What is Digg?244 Comments
- YourMemeSucks, on 12/01/2008, -9/+118At least aliens are plausible.
- Ursos, on 12/01/2008, -3/+50God is supernatural. Kinda go hand in hand.
- lovemorgul, on 12/01/2008, -3/+39The survey, however, was done by a marketing firm in conjunction with the release of an X-Files DVD
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 12/01/2008, -11/+44There is a LOT of ignorance to go around.
- 808ethan, on 12/01/2008, -8/+38Im and atheist and I'm more moral than the 'god fearing' ***** I know.
I say if you have the mental makeup that makes it okay to believe random ***** without evidence, you're going to believe whatever is the most fun for you.
For most people fun = believing the same thing as their family (trust me, believing different is not fun)
But other people are more creative. Thus aliens and wolfman. - Kyrgizion, on 12/01/2008, -6/+32What he was saying - and I agree wholeheartedly - is that an atheist's morals must come from within - if he does not believe he is going to be held accountable for his actions after death, the only thing stopping him from murdering, stealing and raping are his own ideas that those things are wrong.
"God-fearing *****", on the other hand, only keep themselves in check out of fear for being punished after death - hardly noble, if you ask me. - inactive, on 12/01/2008, -4/+27Yup - from a psychological viewpoint, 808ethan's morals are more than likely more mature than your average Christian's. Morally speaking, doing what's right out of fear of punishment is generally the level that toddlers operate at.
- inactive, on 12/01/2008, -7/+27Believing that the universe has intelligent life is a lot more plausible then believing some bearded white guy who hangs out with raptorjesus snaps his fingers and creates a 24 billion light year wide reality all for mankind.
- inactive, on 12/01/2008, -5/+25I believe in only one God
And Galactus is his name. - mrjigglyfly, on 12/01/2008, -1/+21No one, so start judging yourself and taking responsibility now.
- smotpoker, on 12/01/2008, -1/+17God falls under the "supernatural" category. Aliens fall under "paranormal". At least in my mind there is a clear distinction.
Supernatural stuff pertains magic, spirituality and faith. Things that people assert/believe there is no possibility of fully understanding and science cannot measure.
Paranormal phenomenon, however, are believed to be rooted in the physical world and can be proven/verified. Cryptozoology, UFOs, telekinesis, and such fall under this category. People try to verify this stuff all of the time, some sort of evidence [usually] exists and it is believed some sort of evidence will eventually prove one it. Believers in the paranormal usually base their belief on some sort of verifiable evidence or personal experience.
They can/do overlap in some cases but they are not the same thing - Exhibitionist, on 12/01/2008, -7/+22The writer is a complete dickhole. Aliens are scientifically plausible. An undetectable all-powerful deity is scientifically implausible.
The number of people who believe in a god but don't believe in aliens is in decline, thank ***** god. - ZZOTH, on 12/01/2008, -8/+23religion is losing it's strangle hold on the people. especially in europe. no 4 year old should be terrified of going to hell...that is child abuse.
- strudey, on 12/01/2008, -0/+14Aliens make more sense than God because we are here, typing in this thread. Therefore there might be other planets with other threads.
God is apparently not in this thread. - xtal3, on 12/01/2008, -0/+13big purple hat Galactus is the orthodox belief
- minnasouljah, on 12/01/2008, -3/+15Well, Mothman does attended mass at my church from time to time.....
- bobangitanov2, on 12/01/2008, -2/+14I think it's cause it is harder to imagine something all-powerful than something that's just not from this planet. Also, we usually do not claim that we know everything about aliens, where as there are thousands of people that claim they know god, and everybody has a different description.
- HamstaMan, on 12/01/2008, -1/+12There are near infinite other planets out there. To claim that there is no life on any of them is a lot less plausible than that there is.
"And if they do, then why do we all hate Scientology so much?"
What does Scientology have to do with any of this? Oh, so if someone say that it is possible that are aliens out there, he is basically saying that those aliens are exactly the same as in some sci-fi writer's fantasy? Makes sense to me (not). - cquinnd, on 12/01/2008, -0/+11The popular view of God is that of an all-powerful being that created and manages all the Galaxies, Stars and Planets in the Universe, but who still has time to check on you that you are not stealing office supplies or talking back to your mother.
