Sane: Terry Pratchett

The current state of knowledge can be summarized thus: In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded.

-Terry Pratchett

Sane: Terry Pratchett

The current state of knowledge can be summarized thus: In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded.

-Terry Pratchett

Not a religion

Lick> religion should not involve itself with politics. this includes christians, muslims and atheists.
rebotfc> athiesm isn't a religioin. Just like not playing chess isn't a hobby.
chiko> Well you could always make a hobby out of debating on how chess is a stupid game.

Sane: Barrak Obama

Brad324@digg.com:
Two observations from this video..
1. Obama can't rap.
2. I very much want to bone Scarlett Johanssen

Bull

Just to be clear, I normally value the life of a human being higher than the life of an animal. But I think we’d all agree that the best animal is better than the worst human. Bulls usually mind their own business. All they want to do is eat, poop, and hump anything that moos. As a man, I respect the clarity of their missions. On the other hoof, a matador is a guy who didn’t have enough people skills to be promoted to serial killer. Honestly, I don’t see how anyone can root for the human in this situation.

Scott Adams (Dilbert)

Barak Obama

Given the increasing diversity of America’s population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians within our borders, who’s Christianity would we teach in the schools? James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Levitacus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage so radical that it’s doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application?

This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

This may be difficult for those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of the possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

Not sane.

This was posted on a creationist message board.

One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn’t possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

Is God playing dice with Einstein?

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." -- Albert Einstein

About Richard Dawkins new book, The God Delusion

"Still, I suppose I shouldn't be so ungrateful. You have written a magnificent book that nails once and for all the jelly of religion to the tree of logic. I feel like I've read the diary of another who dared to think things the rest of the world seems to be ashamed by... you have made an old man very happy by clearly, fairly and absolutely placing the current clouds of mystical guff in the fan of common-sense. I need a lottery win and I shall then get a copy of 'The God Delusion' into every hotel room in the world..." -An Injured Fan

Sane: Sam Harris

"Given the astounding number of galaxies and potential worlds arrayed
overhead, the complexities of life on earth and the advances in our
ethical discourse over the last 2,000 years, the world's religions
offer a view of reality that is now so utterly impoverished as to
scarcely constitute a view of reality at all."
- Sam Harris

Not Sane: Joseph Ratzinger

Sigmund Freud first identified a phenomenon called “the narcissism of small differences.” He argued you are more likely to hate somebody who is very, very similar to you than somebody who is drastically different. This week, Freud’s principle has been demonstrated with cruelly plodding logic across the world: in the Bavarian lecture where God’s Rottweiller finally slipped his leash, in the bullets fired into a nun’s back in Somalia, and in a gaggle of jihadis rallying outside Westminster Abbey with banners saying “Execute the Pope.”
Read More...

Sane: Bruce Schneier

"The surest defense against terrorism is to refuse to be terrorized. Our job is to recognize that terrorism is just one of the risks we face, and not a particularly common one at that. And our job is to fight those politicians who use fear as an excuse to take away our liberties and promote security theater that wastes money and doesn't make us any safer." -Bruce Schneier

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0609.html

Sane: Penny Arcade

You may be wondering what happened to the lever that regulates the amount of fan-service that flows into a given strip. This lever has been tugged free of the housing. You can only pull it in the open air now, and it does nothing to staunch the flow. Before this thing is over, you motherfuckers will need scuba gear.
--Tycho

Best Quote ever.

The jury believed the Atheists. Unanimously.

The night of the verdict, tornados of unusual violence descended on the panhandle of Oklahoma. The home of the Principal who had brought the false charges against Chuck Smalkowski [Athiest] was severely damaged.

This fact has no relationship whatsoever to the verdict.

Read More..

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Will Ruin Society

http://bligbi.com/2006/06/30/10-reasons-gay-marriage-will-ruin-society/

* Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
* Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
* Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
* Straight marriage has been around long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
* Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
* Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
* Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
* Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
* Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
* Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.