Land of the Lost

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » May 26th, 2007, 3:13 am

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3211737&page=1

The 60% number in the article is really stunning. If you want to get buried under a mountain of uninformed babble - read the comments posted along with the article. First I'm astonished (and a little angry) at the level of ignorance, then I'm sad for the kids.

Michael

deroosisonfire · Post by **deroosisonfire** » May 26th, 2007, 12:14 pm

Good to know that the creationists are counting on special effects to teach our children that science is wrong.

Aslo, since I have no reason to be moral - who wants to go out puppy-kicking?

Wesley · Post by **Wesley** » May 26th, 2007, 12:52 pm

I was blogging about this just the other day using a quote from a CNN video report on this same museum.

"Well really the mission is to tell people that the Bible's history is true. And if it's history is true, its message of the gospel is true."
"We live in an era where people think science has disproved the Bible, and so we're making a statement here. And the statement is that the Bible's not just a book of religion, it's not just a book of spiritual moral things, it's a book of history and you can trust its science."

In other words, if the Jews really were held in slavery by the Egyptians as the Bible says, then *everything* the Bible says *must* also be true, by definition and association...including creation in 6 days. These statements were from the founder and curator of the Creationism Museum on a CNN video feed. There were so many logical errors in the video that I didn't know where to begin.

"In an evolutionary world view, why should you have things like absolute morality? Why would it be wrong to kill someone?" said Jason Lisle, of Answers in Genesis. "I'm not saying that evolutionists aren't moral. I'm saying they have no reason to be moral."

It is wrong for reasons beyond heaven or hell or merely being too scared to commit immoral acts because of some possible retribution against your immortal soul. Why is that so hard to comprehend? Besides, when Christians and Jews and Muslims start finally living the lives they preach about, when they stop stealing and lying and judging and cheating and killing and raping and pillaging and plundering...then you can make that case with me. But so long as they are out there being every bit as immoral as anyone else, I'm going out with Christina to kick a puppy.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » May 26th, 2007, 2:33 pm

"I'm not saying that evolutionists aren't moral. I'm saying they have no reason to be moral."

Besides, when Christians and Jews and Muslims start finally living the lives they preach about, when they stop stealing and lying and judging and cheating and killing and raping and pillaging and plundering...then you can make that case with me. But so long as they are out there being every bit as immoral as anyone else, I'm going out with Christina to kick a puppy.[/quote]

I agree, Wes. I wonder what that "no reasons to be moral" person thinks about the fact that most U.S. inmates convicted of murder, rape, child molestation, etc., are Christians. -kickpuppy- excuse me. -kickpuppy- I'm sorry, I have the kickpuppies. -kickpuppy-

York99 · Post by **York99** » May 28th, 2007, 11:51 am

The Brigadier wrote:most U.S. inmates convicted of murder, rape, child molestation, etc., are Christians. -

That's most in numbers, but not in proportion to the rest of the country. I have zero evidence to back this up and sincerely doubt that it's true.

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » May 28th, 2007, 3:06 pm

Some facts:
The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported .209% of the prison populations described themselves as atheist, agnostic, humanist or secularist in 1997. The Census Bureau reported that 14.1% of the general population described themselves as such in the same year. I'll try to get some more recent stats but this is the best verifiable info I have at hand. Are nontheists underrepresented among the incarcerated because they tend to have higher moral standards or better lawyers?

Another interesting thing to see is divorce rates. When asked the question "Have you ever been divorced?", positive answers were as follows:

Jewish - 30%
"Born-again" Christians - 27%
"Mainline" Christians - 24%
Nontheists - 21%

The same study showed divorce rates far higher in the "Bible Belt" South & Midwest than in the "godless/liberal" Northeast. The message? Find yourself a nice atheist from Boston if you want your marriage to last.

Some opinions:
Nontheists have a far better reason to act morally than theists and it is this: Nontheists realize that the things they do matter right here and now. They don't count on redemption beyond the grave. "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" is a horrifying concept. And if there is no God to make everything right in the end - it would behoove us to work a little harder at getting things right now.

"I'm not saying that evolutionists aren't moral. I'm saying they have no reason to be moral."

This is just idiotic. What's being described here isn't morality - it's craven cowardice. Morality is what you do when you think God (or Zeus) isn't looking...

Arrrrgh. OK - I'll stop blathering on...

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » May 28th, 2007, 3:55 pm

York99 wrote:
The Brigadier wrote:most U.S. inmates convicted of murder, rape, child molestation, etc., are Christians. -
That's most in numbers, but not in proportion to the rest of the country. I have zero evidence to back this up and sincerely doubt that it's true.

Cool, man. Cool. I'll go write up a retraction and produce a PSA and do some apologies on the talk show circuit.

York99 · Post by **York99** » May 28th, 2007, 4:33 pm

The Brigadier wrote:
York99 wrote:
The Brigadier wrote:most U.S. inmates convicted of murder, rape, child molestation, etc., are Christians. -
That's most in numbers, but not in proportion to the rest of the country. I have zero evidence to back this up and sincerely doubt that it's true.
Cool, man. Cool. I'll go write up a retraction and produce a PSA and do some apologies on the talk show circuit.

My statistics show that this is 39.6% sarcastic.

Jules · Post by **Jules** » May 28th, 2007, 4:51 pm

Why does it always have to be puppy kicking? I'm going to go buy fois gras or drink copious amounts and leer at cute people.
Wait. I already do that......I guess its back to puppies.