I recently watched Alex O'Connor's debate with two Muslims and as expected they used the usual ...

Fernapple comments on Aug 27, 2020:

You just say. "No, god prefers atheists/agnostic, and sends them to heaven while religious people go to hell. Because atheist/agnostics show good critical judgment not insulting him by thinking he will value blind faith, don't tell him what to do, and don't set up fake gods in his place. Now prove me wrong !"

The crooked owners of Hobby Lobby continue to fight returning STOLEN artifacts to Iraq.

Fernapple comments on Aug 27, 2020:

The peasant who steals a goose from off the village green, is a criminal. The lord who steals the green from under the geese, is a great public servant. The people with the money get to write the rules.

For all the knockers of RT?

Fernapple comments on Aug 29, 2020:

Sorry but I often watch RT and have done for some time, and sadly, I have watched it become increasingly a Putin mouthpiece, and propaganda machine over the past ten years. It may not be directly under Putin's control, though I would not rule that out. But that is the clever modern way, to franchise out your propaganda. Because that both, gives it more credibility and enables you to distance yourself from it more easily if you change your mind. While at the same time controlling it indirectly, by managing its funds, keeping the threat of direct control open but unused, (The threat over time, achieves more than the threat carried out.) and above all insuring that it is placed in such a way, with such a working ethos, that it only attracts employees favouable to you. Who can therefore be trusted to work for your interests gradually and in a low key way, (and slow gentle propaganda works far better than overt), even if you openly order them to be neutral or favour you opponents. This is the way that many news media are managed today, from the political right in the US controlling Fox, to the British state establishment managing the BBC, and the Kremlin the RT. You can not trust any news media, to get an approximation to the truth, and only an approximation you have to study them all, and then attempt your own personal meta analysis. Hard work and unlikely to succeed, but the only way. And for proof of this to anyone who may be interested, I only care to offer the fact that the article you linked this post to, is written by a British journalist who works for Russia Today.

An aged (wo)man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clasp its hands...

Fernapple comments on Aug 31, 2020:

Happy birthday. The sweetest of chestnuts do not ripen till last, and wear the most tattered garments, it is the kernel grown inside that counts.

Good morning

Fernapple comments on Sep 2, 2020:

Yep but shall soon be going to bed, different time zone. And sorry but your cat appears to be from the southern hemisphere.

.

Fernapple comments on Sep 4, 2020:

Secular charities are far bigger overall in Europe than the Christian ones, (I suspect that may be true even in the US.) and they are by default none religious. To paraphrase the old saw. Agnostics and Atheists are not organizations or movements, in the same way that not playing golf is a sport.

Why isn't there a better word for "miracle" that doesn't have religious connotations?

Fernapple comments on Sep 6, 2020:

Yes I do not think that there is a neat single word. I always have to resort to phrases like. "Wonderful good fortune." Which is not very satisfactory. I think that AmytheBruce below comes up with the closest, 'serendipity' though that is not perfect since its has slightly trivial associations. Why not invent one yourself, and persuade this site to begin promoting it ? How about something like an, "incredibility".

It's starting to feel like Dr Doolittle's house here.

Fernapple comments on Sep 7, 2020:

A sparrow. I love them they are wonderful. I know people in the states are not all that happy about them, but they are charming little rogues.

One of the great mysteries to people who use the space between their ears for thinking is why do ...

Fernapple comments on Sep 11, 2020:

Then they are badly in error and short of vision, (not that surprising really, ) because "white, Anglo saxon, European, Christians" are the dominant tribe only in North America, and they may not be aware of it, but there is a big old world out there.

Absolutely perfect

Fernapple comments on Sep 12, 2020:

I suspect you are. But saying so in public is generally considered sexist.

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything.

Fernapple comments on Sep 13, 2020:

The Dunning-Krugger party, the biggest political grouping in the world.

So,,,,,this "god" asshole has dropped covid on us, burned up a good chunk of the West Coast, put the...

