Agnostic gathering in the Hampton Roads area?

paul1967 comments on Oct 8, 2017:

https://www.meetup.com/topics/atheists/us/va/virginia_beach/?_cookie-check=rdOIREa8BLbsNMfY

Favorite podcasts?

paul1967 comments on Oct 8, 2017:

Atheist Experience

My local atheist group was run by a group of polyamorous .

paul1967 comments on Oct 8, 2017:

I personally agree, I've been in both types open relationships have never worked out for me. My girlfriend was bi and I was "young and open minded". It's not a life style I'll ever invest in again.

Has anyone watched Open Minds with Regina Meridith on Gaia.com?

paul1967 comments on Oct 8, 2017:

Nope never heard of it but I'll check it out.

Do you all advertise your Atheism publically?

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

Is it frowned upon in my city? YES! and that makes me do it all the more. Not so much to piss off the theists but to let the Atheist or non-believers know it's ok to be open about it. T-Shirts I own: You pray for me. I'll think for you. Science doesn't care what you believe. LOGIC I'm an ATHEIST! on the back, it say's: Mythology is all things supernatural. Atheist - Because imaginary friends are for four-year-olds In Science we Trust Science flies you to the moon Religion flies you into buildings. I think therefore I'm Atheist. I have a ton more but I wont bore you with all of them

Just joined! Hello all! I live in SC.

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

Welcome, I'm thrilled to have another person join our group. I look forward to reading your posts and having you add to the conversation. I like feedback, especially when I'm wrong, so feel free to speak out against anything I say. I promise you as long as it's done with respect, it won't hurt my feelings, it will make my day if you convince me I'm wrong.

Hundreds of humanists, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and scientific skeptics, are expected to ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

Thanks! that's very cool

How many times have been in a situation where you know you could or should have died but didn't?

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

Once at age 7. I was behaving foolish, and I flipped a motorboat tossing my father and me out of the boat a few miles off the coast of Catalina. The boat kept going without us in it, and the tide was pulling us deeper out into the ocean, just around sunset, someone saw the boat with nobody in it, and they turned it around long after I had flipped it. It was beyond lucky that they were able to find us.

Does anyone have a bucket list they'd like to share?

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

I have only two things left on my list. Hang glide and dive into the ocean from 100 feet. I've done 50 in Hawaii but never 100

Have you ever seen anything that no one believes you saw?

paul1967 comments on Oct 9, 2017:

I saw something I don't believe I saw. I was walking to school, and I saw a man in a black jacket 20 yards up the road. I looked away for a second, and in that second he went from 20 yards away to walking past me. I either thought it was a second and it wasn't, or he's the Fash. Either way, I don't know what it was I experienced, and I will most likely never know, but it freaked me the hell out.

Can you explain why you are for or against single payer healthcare?

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

I'm for Healthcare reform but I'm undecided as to what kind of reform. I have great healthcare at my job but there are so many of my friends who need it but can't afford it. That's crazy that we can spend billions on building a bigger military but we can't seem to figure out how to take care of the health of our citizens.

Does it matter to you where you get your words of wisdom?

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

I think that everything is relative. Words that offer significance to us can come from your worst among us. Let me explain how words of "wisdom" can be relative. I'm all about helping make the world a more just place for all. However, these words of wisdom anger me. "Black lives matter" To some they hold an essential message, a message I'm aware of and value, but the message became (at least to me) is cops lives don't matter. Words are words, and they relay our thoughts to a limited degree, they can drive great change as they did in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech, "I had a dream." There are too many occasions where cops killed black people when they had no justification to do that. However, the Black lives movement is forgetting an essential aspect of their message to America. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin "BUT BY THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER."" So my point is not to bash Black lives matter but rather to point out how words of wisdom can be wise words, but that's not the same as the implementation of those words.

What are your views on bible stories?

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

I abstained from voting because I think they're utter BS and they should be taught AND exposed in either theology or philosophy class.

For all you Zen masters out there in wonderland.

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

LMAO- I don't think I could pull that off with my customers.

