So what if my science is wrong? The bible is wrong – part 1:

I remember back in the 1980s when a story was circulating around within the religious community, that “genetic science,” had finally proven that the description given in the bible of “human creation,” was in fact true. That science had proven that the ancestry of every human alive on the earth today, had all been traced back to one single woman – that science had proven the story of Adam and Eve in the bible, was in fact true. The only problem was that the “proof” which they were offering, was not based on real science – in fact, in the 1980s; we simply hadn’t yet developed the technology to base such a conclusion on. So just what was the big deal about proving that the story of Adam and Eve in the bible was in fact true, and why were the religious (mainly the Christians) even willing to manufacture stories, and even tell outright lies? Because the theory of evolution was fast gaining acceptance as a fact, and without dirt man and rib woman, and the talking-snake and the original “sin” (sex) that opened up the door for every other type of “evil,” then there was also no need for a savor – the whole story about Christ dying for our sins, then all falls apart like a house of cards in the wind.



So fast forward to the twenty first century; there are mountains of evidence, which all support evolution as a fact, and with 99.999% certainty; we now know that there was never any less than 5,000 pairs of genes (10,000 almost human and human beings) involved on the road to becoming the human beings that we are today; and we now know with 99.999% certainty, that both humans and all of the great apes, all evolved from a common ancestor – so where does this leave both the stories of Adam and Eve, and the story of “our” “savor” “Jesus Christ”? It leaves them all in the dirt, where they all belonged in the first place.



You really wouldn’t think that there would be much more here to debate on this subject? But there are current debates going on among the Christian scholars:






From NPR:


According to the Bible (Genesis 2:7), this is how humanity began: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." God then called the man Adam, and later created Eve from Adam's rib.


Polls by Gallup and the Pew Research Center find that four out of 10 Americans believe this account. It's a central tenet for much of conservative Christianity, from evangelicals to confessional churches such as the Christian Reformed Church.


But now some conservative scholars are saying publicly that they can no longer believe the Genesis account. Asked how likely it is that we all descended from Adam and Eve, Dennis Venema, a biologist at Trinity Western University, replies: "That would be against all the genomic evidence that we've assembled over the last 20 years, so not likely at all."


Researching The Human Genome


Venema says there is no way we can be traced back to a single couple. He says with the mapping of the human genome, it's clear that modern humans emerged from other primates as a large population — long before the Genesis time frame of a few thousand years ago. And given the genetic variation of people today, he says scientists can't get that population size below 10,000 people at any time in our evolutionary history.


To get down to just two ancestors, Venema says, "You would have to postulate that there's been this absolutely astronomical mutation rate that has produced all these new variants in an incredibly short period of time. Those types of mutation rates are just not possible. It would mutate us out of existence."






You can click (here) or anywhere in the above text and the link will take you to NPR and the whole story – it is well worth the read.


In the video below Ken Miller (a catholic) does an excellent job of explaining of how we now know that both humans and the great apes, both evolved from a common ancestor.






I’m going to explain what all of this really means to me in part 2 of this story – but I forewarn you, it will be done in the foul mouth style of The Dyslectic Atheist! But what does this all mean to you as an atheist?

Praise the Lard, and pass the poison and the venomous snakes:

These silly and ignorant Christians, need to stop inbreeding and get some real help for their mental illness -- or “hell,” what do I know, maybe they are the only “real Christians?” maybe all Christians should all test their “faith” in this same way, it would be fun to watch anyway!   

What kind of god would tell people to kill other people because they don’t believe in your god?

The level of delusion, ignorance and stupidity in this video is just astounding; and its shameful that in the year 2011, that we still have people who behave like these ignorant people are behaving in this video – at about 1:17 this idiot asks: “what kind of god would tell people to kill other people because they don’t believe in your god?”



Well, let’s see…………………..how about your “god” in the bible, the “god” of all 3 major religions……….the evil fucking “god” in your bible, who “fathered” your “virgin-born” “savior” “Jesus.”


Ronald Reagan cut the funding for the care of our mentally-ill in the 1980s, and then gave tax cuts to the rich – yes, Reagan has been dead for awhile now, but his legacy is still alive and doing well.

The "god" in the bible demands death for those who don’t believe:  

Are We Alone in the Universe?

As far back as I can remember I would look up at the stars and wonder, just how many earth like planets that just might be out there orbiting these billions upon billions of stars. And how many of them just might have life-forms, or even have intelligent life living on them. Back in the 1970s, when I started learning about science and cosmology, through science we already had a real good understanding of how the stars were formed, including how our own star was formed – and it was believed that just about every star in the universe was formed just like our own sun. So I wondered, just how many of these stars might had formed planets out of the leftover dust and gas clouds, just like our own solar system had formed.