Fernapple comments on Sep 13, 2020:

Yes he has a plan. He is carefully wiping out all Pondartincbendog's possible friends, so that when he comes after you, you will be quite alone.

Isn't this Giraffe is so lucky to have a kiss from the gorgeous Lady ☺🧡

Fernapple comments on Sep 15, 2020:

I think the lady is lucky too. I have a bucket list idea, to kiss the noses of as many different animals as I can.

You'd think this was a religious website.

Fernapple comments on Sep 23, 2020:

No I think that you do a very good job, and that most of the members find everything you share very interesting. I certainly enjoy your cooking, crafts and hiking posts, dating, well maybe not so much, but the site would be far less without you. You have to remember however that the site has a turn over in its membership, and that therefore there are always lots of new members, most of whom have issues that they need to address, often painful ones, so there are bound to be some repeating posts. And it is only fair that the long stay members should tolerate and even help with that if they can, and are willing. Personally I am only too pleased to offer a helping hand when I can, but there are plenty of us to do that, so there is no heavy moral obligation on anyone to to join in if they find it boring.

Something a little philosophical?

Fernapple comments on Sep 29, 2020:

You can choose between the meaning you create yourself, just as you paint. Or you can take the off the shelf meaning created by fake authority, and sold by dealers in church.

Four plus hours.

Fernapple comments on Oct 3, 2020:

Its the nonsense that keeps you young, do more.

This explains why he was released so soon.

Fernapple comments on Oct 6, 2020:

Yes but if that is true. Then you have to explain how he managed to persuade someone so good at writing, to forge that letter for him ?

Can anyone relate?

Fernapple comments on Oct 7, 2020:

No. That is just the same logic as conspiracy theory, seeing agencies to explain, where there is only complexity beyond understanding. And the belief in good and evil is itself a personalization, there is only, I like and I don't like, which may differ from one observer to the next. Human morality is a useful thing to humans but it has no meaning in the larger universe, the belief in good and evil is therefore only human hubris, seeing the universe as human centered and existing only to be interpreted through human eyes, which is just not true.

question - I started a quick thread in politics and then noticed that a level 4 had made a post and ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 10, 2020:

Yep, I see approval requests for new members comments all the time. You just click yes if it is not offensive or preaching. It may be that you will not see them if you spend time in groups not visited by new members, and/or if you live in a time zone where other members get to see their comments first. That may happen because there is a delay built in to new members content which is probably affected by the time zones/dateline.

Hello PEople I speak here from Brazil, and I'm quite an atheist, I started to become an atheist,...

Fernapple comments on Oct 11, 2020:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site and don't worry too much about English, there are a lot of different forms of it, which is part of the fun.

“Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource, ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 12, 2020:

Or race, or religion.

If people didn’t believe that they had an imaginary father, that was much more powerful than them,...

Fernapple comments on Oct 14, 2020:

They could, more importantly, have more empathy with other peoples sufferings. If they could not dismiss them as punishment for sin, or preparation for a future life. The great trick with other people's suffering, is to find a way to explain it away. Without god we are all one family, with god we are each in our own family with our own special farther.

Religious zealots on this site.

Fernapple comments on Oct 23, 2020:

Bring them on, I love to watch and sometimes take part in the debate. Sadly they usually give up far too easily.

Let's brainstorm snarky replies to the lame first message, "How is it going?"

Fernapple comments on Oct 23, 2020:

One recently put. "Hey." So I told him. " A product made of dried grass and herbs, usually used for animal feed, and written with an 'A'. Strangely I did not get a reply, or like, and I was putting real effort into being helpful ?

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are ...

Fernapple comments on Oct 26, 2020:

Believe that it fizzes with DNA, activating trillions of buzzing ribosomes, to express itself as solar collectors, stretching to catch the sun. So that not one molecule of CO2 can escape being zapped by a photon, in order that a thousand or more plants, can display their genitalia shamelessly with wildly extravagant decoration, to attract their flying inseminaters, and gain a new generation of continuation, though thousands more springs than any human can even imagine seeing. That do ?