Being a positive person who makes the conscious decision to smile at strangers and be grateful for ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

Funny yet embarrassing story. I moved to Kansas City back in 2004 from Los Angeles. When I would find myself driving through my neighbourhood on the way to work, people I didn't know would smile and wave at me. In my cynical LA brain, I thought what in the hell do these people want from me? It took a few years of this before I came to the conclusion that they wanted to be neighbourly. I have a hard time with change but I find myself doing it to others now, and when I'm visiting LA and do it, people look at me with a stinkeye and I think that used to be me.

SAS vs Navy Seals

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

Navy Seals is my completely uninformed vote.

Saying "grace" at someones house?

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

I had this happen to me this past Saturday night at my bosses house. My boss lives quite a distance from where we work, and I had casually mentioned that I had been on several dates with a lady I met online who lived near his home, and things were going well. He asked me to invite her to dinner. My date was excited to meet my boss, so she agreed. Everything was going great, and then he asked me to lead "the supper prayer." I was in shock. I was prepared to hold hands and even bow my head, but I wasn't ready or willing or even capable of leading the prayer. I tried twice to turn him down politely, but he isn't the type to accept a no. I have never felt so threatened about telling someone that I didn't believe. Needless to say, my date won't return my calls, and my boss wasn't as friendly with me today at work. Now I have two people at work both different but similar issues that dislike me, and one is my boss.

What would you do?

paul1967 comments on Oct 10, 2017:

You're asking a human that doesn't have those powers what they would do with them if they did. I suspect any answer you get would not reflect the reality if this actually did happen to them. Not that anyone is lying it's just impossible for us to comprehend what that power would do to us. I hope I never get to find out.

Three days new

paul1967 comments on Oct 11, 2017:

Ah, a good well placed cuss word is more than acceptable when said tactfully or at Trump lol (just kidding, well maybe not totally kidding) I've enjoyed your presence here and I love reading your posts.

What would you call something you know exist and yet you cannot see?

paul1967 comments on Oct 11, 2017:

Atoms, air, magnetism, black holes, energy waves, thoughts, emotions, gravity, empty space, the past, the future, the earth mantle, infinity, dark matter, speed of light, nonexistence, time, antimatter, quantum particles, the entirety of the universe about a billion other things.

Has anyone ever done street epistemology (SE)?

paul1967 comments on Oct 11, 2017:

I'm forced to say no because it wasn't on the street, but when debating or discussing religion with a theist, I practice the philosophy of street epistemology because it's far more useful. It is less threatening, and it allows for the person to acknowledge things he/she otherwise wouldn't.

Anyone had an out of body experience ?

paul1967 comments on Oct 11, 2017:

Yes, but I know exactly what it is and it's not my spirit. I suffer from sleep paralysis and one of the effects of that is a feeling of being out of body. To test this I had my x wife right something and place it on the lamp on the nightstand. I didn't see a note that next morning until after it went away and I looked for it. It said you snore

Are you the only atheist/agnostic in your household?

paul1967 comments on Oct 11, 2017:

No, my dogs and cats are too. My wife is a hardcore Christian, but we legally separated after seven good years followed by seven more bad years. The more religious she got, the worse things got. It's not all her fault I'm guilty of losing interest and not wanting to be around her as she fell deeper into her faith.

What kind of useful information have you found in this community?

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

I learned pineapples don't grow on trees lol

When is freedom not fair against equality.?

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

I agree with Bikersurfer. Your question needs to include more information because the parameters for this issue are wide open. I could think of any numbers of things where one's freedom isn't fair against equality. Slavery of a race would be my first thought. Oppression based on gender is another. I just don't know if that's what you mean.

What is the most progressive philosophy?

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

I'm not sure that can be answered. I agree with the simple statement that Bikersurfer said, "The one that gets you where you want to go the fastest" It's probably the only answer that makes sense.