The popular view or Aliens (or Alien visitors) is that in all the Galaxies, Stars and Planets in the Universe we cannot be the only forms of semi-intelligent life; and that other, older, more advanced races have figured out the aspects of space travel that seem impossible to us, and personally pay us a visit from time to time, because sending robotic probes is so 20th century. - nickpick, on 12/01/2008, -1/+11Gods (including the Christian God) are pretty much a subset of the supernatural. It's only logical that the subset would be smaller than the set itself.
- strudey, on 12/01/2008, -0/+10So? The illusion of free will is quite enough for me to live a moral life, thank you. Without imaginary friends.
- SisyphusFragmnt, on 12/01/2008, -3/+13You say you have a pink dinosaur in your back yard, I say "That's a fairly large claim to make. Until I see some damn good evidence I'm not believing you."
That is atheism, did I make any assertion there? Did I claim any special knowledge? No. - Hetman, on 12/01/2008, -0/+9You really consider being dugg down persecution?
- inactive, on 12/01/2008, -2/+11"It is a nice *dream* that we receive eternal life and that good defeats evil. Jesus is Lord"
There, fixed it for you - inactive, on 12/01/2008, -1/+10May you be struck down by His Noodly Appendage, blasphemer
- inactive, on 12/01/2008, -0/+9Chef Boyardee was real, btw:
http://www.snopes.com/business/names/boyardee.asp
I'll let you off with the Pillsbury Doughboy, although do I believe he was modelled on my cousin Alfie... - str3ama, on 12/01/2008, -4/+13Ok maybe it is a little stupid that people believe in things like fairies and ghosts, but don't most religions push a lot of these idiocies and fairy tales. I mean I highly doubt that a man lived inside a whale, or that a burning bush gifted another man a set of stone tablets, or that an immaculate zombie walked the earth preaching morality.
Doesn't believing in God already entail believing in ridiculous nonsense? - inactive, on 12/01/2008, -1/+10Some people just prefer the truth as opposed to believing what ever makes you feel fuzzy inside.
- nickpick, on 12/01/2008, -0/+8You know that the two are not mutually exclusive, right?
- Swivelstick, on 12/01/2008, -0/+8"to deny God is to deny your own spirituality" According to whom? I can't grasp your argument if you believe in god you follow his laws if you aren't it's WYSIWYG another law. But what is a law since we are being so esoteric,
- hauntedchippy, on 12/01/2008, -7/+15Buried for DailyMail
- EarlOfLade, on 12/01/2008, -0/+8I can see air, can't you? Just because you need an electron microscope, doesn't mean you can see it. Can I see god with one?
- MrColdheart, on 12/01/2008, -4/+12Look what if the Universe is an infinite loop?
What if a civilization gets to such a high point of technology that they could reproduce the conditions to start a new universe after the current one is dead and cold?
Once a civilization masters the art of manipulating core values of a universe then that would be possible. - Meep3D, on 12/01/2008, -4/+12"That "punishment" thing is nothing but a straw man argument. YOU only keep from murdering, raping etc.. because YOU fear punishment from society, so how is that superior to any other human's morals, particularly those who get them from their faith?"
Legally speaking, there is plenty you can do that is considered 'immoral' but is legal. Vegitarianism being one of the main ones. Christian (and generally religious) morals also tend to be more puritanical than practical - see sex outside marriage. - whoreable, on 12/01/2008, -7/+15They are one in the same.
- Phalanxia, on 12/01/2008, -1/+9"The Daily Mail is probably one of the filthiest, most slanderous, hate filled pieces of ***** to be published since "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". There are few other companies out there, save certain arms companies, which make so much profit out of fear and loathing.
Not only that, but the Daily Mail is also responsible for the deaths of 50 children, as their senseless and irresponsible coverage of the MMR vaccine lead to a huge drop in vaccination rates for measles, which in turn lead to a mini epidemic which resulted in the death of 50 children.
Although I'm an atheist, I sometimes wish there is a hell so that Paul Dacre can rot and burn along with Ian Paisley and Dick Cheney for the rest of eternity."
I said that yesterday, but it really can't be repeated enough. - inactive, on 12/01/2008, -1/+8@flip2trip
Intrinsic morals are, in fact, superior. If one's only motivation for doing good is a fear of punishment, then that person will have no regard for the law or morality whatsoever when presented with a situation in which that person believes he or she can get away with it. It's no different than a two-year-old who does things he knows are wrong because he believes no one is watching and that he won't get caught. - Fordi, on 12/01/2008, -0/+7@Hetman:
Christians have gotten a bit soft since the Roman Empire. - Hetman, on 12/01/2008, -0/+7Wind is air. And you can create Wind using a fan. Can you create god using some device? Love we do not fully understand it. But we can look at brain waves and certian chemicals in your body and see the effects on them when people believe they are in love.
