https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/107677700/posts/1011
I posted a comment but unlikely it will see the light of day.
His/her argument seems to be that they believe atheism is a religion, and how could we possibly have evidence to support our lack of gods? Oh, and an elephant can do a self portrait, which means us nasty atheists are rong somehow?
It is almost amusing to observe the flailing around in the dark with little understanding of the strawman they are attacking.
I must admit to seeing this first at WEIT. At first I thought maybe Jesus was too stupid to realize that this result is bad for religion. Then I thought, wait… maybe because the analysis indicates that people who follow religion might be a little dense, they can’t realize they are being scammed. Either way works for the chuckle I suppose.
So being the what I am, and curious about this analysis, I followed a link here:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088868313497266?journalCode=psra&
Now I briefly looked at DL -ing the PDF there, but it looks like it might be a pay to view thing, so I’m not going to go quite that far. However there is a very interesting abstract, or summary if you will. I will share that with you, note that this was back in 2013:
“A meta-analysis of 63 studies showed a significant negative association between intelligence and religiosity. The association was stronger for college students and the general population than for participants younger than college age; it was also stronger for religious beliefs than religious behavior. For college students and the general population, means of weighted and unweighted correlations between intelligence and the strength of religious beliefs ranged from −.20 to −.25 (mean r = −.24). Three possible interpretations were discussed. First, intelligent people are less likely to conform and, thus, are more likely to resist religious dogma. Second, intelligent people tend to adopt an analytic (as opposed to intuitive) thinking style, which has been shown to undermine religious beliefs. Third, several functions of religiosity, including compensatory control, self-regulation, self-enhancement, and secure attachment, are also conferred by intelligence. Intelligent people may therefore have less need for religious beliefs and practices.”
Note the word significant in that first sentence. Fascinating 🙂
And moving along: Intelligent people are less likely to conform? Maybe, maybe every inmate in prison has an intelligence problem? I don’t know, but I know I do have issues sucking up what religion has to offer with no supporting evidence for their claims. It all goes way beyond reason and slips into the realm of complete absurdity very quickly for me, and frankly I am somewhat surprised that a great number of people have no issues at all with talking snakes, virgin births, and massive floods that if happened would have left ample evidence for, which we do not see. It is just a fine and dandy fantasy for them. For us, it’s just wacky…
I find it intriguing that an analytic vs. an intuitive thinking style was brought up. I believe that may be a huge factor in the differences between the them and us, and a significant reason in the why, we can’t really seem to communicate across the divide very well. We find the way they arrive at their world view completely alien to how we understand things, and I figure (from what I have seen) their side is just too damn stubborn to bother learning or thinking about the how and why they wound up where they are at in the first place.
Being self sufficient, and dealing with reality on realities terms, which is how I am interpreting this: “several functions of religiosity, including compensatory control, self-regulation, self-enhancement, and secure attachment, are also conferred by intelligence.” That is we deal with our emotions, our control, our inner selves, on our own. We need no outside influence to keep us on the straight and narrow path. We need no imaginary friends to keep us in line. We just manage with no need of some social construct to supposedly make us better. We find we have no need of some mysterious godly excuse for all of the bad things that happen in life. Also I can’t even imagine what sort of person needs an outside influence to keep them straight so badly that church every damn Wednesday and twice on Sunday is a must experience situation for them. Doesn’t even compute for me. Just suck it up people and do what needs doing, reason will help you get there! Sheesh.
I suppose we all sort of already knew this was what we were bucking up against. Only thing I can figure is, we may never fully understand what drives the religious to adamantly oppose reality, and avoid analytical thinking at any cost. Even to the point of not sending their children to a public school. The fantasy must be maintained!
All we can really do is keep on keeping on and deal with our own realities the best we can. Of course pecking away at the stone of ridiculousness every now and then can keep us happily occupied. Just thinking out loud, I hope this finds you all well.
I just saw a bit at Science Daily, a study by several researchers across several nations indicates that people who tend to use profanity tend to be more honest overall. An interesting quote:
“The relationship between profanity and dishonesty is a tricky one. Swearing is often inappropriate but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion. Just as they aren’t filtering their language to be more palatable, they’re also not filtering their views. ”
Now a lot of you may have noticed I tend to be a little rough around the edges, but hey I have lived a rough around the edges life and do use my fair share of unapologetic profanity. Does that mean I’m more honest than the church mouse who dare not utter a forbidden word? Hell if I know 🙂 All I can say on the matter is anytime anyone tries to use their religion as a foundation to indicate their honesty, I immediately become doubly suspicious of said persons intentions.