Say you find someone who seems amazing in your eyes, but they turn out to be religious; Do you move ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

If you love him, you love him. If you get to the point of marriage, then consider this. Marriage is a commitment, and that means hard work. Differing positions on politics or religion can add to the work. If you have kids, kick that work up tenfold because each parent will want to influence their kids to their beliefs. How ok will you be raising a son or daughter as a theist? If you think you can handle it and he's worth it then amen to you sister you have some hard days ahead of you, but he may be worth it.

Any other 3rd/4th gen atheists

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

3rd Gen. Grandfather on fathers side mother and father and then me and my sister

It seems as if every time I’m in contact with a Christian, and I tell them I’m agnostic, they ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

Not to mention pascals wager isn't a 50/50 as it makes it sound. Not only do you need to believe in God but you need to pick the correct God out of all the religions in the world. Odds would drop a bit even if there were a God. For all, we know the Mormons have the right answer. And I agree that was very well written. You're an inspiration.

Do you never get bored of talk about God?

paul1967 comments on Oct 12, 2017:

I'm more interested in why people believe and why they seem to have such a hard time leaving it. They must know at some level its all a bunch of hooey because if the didn't, none of them would fear death, they would look forward to the end, and that's just not the case.

How can belief in Hell be moral?

paul1967 comments on Oct 13, 2017:

Hell is anything but moral, and theists know it. Apologist had to devise a way that made it our fault to take away the apparent cruelty that an all-loving being could not do. They spun it so that we're choosing to go to Hell. It's a load of kaka. It never stops to surprise me how far people will go to maintain their belief in this fairytale.

Do you think a religious person is more or less inclined to be racist/sexist/all around bigoted?

paul1967 comments on Oct 13, 2017:

I claimed no affect and here's why religion itself doesn't make somebody a bigot that's a worldview separate from religion but I will say that generally speaking people that hold bigoted worldviews tend to be religious, I just don't hold the religion itself responsible

Can empathy be learned?

paul1967 comments on Oct 14, 2017:

I would argue that empathy is not instinctual and is learned as we mature and develop from childhood into adults. I would also say that the foundation of empathy comes about due to socialization and has been seen it in dogs, primates, and most if not all social animals. For an example of this click or copy the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HJTG6RRN4E

How long has your longest relationship lasted?

paul1967 comments on Oct 14, 2017:

14 years twice. Both of my marriages lasted 14 years. At my age if I can do another 14 that should be perfect timing.

What is the furthest away you've met someone online and then met in real life?

paul1967 comments on Oct 14, 2017:

California is we're I lived at the time and she lived in Alabama. The date was a disaster and I flew home the next day.

Why isn't there any atheist tv programs?

paul1967 comments on Oct 14, 2017:

There's the Atheist Experience if you live near Texas

Are you still able to appreciate religious art, or does the religious message prevent you from ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 15, 2017:

I enjoy a lot of religious art, music, authors, and poets. Amazing Grace is a song that has always affected me. In my mind, I can apply it to my life. I was a drug addicted youth, failing out of school. I was destined to be a bum on the streets or in prison. A single person (Not God or divinely sent) turned my life around by showing me my future. There's a long and painful story behind that story but the song "Saving Grace" gave me some inspiration to change my life around.

Is ignorance bliss?

paul1967 comments on Oct 15, 2017:

The studies would indicate that it does. Anyone who knows me knows that science is the subject with which I hold great reverence. However, I take science to be an understanding of the physical world that is in constant flux, and never an absolute declaration of absolute truth. It may be true that the comfort it offers allows for an extended life but it could be could also be something unrelated.

Could prominent religious ideologies be perpetuated by time traveling beings that are altering our ...

paul1967 comments on Oct 15, 2017:

Anything is possible, but like God, I have no reason to believe it.

Do you think Muslims will outnumber Christians?

paul1967 comments on Oct 20, 2017:

It certainly looks like it. Something I read says it has less to do with converting people and more to do with birth rates.

