If the Church of Scientology were to start preaching Science it would be worth listening to what ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 17, 2022:

That's a conversation I would actually welcome (unlike the wacko, superstitious nonsense the proselytizers usually spout).

I’ve pretty much been single since my ex wife wandered off in 2009.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

Yup, I'm the same way. I won't even date anyone who identifies as Christian.

A shared delusion led to an 'exorcism' that killed a 3-year-old girl

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

I remember a story I heard out of Mexico back in the 70s. There was a drought and this farmer's corn crop was failing, so he took his young son out to the field and sacrificed him to some Aztec god.

The Future

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

Ever seen the movie GATTACA?

Which of these do you believe the Earth to be?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

The Earth will be alright. It's ourselves we have to worry about.

There is a serious possibility that the US will have to face this question if not now, sometime in ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

First, "risk" does not mean certainty. Second, what is meant by "nuclear war?" Full scale Armageddon? Or limited use of tactical weapons? I don't think it's worth destroying all complex life on Earth to stop Putin, but I seriously doubt that it will come to that. I do think that we should never give in to a crooked little thug.

Putin's murderous rabble was let loose on Bucha.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 16, 2022:

Having been found guilty of war crimes by the ICC in The Haige, poison him with polonium 210, as he has done to so many others.

I recently met with an old friend of the last 59 years.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

I have a friend and former colleague who is an evangelical Christian. We were both science teachers when he revealed to me that he did not believe Darwin's theory of evolution was A) a valid explanation of the origin of species, B) supported by a vast and growing mass of evidence, and C) almost universally accepted by scientists the world over. He admitted that his religious belief was guiding his thinking on this matter of science. I told him he had better take another look at it, and that until he did he would be doing his students a disservice. We did not communicate much or at all for some time after that (we taught in different schools, so this was natural). When we finally did meet up again (for a long hike in the back country) he told me that his thinking on Darwin had shifted 180 degrees. I was very gratified to know that I had had a role in making a better teacher and very proud of my friend for showing mental flexibility and the ability to grow.

I recently met with an old friend of the last 59 years.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

We'll all miss you here when you're gone, Walt. Your old buddy? Not so much.

Julian Assange said this

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

Assange was reckless and put people's lives in jeopardy. And he succeeded in doing nothing more than furthering the aims of Vladimir Putin. We can see how that worked out.

The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

Why wouldn't people be happier after stepping out from under the oppression of an invented, imaginary, morally twisted, vengeful, angry god and his earthly army of sycophants?

Why was the popular vote so close in the US presidential election?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

The popular vote in the 2020 election was not close. Biden won by over 7 million votes (about a 10% margin of victory).

How do you feel about Parler being removed from the Internet?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

Facebook and other platforms have not done nearly enough to tamp down the proliferation of disinformation. And it's clear that Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg) made a conscious decision to prioritize profits over the good of the country.

What did Trump do, if anything, to incite violence?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

Trump stirred up anger with false claims of election fraud, implemented a plan to interfere with the certification of electoral college votes, told people to "fight like hell" before sending them marching to the Capitol, advocated beating up protesters at his rallys (and said he would pay the legal fees), and brought white nationalism into the mainstream with comment like "very fine people" applied to white nationalists who chanted "Jews will not replace us," beat up counter-protesters, and drove a car at high speed into a crowd, killing one person and injuring many others. Trump definitely incited violence. Which is typical of cowards like him; he would NEVER put his own body on the line.

Putin "Very Ill With Blood Cancer" Russian Oligarch Recorded Saying | The Independent

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 15, 2022:

Boy, that would be swell if it's true.

Margaret Atwood Once Thought 'Handmaid's Tale' Was 'Too Far-Fetched.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

Having grown up with the feminist movement churning all around me, it is somewhat surprising to see so many women embracing the current patriarchal project. However, I probably should not be too surprised. Women played a big role in killing the Equal Rights Amendment.

