sageoflogic:

helvetebrann:

The whole Darwin thing can still be a tad controversial in Kentucky, a state that hosts a high-tech, Bible-centered, natural-history-style museum that asserts that the Earth is roughly 6,000 years old.

In Hart County, about an hour and 20 minutes south of Louisville, the local school superintendent is now expressing his frustration that a new state biology test is, in his opinion, treating evolution as a fact, rather than a theory.

He also charges that the test is omitting the “creation story” that cites God as the originator of the universe.

The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Jim Warren reported Tuesday that Superintendent Ricky D. Line raised the objections in emails and letters to the state education commissioner and education board.

“I have a very difficult time believing that we have come to a point … that we are teaching evolution … as a factual occurrence, while totally omitting the creation story by a God who is bigger than all of us,” he wrote, according to the newspaper. “My feeling is if the Commonwealth’s site-based councils, school board members, superintendents and parents were questioned … one would find this teaching contradictory to the majority’s belief systems.”

He may not be too far off-base with that last bit. Supporters of teaching evolution agree that many Americans have a hard time getting their heads around what Charles Darwin called his “dangerous idea.”

“Overall, the nation has a big problem,” Dr. Brian Alters, a professor and author of the book “Evolution in the Classroom,” said in a National Institutes of Health newsletter in 2006. “Approximately half of the U.S. population thinks evolution does (or did) not occur. While 99.9% of scientists accept evolution, 40% to 50% of college students do not accept evolution and believe it to be ‘just’ a theory.”

The superintendent remained defiantly skeptical in the face of scientific consensus, noting that it was “interesting that the great majority of scientists felt Pluto was a planet until a short time ago, and now they have totally changed that.”

Are you serious???  Stupid arguments like this make me so……

(Source: Los Angeles Times)

Governor Rick Perry has taken us to a new low in campaign advertising with his “Strong” ad. Under the guise of spirituality, Perry has taken the manipulation of religion for partisan political advantage to an incredible, almost unbelievable extreme. With a smile on his face, he trades on personal attacks and provable untruths that reveal no understanding of the First Amendment to the Constitution and very little respect for the integrity of religion.

His ad suggests a war on religion that simply does not exist. His statement that he is “not ashamed to be a Christian” would seem to imply that too many of our public officials are. If anything, the opposite is true. Far too many candidates of both parties are trying to use their faith as a political weapon or qualification for office, rather than a source for inspiration. As I’ve had far too many occasions to say, this is a race for commander-in-chief, not pastor-in-chief.

These are difficult times and we are a country facing serious challenges requiring real solutions. Prioritizing one religious perspective in favor of another does nothing to move us forward. We have to have a president who believes in the constitutionally defined guarantee of religious freedom and who will appoint judges that will protect that precious right.

Don’t be fooled. In a presidential campaign, the primary goal is to win the election. No programs or speeches are accidental. Everything is orchestrated. And everything is meant to increase the possibility of a particular candidate winning the election. Candidates should be welcome in houses of worship to worship if they so choose. But pulpits, lecterns, bimas and other sacred forums should not be sites from which stump speeches are delivered and partisan politics preached.

And please keep in mind that not everyone who speaks frequently of religion is religious and not everyone who says little about religion is irreligious. What candidates have done and what candidates do speak much more loudly than what candidates say they believe. Of course, the same is true of voters.

This year’s elections occur in the context of a sharply divided nation filled with hurting people who are angry. For the good of our nation, we need a competition for the presidency that models civility, mutual respect and a commitment to political party that is secondary to patriotism. A good campaign can benefit the nation almost as much as the candidate for the White House who is elected.

(Source: The Huffington Post)

depressingfacts:

helvetebrann:

This week is Parent Conference week.  We meet with all of the parents of the kids in our advisory class.  Today I met with a bright young student and her parents.  She is succeeding in almost every subject.  On top of doing well in school, her parents are having her learn to play the piano, she’s enrolled in a local gym, and is running every weekend on the school track.

