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

barjoe comments on Feb 26, 2021:

Jesus is a fictitious character. There were no Xtians until late 2nd century.

Fernapple replies on Feb 27, 2021:

@Word I have never heard of any serious theologian even, including those of the R. C. church who thought that the gospels were eye witness accounts, even the mainstream churches don't claim that. ( The evangelicals maybe.) And they certainly don't read like eye witness accounts, very few first person for one, the only way in which they resemble eye witness, is in the number and types of the disagreements between them, but that would be true even of second or third hand accounts, being derived from eye witness at some distant time. You also have to remember that attitudes to writing was very different then, today we make a distinction between fiction which is admired for its imaginative creativity, and reportage, which is admired for accuracy. But in those days the most admired quality was to put a new spin on an old story, since by so doing you were both reverencing the past and giving it the benefit of creativity, which was often seen as god inspired. In other words inaccuracy was valued.

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

barjoe comments on Feb 26, 2021:

Jesus is a fictitious character. There were no Xtians until late 2nd century.

Fernapple replies on Feb 26, 2021:

@Joanne A lot of the stories power comes from things like the parables, which to anyone with a degree of feeling for such things, I would say, come over as quite literary in nature. The sort of thing that a writer with a pen would compose, and not an illiterate wandering rabi. So you have to wonder if there is not an invisible ghost figure somewhere in the mix, behind st Paul and the gosple scribes Mat, Mark, Luke, and John, none of whom seem to have the quality for that sort of invention. Just speculation out loud though.

Friday and its hot again in texas got the air on

Fernapple comments on Feb 26, 2021:

OK normally you do humour, today you do wisdom, obviously you are a polymath.

Fernapple replies on Feb 26, 2021:

@waitingforgodo No Phd sorry, got a certificate for first aid when I was eleven, and a prize for junior maths though. LOL

Take that, Evangelicals! Pope Francis accepts the big bang and evolution of science - not the ...

BD66 comments on Feb 25, 2021:

The pope isn't Catholic.

Fernapple replies on Feb 26, 2021:

This may amuse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMf4OtC7SXY

I don't often follow fashions, but I needed a screen for the bottom of the garden , and these things...

AnneWimsey comments on Feb 24, 2021:

Plant morning glory or bougainvillea along the bottom? Or yardlong beans, okra, cucumbers?

Fernapple replies on Feb 25, 2021:

Great idea thanks.

I don't often follow fashions, but I needed a screen for the bottom of the garden , and these things...

Mooolah comments on Feb 24, 2021:

compost?

Fernapple replies on Feb 25, 2021:

Yes I make that too, the idea of this is that it uses stuff too hard to compost easily, but as it slowly rots it creates great wildlife shelter, and to keep the screen going you just add more as you cut it.

A little more on bird feeding, this one is thoughtful and in depth, with some great video footage ...

Robecology comments on Feb 24, 2021:

Be sure you're feeding birds...

Fernapple replies on Feb 25, 2021:

He would be welcome too, as long as something is left. I keep getting a squirrel visit and trying to get a photo, but they are very quick and wary, but I will have their mug shots one day.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

bbyrd009 comments on Feb 24, 2021:

lemme find the Cassini story, i'll get back to you, but the point is that science has *plenty* of room for ego, hate, lack of respect for truth, can be manipulated to say anything, etc

Fernapple replies on Feb 25, 2021:

@skado Don't confuse religious doctrine with religion. Few if any human institutions have much in common in what they become or what they do, with their original doctrine. Marxism was about economic justice for all classes, but the communist system created vast economic cruelty based on a ridgid class system in most of the countries it infected. The US constitution set out freedom and democratic rights, yet the States repressed millions of black slaves horribly, and made native Americans virtual outsiders and second class people in their own land. Probably more than half of the worlds schools, all of which claim to be about education, are in the business of indoctrination and repressing education. I could go on, there are thousands of examples. A friend of mine always used to joke that you could always tell which countries are horrible repessive dictatorships, because they always have 'democratic' in their title.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

bbyrd009 comments on Feb 24, 2021:

lemme find the Cassini story, i'll get back to you, but the point is that science has *plenty* of room for ego, hate, lack of respect for truth, can be manipulated to say anything, etc

Fernapple replies on Feb 24, 2021:

Of course science does, every part of human life does contain those things, internally by default. But science does not glorify them, set them up as ideals and try to promote them in the world beyond, indeed science by its nature is not in the business of idealising anything.

Rounding the corner for the last stretch.

Fernapple comments on Feb 24, 2021:

No but they send you the invoice.

Fernapple replies on Feb 24, 2021:

@Word PS. here's a few more points.

Interesting on how few people show up on the new contributors list anymore.

