Fernapple's Profile

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.

Stephen Colbert 'Late Show' team detained at U.S. Capitol, charged with unlawful entry while filming

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

So the Late Show team, will probably get a small slap on the wrist for not doing as they were told, while your legal services, get on with the important job, of making sure those who attempted a coup get put out of action for a long time. Am I right or will it be the other way round ? We shall have to see, but the outcome will tell you a lot.

[visitrenotahoe.com] Fly geyser

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

Great story.

Tipping, what are your thoughts on this?

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

Yes I always leave something for the hotel staff, that way you know it goes to them and not the owners. You can leave other stuff besides money, that you may not want to pack, such as books and local maps, just put a note on it saying. " Thank you, for you." So that they know it is not to be handed in, and always leave some money as well, since it looks mean, just to dump your junk on them.

Carlisle, Vervaeke, Spinoza, and voluntary necessities. [youtu.be] .

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

Sorry I thought this could be interesting, having done a little with Spinoza before. But the first ten mins was totally taken up by a narcissist talking endlessly about himself, with no mention of the subject matter, and not even a word from the interviewed. Then I had the 'ad hominem' thought. Well if this is the sort of horrible person that Spinoza's philosophy interests and promotes, then the world would be better of without it, whatever the benefits.

Should "fuck" be a restricted word on this website?

Fernapple comments on Jun 18, 2022:

No. Since it is not a religious word at all anyway. But I do not think it a good idea to change user names, there is a lot to be said for continuity. I myself have only changed the photo once, and do not think I will do it again.

The Anthropology of Religion [youtu.be] .

Fernapple comments on Jun 17, 2022:

1. This has nothing to do with Anthropology. 2. Everyone is free to define words like religion as they please, as long as they honestly explain their meaning if it differs from the usually. But there is no good reason to privilege this mans meaning above any others. 3. It is historically inaccurate, the difference between faith and sceptical thinking existed in the classical world, long before the seventeenth century. 4. The modern meaning of the word "religion" may be an invented, so is the modern meaning of the word "evolution" but that does not mean that evolution does not exist. Nor is religion a synonym for meaning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgN4nOp-WvE

“There seemed no question in Dawkins’s mind that atheism as he understood it fell into the same ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 17, 2022:

I am amazed that you should so often publish anti-Dawkins post, when you share exactly the same views, especially that only fundamentalist literal religion is harmful, and the metaphorical traditions are good.

One of the fundamental misconceptions many atheists have is that they consider religion to be ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 16, 2022:

Yes perhaps but. One, is much better done by science, philosophy, popular culture, and good education. (Plus. It may not be needful for explanations to be literally true, but is generally better if they are. If only because of the law of unforeseen consequences, if they are not, and the unfortunate, extra, existential crisis which happen to those who place faith in them when they prove false.) (Plus, the word "explanation" here contradicts its use in your main premise.) Two, is much better done by science, philosophy, education and popular culture. Three, only gets in the way of personal growth, and the natural maturing towards nihilism that we all need. Four, it fails completely and achieves exactly the opposite. Five, is the job better done, if at all, by properly accountable states and law, not by random groups of self appointed dictators. Who are dishonest enough in the first place, to grab and use fake authority (religion ) which alone should prove them unsuited to the role.

“There seemed no question in Dawkins’s mind that atheism as he understood it fell into the same ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 16, 2022:

Though yes Dawkins does take an almost religious view of his own position, so what ? In the first place, John Gray is factually incorrect in his statement that literalism did not exist before the Reformation, admittedly a common fallacy apologists love to promote with religious zeal, so he is not to be blamed too much if he picked it up. One of the proofs of that, is his own quoted source, St Augustine himself, whose main, perhaps only, reason for stating his belief in a metaphorical interpretation of scripture, at all, was to explain his conversion to that view from literalism. In which he was certainly not alone, if as he claims, he had spent at least half his life in theology before he encountered non literal explanations. That John Gray fails to spot that obvious, elephant in the room, glaring error in his particular argument, is a prime example of the mental damage that religious thought, and its requirement for constant cognitive dissonance causes. In the second place, why should Dawkins or anyone, not concern themselves with purely with literal religion, ( Since apart from the few sad individuals, like J. G. who literally, and in a religious sense delude themselves, that the great Metaphor, is itself literally a god who solves all problems. ) fundamentalist religion is the only sort which is of any real significance or threat to anyone. John Gray is also factually wrong in believing Dawkins includes the metaphorical interpretation in his anti religious stance, Dawkins himself has, ( being a snob, ) been fulsome in his praise, of what he calls "sophisticated" theologians with non literal interpretations. Because if taken as non literal and truly interpreted metaphorically, then why should anyone care about the biblical scriptures ? Since they are then of no more significance than any other work of literature which may be so interpreted, from Homers Iliad to Winne The Pooh. It is only when it is given extra fake authority, that any book, or random collection of writings, becomes dangerous or potentially harmful. Whether that fake authority comes from a supposed supernatural origin, from the false faith in the wisdom of tradition, especially interpreted metaphorically so that it can be made to say anything, or from limited understanding promoted by narrow reading, it does not matter.