I also noticed this at the the end of the writeup:
“A second survey involved collecting data from 75,000 Facebook users to measure their use of swear words in their online social interactions. The research found that those who used more profanity were also more likely to use language patterns that have been shown in previous research to be related to honesty, such as using pronouns like “I” and “me”. The Facebook users were recruited from across the United States and their responses highlight the differing views to profanity that exist between different geographical areas. For example, those in the north-eastern states (such as Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and New York) were more likely to swear whereas people were less likely to in the southern states (South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi).”
First things first, who knew Facebook would be a good resource for social studies? With that in mind all I can say is…fuck FB!
The other thing that pops out at me in that paragraph is the geographic trend. It suggests that my northern counterparts tend to swear more than those in the region where I live. Interesting, but not a mind shattering revelation. What does strike me as curious though is the trend for less profane utterences lies smack in the middle of the babble belt.
Correlations anyone?
Someone hooked up their vehicle, via a chain, to an atheist display in Fla. and dragged it to the ground. Severely damaging the display.
Now I have to wonder if this is a hate crime? If an atheist did the same to a x-ian display I’d bet you there would be an enormous outcry, heads would roll. Thing is most of us atheists recognize a religions right to exist, we just reserve our right to believe they are ridiculous.
The religious folks figure we are all nasty heathens headed for hell anyway so we are prime pickings for their displays of hate. I mean love, wait which one is it again?
I am sure there is a massive manhunt on for the perpetrators. Right?
An atheist display on public property has every right the religious display has to be there. But we all know the score here, don’t we? I am so feeling the love. I mean hate. The one thing the religious are good at is hating anything and everything that does not conform or concede to their particular beliefs. This is a fine example of that.
Some good stuff in this article I highly suggest checking it out. The hypocrisy is abundant.
Researchers at the University of Utah have done a study showing how the brain reacts to religious experiences. We have known for a while, or at least strongly suspected that the reward center in the brain becomes involved. Which means high doses of the natural feel good drug dopamine, manufactured by our own bodies becomes activated, accumulates in our reward center, and people experience euphoria, light headedness, and feelings of well being.
These researchers did the testing with fMRI imaging and subjected the participants to religious influences, and monitored the results. The reward center of the brain lit up like a Christmas tree in Times Square.
Damn despicable drug addicts! All of them!
What do you guys and gals think? I am a capable lead guitar player in the classic rock and southern rock genre, I spotted this ad in my local Craigslist:
Qualifications:
1) Have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
2) Committed in your spiritual walk.
3) Be free of addiction
4) Regularly attend church
5) Possess a servant’s heart
6) Possess musical skill to recognize pitch, tone, balance and dynamic variance.
7) Be able to blend your musical gift with the rest of the band.
8) Music proficiency does not automatically make you a good candidate for the band.
9) Your conduct should be above reproach and never give the appearance of evil.
If interested please submit the following information:
Name:
Age:
Experience:
Email:
Phone: end quote/
I saw a headline yesterday I could not ignore, it was “Allah Wants ISIS To Retreat.” I visited the link and no surprises really, deluded religious fanatics acting delusional. Apparently the recent defeats are just part of the trials and tribulations of the faithful. I quote:
“It is not that God has ceased to favor the Islamic State, for that is of course inconceivable. Rather, divine favor comes with ups and downs. It is God’s practice to subject His creation to trials and tests, as He subjected the prophets and the early Muslims before our time.”
Allrighty then…
Like I said, deluded fanatics acting delusional. I only hope that ISIS is dealt a crushing defeat with a minimal loss in civilians and military personnel. I also can hope that the driving force behind ISIS and every other irrational murderous act carried out on behalf of the gods dies with the religion that inspires it. Sooner would be better than later.
My initial discovery of this headline took me to a site that quickly nagged for a subscription, this site carries the same story without the nagging. EDIT: If you click the “read more” icon at this link, it will carry you to the original story, the page that nags. Well when I say nag I mean actually hold you hostage until you subscribe, which is pretty shitty IMO.
http://www.thenewscommenter.com/news/allah-wants-isis-to-retreat/650991
His judge hat. The hat he is wearing now is “Officially Retired” (I’m using hat in this instance as an indicator of ones job, and because I can tie that in with asshat)
The great Chief Justice Roy Moore, an overt x-ian, you know the kind no one likes, the kind that feels compelled to defy law in favor of their personal beliefs, was suspended (without pay, yay!) for the rest of his term for being an asshat.
Seven months after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, Mr. Asshat mandated that Alabama judges continue to enforce Alabama’s ban on gay marriage. Thus defying federal law in favor of his religious views. I suppose to some that makes him an excellent x-ian (oxymoron alert) to many it makes him, well…an asshat.
