Is God happy or what?

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2022:

If there is a god, ( even a metaphorical one, or one which is a synonym for the universe as religious naturalists have it, ) then I would think that it is very happy and sees a lot of beauty in its creation. Which is why I have always found the Christian idea of an unhappy god, who hates his creation, very strange.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2022:

There are no absolutes of good and evil, it is a continuous spectrum, and often hard to see which is which. The Christian idea that there is such a division is a toxic misunderstanding which has rendered Christian morality primitive and unworkable from its beginning.

Richard Rohr

Fernapple comments on Jul 19, 2022:

I am sorry to say that the corruption was inevitable, and built into the religion from the beginning. You can not extract the good parts from the bad, because they are structured together and the whole thing falls apart if you try, the darkness at the core of Christianity was there from the beginning, long before it became an organized religion. Apart from the obvious often commented on fact that the authors of the gospels, put many racist, sexist and violent remarks and actions into their central figure, ( Not a great example. ) there are at least three much deeper darknesses at its core. The first being its demand for absolute rigid obedience to fixed moral law, even to the degree of promoting the idea of thought crime. Which, by being quite impossible to achieve, creates firstly in Christian culture, the logical need for total forgiveness. Of the, "Believe in me and I will wipe away all sins." form. Which makes Christianity a culture which devalues guilt and taking responsibility, and especially creates a divisive, "insiders can do no wrong, outsiders are lost totally," mentality, within congregations. And secondly it creates a culture, where morality is seen as an ideal thing, not part of the general world, therefore devalued to the point of being ignorable. History is full of accounts, ( Even those written by Christian historians. ) of how shocked many people from other ethnic cultures were, by the dishonesty of Christians, especially shortly after their first contact. The idea that, "I don't even have to feel guilty, because I am one of the chosen." is truly toxic. ( And yes, I am aware that too much guilt, can also be toxic. ) Secondly it contains the idea of anti-materialism, and end times mentality. The idea of devaluing this world in favour of another, which is a the base of much anti-environmentalism in our culture, and shallow values in our arts. Even though it makes no logical sense, as many Christians themselves have pointed out, to think that you can, show respect for god by despising his creation. Except that we are shown a god who destroys his own creation once out of spite, and will soon do so again, so engendering a view of failed creation, and anti-materialism, which is surely the opposite of the respect and appreciation for the world and nature, which any true philosophy should teach. Thirdly, by forcing the moral and intellectual leadership to accept and use such tools, with the built in illogic, such as those above, and often plain falsehoods, it creates a situation where they are forced to accept high levels of cognitive dissonance, and low standards of logic , ( Often accompanied by long convoluted theological explanations. ) and train themselves ruthlessly to those methods, which lowers the standards of the ...

Filmmaking 101 Completely without planning or conscious intention, the human mind writes, ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2022:

No but we have to find ways of dealing with the damaging effects of that, which are considerable. The reason being, that no animal can pre-adapt to a new or changed environment, if a creature, from Africa, say, should find itself washed out to sea, and having survived the crossing, lands on the shores of South America, it is unlikely to be well adapted. Few animals however have had such a dramatic and sudden change of environment as humans, when only a few million years ago, we developed language. Which was at the time, no doubt, a useful tool and a great aid. But it brought with it the possibility to create culture, and probably the inevitability of that act. So that we suddenly changed from being an animal living in a natural environment to which we were adapted, to being an animal living in a cultural environment, for which we were almost completely ill fitted. The first great mismatch. Hence the reason why we so prone to being manipulated by parts of our own culture, like religion, nationalism etc. and why agriculture, gives us super abundant foods, which we can not eat and remain healthy, religion, gives us a super abundance of stories that we can not pick the truth out of, and the media gives us a super abundance of human contact which we can not befriend all of, and so we become hostile.

Republicons Hate Women

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2022:

Some people hate anyone who could perhaps stand up to them. And usually that is because, they know inside just how weak and selfish are the ends they would like to propagate.

Looking for friends.

