Saturday, April 2, 2011 1:57:51 PM
Free speech, Hitchens, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Sometimes event occurs which, it is claimed, was incited by the speech or actions of another. One of these was the recent murder of aid workers in Afghanistan which some have blamed upon the actions of a petty preacher in the USA called Rev. Terry Jones. What did Jones do that was so heinous? He burnt a Koran, probably because he chickened out of doing so last year.
Pastor Jones incites publicityEvents like this put liberal minded people on the horns of a dilemma for do you criticise Jones for his disrespect towards another religion? Or perhaps become you angry because, you believe, his actions directly incited some mullah or Imam in Afghanistan to murder?
A few would, falsely, agree with Voltaire, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This is widely quoted quotation is an invention by a biographer of the playwright. Ignoring the dubious ancestry of this line it is a fine declaration of the right to free speech and is usually met with a response quotation of "you would not shout fire in a crowded theatre."
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011 3:03:21 PM
Didache, legends, atheism, Christianity
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I earlier posted on the
Democratic Underground in reply to a post about the "Didache" an early Christian document which carries similar information to the synoptic Gospels. Now, a few years ago I had never even heard of this document, couldn't pronounce it (like "Didactic" if you're interested) and a few months ago knew little of the detail.
Essentially it outlines teachings and practises for Gentiles to follow. Much of what it teaches is based on Jewish ritual and thought; some of said to be Essene. Interestingly Jesus is portrayed as the servant, not the son, of God, at least in the early portions. Additionally it contains details matching bits of Matthew but nothing of Mark. At least by implication it means that Matthew
copied from had copies of both works. Where this leaves Luke, I don't know.
Now, Didache is interesting, if only from the fact it is excluded from the canonical (sic) text! The problem comes with why were the biblical texts written at all for they do not describe an historical figure.
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Thursday, March 3, 2011 6:13:25 PM
Today I received a rather sad response to my last harangue against deity.
RevK wrote,"Dizzying,
I’ve been particularly busy of late taking every thought captive in order to make them obedient to Christ.
I would like to respond soon.
Circumstance bless you,"
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Friday, February 25, 2011 9:18:59 PM
belief, Serious, atheism, bible
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I don't want to continue acting as wet nurse to fundamentalist fools. Still, it is fun actually verbalising your beliefs. The original posts are at
Christian TheologyThank you for your comment about Hitchens, although I have never depended on him and wrote my entire text and it's references largely from the memory which genetics, education and circumstance have blessed me. In regard to spelling, "Practise" is acceptable English but poor American, blame Webster not me.
Thank you also for applying the term harangue, I now regard myself as an ally of the "Lone Haranguer" from the "Wizard of Id." For the why of my harangue let me point out, again, that you are an apologist for a religion that assumes to itself too much; a religion that ignores the verities of other faiths before attempting to subvert and ultimately destroy them. If you doubt this then examine Charlemagne’s behaviour in Northern Europe; the Reconquista of Spain and Portugal; the slaughter of Hypatia and many other old religionists of the Near East. Please note that my reference to holy Christian slaughter ends at 1492 and even then is but a fraction of the butchers bill to that time.
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Monday, February 21, 2011 6:29:07 PM
atheism, bible, Serious, belief
This serious blogpost was written in reply to a poster on
Christian Theology blog post #65
I have taken up and read the Bible and I have discarded it; by contrast you have read with glasses, not so much rose tinted as opaque. I have read the contradictory tales of the creation in Genesis, but to you there is no contradiction. I have followed the ridiculous and murderous flood fable of Noah and his (mechanically impossible) timber boat and all you see is a rainbow.
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011 2:02:35 PM
America, death panels, Obama, conspiracy
I spend some time at
Fundies Say the Darndest Things and often come across samples of the strangeness that infests the blogosphere. One of these samples had me speculating about the weird world that such people inhabit.
To help me out I have put together a "Smorgasbord" of conspiracy snippets and put them into an incoherent narrative.
You see, the danger the US of A faces today is the greatest it has ever faced since the socialist commie fascists put Roosevelt into the Oval Office. People forget that the war in Europe was a put up job to help the Soviet Union expand and to drag the USA into the conflict weakening it before instituting the One World Government. Nearly worked too but their Puppet President died and they had to settle for the UN.
Well, that's the past, but coming right up to date we now have Obama in the White House. We all know he was put there by Acorn stuffing the vote, Black Panthers frightening True Americans away from the polling stations and John McCain being too scared to follow the lead of wonderful Sarah Palin into the Presidency.
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Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:09:06 PM
prayer, religion, silence, meditation
first a link to a posted comment on "
Fundies say the darndest things"
I am becoming intolerant in my old age. More and more I find the idiocies of so called Christians less and less amusing and more worthy of the attentions of the cluebat. Preferably an old English cluebat of the cricket variety
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Friday, January 21, 2011 7:11:18 PM
"Oh, that's disgusting!" herself quivered with fury,
"What is?" I asked, for sometimes I'm slow on the uptake.
"That is! They've taken a whole family - even the young - and they're carrying them back for the whole world to see,"
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Thursday, January 20, 2011 2:22:44 PM
In other lives it might be insignificant but in this one it is not. Word of Zander came to me and I chanced an e-mail. The next thing I knew I was gushing ideas like an incontinent water clock counts seconds. In the immortal words of Hedley Lamarr "My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives,"
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 7:11:56 PM
"I wonder why," she said, "Some Churches have all these spikes and decorations,"
We were on the M5 at the time, on route to the North Country; lands where Men are
men, sheep are dangerous and women more so. Not taking my eyes from the road I responded with a truth, "Defensive architecture evolves over time and reduces predation,"
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