Do you believe in Evolution?

[darkstar]

And where have they got us?

6,000,000,000 humans fighting and squabbling over gold, oil and land.

There's an old saying; "Necessity is the mother of invention". Some of the most prolific times of 'invention' were during wars.

What a ridiculous comment, where would we be without them? Most likely in a far worse situation...

 

[2Loose]

And where have they got us?

6,000,000,000 humans fighting and squabbling over gold, oil and land.

There's an old saying; "Necessity is the mother of invention". Some of the most prolific times of 'invention' were during wars.

...and from out of the ashes of those wars rose phoenix-like, a new, improved and more efficient human race (with shiny new gadgets to play with).

 

[tyred]

Would you be in favour of banning the teaching of the Bible?

I would to children. And the Qu' ran or whatever the hell it's called. And all the other bonkers texts for that matter. So many parents beat their children mentally with all the god-bothering and god-fearing crap, it makes them grow-up accepting that it must be true. If such mind f*cking  is started at an early enough age then a child will just accept it.

My firmly held conviction is that when an adult abuses a child’s trust by forcing them to believe whichever mumbo jumbo their parents before them indoctrinated them into believing, then it's a destructive cycle that just goes on and on. And on.

A friend of mine wrote recently that 'religion takes away a child's rationality, the ability to work things out, to reason and to be self-reliant. Also, god-fearing is normally surrounded by terrible fears and intimidation. Rituals have to be strictly adhered to in order to ensure subjects self-hypnotise a reinforcement and become sheep-like and all accepting, some of these are natural sexual denials, others include physical abuse like removing parts of the body in order to appease a mad belief'.  I couldn't agree more. It's bonkers.

He also states that 'religion comes with an irrational feeling of immortality with different places to visit after death instead of everything coming to a mortal end. Worse than this, religion comes with rivalry. Many different religions fight for control of their subjects and the conversion of subjects from other religions. They go to war about this. Global conflict is based primarily on one religion invading or attacking the controllers of a rival religion.

Now then. With all this fighting going on, some of us normal folk are picking up flack and shrapnel. The religious with their controlled and closed minds are holding us as a species back. Indeed, they sometimes put us normal folk in danger when we become the victims of their bombs and attacks on their rivals'.

I also hate the god concept because the only way for humanity to move forward is for us normal folk to try to shake the religiously bigoted into realising that there is no place for them in these freethinking days of equality and brotherhood. Those who wish to keep the god concept festering and alive in the heads of their subjects need to be called to account and stopped. Surely for the good of all it's time to remove all religions from human existance

And I don't buy any of that 'you must respect the religiot's views' stuff. For centuries these are the same folk who would not have thought twice about killing anyone who didn't buy into all their effing crap.
Sorry this is all a bit heavy for the cafe and has wandered away from the evolution vs lunacy debate - maybe this thread should be in the politics thing?

Okay, so you can have your belief that God doesn't exist but I can't have my belief that he does. 


And just consider all the good work done by Christian organisations. The charity and missionary work, the fact that if it wasn't for the religious orders, nobody but the extremely rich in Irish society would have had an education, the support of people with problems, the various youth clubs, etc, the provision of parish halls for social functions, the provision of graveyards to bury our dead and support to the bereaved.

I don't tell you what you should or shouldn't believe. I believe in a open society and the right to believe whatever you want.

 

[mark barker]

I love the unbelievable level of self belief that scientists have got. No doubt the writers of the bible or other religious texts had just the same level of belief when they were preaching at the beginning of organised religion. Maybe in a few hundred years the population will be arguing over the next big thing, laughing at how gullible the "scientists" were for believing in things they couldn't see or prove.

 

[benb]

I love the unbelievable level of self belief that scientists have got. No doubt the writers of the bible or other religious texts had just the same level of belief when they were preaching at the beginning of organised religion. Maybe in a few hundred years the population will be arguing over the next big thing, laughing at how gullible the "scientists" were for believing in things they couldn't see or prove.

Er, what? Care to explain what you're on about here?

 

[mark barker]

Er, what? Care to explain what you're on about here?

Thought it was quite clear, but here goes...

Throughout history mankind has had folks telling others all about the wonders of the world and how it all came about. These "experts" over time persuade people that their ideas are right and their knowledge becomes the generally accepted "facts". Today, scientists are trying to explain the way of the world with ever increasing complexity. Is it so difficult to accept that in the far future that some (or all) of the scientists theories are suggested to be wrong?

 

[jimboalee]

What a ridiculous comment, where would we be without them? Most likely in a far worse situation...

Penultimately, I seriously admire your courage and bravery to start this thread. Either that or you are a gifted comedian. It takes a demi sadistic to start a thread entitled 'Do you believe in Evolution?' on THIS web forum.

