I'm not responsible for the impression you form. I said and, yes, also carelessly, short-sightedly and selfishly. I never claimed otherwise. But they'...
Lots. But I'm not having that debate again. And I want to live in a compassionate society that helps people as long as they can be helped, then lets t...
Sometimes. We don't always create or choose our ground. In fact, the vast majority of people in the history of the world have not enjoyed that luxury....
To what is this statement contrary? If science is not a methodology whereby humans achieve desired ends, what is it? Do you not see evidence that huma...
We are not Borg. Some atheists may want that - in an argument. Most of these discussions are started by a theist and the opening word is usually "Athe...
Isn't that exactly what I said: Science The operative words are humans and tools. This is a perennial deflection employed by both the advocates or sci...
I know! My use of 'very bad words' was in the sense that we were told in childhood. Mo-o-om! Derrick used a ba-a-d word! An I don't think we're suppos...
I'm the kind of cheerful pessimist who will feel much sorrow, much regret, much pity - but not suffer from depression. I know that in reality, things ...
Sorry, can't help it. The ones that were most fully realized, most polished, most communicative and evocative are higher in my estimation. Of course t...
When it coalesces, yes. I don't think yours did. Not really. Every citizen has a right to choose leaders and influence policy. Bullshit, Tom! You want...
"Is this a date?" "No, no, we're just friends having a coffee together." "Oh, that's all right then." "So, you want to have dinner sometime?" "Sure, a...
Yes, even a not fully realized one. It was good; it should have been excellent. I felt the same way about a couple of others. Some participants admitt...
I have no problem with your faith. You can linger as long as your health care insurance lasts; I won't unplug you against your will. But you just bloo...
Atrocities should come, like packaged food, with a content label on the back, as to the mind-set of their participants: Hindu ---- 48% Muslim ---- 40%...
that's the limited voting system's way of telling an author he had a good story but didn't transmit it clearly enough. I shouldn't have to read it fou...
What about them? Don't you think people react to that, also? Including atheists, believe it or not. Everyone has a reason for thinking as they think, ...
Who is Richard Dawkins to me, or I to Richard Dawkins? Why should I consider his state of mind before settling on one of my own? Indeed, why should yo...
It's not articulated as clearly as it could be, but I believe there are five characters: three homeowners, a man (the first person narrator) his wife ...
Nobody is authorized or empowered to lay that burden on me. My beliefs and unbeliefs are subjective and autonomous; I owe nobody a justification for t...
Meteor strikes and volcano eruptions are not in the sphere of influence of either religion or science, and so that comparison is irrelevant. I was res...
No. While an 'elegant' solution is much to be desired, and hard to let go, we settle for awkward, inconvenient, mean truths all the time. We always ho...
Those are questions best left open, as far as this atheist is concerned. I can't know those things, wouldn't begin to know where to start investigatin...
But we never get a chance never to have heard of the gods. They're in our faces all the time. Sure, there might be something somewhere that could conc...
In which case 'belief' would be a superfluous word in describing the baby's mental processes. But that's not quite right, either. The baby that has cr...
It's top-heavy. The burden of this paragraph could be incorporated into the first with few extra words. Then this paragraph contains an obvious spoile...
Well, I always need feedback, even if I sulk at the generous ladeler-out of such constructive criticism. He's used to it, and besides he's by far the ...
I haven't gone back to reread, assuming that the original submission was a one-chance deal. I'll go back when I have lots of time: Since I don't know ...
All those benighted Jews, etc. had been making wine for centuries before Jesus. Science has been part of the human psyche as long as spiritualism - th...
Hah! That's actually happened to me, in an exhibit of paintings by someone who was quite a big noise at the time. One picture had a pale track of impe...
I've been frustrated with the voting system, too. There are a couple of stories I quite liked, but that had some flaw I considered serious enough not ...
I liked the last paragraph. The subject matter is relevant and the narrator's attitude is laudable. The language is clear; grammar and syntax fine. My...
People tend to make glib blanket judgements about things they don't understand. And then consider themselves superior to people who admit they don't u...
What makes you think our species had a 'childhood'? People without cellphones can be adult and people with rocketships can be immature. Who says peopl...
Challenge, sure. But preferably in the same courteous tones you would expect from them. People don't much care for being called liars, sight unknown, ...
No, Bert, it bloody well can't! Fear, like every other emotion, is with us to stay - unless you mean science can help us all to become cyborgs. Scienc...
There is no such entity as "science". There is a methodology outlined by humans to guide other humans in the pursuit of a certain kind of knowledge. T...
Why would "it" even want to? Religion is not a single entity. It is legion. Why would you expect religions all to have the same world-view when politi...
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