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?

TN State Rep. Argues Einstein Would Teach Creationism

Why are so many Christians, so hell bent on creating controversy in scientific subjects like evolution, when in fact, within the real scientific community, there is absolutely no other competing scientific theory that can even raise a single formidable argument against evolution as being a fact? I believe the answer is quite simple, science (knowledge), which proves that all of the complex life forms that we currently see here on earth today (including humans), all evolved from simpler life forms and over billions of years – and then that fact, simply lays to waste those silly and deluded, childlike stories of creation contrived and written in the bible by ignorant man. In the real scientific community, any essence of truth contained in these latest of creation fairytales contained within the bible, have long ago been debunked and put to rest -- and this new “god” in the “bible,” has now also taken its proper place alongside the countless other silly figments of mans imagination, and the ones derived from his own pure and unadulterated ignorance – Thor, Zeus, Ra…, etc, have all been consigned to the scrapheap for man’s worthless ideas, and now the fact is that science has now reserved a special place right beside them for both the new “god” and his “son” “jesus.”



Why is it so hard for Christians to accept the scientific fact that humans and apes all evolved from a common ancestor? They believe that this latest one of the 1000s of god(s) that have been contrived over human history by man, simply created man in his own image, and created man and everything including the whole universe, and all within 6 days. When in fact, science has found no evidence for any single one of the 1000s of god(s), of which the only premise for their existence, are all only rooted in fantasy and superstition contrived from the human mind – the facts are that science is real, and god(s) are not real; however, reality means very little within the minds of deluded.


The fact is that science will never again turn to god(s) in seeking answers or truth – we will never again turn to the bible for answers when confronted with a pandemic or an outbreak of a new disease. Through science we now have an understanding of what causes medical conditions such as epilepsy, and we no longer prescribe “treatments” like exorcisms and other superstitious bullshit, which were all derived from religion and the ignorant bullshit that man had written in the bible. Yet, there are those who simply can’t accept the fact that the world has moved on – the distance between our understanding of the world 2000 years ago, and our current understanding of our world through science today, can only be expressed in light-years.






So just how far will the most profoundly deluded of those who carry this mind rotting virus of ignorance and stupidity go, in resisting the reality that their religious beliefs are based on nothing more than ignorant and mindless bullshit? They have simply become willfully deceitful and started telling outright lies -- they are now claiming Albert Einstein as a Christian:











The facts are that even some of the new religious have moved away from these simply childlike arguments that the creation myth in the bible somehow holds equal weight against the real science of evolution. Even the catholic church that had resisted any and all science which had conflicted with its own “divine authority” in these matters, has accepted the science of evolution as a fact, and in less time that it took them to accept the reality that they were wrong about the earth being flat, and an earth centric universe, or the fact that pathogens, and not fucking “demons,” are the cause of sickness. 



What is currently going on in the Tennessee House of Legislation (Tennessee House of Delusion) is appalling on so many levels. For one, creationism is not by any stretch of the imagination a real science – creationism is a fixed set of false beliefs (delusion), which are solely based on non-testable conjecture written in an old book of other fairytales (the bible); and fairytales that real science has already laid to rest many times over.
 
 

This is your brain on creationism:

I grew up constantly hearing about the “good news,” and about just how loving and wonderful their “god” was, and just how wonderful all of “god’s” “creations” were. I had heard that god had “created” the universe and the earth, and all within 6 days, simply by speaking; and I had heard that everything which “god” had created, had a purpose and a reason, and that “god” had seen all of his work as being good, great even -- everything was a part of “god’s” plan, or so I was told.

Then one day when a friend and I, were watching one of those Sunday Christian nature shows on television about fish, a little fish who used a spot on their fins (the red drum fish) that looked like an eye, to fool the bigger fish who were trying to eat them into believing that their fin was actually their head, and then when the bigger fish tries to attacks the smaller fish’s fin, the smaller fish simply laughs, and says: “I fooled you, you big stupid fish,” and then the little fish swims away (okay, this was of those Sunday morning Christian TV shows for young children – we were both about 10 or 11 years of age at the time).


The narrator went on to say that “god” had “created” this little fish and gave the fish the spot on its fin, so that the fish could use its little gift to escape from larger predators – and just like “god” had given humans legs so we could run away from danger (god had designed this fish, and his fin). Both this kid and his grandmother exclaimed: “wow, god is so smart, and “he’s” so great – what man could have ever thought of doing that?”


