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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 09/08/2009 : 18:28:52
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My husband just linked to this column from Reddit: http://www.peterheck.com/columns/2009_articles/view/122/no_atheists_in_birthing_centers
Just another appeal to emotion and nothing else as "evidence" of a very significant claim (in this case, the claim that the universe has a divine Creator.)
Having just gone through the already profoundly transforming (not to mention extremely painful and scary) experience of birthing a child, I was pretty offended. Not surprised, mind you, but offended.
I liked this comment best: | I was an atheist before the birth of my two children, during them, and afterwards. I really don't see the point. Being an atheist is actually being open to the awe and marvels of the world, instead of the artificial dream of a creator. |
I don't know what "God" means to this guy, 'cause clearly the concept of God means different things to different people. But given that he feels compelled to knock people with a differing worldview - particularly during a joyful experience which should be uplifting and life-affirming - he's obviously a prick.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 09/08/2009 18:35:42
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 19:08:54 [Permalink]
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I agree. That is indeed offensive, absurd, unsupportable, and just plain bigoted.
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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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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 19:23:46 [Permalink]
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| I got as far as getting through the first paragraph before gagging on the insult of being told I haven't got "a lick of sense." Don't need to read any more at all. Written by an asshole, no question. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 19:49:26 [Permalink]
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The funny thing is, the chemicals in his brain telling him that his newborn child is a "little miracle" are a product of millions of years of evolution. And there he is, totally oblivious of the manner in which nature is manipulating him, decrying the impossibility of what is actually occurring.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 09/09/2009 : 03:01:33 [Permalink]
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Oh, there's lots of atheists in birthing centers. They're called, infants.
If I had written such a smarmy piece of drivle, I'd cut off my hands as soon as I sobered up.
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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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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 08:02:47 [Permalink]
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What an asshole. I liked this response:
"Totally! I once ate a lemon candy and concluded that since it tasted so unbelievably fantastic that it couldn't possibly be of this earth! The package said it was made from Sugar, Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Lemon Flavor, Artificial Colors (FDC Yellow #5), and Soy Lecithin. This can't be true; they must be made of magic pixie dust. I call conspiracy - everyone is out to quash my belief in the Lemon Candy Fairy by printing ingredients on labels of things that taste really great. Those people must be really stupid." |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
| Edited by - astropin on 09/09/2009 08:03:14 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 11:36:52 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by marfknox
My husband just linked to this column from Reddit...
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Congratulations on your 3000th post, marfknox! |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 09/09/2009 11:37:18 |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 12:16:04 [Permalink]
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| And to your baby... Whatever is most significant to you ;) |
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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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 12:33:47 [Permalink]
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Quotes from Peter Heck
| It has often been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Having never been in combat, I can't speak to that. But having just been present for the birth of my first child, I feel quite comfortable saying without equivocation there are no atheists in birthing centers...at least not ones with a lick of sense. |
There are about the same percentages of atheists and non-atheists in foxholes and in birthing centers that there are in the population as a whole. Some have a lick of sense, some have a lack of sense -- as you have made obvious! | "Educated don't mean smart." |
An erudite comment!| "I'd love to meet the person who built this thing...they must be the smartest person in the world." |
They is truly an amazing conglomerate.| No one - especially the educated - would ever suggest that an F-16 was assembled by mixing up bolts, rods, and metal scraps together in a cement mixer and dumping them out all at once. |
No, that would be a Creationist Theme Park.| Because, Sagan said, a pattern always indicates intelligent design. |
If he said it, it was never recorded. He did say: "Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value the may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder." Now, let's see....God is your claim?| How then men like Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Sam Harris, and others - truly gifted intellects - can look at the DNA code and maintain their arrogant disbelief is mind boggling. |
Well, to begin with, one must have a mind to boggle.| Stunned, I asked about the ears... |
Wait till you get to the colon!| There, somehow - though science still doesn't understand how - the brain translates those sound pulses into recognizable information |
In your case, I'm afraid the process hasn't worked very well.| Paul's words in Romans took on all new meaning for me as I thought of the intellectual elitists who for the sake of pride deny the existence of our Creator |
Pride has no place in an evidentiary conclusion. | Anyone who denies the obvious conclusion that comes from such magnificent and unimaginable design, no matter how educated, is a fool. |
What kind of fool finds "obvious" conclusions where there is a total lack of evidence?| I found myself speaking the same words all over again, "I'd love to meet the one who built this masterpiece." |
Introduce yourself to your wife.
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 13:19:52 [Permalink]
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| Argument from incredulity. Next. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 18:21:07 [Permalink]
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Argument from incredulity with a more-than-heaping lump of loud anti-intellectualism.
Someone should introduce this guy to Harrison Bergeron. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2009 : 01:26:28 [Permalink]
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I would give long odds that Heck is a constipated conservative in addition to his effusive fundamentalist religiosity| Someone should introduce this guy to Harrison Bergeron. |
Some of Vonnegut's work has the ring of Republican reactionary rhetoric oddly enough, seeing as he teetered on the brink of communism/anarchy in much of his philosophy. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is heard in his comments on terrorism, an ultra conservative screed if there ever was one, but Bergeron certainly is a pointed commentary on social mediocracy-- a hallmark of the recent Bush Republican administration and of most conservative politics.
Vonnegut remains an intriguing enigma--once you think you have him figured out, it turns out to be a Hellerian catch 22! |
| Edited by - bngbuck on 09/10/2009 01:28:22 |
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Idiot Blogger: No Atheists in Birth Centers