How do people react when you refer to their beliefs as a mythology?

paul1967 comments on Oct 20, 2017:

Most responses show that it would be insulting but that's because most people don't know what the word myth means. It doesn't refer to whether something is true or false. A myth is a traditional story consisting of events that are ostensibly historical, though often supernatural, explaining the origins of a cultural practice or natural phenomenon. The word "myth" is derived from the Greek word mythos, which simply means "story". Mythology can refer either to the study of myths or to a body or collection of myths. Myth can mean 'sacred story', 'traditional narrative' or 'tale of the gods'. A myth can also be a story to explain why something exists. Human cultures' mythologies usually include a cosmogonical or creation myth, concerning the origins of the world, or how the world came to exist. The active beings in myths are generally gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, or animals and plants. Most myths are set in a timeless past before recorded time or beginning of the critical history. A myth can be a story involving symbols that are capable of multiple meanings. A myth is a sacred narrative because it holds religious or spiritual significance for those who tell it. Myths also contribute to and express a culture's systems of thought and values, such as the myth of gremlins invented by aircraft technicians during World War II to avoid apportioning blame. Myths are often, stories that are currently understood as being exaggerated or fictitious.

Has anyone else helped a person leave religion or god belief?

paul1967 comments on Oct 20, 2017:

My mother and sister. It took forever but both are Atheists now.

Can science and religion realistically be reconciled?

paul1967 comments on Oct 21, 2017:

I used to say they were two separate things, but I discovered they are the same in the initial approach. They both ask the same questions, but here is the divide, science won't answer with here is the answer until the evidence is in and when evidence is inconclusive or not available the answer is we don't know. Religions will always insert God to all answers unknown, and when the answer becomes known, they fight back and deny for a while and then move the goal post again.

Why do some atheist still use religious terms?

paul1967 comments on Oct 22, 2017:

Not to be tactless, but I try to avoid saying things like bless you when someone sneezes, but I have said OH GOD! while climaxing after great sex. I find that to be just an idiom and not at all religious.

I was recently asked by an old friend who knew me as a devoted Christian, what happened?

paul1967 comments on Oct 22, 2017:

Wow that's a big and difficult program to delete. I think it's more closely related to a virus because programs delete and they're gone but a virus can be deleted and come back. It take more effort for the end user to get rid of. Congrats on pushing delete.

What are you for Halloween? I'm a Pikachu!

paul1967 comments on Oct 31, 2017:

I love your Pikachu costume. I was a lizard with a pink wig wearing boots and smoking a cigarette. Boy, it's just too bad I can't upload any proof of that lol. No for real I was an old man wearing a baseball cap opening my front door handing out Snicker bars and Three Musketeers Bars (In other words I was myself.)

Happy Thanksgiving fellow heathens

paul1967 comments on Nov 23, 2017:

Happy Thanksgiving!

How would you end racism in the US?

paul1967 comments on Dec 1, 2017:

I can't imagine a world with out racism. I'm a very liberal person and I try my best to be non-judgemental but there is no doubt about it, I'm a racists and so is everybody reading this. This is in a real sense who we are and we need to recognize it in ourselves to even begin to change it.

Future technology

paul1967 comments on Dec 8, 2017:

That was a no brainier for me. Interstellar travel

xmas trees

paul1967 comments on Dec 13, 2017:

I love Christmas, I'm just not interested in hauling a dead tree into my house decorating it's dead corpse with lights and colored bulbs and tinsel. However, if I'm ever with someone who feels different I would have no problem doing that for them.

Is mankind inherently good, or born evil?

paul1967 comments on Dec 13, 2017:

Infants are outside of any concept of good and evil. The question, is humanity inherently evil is a complicated question, one which requires a proper definition which I've never seen, nor can I devise one. My gut says evolution needs us to be both self-serving and generous and some people lean one way or the other to varying degrees.

