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241  Other / Politics & Society / Re: The difference between science and religion on: September 09, 2018, 01:31:37 PM
It has come to my attention that the story in the bible about Moses and the burning bush has a scientific explanation...

According to the bible, Moses comes across an acacia bush which is on fire at the base of Mount Horeb (commonly believed to be Mt Sinai, Egypt).  Moses then hears God talking to him, and has a short conversation with God.


Now, I'd like to get into the science of what happened that day...

85% of all acacia species tested contain psychoactive chemicals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acacia_species_known_to_contain_psychoactive_alkaloids

The most likely candidate species for Moses' acacia bush would be Vachellia Nilotica, the "Egyptian Acacia", aka gum arabic tree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachellia_nilotica

This species of acacia has been found to contain DMT & 5-MeO-DMT, 2 of the most powerful psychedelic/hallucinogens known to man.  DMT is known to cause hallucinations similar to a near death experience, where people often have conversations with "entities" (call them gods if you want, Moses did)

If this bush was burning, it would emit more than enough DMT in the smoke to make anyone downwind have hallucinations



To sum up, I'll give the religious vs scientific explanations:
Religious: Moses spoke with God
Science: Moses was high on DMT and hallucinated that he spoke with God
242  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Are terrorists only muslim in religion? on: September 09, 2018, 01:02:47 PM
White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-24/white-americans-are-biggest-terror-threat-united-states

Quote
White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States, according to a study by the New America Foundation. The Washington-based research organization did a review of “terror” attacks on US soil since Sept. 11, 2001 and found that most of them were carried out by radical anti-government groups or white supremacists.

Almost twice as many people have died in attacks by right-wing groups in America than have died in attacks by Muslim extremists. Of the 26 attacks since 9/11 that the group defined as terror, 19 were carried out by non-Muslims.
(...)
243  Other / Politics & Society / Re: The difference between science and religion on: September 08, 2018, 02:08:38 PM
The difference between science and religion summed up in a single question:

Question: What would change your mind about your beliefs?

Catholic:     Nothing
Protestant:  Nothing
Muslim:       Nothing
Scientist:    Evidence
Atheist:      Evidence

Nuff said?
244  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Pennsylvania Catholic Church covers up 300 chomo priests on: September 08, 2018, 01:59:28 PM
....
I have read about a curious affinity of the men in Afghanistan for young boys. I assume it's a subset of all men. But they certainly are not being punished.

Some weird reason like the "young boys are not men so it isn't homosexual."



It appears this is an endemic cultural practice in the Muslim world. To be fair, certain factions hold it is against Sharia law and should be banned.

But the extent of the problem in the Muslim world is mind boggling.

300 priests?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi

According to a report published in June 2017 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the US military reported 5753 cases of "gross human rights abuses" by Afghan forces, many of which relating to sexual abuse.[36]

These cases lean toward the selling of young boys into sexual slavery.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/world/asia/afghanistan-military-abuse.html

ADORNED IN MAKEUP, fake breasts and bells, Jawed whirls around middle-aged men at Kabul’s underground bacha bazi, or “boy play” parties, where the former child sex slave finds freedom of sorts as a dancing boy.
Jawed was kidnapped by a former jihadi commander in Shomali, north of Kabul, when he was barely 14, a victim of a hidden epidemic in Afghanistan of culturally-sanctioned male rape.
He is one of three former “bachas” traced by AFP who managed to escape their abusers.

Their testimonies shed searing light on the stolen lives of boy sex slaves, often seen as caricatures of shame and cast out of their families, with many like Jawed falling prey to a new cycle of abuse.
Four years after he was kidnapped, Jawed’s commander replaced him with a new boy slave, and “gifted” him to another strongman.

I haven't heard of any Catholic priests doing that...

Let's ignore the plight of tens of thousands TODAY, and instead focus on how bad the Catholic Church was.

Sounds pretty similar to me...

