Baylor University and Evolution

Baylor University in Waco, Texas is the largest Baptist University in the world, and has a pretty good science department.  I always thought the Baptists were creationists/fundamentalists…

From the Biology Department at Baylor University:

Statement on Evolution
“Evolution, a foundational principle of modern biology, is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence and is accepted by the vast majority of scientists. Because it is fundamental to the understanding of modern biology, the faculty in the Biology Department at Baylor University, Waco, TX, teaches evolution throughout the biology curriculum. We are in accordance with the American Association for Advancement of Science’s statement on evolution. We are a science department, so we do not teach alternative hypotheses or philosophically deduced theories that cannot be tested rigorously.”  http://www.baylor.edu/biology/index.php…

From the Baylor University Geology Department:

“Whether biological evolution occurs has NOT been a matter of scientific debate for more than a century. It is considered a PROVEN fact. The specific mechanisms of biological change over time continue to be a topic of active research, and include mechanisms proposed by Charles Darwin as well as more recently developed ideas based on our growing knowledge of genetics and molecular biology. Using the methods of modern science, our knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms of life has grown enormously since the initial characterization of the role of DNA in reproduction, inheritance and evolution in the mid-1950s.”   My emphasis http://www.baylor.edu/geology/index.php…

DOWNLOAD the 1 MB PDF file Evolution and the Fossil Record by Pojeta and Springer.
http://www.agiweb.org/news/evolution.pdf

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The Jesus Myth

.Christopher Hitchens on Jesus and the Exodus
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Truth Honesty And The American Way

“The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy.” -– George W. Bush, 2003

George Bush is a right wing evangelical fundamentalist dupe.

Happy 4th of July and thank goodness we can rotate our leaders.

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The True Core of the Jesus Myth

The True Core Of The Jesus Myth by Christopher Hitchens

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And the Exodus story is BS also @ 6min+

God, Homosexuality…and Nazi’s?

This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a landmark report on anti-gay defamation. The SPLC certified several new hate groups, including well-known organizations, such as The Family Research Council (FRC) and The American Family Association (AFA).  Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wayne-besen/hate-groups-waiting-in-th_b_787642.html

Now this article on the November 30^th Huffington Post, by author Wayne Besen, reports that last February the Family Research Council’s spokesman Peter Sprigg appearing on MSNBC’s, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and said that we should outlaw gay behavior.

He also reports that Brian Fischer, a spokesman for the American Family Association, said on their blog that, “homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.”

Now I thought that over the last 20 or 25 years we as a country, and a people, had grown up and passed the point where we were killing or throwing in jail those people who happened to be born or raised in such a manner that they were attracted to people of their own sex.  All the behavioral science seems to point to homosexual behavior as being a trait that people cannot control…in other words its ingrained in their psyche and there is really not much they can do about it.

When you realize that about 5 to 10 percent of the world’s population is homosexual you can see how many humans some of the religious groups are talking about putting to death or in prison…and that’s just unacceptable.  The fundagelicals in America keep denying the obvious truth (of this, and many, many other things) and keep insisting that homosexuality is a conscious choice…that heterosexual people just wake up one day and they are suddenly gay. Once again they are showing how retarded they and their religion is.

Do we really want to live in a world that is controlled by religious revelation?  Much of mankind actually went through this in the European Dark and Middle Ages and the results were not pretty.  Religion has shown over and over again that it is antithetical to intellectual freedom and a life affirming view of humanity if it is in control.  Although today’s Western Christianity is fairly tame and socially useful in our world, it is because secular forces and secular government keep it in its place.  It is not allowed to fully practice what it teaches…although many of today’s politicians are trying to get around this.

All of the religious folk who rail against homosexuality use the verses in Leviticus to show that “God” is dead set against the practice.  What they forget to include is that Leviticus and other parts of the Bible also says that mankind must not shave their beard, mix crops in a field, mix two fabrics together, eat shellfish, curse your mother or father, commit adultery, curse God (blaspheme), work on the Sabbath, they may buy, keep, and pass slaves on to your offspring, and many other things that called for the trespassers death, or at the very least cutting you off from your clan.

Most Christians now realize that these “Laws” from Leviticus are pretty silly and no longer consider most of them to be binding…even though Jesus said that he did not come to change the old “Laws,” but they hang on tenaciously to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13  They basically want the homosexuals gone…dead as it were.

The quote from Brian Fischer of the American Family Association is just mind-bending.  I don’t even know what the man is talking about. Have you ever heard of anybody tying homosexuality or homosexuals in the military to being a cause of Hitler’s starting the second world war, killing 6 million Jews and being ultimately responsible for over 50 million deaths? This is brainless and evil thinking, and makes no real-world sense at all.

Evangelical fundamentalist (fundagelical) religion seems to be eating the brains of their poor followers…they can’t understand that the world, humanity, and science is leaving them behind…I don’t hold out much hope for them.
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California Universities VS Religious Schools

Hey guys, do you remember a few years ago I wrote a post about some Christian fundamentalist schools suing the State of California’s university system for denying entrance to those Christian students because the High Schools science programs were bogus and taught “Creation science” instead of real science?

Well the California universities won their case, but the Christian schools appealed and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court.  On October 12^th of this year the Supreme Court refused to review the case, thus effectively ending the Christian schools suit, thereby denying students of Christian schools, whose curriculum teaches that magic was used to create stuff in this world, access to universities run by the state.

Those darn religious fundamentalists just keep up their crazy attempts to ride roughshod over real truths.  They keep trying to replace sanity and logic with religious dogma, and so far we have been lucky enough to have intelligent people see what is going on…and stop it.
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To Him Who Knocks The Door Will Be Opened

I count 9 times Jesus lied to us about answering prayer.  What he is saying seems so clear.  He lied about coming back also…I don’t think we can believe in this book…damn goat herders.  You would think if you can trust anybody…it would be ancient goat herders.

Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 18:19
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 21:22
“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Mark 11:24
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Luke 11:9-10
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

John 14:13-14
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

John 15:7
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

John 15:16
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

John 16:23-24
“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Quote of the day

I have seen myself lose intolerance, narrowness, bigotry, complacence, pride and a whole bushel-basket of other intellectual vices through my contact with Nature and with men. And when you take weeds out of a garden it gives you room to grow flowers. So, every time I lost a little self-satisfaction, or arrogance, I could plant some broadness or love of my own in its place, and after a while the garden of my mind began to bloom and be fragrant and I found myself better equipped for my work and more useful to others as a consequence.” — Luther Burbank

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Teach Science and Religion Together?

So, do you think it would be ‘fair’ to teach religion, along with scientific subjects in your local middle-school or high school science classes?

A lot of people, including our current president George Bush, have said that would be alright with them. Picture me standing here with my jaw dropping to the floor. Why on earth would this even enter someone’s mind as a good thing to do? What reasonable thinking person thinks the two subjects should be taught together at the same time, in the same room?

You know the answer to this of course…they should not be taught together. Religion doesn’t even come close to having an intellectually honest explanation of our earth, the human race, our pre-historic past, things like Neanderthals, stratigraphy, bones of dinosaurs, archaeological records; you know those little things that show how little the human writers of the Bible in 1500 BCE- and later, knew about their world.

Come to think about it…God didn’t know much about our world either…that is if you think the Bible was the inspired ‘word’ from God. You would think the creator of everything in the universe could /would explain to his chosen people how things really work. After all, they were as intelligent as some people of today.

But I digress. So if you think religion should be taught in your local schools, so that our children can be balanced, and pick out what YOU or THEY want to believe in. Should we also teach Astrology and Astronomy together, so they can choose which one of those ‘sciences disciplines’ they wish to follow? Perhaps they could get a job forecasting the future for presidents…why not, Reagan had one.

Should we teach Alchemy…you know, how to change lead into gold, along with modern chemistry to give them a choice of careers to follow.

Perhaps witchcraft and modern medicine should be combined…after all a lot of people believe in the old medicine man. That might take care of the doctor shortage in some remote and small towns. We could bring back the sacrificial goats and lambs and show the medical/witchcraft students how to please God with the aroma of burning goat/lamb flesh…It’s an Old Testament thing.

Just yesterday I heard that the California University system has been fending off lawsuits (The UC just won the case 8.12.08) from graduates from Christian High Schools. They (the students) have contended that the Universities where denying them admittance because of religious teaching. The California University system says that the students from the Christian schools are not learning critical thinking and logical skills necessary to graduate from college, because they are using science(?) books that explain humans and earth and evolution in a religious context only. Another sign that teaching religion in public schools is a very baaad idea.

The religious right just has to get over it, and stop their assault on the truth of science. No matter how much you deny the truth…it is still there…and the only way it can be made to go away is disprove it. And so far they have only tried lying…to make the truth go away. Is that even Christian?

See story here: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2008/CA/782_victory_in_california_creation_8_12_2008.asp

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Religion Wants to Destroy Science

If the Church wants to be successful in changing society’s attitudes toward abortion, pornography, and homosexuality, it is going to have to fight the issue at a foundational level. The foundational basis of evolution needs to be destroyed and the foundational basis of creation restored to its rightful place of importance. Ken Ham, founder, Answers in Genesis (AiG) (science is the foundational basis of evolution)

Ken Ham is arguably one of the most dangerous men in America. He resorts to lies to achieve his ends. His objective is nothing less than the dumbing down and destruction of the American people and society through smothering the minds of our children and the creativity and inquisitiveness we as a society display. As can be gathered from the quote above he wants the sciences to be destroyed and from his other writings he advocates a kind of primal religious teaching of our children and a religiously controlled government.

Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis and a firm believer and marketer of “creation science”, or Young Earth Creationism (YEC), both of which are early illegitimate cousins of “Intelligent Design”. His real…ultimate goal is to convert the world to his brand of Christianity…whether they want to or not. He is also the ‘owner/operator’ of the ‘Creation Museum’ in Petersburg, Kentucky, a venue he uses to indoctrinate children and their parent and teacher visitors into his version of the “Truth.”

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Since America has the highest percentage of dupe’s religious believers, he is correct in targeting the US first. It is a sad fact that we have a very high number of really dumb citizens…witness Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” skit on the Tonight Show.

Ham believes that the first book of the Bible…Genesis, is the very foundation of Christianity and it is the literal truth of all human reality. The universe, earth, and humanity are only 6000 or so years old. This is societal and scientific heresy of the highest order.

This man believes that acceptance of evolution, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, racism, use of drugs, and more are directly related…go hand in hand, so his stated solution to solving these problems is the destruction of science.

This, to my mind, is a problem of the first order. Fundamentalist, Evangelical religions are subtly advocating the destruction of the very foundations of our modern society. They advocate the fulfillment of their apocalyptic visions of life. They are trying to make their vision of life self-fulfilling.

We know from history that Christianity (Islam also) has been associated with, or responsible for, or supported; sexual abuse, torture, murder, fraud, deceit, infanticide, slavery, racism, genocide, and probably more I can’t think of right now. We also know from history that secular controlled governments can be responsible for the above-mentioned shameful behavior, but most secular governments can and eventually do change, unlike religions, which are cast in stone.

Do you really think a God, or Jesus, would approve the kind of deception and dishonesty that Ken Ham…and those like him…are using to delude us? Do you think a true religion and a true God would need the manipulations these people are using?

I don’t.

Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth. Henry Louis Mencken, American journalist, (1880-1956)

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