|
|
|
|
|
NONSENSE?
Nonsense (def. Am. Heritage Dictionary) n.1. Behavior or language that is foolish or absurd.
2. Something of little or no importance or usefulness.
The Bible and the Koran was written by people who believed the world was flat
"Faith means lack of critical thinking." Bill Maher
 Larry King: Bill Maher On His Movie Religulous View the video below where Larry King (CNN) interview Bill Maher about his movie "Religulous". Enjoy!  The person who uploaded the YouTube video has suddenly decided to prevent embedding, so you must click on the screen text "Watch on YouTube" to see the video. |
Mark Twain is an American literature master. We have already given three quotes be this master above. Here is another one -- about the Bible:
 |
"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." |
|
It is this instructor's opinion that the root of much of what has been said is lack of a quality education. (Your instructor's -- right to have -- opinion). 
Don't agree with my opinion? Then maybe you agree with this article discussing religion and violence:"International terrorism, the current wars in the Middle East, as well as many other innumerable conflicts around the globe have all added fuel to the fire of this argument: that religion is dangerous because it somehow is the cause of this violence. Close examination of this potentially appealing argument reveals that it lacks sufficient logical foundation. The temptation to create an easy scapegoat for the world's most violent problems has lead everyone from politicians to ordinary citizens to simplistically say that religion is at fault. This is not only ignorant, but it dangerously points the finger away from the real causes of these problems, and without recognizing these, we can never get started on fixing them."
Good luck "fixing them" in this overpopulated world! Pope Benedict XVI said at a meeting of religious leaders from around the world on the role of religion and culture in creating a violence-free word, "In a world wounded by conflicts, where violence is justified in God's name, it's important to repeat that religion can never become the vehicle of hatred, it can never be used in God's name to justify violence." Well it appears to be, and a lot of men a certain religious denomination is really interested because of all the virgins that are waiting for them in heaven... The pope continues, "On the contrary, religions can and must offer precious resources to build a peaceful humanity, because they speak about peace in the heart of man." Precious resources? Peace in the heart of man. Hmmm!? This sounds good but is apparently not working... E.O Wilson, Harvard University, said, "There is something deep in religious belief that divides people and amplifies societal conflict. In the early part of this century, the toxic mix of religion and tribalism has become so dangerous as to justify taking seriously the alternative view, that humanism based on science is the effective antidote, the light and the way at last placed before us."
Bull's eye! I find it interesting to observe the number of hits one gets when using Google on some terminology related to this. "Religious nonsense": 40,300,000 hits.
"Scientific nonsense": 27,200 hits.
"Creationist nonsense": 80,800 hits.
"Evolution nonsense": 3,830 hits.
Here is Mark Twain again -- again about the Bible: "It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies." People who believed the world was flat wrote the Bible and the Koran. They also believed that the sun circled the Earth. Today educated people don't think the world is flat or that the Earth is the center of the universe. Today humankind has better equipment, such as microscope and computers, to help us observe and learn about, and better understand the real world. We know about microorganisms, DNA and evolution. Would you like to be treated by a medical doctor who uses 2000-year-old outdated thinking? No? I didn't think so... Some chapters originally included in the Bible, like the Apocrypha, are no longer included. Why, isn't everything in the Bible true? Jews, Protestants, and Catholics have different Bibles. Why? It is the words of the same God, right? Who is right, who is wrong? We are right -- of course -- all other religions are wrong -- of course... And we talk about avoiding conflict... 
Scientists estimate that Homo sapiens has been around for 100,000 years (it depends on when one decide to use that name to the organism on the human evolutionary line from Australopithecus, to Homo habilis, to Homo erectus, to Homo sapiens).
|
I am not a great fan of Christopher Hitchens (here are some of his writings), but he does bring up an interesting point when he says that in order to believe in the Christian message, one must believe that we lived for thousands and thousands of years with suffering and labor. People were born and died -- often in childbirth, life expectancy was 20 - 25 years, and died of microorganisms that they didn't know existed (Genesis doesn't mention them because the people who wrote the Genesis didn't know about microorganisms). You have to believe that heaven watched that for 98,000 years and after 98,000 years decided to intervene, and the best way to do that, 2000 years ago, was to have a filthy human sacrifice somewhere in a remote part of Palestine...
|
|
We have established... who knows what? To proceed to chapter 8 click on the link in the left frame or click here. Copyright © 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, Jan A. Nilsson. Page created 10.IX.2005, last updated 19.VIII.2009, most likely during the wee hours of the morning on a G3 PowerBook owned by Jan A. Nilsson. Web page layout and design © and intellectual property Jan A. Nilsson. Content on Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice may not be used for commercial purposes. All rights reserved. Except for educational purposes and 'fair use' (see below), reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. If used for educational purposes and 'fair use', including photographs, source must be given. (Some clip art, texts and backgrounds used on Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice downloaded for educational purposes and/or 'fair use' from Internet free domain has no source.)
-- Disclaimer: "Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice", at the time of writing located as a file under the South Texas College's (STC) web server with the general URL http://www.southtexascollege.edu/, is the intellectual property of Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, member of STC biology faculty. The content of Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice does not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of the STC faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Trustees.
-- Fair Use Notice: Web pages on Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice are used for educational purposes; I understand the "fair use notice" below as the correct interpretation of the copyright law. Fair non-commercial use is necessary in order to maintain an open and free Internet -- as originally intended. As an educator I thank whom it may concern for allowing the use of material under the "fair use rule" for educational purposes to educate this and future generations.
The YouTube videos have been embedded using the provided HTML code on the YouTube site (http://www.youtube.com/). Also see fair use statement at the bottom of this page. (Sometimes these YouTube links disappear. Please let the instructor know if this happens.)
If anyone feels that his or her material cannot be used this way I will immediately remove it if notified. 
"This site [may contain] copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner."