What is Digg?869 Comments
- NikoKun, on 11/30/2007, -10/+268Why does Darwin need to be "believed in", He was a real person who existed... =P
- dillyhoo, on 11/30/2007, -17/+246I've met the devil. You people don't understand that there are things science can't explain. He was looking for a soul to steal, and he was in a bind. You know, because he was way behind, and willin' to make a deal. That was when he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot. And the devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said "Boy let me tell you what."
- etsa, on 11/30/2007, -47/+241maybe.. that's because they were not taught about science and trained to think critically and rationally.
but then i think there are evil in this world - ignorance. - Calann, on 11/30/2007, -33/+215It amazes me how so many people can take seriously a book that says a person lived inside the belly of a great fish for three days. The Bible does contain some wisdom, but it is also filled with contradictions and lots of utter nonsense, yet many live people base their world-view on it. This is both sad and a little scary.
- dnaspydir, on 11/30/2007, -16/+133That's because evolution is an extremely slow process, give it time.
- cybermort, on 11/30/2007, -27/+136more Americans are complete idiots than rational, educated individuals.
- Dumbledorito, on 11/30/2007, -10/+91The Devil is an easy concept. It's far, far easier to believe in a source for all the world's woes that metaphysically causes bad things than to own up to evil being a product of human behavior. It's also easier than addressing institutional systems and modes of thought/belief that perpetuate things regarded as "evil" and doing something about them.
Disease? War? Your favorite sports team losing? It's the Devil's doing, of course, so best not to think about it or come up with a rational response.*
* There really is no rational response to your favorite sports team losing beyond having another beer, I suppose. I just threw that in there since often people will invoke God/Jesus as a reason for a touchdown being scored at a critical moment. - orangester, on 11/30/2007, -16/+89Religion, where ignorance, intolerance, stubborness, irrationality and persecution are called faith.
- Alexa42, on 11/30/2007, -16/+81This is exactly what is wrong with this country
- eastwood24, on 11/30/2007, -18/+81Do you think at the core of the issue of eternal life is man's manifestation of a fear of death? I was raised a fundamentalist and can tell you first hand even talking about this issue is completely taboo. And the preists love it, it gives them power manifested via authority. Many times, It makes the priests feel like they are in control of things, like they can control their fate, not God. Basically, they keep their sense of control by maintaining ignorance with fear. This makes the followers submissive to his will, not Gods. And this makes him a wolf in shepards clothing, exploiting the flock for his own gain (reference Ted Haggard, ORU's Roberts, Falwell, there's plenty of these bastards) In a way, that's the devil inside the priest. The truth is most people will never be capable of rationally understanding the world, today anyways. Religion and Reason are not mutually exclusive. Teaching the complexities of science as proverbs may be the ticket to saving both. Ex-Jesus calls us to be good shepards of the earth. Science shows us the likely catatrosphic consequences of man-made global warming. Use the bible to endorse global warming. There are plenty of references to moderation, cooperations and the like. Don't expect old-dogs to learn new tricks, like the long-term processes of selective adaption. Instead, co-opt the bible for your ends. As long as your ends aren't self-empowerment at the expense of others, many people will come to see you as doing God's work.
Jesus -We are all God's children...that which you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto me. AKA end the War. violence begets violence. - jsmith39, on 11/30/2007, -6/+63This country scares the Hell out of me sometimes.
- Dumbledorito, on 11/30/2007, -8/+62Whales aren't fish. I couldn't believe God got that one wrong, but there you go.
- postingbh, on 11/30/2007, -13/+61"On the other hand only 16 percent of born-again Christians, compared to 43 percent of Catholics and 30 percent of Protestants, believe in Darwin's theory of evolution."
I always thought the born-again crowd was dumb, but 16%?!? - GreenGrassyNoel, on 11/30/2007, -3/+50I met the devil in a similar manner, GH3 easy and medium so far.
- Scynet, on 11/30/2007, -8/+51I'm not a real christian, but nevertheless, I have a problem with the idea of literal hell and heaven. Imagine a really, REALLY good person. Here he comes to the final judgement, and for his humble and generous life, is granted access to Heaven. Now then, will this embodiment of good intentions go to Heaven, or will he choose to go to Hell instead, helping those in agony? It doesn't matter if he can or can't do anything for them, simply the idea of being there for the suffering is more important than any personal spot in a paradise, which would be spent pondering whether or not it was a good idea to not help Hellizens anyway. In fact, I don't think a truly good person could spend an eternity in some sort of bliss, knowing there are people suffering out there, who he might be able to help. Even I would have serious problems with that kind of situation and I'm not as self-sacrificing good samaritan as I could be.
I think most truly good and generous people would choose to go to Hell voluntarily. Actually, who gets to go to Heaven in the first place? People who don't give a rats ass about other human beings in Hell? Doesn't seem like people fit for paradise to me. Fill Heaven with those and it'll no longer be heaven. Well, maybe the Heaven of hypocrites.