She’s just having problem in one subject: science.  The only unit that’s been covered so far?  Evolution.

I offered to help her study.

On the way out, one of the parents grabbed my arm and said, “I really want you to stress that evolution is just a theory.”

I was too in shock to say anything.  I mean, yeah I know I’ve heard about it happening, but I’ve never had a PARENT tell me that they want me, as a teacher, to tell the child that a standard of education isn’t important.

Sure.  We’ll go over theory when I help her study.

The theory of gravity.

The theory of plate techtonics.

The theory of germs.

Fuck you.  You’re harming your child’s education.  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Helvetebrann being a total badass. 

loldontbejelly:

sageoflogic:

socialistictendencies:

hollielovesyou:

So here I am, potentially setting myself up for some trouble. But you know what? I feel like I want to write about it.

Atheism.

Sounds fun! Let’s see how far we get before we stumble upon some grade A bullshit.

The belief that there is NO God. That there are NO gods. That there is absolutely NO higher power whatsoever.

…that was fast.

[The cut won’t work, sorry followers.]

Atheism is the rejection of a claim. Your description is a subset called gnostic atheism and it is a common strategy to go on the offensive and lie about atheism like this. Can’t say I’m surprised.

There are a lot of people out there who claim atheism. But are they true atheists? That isn’t something I can really determine, nor can you. But it does make me wonder. Do they REALLY believe there isn’t a God? Or are they using their doubts and questions of God as a basis for their claim to “atheism?”

There are a lot of people out there who claim Christianity. But are they true Christians? That isn’t something I can really determine, nor can you. But it does make me wonder. Do they REALLY believe there is a God? Or are they using their doubts and questions of the universe as a basis for their claim to “Christianity”?

I’d say they are, actually. They shove god everywhere they can fit it to answer questions they don’t feel like thinking about.

I know a few reasons for atheism and I want to touch on it.

Well, your definition was flawed, so I’m sure you’re wrong on pretty much all counts, but let’s go anyway. For science.

“God allows a lot of bad stuff to happen. Why would a ‘loving God’ allow bad things to happen to his people?”

Problem of evil, restated incorrectly to give the impression that atheists are stupid.

We talked about this last night in Bible study. The answer is so simple. How in the world would anyone know God if he didn’t allow bad things to happen? To a lot of people, that doesn’t make sense. But God makes everything happen for a reason. He has everything planned out for a reason. He does not WANT to do a lot of things he does, but it HAS to be done.

If your god is

• omnipotent
• omniscient
• willing to stop evil

then your god and evil are mutually exclusive. Given these three qualities, it knows exactly how to stop evil without messing up his plan, has the power to do it, and is willing to do it. If evil still exists, then that god does not. Very simple.

William Lane Craig usually spits up this argument without the premises, like you did, to show that atheists are “wrong”. To do so makes one either grossly ignorant or a lying shit stain on the underwear of society. Craig is the latter. I’ll assume you’re the former.

A lot of times when a “bad thing” happens, there are a bunch of people who truly turn their lives over to him. Those people would have never truly known God if they had never experienced an eye opening situation. When bad things happen, God’s love shows through the people that really love him. And someone who may not know God are able to see God through other people reaching out their kind hands to help. None of us DESERVE good things to happen to us.

And here’s the self-hating side of Christianity. No one deserves anything because we suck and we’re all emo little bitches. Well guess what, I deserve good things and so does everyone else. You hate humanity, and you project that onto your image of God.

We are so undeserving of everything good. So we should be asking ourselves, why doesn’t more bad stuff happen to me? God loves us so much that every situation is in his hands.

Yes, he loves us oh so much. That’s why we ask why MORE bad shit doesn’t happen. That’s some powerful battered wife syndrome.

He knows we will be able to handle it. He knows we can get through it. Why would we take the “easy way out” and just stop believing in him? He still loves us and is GOING to get us through everything! He would never abandon us. He never will.

