NCclimber

Some people can't help but go down that road. It's a default setting.

What are you saying? That because its a nice belief its a valid belief? Some people believe that the politician from Nigeria really is going to give them $10M to help smuggle money out of the country. Doesn't stop them becoming broke. The attractiveness of the faith does not make the faith itself anyless illogical or implausible. To give in to the attractiveness and believe it you must overlook absurdity of the story. Hence, turning off the bullshit filter. Outstanding job of missing my point! Really! Sometimes our convictions prevent us from grasping another person's point.

Got a link to confirm this claim? A legitimate one? I'm not really interested in any of those hostile propaganda sites you regularly post.

Atheists also clash heads with orthodox Jews and devout Muslims. It's just that the majority religion in the world's English-speaking countries is Christianity. Yes, I know that doesn't fully address what you're asking, but I thought I'd mention it. OK, so why clash heads with any theist? Well, in this particular forum, it’s a forum for debate, so this is a logical place to do it in. Thus, you’ll see it a lot in here, just as you’ll see debates over politics, guns, etc. In the real world, most atheists would simply like to be left alone, not debate religion, and not have theism be in their sight-lines and earshot; but the way society is, the practical reality is that one is bombarded by theism constantly, even if people don’t really mean to do it. Atheists tend to be more hyper-aware of it than others, just as, for example, vegetarians tend to be more hyper-aware than meat-eaters of how few palatable meatless offerings there are on the menus of restaurants. Additionally, one doesn't come across any Evangelical Jews trying to thrust their religion down the throats of others or to get their hang-ups enshrined into law. Persecution Complex / Victimology mindset?

Your reply gives me the impression you are taking a very limited view on this. I'm talking about getting inside believer's heads. I'm going to try to make analogy here, and I hope people won't go making a bunch of comparisons that are irrelevant to my point. The point is that you can't really see what other people see unless you can see it through their eyes. The analogy is likening faith to football/soccer. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, Arguably, over a billion people love it. To its fans, its attraction is overwhelming. The reasons for loving the game are numerous... some complex... some simple. To the uninitiated, it's an incredibly lame and boring game. Who gives a rat's ass??? Your guys kick a ball in a huge net. You get to live vicariously through them. Big whoop. Who really cares??? Boooooring! Until you can understand why it's important at the gut level, you can't really understand the attraction. Maybe these "otherwise intelligent people" are not turning off their logic switches and bullshit filters. Maybe their attraction to faith is just something that you haven't yet considered.

Have you ever tried to understand why people so many people view their faith as an overwhelmingly positive part of their lives?... setting aside your own prejudices and trying to grasp why the attraction is so strong?... in a non-judgmental manner? It's easy to find fault with just about any belief system if your focus is on finding faults.

It's about embracing diversity.

The anti-pollution forces definitely got pull. Here's a classic piece of junk science that was immediately lauded as gospel. http://www.davehitt.com/facts/epa.html No doubt, this site has a stong bias... but which of the claims regarding the study's bogus conclusions are untrue?

Who said anything about "fair". At issue is whether the US was involved or not. It was. The Iraq govt. is a puppet of the US in just the same way as the Polish govt. was a puppet of the USSR until the wall fell. Ya, well what ever. I guess if you say it, it must be so....... I do say so. The Iraqi High Tribunal was set up by the US occupation force. The judges were trained by US lawyers. Their country is OCCUPIED by the US Army and Marines. Quack, waddle... I wonder how many people had a similar take on the Marshall Plan in 1947, as well as the efforts of Edwards Deming.

You mean by all his deceptive, back-stabbing measures to avoid service?

The total federal debt (w/ a "b") increased every year during Clinton's presidency.

Clinton assumed/inherited the strongest bull market in this countries history, which translated into huge increases in tax revenue... and yet he was unable to set aside a single dollar to reduce the dest. tsk, tsk.

About as effective as debating on the internet.

