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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 14:33:21 [Permalink]
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| By the way, I noticed versions of this speech over on youtube where his words were cherry picked and then used to attack him. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 14:54:15 [Permalink]
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| He actually talks about using reasoning to make decisions. Has sanity been restored? |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 15:47:13 [Permalink]
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Obama explains secularism in practical terms.
I love his use of Abraham and Isaac, and how any normal contemporary American would at the very least call the cops if they saw Abraham with a knife poised over his son. How we would expect the Child Protective Services to take Isaac away from Abraham.
Barack's a pretty wise fellow.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 16:32:29 [Permalink]
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And imagine this....he's the elected President of the mother humpin' U.S. of A.!
What a 180 degree turn away from the shrub. I hope to see/feel/hear/smell/whatever more good things to come from his presidency. Most of the entire world is rockin' with us.
Did you hear that world-wide collective sigh of relief the day after the elections?! |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/27/2009 : 16:44:39 [Permalink]
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I had high expectations for Obama and thus far he has way exceeded them.
It is great to have not only an adult back in the White House, but a smart & honest one in the bargain!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 17:58:04 [Permalink]
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This could be another thread, but what the hey...this was in the news today....
Obama's first televised interview as president....
...snip:
In a series of early and well thought out gestures towards the Muslim and Arab worlds, Barack Obama has clearly struck a new tone from Washington, raising hopes across the region that a line can be drawn under the past eight years of tense relations.
After promising mutual respect for Muslims in his inaugural speech, and moving swiftly to address the Arab-Israeli conflict by appointing George Mitchell as special envoy (see below), Mr Obama gave his first television interview as president on Monday night to a Saudi-backed channel, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya.
....read on at above link! |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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perrodetokio
Skeptic Friend
275 Posts |
 Posted - 01/28/2009 : 05:43:23 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Randy
And imagine this....he's the elected President of the mother humpin' U.S. of A.!
What a 180 degree turn away from the shrub. I hope to see/feel/hear/smell/whatever more good things to come from his presidency. Most of the entire world is rockin' with us.
Did you hear that world-wide collective sigh of relief the day after the elections?!
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(bolding mine)
You´re spot-on about that! We´re rockin´ in Argentina, our brothers are rockin´ in Brasil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, even in Venezuela. In Italy our brothers are rockin´ with you despite the curse called Berlusconi. England is rockin´.
Hope we all keep on rockin´ with you, our northern brothers and sisters!!!
Congratulations!!!
nico "perro de tokio"
Cordoba, Argentina |
"Yes I have a belief in a creator/God but do not know that he exists." Bill Scott
"They are still mosquitoes! They did not turn into whales or lizards or anything else. They are still mosquitoes!..." Bill Scott
"We should have millions of missing links or transition fossils showing a fish turning into a philosopher..." Bill Scott |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 09:42:57 [Permalink]
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| Yep, it's exhilaration or, in just a few months, the USA managed re-light itself as a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 10:17:49 [Permalink]
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Back a bit more on topic....seems a few fundies are a
bit peeved with Obama's wink to us non-delusionalist types. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Hittman
Skeptic Friend
134 Posts |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 13:08:30 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Hittman
As a general rule if thumb, if you're pissing off the fundies you're doing something right. |
 I agree! |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 15:52:29 [Permalink]
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Obama made a clear call to people to remember to include all citizens in our democracy, along with the majority Christians. Anyone who objects to this would prefer to exclude one or more of those "Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." There is no other way to read the comments of those religious sectarian bigots.
Sectarian bigotry retains the deadly potential for strife and murder that it has had for millennia. As the President of all the people, Obama is trying to cool that threat, as is clearly his responsibility to us all for our collective greater good.
The basic problem is that Fundamentalist Christians (who are now the dominant strain of Christianity in the USA) think they have a monopoly on Americans, or should. After their wild, unconstitutional ride with the Bushies, they feel that nay loss of their power and prestige is persecution by "Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."
Again, I appeal to atheists to council these poor, hypersensitive souls, helping them to learn the skills we've honed over the years, so they can learn to survive in a culture that is not exclusively theirs.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/28/2009 15:57:41 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 17:20:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
The basic problem is that Fundamentalist Christians (who are now the dominant strain of Christianity in the USA) think they have a monopoly on Americans, or should.
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I really doubt that Fundamentalist Christians are the dominant strain in America. Certainly, they make the most noise. My guess is that most Christians are of the more moderate variety. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 17:36:26 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
Originally posted by HalfMooner
The basic problem is that Fundamentalist Christians (who are now the dominant strain of Christianity in the USA) think they have a monopoly on Americans, or should.
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I really doubt that Fundamentalist Christians are the dominant strain in America. Certainly, they make the most noise. My guess is that most Christians are of the more moderate variety.
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Well, it's my impression that the more moderate churches have been dying out in droves, as the Fundies have gained. I'll have to check the actual numbers (I should have previously) to see how far this has progressed. Also, "making noise" while their more moderate kin remains nearly silent has a certain "dominant" quality of its own.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/28/2009 17:38:19 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 18:16:30 [Permalink]
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Okay, I have this much so far: Demographics
The 2004 survey of religion and politics in the United States identified the Evangelical percentage of the population at 26.3%; while Roman Catholics are 22% and Mainline Protestants make up 16%. In the 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States, the figures for these same groups are 28.6% (Evangelical), 24.5% (Roman Catholics), and 13.9% (Mainline Protestant.) The latter figures are based on a 2001 study of the self-described religious identification of the adult population for 1990 and 2001 from the Graduate School and University Center at the City University of New York. |
Here's a link to the .pdf of the 2004 study referred to above.
Those numbers, combined with the relative noise levels, seem to me to indicate that the Fundies are pretty much the top dogs in US Christianity -- especially since they receive support from most of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and conservative Catholic laity for many of their social and political stands.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/28/2009 18:29:13 |
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Obama talks about religion and our government