So, evil people are forced to hell. Good people go there voluntarily. People who are "good" and want to go to Heaven aren't all that good in the first place, making heaven less good place. Or maybe they're denied access to begin with. I believe that if Heaven existed, it's just an abstract dream. Nobody goes there for as long as a single creature suffers in Hell, and since Hell is supposedly eternal, Heaven will forever slip our grasp.
Maybe this all already happened. Here we are in Hell - I mean Earth - with a lot of bad people but many good ones too. Maybe this is the eternal Hell, but the good people have made it less of a bad place... :)
As I said I only know as much about Heaven and Hell as the average guy who hasn't read the bible, but there's some food for thought nevertheless, if not entirely serious. - Vic333, on 11/30/2007, -5/+45Ichthyology isn't one of God's strong points.
- bullcutter, on 11/30/2007, -13/+51Religion and reason ARE mutually exclusive, because Religion demands that its followers make certain "leaps of faith", whereas reason requires logic for its explanations.
- sunshinex, on 11/30/2007, -6/+39Yea... and it's the Iranians who are religious nuts right??
- MaxPayne3476, on 11/30/2007, -1/+33"Though these documented cases shed some light on the story's credibility, the Biblical account is a miraculous one. And we must remember to Trust the Bible first and foremost, even if no other evidence supporting it exists."
I just had to stop reading right there. That did it for me. - ApokalypseNow, on 11/30/2007, -7/+36I suggest that you re-examine this "evidence" objectively and weigh it with regards to the rest of the body of scientific knowledge, see how and if it fits. After some critical thought, try to form a theory that accounts for this "evidence" while taking all else into account, then submit your findings for peer review.
- gregdbowen, on 11/30/2007, -12/+39And we have a president fighting a religious crusade.
The dark ages have returned. How retarded. How could modern humans be so friggin' ignorant? I guess it is the powers that be using the media to brainwash the masses. The truth IS out there - and it is not some Santa Claus God - how can this not be obvious - I am at a loss. - Cybrwolf, on 11/30/2007, -4/+30I don't believe in the devil, but I believe in Keyser Söze
- ApokalypseNow, on 11/30/2007, -2/+26Those people are only using a fractional part of their brains, so we need to get a voting system that allows decimals.
- sHockz, on 11/30/2007, -9/+33"According to a new Harris poll, more Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin's theory of evolution,"
Thus proving stupid people multiply faster than smart people. - jfowler27, on 11/30/2007, -7/+30I believe Jesus existed. I just don't believe he is/was a cosmic Jewish zombie with superpowers and whatnot.
- Tuto, on 11/30/2007, -7/+29Don't you have schools in America?
- a5tr0cr3ep, on 11/30/2007, -9/+29i wonder if the poll measured how many ppl believe in physics, calculus, or any other hard science. 150 years and not one stitch of evidence disproving evolution. its actually the opposite as technology gets better and our understanding of genetics grows it is only been proven time and time again....
- guerj, on 11/30/2007, -8/+27"Jesus -We are all God's children...that ..." Well, not really, I have a hindu friend, they have many gods. and... what about the people that were born before Jesus and even Moses??
- Azimuth1, on 11/30/2007, -2/+20Or irrational numbers.
- ashmael, on 11/30/2007, -3/+20What's even more bizarre is that they circulate stories like this among themselves, chuckling at us "Atheists" for our "foolishness".
- oesj, on 11/30/2007, -1/+17evolution is a real process and that shouldn't be a question of 'belief' - yet there are still amazingly ignorant people in the world.
also LingOL @
"Darwin's theory of evolution met a far more skeptical audience which might surprise some outsiders as the United States is renowned for its excellence in scientific research."
i don't think anyone, american or otherwise, is surprised by this poll. - allywilson, on 11/30/2007, -2/+18I asked that question when I was a child. I got "There wasn't any."
- Dumbledorito, on 11/30/2007, -0/+15"At some point cetus became synonymous with "whale" (the study of whales is now called cetology). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe" and he translated the word ketos (Greek) or cetus (Latin) in Matthew 12:40 as "whale". Tyndale's translation was, of course, later incorporated into the Authorized Version of 1611. Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah
Sorry. The only ignorance evident is not realizing one's Holy book has been through several translations and interpretations. But if you'd like to say "sea monster" instead, that's aces with me. - RedHerringHack, on 11/30/2007, -7/+22Well, they had to lie to keep their testicles attached to their body.
- ryansmith18, on 11/30/2007, -3/+18Well, for starters, you don't get to Heaven by being a good person. According to Christian faith, you have to accept Jesus as your savior and all that stuff. You have to recognize him as your leader and want to follow him.
After that, you don't really get an option to go to hell. You don't walk up to the pearly gates and tell the doorman you're not interested. It's not up to you at that point.