Back in the 1970s and 80s, we hadn’t yet developed the technologies needed to detected planets orbiting any other star outside of our own solar system; however, through science, we were almost certain that there were many other planets out there and countless other solar systems.

Then in 1995, with the discovery of the first planet orbiting a star outside of our own solar system – that added weight to another idea in which I firmly believe – that anywhere in the universe where the conditions are just right for life to exists, it most likely does exist. But what kind of life is the only question?


I personally believe that the odds of us finding other human-like life forms living on other earth-like worlds are not all that great. But still, I personally believe that the universe is simply seething with life forms, and including intelligent life. The odds that the conditions here on earth which have allowed us to evolve into what we are today, also happening anywhere else in the universe, are very slim, but not totally out of the question. And if intelligent life did or does exist, did they ever move beyond the current state that we are in today? And if so, how long did it take them to become rational, and move beyond their myths and silly religious superstitions?


One thing which goes without question is the fact that in the last 100 years, we have gained more real knowledge about life and the universe in which we live in, than in all of the other years of our human history combined. And another thing which goes without question, is the fact that we were only able to advance this far, after breaking free from the strangle hold that the church and religion had held on free thought for so many years. Just think of how much further we would have advanced by now, if 3000-4000 years ago, we had started advancing science and technology, instead of creating gods. And what will it take to drag these ignorant and deluded, religious morons into a true post dark-age era – what if we did in fact discover, radio signals or some other form of intelligent communication, beaming from another planet orbiting a distant star somewhere in the universe – would that be enough?


I personally believe that if beings from an advanced civilization, did in fact happen upon us folks living here on earth, that they wouldn’t even attempt to make contact – think about it, how many of us, go out of our way, just to avoid making contact with the religious?

Can we really trust science?

Whenever I hear Christians saying that we should teach children both intelligent design (the creation story in the bible) and evolution, and then simply let them decide which one that they choose to believe, it always takes me back to the day when I first heard the story of “Noah’s Ark” and the “great flood.” I had already learned about the dinosaurs, and how they had gone extinct over 65 million years ago, and yet, this Christian lady was telling me this horror story of how a god had flooded the earth about 4000 years ago, and killed everyone and everything on earth, with the exception of Noah’s family and the pairs of animals on his ark, and how the earth was only about 6000 years old; and just how confused that I became. Later that same day, I asked my dad which of these stories was true; was the earth 6000 years old, or was the earth millions of years old. My dad then took me outside on our front porch, and he then pointed at Mount Rainier, and he asked me if I could see all the snow and ice that was on the top of the mountain – he then told me, that even if there was enough water here on earth to cover the whole planet, and to a depth which would cover the top of Mount Rainier, that the water would have frozen, and today, the earth would simply be a dead ball of ice floating in space, and that the earth was in fact much, much older than a few thousand years.



Today, when you ask most Christians about this silly story; and with the exception of the most profoundly ignorant and deluded, most will say that this story should only be taken in a metaphorical context. So okay, then what about dirt-man and rib-woman, and the 6000 year old earth – should they be simply taken metaphorically as well, and if so, then what is left, (these silly and deluded stories, are the bedrock of 3 religions, including Christianity) isn’t it just time to throw the baby out with the bathwater then?


My point being, we shouldn’t even be teaching children this deluded thrash in church, and least of which in our public schools – there is a big difference in believing something on faith, and believing in something that can be tested and understood. I trust science because I understand science, and believe that the most important thing that we should be doing as atheists, is demanding that science be taught in our public schools with the same intensity as all of the other subjects, and stop entertaining this creation nonsense. 

Christians, penis-god(s) storks and babies:

Back when I was in my teens, and learning about religion and mythology, I came across the religion of the penis God(s). The religions which are based around the penis deities, are both many in numbers, and worship of the penis gods, are varied from simple rituals, to complex in nature. Almost all of the rituals, involved food offerings and treats, which were usually place at the base of a huge wood or stone penis, or placed in front its balls, (if it has balls I would guess) – some of the penis gods, were as tall as 30 feet in height. In some Asian cultures, it was common for young married couples, to pay the penis-god a visit, on their way home from their wedding - and then pray to this big fucking cock for children (I thought, just how in the hell, would you know, just what in the fuck a huge cock likes to eat?)

Then I was amazed to discover, that even in the 1970s, folks all over the world were still worshiping the penis gods – and in one such village somewhere in Asia, the folks believe that only the penis-god could give a couple a baby. These people lived in the South Pacific, and had been walking around nude or half nude for 1000s of years, and of course having sex and babies; but no one had made the connection between having sex and making babies – they simply believed that feeding and worshiping, a big stone cock was how they gotten their babies – I thought, WTF, even Christians are not that stupid – but, boy was I wrong!