Who started this crazy crap that you need something on your head some shit just doesn't make any ...

paul1967 comments on Dec 13, 2017:

Non-theist would never be able to agree on any specific hat, that's both what makes us great and keeps us from being a united power which is why we are slow to grow. If not for the internet we would still be spread out and unorganized. (My opinion of course)

THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY?

paul1967 comments on Dec 14, 2017:

No, if anything it doesn't have enough

Coming from the lgbt community being leery of religion it's something that is almost second nature.

paul1967 comments on Dec 14, 2017:

I very much support the LGBT community so when I say this, please understand I don't agree with it. Religious people are indoctrinated from very early on to view your actions as evil. What they believe they're doing is saving your soul, so when they do inappropriate things like sending you a Bible as a Christmas gift you just have to understand in their way corrupt as it is the gesture is one of kindness. It's no different then when they say bless you. I wouldn't let those actions bother you.

How many people actually think about this when they go to those xmas programs and see this ...

paul1967 comments on Dec 16, 2017:

I find the concept insane myself. People do and believe strange and ridiculousness things

Quick question on views of Christmas.

paul1967 comments on Dec 17, 2017:

No, primarily because the meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with religion. Christians have just injected their God concept into a pagan solstice celebration. The Bible actually rejects the cutting down of a tree, decorating them with silver and gold. As you can see in Jeremiah 10:1-5 "1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. 5 They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.” Christians claim now that it has nothing to do with Christmas tree but rather it's talking about idolitry. To that claim I say, Gentiles weren't decorating trees and worshiping them as Gods, but maybe God didn't know that. Either way Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity.

Social environments

paul1967 comments on Dec 17, 2017:

I live in Kansas City Missouri, and everyone that knows me well knows me to be an Atheist. I don't hide who I am. Many people who liked me and then discovered I'm a man who doesn't respect faith have distanced themselves from me. I find it makes it easier for me to surround myself with quality people.

Should pit bull dogs be forced into extinction?

paul1967 comments on Dec 17, 2017:

Pitbulls are amazing dogs and if you raise them right they are gentle and wonderful dogs

Happy new year to all the heathens here! :)

paul1967 comments on Dec 27, 2017:

It's been in the works for the last three months, but I'm using the new year as a re-motivator to lose weight.

Does the lack of beleif in an afterlife bring you fear or comfort?

paul1967 comments on Dec 30, 2017:

I am not comforted nor do I fear it. As Mark Twain said, I have been dead for billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

I'm here on my 4 day family vacation in South Carolina.

paul1967 comments on Dec 30, 2017:

To your overall question, the answer is because the concept of a personal God is, as you know a bunch of crap that just not the way life works. To a Christian or almost any theist, it is Gods will, and to that, I say f___ you to that God.

Are You A Resgistered Voter and Exercise Your Right To Vote?

paul1967 comments on Dec 31, 2017:

I voted "I Am A Registered Voter Who Vote In Primary And Mid Term Elections" but the reality is I vote much of the time, but I do miss from time to time.

Work work work. I am on a 12 year plan to live the life I dream. What do you dream?

paul1967 comments on Jan 26, 2018:

I'm boring. I don't dream about anything. I have what I have and what I want I usually find a way to get. Maybe I need to want harder to obtain things, but I just don't. I have a great job that pays significant money, and I just up and quit it last week to move to Alabama. I have no job at the moment, but I have someone I want to be with who lives in Alabama, so I just decided to go. Everyone keeps telling me I'm crazy, but I figure what's the worst that can happen? She's not who I thought she was and whatever job I get doesn't pay as well. Big deal, so I start all over again someplace different. I'll treat it as another life experience.

Test

paul1967 comments on Jan 27, 2018:

1 - 2 - 3 testing

How to Feel Healthy and Less Lonely by Spending Time Alone

paul1967 comments on Jan 27, 2018:

This one is going to sound weird because it is weird, but I enjoy taking a long hot shower in the dark while nobody is home and the only thing I can hear is the sound of the water.

We - as atheists - have successfully learned to overlook the fact that our calendar is orientated by...

paul1967 comments on Jan 30, 2018:

Well, the silliness of basing it on the birth of someone we don't know existed or when he was born even if he had lived, is somewhat mitigated by the fact that, I don't need to write a number as large as 4,479,874,002 or something like that. Can you imagine doing this everytime you write a check or fill out a form asking for your year of birth?