Here’s the complete lack of understanding of what atheism is again. One needs to believe in God to say, “Hey, that dude’s a dick, I’m going to stop believing in him”. That’s not atheism, that’s being a fucking moron.

“It is easier to do bad things and not have to answer to God if I just don’t believe in him.”
This one is extremely prominent in teenagers. “I’m just going to be atheist so I can have sex and get drunk all the time and not have to confess my sins to God. I don’t believe in any of that.”

And again, we have this bullshit. You need to believe there is a god to think that ending belief will let you off the hook from his rules. Also, nice stereotype of atheists as rebellious teenagers. You think you’re making a valid comparison. What you’re really doing is asserting a parent-child relation between equals. You assume the position of the parent and talk down to others, telling them that they are children because they don’t kiss the same ass you do.

You also show no understanding of what not believing in a god really is. Your descriptions of atheism are simply people angry at the god they already believe in. You have absolutely no clue what it is to not believe, so you assume no one else has a clue either.

Well I’m not sure how to put it to you simply, but, regardless of if you “believe” or not, when we all die, we all will reach judgement by God. And regardless of if you believed in him while living on Earth, you’re gonna have to answer and confess everything you ever did wrong. Regardless of if you think all the “heaven and hell” stuff is truth or just a bunch of crap to scare people, you WILL have to answer to God on that judgement seat. And at that point it will be too late. You will have denied God so much that there is no turning back. You aren’t just going to lie dormant in your grave for all eternity when you die… you will go and answer to God. I don’t care if you believe in it or not, it is going to happen. I don’t care if you think the Bible is all made up, it is going to happen. And it is going to suck a whole lot more the more you continuously deny God.

Hey! Fuck you too.

The threat isn’t even hidden this time. You really think your sky daddy will punish people for not kissing his ass. In that case, he’s a cunt and that’s just fucking fine. What’s really telling is that you seem okay with this. I wish more Christians would say this in public so we knew who to ignore. You are a hateful piece of shit and I’m glad I know that now so I can avoid you.

Sure it might seem fun now to think the Bible is all made up and “science is so much better.”

Well, the Bible is all made up, and science is better. Funny how you say that when you enjoy the luxury of a computer to post this drivel with, presumably in a house with some kind of climate control while wearing clothes made by machines. 

Science works. Bible doesn’t. You lose.

It might seem fun now to go against everything the Bible says and party it up every night. It might seem fun to follow “society” and “do as the celebs do.” But for the rest of ETERNITY? Burning in hell doesn’t seem like a lot of fun to me.

And here we go AGAIN. Seriously, you are a disgusting person.

I think you enjoy the belief that your god will torture people. You think no one deserves good things. You hate humanity so fucking much that you want people to be tortured. You are a sociopath and I suggest seeing a doctor.

“I’m gay/bisexual and the pastor at the church I used to go to told me that God hates homosexuals.”
That is going to be the biggest lie you’ll ever hear.

I’d say “the Christian god exists” is a bigger lie, but go on.

God does not hate homosexuals whatsoever. And if your pastor is telling you this, he/she is completely wrong and needs to read the Bible again.

Ah, the big book of multiple choice. How exactly do you know your interpretation is right? Because you like it? Well I like the interpretation that implies Star Wars happened. When do I get my lightsaber?

Or they don’t need to be preaching. Either way. God does NOT hate homosexuals. What he hates is when you go against his word and do the complete opposite of what he created you to do. He does not hate you personally. He hates what you are doing. He hates what murderers do. He hates what liars do. He hates what adulterers do. He hates what anyone who goes against his word does, NOT the person! A lot of times people say that they did not choose to be gay, they were born that way. A child was not born automatically knowing who they were going to love. I did not come into this world knowing that I would be in love with my boyfriend. Nor did I think that I could potentially be in love with another girl. I was born a GIRL. I was made to be with a MAN when I got older.

So here’s the “God doesn’t make people gay” argument. Decades of medical texts would disagree with your assertion that people aren’t born gay, or that people are even born as only female or male. But you hate science, so there’s no talking to assholes like you.

