking out of the red sand, or maybe a Playboy keyring, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm wondering what amazing things might be found on some other planets, or even some of the extraordinary moons around the larger planets. Oh well, for now it's Mars or... well, Mars.

Rush Limbaugh is dead.

David1955 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A good 'Christian' would object to this, but sometimes people improve this world merely by departing it, such as this appalling man.

President’s Day Baguettes

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I'm guessing the one on the far right is Trump's. I hear he's got a small baguette.

What should they call the new "Republican Party"?

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

How about Qanonsense Party?

How do you prepare yourself for the rigours of the day?

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I get up and go for two hours exercise, jogging and power walking. I think, 'well, it's another shit day in a shit century." It's important to always keep a positive mental attitude. :--)

CNN is saying Melania Tramp is bitter now that Jill Biden is already more popular than her.

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

She's a vile as he is. Hope she gets hers as well.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

David1955 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

One more comment. Just before I blocked this guy, he threatened me saying he knew how to get people's personal details on this site and he would get mine, being a terrible atheist. I took it as a threat. It was a threat. I blocked, and I also tagged @Admin about it. No reply. I wonder how much information this guy did take from this site? @Fernapple To your comment about this guy and his book.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

David1955 comments on Feb 14, 2021:

May you be right. In 4 years I have only blocked 2 people, and he was one. His anti atheism was such he targeted everything I posted or commented on making absurd claims, with his compulsive-obsessive 'gnostic atheism' ranting. I have thick skin, just avoid problem people, and get on with it, but if he is gone I am pleased to hear it. Check he doesn't come back under a new name. He seems like the type.

57 Guilty 43 Not Guilty Hardly An Acquittal

David1955 comments on Feb 13, 2021:

What a crazy system. 2/3rds needed for a conviction. Which brilliant founding father of the us came up with that one.

The Democratic Party has for some time now been a moderate conservative ( business ) party.

David1955 comments on Feb 13, 2021:

I'm not an American citizen, but for what it's worth, I completely agree.

Free will choice?

David1955 comments on Feb 12, 2021:

Illogical atheist? Well, if I had a choice to meet and talk with you or Sam Harris, it would probably take me 1 trillionith of a second to choose Sam. As for your question, who cares; it's not honestly asked, just a dig at Sam and atheists.

On the epistemological syllogism that "God, by definition, is that for which no greater can be ...

David1955 comments on Feb 11, 2021:

Which God, of the 5,000 or so apparently invoked by humans over 40,000 years of human history, does this apply to? All of them? One of them? Which one? Psst. I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't live in a single God worshipping (or denying) world. Maybe they exist out there in the Universe, but we are not one of them. It would be appreciated if, in future posts, when referring to God, you say "God or gods" or "the god I worry about or think just might exist."

There’s a tantalizing sign of a habitable-zone planet in Alpha Centauri If confirmed, it could ...

David1955 comments on Feb 10, 2021:

I guess Will Robinson and Dr Smith and the robot and the rest were on the right track. Isn't that where they were heading?

How can you help but laugh at that?

David1955 comments on Feb 10, 2021:

A 20 year old with 730 grand to lose. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

What dangerous, wrong or false things do Conservatives believe?

David1955 comments on Feb 9, 2021:

I disagree with the premise of the post. The people you are referring to are not conservatives. Nothing they believe in equates to either classical or philosophical conservatism. I'm very progressive. I've never been a conservative. But even I recognise that such a political philosophy exists. Indeed I studied it at university. These people, like the Trump people, and the Republicans with him, are *reactionaries* -- radical fascist and oligarchy inclined radical anti- democratic groups, who share *nothing* with conservatism.

This makes some sense , live and let live but they won't do that

David1955 comments on Feb 8, 2021:

I've always said this. I don't care what form of nonsense people choose to worship at home privately. But that's not what religion is. It's the organisations of religions and what they do.

How many atheist/agnostic/secular/humanism sites do you visit and/or interact with regularly?

David1955 comments on Feb 7, 2021:

Depends on what you mean by sites, but I do not do any other social media sites, atheism or other, and you wouldn't catch me dead on anything to do with Zuckerberg and his crap. I do follow Richard Dawkins site for science and reason, a couple of atheist sites for content, follow some YouTube channels, including Kyle Ks Secular Talk, though that's mainly political but I like him, and one YT channel in particular run by a former member here who left because the site was too wishy washy for him as an atheist (I symphasize). But I look for new sites from time to time, and would like a good interactive site for atheists without equivocating agnostics, pseudo religionists and spiritual gang bangers. I guess I'm always looking about for a better forum than this one for atheists, if truth be told, but haven't yet found one.

A conspiracy is simply 2 or more people telling a lie.