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2022:

This is a good community on the whole, if you don't mind friends at arms length, then you will find that here.

“Atheism will always be a harder sell than religion.” - Pascal Boyer [youtu.be] .

Fernapple comments on Jul 18, 2022:

Since religion is a "sell" a subsection of the advertising industry, that is a bit of a tautology.

Is scientific progress a 'good' thing?

Fernapple comments on Jul 17, 2022:

Hello and welcome. You may like to ask if there is a difference between science, and engineering or technology ?

I really like this -

Fernapple comments on Jul 17, 2022:

And they are worth even less if you need to tell lies to support them.

“Its amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness”…………………Leo ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2022:

The opposite may often be more true, since good things do not need pretty packaging, but if you have something nasty to promote, you had are sure to make the effort to dress it up well.

These 4 Factors Can Explain Why So Many People Are Rejecting Science

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2022:

At the bottom is an even more fundamental problem. That the tellers of truth, have to tell it like it is, or they are not telling the truth any longer, and sometimes it is beautiful, but equally often, it is plain or even just ugly. While liars can use any arts they which to dress their falsehoods and make them pretty, there are no restrictions. The peacock uses his tail to make the females think that he is a strong fit male, he does not use a grand and fine display to warn them that he has an STD. Yet the peacock has only a single tail, while human cultural technology gives the human creature ten thousand or more far greater gifts, to make a splendid fake display, than any animal ever had before.

Here's how my mind works.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2022:

All depends who you pray to. If I pray to myself to find the energy to make more effort, for example, then good enough. If I pray to a sky daddy to make it right, so that I don't have to make the effort, then........

I'm so tired of hearing people say "I have very intelligent friends who support trump.

Fernapple comments on Jul 16, 2022:

It has often been said that intelligence is is impossible to define, and that therefore it is probably impossible to invent a test for it. Yet I think, that we all know roughly what the word means, or we would not use the word. And it could therefore be, that the confusion happens because there are several forms, according to the choice of attempted definition. One of which is of course to be able to do and pass academic tests, in skills like maths and spelling, though that proves little more than certain sorts of specific brain functions at above certain levels. Yet there is also certainly another definition possible, which could be called "working intelligence", by which I would mean the ability to solve real world issues to a high level, and achieve an accurate picture of the world within which we live. And that would require more than just academic brain skills, but also even more importantly perhaps certain properties of personality or character. Especially: commitment, a willingness to work long and hard at problems, honesty, an unwillingness to accept cognitive dissonance and/or second rate answers, selflessness, an unwillingness to accept things more readily because you like them, and sceptical values, being unwilling to accept anything as given. ( Many of which qualities may be exact opposites of many academic measures of I.Q. ) I would therefore say, that to my mind, honesty and personal integrity, are perhaps more important than brain power alone in creating a working intelligence.

A Eurasian Collared-Dove is nesting right outside my bedroom window.

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2022:

Keep us posted. Photos would be good.

Here is a bee on Wisteria that I photographed at the Chicago Botanic Garden a few weeks ago.

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2022:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site. Great Photo.

The single star on the Texas flag is actually a review.

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2022:

Why don't you just make the Mexicans take it back ?

The University of Minnesota study finds a virulent strain of individuals that are practically ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2022:

Link would be nice.

How Humans Lost Their Fur - YouTube

Fernapple comments on Jul 15, 2022:

Great video.

We should pin all the debt in the world on one guy and then kill him.

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2022:

Except the killing did not take, he reportedly just had a very bad weekend.

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to the group and pretty new to the site.

Fernapple comments on Jul 14, 2022:

Hello and welcome. Sorry, male heterosexual on the other side of the Atlantic here, but welcome anyway.

It’s not really about whether you consider yourself an atheist or a theist.