You mention numbers as if it is a worse problem in Afghanistan... 5753 cases of "human rights abuses" vs 300 priests abusing over 1000 children... sure it sounds like 5x as much, but we are talking about an entire country (Afghanistan) versus a single US state (Pennsylvania)... if you want to compare apples to apples, you would have to compare population density

Afghanistan has 5000 cases with a population of 35 million people.  Pennsylvania has >1000 cases with a population of 12 million people.  So you'd have to normalize the catholic side by multiplying it by 3.  Now you have 5000 vs >3000... looks like Afghanistan is twice as bad... except that I realize the story about Afghanistan is speculation, 5000 accusations... by contrast, the Pennsylvania cases were elaborated upon by a grand jury writing a 457 page report detailing the incidents... I'd say that is slightly more trustworthy

It is a big jump to compare 5000 accusations of "gross human rights abuses" (where zero evidence was found/reported), with a 457 page report detailing over 1000 incidents of priests molesting children, providing facts and evidence for each case.

If Afghanistanians are guilty of molesting children, then they should go to prison too... I'm not biased in that regard, I just don't believe your story... I don't believe accusations without facts and evidence... I want proof, not accusations... It is too easy to lie about someone you dislike, and accuse them of something they did not do
245  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Non-Religious is now the largest religious group in America! on: September 07, 2018, 02:52:11 PM
It is nice to see this development. I don't speak against religion itself, but there will always be people interpreting and living too much after a book, which is written a long time ago. Religion is probably the number one reason for war besides fights about resources and territories. If it brings you peace and helps you through the day, really nice. But if you try to get someone else involved, then you think your religion is superior, you are already one step over the line!

you are right every religion says, in one way or another that only a false prophet would call another false. The loss of religion could be good since classic religion is merely worships buildings and rituals along with trying to mentally understand their creator which is impossible by definition.

I prefer the religions that announce at the beginning they don't have the whole truth.  For example, the Tao Te Ching begins, "The Tao that can be told, is not the eternal Tao," basically admitting nobody has all the answers, not even him.

Now days atheists thinks that everything came out of nothing...

Atheists are skeptics, and usually answer, "I don't know where the universe came from."  It is typically christians who claim atheists say "everything came from nothing", in an attempt to straw-man the other side.  I don't hear atheists claim answers to questions without evidence for their claim.  They always say, "I don't know."

Science does not say we came out of nothing either.  Scientists who study the early universe say, "we don't know what happened before 10 ^ -32 seconds after the big bang"

I have heard various hypothesis that don't "come from nothing."  One example would be a repeating universe where gravity wins in the end, and it "bounces" rather than "bangs" into a new universe.  Now you have a reset button ever trillion years or so, making an infinite series of the same matter being recycled rather than coming into existence from nothing.

This hypothesis has been relatively abandoned lately as dark energy seems to be the driving force of the universe, overtaking gravity.  This leads to an infinitely expanding universe, rather than a collapsing/repeating universe.

Also, There is legitimate science involving particles coming from nothing, so it isn't an absurd concept at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energy - "Vacuum energy can also be thought of in terms of virtual particles (also known as vacuum fluctuations) which are created and destroyed out of the vacuum. These particles are always created out of the vacuum in particle–antiparticle pairs, which in most cases shortly annihilate each other and disappear..."

An example of the Casimir effect:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/something-from-nothing-vacuum-can-yield-flashes-of-light/
246  Other / Politics & Society / Non-Religious is now the largest religious group in America! on: September 06, 2018, 12:59:56 AM
Religious ‘nones’ are gaining ground in America, and they’re worried about the economy, says new study
https://religionnews.com/2017/11/16/religious-nones-are-gaining-ground-in-america-and-theyre-worried-about-the-economy-says-new-study/

Quote


Thirty-four percent of Americans surveyed said they were atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular,” according to the American Family Survey released today. (See here for the live stream of the launch event, kicking off at 9 a.m. EST.)

Taken together, this makes the unaffiliated the largest religious group in the study, having surpassed Protestants (33%) and Catholics (21%). There was also a smattering of other groups such as Muslims (2%), Jews (2%), Mormons (1%), Orthodox Christians (1%), and Hindus (1%), as well as those who said they were “something else” (4%).