Here is a question for us Atheists.

Fernapple comments on Oct 26, 2020:

Some say that there was no before the big bang, since there was no time then, some think that time on the others side ran backwards, some that the universe formed as a bubble in another universe. But the truth is, that is all speculation. That's a bit like asking what is on the other side of the hill, without going to look, you can fill it with anything you like, and people do, but believing in inventions is not knowledge. The big difference between a religious mind set and a rational one, is that the rational is about recognizing. "I don't know." As the primary and best answer to most things, while religion is pretending knowledge which does not exist, to bluff others or avoid facing the unknown and your fear of it. Which brings it full circle back to speculation again, because speculation can be fun, rewarding, informative and good practice for thinking. But you lose all of that value, if you ever lose sight of the fact that it is speculation.

WHAT’S ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD NEVER KNOW ABOUT YOU JUST BY LOOKING AT YOU?

Fernapple comments on Nov 1, 2020:

I am pleased to say that there is nothing of significance. I am a pure. "What you see, is what you get." Though I have been mistaken for a Christian now and again. Mainly by people who think that if you are an old, ugly, bald, red neck, who lives in a village you must be a Christian as well. But they don't know that I can read books, and even understand some of it. So that could be my dark secret. LOL

I spoke to someone today who said that they liked trump just because he was amusing to watch.

Fernapple comments on Nov 6, 2020:

It is such a shame that unlike Australians, for example. Americans don't have a tradition of traveling abroad. There is nothing so valuable as the chance to see yourselves as others see you.

That’s the spirit! .......... [youtu.be] .

Fernapple comments on Nov 8, 2020:

At last, someone posts music old enough for me to understand.

"Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil ...

Fernapple comments on Nov 9, 2020:

The point about the lesser of evils. Is that you only choose it when you have no other choice. Do I stay on the burning ship or jump into the water ? The point I think that is made here, is that you can soon come to accept the status as normal, if it is not too bad, and loose sight of the fact that things can still be improved, especially next time.

Are we becoming a Banana Republic and getting set up for a coup? [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 11, 2020:

Viewed with the long perspective from this side of the Atlantic. No I don't think so, I think the US is stronger than that, but you are walking very close to the edge of the cliff.

39 comments on a post of a believer?

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2020:

Yes but the poster only made one post on a lot of different groups, so that may have attracted a lot of attention. But they got fed up with the replies and left anyway. Plus why should we not talk to believers, they are human, and if there is a chance they will learn something, why not. I do not think the site needs to be an echo chamber.

You all may have seen this [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Nov 12, 2020:

He speaks well.

Does the "Share" function actually work?

Fernapple comments on Feb 18, 2019:

I copy and paste, its quick easy and gives you the chance to easily change a post slightly for each group.

Don't know if this has always been here and I never noticed, but there is the emoji notification and...

Fernapple comments on Feb 24, 2019:

There used to be a thumbs up yes, I noticed the change, it makes it more difficult to glance quickly down the list and respond to the comments first.

And I don't like bugs at all, sigh.

Fernapple comments on Mar 8, 2019:

I have managed a very large garden and a plant nursery now for over twenty years using only organic methods. Sometimes there is the odd white patch on a leaf, but that is it, and nobody but me ever seemed to notice.

A good summary of bad science that has driven death and ill health.

Fernapple comments on Mar 17, 2019:

I am still sceptical about the benefits of fats in the diet, but it is often said, and I have no reason to doubt it, that a lot of the research into the effects of fat in the human diet, was, and continues to be funded by the sugar industry.

Let go of what's gone. Be grateful for what remains. Look forward to what's coming.

Fernapple comments on Mar 17, 2019:

At my age not much. LOL

A different type of Border Security from the Scientific Community [purdue.edu]

Fernapple comments on Mar 18, 2019:

What about a wildlife corridor too. The old iron curtain in Eastern Europe is now a famous nature reserve which connects half of Europe with one wildlife friendly zone.

