Spam! September 20, 2007
Posted by Joe in WordPress, blogging, blogs, spam.4 comments
What’s with all the spam all over WordPress all of a sudden? Trying to surf around the blogs here and find something interesting to read and write about and sometimes more than half of the blogs are long lists of links to other blogs or what sound to be porn or other sex related nonsense.
I have reported some of them as spam, but I can’t report them all. I’m being drowned in spam! Help!
On Atheists September 19, 2007
Posted by Joe in Christianity, agnosticism, atheism, belief, freethought, religion, theism.7 comments
An open letter from one Christian to other Christians on atheists.
We Christians want the atheists to come over to our side of the fence — to join us, to become one of us. They would much prefer it if we would quit wanting that, and leave them be. They would naturally prefer it if we could actually respect them for, say, their intellectual (not to mention moral) integrity — but they aren’t exactly holding their breath waiting for that to happen. Because they know that Christians believe atheists to be at best lost, and at worst damned.
And let’s face it: If you know the best someone can think about you is that you’re lost, you’re hardly inclined to, say, invite that person to your birthday party. Ever.
Hence the fence.
I hate that fence! What is it doing there?
Great stuff. Thanks for writing this, John.
“For The People, By The People” ? September 17, 2007
Posted by Joe in health care, homosexuality, law, media, politics.3 comments
I am of two minds about the state of the US government, which is supposedly an institution for the people and by the people. On one side it seems obvious to me that the US was never run by the people and was never run for the people. It has always been run by the rich and the white, who grant those without power the benefit of governmental power only at their whim.
Of course, this has improved massively with time. Women, minorities and the poor have all gained much more access to the power structure than they previously had. On the other hand the power of the media and corporations has grown to the extent that the current democratic system is overwhelmed by the power of the constant corporate propaganda.
How can the voice of the underdog be heard in this country? Are the media setting the current political agenda? Are global warming, health coverage and gay marriage just the play things that they let us rant about while the critical issue of who controls the power in this country remain hidden behind the curtain? Could a genuine grass roots movement have the power to change this country like it did in the 60s with the civil rights and anti-war movements?
God and Evolution September 16, 2007
Posted by Joe in Christianity, Kent Hovind, agnosticism, atheism, belief, creationism, evolution, religion, science, skepticism, theism.30 comments
Many people on both sides of the evolution/creation struggle in the United States want people to believe that their is a conflict between a belief in god and an acceptance of the biological theory of evolution. Let me assure you they are wrong. They want to construct a false dichotomy because it is easier to prop up your side when all you have to do is tear down the other.
If there are more than two options than tearing down the other is not sufficient. One needs to have positive evidence that supports any theory of the origins of species. I will stick with science and the massive evidence across multiple disciplines which converge on a common answer; evolution by natural selection. Whether you be god believer or not I would advise you do the same. If you are skeptical I suggest you approach the evidence with an open mind and realize (as Pope John Paul II did) that “Truth cannot contradict truth.”
As a Christian, a trained engineer and scientist, and a professor at Emory University, I am embarrassed by the Superintendent Kathy Cox’s attempt to censor and distort the education of Georgia’s students. The existing and long-standing use of the word ‘evolution’ in our state’s textbooks has not adversly affected Georgians’ belief in the omnipotence of God as creator of the universe. There can be no incompatibility between Christian faith and proven facts concerning geology, biology, and astronomy. There is no need to teach that stars can fall out of the sky and land on a flat Earth in order to defend our religious faith.
-Former President Jimmy Carter on the inclusion of an ‘evolution warning’ in Georgia’s textbooks.