The American Family Survey is the project of Christopher Karpowitz and Jeremy Pope, who teach political science at Brigham Young University, and is co-sponsored by BYU and the Deseret News. Now in its third year, it aims to uncover Americans’ attitudes on a broad range of issues, including politics, health care, immigration, and the challenges now facing the American family. This year had a special focus on comparing Clinton and Trump voters.

How respondents answered questions about challenges facing the family was the source of some of the surprises in this year’s study compared to 2015 and 2016, says Karpowitz.

“When we first started doing this study in 2015, more than two-thirds of our respondents picked at least one cultural issue as being one of the three most important issues facing American families. Now there’s been an 11-point increase in the percentage of people who say the biggest issues facing families are economic.”

Overall, economic issues increased in importance from 51% to 62%, while concern about “cultural” matters (e.g., the decline in religious faith or the increase in sexual permissiveness and drug use) decreased by 17 points, from 68% to 51%.

Basically, this shows that an increasing number of Americans are more worried about economic stresses than they are about traditional markers of moral decline.

What’s particularly surprising about this trend, says Karpowitz, is that “the economy seems to be humming along, and we’re not in a recession right now.” Various markers of economic health, such as low unemployment and a robust stock market, are already in place.

However, about four in ten respondents reported that they had put off going to the doctor when they were sick or experienced a time in the last year when they couldn’t pay a bill, showing that the economy’s health has not prevented many Americans from feeling a financial pinch.

There’s a religious divide in how Americans perceive which are the most pressing issues. Highly religious people are far more likely to point to cultural issues than are secular Americans, with 72% of frequent religious attendees and just 43% of non-attendees being concerned about things like sexual permissiveness or falling religious attendance. In contrast, nearly seven in ten secular respondents were concerned about the economy.

Faced with these polarizing differences, what can almost everybody agree on? There are two things.

First, “Everybody loves their own family, and there’s hope in that message—there’s a lot of commitment to family, across lines of political and religious difference,” says Karpowitz. Among parents, it doesn’t matter if respondents voted for Trump or Clinton, or did not vote at all; nor does it matter whether they consider themselves to be religious. Every group of parents sees the act of parenting as a fundamental, core part of their identity.

And second, Americans are concerned that kids need more discipline. “More than half of both very religious and nonreligious Americans say that parents not teaching or disciplining their children is one of the most important issues facing families,” says Karpowitz.

In other words: we all love our own kids to pieces, but we also think that other parents need to do a better job teaching theirs.
247  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Trump supporters are burning Nike apparel because... Kaepernick? on: September 06, 2018, 12:53:40 AM

I mock anyone who does stupid shit... and Trump supporters win the gold medal for doing stupid shit

Sorry, not sorry
If your message wasn't "Trump supporters are stupid so let's elect Hillary next time" then I'm OK.

Did I say that?  I don't recall saying that...

Does it make you feel better to put words in my mouth?
248  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Are terrorists only muslim in religion? on: September 06, 2018, 12:46:01 AM
no religion promote violence and terrorism, not all terrorist are muslims, there are terrorists from other religious background, the reason muslims are labelled terrorist is due to the fact that most muslims are violent. i think some persons who may not be muslims may use the religion's name to carry out attacks.

Have you not read their book? It do promote killings, violence and martial behavior. They do kill and passes the burden to their god for their excuses.

It sounds like you are talking about the bible... have you read the bible?  It is extremely violent, particularly the old testament

The bible endorses murder, rape, incest, genocide, slavery, etc... as bad or worse than the Quran

Sorry, not sorry

Also you were right. There are same instances that this two books do the same thing in the history. But this should not be needed to continue. Since the new testament of the bible do inspire people about their lives in love and grace, so as the quran should also. And by this, muslims will not hate Christians and vice versa.

It's a nice thought, lol

Problem is, people fear/hate what they do not understand.  And most religious people have no interest in learning about religions other than their own.  In fact, most religious people don't know shit about their own religion...

http://www.pewforum.org/2010/09/28/us-religious-knowledge-an-overview-of-the-pew-forum-survey-results-and-implications/



It amusing, though not surprising, that Atheists know more about religions than religious people know about their own religion...
249  Other / Off-topic / Re: Reincarnation on: September 06, 2018, 12:34:20 AM
I'm a Christian and don't believe in reincarnation. What's the point of going through and graduating from this life, only to re-enroll over and over and over again?