Buffalo shooting: Police on the scene of "active multiple shooting" at supermarket - CNN

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

Apparently there was a good guy with a gun, and he was not able to stop the bad guy with a gun. So much for well-dressed Wayne's wacko theory.

Green Groups Push DeJoy to Hand Over Secret Documents From Polluting Truck Deal

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

Finally tying a can to old Louis? That is good news!

Louisiana Court drops charges against pastor who ignored COVID restrictions

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

Of course they let him off! There is no political gain in enforcing laws protecting public health in an environment where whatever happens is God's will.

If budgets are moral documents, what does the US budget say about ours?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

The problem is that all the formula is made by only a few big manufacturers. If one goes down, boom! You have a shortage. Those same big US players lobbied Congress to get laws passed that protect their market shares from foreign competition. So now it's hard to augment the supply from abroad. This is the American way: the rich and powerful making sure they stay rich and powerful. The same dynamic is at work with big pharma and drug prices. So much for all their blather about free markets, and Adam Smith's invisible hand.

A Christian school had kids write letters persuading a friend to stop being gay

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

They (Christians) will never give up thinking that being gay is an aberration, and not just another expression of the natural diversity within the human population. The scary thing is that they (Christians), with their benighted "morality" and atavistic impulses, want to run the effing country.

Actress Olivia Munn on Instagram Mother’s Day 2022, her first Mother’s Day “Thank you to ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 14, 2022:

Simple pleasures are often the best. 🙂

Do you agree that religious morality "comes down from savage ages" like Bertrand Russell said in ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 13, 2022:

I think Russel correctly identified the origin of so-called religious morality. If he could see what is going on today in Ukraine and Yemen and in the halls of the US Congress, I think he might agree that we are still living in savage ages.

I have a question that no Christian I have ever asked can answer.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 13, 2022:

Are you sure they're not just tattoos artfully designed to look like belly buttons? 😂

Words of Wisdom from Carl Everett: "God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 13, 2022:

If the Creation story is to be believed, dinosaurs and humans existed on Earth at the same time. There are "creation museums" around the country that depict humans sharing time and space with dinosaurs. Question: how was it that Noah could be so diligent and so thorough as to get the smallest critters like beetles and skinks aboard the ark, and yet forget the dinosaurs. How do you miss a dinosaur?

God, Dark Matter and Falling Cats: A Conversation with 2022 Templeton Prize Winner Frank Wilczek - ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 13, 2022:

Fritjof Capra wrote an excellent book about the similarities between modern physics and Taoism. The title is "The Tao of Physics." I highly recommend it.

Piece Of Shit Republican Dr Oz Claims To Be A Vegetarian.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 13, 2022:

Maybe we'll all get lucky and he'll shoot himself in the foot (rhetorically, with his base).

The naked truth.....

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 12, 2022:

I'll just point out that the academic achievements of students in many Asian (and European) countries are putting many American students in the shade.

If a fertilized egg is a person, then why don't we celebrate conception days instead of birthdays?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 11, 2022:

Maybe it's because if we celebrated conceptions it would remind us of all the ones that God (the world's most active abortionist) killed off before they were ever born.

While the opposite is true in the US, Non-Christian Europe: ‘Christianity as default is gone’...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 11, 2022:

Europeans look at the US with its Bible-thumping Evangelical Christians and just shake their heads.

A rural Kansas town voted to remove "In God We Trust" from police cars

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 10, 2022:

The mayor apparently is having second thoughts. I wonder how much of that is just him playing politics. To my mind, including the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, repeted daily in public schools, should also be disallowed. When that happens, then I will know that progress is being made.