OK, so the few are making money, but that doesn't address the issue stated. The few? What percentage of Americans own any stock? Where do you get this stuff. The Dow climbed more in '03 than in '06. Translation: Less than half is not the same as virtual all. We've been hearing this same story of gloom and doom for about a year and a half. "Wolf! Wolf!" Aint projections grand. If Clinton had actually reduced the debt a single dollar... now that would have been something to crow about. We ARE headed for a real fucker in the next 10 years, could be a serious depression as with the Hoover years. Difference would be that it kinda snuck up on them, now we havre all the indicators and can do nothing about it. Wolf! Wolf!

minE Am not either, tWo.

Yeah, it's "moot" Which is not to be confused with "yoot" or yute, as in Is it possible, the two "yutes"... Eh, two what?... What was that word? Ah, what word? Two what? What? Did you say "yutes"? Yeah, two "yutes". What is a "yute"? Oh, excuse me your honor, two "youths"."

WOW And you accuse me of using logical fallacies.

That's because it's a national indicator. What percentage of the Dow is made up of overseas textiles? Really? How many cars did Chrysler import from China in 2006? There are a number of good reasons to discount the importance of the DJIA. However, you didn't really address any of them.

Caught in a lie? WTF are you talking about? I openly admit that I misread Kallend's last post and mistakenly thought he meant all people who work in medicine when he wrote medical practitioners. My bad. Caught in a lie? BULLSHIT!!! Anyway, it's a nothing point. Quite different from people completely distorting a point and making an unrelated reply. There's that thread nazi schtick, again. A smug one, to boot. How cute.

well then you would be completely mistaken. it is currently 10c. our average winter temp is -10c and january is the coldest month. we had maybe the two cold days last week but this the last two months have been exceptionally warm. look it up before calling bullshit. its not just here its the whole ne. According to www.weather.com, the average highs for this past December was 5c above the historical average highs for December. It's clear that you've had exceptionally warm temps, recently. But 20c above normal is dramatically different from 5c above normal. Editted to add - Sorry about the "I call bullshit" remark. Your behavior in this thread didn't call for that.

Ya think? What "church" is that?

Oh well then that really clarifies things. What the heck are you saying? You are no longer allower to whine about people not reading your posts, because you're reversing their meaning with your edits. Reversing their meaning? Sure thing. You're so cute when you try to play Thread Nazi.

"All I did was show..." I didn't miss your point at all. You used selective (incorrect population selection) statistics to find a group. Then, you used the logical fallacy of argument by domination - The idea that since someone "smart" believes, then we must all (like sheep) follow their beliefs. The problem that you run into, is that I can easily find someone "smarter" and then, using your reasoning, you'd have to agree with me. A survey of 50,000 Chinese doctors in a predominantly Buddhist area will rebut your skewed statistics with some just as flawed. However since you are quoting scientists, let's use the National Science Foundation (US gov). I don't really see a stereotype here because the posting group seems numerically balanced, although polar opposites in belief. I do consider this a personal view though. I view any worship of supernatural beings, astrology, ESP, superpowers, and such to be astounding. You know, if you actually addressed the implications of the studies I brought up, instead dancing around them, you might have a point. If only.

Aside from the rare exception, YES. Synagogues, temples, mosques fit into the realm of "churches?" Oh! I thought they were Synagogues, temples and Mosques. I've never met a Jew or Muslim, who referes to their place of worship as a church. I'm guessing they'd thik it's as absurd as a Christian referring to his church as a mosque.

global warming. NE heating oil comsumption is 20-30% less than normal because of an unusually warm or non existant winter. its 20c above seasonal average here in montreal and its been like this all winter. Tell it to the people in Denver. Do you really think warm weather in the NE is going to cause worldwide prices to drop 12%? And about " its 20c above seasonal average here in montreal and its been like this all winter" - I call BULLSHIT! What were the highs last seven days? its only down from the spike. it has still risen overall. So that was a spike? People were saying the same thing when it first went above $40, and then $50, and then $60, and then $70, stopping just shy of $80. And if it was just a spike, why are you so concerned about $100/barrel?