LenHazell53 comments on Feb 24, 2021:

I did not even know there was one

Fernapple replies on Feb 24, 2021:

ditto

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

skado comments on Feb 23, 2021:

If you’re trying to portray politics as hate-free I may have a hard time suppressing a chuckle. If the “world” is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it’s increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. If there is a fixed proportion of the population that is continuing to hate, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 24, 2021:

@skado I like this last, will make it a post perhaps.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

skado comments on Feb 23, 2021:

If you’re trying to portray politics as hate-free I may have a hard time suppressing a chuckle. If the “world” is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it’s increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. If there is a fixed proportion of the population that is continuing to hate, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 24, 2021:

@skado Once religion was everything, you performed a ritual before you started work, or when you gave birth, you went to the shaman when ill, unhappy, in need of advice or in love. But over a long period of time better ways have been found to do almost everything for which humans have a need, leaving religion on the sidelines. Better to see a doctor if you are ill, a psychologist or philosopher if unhappy, an engineer and a navigator if you want to cross the sea, social welfare if poor, a school for education, etc. etc. the list is endless. At which point you have to ask, what in the end will be left to religion, and what is even today observably left to religion ? It can only be that which more rationally constructed institutions can not, or do not, want to do, in other words criminality, with which religion always did have the most deep connection. Of course, many people get a positive experience from religion, or they would not do it. But people also inject themselves with toxic chemicals, anorexics starve themselves, and flat earthers spend vast amounts of time trying to prove the ridiculous, because they feel they get a positive experience from doing so. It is arguable that religion is growing in the world, I have heard a lot of statistics to the opposite, but what is certain is that almost all of the growth is in Islam. A far bigger share than the shrinkage elsewhere accounts for perhaps. And Islam is the most shameless at promoting a divisive and dualistic world view, even shameless nationalistic hate, which may not account for all its growth, but it certainly is a big attraction for many people.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 23, 2021:

No offense, but what is the support for science saying that there is no support for hate and what does that mean? Culture and psychology support the practice of hate and has since before recorded history as this report about what might be the earliest evidence of warfare: ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Very true. Though I do not think that it will go away. Religion will almost certainly remain a useful term for a long time to come, if only because all terms can be changed over time to an infinite degree. As epicurian originally meant self denying, and an aesthetic philosophy, yet came to mean hedonistic, at least in popular culture. So in perhaps a hundred years from now 'religion' will come to mean more or less the same thing which we use nazi or fascist for today, but the word will still be in use.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

skado comments on Feb 23, 2021:

If you’re trying to portray politics as hate-free I may have a hard time suppressing a chuckle. If the “world” is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it’s increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. If there is a fixed proportion of the population that is continuing to hate, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@skado I am not saying that hate is religiously inspired, except at second hand when it works to inspire political hate. What I am saying is that hate is moving into religion, because that is where it finds the most suitable environment, where it can grow and prosper. Whilst most other human enterprizes become less friendly towards it, just as religion is doing the opposite. I would contend that we have created a secular enterprize which can counterbalance the worst of our animal instinct , or at least that we have now got closer to doing that within the secular environment than we did within religion, even at its best. Religion will almost certainly remain a useful term for a long time to come, if only because all terms can be changed over time to an infinite degree. As epicurian originally meant self denying, and an aesthetic philosophy, yet came to mean hedonistic, at least in popular culture. So in perhaps a hundred years from now 'religion' will come to mean more or less the same thing which we use nazi or fascist for today, but the word will still be in use.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

wordywalt comments on Feb 23, 2021:

There will always be people who are looking for easiest answers to hard questions, and those who are willing to commit themselves as true believers to any conspiracy theory or total system ideology to avoid feeling powerless and ignorant.

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

Yes my point is not whether such people exist, but where in the future you would be best placed to find them if you want to go looking.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 23, 2021:

No offense, but what is the support for science saying that there is no support for hate and what does that mean? Culture and psychology support the practice of hate and has since before recorded history as this report about what might be the earliest evidence of warfare: ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

No it is not support from science, when I say, science does not support hate, I am merely noting that science is totally indifferent to hate either way. That hate is not going away is part of the point, human nature does not change with the passage of time, but the ways we use hate, and the institutions we use to forward it may change. My premise was mainly just to set up an observation on the future role of religion. Because of course all human institutions have to find a human need to fullfil if they are to survive. So that in a world where governance and law, take care of the moral, economics the matierial, medcine physical and mental health, the state education, science curiosity and the search for truth, where does religion go looking for a need to answer. Like you say hate is not going away, but the corner in which it takes its next stand is up for grabs, and role will go to the institution which needs that support most, and has the least interest in objective truth. So which one would you bet on ?

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

holdenc98 comments on Feb 23, 2021:

the absolute uni - thought strict party line nature of both the posts and comments, coming out of agnostic.com today (this presumed bastion of free thought) on the subject of the twin revolutions is terrifying. to find uni - thought absolutism like this in earlier history one has to go back to ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@holdenc98 Wisdom is nuance.