Fernapple comments on Jul 13, 2022:

Even if god/theism is a metaphor, that does not make it a good metaphor. There are good and bad metaphors as well as many pointless and trivial ones. Humans are not only metaphor forming animals, they are also eating animals. Made by natural evolution to have hungers, (That is also proved by science.) but that does not mean that all diets are good for you. But the good thing is, that, you can choose a healthy diet, and are more likely to do so if you receive good education and are protected against those who wish to gain, ruthlessly and without conscience, by pushing unhealthy foods. (This is called a metaphor by the way.) Fortunately, you can also choose your metaphors. The fake assumption made here is that, if it is natural for humans to create, metaphor and culture, then all metaphors and cultures are either good and of equal value, or even more, that one, the theist metaphor, is proven superior. It is a giant leap (Well several actually.) from, it is natural for humans to make metaphors, to, all metaphors are good, and my favoured one is the best of all. ( Your tribalism is showing rather badly. Especially when you tell atheists what you would like to think they are. It is called strawmaning. They are not all as stupid as your tribalism tells you that you would like to think. )

The cost of one drop. Photo by @jose_luis_rodriguez_fotografo

Fernapple comments on Jul 13, 2022:

Amazing photo, and your title is rich with multiple meanings.

First try with a castle--just have to figure out the rest of the quilt.

Fernapple comments on Jul 12, 2022:

Forests ?

“All humans make mistakes.

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2022:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”. Robert J. Hanlon Sometimes called Hanlon's Razor.

Hii dear atheist friends.

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2022:

Hello.

If you could, would you

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2022:

End wars. The other two are often the creation of war anyway, and are more easily solved in a world at peace.

Forbidden

Fernapple comments on Jul 11, 2022:

Can also be said that we are all poor, and the rich are the poorest of all, because they prize something that can not make them wiser.

I am ready for this summer to be over.

Fernapple comments on Jul 10, 2022:

Condolences for your loss, the hardest ones can be the ones long expected.

Happy Birthday, Nicola Tesla. [themarginalian.org]

Fernapple comments on Jul 10, 2022:

Quite some statement of vision.

Finally, they found Jesus.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

If only he had stuck to his day job.

What part of separation of church and state do these cretins not understand??? [yahoo.com]

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

Sadly nothing has ever done more for the Christian church, than the separation of church and State in the USA, in counties where there are state churches, the church is almost dead. But in America the church is a free industry, able to do whatever it likes for profit, power and influence, and moreover able to offer an alternate voice to those who do not like the state, perhaps the only true value it has, but also a great source of power to the moral dwarfs.

Grandchildren are a grandparent’s revenge. ……….Unknown.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

I don't know who said this but. "If I had known that grandchildren were this much fun, I would have had them first."

“This idea that being youthful is the only thing that’s beautiful or attractive simply isn’t ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

You can look all of your nine decades, and still look full of life. My Bestie.

The only thing better than going on vacation is coming home.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

Just travel, it does not matter where, homeward or outwards, and then travel again, only the dead don't move.

My rant for today.

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

I run the risk of boring everyone, by repeating my personal definition of religion again. Religion is a synonym for the common fallacy called. "The proof from authority." Whether that authority comes from and old book, a supernatural being, a gurus supposed wisdom, or tradition, etc. it does not matter.

I am a little confused by this website. What is it supposed to be?

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

No one uses the chat feature much, because the main site functions as a chat feature.

How to use and respond to emojis and where are they?

Fernapple comments on Jul 9, 2022:

Hello and welcome, I do hope you enjoy the site. I believe that you can only use emojis with a desktop, there is a limited amount of info under FAQ at the bottom of the page.

The thinking error at the root of science denial - [theconversation.com] .

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2022:

The three most important things to understand. There are few absolutes, there will almost always be some evidence for and against everything, and most things exist on a spectrum often with the biggest concentration in the middle. ( Its even called the standard distribution. ) Yet it is hard to blame the population in general, for failing to understand those things. Because of course absolutes are a favourite tool of those wanting to deceive, abolish nuance and push hidden agendas. So that the worlds of media and conversation, even schools, are so filled with them, that they are accepted as the normal. Which not only pushes the chosen agendas, but also indirectly, that common practice actually trains people to think in absolutes, even more than they naturally would.