Howdy Folks, I am new and desperately in need of kindred spirits for discussing mutual beliefs.

Fernapple comments on Mar 21, 2019:

Welcome. Viewed coolly you have to accept that the bible is not a book by an author, but a scrap book of Bronze/ Iron Age press cuttings made by many people over a long time. What sort of press it was, can be judged from the stories it tells of sexual predation, rape, murder, genocide, child and animal abuse etc. So it is a bit like quoting the Red Tops as your authority.

Just found this photo from the last time I was abducted by Aliens (Oct.

Fernapple comments on Mar 24, 2019:

Can understand why they brought you back.

Why I Love Agnostic.

Fernapple comments on Mar 24, 2019:

What were they thinking of, this site would be a lot duller if it was not for the female input.

Cop out: "Spiritual But Not Religious" [google.com] Agree or disagree?

Fernapple comments on Mar 26, 2019:

Its the only fence you can sit on, and everybody else gets a pain in the butt.

RICHARD DAWKINS ERROR CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF LIFE Pursuing the concept that anything is ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 6, 2019:

Actually I have read all of Dawkins books, some of them more than once, and either this is either complete misquoting, complete misunderstanding, or just plain lies. I do not remember Dawkins saying any of those things. Though I do remember passages which could be distorted to be read like that. If these are not just lies, then you need to go back and read Dawkins again more carefully.

Does anyone recognize this plant. It's flowering for the first time.

Fernapple comments on Apr 9, 2019:

Tradescantia.

I recently went to a religious a event with a family member at Easter time.

Fernapple comments on Apr 27, 2019:

You say, "how can normally intelligent people accept this." . But of course they are not "normally intelligent", they are people who have been damaged, perhaps beyond repair, by years of careful indoctrination, repeated so often that they have lost the power to even think about it in the same way they think about other things. Most of them would not buy a second hand car from a dealer who said. "We will only deliver after have left the country to live abroad for good, and we have never had a complaint." Yet they happily buy. "You will get your reward only after you are dead and gone from the universe for good, and no one ever came back and said we failed."

We're on a road to destruction if we don't make changes.

Fernapple comments on Apr 28, 2019:

I think that a site like this should try to be as board as possible, because the one thing that would drive me away would be banal content, and because if there are people saying things I would find horrible, then I want to know about them and what they are saying. Part of the reason for joining was to learn about human diversity and hear things which challenge me. But you can't please all of the people all of the time as they say, and it would be silly to bend over backwards to accommodate people who do not really want to contribute and would be happier elsewhere, you could easily go to great damaging lengths and then they go and make their own site elsewhere anyway.

When my ex and I were still together and fighting about religion, he said according to my atheism ...

Fernapple comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Religious people rarely follow their holy books exactly, if they do, they usually get put in prison. What they do is to cherry pick the bits they like and if that does not get them what they want, then they reinterpret the vague poetry thought the lens of their own prejudices. That's really the same thing, as they are making up their own rules too. The only difference is they try dishonestly to claim, that their ideas did not come from themselves, but are inspired by or come from a higher being, and therefore have more authority than other peoples.

I'm a middle school Science teacher.

Fernapple comments on May 5, 2019:

A time is coming when for many Agnostic/Atheist is the default position. It certainly is for many in Europe. Some people take a hard road to where they are going, some start out from there. The pioneers have long hard treks, but their children are simply born on land which is ploughed and planted. Do not envy them, you should regard it as a great achievement of your generation, that many children are born into a world where it is possible to be free from religion, without having to fight the whole community, or feel they will be vilified for it and need to arm themselves with knowledge to defend themselves. The ultimate hoped for destiny of Atheism/Agnostic is to become forgotten and irrelevant, as the theism to which they are a reaction becomes forgotten history itself.

Some people think that science has all the answers that matter, and that things that cannot be ...