David1955 comments on Feb 7, 2021:

I believe the term is conspiracy theory *theory*, meaning the use of the term by power to discredit anyone who challenges the official narrative of power. The term is so loaded now that no one is their right mind ever wants to be called a conspiracy theorist. Mission accomplished by power. The term will invoke the same negative response from this site. I can see that you were trying to define the expression in its literal meaning. Collusion and conspiracy are well known activities associated with criminality and corruption. Anyone remotely connected to the real world knows that wealth and power do this all the time. Form a theory that this has happened in a specific case and bingo, you are a conspiracy theorist, in other words a crank. Case in point: Interesting, isn't it, that loads of people think Jeffrey Epstein was murdered. Even on mainstream US TV this is referred to. Yet, no one who thinks this would admit that they are conspiracy theorists, although they suspect that power conspired to have him murdered. What I dislike is the lack of distinction between serious questioning of official stories and narratives by power, and waco theories about aliens in Atlantis secretly running the world. Now it's all lumped under the term conspiracy theory. I despise this.

A man, destitute, poor with 3 young and hungry children, a wife who has left him to tend to those ...

David1955 comments on Feb 7, 2021:

Oh, I get it. The moral is, never discuss socio-economic issues with Priests because they're fuckwits. Got it. :-)

After you leave this world, would you want to be part of an amorphous, nebulous, celestial, sentient...

David1955 comments on Feb 6, 2021:

You sound more pseudo religious than agnostic, to me. There is a type I've come to recognise who call themselves agnostic, but just a little digging and the religion flame is still burning, often pseudo religion or new age type. It's all still hogwash, of course. Judging from your posts you seem to lean in that direction.

Does anyone not secretly hope that there is a god and that we can spend eternity in heaven with our ...

David1955 comments on Feb 5, 2021:

At what age would you be and they be in 'the afterlife'? Would you be a kid, a teenager, an adult, or the age you died? What age would they be? Would you be like now, a physical body? Would you be a bag of energy? While spending eternity with them, would it be the same as now, or then, or at some time in the past you experienced? Would your eternity also include your hated ones? We've all got them. If you think seriously about what your suggesting it doesn't make any sense does it? Not to adult thinking.

Counting down, Just 13 and a bit days until Jeebus Chrust returns according to the 'New" Prophet, ...

David1955 comments on Feb 4, 2021:

Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that FratBoy Jesus won't turn up, just like the other of thousands of times prophets and Popes and religious loonies predicted it over the past 2000 years and were wrong. Christianity - a Bronze Age, Messianic, Apocalyptic, Dead and Rising God Death Cult. You gotta hate it.

Mitch McConnell said Rep.

David1955 comments on Feb 4, 2021:

You are one of the worst reactionary smoke blowers on this site. You blew endless smoke about Bernie last year. Now you're going to endlessly blow smoke about progressives this year.

Do any of you guys have moments of doubt like maybe there is something.?

David1955 comments on Feb 3, 2021:

Problem is, suppose there is a 'something'. Does this something help? Does it lessen the pain or grief? Does this something ever do anything for anyone? Ever? Does it prevent, does it solve, does it deliver, does it help? If the honest answer is 'no", then what is the point of this something? My answer is 'no point', even if there is a something, which I don't believe.

How can i tell in a good way to close friends to stop beleiving in ghosts?

David1955 comments on Feb 3, 2021:

Good luck. That's all I can say. People just double down and triple down even if full of doubts. That's my experience. However, if a friend admits to doubts, then a conversation can take place, you can make your points, and they can take it on board.

Ron Reagan is an amazing guy.

David1955 comments on Feb 3, 2021:

This is turning up on MSNBC. I just saw it. He's seems like a good guy. Good to see.

I'm sorry.

David1955 comments on Feb 2, 2021:

Yes I remember a time before groups. The groups have segmented the site. Many like this, but I am not so sure and see the downside, as you mentioned.

Wake up, America!! The political right in this country has engaged in an insidious campaign to ...

David1955 comments on Feb 2, 2021:

I think the origins go back to the reaction to the 1960s, the rise of youthful challenge to authority, anti Vietnam war, racial equality, etc etc, all of which sent a shiver down the spine of the US ruling class. Professor Noam Chomsky has spoken and written eloquently about this-- the concerted effort by power in the US to thwart the rise of populism and movements for social and economic equality. All the points you mention relate to that. The great irony, given their fear of left wing populism, is that it is rancid right wing populism that threatens the stability of the US -- a growing fascist movement they can neither control nor extinguish. The current pitiful state of America is nothing less than the fruit of the poisonous tree -- the Right Wing American elite's ruthless suppression of all progressive politics since the early 70s. They have crippled America's evolution and rendered the country into the current state it is in.

The back story perhaps, and what the KGB may have done. [theguardian.com]

David1955 comments on Feb 2, 2021:

Odd country, the US. They attack Clinton and Obama over anything. But a President who everyone has known for years is an asset of Russia, well, nothing happens. How is this possible? I wrote on this site back in 2017 that Trump was a groomed compromised and played asset of Russia. And here we still are. Like I said, odd country the US.

About a week or so ago, I joined the "conservative atheist group to post a legitimate question on ...

David1955 comments on Feb 1, 2021:

Yes, I don't think definitional nuances feature highly in the modern so-called Conservative mind, know what I mean?

And I've been hiding in Atheism, is that wrong?