A rural Kansas town voted to remove "In God We Trust" from police cars

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 10, 2022:

That's progress! 😂

A scientific study that verifies many of the things many atheists already think about how religious ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 10, 2022:

So the twin that was brought up ina strict religious household scored 16 IQ points lower than her sister who was brought up in a more free-thinking household. That is interesting. Not proof of anything, but still interesting. It could be that religious indoctrination negatively affects cognitive ability by training the person to not think critically. If one develops the mental habit of accepting dogmas without question, that may tamp down curiosity across the board. If you can always fall back on the easy answer that God did it, or that it was God's will, and God is by definition inscrutable, then why bother thinking deeply about why things are the way they are or happen the way they happen? More study is required!

UK Scientist Says Dobbs Lawyers Misinterpreted His Work in SCOTUS Case

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 9, 2022:

Misrepresenting science is not an anomaly, it's not a one-off, it's not an accident or a mistake. No. It's a tried and true modus operandi of the GOP for extending the profits of big tobacco, big oil, and furthering the theocratic agenda of Evangelical Christians.

Abortion Ruling: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 9, 2022:

.Hear him! "...I can't defend the [electoral] system, but it's the one we've got." VOTE!

Heather Cox Richardson I told this story here two years ago, but I want to repeat it tonight, as ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 9, 2022:

Happy Mothers' Day 🙂

Indiana Republican Wins Primary Despite Being Jailed on Murder Charges - Rolling Stone

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

Love the happy cat! 🐯

The business of religion

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

The suffering of innocents is one of the strong arguments against the existence of God.

With all of the disgusting actions of believers in our government and elsewhere, I think it is time ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

I wholeheartedly agree! I was just saying that we should elect a young, dynamic, lefty comedian to the presidency.

This Police-Pastor Alliance Is America's Most Tyrannical - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

This pastor demonstrates the rank hypocrisy of so many Christians, and the bias often apparent in government agencies. I hope the protester wins his case in court.

Did I mention that I'd fail miserably at trying to leave agnostic.com for a week?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

Hey, you could do worse than to hang out here. But I admire your struggle with addiction. Hang in there homie. 😎

😁👋 Just thought I'd wander in here and leave an op-ed I read earlier.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 8, 2022:

And the author lives in Canada! Imagine jow the rest of us must feel! 😂 Much of what he says is true. But there is also a bit of dramatic hyperbole. For instance, the idea that Trump's Big Lie, or white supremacism, or Q Anon, or any of the other loony brain farts associated with trumpism is now mainstream is only partly true. Wacko conspiracy theories have joined the mainstream, are now part of the mainstream, but are definitely not THE mainstream. A majority of Americans are still reasonable people who maintain a healthy skepticism about all things Trump. We still believe in democracy, rule of law, honesty, fair play, and the potential for this country to be great. We also remember that this country's progress toward a more perfect union has always been halting, spasmodic, and aggravatingly slow. Yet progress has been made, and will continue to be made. We are going through a rough patch right now, but not the roughest one. We will get through this. Things will get better. They always do.

New Rule: The Misinformation Age | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 7, 2022:

A lie can go round the world while the truth is lacing up its boots. So wait 24 hours before making up your mind about the latest "news."

My wife asked if she could have a little peace and quiet while she cooked dinner.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 7, 2022:

😂😂😂

Satanic Temple follows ‘Judeo-Christian’ group’s SCOTUS win with flag request The Satanic ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 7, 2022:

I'm betting that Boston will fly the flag...for as brief a time as they can get away with. 😂

Vladimir Putin is an atheist, but he's not above using churches and religion to persuade and control...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 6, 2022:

The titular head of a Christian Church gives the stamp of approval to genocide. Another shining example of religious hypocrisy!

But God Didn’t Say That: Religious Community Members Talk God and Abortion - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 6, 2022:

People tend to hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see. I'm so glad to hear even the Catholic admit that no mention of abortion is made in the Bible, and that the Church's stance was developed by a bunch of "celibate" men, a patriarchy with no personal experience in matters of reproduction. If the polls are correct, a sizeable majority of Americans think that abortion should be legal. So sending the decision back to the states will kick off spirited debates all over the country. Republicans stand to lose a lot of state legislatures and governorships. This could be a game changer.

