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:
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?
Yesterday, I broke a promise that I had made to myself, about 3 years after I had first started writing and posting stories on the internet back in the 1990s, that I would never write about my opinions on such issues as Governmental conspiracies, and this was after I wrote an article refuting a post about AIDS being planted in Africa – some fucking nut had posted this silly story, and he claimed that he had evidence that the U.S government had planted AIDS in Africa, and I spent over a year debunking his “evidence.” Then yesterday while responding to comments, I got into the position again, only this time, I was the one wearing the tinfoil cap. So, Sbj,1964, to further clarify what I am saying and where I am coming from – I learned about this facet of earth science, from the best data that was available back in the 1970s and early 1980s on the earth’s atmosphere – information in textbooks which was complied well before the start of the “space-race,” and the so called race between the USA and the Soviets, to land a man on the moon. After the start of the “space-race,” the importance of beating the Soviets, in a race to be the first to land a man on the moon was being sold to the American people, as a thing of national pride. However, this race was never about pride, or being the first to make it to the moon. With the Soviet’s success of Sputnik, our Government realized for the first time, just how far that we were behind the Soviets in our space program and technologies.
After WWII, and we had started all of this “in god we trust” bullshit, and this one nation under fucking “god” bullshit, and had stopped teaching our children real math and science, and had started creating little brain-dead Christian-sheep – in the 1950s, our “Sputnik moment,” was when we realized, that while we were becoming just a nation of ignorant and deluded, and brain-dead Christian-sheep; the god-less Soviets, were kicking our asses in both math and science, and had beaten us into space.
The “space-race” was never about who made it to the moon first – it was about a race to be the first nation to have the strategic capacity, of raining down nuclear death from above.
At its conception, NASA was shrouded in so much secrecy, that it was drawing much suspicion from the scientific community. And our Government had started propagandizing, any and all of our new scientific discoveries, which they felt were in the interests of national security. The government began hiding anything and everything in which they deemed, as being a valuable strategic asset to the military, and they started disinformation campaigns, in an attempt hide our “secrets’ from the Soviets, and they were even hiding our new technologies, from most non Governmental scientists as well. And in the 1970s and 80s, when this disinformation had even started spreading into the science textbooks, I then became more and more disinterested in science also –you see, I was taught science by old-school scientists; and I was taught to be skeptical – you see, science must always be tested and retested, and not just simply believed – simply believing something because someone says it’s true, is the position of faith and ignorance, and held in religion, and not a position held within science – and this is the main reason why teaching real science, is such a detriment to religion, as no critically thinking person, could ever come to believe, that a ghost fucked a little girl, and this virgin-girl, then gave birth to a magical “savior,” who was then killed, but then after 3 days, his stinking and rotting corpse arose, and then walked among the living.
My position which I expressed on the subject of whether or not we did in fact land a man on the moon back in the 1960s, was derived from the best scientific information and data that was available back in the early 60s, and it was the opinion of all of the scientists that I knew back in the 1970s, that it couldn’t be done at the time, and impart because of the deadly levels of radiation, that the astronauts would encounter in outer space. And I have yet to see, any new credible data, which conflicts with the old information and data. The only thing that has changed, is the fact that our Government, now says that we did in fact go to the moon; however, the supporting data for refuting the previous data, is simply missing – the information in the science books has simply changed, and without any supporting scientific data.
I am not saying that the moon landing was all just simply propaganda and fucking lies; however, the way the Government starting all of these disinformation campaigns, we now have people believing that the government is hiding fucking Aliens in the state of Nevada. And anyone who is skeptical and questions any of the pure bullshit that our Government says, is now being labeled as a conspiracy nut, and seen in the same light as those who believe that government is hiding fucking Aliens.
It seems that we didn’t learn anything from our first "Sputnik crisis," as we have again allowed religion to pollute our Government, and again stopped educating our children, and simply telling them what to think and believe. Since the 1980s, we have created a nation of folks so fucking ignorant and deluded, that we now have these TV preaching con-artists and fucking thieves, making millions of dollars off selling magical spring-water, and all sorts of other, pure religious bullshit – and again, we are trying change our data and history in our textbooks – and if these ignorant fucking Christians here in America, don’t wake up real fucking soon, the only master that they will be serving will be a corporate master, and while they work for low wages, and with no fucking benefits.
Ok, my friends, the doors is open again, and coming real soon, my post on why I believe everything that the Government has told us about 9/11, was just fucking bullshit!
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.
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?
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!
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.
You won’t find very many of those who both carry the mind-virus, and who also understand the importance that the moon played in shaping our climate, and in the evolution of all life here on earth – and despite this fact, there are few today in the scientific community, who disagree with the fact that all life here on earth, would be totally different today without the moon, or if life would even exist at all today, if not for the moon. And even fewer in the scientific community, who would disagree today with the fact that all life here on earth, began as a sort of soup in the Ocean, and with the moon playing the role of a chief stirring the pot. I really liked this program, in part because I can relate to the scientist, who like me has dyslexia and struggled in school, and then found her niche within science and then excelled!