Evolution Explains Why Politics Is So Tribal [scientificamerican.com] .

Fernapple comments on Jul 8, 2022:

Probably very true, but it is hard to see why this is called "science" and published in a science journal, since it is little more than a rather trite statement of political opinion, and biological theory. It also seems to get a few details wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwPQsI-3Xc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN3j1yCWHdU

BREAKING NEWS: U.

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2022:

Well Yippee, the most obnoxious P.M. since Blair is going, but of course there is always a danger that his replacement will turn out to be electable.

Are there any left?

Fernapple comments on Jul 7, 2022:

Sadly that is the only down side to the blocking feature, because it means that the apologist bullies can block the people who are willing and able to stand up to them. They are then free to bully new members, the weak and innocent without any checks. I strongly suspect that a lot of new members join, encounter a apologist bully, who does not care about giving new members chance to find their feet, on their first visit, and they then never come back again. Which is doubly sad because it is probably the weak, damaged and most vulnerable, who are seeking and need community most, who are most likely to be driven away.

Isn't it rather peculiar that while the Christian right passionately talk against tyranny, they ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 6, 2022:

"I you want it, its tyranny. If I want it, its freedom." It is hard to find a definition for words like tyranny, but I am pretty sure that is not the right one.

Some women want to find a man who won't lie to them.

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2022:

I am sure that garden hoses would not kink, if they were made and designed by women.

On June 22, I got the results from my pet scan telling me there is no more cancer in my body.

Fernapple comments on Jul 5, 2022:

Good, now go for life big.

Natural selection has served as a kind of intellectual sieve, producing brains and intelligences ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2022:

Now sadly in decline.

I've always found sanctuary and a sense of peace in Libraries but never in religious buildings.

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2022:

That's how I found it.

“Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2022:

Wow, that is some statement.

Shooting at a mall in Denmark.

Fernapple comments on Jul 4, 2022:

Your friends should not forget the simple stat, that even today with everyone being armed, far more people shoot and kill themselves by accident, than are shot by someone else.

"Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2022:

I sometimes wonder if there was ever a day when Feynman did not say something funny and wise.

I am a bit angry, frustrated and fed up with the members of this site.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2022:

Best wishes with your quest, the world certainly does need more active sceptics, to stand up for human rights. And there maybe places in your country like this one https://humanists.uk/ which does a lot of active work. I think that there are places and sites for that, it is just that this site is not one of them, and there is room in the world, for both the politically active and the social friendship community. Like me many members here are not from the USA for one, so for us it is more of a pen-pal site than a political institution.

How to know what your man is thinking: Men only have two states of mind.

Fernapple comments on Jul 3, 2022:

That will mean more and more sandwiches as he gets older, and the obese get erectile disfunction, could become a feedback loop. LOL

A big shout out to the men that have women's backs.

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2022:

It is a lot of big issues, it takes a lot of effort to change the minds of even a few. We all have to work together.

The time and place which changed by life: In August.

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2022:

Sadly apart from the military, the USA seems to do everything it can to discourage travel and contact with other cultures.

A wise man once said If you choose to play chess with a Bantam Cock, be prepared for him to not ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2022:

Yes, but you and the cock still had fun.

Our minds manage to distract us from the terrible reality by filling our lives with stories about ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 2, 2022:

Yes I would not argue with that, we certainly are story and myth inventing creatures, and that can inspire us and be our greatest gift. But it can also divorce us from reality, blunt our senses and be our greatest tragedy, we become victims and slaves of our cultures, rather than their masters.

So it appears @Triphid has blocked me, i guess kindly suggesting his majorly over-the-top outbursts ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2022:

Write out the name "Triphid" on a real block of wood, and display it proudly in a trophy case.

Those hateful atheists who think that "religion poisons everything" (one of their mantras which I ...