Five ways to feel good.

hankster comments on Feb 23, 2021:

pet an old dog.

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@hankster Nothing happier than a pair of old grey muzzles, laid on the veranda in the sun.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

OldMetalHead comments on Feb 23, 2021:

Majority opinion is easily manipulated and often wrong. Christianity is declining, which I think is a good thing, especially since it seems to be getting replaced by secularism. However, there is bad news to go along with the good. Islam will continue to grow, and it is expected to equal ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@OldMetalHead Without a doubt, who is the 'true' follower/ believer, the violent minority or the moderate majority is another issue, but I would agree that the hard line violent minority certainly have a much better claim.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

OldMetalHead comments on Feb 23, 2021:

Majority opinion is easily manipulated and often wrong. Christianity is declining, which I think is a good thing, especially since it seems to be getting replaced by secularism. However, there is bad news to go along with the good. Islam will continue to grow, and it is expected to equal ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

True, but I was addressing religion including Islam and not just Christianity, and I think that you will see the same trend in Islam, in that moderate moral people, will increasingly leave, or fade in their support for it, and it will be increasingly hyjacked by the hate filled minority.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

skado comments on Feb 23, 2021:

If you’re trying to portray politics as hate-free I may have a hard time suppressing a chuckle. If the “world” is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it’s increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. If there is a fixed proportion of the population that is continuing to hate, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

@Canndue Perhaps you are right, that is a whole other ball game to a degree, but I was using poloitics in the widest sense, including especially international politics such as the bill of human rights etc.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

holdenc98 comments on Feb 23, 2021:

the absolute uni - thought strict party line nature of both the posts and comments, coming out of agnostic.com today (this presumed bastion of free thought) on the subject of the twin revolutions is terrifying. to find uni - thought absolutism like this in earlier history one has to go back to ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

Yes I agree with you, and I would be the first to point out that religion does a lot of good. Yet there is an observable trend, and trend is a none absolute word, for religion to become the last refuge of just that mindless dualistic hate culture as it becomes increasingly unacceptable in so many other places. I am sorry if it came over as absolutist, but I was being brief and taking shortcuts because, I am more interested in the deeper reasons behind the thing, and peoples opinoins on them, than the thing itself.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

DenoPenno comments on Feb 23, 2021:

As we progress and get better and better where does hate go? It hides. Hate hides until something or someone comes along and tells it to come out and express itself. It might even be said that this is normal and then you see hate run for public office. There might even be flags to support police ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

Indeed yes, hate is a normal part of all animals lives, but of course it can express itself in many ways , sometimes to good effect, ( I hate to see people starve, I will give to a charity, or ask my govermment to send more aid. ) But hate can be destructive of course, and as you rightly say, it loves to hide until it can pounce. My point therefore, was to ask, where destructive hate's next main hiding place is likely to be. And of course all human institutions have to find a human need to fullfil if they are to survive. So that in a world where governance and law, take care of the moral, economics the matierial, medcine physical and mental health, the state education, science curiosity and the search for truth, where does religion go looking for a need to answer. Like you say hate may be a natural need.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on Feb 23, 2021:

I question the post's premise a bit. I think we can perhaps say the "idea" of human rights is spreading around the globe, but to say the "adoption" of said rights is becoming "...the norm" seems to me to be woefully premature. Hate remains alive and well. e.g. Trumpism, Brexit, neo-nazis in ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

I think you may well be very correct. My premise was mainly just to set up an observation on the future role of religion, human nature does not change with the passage of time, but it does find different ways of expressing itself, and institutions may change their roles over which part of it they express.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

Paddypereira comments on Feb 23, 2021:

Well, nobody has only faults or only qualities. People many times have the need of making others look bad and think they are righteous to harm others because they don't like them, see them as evil or whatever, not realising that they're being evil themselves. Speaking for myself, I wish I could say ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

Yes I agree we all have done harm and have a dark side, me included. But while most people would like to improve, and put their weaker pasts behind them, a few would like to celebrate it and promote it to others, whence they seak a platform.

This came up, thanks syntiger6.

skado comments on Feb 23, 2021:

If you’re trying to portray politics as hate-free I may have a hard time suppressing a chuckle. If the “world” is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it’s increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. If there is a fixed proportion of the population that is continuing to hate, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

I did not say that politics is hate free, I said that it at least demands respect for majority opinion, (some of the time ) which is not much, but it is something however trivial. And, since a lot of political hate is religiously inspired, touche'. "If the 'world' is increasingly adopting good attitudes, that means it is increasingly letting go of bad attitudes. " Yes that follows, but that does not mean that bad attitudes may not persist, nor shift their location. Indeed if those holding them are a diminishing minority, or feel threatened by a improving world, then you would expect them to regroup, back away and cluster in an evil refuge of their own making. That is the point of the post. Nor did I say that they were a fixed proportion, but the argument works, whether they decrease, increase, or remain the same. The world (as a whole ) may well improve, despite a bad minority growing more evil and more numerous. Paragraph two, shows some very bad logic. I mention syntiger6 because these thoughts here came up as a comment on one of his posts, and I wish to give him credit for the inspiration, plus explain to members who have seen that, why a similar one appears twice.