Nearly 15M deaths associated with COVID-19, World Health Organization says

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 6, 2022:

SarsCoV2 was not even the worst possible virus. There are hundreds of other pathogens out there that are worse, just waiting for an opportunity. If people think they can skip the vaccine for the next bug, we could easily see a much greater loss of life.

I found this article through Google News and I thought many would find this interesting, especially ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 6, 2022:

I am not at all surprised to learn that abortion has been practiced throughout the ages. Women have always been up against difficulties in bearing and rearing children. An unplanned pregnancy at the wrong time might actually limit a family's chances of success or even survival. And knowledge of certain herbs was not uncommon.

Mrs. Betty Bowers the best Christian. [youtu.be]

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 5, 2022:

Funny! I especially appreciated the part about miscarriages... God is "America's most industrious abortionist." 🤣🤣🤣

Have you returned to exercising in a gym during the pandemic?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 5, 2022:

No, I never had a gym membership. I prefer to be outdoors, hiking or riding my bike or sailing my sailboat. I do have an old set of dumbbell weights. I use them to stretch out my pants. I have gained a little weight, and my pants are a little tight. So I clamp one end of my jeans waistband to a hook in the ceiling and 20 pounds to the other end. I spray a little water on the waistband to relax the cotton fibers a little. I usually leave the pants hanging for at least 24 hours. 😂

THE LONG, LUCRATIVE, AND BLOODY ROAD TO WORLD WAR III for American citizens & their NATO sycophants?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 5, 2022:

😂😂😂 Nice try Igor, but it won't fly. Mad Bad Vlad is not going to get away with genocide in Europe. We will not be deterred by your idle threats. We will see this through to the end. Russia will leave Ukraine and pay reparations for the damage it has caused. PS: I would take Kieth over Vlad any day.

The Satanic Temple requests that Boston fly its flag after Supreme Court ruling - CNNPolitics

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 5, 2022:

🤣🤣🤣 I ❤️ it!

A teacher tore down a non-Christian verse on her classroom "prayer wall"

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 5, 2022:

What's the matter? Can't stand the competition?

Recovering from COVID-19.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

Keep up the good work!

Sam Harris - Taking the Redpill on Freewill | Joe Rogan - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

Free will: now there's an old, old debate topic. There is something to what he says. What we think, say, and do is obviously shaped by our culture, environment, experience, and neural wiring. Any yet I cannot help but think that I have choices, that I make executive decisions that may cut across all those other factors. Is my sense of freedom, limited though it may be, just an illusion? I don't think so.

Listening to The God delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

It's a good book. I should probably read it again 😂

Who the hell is your dealer?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

That was before inflation spiked 🤣

Seth Andrews of "The Thinking Atheist Podcast" interviewed Dr.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

I ride my Schwinn Cruiser to Sprouts, the Post Office, or the bank....or go for a longer ride on my mountain bike, or hike to the top of a local mountain, or walk around a lake, or walk along the embarcadero, or take my sailboat out on the bay (did that one yesterday; today is looking like a Sprouts run) 😊

I'm a member of The Satanic Temple and got outed at work — Ask a Manager

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

So much for constitutionally-protected rights. They only protect you from the government (on a good day), not from private citizens.

I'm a member of The Satanic Temple and got outed at work — Ask a Manager

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

So much for constitutionally-protected rights. They only protect you from the government, not from private citizens.