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2022:

Of course religion has had many benefits, especially in the past, I doubt you will find anyone to dispute that, that is a strawman argument. In part because, in the ancient past, religion was simply the same thing as culture, the Roman word "religio" even meant exactly that, to some, because the modern word culture did not then exist. But the world moves on, and soon, as knowledge grew, and morality became more refined, people added new words to represent more nuanced ideas, starting with philosophy way back in ancient Greece and China, then politics, then the arts, then science, then secularism, then culture, humanism and environmentalism etc. in this century. And as new ideas carved out new areas for themselves, the world of thought became more complete and nuanced, and so did the language that modeled it. And wisdom and understanding is always about the greater nuance. Religion was probably mainly harmless, even beneficial, ( Though I doubt it. ) when it was the same as all of human culture. But eventually the word came to mean just that small corner of human life and thought, where we still deploy fake authority and little else, which was never a good idea at any time. But then when the smaller more specific ideals, we call religion today, found that they had rivals, in the arts, sciences etc. they compounded their failing by lashing out at the better thoughts, and became at last mainly the refuge of the anti-social who wanted that, to escape and battle mainstream culture. Which makes it very toxic today even if it still confers a few benefits here and there. Human culture has moved on, and now it is simply time for people to move on with it.

Was there a time and a place that had an inordinate influence on who you become and are today?

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2022:

No one single thing, just lots of steps along the way. With regard to religion/atheism though: The death of my wife through cancer, despite her being very devout. The realization as a child that Christians were not the good people, I had thought they were, thanks to a largely secular upbringing. The vicar who told me that he was not interested in people like me who were searching for something. The religious teacher, who tried to convince us that animals had no feelings, and that therefore animal cruelty was not a crime. The teacher who punished me for reading too many books.

This lady Cassidy Hutchinson.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2022:

Hero may be a bit much, just for making a truthful statement with legal protection. But people do change, and that change often takes time, especially when you are blocked into a sub-culture which puts every sort of restraint and pressure on you, so what someone does today should not be blighted by what they did in the past, and breaking with your past can indeed be heroic, especially if you have been locked into that past for a long time and invested much in it. Is she just trying to save her own skin though ? Maybe, but saving your skin and doing the right thing are not mutually exclusive. Benefit of the doubt.

I've blocked a number of people lately.

Fernapple comments on Jul 1, 2022:

The only problem with blocking is that you may not see things that members you do like are commenting on.

Why Do I Care What People Believe? Worth a watch indeed! [youtube.com]

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2022:

Very good, direct to the point and well presented.

English is fun ??

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2022:

The badger was set to enter his set of sets, when he found the mud had set and sealed the entrance, but he did not get upset, because sleeping inside is not set in stone for badgers.

lovenothate socalledgodsword

Fernapple comments on Jun 30, 2022:

I think there was once another Christian, I think they called him Jesus, who said similar things, but I don't think his ideas had much impact, so I don't give this guy much of a hope either.

It’s how we got here..just close enough to steal.

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2022:

Sometimes they are only given a choice between two thieves.

Anti-Abortion Is About Preserving The White Race

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2022:

Could be, but i think that an even bigger motivation, is just bullying for the sake of bullying, just to prove that they can get away with it.

No one is perfect

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2022:

Love them. And boy yes it is easy to get fat.

[youtube.com] A video on the truth behind the story of Creation

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2022:

The maker of the video gives his Christian misunderstanding of the Bible away at the very start, when he states that the Bible was "written", in the sense of authored. Where in fact, it is almost certainly, a jumble of already long existing, probably both oral and written, stories, collected and edited together. Some of which were probably valued at the time, because they seemed to be, or originally were, allegories which fitted the dubious prejudices of the time. He then however starts to refer to them as, Gods message for the people of the time, and "inspired by God", which implies that they were authored by god, even if indirectly by giving inspiration to human authors. Which is itself a literal view, thus contradicting his early anti-literal argument.

Forecast: Rain My better judgment cautions me that this is too simple to be the whole picture, ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 28, 2022:

What we are, is in need of good fair and well planned education, so that every child/person gets a good understanding of the world in which they live, and how to live responsibly in it. Is it likely to happen any time soon ? Well not seemingly in the USA at least it isn't.