Five ways to feel good.

hankster comments on Feb 23, 2021:

pet an old dog.

Fernapple replies on Feb 23, 2021:

Why do I feel that you have an hidden motive when you say that , you old dog ?

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and ...

Freedompath comments on Feb 21, 2021:

I believe that is mostly true. I think it would be possible to use some of the fables on how to be a better person. It seems to me that the modern religion has morphed into more like an addiction than a teaching tool.

Fernapple replies on Feb 22, 2021:

@Word NO that bit isn't.

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and ...

Freedompath comments on Feb 21, 2021:

I believe that is mostly true. I think it would be possible to use some of the fables on how to be a better person. It seems to me that the modern religion has morphed into more like an addiction than a teaching tool.

Fernapple replies on Feb 22, 2021:

@Word Because being tied and bound in an obligation, does not just mean a good obligation, it also means being tied and bound to a criminal enterprise.

Evangelist: Pray for Me in Asia Because Buddhists Have “Emptiness on the Inside” | Hemant Mehta ...

altschmerz comments on Feb 21, 2021:

One of the commenters on the site said, "Ignorant, arrogant evangelist trying to use words like 'animus' and 'spiritus' to suggest something unholy. 'Animus' simply means (1) hostility or ill feeling or (2) motivation to do something, and 'spiritus' just means breath or spirit." Typical ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 21, 2021:

I though he said anamists actually, but he does not have a good speaking voice. Its funny, I see a lot of these evangelists on line, and none of the speak well, what happened to Elmer Gantry ? (Hope I spelled that right. But anyway you can look him up on google.)

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 21, 2021:

@nogod4me Off course, you must have realized by now I am just being silly. But silly with a point.

Hello all, please how can i get to the admin/support on here?

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2021:

Hello and welcome. Sorry but it is a rule of the site that you can not message people until you reach level 5 or 6 I think. It is annoying but it does protect members against spam and scam. Don't worry if you are not a robot or a troll the levels soon stack up. But you should be able to reply to ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@AnneWimsey Just found it, it says that you must reach at least level two. Very strange as well in that I never get any spam or scammer messages on or from this site.

Hello all, please how can i get to the admin/support on here?

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2021:

Hello and welcome. Sorry but it is a rule of the site that you can not message people until you reach level 5 or 6 I think. It is annoying but it does protect members against spam and scam. Don't worry if you are not a robot or a troll the levels soon stack up. But you should be able to reply to ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@AnneWimsey Seem to remember that I could not message until I reached about five. Strange.

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@nogod4me Ah yes but theists think they know that no other gods but their exist, therefore they are atheist about all but one in twenty thousand or so gods.

Don't know if this is happening to everyone but I think there is a bug.

Word comments on Feb 20, 2021:

If I recall correctly, I posted something about that a week or so ago. @admin

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

There is nothing obvously visible of your post now. Or that is the wrong link.

Looking for suggestions...

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2021:

No can't help. Our village gardening club made me Vice Chairman, but they never asked me to organize any, so I left.

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@EarnestEccentric I try my best, one in fifty can't be too bad.

Don't say his name anymore! It is driving him crazy. "The other guy"!

anglophone comments on Feb 20, 2021:

The Tangerine Turd. The Swamp Machine. Humpty Trumpy. The Pussy Grabber. The Loser. The Retard in Chief of the Repugnicant Party. The LyingEvilSelfseekingEgomaniacNarcissisticIdiot. Putin's Poodle. QAnon's Stooge. The Madman of Mar-a-Lago.

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

Someone once said that. "If people give you a nickname it is a sign of the highest respect, if they give you two it is a sign of the lowest disrespect." So if they give you a dozen or more .....?

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@nogod4me We are all agnostic to some degree, except for theists, who are atheists about every other god but theirs.

This is a world wide pandemic.

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

No because. One. There is a lot of value in getting as many people done, as quickly as possible, without waiting around to find out which is best, and then getting that one up to maximum production. Two. A range of sightly different vaccines will make it less likely, that a mutant virus can ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 20, 2021:

@powder Yep, that is how I am using it.

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@nogod4me My thought exactly. I sometimes think that if there is a higher power, it may like atheists the best, because we don't, tell it what it should be doing, or set up false claimants in its place, but then I think that's probably too gnostic, best just stick to don't know.

