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Really, really f*cking scary. (pg. 6)
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| El K Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ_Elyot
Time for me to step in and be the militant atheist .
In my personal opinion, yes. Absolutely.
There is an intrinsic contradiction between belief in the supernatural and the ability to make rational decisions.
If you are a Christian, for example, and truly believe that the only road to salvation lies through belief in a magical holy saviour zombie son of Yahweh, then you are a total if you *don't* devote your life to rescuing others from eternal suffering by trying to convert them, right? It would be like leaving people in a burning building when you are perfectly capable of helping them escape.
Those who don't devote their life to service to god -- so-called "moderate" Christians -- are hypocrites. Either they don't truly believe in what their faith prescribes, or they are just letting the non-believers around them fall victim to their non-belief via their own inaction.
If Gary Goodyear truly believes in the core values of mainstream Christianity, then either he must make his political decisions based upon his faith (as several "faith-based" conservative politicians like Harold Albrect claim to do), or he is a complete hypocrite who would rather leave others in a burning building than risk his political career. In my mind, both of these alternatives are unacceptable.
It's fine to claim that he might not be unfit to hold the science portfolio; perhaps that is true and he truly can make unbiased decisions without his faith having an impact. But if this is the case, then he is delusional and untrue to his faith, somewhat like a corporate executive who teaches his children to believe in social justice but simultaneously authorizes the construction of factories in southeast asia where the workers don't get paid living wages.
I don't want somebody with this type of two-faced personality in public office, period. I want honest, rational, free-thinking people running my country.
The only acceptable solution is for Gary's beliefs to differ from those of mainstream Christianity. Perhaps they do, as Paul Martin's did. I can give him the benefit of the doubt. But he sold himself as a Christian to get elected, and with stuff like this, I'm having my doubts. Either way, it's politics as usual. |
So because of the small population of missionary Christians, you have pre-judged all sects of Christianity with you're own view of how our lives are dictated to be as per the Bible. Genius.
| quote: | Originally posted by djshan
Sure, as long as they keep it to themselves. |
and by being asked a question on evolution, he was put in the spotlight to be trapped by a jackass. He never imposed on anyone's religious beliefs and makes choices in the best interest of of the country without bringing religion into play. |
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| love_child |
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| love_child |
| Wait...How the hell does a chiropractor (dangerous psuedoscience) who believes in creationism (biggest antiscience conspiracy theory on the planet) get to be minister of science in a developed country? Evidently, there is something seriously wrong with the Canadian democratic system. Hopefully, the public embarassment will force his resignation. |
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| 1dawoman |
Can't believe he has "changed his mind" regarding evolution....
what a tool....
Interesting that he was also a biomechanics professor at The University of Waterloo.... |
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| 1dawoman |
| ps...contrary to popular belief, many scientists are also creationists.... |
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| El K Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by 1dawoman
ps...contrary to popular belief, many scientists are also creationists.... |
omg omg omg...stone her!!! |
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| 1dawoman |
| im obviously not agreeing....im just sayin' it's true.... |
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| El K Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by 1dawoman
im obviously not agreeing....im just sayin' it's true.... |
that's unpossible...no scientist or person of an educated background is allowed to believe in something not proven by science |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ_Elyot
In my personal opinion, yes. Absolutely. |
In your personal opinion, which you've been quite blunt about in the past, everybody should be an atheist. Part of the problem with touting extreme positions is that you don't really have any credibility when it comes to the gray areas.
And of course, the most "scientific" position would be agnosticism, since there is clearly insufficient evidence to draw any useful conclusions about the existence of a, err, "higher power". I wouldn't be any more comfortable with a "strong atheist" in such a position than I am with a Christian who's shaky on evolution; both show a disregard for scientific consensus and the scientific method.
| quote: | Originally posted by Elendil
However, to call Christian doctrine "hocus-pocus" is to show that you do not fully understand both its origins, its development, or even its purpose. |
Cheeeeell. It was just a joke. Hyperbole, ya know? I was brought up religious (not Christian), so believe me, I know all about that. Myths and metaphors and allegories, oh my. It's just a little off-topic, is all. ;) Read it in context and with the appropriate [sarcastic, as I always am] tone; it was a defense of mainstream Christians as non-fundamentalist/non-literal types who generally don't have issues separating fact from fiction from speculation. |
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| Xavier Moriarty |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ_Elyot
Time for me to step in and be the militant atheist .
There is an intrinsic contradiction between belief in the supernatural and the ability to make rational decisions.
If you are a Christian, for example, and truly believe that the only road to salvation lies through belief in a magical holy saviour zombie son of Yahweh, then you are a total if you *don't* devote your life to rescuing others from eternal suffering by trying to convert them, right? It would be like leaving people in a burning building when you are perfectly capable of helping them escape.
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for some people its supernatural when they hear that monkey climbed down the tree, started walking upright, picked up a stone, started hunting and lo and behold, some 200.000 years later we're sitting in front of our pc's and intelligently discussing this.
| quote: | | The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that "creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science." |
and yet this is accepted: N=R*fp ne fl fi fc L
some things cant be explained by numbers.
| quote: | | magical holy saviour zombie son of Yahweh |
for some people thats highly offensive |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Xavier Moriarty
for some people its supernatural when they hear that monkey climbed down the tree, started walking upright, picked up a stone, started hunting and lo and behold, some 200.000 years later we're sitting in front of our pc's and intelligently discussing this. |
Right, well I think you just blew away the "intelligently" part with that comment.
| quote: | | and yet this is accepted: N=R*fp ne fl fi fc L |
What does the Drake equation have to do with... anything? It's an estimation problem; a back-of-the-envelope answer to a tough question that we can't really answer, based on variables that we don't actually have exact figures for but can make educated guesses about. Thus the equation itself is "accepted", but there's obviously no "accepted" value of N.
That's not even really science, it's more like simple finite math. I can't for the life of me imagine what possible problem you might have with it. |
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| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by MarkT
however, if there is any evidence that his personal relidious beliefs have impacted the way he does his job, then he should immediatley be removed.
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come on, that's very naive.
It's not like he has two brains, one for the office and one for home. |
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