- spacerobot, on 12/01/2008, -3/+10I agree with you about the term "supernatural" being too vague. Even as a Christian I believe many religious encounters and experiences count as supernatural- such as miracles and divine events. I've never really considered UFO's to be supernatural, while I do believe ghosts count as supernatural. I don't really believe in ghosts, and I don't believe in UFOs (in the sense of flying discs hovering above our cities) but I do believe life exists on other planets.
And about your sample size: I believe (but could be mistaken) that a sample size of 3,000 can be a representative sample. If I remember correctly from my research and design class, a sample size of less than 2,000 can even be enough.
The Nielsen ratings use a sample size of around 5,000 for the U.S.
It is also a very crappy article in the dailymail. They don't even say who performed the study.
"The findings, maybe somewhat unsurprisingly, have been issued to mark the DVD release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe." Yeah, I'm not going to put too much faith into the accuracy of the study. - Exhaust, on 12/01/2008, -1/+8@flip2trip
I never said atheists have superior intellect. Baseless generalities in deed. I merely said that religion and morality have zero to do with each other. Yes, atheists do immoral things just like any human. Once again you can't detach morality from religion... Who decides what? Every human begin decides whether to be a good person or a bad person. Fear of the afterlife, your parents or your preacher shouldn't be needed to decide to be a good person. By your logic EVERY atheist should be a murderer.
Let's spin your argument back on you... Why do Christians still do immoral things? The answer is there is good and bad in all people. This all fits into my world view but appears to cause a paradox in your world. - bsmang, on 12/01/2008, -1/+8I don't believe in ghosts or God (of course) but if I had to choose something, ghosts would come before a god. (And aliens are a totally different classification of thing - i.e. "high potential to be real")
- WhiteMike87, on 12/01/2008, -2/+8The universe is a big place; chances are we aren't the only form of life in the universe with relative intelligence. The belief that these sentient beings have visited earth is one which is debated. I believe that 'they' have visited earth, but I don't believe in the possibility of a God. And yes, I do realize that I used the term believe.
- ApokalypseNow, on 12/01/2008, -0/+6@flip2trip
I would argue that morality is a social construct - it varies by region, by religion, by language, by any number of factors. As the individuals in those societies change (usually generation by generation) then the morality of those societies change as well. Just as one generation to the next elects those that lead us, one generation to the next determines what is acceptable for its members to do, and abiding by those standards of behavior is part of the social contract - break it and you become an outcast to be shunned or forcibly removed from society. One cannot say that one's morality is superior, as there is no common yardstick. One *can* say he is more moral from a societal standpoint, though, especially if one knows how someone else acts, or why someone acts as they do.
Humanity created civilization not because of willingness but of a need to be assimilated into higher orders of structure and meaning. The individual desires judgment - first, it was from the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgment of others). Without that desire, the cohesion of groups is impossible, and so is civilization. However, our own inability to govern ourselves from a single point of failure has manifested itself in the organizational structures of our civilizations - the checks and balances of democratic governments were invented because we realized how unfit we are to govern ourselves. We needed a system, an industrial-age machine, to formalize the decision making process.
(Bonus points if you know from where I drew most of this paragraph) - ApokalypseNow, on 12/01/2008, -0/+6@flip2trip
My apologies, I had you and user "hope4god" confused. He's the crazy one, you're actually not that bad, comparatively. I suspect it is the "word-number-word" layout of your names and the fact that you both tend to be on the same side of an issue is to blame for my confusion, though he takes a far more reactionary and fundamentalist approach than yourself. - SisyphusFragmnt, on 12/01/2008, -2/+8Take your pick of 100,000 gods. Which one do you pray to? Get it wrong and you're sitting next to me anyway.
- kalkin, on 12/01/2008, -3/+9@flip2trip
no not fear of punishment from society or from a man in a white beard but simply knowing that it is wrong. this is enough for us - Baltiman, on 12/01/2008, -1/+7"believers in the paranormal usually base their belief on some sort of verifiable evidence"
Not the ones I know about but in any case, surely it is an inherent quality of the 'paranormal' that it cannot be verified or even explained with current verifiable knowledge about the physical world?
If it could be verified an explained, it would constitute a tenant of scientific investigation, not the paranormal. - ApokalypseNow, on 12/01/2008, -0/+6@cJw314
Nothing stated here makes it any more true either. -
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