DrP

My own path was. Evolution is not true the scientists have been tricked by the4 devilo... to Evolution happened over 7 time periods that the bible called 7 days which could have been millions of years... to we don't understand it, who knows?... to well, I can't refute it anymore due to the overwhelming evidence, but I still believe anyway despite the facts in front of me because I love you god... to oh FFS this is ridiculous and as plain as the nose on my face. You have to be true to your self. They might say they believe it - but deep down they know something isn't quite right.... or they are just totally deluded like I used to be. This is just for evolution that we are discussing - let alone talking animals (although I believe them to be far smarter than humans give them credit for), TARDIS like boats, blind people getting new eyes, the lame walking, the dead rising etc... total rubbish that has zero supporting evidence. Would that matter? Is that our aim for humanity now, doesn't matter if half the world is starving or at war due to their backward beliefs because I am happy in my little dream world? Fuck that - to quote someone who once said something: "Education, Education, Education"!

Does it matter? I want the world to be a better place and for us to move on as a race. We cant do this when the majority of people are in cloud fucking cuckoo land and refuse to renounce their ridiculous superstitions or accept scientific facts because they believe some shit written in a 2000 year old book... so, I guess it matters, yea. Can I do anything about it? Probably not.

I know they DO.... but it is because, as you said before, they obviously don't think about it hard enough. They have come to just accept the contradictions as something not to worry about because that is what the book says or what their pastor has told them. They may well believe it and stick their fingers in their ears and ignore all of the evidence that points to the huge fucking elephants in the room that they are ignoring.... but it doesn't make them right about it. They are lying to themselves or just refusing to hear, acknowledge or look at the facts.

Because they take the god of the gaps and don't care that the gaps are closing. They don't really believe it - they assume there are things we don't understand. But the bible CLEARLY states it was 7 days... if you start saying oh hold on, it doesn't actually mean 7 days, we need to interpret it to mean 7 billion years... then they are lying to themselves imo. When they want to press a point it's 'but the bible says this...' when you point out 'hold on - the bible says 'this' also, which is clearly untrue' you get, 'well you can't take it literally'. If you can't take it 'literally' then you are left with a work of fiction. You can't do that with a book and claim it as the unfailable word of god. It is a work of fiction. There is some beauty and wisdom in it, sure. But a fictional work none the less. The only reason one can believe in both evolution and god (of the bible or religions from books) is to suspend their own reasoning and lie to themselves... if they 'think about it very deeply' as you put it Strange, then it is obvious - it doesn't even need 'deep' thought it is so obvious.... Took me decades though! lol.

Yea - I know people believe Evolution and the bible... but I think they are lying to themselves. It's as though god explains everything... until science shows how it really is then the 'god of the gaps' that was pointed out above somewhere shrinks further. I used to be a Christian - so I believed the bible. After many years of the gaps getting smaller and smaller I had to drop it - it was getting ridiculous. imo you can't believe the bible AND science - too many contradictions. So - my opinion is - you CAN believe in god and evolution.... but not The Bible and evolution unless you do not under stand one or the other because they totally contradict.

People made Mother Teressa a saint. She withheld medicines from the sick, took money from the Mafia and spent it on leaflet campaigns against birth control. I'd have to look into it further for more details, but it has been said that many many people died unnecessarily painful deaths because of her anti science and anti med campaign. It's OK though - at least many stopped wearing condoms! phew, what a relief. Was she a moral person? She certainly stuck to HER morals... but were they right or wrong? I am sure it is debatable.

Sorry - it was just a personal comment that I have seen people turn to it through trauma and it is commonly spoken about in churches (that I have been to in the past) that it is a common driver for people turning to god. Your question was good though - "What are the comparative figures?" I doubt anyone knows as it it is probably un recorded and I am not sure how you would record such a thing - I think people coming into and going away from faith in a god is usually more complex than a single traumatic event happening. Things build over years. The last comment of mine was about the cognitive dissonance I saw in the JW fellow when he knocked on my door and had no reply to my rebuff of his 'evidence' for god. It just seemed relevant to the discussion as a whole.