I open the side gate, and this is the view that welcomes me home.

Fernapple comments on Jun 27, 2022:

Brilliant.

In America everyone has the right to be ignorant and most Americans take full advantage of it.

Fernapple comments on Jun 27, 2022:

It would be nice as someone from overseas, to say something like. "Its not that bad really. " But to be honest with you, I am beginning to think that it is.

Can you imagine. I have 6 more points to level 9. So excited about the little things in life.

Fernapple comments on Jun 27, 2022:

Here you go a like and a few more.

Nowadays, many, maybe even most of us do not live in the world described by science, but in some ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 27, 2022:

Sadly, moral degeneration goes back much further than the, so called, social revolution of the sixties. If you find a child is stealing, and you explain to it carefully why it is wrong to steal, and the objective reality of why widespread stealing would make for a very unhappy world, which it would not want to live in, then you have some chance it will learn better. If however you tell it not to steal because the bogey man will get it, then sadly, when it inevitably comes to understand that the bogey man does not exist, as it will, then not only will it no longer be afraid to steal, it may even do so all the more in rebellion, because it was lied to, and the lier's views no longer hold credibility. So western society, which until the middle of the nineteenth century based its morality, almost wholly on religious, theist, bogey man arguments, had to face the fact that beginning in that century, and especially through the moral crisis of two world wars, which exposed its weakness, the bogey man was going to be seen through and lose credibility. And with that the morals built on it, however good, were bound to lose credibility too. And while the remnants of religion, see the modern and growing alternative moralities, such as humanism and environmentalism, with their more objective based sources, and transparently simple objectives, ( That even a child can understand. ) not as allies, but as competition, to be ruthlessly undermined, then moral decline is still likely.

Irony... The same church that says...

Fernapple comments on Jun 26, 2022:

Well she told the old guy Joseph, that despite the pregnancy, his pretty new young wife was still a virgin. But then come the birth, three strange rich guys turn up out of nowhere with really expensive presents. No point here, just saying what it says in the book.

Why You're Not “Middle Class” [youtu.be]

Fernapple comments on Jun 26, 2022:

It was, ( may not be much longer ) quite different in the UK, because we always had a strong, self identified, working class, with its own working class values, and pride in membership. Which helped to make middle class much less of an all embracing group. And is to a degree, though it is very complicated and does not really work out in practice, the reason why we have three, not two, main political parties, the Conservatives = Republicans, the Liberals = Democrats, and the Labour Party, theoretically representing working class values and democratic socialist principles. The working class though is probably shrinking, since it is being nibbled away from both sides, with many more people now who are in work, choosing to self identify as middle class, just as they do in the USA . And following several decades of mainly right wing government, many people dropping out of the class system altogether to join the unemployed underclass, while the traditional class system fades generally.

Hello everyone! I'm Crystal from the Austin area of Texas! I'm looking for good, intelligent friends...

Fernapple comments on Jun 26, 2022:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

What was on TV that I was hardly paying attention to just ended.

Fernapple comments on Jun 26, 2022:

Its like I suspect, the Ark Encounter & Creation Museum, probably earn more money from atheists who go along to mock, than they do from believers. Lot of ticket sales in that market. LOL

A society that is not also a community is nothing more than a collection of individuals.

Fernapple comments on Jun 25, 2022:

Yes but there is no need to impose an specific one, since forming communities and creating shared values is automatic for humans, and comes by default.

What a depressing day in the US.

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2022:

I think that the US has depth. And also the every action has an opposite, and sometimes more than equal, reaction.

Some excerpts from the book "Inventing the Individual" by Larry Siedentop "The roots of ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2022:

Of course why not, early cultures are bound to give birth to an influence later ones, who would disagree with that ? The problem comes when you fail to realize that and earlier idea has been superseded, by its offspring. Like trying to drive a team off horses in front of a chariot down the motorway, just because cars still use wheels.

Can’t believe I got better looking again today!!! Thank you baby Jesus!!!😎

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2022:

Sad, there is still such a long way to go.

