[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hat tip to TC and Emily for serving as inspiration for this article.] Atheists typically don't like organized religion, and many will seize just about any excuse to attack the beliefs of theists. Only yesterday a friend of mine posted a political comment on social media that mentioned abortion, yet somehow an atheist lurking in the shadows managed to bring religion into the conversation by claiming the Bible doesn't condemn abortion. In my response I pointed out that Scripture doesn't mention nuclear war or space travel either, because those things also didn't exist when the Bible was written. Elective surgery by a medical doctor to kill an unborn child in the womb wasn't simply available when Jesus walked the Earth. 13 weeks into pregnancy His argument was weak, but my new atheist acquaintance was just getting warmed up. Next this particular religion critic boldly claimed the Bible was a work of fiction, which is an odd statement for an atheist to make. Most of my atheist friends realize the best strategy is to remain on offense and attack religion while carefully avoiding any knowledge claims they might have to defend. For example, most atheists will say something safe like "I believe the Bible is fiction" instead of "the Bible is fiction" because the former is merely stating an opinion, but the latter is a knowledge claim that will ultimately need to be defended with empirical evidence. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but not their own independent set of facts. And the fact of the matter is, the claim the Bible is a work of fiction … [Read more...]
Panspermia
The concept of panspermia was first introduced to me by National Lampoon in the form of a joke--one issue of the magazine contained a description of a new version of the video game Space Invaders in which players are encouraged to "knock down the invading sperm from space before they knock up your little sister." Well, I laughed. I don't apologize for my often bizarre sense of humor. In my opinion, one ought to be able to admit that the idea of extraterrestrial sperm coming from outer space to create life on Earth is pretty funny. What's even funnier is panspermia is actually a scientific hypothesis that mostly exists because of a mathematics problem, created by the foolish assumption of secular-minded scientists that creation can come to exist without a Creator. After DNA was discovered, calculations were performed to determine low long it would take "Nature" to produce a double helix without intelligent help. Even the most optimistic projections could not explain how life came to exist so quickly after the Earth was created (approximately 4 billion years ago). The same experts say that the earliest forms of life appeared on Earth 3.6 billion years ago, only 400 million years later. The mathematics problem associated with the origin of life on Earth stems from calculations of how long experts have estimated it would take for DNA to form by luck and random chance. The most optimistic estimates require a lot more time than four hundred million years. Because the universe is many billions of years older than Earth, by invoking panspermia and proclaiming the … [Read more...]
A monopoly on speech
If you aren't worried, you must not be paying attention. Of course, you could be a neo-liberal, and believe everyone except a heterosexual white Christian male has the right to speak freely. In that case, you'll probably think it's great if someone decides to "de-platform" this website under the premise that it's "hate speech" to state the obvious, which is to say that people born with an "Y" chromosome (formerly known as biological males) have significant physical advantages when engaged in athletic competitions against people without "X" chromosomes, a.k.a biological females. Or, if I really wanted to throw caution to the wind, I might even have the audacity to say that fetus is nothing more than a fancy word substituted for the phrase unborn baby to assuage the guilty consciences of millions who want the legal right to kill them. I know, I know...the word "fetus" is a technical, scientific term, and I'm using the vernacular of the unwashed, uneducated (and uber-religious) masses to describe the exact same thing. However, the point of this little diatribe isn't to rail specifically against transgender athletes or legal abortions, but to demand the freedom to criticize them without having to live in fear of retribution. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech does not require that a private business should have to provide services to customers they do not wish to serve. Because I supported the right of Colorado businessman Jack Phillips and his Masterpiece Cakeshop to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding on religious grounds, I must also, albeit … [Read more...]
Every day reaches a new low
Social media becomes more problematic for me to use by the day. Liberals can say whatever the hell they want with absolutely no fear of censorship. Conservatives can't tell the truth without Facebook or Twitter slapping some half-assed "fact checking" claim that is usually a pathetic joke of biased interpretation passed off as truth by a lazy press corps. Politics cannot be avoided, but only half the conversation is being allowed. I've always used Facebook and liked the interface until I began to realize how intrusive their data mining has become. For example, somehow Mark Zuckerberg found out that I took a business trip to Ireland in 1998. Facebook wasn't launched until six years later, so I could not have posted photos of my trip or published my travel itinerary, not that I would be stupid enough to advertise to burglars when I'm not around to protect my home. I am 99.9999+ percent certain that I have never mentioned that little tidbit of information on Facebook. So, the question is, how did Facebook find out about my trip and mention it as one of the fun facts about me that others can learn without my intentional consent. Ah, but there's the rub, isn't it? To what have I consented, when I clicked "Agree" to their book-length terms of service agreement? I understood that the social media application was going to use information learned about me from my use of Facebook and the internet itself to help advertisers market products to me while I'm using their product. Again, information about my travel to Ireland can't even be on my own computer, because my laptop … [Read more...]
A solution to the NCAA problem
The NCAA has a fairly serious problem, but I have an idea about how to fix it. I am a fan of college football. Specifically, I am a Georgia Bulldog. Yesterday, my favorite team won an exciting Peach Bowl game against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats on a last second field goal. If Cincinnati had won the game, pundits would have been called a stunning victory. However, Bulldog fans had a valid excuse ready if we'd lost--a number of NFL draft-eligible "star" players chose not to play in the game, Now if Georgia had been contending for a national championship, it is far more likely that Eric Stokes, Ben Cleveland, Monty Rice, and other starting players who skipped the game would have been on the field. While many fans complain about these players missing a football game due to fear of injury, I would like to remind the complainers of the serious injuries suffered by the great South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore, or more recently, the serious knee injury to Miami QB D'Eriq King in the 2020 Cheezit Bowl. Those two examples prove the players have a valid concern, but there is a third injured player whose name I'll never forget: Devon Gales, the inspiring young player from Southern University tragically paralyzed in Sanford Stadium while blocking on a kickoff return against the Bulldogs. The NCAA is a very wealthy organization. There is a lot of money involved in college sports, especially college football, and players have demanded they get paid to play. The counterargument to their demand has historically been to point to the value of a college … [Read more...]