Once you're in, it's not about hanging out with people who don't give a rats ass about people in hell. It's about being with Jesus in a pain-free world. I don't think it would be hypocritical of anyone to want to spend time with Jesus rather than in hell.
Also, I do see your point about wanting to help those in hell and the such. But what would you do? Once you're in hell, I can't imagine there'd be anything you can do to help. It would likely be agonizing for you too.
And before you all go digging me down, let me just say that these are not my theories. This is what the Bible says, regardless of my/your belief in it.
...Ok, NOW you can digg me down. - LimeParrot, on 11/30/2007, -8/+23Sadly, I'm not surprised ..
- covertbadger, on 11/30/2007, -1/+16Anyone who uses the "nothing into something" argument against evolution automatically loses. Evolution is an explanation of the observed phenomenon of speciation. Evolutionary theory does not cover the origin of life, it covers the origin of species. Which, funnily enough, was the title of Darwin's book. See how that works?
Now, if you want to argue about abiogenesis, which is a theory covering the origin of life, then feel free - but don't do it on this thread, because we're talking about evolution here. - ashmael, on 11/30/2007, -2/+17Or imaginary numbers...
- rnelsonee, on 11/30/2007, -0/+14Which is odd, because the fish is a prominent Christian symbol. (the Greek word for fish is ichtys, or ΙΧΘΥΣ in Greek. And those letters can serve as a [back] acronym for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" in English (remember, no letter J, and God was 'Yaweh' back then))
- nebion, on 11/30/2007, -2/+16They're the ones who actually came into the belief within their lifetimes, rather than believing simply because their parents did (like followers of almost all religions), so they're the ones most likely to be strongly brainwashed or otherwise irrational.
I also decided my own beliefs during my lifetime, but for me it was more of a realization that I can't really know as much as those religions claim I should be certain of...I was born into a more-or-less Christian family, I eventually decided I don't believe in any religion that had overly specific beliefs about the afterlife or God. I'm not the most strict atheist, but if there is a God (or many gods) - which is possible but not necessary - the most certain thing is that God/gods have a sick sense of humor. That's just about the only thing I can be certain of based on my observations. - inactive, on 11/30/2007, -2/+16I know this is a simplistic argument FOR evolution, but since the people who deny evolution have simple minds maybe its a good argument to use on them.
The cold virus is proof positive of evolution, let me explain to you how it works. Your white blood cells have a long memory of things to look for in the body, things that are bad. The last time you caught a cold, the virus was not recognized as 'bad' by your white blood cells right away and it was allowed to propagate. Once it got out of control two things happened, you got sick and the white blood cells kicked into action and started to fight the infection, at the same time the cells added that cold virus to its lits of 'bad' things to watch for in the future, this is why you do not get the exact same virus again and this is why the flu vaccine has to change every year.
Why does this happen? Because the flu virus is a life form, and like all life forms on this planet its evolving, not to mention that fact that it has a very fast reproduction rate meaning that it evolves a lot faster than a larger organism would, say a human for example. In a period of just a few months the cold virus evolves so much that it no longer bears enough resemblance to the old virus for your white blood cells to even recognize it as the same virus anymore.
And as for the devil, no he does not cause the flu virus. He is a boogyman man up to scare children. Adults should know that. - bmoretz82, on 11/30/2007, -8/+22That's one of the best comments I've ever read on digg, nicely done.
- RedHerringHack, on 11/30/2007, -3/+16Evolution is clocked by the reproductive rate of the organism. Example: Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria.
- spectre_25gt, on 11/30/2007, -3/+16The thing is, you can ask questions about evolution and get reasonable answers rather than "God works in mysterious ways". Evolution makes sense. The weak die out. The strong are the only ones to pass on their genes. How can anyone possibly dispute this?
- DrMonkeyLove, on 11/30/2007, -12/+25Look at a vast majority of the world's leading scientists and you might rethink that assertion.
- internetcoward, on 11/30/2007, -8/+21What about those people who believe darwin is/was the devil. How do we count those votes?
- fr0ng, on 11/30/2007, -4/+16Was the poll by any chance conducted in a remote town in South Carolina or something?
- nebion, on 11/30/2007, -2/+14Whether or not Darwin existed as a person is kind of irrelevant to me. Evolution is obvious if you understand history and the mechanisms.
He probably did exist...Jesus may well have, as well...he seems to have been some semi-popular cult leader who managed to gather quite a number of followers posthumously. - covertbadger, on 11/30/2007, -1/+12Or the people who wrote the Bible exaggerated, or made the whole thing up. Even if Jesus existed (unproven), the account in the Bible is secondary. Or maybe the meaning was changed over the many imperfect translations made over the last two centuries?
Really, to say there are only three possible alternatives is incredibly short-sighted. - quaxon, on 11/30/2007, -3/+14this is a country that forces most to go bankrupt or take on massive debts just to get a sub-par college level education, where most other westernized countries provide university tuition to its citizens for free. So yea, as a country we are pretty anti-education.
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