Agnostic.com
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Did the Trump administration collude with Russia?
RichCC comments on Jan 2, 2018:
Frankly as much as conspiracy and collusion bother me, money laundering and racketeering bother me more. As I watch the players I become more and more convinced that they are a bunch of incompetent, wannabe, mob bosses. Now that the debt killing tax 'overhaul' has passed, Hatch announced this morning that he won't run for Senate reelection in Utah this year.
Does anyone still make new year's resolutions?
RichCC comments on Jan 1, 2018:
Why should New Year's be special? When you want to change, do it. Especially if it is good (for you and/or others).
Please Believe You Are A Valuable Person
RichCC comments on Dec 31, 2017:
Thank you. I enjoyed that.
Life on other Planets? Yes or No?
RichCC comments on Dec 31, 2017:
I've mentioned the *Drake equation* (whichever incarnation you want to choose) and the *Fermi paradox* elsewhere on Agnostic.com. The numbers make very compelling arguments. Now the question seems to be *Why is there no evidence of ET life yet?*. It is becoming apparent that believing we are alone is a step beyond arrogance.
Are there any classical music buffs out there?
RichCC comments on Dec 30, 2017:
I've never taken classes and I can't carry a tune in a bucket but my music player has maybe 20% classical. My favorite composers are Respighi and Debussy. Also I like more modern instrumentals. I'm a big fan of Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre.
I have been a Christian and I wonder how we reconcile the truly loving and life-changing good ...
RichCC comments on Dec 29, 2017:
This is just my personal perspective -- for what it's worth. In my experience Christian charity always comes with a price. For instance after the Haiti earthquake a few years ago, a devout Christian from my office went with a group from his church to do relief work in Haiti. On the one hand that was very laudable. But from the pictures and stories he brought back a couple of weeks later well over half the effort they spent was towards building a church and converting new Christians. Every Church I'm familiar with (a limited sample, I know) seems to be successful because they follow a practice of 'church first' rather than 'do good first'.
Ok, another couple weeks and another list of improvements (hopefully) to the site.
RichCC comments on Dec 29, 2017:
I have a 2nd level request. When I edit a comment then preview it, if I go back to edit from the preview it goes back to the posted text. The only way I can keep my edits is to copy everything to the clipboard before I preview. I have to say though, if that's my biggest complaint, this is an extremely well done package. The look and feel are outstanding and I have yet to come across any bugs. Thank you muchly and thank the other patrons here.
I do envy the community participation and fellowship that Churches provide.
RichCC comments on Dec 29, 2017:
I find it more rewarding to go out and do good -- volunteer. I frustrate myself because I don't move well these days but I highly recommend Big Brothers Big Sisters. One of the things that impressed me about them is that they don't push any belief system -- it's all about the individual. I personally also served on a local school board (I met through BBBS). I think our rampant capitalist extraction economy discourages people from helping each other but I've found if you look there are good folks who will help you help -- including helping yourself.
Does the bible have any ethical principles other than the 'golden rule'?
RichCC comments on Dec 28, 2017:
I don't follow the wholly babble. The golden rule is naive and selfish. The platinum rule is better - 'treat others the way they want to be treated' -- rather than 'the way I want to be treated'. I see no reason others should have to endure my preferences (this comment not withstanding, sorry).
Do you believe in the existence of an historical Jesus?
RichCC comments on Dec 28, 2017:
I keep coming back to all the stuff that was written about him while he was 'alive' or within 80-90 or so years 'following' -- that is to say, nothing. Even the New Testament was written much later. Jesus was a Roman political creation centuries later (think emperor Constantine) to manipulate their population. I'd say it's unfortunate that the world has had to live with it since. But it's clear from the massive proliferation of other gods and superstitions that it's been inevitable because we're cursed with ignorance.
A few years ago a dude wrote a book detailing his child's trip to heaven that the brat supposedly ...
RichCC comments on Dec 24, 2017:
I searched the web and found this https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/01/15/377589757/boy-says-he-didn-t-go-to-heaven-publisher-says-it-will-pull-book It may be what you were looking for -- it's about Alex Malarkey.
I saw this on TV this morning. It's both sad and funny at the same time [youtu.be]
RichCC comments on Dec 24, 2017:
I just looked on the web. They want $40 + $7 S&H for that. That's nearly what my Kindle cost -- wow. I guess it is intended for the cognitively impaired.
Hey, so whats everyones opinion on the "Ancient astranaut theory" ?
RichCC comments on Dec 24, 2017:
I have to admit the numbers in whatever version of the Drake equation and then the Fermi paradox are hard to dismiss. Even at non-relativistic speeds, aliens should have had plenty of time to colonize the galaxy or even the universe. But I guess that's why it's called a paradox -- why don't we have undeniable evidence of their presence?
What religion were you originally steeped in? I was raised Mormon.
RichCC comments on Dec 24, 2017:
I was born in Kanab, UT but grew up in northern AZ -- Tuba City, Page & Fredonia. My mother was only weakly LDS until I was in high school. Then she became much more devout. Later she taught genealogy classes at the Mesa Temple. I was never a believer but many of my family and friends were/are. I remember very well the amount of pressure the Church can put on you. I also knew and was related to a very few 'Jack Mormons' although our definition was closer to the the Spingerville cult group than seems to be the popular definition today. Lol.
Any H.P. Lovecraft fans here?
RichCC comments on Dec 24, 2017:
Yes. I'm pretty sure I've read and very much enjoyed all his stories. These days I carry 'The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft' and 'H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Chulthu Mythos' on my Kindle. Whenever I'm between books or bored with my current read, I get an H.P. fix to tide me over. For a long time I've been partial to semi-older fiction -- James Branch Cabel, Josephine Tey, Mary Shelley, J.R.R. Tolkien, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. My tastes are fairly broad as long as they're done well. For example I very much loved Tey's 'The Daughter of Time' but I didn't much care for her other stuff like the inspector Grant series (even though Grant is the nominal main character in The Daughter of Time, the books read differently). I'm glad to see another Lovecraft connoisseur -- as popular and influential as he has been, he seems to be a bit of an acquired taste.
What makes SCIENCE so believable?
RichCC comments on Dec 23, 2017:
I read a comment about a year ago and since I'm paraphrasing from memory and I haven't asked her permission to use her thought I won't specify where I got it except to mention that it isn't from me originally. 'All throughout history people have thought they had -- often supernatural -- explanations for things -- the sun was a light being dragged across the sky by Apollo, thunder was dwarves playing ten-pins in the mountains or so forth. But when we were able to get closer looks we realized that there were secular mechanisms that explained things and obviated the supernatural. On the other hand, how many times has it gone the other way? We used to have a secular explanation but now we realize that the thing we see is really caused by that god over there or that magician or that rabbit's foot in our pocket or whatever -- exactly zero!' That's why science is more believable than religion -- science has demonstrated over and over and over to be more correct than religion. Religion has ever only been able to play 'god-of-the-gaps'. When knowledge moves in, religion has to leave.
have any of you studied varies athiestic philosophies ?
RichCC comments on Dec 23, 2017:
Many years ago (as counted by me) my wife read an encyclopedia description of the classic Greek stoics -- Seneca, Epictetus, et.al. She pointed out to me how close their views were to mine and I agreed. I don't believe in the supernatural and only blame myself for things in my life that I can affect. From that base I try to be 'part of a solution rather than part of the problem'. As much as I despair recently about the state of our society, I haven't found any reason to significantly change.

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Agnostic, Atheist, Humanist, Secularist, Skeptic, Freethinker
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