Should religion be taught in schools?

paul1967 comments on Jan 31, 2018:

I took it in school, the class was called theology, and it wasn't pro-religion or anti-religion. It just explained what the world religion.

Yes, hello! & congrats to me (6) (6) (6) (6) (6) (6)

paul1967 comments on Feb 4, 2018:

gratz on 6

Epistemolgy is the study of what we can know to be factual.

paul1967 comments on Feb 5, 2018:

Honestly, on this topic we are wasting each others time. Im happy to drop it. I see that you have your position and you don't want to let it go and I certainly disagree with you on this position. So just like you I don't are any reason to alter my position.

[youtube.com] & here's another atheist lullaby, sweets :)

paul1967 comments on Feb 6, 2018:

Logic DUSTY! I like Dusty I really do but this last election allowed me to see him for who he is. A flawed thinking human just like the rest of us. I know Dusty would agree and take no offense. That's what I like about him.

Couldn't resist.. lol

paul1967 comments on Feb 7, 2018:

That is very cute. I love that picture.

A lot of truth here.

paul1967 comments on Feb 7, 2018:

Truth is obvious, but sometimes we can and do avoid it when what is true is also uncomfortable. The strong face reality and find ways to make peace with it.

Something I've noticed in reading posts are incidents when "we" are having interactions with people ...

paul1967 comments on Feb 7, 2018:

This is a little different, but kind of along the same lines. I had an excellent teenage friend; she was strong-willed, with a mentally robust mind. She stood up for herself and others, she understood my struggle and brought out in me a level of self-confidence that I had never known before. We were true friends until one day I never heard from her again. Years later she contacted me on facebook. We talked for hours. I had asked her why she just one-day disappeared, all she said was that she needed time to get her head on straight. She felt the wrong way about love, and her grandmother sent her away to a private camp. Then she cut off any chance for me to learn more by saying, "thats the past and I don't want to talk about that now." I knew that her parents had passed away in a car accident about four months before she disappeared. At the time I figured she was just dealing with that. I was excited to chat with her again, so I didn't press the whole feeling the wrong way about love thing. Just as we were saying our goodbyes, she asked me if I had found Jesus? I thought she was kidding since she was raised as a secular Jew. I said I haven't ever felt the need to look for someone that may never have existed and if he did was certainly dead. I was expecting a LMAO, but she texted, sigh....... and said, "I hate that you will never know the wonders of Heaven'" and then she blocked me. Who had she become and where did the person I once knew go? I've tried to find a way to reconnect with her, but she's just disappeared again.

Which is your favorite black mirror episode?

paul1967 comments on Feb 7, 2018:

I've never heard of the black mirror.

Even with all the negative happenings in our time, I wouldn't want to live in any other time period.

paul1967 comments on Feb 8, 2018:

It's both beautiful and awe-inspiring. The majesty of just this one spec in this vast universe makes you wonder what else is beyond us. What will our species accomplish in future generations, and what indescribable beauty will their eyes be witness to in years to come. My joy comes from the knowledge that humanity is capable of so much more when we open ourselves to the pursuit of science.

In the meme time.

paul1967 comments on Feb 8, 2018:

Logic; Science is real, prayer is wishful thinking. Science is capable of creating a cure, belief in an invisible man in the sky offers that child no future and false hope. Believe what you want but get the F@#% out of my way. Great post!

blocking a god believer?

paul1967 comments on Feb 8, 2018:

I hear what your saying and I get it, a free exchange of idea with people of like minds can be an enjoyable experience. I do, however, feel that as long as the believer is not uncivil, it never hurts to allow into the conversation a theist perspective. There is one theist that is on quite a lot, and I have had many exchanges. He pushes apologetic nonsense, BUT he's not rude, or hostile. He just has his personal beliefs, and he wants to share them. If we draw a line and say to be in our club you must think as I do, we must also get rid of all the people who say I'm on the fence about God. I can also see a time where someone posted this same question for Trump supporters, and I dislike that position more than I do the theist position. I just think that if you do this you set a precedent that could, later on, damage the integrity of the community. I would instead recommend you just block him personally and allow him access to speak his mind.