Her post wasn't about her health - it was about left and right brain connections to emotions and logic. All this has been debunked over the last decade or 2. Do you think |I should sit back and let people spout anti vaccine and flat earth crap without challenging it? That's not me. Maybe that makes me an arsehole, but I don't think so. I would prefer and expect people to do the same for me if I posted something that was proven wrong - just point it out with evidence to support the claim that I am wrong and I'll accept it. As a human I might feel some irritation... but that is natural in humans - it is called cognitive dissonance, which we are discussing. I fail all of the time - I even shy away from discussions about immigration and brexit. There are many people that post spurious crap that is obviously propaganda and unsupported rubbish all the time - if you question it at all they just get angry and call you a remoaner and don't seem interested in (or do not believe) the 'facts' that you present them. They start spouting shit about civil war and then go quite on you. I think the brexiteers have their mindset and they are sticking to it - no amount of actual facts are going to change their mind, they are not interested in anything but their own view - even if it is based on lies and misinformation they have been told. Any attempt to point out flaws in their logic or errors in what they are saying is just met with angry reaction rather t6han logical and critical thought. It is quite common for some people to turn to religion after trauma. Although I have no figures, as a church goer for many years in the past it is something people would talk about. I do not know if it has any statistical weight, but it is a reason that 'some' people give as a reason for turning to god. I guess they find love and comfort and a little peace from it. My mother in law (ex) was distraught at the loss of her husband and found love and support among friends at the Jehova's Witnesses. She is now a practicing Jehova's Witness and is very fervent about it. You can tell she is fragile about her loss still after many years. She is a very intelligent person - I do not know if she will flake in her faith and convert back if pressed - I doubt she will allow a conversation to go that far before ducking out of it. I used to enjoy debate with JWs when I was a Christian - I was looking forward to debating them as an atheist... hmm, one came to my door (2 - they go in pairs). I was hoping for some passionate intelligent debate from him. He started with nature and the beauty of the world being evidence for god and the 'fact' that the very presence of the diverse animals in the world proves a creator. I told him of the numinous I feel for nature too and that we now well understand how life has evolved into this diversity. I expected some intelligent counter or some discussion..... I was instantly met with cognitive dissonance from him as he just started shaking his head and shouting.. "NO NO NO - NO NO NO" ... I was waiting for him to tell me why he disagreed and was going to talk about his 'evidence' for god but they just left. His pal was smiling and wished me good day, while the other guy continued to shout NO! No argument, no discussion... just instant dissonance and anger and frustration from him because he had NO answer to my destruction of his argument. I wasn't rude - just factual and ready to provide back up and evidence for my own claims.. It was most disappointing.

What was wrong with my answer? ....and he clearly didn't criticise you for asking the question - just your tone.

As far as I can tell it is a discussion of evolution.... which is well supported by science... why would it go to speculation? I haven't read the whole thread though. I agree with Zaptos - why the hostility? Did you open a speculative or preachy thread in the mainstream area and have it moved or something? Is that your gripe? It's a science site yea?

In badminton it is just called a clear I think. Smash is going down - it is an attempt to win the point. The clear is like a smash in power and the way you hit it but it goes up.... up high and clear all the way to the back of the court, preferably aiming to land right on the back line. You don't expect to win the point on this shot, you usually get the same shot back at you.

I guess there are a lot of variations between different species of octopus.... I read something a year or so ago they suggested they live until they mate and reproduce - then they just stop and give up. With one species... the female is very aggressive and the male has to sneak up on it and shove it's penis arm into her blowhole before she notices him and eats him... he then snaps this penis arm off and leaves it in - I am guessing as a nutritional gift or a fun toy for her to play with or something, I am not sure. Maybe she is so stressed out by the detached penis arm stuck in her blow hole that she doesn't get a chance or a thought to eat him. Who knows? Maybe I'll have to look that up again sometime. Do I remember something about hundreds of offspring with the same genetic make up as each other? 100's of clones? I'll have to look it up again when I get home.

