So sharia law is laughable? Slavery was laughable? Child brides in LDS is laughable? Rape in India is laughable?

When you pick up a horribly written book(which all books of myth are) with no reflection of human psychology or biological science in it and delude yourself into thinking those are facts and spread those memes to other humans who in turn do the same, then take that horribly written book with which contains no working knowledge of human psychology or evolutionary science  in it and interpret those clearly myths to the point of justifying harm to other humans, what would you call that? The last thing I would call it is "laughable".

Religion IS poison, not because all religious people are bad, it is poison because it starts from the position of credulity and relies on mere "faith" without the pragmatic tool of testing.  Nowhere did Hitchens say, nor will I ever say that you can rid humanity from this evolutionary side affect. Even Dawkins recognizes this flaw in our evolution as "The moth mistaking the lightbulb for moonlight". Religion is basically a neurological missfire, due to our evolutionary trait of having to seek patterns to gain resources but most of the time not having enough time to reason to insure.

We are animals just like other species and are genetically related to all primates and all mammals. So that survival mode is in all of us. Religion can create safety in size and numbers, but it is merely a placebo. Just like ants group together, follow the leader and are successful sometimes, but don't have the reasoning skills and can end up in a dry river bed just before a monsoon and  get wiped out as a result. It is worse for humans because we do have reasoning skills, but don't use them. And like most humans, they get raised in a religion and sold it BEFORE they have any chance to question it.

What is sad, is that you give religious nuts cover, as do moderates, by "laughing" at what people do in the name of religion.

Holy shit, iwbiek found his caps lock.

No, YOU are laughable. Religion is NOT poison. It is part of who we are as a species. Part of our evolutionary makeup. It is an idea, and ideas are only poison to fascists. Are you a fascist?
Religious people are often poisonous, but then one doesn't have to believe in a diety to be an asshole.
The problems with religion can be eliminated without actually eliminating religion. Which is good, because eliminating religion will never happen.

I also refer to religion as a weapon.

You have a kneejerk reaction to that description of poison.

Again, there are lots of things in nature that happen and are observable, but just because we observe them does not mean they are good for us.

I think you also may have this stupid image in your head that because of use of that word I am implying a global attempt at genocide to rid the world of religion. NO, that is stupid and delusional, and neither Hitchens or I would suggest it.

But by use of both weapon or poison, it puts the religious on notice that they will be scrutinized and challenge and will not get a free pass when they make claims without evidence, or pass laws that oppress others. I'd say if religious people don't want that word used to describe their position, then THEY not me need to get on their own and police themselves and also be intellectually brave enough to admit when they are wrong. But since most humans in our evolutionary FLAWED history have crap put in their heads as spounges before they can even form adult logic, the only description I can call our natural flaw is "poison."

The good aspect of our species on top of having that poison as part of our evolution is we can and often do overcome it, and while our species will never fully be cured of it, it can produce MORE civility and less harm, and more educated and compassionate society.

You coddle their insecurities by telling them "faith" is ok. It may get them through the day, but it also allows them to ignore the harm religion does. "faith" is natural, but it is also deadly.

Wow, so we need ignorance and stupid people?

I think you missed the part where I said just because something is natural doesn't mean we want it affecting us. Cancer is good? Ok, when you get it don't get any medical attention, just die because cancer provides that good benefit of gene variation.

Ignorance is bliss? I really hope that will be the only time in my life I ever see an atheist say such a stupid thing.

Really? Then you should be mad at yourself for getting an education at all. If humans always remained ignorant you wouldn't have a computer to type this tripe on.

(No Subject)  --

   Nu. 25 -- See :: Uploaded Image, I uploaded.

how do you know it's precisely moderates who give extremists "cover"?  how?  you can give that as your opinion, but it's nonfalsifiable so therefore you can't just trumpet it as a fact, or even a hypothesis for that matter, because there is no conceivable way to test it.

i know enough about dawkins to know his endless parroting of this assertion annoys me every bit as much as your endless parroting of it.  the difference is that dawkins is a scientist, so one would expect him to know better.

dude, you're the one who told me to quit bitching.  do i really need to quote you?  or is bitching ok only when someone does it about religion or republicans?

btw, i'm still waiting for you to explain to me why it's sad that the woman who gave birth to you and has known you since day one understands you better than i do.  again, if you reflect on that statement seriously for a while, you might start to understand why some of us are accusing you of consistent hyperbole.

           I think you totally have Brian's number in the psychological sense, kind of like an FBI agent who profiles a wack job.  Your analysis of his hysterical, over-the -top rantings is usually spot on...

                                                                                       ( sorry Brian )

yup, religion for one thing.  outside of the narrow range of bad experiences he's had, and the bad experiences reported by others he's read, he is not only blissfully but willfully ignorant of the overall history and development of the world's religions.  he calls hysterically for the end of something of which he has proved time and time again he knows the bare minimum about.  he's the king of anecdotal evidence.

If I was calling for their arrest or murder, then you could call me dogmatic. I really don't give one fuck what you chose to do or not do about superstitious morons who live in fantasy land. But don't think you have any right to tell me how to address people with such absurd beliefs.

You miss context. From a human rights standpoint, if you want to claim you are Napoleon, I'll defend your right to make that claim. But only assholes demand taboos when you face them with the fact that they are not.

Virgin births are not real. Mo did not have a cosmic bat phone talking to ALLAH when the Koran was written. All holy books are comic books. If our species never questioned social norms our species never would have left the caves.

When the next gay person is assaulted, or the next abortion clinic bombed. When the next Islamic nut blows something up, when the next Palestinian kid grows up to become a martyr because Jews murdered their parents when they were too young to stay out of adult beefs, I'll , remember all this lecturing on how important taboos are.

Off of the topic here, but those are some interesting videos that you have in your signature Prozac.

Outside of Mississippi Queen, I do not think that I have heard of any of the rest of them.

By the way, I DO  like that avatar. Why if I didn't know better..................nevermind

                                                                                   ....more guns Brian, we just need more guns.