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@nogod4me Yes but remember, the original post was not talking about the Biblical god, but only a higher power. Is there a higher power ? I don't think so ? But then if you had asked a nineteenth century scientist are there such things as radio waves. Ergo, I could be wrong.

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@nogod4me No, but then repeatability is evidence.

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

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2021:

I have seen none. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so agnostic I remain. However there is no observable benefit that would be gained from the existence of a higher power, so its existence or not is of no importance. But I would strongly suspect that if there is a higher power, ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@nogod4me Well yes that is true to a degree, but to continue the anology. If I checked a couple of hours later, but it took your cheque three days to clear.

What do you get when you do not know the difference betwen 18% and 60%. A Texas Republican.

AmyTheBruce comments on Feb 18, 2021:

I must be missing the reference. Could you explain what you mean?

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@t1nick Thank you.

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 19, 2021:

@Triphid Very true, I should perhaps have put it more strongly, but was perhaps more interested in how the story may have started.

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@Mooolah I often cut up French people into small pieces to feed my frogs ?

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@AnneWimsey Yes. I often thought. Since there are some health problems with under-cooked pork, so if god knew everything, why did he not just tell them to cook it well. LOL ?

Ambery1199 and mike1199 seem something odd? Both all about bitcoin?

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Do you think that they may be using the site for marketing ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@Word That makes two of us.

Dialogue between a cute Pakistani Muslim and an Arab atheist Atheist :what is the punishment for an...

xenoview comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Funny. A muslim is a follower of islam, and an arab is a race.

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

An Arab is someone who speaks Arabic. Though some say that only Arabic speakers can be true Muslims. What the s##t just a bunch of religiotards trying to put labels on people again.

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@Word True, and I would not say that health and hygiene were not important parts of the laws. Only, let us not put whitewash on those times, they were people just like us, and there were probably just as many bad nasty reasons for doing things, and making laws, then, as there are today. When a white American evangelical tells you not to put on a face mask, it could be that, as they may claim, they are concerned about the heath dangers that could come about because of badly washed masks. And/or it could be just, that they hate any instruction which comes from a government which they hate in turn, because it will not indulge them in their racism. That is not to say that there is no danger from unhygienic face masks kept on too long and not washed properly, ( though it is trivial compared with Covid, ) just that the reason given is not always the only motivation for saying something, and not always the main one.

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@Word Yes that is in the video. But such reasons of health and hygene tend to dominate the debate, because of course, theists today, are trying to justify the texts, and put the best spin on them. It is possible and probable that health was a contributing reason, it is the most often given today. (By theists especially.) But I doubt that in the Bronze Age, health seemed anything like as urgent an issue as fighting the guy coming at you swinging a sword, for the land to feed your children, and persuading those children to keep up the fight.

Why billions of people won't eat pork (or why we don't know) - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2021:

One reason not mentioned strangely is perhaps, xenophobia, hatred not of pigs, but of the people who eat them. The earliest and most basic part of all Abrahamic religions, and the period from which the law giving first stems, is the story of the Jewish Exodus. How a group of slaves came out of ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 18, 2021:

@AnonySchmoose At a later date that narrative also suited the Arabs too, since they were also a desert people trying to steal land in the fertile areas of Mesopotamia and North Africa. And since it was already established and written down for them by the Hebrews, a given.

One of those, "I don't know if it's true, but it certainly sounds true."

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

I always assumed that he founded a gay community. No real evidence for that really, either.

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@redbai There is a lot of evidence for all of it, the trouble is that all of the evidence is contained within a two thousand year old book,, of no known authorship, with only a tiny few later editors known, no original date of publication, no original surviving texts, none of the later texts matching, a long history of alterations and the four main parts not agreeing, with no external confirming sources and the secondry internal sources further disagreeing. In other words, plenty of evidence, but the worst possible 'quality' of evidence you could get.

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Behind-the-dog Oh I think you can blame all male aggression, not on females but on female preferences. We are entirely made by the opposite sex, at least as far as the environment's restraints will allow, and when those restraints are removed.

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Beautiful.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Yes but you wrote a 'place'. I would think that a jet powered town would make a much bigger hole than a piston engine village. LOL

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 No sorry, I was not plain, I meant the painful businss of listening to someone trying to articulate, when they are only there because they wrote it. Writting and reading being too none overlapping skills. LOL

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Behind-the-dog Yes all of that is very true, and I would not want to prevent the ending of all genetic diseases, just for dated moral judgements Perhaps governments will try to prescribe lists of what can be edited out of the gene pool and what can not. Though I doubt that would work in practice. In a sence we have all been doing, especially females, eugenics since the beginning of sex, what Darwin called sexual sellection. ( Peacocks tail's etc.) Unfortunately human females tend to favour, aggressively competetive males, and now that we have removed a lot of the dangers of aggression with medcine and health care ? Follow that line of thought.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

It would roll into the hand of a nobel prize winning biologist of course.