Politicians To be a politician you must honourable be.

Fernapple comments on Jun 15, 2022:

If only it were no worse than that. Never keep a single pledge, And all your statements made, Be sure to carefully hedge, You must also flout, all the very laws, You made and wrote with mucky paws.

I saw some great photos of a tree "embracing" a full moon.

Fernapple comments on Jun 15, 2022:

Photoshopped yes, but clever imaginative work. I especially like the way the twigs on the first one are formed in the shape of the continents, as though the earth as well was embracing the moon.

Christians believe in the miracle of the virgin birth : The Holy Spirit inseminated Mary and she ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 14, 2022:

Really Matias , I think you must be getting very desperate for something to post. That is a very silly strawman view of the common secular view of history. Do you really think that most, "atheists and secular humanists", imagine that the enlightenment suddenly appeared, as a bolt of lightening out of the blue in the Renaissance, and have no knowledge at all of the contributions made by, medieval Jewish and Islamic scholars or of the effects of Indian Mathematics on the medieval world, of the partial survival of classical philosophy through the middle ages, the effects of the printing press and the fact that technical advances even small ones, can bring rapid increases in knowledge , which bring more knowledge in a feedback loop. Plus the mind widening benefits of increasing trade and travel. Or even that it is possible that atheists believe in miracles, and would not look for secular causes, and assume they could be found, even if they lacked personal knowledge of the historical details. This is very silly , but all credit to you for not caring about looking clownish, in the name of being contentious. Every group needs one.

OMG!! Sarah Palin beat out Santa Claus in a special election in Alaska.

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2022:

Look this is a agnostic/ atheist web site, so do you really think that anyone here actually believes that Sarah Palin really exists ?

14 Black inventors who the world owes gratitude.

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2022:

Great article, I did not know most of those. But it is a pity the link did not work, I had to use MsKathleen's below.

So I'm staying in a place where I have no knife or scissors.

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2022:

A friend gave me a tiny folding pen knife in the form of a keyring. The blade is only about an inch long, but it is amazing how useful it is, especially for opening packaging, when your fingernails are just not quite up to the job, and being on my keys it is with me all the time. The other side is a bottle opener and screw driver, so you can not do without one.

Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers | Berkeley News

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2022:

Good post. I have seen a number of such surveys on this, but this is one of the most plain. I suspect that one of the main temptations for becoming religious in the first place, or remaining in one, is that, it gives you a clearly marked off zone to set limits to where you need to show empathy, and enables you to limit the obligations of conscience only to those most like you in the same congregation.

Look at this! True size right in front of this single-story house I pass several times weekly, with ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 13, 2022:

I think that it is Gunnera, also known as Giant Rhubarb Though it is not edible.

It is one thing to originate an idea, and it is another thing to live according to this idea.

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

Yep. And one of the great strengths of truth is that it can aways be rediscovered, while every lie is a new invention, and when it dies it goes forever. So that good ideas like the golden rule can easily be passed on to new belief systems, or be rediscovered by them, ( It has already been invented separately, in at least a dozen cultures. ) and will probably long outlast even the historic memory of the cultures that invented it.

Does anyone know the precise source of the following quotation?

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

No I do not know the source, I am sorry. But it is amusingly similar to my old school motto. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Which was about the most worthwhile thing I learned there.