Only 1 percent of fourth-grade and 12th-grade students, and 2 percent of eighth-graders scored in the highest group on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal test known as the Nation's Report Card. Less than half were considered proficient, with many more showing minimal science knowledge.
"It's very disappointing for all educators to see students performing below the level we'd like them to be," said Bonnie Embry, an elementary school science lab teacher in Lexington, Ky. "These low scores should send a message to educators across our nation that we're not spending enough time teaching science."
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the results mean students aren't learning at a rate that will maintain the nation's role as an international leader in the sciences. He and others expressed concern that more students aren't prepared for careers as inventors, doctors and engineers in a world increasingly driven by technology.
"Our ability to create the next generation of U.S. leaders in science and technology is seriously in danger," said Alan Friedman, former director of the New York Hall of Science and a member of the board that oversees the test.
The results also show a stark achievement gap, with only 10 percent of black students proficient in science in the fourth grade, compared to 46 percent of whites. At the high school level, results were even more bleak, with 71 percent of black students scoring below the basic knowledge level, and just 4 percent proficient.
Fifty-eight percent of Hispanic 12th-graders scored below basic, as did 21 percent of whites.
"These are really stunning and concerning numbers," said Amy Wilkins, vice president for government affairs and communications at the Education Trust. She noted that minority and low-income students are the fastest growing parts of the youth population, making the need to increase their achievement levels all the more urgent.
This sad and sobering news shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us – back in the 1970s, when the Republican strategists began looking for new voters to recruit , they discovered that there were a fairly large group of potential voters, who were simply not that interested in the political process – these mostly evangelical and the fundamentalist Christians, who were so consumed with all of their “issues” like the “rapture,” “everlasting life,” “heaven” and “hell’ that they didn’t even concern themselves with such worldly issues as politics. Republican strategists like the great Karl Rove, looked upon these ignorant Christians as the key to gaining control of the White House, and furthering the neoconservative agenda. So they began pandering their support of the issues which they knew these evangelical and fundamentalist Christians were the most concerned about -- like ending abortion, and the institutionalizing of Christian prayer in the public schools, and “returning” the Nation back to its “Christian-roots” - and then they created almost out of thin air, the other issues that they knew would generate fear in the minds of these ignorant and deluded morons as a way of exciting this large group of potential voters – the next step was simply to gain the support of these purveyors of Christian ignorance.
Within the next few years, the fundamentalist Christian preachers had started endorsing the candidates who projected most of their same “values,” and encouraging their ignorant flock to support those candidates as well – hence, the Christian family “values” candidates, and the Christian “value” voters were born (hell, even Pat Robertson, threw his cross into the rink, in a failed attempt at winning the 1988 Republican primary) However, in reality, none of these family values candidates gave a flying fuck about the family; they are only concerned about cutting domestic spending, and cutting the taxes for the rich, and increasing the profits of the big corporations – and the so called Christian value voters, are about as anti-education and anti-science, as the members of The Flat Earth Society are in their resistant to reality and reason – and neither are concerned with the future of our children, or the wellbeing of our nation – and as a consequence of allowing this Christian cult mentality of death, that doesn’t value anything other than dying and going to heaven run ramped for so long, that now, most can’t even conceive of the importance of children learning math and science, and when both math and science conflict with their deluded beliefs.
Our children’s lack of understanding in math and science, are simply a reflection of the things that we deem the most important in our society today - and. the way that we are currently funding our public education systems, are a direct reflection of the value, or lack thereof, that we place on our children’s education. Even as far back as the mid-1980s, I could see where we as a nation were headed, and even back then, I was much, much more afraid of our nation becoming a cesspool of Christian ignorance, than I was afraid of a nuclear war. What I feared the most back then, and what I fear even more today, is us reaching a point in this nation, where the even more ignorant, are simply teaching the young and ignorant, and teaching them just plain ignorance and stupidity – and just like what we see going on in most churches today.
You might agree on just how we got here, but the fact is, we are here – today its math and science, tomorrow it will be history and the arts. I personally believe that there’s no better way of teaching children critical thinking skills, than by teaching them math and science – and I believe that what is currently going on in our public schools, should be declared a crisis – we have declared war on the other issues which we have deemed a crisis, like the war on drugs and the war on crime that we are currently wasting billions of dollars on each year – Let’s end this stupid “war” on drugs, and then use those billions of dollars for declaring a new war on ignorance and stupidity, and then fixing the other social-ills, which lead to drug use and crime in the first fucking place?