‘Diet Coke was spewing everywhere’: Alligator crashes a pre-birthday party in Florida ｜ Miami ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 4, 2022:

See ya later,.......constitutional rights! Bet you thought I was going to say something that rhymes with later. Well that's just not where my head's at right now. Go figure. 🐊

([dailykos.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 3, 2022:

These guys are complete idiots. And, in typical imbecile fashion, they have taken a few of Darwin's words completely out of context, twisting them in a direction opposite to his intent. Here is the full text from which the morons drew the quote in their video clip: "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Yet reason tells me that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound. In looking for the gradations by which an organ in any species has been perfected, we ought to look exclusively to its lineal ancestors; but this is scarcely ever possible, and we are forced in each case to look to species of the same group, that is to the collateral descendants from the same original parent-form, in order to see what gradations are possible, and for the chance of some gradations having been transmitted from the earlier stages of descent, in an unaltered or little altered condition. Amongst existing Vertebrata, we find but a small amount of gradation in the structure of the eye, and from fossil species we can learn nothing on this head. In this great class we should probably have to descend far beneath the lowest known fossiliferous stratum to discover the earlier stages, by which the eye has been perfected. In the Articulata we can commence a series with an optic nerve merely coated with pigment, and without any other mechanism; and from this low stage, numerous gradations of structure, branching off in two fundamentally different lines, can be shown to exist, until we reach a moderately high stage of perfection. In certain crustaceans, for instance, there is a double cornea, the inner one divided into facets, within each of which there is a lens-shaped swelling. In other crustaceans the ...

Supreme Court Has Voted To Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows - POLITICO

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 3, 2022:

Well this is the realization of the religious right's dreams. And they have Moscow Mitch and Don Cheato to thank for it. Welcome to the American theocracy. Let's hope it doesn't progress to theocratic autocracy. 😐

Anyone who's been on friendster or myspace is laughing at the desperate attempts to "save" Facebook ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

I really do not give a shit if Facebook and Twitter disappear down down a Florida sinkhole. In fact, if they suck Mar-a-Lago in after them that would be a definite plus. 🤣

Environmental Racism: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

I love John Oliver! Bill Maher too. And Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert. (And I'm not gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that.) 🤣 I hate pollution. Does that make me a tree hugger? Yes? Okay! 😎👍 I hate racism too. Does that make me a liberal snowflake? Okay! 🥶

Monologue: Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

I love Bill Maher. John Oliver too. And Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert. (And I'm not gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that.) 🤣

She shot a TEEN in the FACE.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

I wonder how a good guy with a gun would have stopped this bad gal with a gun. Question for Wayne LaPierre.

0.0% of Icelanders 25 years or younger believe God created the world, poll reveals | Icelandmag

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

What an enlightened group of young people. 😀 I wonder if all the active volcanoes they have there, and all the earthquakes due to their position right on a tectonic plate boundary, has stimulated the study of science (especially geology) in their culture. 🤔 In any case, hooray for them! 🥳

Anyone who's been on friendster or myspace is laughing at the desperate attempts to "save" Facebook ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

It seems that natural selection operates at many different levels.

U.S. Supreme Court backs Christian group in Boston flag flap | Reuters

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

Boston should have seen that one coming. It was stupid of them to open up the flagpole to all comers. At least they appear to have learned the lesson.

A Christian college punished a sexual assault victim for having premarital sex

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 2, 2022:

Yikes! What warped values that college has! Ugh!

Up until 5 years ago I was a die hard, Bible thumping , conservative Christian who was a staunch ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 1, 2022:

Congratulations on your liberation from superstition, and welcome to the global community of free thinkers! 🙂

From inside sources... You heard it here first

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 1, 2022:

Why worry? Well, on false pretenses, he started a war the destabilized the whole Middle East, cost trillions of dollars, and killed hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of Americans.

I can't keep track of everything/ everyone around here @ Agnostic.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

I blocked him a couple weeks ago. I didn't see any point in interacting with him any more. He was only bringing hate and vitriol, and could not even be cajoled into saying why he was pissed off. He only had ad hominem attacks. It's like he's got a screw loose. I kinda feel sorry for him.

Today, I learned a little about Mennonites.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

Quakers can get conscientious objector status. And the Moslem Mohamed Ali (the boxer formerly known as Cassius Clay) was ultimately vindicated in his conscientious objector claim. I bet an atheist could successfully claim it too.