David1955 comments on Feb 1, 2021:

And who is Fr. Richard Rohr when he's not saying stupid things?

As I grow older, I tend to be less and less thrilled with living.

David1955 comments on Feb 1, 2021:

I get you. I think it's the aging thing for men, and the awful times we live in, with viruses, assholes, and authoritarianism. I try to keep within a stable emotional range, something that happens with age, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. If you are financially OK, and health wise doing well, then there's some comfort in that. I have to live very economically and that's an additional worry to the other angst stuff that has to be dealt with. Anyway, point is your story resonates with many, I'm sure.

Pew pew pew

David1955 comments on Feb 1, 2021:

With Mitch McConnell as Palpatine, Bernie Sanders as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Nancy Pelosi as Leia, and maybe a few more fit the bill too.

Hi Folks--I've decided to leave the site.

David1955 comments on Jan 30, 2021:

I almost left myself recently. Being targeted and baited because I'm an atheist took me close to the delete button. Not to mention the naughty pics and nonsense that bores now. Then I had a rethink. Time to block fools and baiters, something I'd never done. Instead of looking for a community of quality discourse, instead focus on the worthy ones, the ones who don't bait and hobby horse, who broadly live in my reality, and we can agree and disagree on some points, like adults do. Different mindset, different outcomes.

There is an overwhelming lack of evidence for the tooth fairy, pixies at the bottom of the garden, ...

David1955 comments on Jan 30, 2021:

No, and I don't believe in them *because* there is no evidence of their existence. Oddly enough, I apply the same standard to any and all gods, and have done so since I was a teenager and hence call myself an atheist. It seems a consistent logical position to me, and I was pleased to discover that many truly greater minds than mine agreed with me, like Bertrand Russell. Of course, it does help when you are *not* engaging in a subconscious form of Pascal Wagering, living in a thinly disguised fear that a god might get you one day if you're wrong, so better play safe and be an agnostic.

Can a combination of logic and probability obviate agnostic doubt?

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2021:

Obviate agnostic doubt? Doubt about what - god/s? Whether the question is knowable? Odd verb to use here. "To obviate means to eliminate the need for something or to prevent something from happening. " To me doubt is reduced or eliminated but not obviated. But I'm an atheist, so I can't answer. We don't focus on doubt but rather evidence. If there's doubt then it would be on the relevance of the evidence and by definition that involves logic and reason.

Survey: The Pandemic is Strengthening the Faith of Devout Religious People | Hemant Mehta | Friendly...

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2021:

Yeah but I suspect it's weakening the interest of notionally religious people -- those who say they are religious, write it down on forms, but never go to church -- and, I suspect it will enhance the secularism and religious apathy of younger age groups, who were already increasingly detached from religion anyway. Religion has looked bad during this pandemic, while science has looked good. Frankly, we will have to wait and see what the survey data shows in the future. As for devoutly religious people, often older people, they are unlikely to change, so strengthening is not surprising.

They should be removed from office and charged

David1955 comments on Jan 28, 2021:

In any country where something like a democratic system exists there would be legal consequences for such conduct. But, in the US, well, I don't know ....Somehow, I suspect nothing will happen.

Checking in after being away for the last two weeks due to family things.

David1955 comments on Jan 27, 2021:

The line "the progressive left and Trumpy-types both have mostly-valid , yet increasingly incompatible, systems to run a country" just sent me reeling. Really, Trumpism has a mostly valid system of government? Now, when some people say that there are valid points in both *conservatism* and *progressive politics* I could at least recognise that this might be true, though my own politics are far left. But Trumpism, or Trumpy-types to use your term, is nothing more than 21st Century fascism, rooted in racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and authoritarianism. Careful not to let your 'middle of the road' inclination become a failure in political and moral conviction. @Sticks48 re your comment below, I totally agree

[agnostic.

David1955 comments on Jan 26, 2021:

Totally agree, but I'm waiting for some comments here along the lines of 'well, members should be able to take from the site whatever they think is important....' etc especially from those not favourably inclined towards atheism. Hope I'm wrong, but let's see.

It's been a few years, but I'm still pissed off about the time y'all tried to get me banned.

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2021:

Don't recall any of that. Who tried to get you banned and why? To my knowledge this is not a site where 'we'all' get together to ban people. Individuals can block, and admin can ban someone for some reason. So, what's the story here?

Well, Renowned and Respected Australian Journalist, Kerry O'Brien, has REFUSED to accept his ...

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2021:

Saw that. Good on him. They don't make 'em like Kerry O'Brien any more.

6 Level 6 View Perks 4,000 Points 7 Level 7 View Perks 10,000 Points 8 Level 8 Perks Hidden ...

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2021:

The point system on this site is one of god's little mysteries, and I say that as a staunch atheist.

Even though I became an atheist I’m still thinking about staying Catholic for Traditional purposes...

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2021:

What does that mean, 'traditional purposes.'?

True words same thing but different time

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2021:

Do you think it's still only 1/3? I fancy that number in America has grown since FDR's time.

i know this site isnt mine, but i sure do wish the meme addicts could keep those posts in a meme ...