Darwin and Lincoln share a birthday. I pointed this out in music theory class today.

Iruka Naminori
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Darwin and Lincoln share a birthday. I pointed this out in music theory class today.

I already outed myself as an atheist last semester, so those who hate me aren't going to stop. Smiling  When the prof brought up Lincoln's birthday I had to open my big fat atheist, naturalist mouth and say, "Yesterday was Darwin's Day!"  The prof got off on one of his usual tangents about one of his many trips around the world (I'm jealous) and mentioned that Chile was a stop-off spot when Darwin was on his way to the Galapagos. 

Behind me, I heard one of the kids (I'm not in the 18-21 category) say, "There are more churches than people in this town."

I laughed and said, "I'm a heathen." 

"Who isn't?" asked the kid.

I thought, "All the people attending those churches?" But I didn't say it. 

The kid's response made me feel a little bit better about my occasional outbursts.  Obviously there is a large heathen contingent in this town that mostly keep their mouths shut.  Perhaps it's time to go on the offensive? 


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Excellent story. Yes, go on

Excellent story.

Yes, go on the offensive, so to speak. Here's the reason why:

I mentioned my atheism during a conversation with some of my colleagues and their wives, and one of them was 'surprised to meet a real life atheist"

From this, I took that I was the only one in the group. But it turned out that many in the group were atheists... including the person surprised to meet a real life atheist!

So why did she phrase things that way in the first place? I can't even figure that out.....  

"Hitler burned people like Anne Frank, for that we call him evil.
"God" burns Anne Frank eternally. For that, theists call him 'good.'


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You brought up an excellent

You brought up an excellent point.

 

The US is 80% Christian. I wonder how many of those people just use church as some kind of social activity on Sunday? How many of these people would leave if they opened the Bible and actually read the stories of Joshua of Jericho laying waste to Arab villages "and take the sword and axe to every woman, child, sheep, ass and goat" ? How many people are just what I call the "nods to god people"? I think that if we bring atheism into the spotlight, we can really get alot of people on our side who hate going to church on Sunday anyway. 

"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.

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I totally agree with you

I totally agree with you deludedgod.  The Christians I've talked to first off haven't read the Bible and are shocked when I show them passages like the one you posted.  And second you can totally tell it is just a socail event they are a part of, and are really going because well the rest of their family goes.


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Iruka Naminori wrote: I

Iruka Naminori wrote:

I already outed myself as an atheist last semester, so those who hate me aren't going to stop. Smiling When the prof brought up Lincoln's birthday I had to open my big fat atheist, naturalist mouth and say, "Yesterday was Darwin's Day!" The prof got off on one of his usual tangents about one of his many trips around the world (I'm jealous) and mentioned that Chile was a stop-off spot when Darwin was on his way to the Galapagos.

Behind me, I heard one of the kids (I'm not in the 18-21 category) say, "There are more churches than people in this town."

I laughed and said, "I'm a heathen."

"Who isn't?" asked the kid.

I thought, "All the people attending those churches?" But I didn't say it.

The kid's response made me feel a little bit better about my occasional outbursts. Obviously there is a large heathen contingent in this town that mostly keep their mouths shut. Perhaps it's time to go on the offensive?

Darwin and Lincoln born on the same day? That can't be a coincidence. Therefore, God exists Eye-wink


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you pointing that out

you pointing that out completely convinces me that God does in fact exist, I am now a believer.  I've seen the work of God, and it makes my heart warm.


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All you need to do is get

All you need to do is get the sports leagues to start advertising their games being better than church since there's no god, but the "insert team here" needs your help to win Sunday sunday sunday....

Suddenly (almost) every male in America over the age of 10 stops thinking about god and gets back to things of (some) import.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.


deludedgod
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You know Vastet, that just

You know Vastet, that just reminded me of something. the Colts coach actually believed God wanted his team to win the Superbowl and that is why they won. The Down-south stupid culture associated with American football has produced some amusing knuckleheads. In Texas, football teams pray under the delusion that God cares which high school quarterback is going to get banged for winning a season game.

"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.

-Me

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High school football in

High school football in Texas is a religion unto itself.

Can you imagine holding a student back a year in junior high, just so he has an extra year to grow before high school football?

From http://www.clipfile.org/2004/03/28/674/

There are as many reasons for the decisions to delay kindergarten as there are parents who make them. Some say their child is smaller than her peers. Some say their boy can’t sit still in a classroom chair. Some want Junior to be captain of the high school football team.

And it's not just football:

From http://www.doubleazone.com/2006/08/are_there_really_recruiting_ra.html

In the Inquirer story, Keith Pompey chronicles the decision of one family to have their 12-year-old son repeat the sixth grade so that he can improve his national basketball recruiting ranking. Instead of staying on track with his education, the child will repeat the sixth grade at a new school. His father said the decision was “90 percent basketball.”

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