I had a close friend who lived on the other side of town, who had a family of real weird people living next door to him. He said that he had never seen any of the children outside the house before, but he could sometimes hear them screaming in the evenings – so he knew that there were children living in the house, as well as 2 adults. Every morning he would see a man leave the house, and then return in the evenings – he said that the man would be extremely dirty when he returned home, so he thought that the man was going to his job. We would always sit in my friend’s window, and look at this house, and wonder just what might going on over there – was this family like the Adams family on TV – were there blood sucking vampires living in the house (we were both young teens, and both with over active imaginations, I guess).


Then one day my friend calls me on the phone, and tells me that the night before that there was a funeral Hurst parked in front of that house, and they had placed a dead body into the back of the Hurst – he then said that the man had left the house just like he had always done that next morning. About 3 weeks later, my friend and I were sitting in his front yard, when some children came out of the house, then walk a crossed the street , and started talking to us – there were 5 of them, 3 girls and 2 boys, and all between the ages of 14 and 23 – we learned that they were all part of a Mennonite/Pentecostal Christian cult, and that their mom had died, because she had refused to go to the hospital, while she suffered from a long illness – she simply chose to pray to Jesus (this wasn’t exactly what the children had said, but it’s what happened anyway). The children said that they had been home schooled every since birth by their mom – two of them showed us bibles that they had hand copied – their hand writing was incredible, the bibles looked like they had been made on a printing press – and they all could quote bible passages faster than an alley cat could lick its own ass.


Later on in the summer, there was this one girl who was a few years older than me, who lived in that house – who would always come around whenever I was visiting my friend, and I could see that she was hot for me. One day she asked me if she could kiss me, and I said yes, and she started kissing me all over my face. This had gotten me a little excited, and then out of my mouth flew these words, and almost as if I had Turrets Syndrome: “you and I should go and make a baby” i.e.., let’s go and fuck! As she sat there looking at me, a big smile came over her face – and I became even more excited, and hopeful even – at least she hadn’t responded, like most of the other girls that I had used this same line on, had always responded (e.g. “why don’t you just go, and fuck yourself, you little bastard”). Her big smile then turned into laughter, and she said: “I know you’re not that stupid – only God can make babies, and he only gives you one, after you’re married.” As I sat there trying to figure out, just what in the fuck that she was saying, I thought to myself: WTF, she’s almost 17, and she’s still this fucking naïve – I’m going to wax this Christian-ass, before the day is over!


I then told her, that I didn’t really want to make a baby with her – and that I only wanted to have sex with her – she then asked me to explain sex to her. She then said that she would do it, but only after both of us had asked Jesus, and she had prayed about it???


Needless to say, I never got that ass, that day, or any other. I later discovered that she and her siblings were almost never allowed to go outside of their house – their mom had thought that the world was just too evil, and Jesus could only protect them if they stayed at home. I found out that they had never owned a television – and that the only radio they had, that their mom had tuned it to Christian-radio, and then removed the tuning knob.


In hindsight, I believe that they were all suffering from mental illness – even the boys had no conception of human reproduction – one of the boys proclaimed that he wasn’t sure if he was a boy or girl – as god can make you either one that he wants to – I didn’t even ask him to explain!

My position on 26, god(s) and reality - and my respect of those who don’t respect me

I have always been a skeptic, even as a young child. When someone would tell me something that just didn’t seem to reside within our everyday realm of reality - I wouldn’t even make snap judgments, I would simply ask them for proof. And even if that person couldn’t provide any evidence at the time for backing up their claims, then I just might have even research the subject myself. However, if I felt that what they were claiming didn’t have any relevance to me anyway, then I would simply dismiss the subject and move on.




But by the time that I was in my 20s, and I had heard so much utter tripe and deluded bullshit, that I had just reach a point in my life, where I just wasn’t even open, to even entertaining any of the extraordinary claims made by others, and of those who presented them to me, and without even one shard of proof. I had already heard most of the cons before, like the “pyramid schemes,” and most of the other kinds of outright fraud. And I often wondered just how anyone could be so gullible, as to fall for any of those old tricks again. I had heard the claims of those pushing the diet pills, and the pills that they claimed, would enlarge the size of a man’s penis – someone can believe as hard as they like, that if they take a pill, which is “only sold on TV,” that it will cause them to drop 60 pounds, and even believe that they will lose the pounds, while they simply sit on their big fat ass, and eat and watch TV, or that if they believe, that by simply taking a pill, that it will add inches to the size of their penis – just because they believe that it will happen, simply isn’t going to make it happen - that is simply ignorant and deluded. They have simply bought into a world of magic realism. One can buy into the world of magical thinking and believing if they choose, and follow on blind faith anything that they like – but don’t even ask me, for my respect of your silly and deluded childlike beliefs - - as my intellect simply prevents me from feeding your delusion.