Modified version: .

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

Wouldn't it be possible for Eric to hunt god but never capture and eat her? Just playing devil's advocate 😂

PUBLIC PRAYER The problem with public ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

I agree: prayer in a government setting (e.g. a public school or city council meeting) and invoking any god, even if non-denominational, is unconditional. And I would appreciate it if religious folk would refrain from making a show of their piety in public, or erecting religious symbols (e.g. crosses) on high hills where one cannot help but see them.

Airing This Sunday May 1

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

I look forward to seeing the whole 60 Minutes piece 😂 I wonder how many Republicans will actually think that birds aren't real. 🤔

How the NYT botched its coverage of the Supreme Court’s football prayer case

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

The question now is, is Liptak just a sloppy reporter, or does he have a hidden agenda?

New Rule: American Kleptocracy | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 30, 2022:

Hopefully the government will be able to recover a good portion of the stolen funds (and prosecute the theives).

Is it too much to ask?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 29, 2022:

I second that emotion!

One of god's mysterious ways

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 29, 2022:

The sun does not "burn." It's a giant ball of hydrogen, so massive that its own gravity causes a series of fusion reactions where atoms combine to form heavier elements. A lot of energy is given off in the process. Do Christians believe something else? 😂

Conservatives Will Use the Fight Over Prayer in Schools to Attack Diversity

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 29, 2022:

Diversity is central to what human beings are. Diversity enriches us and makes us stronger. It makes no sense to attack diversity. Alas, many fear what they do not understand.

EU: You can't use our payment system anymore Russia: OK then, if you want something from us, ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 28, 2022:

Russia is trying to get around the EU's sanctions by trying to force payment in rubles for Russian gas. (Those sanctions are completely justified. Russia invaded a European country, and is carrying out a bloody genocide there.) The EU refused to render its own sanctions toothless, so Putin retaliates by threatening to cut off the EU's gas supply. In other words, Putin is trying to extort a capitulation from the EU. Another word for extortion is "blackmail." Putin's blackmail is apparently not going to work. The EU is not buckling. They are prepared to do without Russian fuel. This is a good thing for two reasons: (1) Putin will be deprived of an important revinue source, making it more difficult for him to realize his imperial fever dream of denying the Ukrainian people of their right to exist. And (2) cutting off the gas supply will spur movement toward green energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal energy. We are hurtling toward a climate catastrophe, and this will help us avoid a global disaster. Gotta love it! 😍

These 10 "non-commandments" seem reasonable to me. How about you?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 27, 2022:

I approve this message. I don't know who wrote it but it gets two thumbs up from me. 😎👍👍

Christian show 'The Chosen' vandalizes its own billboards to generate buzz

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 27, 2022:

Playing the martyr card again huh? I am not moved.

Christian show 'The Chosen' vandalizes its own billboards to generate buzz

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 27, 2022:

Playing the martyr card again huh? I am not moved.

Who agrees?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 27, 2022:

I agree with some of it. But if free speech in the USA were really as restricted as she (the author) makes out, we would never have seen her article. The problem is that there is a glut of information, and each voice has to compete for attention. Money makes all the difference. Believing that Musk is some kind of saviour is just religion. What the world needs is a healthy shot of skepticism. Her best line is her last: "Superhero stories are designed to prevent us from realizing that only we the people have the power to rescue ourselves." With that I agree.