Fernapple comments on May 16, 2019:

Two people walked through a desert, the first wished for a garden and cried, the second gazed in wonder at the marvels which are sand dunes. The main reason people love science, reason and the material world, is because they are both beautiful and wonderful. Those who seek after meanings beyond the visible world merely show their limitations and lack of appreciation, it is they whose powers fail of appreciation fail, not that of those who love what they have. And in the end even worse, they show the bad taste of the half grown adolescent, weeping because the childhood illusion their parents indulged them with, that they were the center of and most important thing in the universe, is no more. Before speculating about life it is useful to have one.

It is astonishing the lengths to which a person, or a people, will go in order to avoid a truthful ...

Fernapple comments on May 18, 2019:

Yep, just been blocked by one of them.

Do atheists value life more than theists considering that they don't believe in a afterlife

Fernapple comments on May 19, 2019:

In a philosophical sense yes, and I think we value this world more because it is the only one we have. But in a day to day sense, no. Many years ago I was in hospital and was told that I would die, it turned out in the end that there was not much wrong with me and that could be fixed, which was a nice surprise. (Though it would have been even nicer if they had not scared me in the first place.) Yet I swore on leaving hospital that from then on I would live every day as if it was to be my last, but of course you don't, you soon put it behind you and slip into a regular day to day, just like everybody else.

Does this group do anything consrtuctive that benefits society?

Fernapple comments on May 27, 2019:

It provides a social support group for many who are doing a lot of good out there, and especially the lonely and isolated. It gives a platform for people to explore their moral understanding, which makes them better at engaging with the larger society. It educates, (see the many groups). And most of all it helps to promote healthy skeptical thinking, out into the wider world by encouraging skeptics.

Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity.

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2019:

You could even say, 'and win greater dignity'.

Over the years I have realised that my motivations are more philanthropic than for material ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2019:

It could be the limits of our ability to see. I used to work for a big corporation and it seemed utterly pointless. Then I set up my own business, and have been a sole trader for more than thirty years, my whole working life revolves around serving my customers and since there is only me, (plus one other for a while,) the one to one relationship I have with them. It maybe that when I worked for the company, my positive contribution to the world and the wellbeing of its people was greater than it is now, but it did not seem so.

Name Something Christians say when they know they are losing an argument with an atheist.

Fernapple comments on Jun 25, 2019:

You don't understand it.

I went off to a 40's & 50's singles group yesterday afternoon.

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Small talk helps to fill small minds.

How has learning science affected your life?

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

I learned to accept that I don't have or need to have all the answers, that if I do need an answer then hard work is the best perhaps only way to get it, and anyone offering easy answers is trying to fool you.

Ark Encounter founder warns ‘kids of all ages’ that libraries are becoming dangerous - New York ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2019:

Sadly it just says this website is not available in most European countries.

It has now been put to me that it is wrong to post the same article in multiple groups.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2019:

I tend myself not to do it much, but if I have something really good to share which I think both groups will enjoy then yes I do it. For example if there is an interesting shot of the garden, which is also an interesting photo, why not post it in both the Photography and the Gardening groups. In any case there used to be a short cut/sharing button, ( or some such device, I always copy and paste anyway, ) to help you do it.

More bad news for coal: Wind and solar are getting cheaper [cnn.com]

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2019:

That was bound to happen as there gets to be more the price comes down.

Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2019:

With our heaving population, we have to be the prime target for every parasite which can evolve fast enough to overwhelm our medical responses. We therefore have to be a sitting duck for a global pandemic.

If God is God He is not good If God is good He is not God Take the even take the odd {If God is ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I think that A. M. may himself have been quoting Epicurus. There is certainly a clearer version of a very similar remark attributed to him.

Look at these beauties! They look like miniature orchids.

Fernapple comments on Jul 27, 2019:

It looks like the perennial sweet pea, it is not a native wild flower here in the UK, but it grows beautifully for me in the garden, though sadly the scent is not as good as the annual types. But it does come up every year without any work on my part.

Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do. - Oscar Wilde

Fernapple comments on Jul 27, 2019:

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." I think that came from another Irishman G. B. Shaw.

As we mature most of us come to believe that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” or more ...

Fernapple comments on Aug 2, 2019:

No, because that is like saying that to be sensitive is religious, why stick the label religious on such experiences at all. If you think there is worth in such experiences, why not call them, 'spiritual' and if you don't call them 'Woo', or to be realistic just, 'unexplained subjective experiences'. Sticking the religious label on them is no more justified than sticking the religious label on morality, which religions like to claim is theirs alone.. My random dreams often feature my dead parents, that does not mean that my parents are alive; if subjective aesthetic experiences feature images from dead religions, that does not mean that those religions are the source of them.

Shelley! Insightful, ahead of his time. Ozymandias is far and away my favorite poem.

Fernapple comments on Aug 4, 2019:

Must look that up, sounds like an interesting book/essay.

I am new on here so I just wanted to say hello:) You are all beautiful:) Fun joke.

Fernapple comments on Aug 7, 2019:

Welcome, especially if you come bearing jokes.

Iowa Religious Extremist Who Burned Library Books Faces The Law [au.

Fernapple comments on Aug 9, 2019:

Interesting, in the UK it is almost always the case that the fine should be ten times the value of the items destroyed.

Agnostic and More

Fernapple comments on Aug 11, 2019:

Most people on this site are atheist in practice, but most are not too bothered about labels, because when once you leave behind religion and its dogma, you realize that no god is going to punish you for spelling mistakes, even if you spell atheist, agnostic, skeptic, humanist, or twenty other ways even deist. Also most people on this site are happy with, and familiar with the philosophy of science, and the general assumption it makes, that it is alway good to technically allow the possibility of error, no matter how certain you are of something. And given the fact that all of the worthwhile knowledge and understanding in the world, has been generated by that philosophy, it is perhaps no bad thing to show it a little nod of respect, even if it is trivial and without real meaning.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can’t practice any ...

Fernapple comments on Aug 24, 2019:

Since as they say . "All good things come to those who wait." You could make a good case for patience. But then if you wait too long. "Life will pass you by." And it takes courage to wait sometimes and courage to act sometimes. Its complicated.

“He - and if there is a God, I’m convinced he is a he, because no woman could or would ever fuck...

Fernapple comments on Dec 3, 2019:

Obviously he never met my mother.

The cutting edge of Human Evolution is the integration of science and religion.

Fernapple comments on Dec 5, 2019:

For those who do not want to bother, I just listened to it all the way through. There is actually no mention of integrating science and religion. Except to say that some religious 'spiritual' practices are being studied by his science. There is a lot of self promotion to his sycophant interviewer. There is a lot of, word spaghetti, thrown at the wall, presumably hoping that the listener will find meaning where none was included to start with. He lists some modern world problems, which he then lumps together under the title of, "meaning crisis" and then says that he is trying to find a way to resolve it, while listing no particular direction; presumably because he has none. In the end he uses the early history of literacy and its effects on human progress, as a metaphor for for what he and his friends intend to achieve, saying that it will move the world forward in the same way, without giving any plain outline of his intentions, or any reason why anyone should believe the metaphor of literacy is justified. I pass no judgment, since without enlargement on his ideas there is nothing there to judge, it may be that he will come up with something so profound he will become the new Buddha, or maybe he is just a self delusionist lying twerp.

Considering this is Agnostic.com , why are so many posts dealing with God or religion ?

Fernapple comments on Dec 10, 2019:

The site and its members have a need to explain themselves to new members and others. Not everyone will have escaped the same distance from religion and its culture. If you have climbed out of the cesspit of ignorance, on to the green open levels of reason, there will still be people behind you on the ladder trying to climb out. You can waltz of selfishly, it is your right, or you can turn round and offer a helping hand. Though yes, that will mean that you have to look back into the pit again. But its your choice, and if you wish to, you can spend your time in the groups, they need more input, and ignore the front pages altogether.

there seems to me to be way to much animosity towards religion.

