I'm you're at all familiar with my life, you know that I have a huge depression problem. I can't shut up about it! It's hard to be happy when you've set yourself up for failure. One way I attempt to feel better is by communicating with others and sharing my feelings and problems. Here are a few effective ways in which they might actually help me to ( Read more... )

FAITH PARABOLAAfter emotional investment, the doctrine of faith is probably the main thing that prevents Christians and similar believers from exploring other belief systems. It's kind of like this banal parable ( Read more... )

New quotes in bold.

"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."
Adolf Hitler

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There are many confusing terms for people who disbelieve in the supernatural: "naturalist", "mechanist", the too general "non-believer" and "skeptic", and the inaccurate "atheist". How is "muggle" for an all-encompassing term? It's not as patronizing as "bright", and non-muggles can even use the term disparagingly. It's like "gentile ( Read more... )

I'm usually pretty satisfied with the comparison of God to Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but I also try to listen to intelligent points made by people:

"what adult has had his/her life transformed by conversion to belief in Santa Claus/ FSM ( Read more... )

"Others have said it before: theology is kind of like arguing Star Trek canon, and theologists are kind of like Trekkies. They haven't established that the primary subject of their research exists, and so all of their argumentation boils down to wankery and trivia. Making arguments about the features of God, in the absence of good evidence that the ( Read more... )

This past election, you all pretended to help Barack Obama become president with your prayers, and I thank you. The odd thing is that the ones who most believe in prayer, the McCainiacs, prayed in vain, as McCain probably wont even get a cabinet position. Does this dampen their faith? Absolutely not!

Answered prayers (See: Maricals) contribute a ( Read more... )

Aside from teleology, arguments from personal experience and miracles really give people spiritual hard-ons. I'll try to fight back with the cold water of reasonAbove all, even if stories of personal experiences do solidify the personal faith of an individual, it is not conclusive evidence. The details of these stories are not verifiable or ( Read more... )

It's common for people not to want to take a particular position because doing so would mean sharing a position with a-holes and d-bags. One example might be philosophical naturalism: people don't want to take a position that so many picky douchebag intellectuals share. It's basically a kind of stereotyping ( Read more... )

Aside from creationism, other questionable ideas that Spore puts forward is the Drake Equation and contacting alien life with radio signals (a la SETI). Although I respect proponents of intelligent extraterrestrial life such as Frank Drake and Carl Sagan, my objection to the equation is the same as the one found on Wikipedia: this equation can't ( Read more... )