People who endorse conspiracy theories tend to be more religious, and this may be due to ideological...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 27, 2022:

It's sort of a chicken or egg question. which came first: the indoctrination in a mode of thought where evidence is not a prerequisite for belief, or belief in things fro which there is no evidence? I think that in our primitive ancestors, it was more the latter. Early hominids evolved in social groups where divining the intention of others was an advantage not only to the individual but also to his/her whole extended family group. It was no great leap to ascribe intention to natural phenomena like wind, rain, thunder, and lightening. As soon as you start seeing intention (say, expression of anger) in a phenomenon like thunder, you're off to the races with religious thinking. Then came a realization that there is a certain clockwork-like mechanism at work in the world. The days get shorter and shorter, and it gets colder and colder, and food gets scarcer and scarcer, until one day the whole trend turns around, and suddenly everything is in bloom. Repeat. Ascribe all that to the intention of a god or gods. The thought pattern is self-reinforcing when everyone in your group thinks the same way. It was only a matter of time before somebody figured out that they could use the superstitions of others to manipulate them. That's when religion really came into its own. First we had high priests playing politics, putting a stamp of approval on the king's tax law or invasion of proximal lands or elimination of rivals. Then we got televangelists collecting donations. All of it relies on providing easy answers to complex questions. It's amazing that science has made as many inroads as it has, given that it requires concerted effort of study, and sacrifice of time and resources in order for scientists to answer difficult questions and then have those answers understood by lay people. Science is fighting an uphill battle, but winning because its discoveries are so goddamn useful. Hopefully we don't blow ourselves up or destroy the ecosystems we depend on for our survival before we finally banish religious thinking to the the scrapheap of bad ideas where it belongs. 😂

The Supreme Court is about to fumble a simple church/state separation case

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 26, 2022:

Wow, this looks really bad! There are at least 6 reasons why the Supreme Court should never have agreed to hear the case. 1. The plaintiff lost in every lower court that heard the case; 2. The plaintiff's actions clearly violated the separation of church and state; he was on duty and showing off when he went onto the field to pray; 3. His actions were coercive to the players under his supervision; 4. While he was grandstanding, he was not supervising his players; 5. The District did not fire him; he was placed on paid leave, and when his contact expired, he did not apply to renew it; 6. The plaintiff moved out of the state, making him intelligible to bring a suit in that state. If the SCOTUS rules in this plaintiff's favor, that would not only be a huge blow to the constitutional separation of church and state, but also an indication that they will also overturn Roe v. Wade (which is, at bottom, also a case involving the encroachment of religion on secular territory). Theocracy here we come! And with DJT likely to steal the 2024 election if he is not safely behind bars, make that an autocratic theocracy. Or would that be theocratic autocracy? 🤔

Announcement of the death of a local but who has had a profound personal, national and even ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 25, 2022:

Here's to a life well lived! 🍷

Clearing the Air I feel it necessary to respond to a recent complaint by Ryo1 that my motive in ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 25, 2022:

I don't really care about your motivations being here. I only care about what you write while you are here.

In rejecting death row inmate's case, judge says law enforcement isn't a profession : NPR

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 25, 2022:

Semantics aside, it sounds like the Board violated its own rules. However, the guy's crime was particularly heinous, so I'm not shedding any tears over him.

Preacher: Teachers "grooming" kids should be beheaded on live TV

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 25, 2022:

There's good Christian values for you! 😵‍💫

A good point

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 24, 2022:

I'll take the Kamasutra over the Bible any day! 😂

The Untold Truth Of The Book Of Revelation - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 24, 2022:

Apocalypse Now! The movie title captures what I mean: that apocalypse is occurring to someone somewhere all the time. Take the people of Ukraine, for example...or Yemen, or South Sudan, or...

After losing his job for praying on the field, ex-high school football coach brings case to Supreme ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 24, 2022:

I don't think he should lose his job for praying on the field, and Colin Kaepernick should not have lost his for taking a knee

A bad death: the importance of truth-telling at end-of-life

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 23, 2022:

There is all too much of this in America. For too many people, the majority of their medical spending occurs at the very end of life. We have an unhealthy attitude towards death, and a system that can best be described as "sick-care," not healthcare.

The girl I'm mentoring won $35,409 in scholarships so far. Hooray!

Flyingsaucesir comments on Apr 23, 2022:

Right on! 😎👍