Ultimately. Congratulations. You have managed to survive the howls of "NOT AGAIN YOU BASTARD", when the regulars saw the thread's title.


Is it five or six times THIS YEAR this subject has been raised, discussed, argued about and then forgotten ( until another daft sod brings it back up for a 'free for all' melee of 'I know best' ).

Do you really think there would be total seriousness on a thread of this subject? For Heaven's sake ( or substitute "For the life of Darwin" ) this is a CYCLING forum and I only visit it to waste time before I go home to do something much more important, like counting butterflies in my garden.

 

[marinyork]

Thought it was quite clear, but here goes...

Throughout history mankind has had folks telling others all about the wonders of the world and how it all came about. These "experts" over time persuade people that their ideas are right and their knowledge becomes the generally accepted "facts". Today, scientists are trying to explain the way of the world with ever increasing complexity. Is it so difficult to accept that in the far future that some (or all) of the scientists theories are suggested to be wrong?

As someone famous once said you could say every scientific theory is wrong and you would be correct 90% of the time, you would however be wrong the only times it mattered.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Okay, so you can have your belief that God doesn't exist but I can't have my belief that he does.


And just consider all the good work done by Christian organisations. The charity and missionary work, the fact that if it wasn't for the religious orders, nobody but the extremely rich in Irish society would have had an education, the support of people with problems, the various youth clubs, etc, the provision of parish halls for social functions, the provision of graveyards to bury our dead and support to the bereaved.

I don't tell you what you should or shouldn't believe. I believe in a open society and the right to believe whatever you want.

That's true in that it shows that religions are organised bodies which can be used for the common good. It's also true that many good people find a channel for their selfless humanity through their religions.

However laudable all of this may be (and it is laudable) it does not add one jot of support to the notion that any kind of god exists. It's logically impossible to be able with 100% confidence to deny the existence of a god. OTH I've yet to see anybody come up with anything that would lead the rational to have even 1% confidence that a god does indeed exist.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Do you really think there would be total seriousness on a thread of this subject? For Heaven's sake ( or substitute "For the life of Darwin" ) this is a CYCLING forum and I only visit it to waste time before I go home to do something much more important, like counting butterflies in my garden.

Well, for someone who has better things to do, you've certainly been putting your time in on this thread, and not exactly quality time by the look of it...

 

[jpembroke]

I sometimes like to imagine God creating the world. For six days solid in his workshop, beavering away over the bench, sparks flying from his fingertips, sweat dripping off his brow; making a giraffe out of clay, breathing life into it, putting it to oneside, and then doing the same to a wombat and a man and a shark. Perhaps using tweezers for the really small things.

he really deserves an award for the coastline of Norway though.

 

[tyred]

However laudable all of this may be (and it is laudable) it does not add one jot of support to the notion that any kind of god exists.  It's logically impossible to be able with 100% confidence to deny the existence of a god.  OTH I've yet to see anybody come up with anything that would lead the rational to have even 1% confidence that a god does indeed exist.

I don't claim that it does, Andy. I'm just trying to make the point that religious bodies serve a much more useful function in society than many will admit. I don't agree with all that religious bodies get up to an I believe it is fundamentally wrong for the Catholic church to try and brush their wrongdoers under the carpet instead of handing them over to the correct authorities but that is another story and I strongly believe that religious bodies  (so long as we're not dealing with fundamentalist nutcases) perform a useful function in life.


I choose to believe in a God but I don't try to force the idea on anyone else and you are welcome to bow down and worship your fridge/freezer for all I care.

 

[Unkraut]

i) Where's the orbiting teapot? We've have the flying spaghetti monster but not the teapot!

ii) Why in a discussion (yet again) on evolution does the subject almost immediately turn into that of does God exist or to be more exact, we now know God doesn't exist? If this is so obvious, why keep bringing it up? I reckon that everyone who contributes to this thread, and anyone who ever reads it, knows there is a God, and is desperate to suppress this truth, but it won't go away despite all the bluster to the contrary .....

 

[Rob3rt]

i) Where's the orbiting teapot? We've have the flying spaghetti monster but not the teapot!

ii) Why in a discussion (yet again) on evolution does the subject almost immediately turn into that of does God exist or to be more exact, we now know God doesn't exist? If this is so obvious, why keep bringing it up? I reckon that everyone who contributes to this thread, and anyone who ever reads it, knows there is a God, and is desperate to suppress this truth, but it won't go away despite all the bluster to the contrary .....

A Gong reference?

 

[Unkraut]

A Gong reference?

Not sure what you're getting at! I'm referring to Bertrand Russel's silly comment about a teapot orbitting around the sun.