What is the best and worst thing someone has said about you?

paul1967 comments on Feb 8, 2018:

There was one thing that was both. You are a bum, and if you don't care that you're a bum, I'm going to leave. That was said to me at age 15 by a girlfriend. The same girl, shown in my picture. She changed my life with those words that day. I snapped (in a healthy way) I needed her to leave me, and she did. I ended all ties to my drug friends. I begged my parents to allow me to enroll in military school, and I insisted that I repeated a grade and finally I asked for help. For the first time, I wanted a future, so I learned how to learn, and I am grateful to her for being willing to be so mean that day. I owe her everything, and she doesn't ask for anything.

2018 Winter Olympics, who's watching?

paul1967 comments on Feb 9, 2018:

Ugh, sports just bore me to tears unless I'm playing or at the game. I just can't sit in front of the TV and get excited

Changing Your Mind

paul1967 comments on Feb 9, 2018:

The Death Penalty, In my 20s I was 100% for the death penalty. I debated my stepfather one day, and through his argument, I started to change my mind. It didn't happen instantly it took discussing it on and off for close to a year before I even got to midground with him. I am now 90% against the death penalty. I can't get myself all the way there yet, and I'm in my 50s, but I figure I have at least 15 to 20 solid years to think it over.

Response to FE'er, Anti-Vaxxer,..(Just sad)... [youtube.com]

paul1967 comments on Feb 10, 2018:

I love that video. I've debated these people myself and it's a waste of time because they've almost certainly been homeschooled by idiots.

If anyone was looking for the perfect Valentine's gift.

paul1967 comments on Feb 11, 2018:

I'm a romantic at heart, and burning skulls just don't scream romance. Well, unless they're screaming romantic poetry while they're burning, that might be cool. Anyways every Valentines Day I build something, paint something or write something for my girlfriend/spouse. I never buy the thing I'm giving. I might buy the parts, but the gift is always of my creation.

Do You Believe In Getting Annual Physical Examinations?

paul1967 comments on Feb 13, 2018:

I just turned 50, so yes, I want to live a healthy long and productive life. Catching something early on can make all the difference in the world.

When recently I needed to don my garden hat I was quite out of luck: 7 microbats had snuggled in for...

paul1967 comments on Feb 13, 2018:

Very cool bats

Nailed em!

paul1967 comments on Feb 14, 2018:

lmao

Teacher: Maria, go to the map & find north america.

paul1967 comments on Feb 18, 2018:

That's funny!

This is a comment I replied on.

paul1967 comments on Feb 22, 2018:

I have a different opinion than you regarding what is better for this site. However, your opinions and your reply was very well thought out and presented with a level head. I've heard stories of people getting their accounts banned, like Harleyman and other people getting their post pulled. I'm stumped as to the logic behind the administrator's choice to implement censorship to reasoned and rational disagreements. I'm here in part to have my beliefs/opinions/worldview challenged and determine if there is a viewpoint that matches valid evidence or rational thought better than my own. I want a community open to all opinions. We have the right to not respond to any post we find irrational, and this is the most effective means of dealing with irrational people. My opinion on this topic is admittedly self-serving, it's what I get out of this site, and I'm not ignoring your perfectly sound feelings on this subject, it's just that your desires for this site conflict with mine. Your opinions have always been valuable to me, and I think that it's a positive thing that we don't always agree.

Do you have family members that refuse to upgrade technology?

paul1967 comments on Feb 22, 2018:

I am that person with outdated technology. I despise cell phones because they are in my opinion destroying our culture. I own a reasonably techy laptop, but I don't own a TV, I have no microwave, I hand wash my dishes, and I listen to the radio in my home. I don't think I'm a better person for this, but I have learned that you don't develop unhealthy habits to things that you don't have. TV used to be my vice and to be fair I still have shows I'll watch online, but I no longer sit blankly watching whatever happens to be on TV.