If the last person to die on Earth is a Funeral home mortician, who would bury the survivors?

Gwendolyn2018 comments on Feb 17, 2021:

A variation on old joke and I like this one better: A plane crashed exactly on the US and Canadian border. All people on board died. Should the survivors be buried on in the US or Canada? Or even this one: If a rooster sat the very top of a pitched roof and laid an egg, which way would the egg ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

What sort of place was that, a town or a village ?

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Poets who can write good poetry, usually can't read it well. ( No make that authors in general.)

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Ok change usually to often. Much safer to employ and actor.

Random thoughts brought about snow fever: Double beds are much smaller than queen beds.

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2021:

There will probably never be a war between humans and robots, as in S.F., because we will degenerate so far, that in the end the robots will just have to stop feeding us, when they get fed up.

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

@Gwendolyn2018 Possibly yes.

Richard Dawkins Puts Foot in Mouth Again With Tweets About How Eugenics “Works” | Hemant Mehta |...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Eugenics can't "work" because whether or not to reproduce and with whom to reproduce must, in any even remotely "free" society (certainly in any society *I* would want to live in), rank near the top of decisions one should be able to make for oneself. Yes, it could "work" in *theory*, if one had a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 17, 2021:

Posted this above, but it may interest you. Eugenics will happen by default, whether people like it or not, and without government intervention. As in-vitro conception, gene editing and many other technologies become more available, rich people who can afford it will increasingly choose to have designer babies, perhaps with the real danger of creating a rich poor divide. And if governments try to regulate it, they will simply go to third world states to have the 'work' done under the table. In fact the genie (pun) may already be out of the bottle, it would not surprise me to know that back street genetic work, already takes place. And when once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no putting it back.

Could we really know everything about reality, someday?

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2021:

One way to look at it is to ask. Are there some things which are inherently unknowable, however great the intelligence. Which it seems there are. For examples. 1. Anything which is infinite, such as the mathematical development of Pi, or 2. the largest prime. 3. Anything more complex than the ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

@Matias That is why it is unknowable. Perhaps I should have put the whole series is unknowable, but since it followed pi I assumed that was a given.

Why does the number seven appear in the Bible 735 times.

Fernapple comments on Feb 16, 2021:

One is singular and therefore special for that reason. The primes two, three, and five all produce products less than ten when multiplied together, while four, six, eight, and nine are products. Seven therefore, for people who count in tens, seems to have no obvious role, and stands apart. This ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

@waitingforgodo Sorry, when I said, "all produce products less than ten ", I meant all 'can' produce products of ten or less. The moon theory does not appeal much, since a lunar month is actually nearer to twenty nine and a half days, it is more likely that the cerimonial month of twenty eight days, was made to fit the magic four and seven numbers rather than the other way round.

Hindu Girls’ School Students Forced to Strip to Prove They Weren’t Menstruating | Val Wilde | ...

CuddyCruiser comments on Feb 15, 2021:

Sometimes you wonder........were these people born idiots or did they take lessons on how to become one? %@?£¥€§><

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

Some people are born a bit less able than others, perhaps, but for a real idiot you have to start training them from birth.

Some tiny things These aren't plants, animals, or even fungi (and certainly not bacteria or ...

racocn8 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I'm guessing species of slime mold.

Fernapple replies on Feb 16, 2021:

That is what I would have gone with.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@whiskywoman Yes sadly the anti - woo group is no more, used to like that group.

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 ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@David1955 I may have been one of the things which pushed him over the edge. He posted a poll, which was quite shamelessly designed to return false answers. I took him to task about it in the comments, when that failed I made this post, https://agnostic.com/post/575033/dear-members-regarding-polls-i-am-aware-that-members-here-are-generally-kind-helpful-and-willin which I am sure he saw and must have known refered to him.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe True I think that he gradually changed over time, though he did make a lot of posts so maybe he rose quickly.

I think @DangerDave might have left us.

Fernapple comments on Feb 15, 2021:

He told me that, he is going to write a book, ( he said ) exposing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site. He said that he had now gathered enough information, on the secret cabal of gnostic atheists who control this site, to inform his book. So time to go.

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe Yes quite serious, both in a message and several comments, if I remember right. He was a very sad damaged individual. He came here originally, to sell some woo, as I remember, ( He was a grand wizard, or some such thing. ) based on the worn out old idea, that if you have no god, then you must need woo. He did not, of course, get any takers, and some of the members were quite harsh, for which he had a little sympathy from me. But he then convinced himself that, nearly all the members perhaps, were not true agnostics but gnostic atheists who were lying about their true views, and he then started his campain.