What is the point of worshiping God for eternity?  The end-goal of Christianity would bore the shit out of me!

Have you ever thought about doing anything for eternity?  Even my most favorite thing would get boring very fast

Reincarnation is the cure for boredom... it's like playing a video game because you are bored

That's the point of reincarnation... eternity is boring without it
250  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Are terrorists only muslim in religion? on: September 05, 2018, 02:22:16 PM
no religion promote violence and terrorism, not all terrorist are muslims, there are terrorists from other religious background, the reason muslims are labelled terrorist is due to the fact that most muslims are violent. i think some persons who may not be muslims may use the religion's name to carry out attacks.

Have you not read their book? It do promote killings, violence and martial behavior. They do kill and passes the burden to their god for their excuses.

It sounds like you are talking about the bible... have you read the bible?  It is extremely violent, particularly the old testament

The bible endorses murder, rape, incest, genocide, slavery, etc... as bad or worse than the Quran

Sorry, not sorry
251  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Trump supporters are burning Nike apparel because... Kaepernick? on: September 05, 2018, 02:15:24 PM
Dig deeper. People burn US flags. Does it matter if they bought them from China or from US themselves?

I have never heard of someone protesting China by buying Chinese-made flags and burning them.  Apples and oranges

You aren't supposed to give money to the company you are supposedly boycotting... that defeats the purpose if you give them your money

Oh well. That was MSM attempt to mock Trump supporters, so why do I even bother...

I mock anyone who does stupid shit... and Trump supporters win the gold medal for doing stupid shit

Sorry, not sorry
252  Other / Politics & Society / Re: ISIS is nothing compared to U.S. cops. on: September 05, 2018, 02:11:04 PM
I wouldn't say all cops are bad, but there is good evidence to believe such things.

I have watched dozens of videos of cops doing illegal things over the years.  Everything from planting drugs to shooting people in the back.  Not once have I seen a cop administer first-aid.  Not once have I seen a cop question or detain another cop after they clearly shot someone illegally.  Not once have I seen a cop place another cop under arrest after witnessing them do something illegal.

In fact, the only good cop I can think of (a cop who actually reported the illegal activities of another cop), is one who recorded his commanding officer telling him to arrest more blacks and hispanics in Florida.

As far as I can see, 99% of them are accomplices to the evils of their fellow cops.  Even if they did not do it themselves, they watched another cop do it and said nothing.
This makes them equally guilty under the law they presume to uphold
253  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Bible downloads banned in China on: September 05, 2018, 01:54:21 PM
You don't know why the Bible is off the shelf. The key is that the number of Christian believers has exceeded the number of Communists. The government is scared!
Huge Christians threatened their rule!

1) The bible is not "off the shelf", it is still available in book stores

2) Around 2% of the Chinese population is Christian.  Christians do not exceed communists

3) Nobody is scared of them, lmao

4) 2% of the population believing in fairy tales is not a threat to any ruler
254  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Are terrorists only muslim in religion? on: September 05, 2018, 01:17:18 PM
no religion promote violence and terrorism, not all terrorist are muslims, there are terrorists from other religious background, the reason muslims are labelled terrorist is due to the fact that most muslims are violent. i think some persons who may not be muslims may use the religion's name to carry out attacks.

Most Muslims are violent?!?  Where did you get that idea?

There are 1.8 BILLION Muslims in the world... if most of them were violent, we would ALL be dead by now...