One of my pet ideas is that one can hardly overestimate the hidden influences Christian ideas still ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

Granted, there was from the beginning a strong altruistic theme in Christianity, and that that helped to influence, and inspire, the western cultures which followed it, to begin developing ideas like social justice, socialism and the idea of a larger "we". But Christianity was not alone in that, you can find the same philosophy in many systems including Buddhism and Stoic philosophy, and those ideals were only realized to any degree in the west, quite recently, following the industrial revolution, which created for a while spare wealth and education, beyond what the ruling classes could use for self indulgence. Who knows if those other cultures, would not have done the same, given the same economic opportunities at the same stage of cultural development. But more than that, a thought system's flagship idea alone is never all there is to it, and even the best intentions can lead to terrible unforeseen consequences, look at Marxism which was intended, as perhaps, an even more altruistic ideal than Christianity, but which as we all know, often had truly horrible consequences. And the peculiar weakness and corruptibility of Christianity was also built into its basic ideals from the beginning too. As you ask. "why should someone from the ranks of those in power buy into it and mentally identify with the weak and the oppressed?" And the answer is, because they saw from the very beginning, Christianities in built proneness to favour and foster corruption. The reason being, that the ideals of altruism claimed to be at the heart of Christianity, are, as everyone instinctively knows, impossible in practice to realize. Which means that everyone is bound to fail, even the saints probably failed in reality, in living to that level of perfection, whatever apocryphal myths about them may say. Which means that the other great theme of Christianity, that of total and cheap forgiveness was a very inherent part of the system from the beginning. It had to be, because without it nobody would have adopted it. Which had two effects. First it excused the rich and powerful anything they may do, however corrupt and harmful. The only real crime, being an unwillingness to pay the price of forgiveness, whether in cash or penance. Creating thereby a culture which held no one responsible for anything, and which honoured corruption, especially among the rich and powerful, who could more easily buy forgiveness, not simply with cash, but also with time, commitment and display, all of which are much more readily available to the rich and powerful than to the poor. Thus the twin crimes against the poor and weak, the catholic oppression of those unable to easily buy forgiveness by those controlling the market in it, and the Calvinist view that weakness and poverty were the ...

So i'm sitting here at home with a mug of Fat Tug my fav IPA + a glass of jameison my fav whiskey at...

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

Grown adults pocking their balls down holes with sticks. Now that is strange !!!

“The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit”…………….

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

Its a bit like sincerity. If you can fake that, you have got it made.

The Neanderthal - Covid connection [youtu.be] .

Fernapple comments on Jun 12, 2022:

Great talk. Just one small point though. He says that we do not know the sexes of the matings with Neanderthals. But I have heard elsewhere, that other genetic studies have shown, that all of the matings are now believed to be between modern human males and Neanderthal females.

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2022:

And how much more even does that apply to religion..

"The history of scientific thought is closely linked to that of religious thought, and with much ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 11, 2022:

In the past many scientists, such as Newton, Boyle and Bacon, were very much inspired by religion, because in those days almost everything was inspired by religion, simply because it was the dominant and leading thought system of the world. But now, they are more likely to be inspired by the dominant and leading thought systems of today, such as environmentalism, welfare and humanism etc. ( Call them modern religions if you wish, though I think that in bad taste.) But theist religion has mainly lost its power of inspiration, except perhaps in a few places like the USA where a little dying theocracy still lingers, though I have not heard that even there, it is inspiring much important science today. While if some parts of theist religion can still be found, which are happy to celebrate an intellectual marriage with science, then of what use are they to anyone ? You may as well just enjoy and celebrate the science, pure and simple. The only people who can, and will, find any use in theist religion today, are those who wish to oppose the leading thought systems of the day such as environmentalism and humanism, since they are the only people who need an alternate platform. Which is why moderate non conflictive religion, fades away and dies, and the only vigour and inspiration to be found is, and will increasingly be found to be, in the fundamentalist extreme, which is happy to promote and accept alternate beliefs and even antisocial hate. What is true however, is that science and the modern thought systems, are not the enemies of moderate religion. It is simply that they are better thought systems, far more able to fill the needs that people once turned to religion for, and far more attractive to the honest and moral among the worlds peoples. The conflict with theism is not from science for the intellect, but from morality for the peoples affection.

Grammatically true ...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2022:

Sometimes people ask me. "How's things." I usually reply. "Things are fine, its people I have the problems with."

New to this but excited to be apart of a community that isn't driving the bible down my throat

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2022:

Hello and welcome, enjoy the site.

I have had heart palpitations off and on for decades; they vary from actual palpitations to a pause...

Fernapple comments on Jun 10, 2022:

You mean you are not a cyborg ?!! How did you get through the filters ? We are all cyborgs on here. ( That's a fact, the village priest told me. )

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