Fernapple comments on Dec 14, 2019:

Yes they may pass, (not proved but ok) and I am happy in my freedom. But I reserve the right to be outraged, on behalf of those of my fellow humans, and other creatures, who still suffer, and to fear that I may one day be among them.

What can be done about the inactive members problem on this site?

Fernapple comments on Dec 16, 2019:

That's about normal for most sites, groups and clubs, perhaps a little low but not that much. Sites of any sort which have ten percent or more active members, are very rare, lots of people join lots of things and then never take part, it is the same everywhere. We are though perhaps a little worse than average because. A. A lot of religious people come here to find out if we have horns, or swap baby cooking tips, and when they find we don't they leave. ( See my blog for recipes. ) B. Some people come looking for dates and either fail and go, or find someone and go. C. we are very boring people.

“I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each ...

Fernapple comments on Dec 17, 2019:

Thinking they knew about good and evil, was the problem, and still is. In fact you could make a good case for, even believing there are such things as good and evil, being at the heart of the problem.

Look again at that dot.

Fernapple comments on Dec 20, 2019:

Pale blue dot. One of the best.

The Saint-Bernard Catholic Church was constructed between 1910 and 1942.

Fernapple comments on Dec 27, 2019:

That is always a difficult one. In the UK we have many old historic churches, which can be a joy to visit, or some times just shelter from the rain when out walking. You feel that having benefited from and enjoyed the architecture, you should give something for is upkeep, especially as many of them have expensive upkeep costs. Yet you know that any money put in the collecting box can not be ring fenced, all being used to maintain the building, some of it will certainly go to propagate Christianity. I toyed with giving only half what I though a Christian would give, but that does not seem to work either. Because, even half can not be ring fenced and how do I know what a christian would give, ( they are usually very mean ) .

Stephen Hawking's take on "Is there a God?

Fernapple comments on Dec 31, 2019:

Interesting but I don't think that any theist would be convinced by it, any proof about space and time are simply addressed by them by saying that god exists outside of space and time. As the saying goes, you can not reason someone out of something they never reasoned themselves into in the first place.

This post does not pretend to represent a scientific analysis; it's just a conversation starter.

Fernapple comments on Jan 1, 2020:

Given that it may not entirely be down to just the way this site works technically. Leeloo could have got a lot of replies because people genuinely want to help, I have noticed that on this site appeals for help, of any sort, usually get a bigger than average and often a very big response. Seeker3CO made a post that was a little assertive and looked a bit like, a points fishing post, though that may have been unintended. But it did, if I remember right, follow a few hours after a very similar post which did get a good response, so perhaps people confused the two, or just thought it was boring as we did that five mins. ago. I know that is why I did not bother. And as to sweetcharlotte maybe people are shy to talk about their inner feelings and do not wish to burden others with them.

Bad Apple and the Kindness of Strangers

Fernapple comments on Jan 5, 2020:

I went into a local government office, to make a enquiry about some government forms. It turns out that the office I went to, does not deal with that department, and the correct office was closed while next week. The lady behind the desk said. "You can do it on line." I explained that I had tried that three or four times, and failed perhaps because the first time I made a mistake and the website would not let me start again. "Oh yes the same happened to me that site is almost impossible." She said, and the man also agreed. Then she said that the department that had the forms was closed, but the man suggested that they could use their government access to log in to the other department and print me off facsimilies. Which they did then did. I said. "Great all I have to do is fill it in and post it." But they then printed me off a instruction sheet on how to fill it in, an addressed envelope, provided me with a desk to work on and directed me to the nearest post box. And it worked I had the information I wanted back a week later.

Sometimes it's just trees and clouds

Fernapple comments on Jan 8, 2020:

Yes that is good enough.