"You don't have to die to go to the Kingdom of God.

Fernapple comments on Jun 24, 2022:

"the renunciation of self is its own reward, that it is itself the Kingdom of Heaven " H. G. Wells

From the arrival of the earliest humans on earth to the present ,God has always been a human ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2022:

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the site.

Leaf blowers, lawn mowers and fertilizer: How lawns contribute to climate change

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2022:

Well done.

The Evolution Of Symbolic Language [agnostic.com] .

Fernapple comments on Jun 23, 2022:

As the article says, brain evolution is far slower than symbolic/cultural evolution powered by language. We can therefore expect to have no evolved biological defenses to help us deal, with the new cultural symbolic environment in which we now find ourselves living. Richard Dawkins created the popular meme view of individual cultural elements as brain parasites, which may have been a little on the right track, but which because of its popularity, it has sadly perhaps slowed the spread of the true understanding, that it is the whole environment created by culture, to which we have no inborn coping mechanisms. The first mismatch occurred with the origins of symbolic culture and not with agriculture. Which leaves us as ready made victims, for strong cultural elements such as religions and political tribalism, which are able to manipulate brains equipped with no biological defenses for life in the symbolic/cultural environment. But fortunately there is one small hope, which is that human culture being at its base level immaterial, can be, and is, very easy to remake, we are the creators of our cultures, just as much if not more than we are created by them. We can therefore create counter cultures based on sceptical thinking, education, reason and evidence, such as philosophy and science, which are essentially anti-cultural, and are yet still capable of providing the symbolism needed by the apes brain.

” One would have thought that it was even more necessary to limit population than property.

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2022:

Whether you agree with Aristotle or not, it is interesting that the same issues are still in need of thoughtful addressing today. Maybe the two thousand years in which the western world has been ruled by a corrupt branch of the anti-intellectual Roman Empire, called by some Christianity, has not moved us on as much as we think.

When modern citizens cease to be religious they do not cease to be moral, they still have the same ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2022:

So your point is, you would like to speak out in favour of acts of violence, and the promoting of them. Good luck with that. (irony)

Tonight is the celebration of Litha, or Midsummer. Happy Litha everyone.

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2022:

And best wishes to you too, lets celebrate something that is real.

From my pagan days: The ancients revered planets and stars, identifying them with and as deities ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 22, 2022:

When you think about how many things of great importance to early people, not just the seasons, but the tides as well for people near the sea, and the directions for those going on journeys before the magnetic compass the heavens seemed to predict, with great accuracy. Then it is easy to see the bit of false logic which leads to astrology, for if the heavens predict all the big important things, then surely they, in their complexity, must predict all the little things too. After all, it has to be easier to predict little things than big things, obviously is it not. It seems silly now but it is a perfectly natural piece of logic.

Steven Weinberg once said, "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can...

Fernapple comments on Jun 21, 2022:

I agree, people do not divide into two tribes, the good and the bad, that is a crude simplistic dualism, which is about as useful as most dualisms. ( Not at all.) But that does not mean that there are not good and bad people, by which you may mean, people who are mainly beneficial to the larger society, and people who are harmful to it. While anyone who thinks about it, even at a very shallow level, and only for a second, will probably, and I would say correctly, suspect, that human social behavior is probably distributed according to the standard distribution, AKA the bell curve. With a few very anti-social people ( moral criminals ) at one end, a few moral saints at the other, and by far the vast majority of people clustered in the big group in the centre. But at the same time, while everyone's position on the line in relation to other people is mainly fixed, relatively, it would still be true that they can move up and down the line under the influence of ideology. Both as individuals and groups. So that people raised in or inducted into a bad culture may be expected to behave more anti-socially than those raised in a good culture, which sets higher standards of moral behavior. Though it is also true that there are no wholly good or bad ideals and cultures either, just some which are kinder than others. But that leads back to the original assumption, of people as dualistic and divided into two tribes, good and bad. Which I am sorry to say is an idea and attitude, and a false one, which has deeply damaging effects on society, and which I am also sorry to say, is one which we have inherited from religion, especially in the west from Christianity. Which set up a moral myth of things like saints and devils, as its main metaphor and the basis of its moral code, and as a justification for its other myth of those lost forever and the saved, with nothing between. Which even the followers of Islam think of as primitive idea. And sadly it is exactly primitive ideas like that, which make it unsuited to the modern world. It is simple not good enough any longer to use such ideologies any longer in a world which has and understands better ones, without the misleading baggage. And while Christianity and other religions may move some people up the scale of good social behavior, they will also move some down. ( All ideals probably do both. ) So that the real question is not. "Does it make people better ? " But. "Does it make more people better than it makes worse ? " And certainly Christianity has some very bad effects, not least the whole two tribes of good people and bad people idea, which we started with, which is so easily made to fit along with other imagined social dividing lines, such as class, race, nation hood, geography etc. enlarging the ...