The good box? Yea sure.

abyers1970 comments on Feb 15, 2021:

Your forgot one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill. God sure does a lot of that for it to be one of his commandments

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

No he did not, its the last one.

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 ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@barjoe A lot of his 'funny' stuff sadly had a hidden agenda, to forward his crusade against gnostic atheism. He would post stuff such as. "Do you believe in fairies ? In order to get responses that he could prove were inconsistent with peoples, views on god. Peoples views on god as he chose to strawman them, that is. I believe that he is going to write a book, ( he said ) expossing the failings of atheism which he had researched on this site.

Reading Agnoticism by A.

think-beyond comments on Feb 14, 2021:

No. It's not so simple. AND I don't feel I have to explain. However, what I feel is missing is a definition of that God we either deny or believe in. Every time I read about someone automatically equating God with the Christian's (or any religion's), take on God, I think, "Wait a minute." That's a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

God, atheists/agnostics could be its favourite people. ( Only people who are not telling it about their imaginary friend, who does the job much better. )

Reading Agnoticism by A.

Word comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Can god be an atheist?

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

No but they could be its favourite people.

[youtube.com] Singing Cat!

Fernapple comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Clever and articulate. And I say that even though. 'I am not a cat!'

Fernapple replies on Feb 15, 2021:

@TheoryNumber3 That is the one thing that struck me too. LOL

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools , because they have to say ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2021:

Yes but they are happy fools.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2021:

@Marionville Tough. If I want to say it, I am going to say it !!

The next conspiracy theory! 😄

barjoe comments on Feb 12, 2021:

You have to live before you can die.

Fernapple replies on Feb 13, 2021:

Birth is a terminal condition.

RE: Gina Carino's termination from Disney's "The Mandalorian" We should really examine the tweet ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 11, 2021:

In the UK if you got fired for saying things like that, you could easily bring a suit against your employer. Just for fun though, I could answer her question with. The difference is, that you can change your political views, but not the culture of your birth. Having said that I don't know that it...

Fernapple replies on Feb 12, 2021:

@TheMiddleWay No I did not say your culture. I said the culture you were 'born into', very specifically, meaning not the culture you choose. In other words the culture pseudo-race that the Nazis would put you in, not the one you chose yourself, that was the point.

Today I drove by the local drug store to view that GMC Yukon again and see if the owner still has it...

Word comments on Feb 11, 2021:

You ask, "What is wrong with people?" People exist, if people didn't exist, nothing would be wrong with them.

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2021:

Sometimes, Word, you come out with wisdom so profound it makes my heart leap.

Seeing lots of posts about the dairy industry today and remembering things I learned about the dairy...

Lorajay comments on Feb 10, 2021:

It sounds like every cafeteria should start providing lactose-free milk as an option. I am lactose intolerant as are my children.It seems to be hereditary. Many of my older aunts have done all kinds of ancestors.com research and black and brown ancestors were not recorded but there may have been a ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 11, 2021:

Lactose intolerance is not just found in people of African decent, in fact tolerance is not the norm.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Gmak comments on Feb 9, 2021:

I’d gladly share some of Iowa’s winter weather with you. Currently, it is -22C with ~2 feet of snow. Not the coldest winter weather ever, but perhaps the snowiest.

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

Thanks, but if we are lucky minus five is about the lowest we get, and that is more than cold enough for me.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Behind-the-dog comments on Feb 9, 2021:

Is that a beehive in the foreground of the first photo?

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

No, sadly its only a cover over a cooker/firepit.

We finally got snow yesterday, lots of people all over the country are knee deep, but we escaped ...

Mcflewster comments on Feb 9, 2021:

I bet your view adds value to the house!

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

A little, but it is an old house, with not many modern features, that knocks the value down a little.

So, this morning in my email i receive a strongly-worded punishment from Admin about my remark on ...

zeuser comments on Feb 8, 2021:

Humor is a touchy area here. I've been called out on what I thought were innocent and funny posts, but everyone has a different perspective. Some people delight in tearing apart anything that's a joke, picking apart the logic to something that is just a fucking joke. I've taken to labeling any ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

I tend to use, LOL though I do not like it, seems like laughing at your own jokes, but sometimes I just have to do irony, and you know what happens to people who do that.

The greatest trick the satanists ever pulled: They may be truer to the words of Jesus than most ...

Storm1752 comments on Feb 9, 2021:

They have erroneously labelled themselves Satanists, thereby ruining whatever "message" they were trying to impart.

Fernapple replies on Feb 9, 2021:

No big loss. There are lots of groups for those who come out of religion, from Pastafarians to Humanists, there is a niche for all, whatever they call themselves.

Winter flowers in the snow.

Cast1es comments on Feb 8, 2021:

At first I thought it might be forsythia and crocus , but on closer look it isn't . What are these ?

Fernapple replies on Feb 8, 2021:

Witch Hazel, Hamamelis, and Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, no relation to the true Aconites.