Are athiests happier than thiests? Explain why

paul1967 comments on Feb 23, 2018:

I've never been a theist, so it's hard to know. I lived a life confident in that this is the only existence I will ever get. As a child, I feared the finality of that end, but as an adult, I cherish the idea. I wish life were a bit longer for sure, but I have no desire to exist in any form for an infinite amount of time. I'm usually a happy, and carefree person. I have the full range of emotions that ever typical person has, and I'm better today than I was at any other point in my life. I can only ask myself, would I be happier believing in the delusion of a God and an afterlife? If I was, all I can say is it would be a false happiness, one without meaning and I do not doubt that it would be a less accomplished life, with eternity ahead of me, what's the rush?

Isn't that the truth!

paul1967 comments on Feb 24, 2018:

Distance can be a cruel and tempestuous seductress. People are as they are everywhere in the world, but the lack of exposure especially directly will limit what we see in the negative and amplify the positive. Some people here know I just uprooted myself from Kansas City MO. to Birmingham AL. She's an incredible and exciting woman, and I loved her from a distance, but I know here better up close. She is still fortunately worth the trip

What's the best way to get into a woman's heart (if ya know what I mean).

paul1967 comments on Feb 24, 2018:

I know what you mean and this isn't the answer you're looking for because I don't think there is an answer that would be of any use. So, I'll answer the question without the hidden meaning instead. No magic list will work for all women all the time. Two failed marriages have taught me to do the following. 1) Listen: Men can be terrible listeners, and we tend to interrupt with our recommendations. Shut up and let her talk and that can sometimes take a while, so be patient, but when she's done, if appropriate, respond. 2) Take an interest in her. Be apart of those things she likes. 3) Do things without her asking you to do them. Examples: Dishes, sweeping or vacuuming, Get groceries needed in the house. Get up early and feed the kids/pet. 4) Just hold her, not ever romantic offering must result in sex.

I am guilty of being an 'Atheist Troll'.

paul1967 comments on Feb 24, 2018:

I'm all for attacking peoples ideas, especially when it's stated as a fact as opposed to a belief. Trolling is different in my opinion, it's gaining psychological enjoyment from the pain or humiliation of others, and I don't support that. I'm admittedly a hypocrite because I have been guilty of it myself, but I own that, and I'm doing my best not to be that because, in the end, it's more damaging to me than it is to the person I'm attacking.

China's ruling party (C.

paul1967 comments on Feb 25, 2018:

WTF, surprising since they have a massive overpopulation issue. One would think they would be praised not shamed.

The Warning Daniela – Guitar -- age 14 Paulina – Drums -- age 12 Alejandra – Bass...

paul1967 comments on Feb 28, 2018:

When I was their age, I was a closet classical/opera enthusiast, but their skill is astonishing, just incredible.

Yes do explain how this is going to work.

paul1967 comments on Mar 1, 2018:

If guns were illegal it would be harder to get one and when caught you would go to jail.

Here's your sign...

paul1967 comments on Mar 4, 2018:

I looked, and I looked, and I could not figure out what the cartoon was coveying, I thought what, they cant pray, are they twiddling their thumbs? I don't get the joke. Then I read @Tony80223 reply, and it all made sense. I'm not a phone junky, so it went right over my head.

Did you grow up with religion?

paul1967 comments on Mar 5, 2018:

No, I had very limited indoctrination with religion. I handle my disbelief in God the same way I handle my disbelief in the tooth fairy.

The "Force" Behind Hope and Faith

paul1967 comments on Mar 7, 2018:

That is crazy interesting. It goes to show how easy it is to manipulate people.

Stephen Hawking dead. Sad Day... [cnn.com]

paul1967 comments on Mar 14, 2018:

This was not what I expected to wake up too. A sad start to the day.

Why does Dennett not get the same recognition as Harris, Hitchens, or Dawkins?

paul1967 comments on Mar 15, 2018:

He's not a great debater. He's better as second chair acting as a science authority.