I hear christians are quite violent too... most of the mass murders in America were committed by christians, not muslims (I don't have stats on every country, but US terrorism is 90% christian)

Christians are responsible for The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Dark Ages, The Witch Hunts, and many other violent atrocities

The biggest purveyor of war on this planet is America... a "christian nation"

Out of the last 10 mass shootings in America, how many were committed by a Muslim?  (hint: it's zero)

How many Muslims are shooting Palestinians on a daily basis?  (hint: Jews are shooting Palestinians)

Granted, Saudi Arabia is a Muslim state perpetrating war crimes in Yemen, but they are using US (christian) bombs to do it... so I blame both religions for this one
255  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Trump supporters are burning Nike apparel because... Kaepernick? on: September 05, 2018, 01:12:23 PM
256  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Pennsylvania Catholic Church covers up 300 chomo priests on: September 05, 2018, 12:59:33 PM
Quote
The Catholic Church have a habit of spiriting away (the only spirit they actually know) offending priests during their "internal investigation" allowing the monster to molest more kids in the unsuspecting new parish. That practice must be automatically considered obstruction of justice.

I would go further then calling it a habit, I would say this that is a systamatic problem inside the Cathloic church as they try to keep their image up.

Movie recommendation for anyone interested : Check out Spotlight - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895587/ - This is a movie about how the Boston Globe broke the story in the 2000's about how the Catholic church was covering up massive scandals (pretty much what's coming out now again)

I really do hope that everyone in power in the Catholic church sees some penalties and such -- I'd also LOVE to see these people go to trial.

I hope they do proper investigations in every state and every country like they did in Pennsylvania... 300 pedophile priests in 1 state is way too many, and if that is typical for catholics, they must have ~20,000 pedophile priests worldwide!
257  Other / Politics & Society / Re: The difference between science and religion on: September 05, 2018, 12:36:03 PM
2. The atheist is trying to set himself up as god

This is a logical contradiction... an atheist doesn't believe in gods

It sounds more like you are describing Hinduism, which is a recognized religion

I'd recommend spending a little time learning about other religions and their beliefs, before telling other people what their "religion" believes, lmfao


BADLogic: This topic is about the difference between science and religion.  None of your posts are on-topic, and simply atheist bashing.  You are simply trying to derail the conversation into the same nonsense you spout in every thread.  I will report all your off-topic posts and hopefully others will do the same.
258  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Just say no... on: September 05, 2018, 12:28:34 PM
....
Have you ever heard of someone praying to God, then charging the enemy and surviving?  I haven't...

There are many such cases, but there are many cases where praying was not part of the equation, so the existence of such cases proves nothing. Although it may have been extremely important to the individuals involved.

My point is that if prayer worked, you would see holy warriors of God on the battlefield utterly annihilating the enemy...  They would be like a superhero... 1 Catholic priest taking on an army and surviving because God...

But, that has never happened... so, obviously, prayer doesn't work
259  Other / Politics & Society / Trump supporters are burning Nike apparel because... Kaepernick? on: September 05, 2018, 12:25:27 PM



Nike's response:

260  Other / Politics & Society / Re: The difference between science and religion on: September 03, 2018, 06:12:57 AM
Religion and science are actually very related, and have gone hand in hand for several decades, up till the concept of creation and the source.

Both comprises of zealots, who are totally opposed to the other.

Although one is based on faith, and the other faith in facts

If science is faith in facts, what is religious faith?  Faith without facts?  How is that better?

"Faith in facts" is an oxymoron... the word faith implies lack of evidence/facts.....

In ancient times, one king might have said to another...

"It's a fact that my zealous religious cult soldiers are not afraid to die".

The other might have said,

"My populations are taught that homosexuality is evil, and that sex with a virgin is wonderful. It's a fact that this increases the birth rates and maximizes the number of soldiers for my troops. Let's combine these two methods."

Facts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact
"A fact is a statement that is consistent with objective reality or can be proven with evidence."

Given zero evidence is provided, neither statement is a fact

The fact that you asked the question tells me that you don't even understand the word, fact
Except that you are wrong. In the example of the two kings discussion, each asserted the existence of a fact. "Can be proven with evidence" does not mean "was proven".

Every day, we state facts briefly. You might say "That man is a criminal." You don't cite the cases and details.

Anecdotes are not facts... you are still wrong, just stop with your nonsense

I REALLY hate that religious people try to change the meaning of words to confuse everyone... that's such bullshit I cannot begin to describe how evil it is
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