Yea - but realistically they would need to smelt metals to build space craft... which I suppose they could do in an under ground cave that has trapped air in it as you suggest... but that defeats the point of them being aquatic.

I try to deal with facts rather than opinions - thus my conversion to non belief in the supernatural. Well take a guess. I am hardly going to convert from Christianity to any other world religion am I? Show me any evidence for any of them and you will probably have any number of people here point out where you have mistaken that evidence for being credible. My disbelief is based on the lack of any credible evidence for gods, ghosts and the supernatural in general. I can't explain some things.... but that doesn't mean their is an invisible world around us with angels and gods paying attention to what is going on. And you are right - I did say I wasn't going to reply any more, but you asked me a question. You are on a science site asking questions to scientists about science... His superior knowledge of the sciences isn't proof of higher intelligence. How did you think this conversation would go?

Here you go. Nice to meet you.

Maybe you or they are confusing numinous with spirituality. If you are going to stereo type like that then I could ask you if ALL catholic priests are homosexual peadophiles.... obviously they are not - but a catholic might be offended if you said they were just because a high number actually are. I wont bother typing any more - you have ignored EVERY one of my replies to tour posts over the last 3 pages. I get the message - you only want to hear what matches what you want to hear obviously - that isn't science and it isn't smart. Bye.

What goal posts? What is your goal?

That's not how it happened though. You can't believe it because you don't understand it. No-one knows what happened to set it off.... As for the elements needed for life - they didn't arrive until billions of years later - nothing to do with the big bang.

The Aquatic Xindi seemed to manage it... although they were probably helped by the Reptilians. I always thought they were one of the most far fetched races in all of Star Trek. I'll eat my hat if out first contact is with fish in spacesuits.

They call it 'The Vomit Comet'! iirc. lol.

That suggests it has more to do with the advancement of each individual country over what religion it is no? Surly the religion is just happenstance. This is also current I think (from brief glance)... rates have changed - 100 - 200 years ago in the UK it wasn't uncommon to have 12 kids. This is unheard of now - I don't think religion has had anything to do with the change (although there is less of it these days).

I also found it hard to find any actual evidence of anti Semitism.. as you said - criticizing a government policy is not anti-Semitism. I think it is media sensationalism to try to make them (the Labour party and their leader) appear un electable as usual. I could be wrong - if anyone finds anything that looks like actual evidence of it then lets see it.

...but Richard Dawkins is an Evolutionary Biologist - the big bang is far from his field. He claims this himself when people start to argue against the BB with him. I have even heard him say himself - "why ask me about the big bang? I'm a biologist". It is far more complicated than you are making out... these 'seemingly' zero probability events MUST happen eventually when you are looking over such a large timescale. For evolution, for example, a subject upon which Dawkins is highly knowledgeable, he talks about these very low chances in probability which become far from zero when you take into account the billions of years that the earth has had to evolve. Who even knows what timescales we could be facing when looking at the vast expanse of time before the BB even happened.... it may have taken (and probably did) timescales many many many orders of magnitude higher than what the age of the universe is. Unfathomable periods of pretty much absolute nothing but quantum fluctuations before whatever the spark was that was needed happened... (I am guessing now - not my field either). Why is this surprising? over 99% of species that have ever existed have gone extinct. What we are left with are the ones that evolved to fit the most recent conditions.... which are changing... which is why we are going through yet another mass extinction right now. Although - Dawkins would be a far better person to talk to about this than me... I am not an evolutionary biologist and he IS.

I think you might be right... it's spelt with one 'L' for water... that must be what I was confusing it with... although even then the dictionary suggests Fermented industrial waste or food waste storage and things.. Maybe this is the sewerage connection to silage... fermented waste.... which of course can probably be said to have a sillage of it's own... it's just not a perfume.

by taking a short cut? Semantics.