The Proof: That God Exists There is a hierarchy in Animalia, not only as quantified by the DNA ...

Fernapple comments on Jan 15, 2020:

If we are so superior, why is it that some of us have difficulty basic with grammar ?

Less than 3000 points to level 8! Woo hoo. :)

Fernapple comments on Feb 1, 2020:

Well done. I sometimes think that we should all get together sometime, and have a badly fitting tee-shirt party.

I can't say I'm very shocked by these comments, but it does make me wonder how these people could ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2020:

No I think that Sam Harris is just a little out. "Every act of violence is the result of a failed conversation" Every act of violence is the result of a failed argument on one side, only those who know they can not win the debate reach for their guns. It only takes a failing in the conversation on one side, and sadly the more they know that they will loose the argument the more they will stockpile guns.

Anyone else not watching the Superbowl?

Fernapple comments on Feb 2, 2020:

No not watching it, along with quite a few others I think. This is after all an international site even though there is a US majority.

“We Grow in the Dark. Much like a baby in the womb or a seed in the earth” Unknown.

Fernapple comments on Feb 4, 2020:

" I think I must be a mushroom, they keep me in the dark and feed me bullshit." Anon.

“The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 5, 2020:

Yep. Though you would think that no one should need that pointing out. But then.....

My friend and user-interface designer who helped with this site has emerged from his hibernation and...

Fernapple comments on Feb 6, 2020:

If it ain't broke don't fix it, its a great site . But I still don't get alerts from all the groups I belong to. More members would be nice, it is a pity it is not called 'skeptics' or 'Free from religion.' something better known and more all encompassing, 'Agnostic' is very narrow in definition, and for a lot of international members, your English need to be pretty good to even know the word, but I guess it is too late to alter that.

When I post something it never comes up on my own profile page.

Fernapple comments on Feb 10, 2020:

Also make sure that the settings under posts is set to newest, not anything else. Its a little arrow with several tapering bars next to it just above the list.

Religion has always been used as a tool to control the population.

Fernapple comments on Feb 13, 2020:

Because it saves the effort of having to think things though for yourself. Laziness is the second greatest force in human life and history after boredom.

Malls: Never mind the Internet. Here's what's killing malls - The Economic Times

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2020:

Yes, and its not just the Malls or in the US, here in the UK the same factors are eating away at the high streets too.

@admin How come the new home page does not tell me how many notifications I have?

Fernapple comments on Feb 17, 2020:

Yes that is a real loss.

Have you ever thought of religion and communism as not being that different?

Fernapple comments on Feb 19, 2020:

Political ideologies and religions may share many things in common, but that does not make them the same things. A car has an engine and wheels, so does a plane, but that does not make a car a plane, because to be a plane it also needs wings. A political ideology is not a religion, because to be a religion you also need to have a belief in supernatural authority behind the ideas.

Should we be wary? @Allamanda please start the ball rolling. 🤔 [answers.com]

Fernapple comments on Feb 20, 2020:

Pretty but dangerous and supple. That's about right. LOL She is not the only one who chose a botanical as a pen name.

Suggestion for today: Post a favorite family/dad quote here! My dad had many! Of an ...

Fernapple comments on Feb 22, 2020:

My grandmother. "Shocking Mrs Bocking." Aways said in response to unlikely gossip.

What would you say to a friend that was a flat earthist?

Fernapple comments on Feb 22, 2020:

"Take me to the edge." "Why, you don't have to see the edge with your own eyes to know the earth is flat ?" "No but you do to push someone off it."

Surprises, yay or nay?

Fernapple comments on Mar 11, 2020:

I keep leaving my front door unlocked at night, in the hopes that one day a beautiful lover will surprise me, by climbing into my bed in the middle of the night. Nothing so far. But the hedgehog, the fox, and next door's cat all enjoyed a warm.

What's really important...

Fernapple comments on Mar 15, 2020:

Glad I don't live in the US right now.