A very bizarre thinking, I've seen it

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2022:

It is not true that there is no evidence, just that it is fake evidence. There are two common fallacies at work at least, which provide fake evidence, the first being tradition, and the second "ad populum". In other words the belief that if it is old it must be true, and the belief that, if a lot of people believe it it must be true. Neither are any better than believing, that if the sky fairy said it, it must be true.

So who are "evangelicals"? And how did they become such massive hypocrites? | Salon.com

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2022:

The only thing I would think wrong there, is that he actually has a naive view of the bible, when he says. "None of that is based on the Bible." Actually it is, in fact the bible is so muddled you can base anything on it, that is the secret that has kept it popular for more than a thousand years. So that his interpretation, though I largely agree with it, is still no more justified by the bible than any other.

A few more hiking pictures from today. Anyone here a hiker and if so do you use the All Trails app?

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2022:

Great photos. No sorry I am not that techi, I still just use a map.

I sure wish I understood all the new physics that are emerging and evolving.

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2022:

Don't worry, you are not alone. “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.” Richard P. Feynman

I'm sure this does not apply to any of my male friends on this site LOL.

Fernapple comments on Jun 20, 2022:

In Tibet it is common because the harsh environment does not support every woman having a family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYhSsQqRhI

Cyclists !!

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2022:

And self reliant people with few needs generally, well lets not get started on that subject. LOL

“If life becomes hard to bear we think of a change in our circumstances; but the most important ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2022:

Not sure about that one.

Pride and Terrorism

Fernapple comments on Jun 19, 2022:

Is the American spelling different to ours in the UK, should not "stedfast" have an 'a' in it ?

At one time there was supposedly separation of church and state but suddenly churches have expanded ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

Good question. I think that what happens is that the extremists want power, and they can't get it by honestly winning elections, or getting people to read their nonsense. So they go to the one place where they can say anything, and claim it has the authority of god/Jesus/scripture/tradition to back them up. Then they drive away the moderates who can't stand it, so they go to other churches, or leave religion altogether, which then leaves the extremists even more in charge, which drives away more moderates. And so on. The one great benefit that religion always had, was that it always gave an alternate voice and platform for those excluded by the state. Which is why, in the middle ages, when the state was just armed thuggery, the church did very well by pedaling welfare and human rights. But now that welfare and human rights are the main preoccupations of most states, who needs an alternate voice and platform, except those who are opposed to welfare and human rights ?

What does liberalism mean to you?

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

I don't know. The label has had so many different and often contradictory meanings, from both the political left and the political right, that it is hard to nail down a single thread. Even if you are talking about self defined liberalism on the left only, then some see it as the same thing as socialism, ( Which synonym they share with their critics on the right. ) some mean left wing without being socialist, ( Whatever that means. ) some see it as moderate socialism, and some as non authoritarian socialism. I would go with the last, but would not be prepared to argue the point if someone wanted to tell me different, its only a label after all.

“Possession of material riches, without inner peace, is like dying of thirst while bathing in a ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

It is also frequently, like swimming deeper into the lake while drowning.