Even at the young age of ten, I had already totally dismissed the biblical story of “creation,” and the story of the “great flood,” and the story of the” virgin-born” “savior” as being totally contrived bullshit. However, I hadn’t yet, totally dismissed the notion that some other “god-like” being might exist, but I found this fish story, was just a little too fishy for me to believe – but for most noncritical “thinking” Christians, “god” did it was the only true answer – and then if one would question “god’s” handy little fish work, then they ask: “if god didn’t do it, then who did?” And even at age ten, I found this “then who did it" question, was the wrong question to be asking, the more logical question would be what caused this fish to have this spot in the first place, and why? However, most devout Christians believe that questioning any of “god’s” “infallible” “word” is a “sin,” and a “sin” that will earn you a one-way trip to “hell” (you wouldn’t believe how many times that I was told that I would be burning in “hell,” and simply for questioning the deluded bullshit that is written in the bible).


This fishy situation was one of the things that drove my interests in science. I wanted to learn just how this fish had gotten this spot, and understand why – and what was the big deal about a fish having a spot on its fin in the first place – and not simply believe that some fucking “god’ did it. It would take me a few more years before I fully understood why this fish has this spot, and the answers were even simpler than “god did it.’ The spot on this fish’s fin is simply the result of a gene mutation that happened in one its ancestors eons ago. This gene mutation was then passed on to its offspring and then passed on to their offspring and so on. And because this spot fooled so many of this spotted fish’s predators, more of the spotted fish were able to live to maturity, and then pass on the spot causing gene; the populations of spotted fish, then exploded – while the populations of none spotted fish declined (the spot is simply a favorable mutation - natural selection, and the survival of the fittest, or the survival of the trickiest at work, and not the work of some “god”). Is this fish even aware of the functionality of the spot on its fin? Hell no, its not, it’s just a hell of a lot easier escaping from an attack from the rear, than one from the front!


How do I know that this is a better explanation than “god did it,” because its backed up by years and years of research and countless observations – in the end, I had learned more about fish than I had even wanted to know.


There is a big difference between telling children how and what to believe, and teaching them how to learn and understand. But thinking is not held as a big asset within religion; questioning god’s word is seen as being rebellious and as an evil sin – and to some teaching evolution is one of the greatest sins of them all. They fear that children will actually start thinking for themselves, and start realizing that all of that deluded bible bullshit that has been forced upon them every since birth through fear, has all just been simply a pack of deluded lies – this is why child indoctrination is so important to the survival of the Christian-cult – just let them walk up to a well educated Japanese teen, and start spewing that deluded Christian bullshit at them (the 6,000 year old earth, dirt-man and rib-woman, the virgin-born savior…,etc…. and they’ll be in for a rude fucking awakening).


It’s one thing if someone wants to remain enslaved through fear to silly old deluded myths and silly superstitions, but it’s quite another when they try to get our government to force their deluded and asinine bullshit on others – and today, that’s just what some of these deluded morons are trying to do:






From Mother Jones:


State governments are grappling with massive budget deficits, overburdened social programs, and mountains of deferred spending. But never mind all that. For some conservative lawmakers, it's the perfect time to legislate the promotion of creationism in the classroom. In the first three months of 2011, nine creationism-related bills have been introduced in seven states—that's more than in any year in recent memory:


3. Florida

Legislation: SB 1854 would amend Florida law to require a "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution." In 2009, Florida state Sen. Stephen Wise, the bill's sponsor, rhetorically asked a Tampa radio host: "Why do we still have apes if we came from them?"


I guess that it doesn’t matter to these deluded idiots and morons, that creationism has already been ruled as a religion by a federal court judge, and that it has no place in our public schools?

Christian “rock-brain” science – and why my son stopped debating with Christians:

I learned a new term (Christian rock-brain science) last month while watching a video of my son explaining why he no longer debates with Christians on the subjects of science. One of his friends from the university where he currently works, had been in a heated debate with a group young Christians, who had recently received graduate degrees in “creation biology” from a Christian university.



My son’s friend, area of study is in evolutionary biology, and having never been exposed to religious doctrine, and he simply couldn’t understand why these creation biologists, were trying bridge together the science of both cosmology and biological evolution as being the same science (this would be like saying that the same form of science one would use in studying the rings around the planet Saturn, could also be used in the study of plant biology, and the rings in trees here on earth as well).


My son said that he entered this debate, simply out of curiosity, and to help his friend explain to these Christians, the difference in the science of trying to gain insight into how the universe came into being, and the science of how life got started here on earth, and how life has evolved.


To help protect my son’s identity, I will only say that he is currently working with a team of other particle physicists, who just like the tens of thousands of other scientists all around the world, who are currently, or will be analyzing the data from the experiments that are now being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).