This is the same judge you may remember from back in 2003, who defied the order to remove a 10 commandments monument from a public courthouse. He got into hot water for that as well, he was suspended then too, but the slimy bastard was reelected (how?) back to his job in an election back in 2012. Do only RWCRFM’s (Right Wing Conservative Republican Fundamentalist Morons) only vote in elections? If that is the case we are in trouble come November! Hopefully they will be too senile to find the voting locations…
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/politics/alabama-chief-justice-suspended/
And finds a scaleless Bearded Dragon. He promptly buys the lucky lizard and has its genome sequenced. Guess what? The gene coding responsible for hair and feathers is the very same gene coding for scales.
This is big, because as many of us evilutionists know, the general pathway of evolution went from fish –> amphibian —> reptile and reptile branched off to birds/mammals. Finding that the same gene coding is responsible for scales —> hair —> feathers (generally speaking) is of course fantastic evidence for common descent. Which is the foundational premise of evolution in the first place.
Another hats off to science moment, and another nail in the dusty old coffin of creationism.
The story is better explained where I found it. @ Pandas Thumb.
http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2016/06/reptile-without.html#comment-355144
Hey, despite the rumors I’m not dead yet! I know it has been a while, but spring has sproinged and I’ve been busier than a beaver with 2 dams to build. It has just been hectic. Which is strange because I don’t even have a job. Well keeping things rolling around here is a job I suppose.
Anyway while I have been absent from the blog, I have been taking pictures when I can. I finally got them loaded up in the computer. Remember to click the photos to enlarge. These pics cover a lot of territory, so let’s go! EDIT: Apparently I did not upload these pics full size, so they do not enlarge (at least for me). Sorry about that. I am not going back and doing it all again!
The wife and I were getting our taxes done, our accountant is setup in an old house that has been converted to a multi tax person office. With the house being old, it has old windows that happen to have beveled edges. As we were sitting there waiting to see our tax guy, I looked down on the floor and saw this. The sun coming through the beveled glass produced a really neat prism effect. Being the thing that I am I had to get a shot.
This next one is a result of some heavy rains we had. I am aware of the hydroplaning areas on the highway, this guy apparently is not. Note how after initially running off the road, and taking out the sign, there aren’t any tracks leading to the cars location. There was a lot more water there when this guy went off the road. He must have really been moving when he hydroplaned out into the field. You can see the wrecker in the background.
Spot the turkeys! This and the hydroplaned shot were taken through the car windshield. This is the road we live on that leads to the highway.
Bookends! I saw these dogs hanging out of both sides of the vehicle and could not resist getting a shot with the iphone. The wife of course was having a mild heart attack since I was driving at the time, but we survived unscathed 🙂 For the record I am not a left lane camper, once I got the shot I immediately took the right lane. I despise left lane campers, even if they have dogs hanging out the windows…
I like clouds. This was right after a nasty storm moved through. I’m not sure but I think this cloud that was rolling to the ground, was glad to see me 😉
Another cloud shot I was unable to resist.
As I mentioned spring has sproinged and as a result the lilac bush bloomed quite nicely. Which in turn attracted a lot of butterflies. I thought what the heck let’s shoot some butterflies. This was several weeks ago… An Eastern Swallowtail, followed by a couple more.
Funny how one thing leads to another. While I was shooting butterflies I saw a few things I had no freaking idea even existed. My first thought was “was that a hummingbird?” Then I noticed this thing had what appeared to be a furry back much like a moth. Well as it turns out there are these critters known as hummingbird moths. And they were in my yard. These things were notoriously difficult to shoot as they would alight only for a couple of seconds, then move on. There are a couple of different types, or some variation between the species/gender, or whatever. They were notably different, 2 types or subtypes or gender differences.
Pretty cool huh?
Then I noticed these things. I believe they are some sort of Beefly? Again very hard to catch these little buggers. Note in two of the shots you can see their proboscis. The one in the middle looks like a cross between a fat tick, a honeybee, and a mosquito.
I heard about some nesting Eagles and thought I’d try to catch a shot or two. All I found at the location was a pair of nesting Osprey. I took this shot through my trusty ED 80 telescope from at least a quarter mile away. The day was very windy and chilly, the shots did not turn out all that great but here is one.
Finally some religion themed atrocities. What kind of sick and twisted A-hole revels in the fantasy of their ficticious dog oppressing mankind? I thought about blacking out the license plate, then said “ahh fuck it, they deserve to be recognized.”
Ummm no. And double no! Got to get em while they are young and impressionable eh? And what kind of dipstick has to resort to some childish make believe that they are speaking for the dog?
Let’s not forget to advertise our desire to demonize and oppress the gays. “That’s ok, right?”
Assholes, all of them.
I guess it was mixed up metaphor day. And yes this is the same church sign as the other one over the course of a few weeks. I am aware of the term “getting the monkey off of your back” and “when you fall off the horse, get back in the saddle” but this?
You take your humor where you can find it 🙂
Well that wraps up this picture day content. I hope you enjoyed the experience, and I will be back.
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