Posted this I the nature group, but thought you may like it too.

Flowerwall comments on Feb 7, 2021:

What time period? It appears from mid twentieth century? Very nice.

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Main period 1915 to 1921.

In the UK we never quite had the equivalent of the US Audubon, but we do have Archibald Thorburn.

girlwithsmiles comments on Feb 7, 2021:

How lovely. Last Summer we resided in a village where an artist called John Ferneley once lived. His horses were beautiful, but he did some other scenes of Country life such as this, from art.uk.org

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Beautiful.

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

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word, @DangerDave Word, bothers with people, even people like me, and there is no harm in that.

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

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word Conspiracy theory is very tempting because it appeals to one of our most basic insticts, laziness. It addresses many problems with the world, but in fact most of the worlds problems are much more simply addressed by understanding the role that greed, stupidity, incompetence and laziness itself play. However, if you try to face up to the role of those things play, then you come up against two problems. Firstly that we all play our part in the worlds greed stupidity, incompetence and laziness, we could all make more effort to educate ourselves, give more to others etc. and facing up to our own share in it all, is hard. Secondly, the webs of greed and stupidity etc are often complex and hard to untangle. Which is why conspiracy theories appeal especially to the lazy streak in people.

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

Word comments on Feb 7, 2021:

You say, "The term conspiracy theory attempts to discredit honest people by claiming that 2 or more people never lie as a team." Trying to understand: if I am an observer, and I claim "conspiracy theory " about 2 people "over there somewhere", are you saying I am calling them liars because I ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Thirst2learn No I do not agree, with that. The term conspiracy theory was NOT made up, to discredit honest people pointing out actual conspiracies. In its modern popular meaning it was created to point up, and mock, a very large number of fake conspiracy theories, of which there are far two many, often contradictory, for them all to be true. The fact that on now and again, a theory about a real conspiracy may get caught in the same net, is just an unfortunate side effect.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word All text is about knowledge, but not all of it is about true knowledge.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word No, I am saying that much of it was created before philosophy, and that people like John, who came later near the end, created philosophy, because they themselves found that it, and much else like it, did not philosophize.

Commission rules sexual orientation discrimination illegal in Florida

FrayedBear comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Will that effect Trump's residency?

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

Playing golf to forget that nobody, including your wife, wants to go to bed with you, is not, sadly for him, a sexual orientation.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

Word comments on Feb 6, 2021:

Long novel with several questions. You equate "religion" with crime but you also talk about ancient, classical influences that have merged to bring us to where some people's understanding is today. First, I bring up "religion" definition from one of those old sources. Religion ... pure and...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

I see no reason to use the biblical usage of religion, the Christian Bible has no especial authority on the usage of words in the English language. Quite the opposite, if anything I am using the original Latin meanings. Though as stated to Sakdo above, I am using it in this sense to mean all parts of human cuilture which are not philosophy or science. And yes it may be true that. "Religion ... pure and faultless is this: to help widows and orphans in need and avoiding worldly corruption. James 1:27 " May be a good thing where it exists, but it is a tiny and shrinking part of religion as a whole, and 'religion impure and promoting faults of every sort', is far bigger, more powerful and growing, and will always in the end swamp, religion pure and simple.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

skado comments on Feb 6, 2021:

The world hasn’t agreed on a definition of “religion” yet. So until we do, there is no way to determine whether it is synonymous with any other word. Untruth is not as useful as truth, and often causes harm. That much we can agree on. But “crime” usually designates an act punishable ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 7, 2021:

@Word I am refering to all religion as a whole. Even including pseudo religions such as the arts.

Is religion the same thing as crime ?

skado comments on Feb 6, 2021:

The world hasn’t agreed on a definition of “religion” yet. So until we do, there is no way to determine whether it is synonymous with any other word. Untruth is not as useful as truth, and often causes harm. That much we can agree on. But “crime” usually designates an act punishable ...

Fernapple replies on Feb 6, 2021:

Agreed, no one has agreed on a definition of religion, which is why everyone, including me, is free to use their own, and in this case, I am defining it as every part of culture which is not philosophy or science, using philosophy to mean any thought system which respects logic. And I have no wish to outlaw religion, that would be like saying. "let us outlaw roads, because people commit road crimes." And anyway, in this case I am refering to moral crime, not legal crime. Though of course the two are intimately related, and the destructive effect that religion has on morallity, no doubt leads to legal crime in many cases..

I’ve become a fan of YouTube (only for viewing) and I saw a crazy show.

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2021:

In the UK a person who wanted to talk to the Prime Minister, once mailed themselves to Number Ten Downing Street.

Fernapple replies on Feb 5, 2021:

@JackPedigo Yes if I remember right, they were received by the police officer on the door, but the Pm did come out for a photo call.