Expelled is a movie about how scientists are keeping explanations that are unscientific out of science classrooms.
Because we all know that Christianity is totally open to the presentation of alternate ideas, and that is why each of us atheists gets a weekly speaking engagement at a local church.
Faith wants so hard to believe…faith wants proof! Since there is only PAST claims about God and Jesus, faith is always in a crisis.
While conservative Christians have always feared the mind control and limited freedom of speech of the “Godless Communist”; what can I say: “A kicked dog hollers!”.
Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.
Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
John Murphy: "Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.:
Perhaps, if atheism had ruled the hearts and minds of ignorant and superstitious people for the past 2000 years like christianity, and had tortured and killed those who did not adhere to its orthodoxy, and those who were the centers of power and education had restricted civilization by demanding flat earth and heliocentric sciences and imprisoned or murdered those who opposed their "truth" book sales might be different. It would seem to me that you just made the case for evolution. If not you did make a case for the golden rule, "he who has the gold, makes the rules."
Post script: If your argument is, "might makes right," then you have made your point perfectly. However, it doesn't seem to coalesce with the sermon on the mount.... or the plain.... depending on which gospel you read.
We have some Christians saying, "Nyah, nyah, Dawkins! Warren is kicking your butt: look how many more copies he's sold."
On the other hand, there's all kinds of hand-wringing in the Christian community over the "threat" that the New Atheists represent, and how dangerous they are. There've been something like 30 books written in response to The God Delusion alone.
So which is it? Are the "four horsemen" of atheism a runaway publishing phenomenon that threatens the foundations of Christendom? Or are they merely a drop in the bucket when compared to the success of Christian publishing?
For my part, I'm very glad to live in a free society that has room for minority opinions. I'm resigned to the fact that many things I like, and many things I care about, may not be the most popular. It just means that I fight harder to support the good things, and I savor them more when I can.
"Serenity" was a much better sci-fi film than any of the recent Star Wars movies, yet it did only a fraction of the box office that those prequels did. So what?
Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.
I've not read Warren's book, but enlighten me: does he take on evolution? I thought he was basically just re-interpreting mainstream Christian doctrine into a simplified, easy-to-digest form. In other words, repackaging the bible so that that you don't really need to read the bible.
As for Dawkins, I have read all of his books on evolution, and while I'm sure he'd find it impossible to write anything that had no mention of his primary discipline, I was under the impression that The God Delusion was Dawkins writing more as a philosophical scientist, and less as a zoologist. In other words, he's wandering a bit out of his area of professional expertise and into an area that has long been a sideline passion of his.
Given this situation, how can it be said that "evolutionary science does not appear to be winning"?
Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
John Murphy you, like most Christians, appear to be completely ignorant of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection. Evolution has no goal. The human brain is no more and no less evolutionarily valued than the dental structure of the piranha.
You're right that people who believe in religion have apparently been selected for, but you seem to think this is an argument for the truth of religion.
Scientific experiments have shown us repeatedly that those things which we believe prima facie to be true are frequently false. They have shown us that common sense can be faulty, especially when it involves things that are unusual or present to our senses in ways that were not typical in the environment in which our senses evolved.
So your argument is in no way an argument for the truth of Rick Warren or any other popular book.
I'm curious how you would stack Rick Warren's books up against Stephen King's. Is Stephen King really the one who evolution adapted us to read?
john murphy said: Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning. Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
And Quotations from Chairman Mao has sold over 900 million copies, leaving Rick Warren choking in the dust. Must be people's natural desire to be ruled by an authoritarian atheistic Communist regime.
9 comments:
Expelled is a movie about how scientists are keeping explanations that are unscientific out of science classrooms.
Because we all know that Christianity is totally open to the presentation of alternate ideas, and that is why each of us atheists gets a weekly speaking engagement at a local church.
Faith wants so hard to believe…faith wants proof! Since there is only PAST claims about God and Jesus, faith is always in a crisis.
While conservative Christians have always feared the mind control and limited freedom of speech of the “Godless Communist”; what can I say: “A kicked dog hollers!”.
Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.
Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
John Murphy: "Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.:
Perhaps, if atheism had ruled the hearts and minds of ignorant and superstitious people for the past 2000 years like christianity, and had tortured and killed those who did not adhere to its orthodoxy, and those who were the centers of power and education had restricted civilization by demanding flat earth and heliocentric sciences and imprisoned or murdered those who opposed their "truth" book sales might be different. It would seem to me that you just made the case for evolution. If not you did make a case for the golden rule, "he who has the gold, makes the rules."
Post script: If your argument is, "might makes right," then you have made your point perfectly. However, it doesn't seem to coalesce with the sermon on the mount.... or the plain.... depending on which gospel you read.
Fascinating.
We have some Christians saying, "Nyah, nyah, Dawkins! Warren is kicking your butt: look how many more copies he's sold."
On the other hand, there's all kinds of hand-wringing in the Christian community over the "threat" that the New Atheists represent, and how dangerous they are. There've been something like 30 books written in response to The God Delusion alone.
So which is it? Are the "four horsemen" of atheism a runaway publishing phenomenon that threatens the foundations of Christendom? Or are they merely a drop in the bucket when compared to the success of Christian publishing?
For my part, I'm very glad to live in a free society that has room for minority opinions. I'm resigned to the fact that many things I like, and many things I care about, may not be the most popular. It just means that I fight harder to support the good things, and I savor them more when I can.
"Serenity" was a much better sci-fi film than any of the recent Star Wars movies, yet it did only a fraction of the box office that those prequels did. So what?
Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.
I've not read Warren's book, but enlighten me: does he take on evolution? I thought he was basically just re-interpreting mainstream Christian doctrine into a simplified, easy-to-digest form. In other words, repackaging the bible so that that you don't really need to read the bible.
As for Dawkins, I have read all of his books on evolution, and while I'm sure he'd find it impossible to write anything that had no mention of his primary discipline, I was under the impression that The God Delusion was Dawkins writing more as a philosophical scientist, and less as a zoologist. In other words, he's wandering a bit out of his area of professional expertise and into an area that has long been a sideline passion of his.
Given this situation, how can it be said that "evolutionary science does not appear to be winning"?
Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
John Murphy you, like most Christians, appear to be completely ignorant of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection. Evolution has no goal. The human brain is no more and no less evolutionarily valued than the dental structure of the piranha.
You're right that people who believe in religion have apparently been selected for, but you seem to think this is an argument for the truth of religion.
Scientific experiments have shown us repeatedly that those things which we believe prima facie to be true are frequently false. They have shown us that common sense can be faulty, especially when it involves things that are unusual or present to our senses in ways that were not typical in the environment in which our senses evolved.
So your argument is in no way an argument for the truth of Rick Warren or any other popular book.
I'm curious how you would stack Rick Warren's books up against Stephen King's. Is Stephen King really the one who evolution adapted us to read?
john murphy said: Well...if you want to talk sheer numbers Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold 1.5 million copies, Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" is closing in on 25 million copies sold. Whatever else one can say about this debate, evolutionary science does not appear to be winning.
Of course this is all the fault of evolution itself. Somehow it naturally selected a lot of people who are prone to religious delusion as over against evolutionary science. Go figure. Bad evolution, very bad. Go back to the drawing boards.
And Quotations from Chairman Mao has sold over 900 million copies, leaving Rick Warren choking in the dust. Must be people's natural desire to be ruled by an authoritarian atheistic Communist regime.
Did anyone hear about Dawkins showing up unannounced at the pre-release of Expelled, and then being introduced at the end?
Evolution News Article on Dawkins Gate crashing
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