You were “made” for whatever you want to do. You only think you were made for a man because of your fascist religion.

God created my body for the purpose of loving a man, to marry him, and to mate with him so that we could create more wonderful children TOGETHER. God didn’t create me to love a woman. I very well could have, of course. We all have that choice to fall in love with whomever we please, male or female, regardless of which gender we are. But I was wonderfully made for the purpose of being with a man so that together we could carry on God’s will and make beautiful kids together.

So he only made you to pump out kids? Get to it and stop typing this shit, then. No one will miss you.

Now you may be homosexual and not want kids. But you’re still going against the purpose you were created for. You can’t deny that your body was made for the opposite sex. You can’t deny that at all!

Disclaimer: I am a straight male. Guess what? Dicks still fit in my ass, just as well as they would in a vagina. Surprise, surprise.

You were beautifully created that way, perfectly and wonderfully. And it is a terrible thing to just throw that gift away! You may think you can’t stop being homosexual, that you can’t stop loving the same gender. But God loves you regardless, no matter what.

Here’s the “pump out kids” thing again. I don’t see why you’re wasting your time telling us about our lives when you’re wasting your boyfriend’s sperm. Get to it!

“There is just no way any of this Bible stuff can be real. I’m just not buying it.”
We aren’t supposed to be able to comprehend a lot of things God has done. There is no way in the world our tiny minds can comprehend every huge thing God has done and why he’s done it. That would be like trying to fit the ocean into a Coke bottle. It just isn’t going to happen. A lot of people just want to give up on faith because it is too big to comprehend. But that is why we have faith.

Faith: the get-out-of-explaining-yourself-free card. You don’t understand it, you have no basis for believing it, so you throw in the faith card and expect to be respected for believing bullshit.

We have the desire to want to know God, despite not understanding everything that is going on or everything that has happened. We find it hard to comprehend that God created this Earth. There is a lot of science that parallels it and science makes much more sense because it is physical evidence. Well what is science anyway? A lot of science is just MAN MADE THEORIES to TRY and explain things that people have trouble comprehending. Theories aren’t even the truth!

Scientific theories are models based on observable fact. For example, gravity is a fact. The theory of gravity tries to explain that fact.

This is yet another “zomg science changes so it must be bad, let’s believe the book instead because my priest told me to” argument. You are an intellectual cripple. 

Science parallels the creations! And there are a whole bunch of things that science can’t even explain!!!

God of the gaps. Shove your god into any hole it fits, and explain everything away. Too bad it isn’t an explanation and all it does is push the issue back another step, since God is unaccounted for.

There are a lot of things that we can’t comprehend about God, and I know that gets a lot of people. It is MIND BLOWING!! It blows my mind. But that is the most amazing thing about God. He is so mind blowing and absolutely amazing. When you take the time to give him time, you start to learn that there are things that can’t be explained at all except by just knowing that “Wow, God loves us. That is why.”

“I don’t feel like understanding it, science is hard, so God did it.”

There is so much really that I could touch on. And I’m probably going to cause an uproar because I usually do!

Meh. I’ve seen worse. But this was pretty bad.

But hey, if you have any questions feel free to ask me. I prefer if you are kind about it because I like talking to people in a calm and reasonable way rather than people using profanity to tell me I’m wrong. I know sometimes people get offended, especially when it comes to the touchier side of God, but if you’ll be reasonable with me, things will work out much better. If you ask me NOT using anon, I’ll answer you privately. No one will ever know you have these questions. It will be between you and I. But if you have to use anon because you don’t want me to know who you are, or you don’t have a Tumblr, then obviously I’ll have to publish them. I love talking to you all about God, so please, feel free to ask away.

We’ll be reasonable with you once you’re reasonable with us. Maybe think before you post.

You deserve so much applause. The reason why I don’t follow tags is so that I don’t see the kind of shit the OP posts. 

I know so many people who need to read this.