When Christians and other religious people, start telling me that I should respect their beliefs, and that I should respect their beliefs, simply because that’s what they have chosen to believe; I ask myself, why should I respect a belief, which is based on nothing more than magical realism, (simply pretending that something is real, doesn’t make it real) why should I have any respect for anything of which there is absolutely no evidence, that can even begin to provide any essence of truth whatsoever – when in reality, what they’re really asking me for, is my accepting, and then submitting to their deluded and ignorant worldview – there is a big difference between having respect for a person, and having respect for what they just happen to believe in – and anyone who demands that I respect something that they believe, and simply because they believe it, then I simply can’t have any respect for that person either. And what this all really comes down to, is I’m not going to change my worldview, just so I can garner respect for the delusion of yours - when in reality, you have absolutely no respect for my worldview at all, and you even believe that mine is evil – so in the end, I will simply choose to keep my intellect, and you can take your faith, and then shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!






John

Why is jesus missing:

As I was watching this video, I really started to understand, for the first time just why our children just love the secular Europe countries, where they have lived and went to school. In this video, a large racially diverse group of young children and young adults, simply came together and did something real cool. Then after they finish singing and some of them are being interviewed, of sorts – you find something missing – where is all of the christ-speak - and thanking “jesus,” and praising the “lord”?



These deluded Christian idiots and morons here in the states, can’t even play a football game without bringing all of their deluded Christian-bullshit to the game, and some even have to paint bible bullshit on their face – they thank their “lord” when they make a touchdown, or when they win the game, but where was they fucking “lord,” when the 1000s of poor children died while they played their fucking game?


I simply love this video – you see so much pride and joy on the faces of these children and young adults, and my hats off big-time to the Director!!!


 




 

The Universe: if God didn’t create it, who did?

I hear this question asked time after time in debates and in arguments between atheists and Christians. The premise of this question makes the assumption that everything within the framework of reality must have had a creator, and therefore, everything in the Universe must the creation of its own will. You will always hear them making assumptions like the watchmaker argument, or that 747 planes, don’t assembly themselves out of old parts in a scrap yard during a windstorms; they both have a designer, and were created by someone – so everything in the Universe must have a designer and creator also. This is a complete fallacy on so many different levels. We have many different examples of man-made planes and watches, and have no doubt as to their origins. We see in nature, all sorts of random and complex designs; from the random formation of crystals in snowflakes, to the uniqueness of our own fingerprints.

The main problems with these types of arguments are that we fully understand how planes and watches are designed and made; and we have many different designs of which, to compare. And therefore, we know, they’re all man-made. But in the case of the Universe, because we have no other Universe by which to observe, and compare to our own; we simply cannot make the same assumptions that it also must have a designer and creator. That would be like saying that no complex structures in nature can be created randomly; so we must then have cloud-pixies designing the crystals in each individual snowflake.

The fact is that only through science have we been able to gain any insight into these questions. And due to the fact, that just until recently, the church had held such an intense stranglehold on science and exploration; that we are now just beginning to gain the knowledge and understanding that we need, to begin to start answering these questions.

I often wonder, just how far general science would have advanced by now, and just how much further all the sciences would have advanced by now, including the science and our understanding of cosmology; if those who were working in the fields of science back then, hadn’t been forced to confine their research and their theories, within the views and the dogmas of the church. I think about, just how many children have been born over the past 400 years or so; who may have had the potential to become great scientists, but instead of being encouraged to strive and to learn, the reality of the natural world; but they only had their minds polluted with religious insanity and delusion, instead.

And I find it most appalling that after all the detriment to science that the churches have done in our resent past; in trying to legitimize their fairytales and myths as truths, and in silencing anyone or anything, with an opposing view, and even their willing to murder people by burning them at the stake, to keep their followers in the dark, and ignorant to the real truth – that today; we have so many who simply wish to keep their fucking heads stuck the sand, and remain ignorant and  ignore the reality of what’s been gained through the advancements in our understanding of science and the world around us. But have no problem using the same products of science to further their own ignorant agendas. 

Give it up Christians, real science doesn’t prove, that any of that deluded tripe written in the bible is true; it does, however, prove most of it, is at best false. And science was not created by god; both science and god were created by man – and the only real truth is in science; not in “god.”

You may be trying to lead yourselves and other Christians, even your own children back to the dark-ages; but we’re not going there, with you!