My son said that talking science with these “Christian scientists,” was just like trying to explain the fundamentals of science to a group of pre-school children - creation biology, starts with the same premise as that of the creation myth(s) in the bible. That some creator, created the universe, and exclusively for the purpose of creating life here on earth; and therefore that everything perceived within reality, must also be, all part of this same plan. As I watched the video of the highlights of my son’s part in this debate, it quickly became clear that these Christians had no understanding of the difference between scientific theory, and simple mindless conjecture – and they maintained the argument, that the whole vast universe was simply created for mankind to live here on earth. None of them seemed to have any real conception, of just how large the universe actually is, or the fact that it’s still expanding and growing even bigger with every second of every day. And when my son offered the fact that the universe is still expanding, as evidence supporting the fact that the universe started with a big bang – one of the Christians got up and screamed at my son: “you can’t prove any of this,” and as the other Christians wildly applauded this Christians ignorant remark. My son then simply replied: “and I can’t prove anything to a rock either – but the fact is that no one would argue, whether or not a real rock is in fact a real rock, unless they also, have a rock for a brain.” And at that point, this enraged Christian got up and slammed down a pocket sized copy of a bible on the table in front of my son and screamed: “in this bible is the word of god, and that is all of the proof that I will ever need – and you’ll remember my words today, when you’re burning in hell.” At that point after this ignorant outburst, all of the real scientists decided that it was time to end this debate with these ignorant Christian morons.


Later on in this video, my son expressed that he felt extremely sad for these young Christians, as some of them, had wasted up to 4 years of their lives, learning this mindless and worthless bullshit, and now this was the best that they could do, in a debate with real scientists?






I received this video in a large packet of videos and other stuff that our sons had worked on, and put together last summer, as a gift for my fiftieth birthday - and I must say that this is the best birthday gift, that I have ever received!


This was the first time that I have seen my son in a heated debate with deluded and ignorant, Christian idiots and morons, and the first time I noticed, that he does the same thing that I used to do, when I had ignorant Christians spewing their deluded bullshit at me – he just sat there, with a wide grin on his face. Today, if I would have been there in my son’s position, that video would have been filled with words like: “you ignorant Christian motherfuckers” and the debate would have only lasted about 5 minutes, before it had turned into a fucking brawl!


What I still find the most astounding is what Christians and other religious people, simply can’t seem to understand, is the fact that science has long ago dismissed the relevance in which any of these manmade god(s) and creation myth(s), play in the role of life and the universe – man simply created god(s) and all of these silly stories of creation – and science is no longer looking for who created the universe, and if it was created just for us. Today, we are simply trying to gain real insight into how the universe came into being – and as scientists, today we fully understand that whatever or whoever may have started it all, as humans, we are all just along for the ride – and we’re not trying to understand which “god” is in the driver’s seat either, we are simply trying to understand, what’s doing the driving,






The person giving the presentation of the LHC in the video below is a bright and rising star, in the world of particle physics (Brian Cox). Well worth watching!

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. 

My Sunday sermon – teaching Christians reality – where do we start?

Dear Christian parents


Do you ever wonder why you never hear of any scientific research tracing the animal migrations after the great flood? Do you ever wonder why you never see any scientific studies analyzing the DNA of the Chiniess people, in attempting to determine which one of Noah’s children that they were the most closely related too – or do you ever wonder which one of Noah’s children that you might even be the most closely related? And if you are a child, do you ever wonder what types of pet dinosaur that your distant relatives, might have played with when they were your age?


If you are a reasonable and intelligent adult, then you already know the answers to the above questions – and if your child is over the age of 9 years old and is still pondering questions about pet dinosaurs, then you are simply raising a little moron – and you are probably proud of it.

When I hear Christians saying that creationism should be taught alongside real science, and then just let the child decide which one to believe, I find at least 2 problems in that kind of thinking, or lack thereof – for one that would not be teaching – why would someone want something taught to children, which has not even one gram of evidence to back it up? The other problem that I have with this asinine and ignorant thinking – as a parent, I spent most of my time teaching our children real science - why should we as atheist parents have to waste valuable time that we could be teaching our children something useful, debunking total bullshit – this is why we don’t let our older children decide if they want to continue to believe in Santa either.


As far as teaching our children bronze aged mythology in the public schools as competing theories with evolutionary theory, and then why just then stop with the Christian-God – why not also teach them about the Egyptian-God(s) as well. Amun the Egyptian God, who created the universe while masturbating, and as he shot-off, and then painted the stars with his ejaculate (talk about a real milky way).


As Christians, you wouldn’t want your children being taught this asinine bullshit as science, and no more than I would want it taught to my children – and I feel the same way about deluded morons wanting to teach my children any other silly myths as well – like the one where your “God,” made the first man from the dirt in a garden, and then made the first woman out of his rib.




Open your eyes Christians, and stop trying to spread your mind-virus – not all of us, take pride in your ignorance – then join the rest of us in reality!




Amen

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!