I sense a Zombie Jesus thread coming from this.

Yeah! What do them pinko atheistic communistic scientists know anyways!!!

Not being a whiney douchebag who can't accept the beliefs or faiths of others will likely reduce your stress level, possibly having a positive effect on your health.

If I believe in man made Global Warming, will that make me healthier?

Religions are funny that way!

"If I believe in man made Global Warming, will that make me healthier?"

No. Believing in myths (religion) is apparently not healthy.

People who go to Mickey D's after church shouldn't' be surprised.

Maybe if Obama prays harder his health scare reform will pass and we can all be healthier. Oh, wait, he doesn't go to church, or at least never listens to the sermon, and the health scare bill is too scary even for Dems. Bummer for us all, I guess.

#7 | Posted by SpokaneJim at 2010-02-09 02:23 PM | Reply | Flag:

Calm down, bro. Not everything is political. You're going to give yourself a freaking heart attack if you are constantly worked up. Life is too short to be all consumed with politics.

Maybe not...but it can make you live forever.

Or so I've heard.

If you choose the right one...

The power of prayer has been soundly disproven. But the placebo effect is real and religion draws on that in powerful ways.

The obesity problem is easy...everybody has their "drug" of choice. For some it is drugs such as cigarettes, pot, pills, alcohol..etc; but for those that want to feel the arrogant condemnation of others for their own self-righteous satisfaction they often choose food ignoring the fact that most religions bar gross gluttony but it makes them feel better than those dirty hedonistic sinners.

#7 | Posted by SpokaneJim at 2010-02-09 02:23 PM | Reply | Flag: Apparently Doesn't Pay the Premiums

Any so-called scientific study that supports the liberal agenda is suspect after Climategate. Libs abuse science to the point of making it a joke.

Neither does following the devil. Drinking and smoking nearly killed me till I got a little smarter, not to mention liiking for love in all the wrong places.

that would be looking.

What a strange study... Of all the reasons I've heard given for people finding faith or remaining with a church/temple/synagogue/
mosque, I've never heard anybody say "It will lower my cholesterol"...

The article seems to have hit the nail on the head in noting the heavy concentration of lower-income minorities in the study- groups who are, as a whole, less physically healthy diet-wise than their more well-off counterparts.

Staying healthy requires willpower and a certain level of thoughtfulness, it has sweet FA to do with the invisible sky-daddy. In fact I might go as far as to say that putting your life in the imaginary hands of the FSM would prompt *some* people to take less care of themselves. I naturally have no proof of this as no studies have been published that I know of, but if you apply a little reason and logic it follows. Oh wait, reason and logic... Silly me, keep on praying and you'll be just fine... heh.

Oh wait, reason and logic... Silly me, keep on praying and you'll be just fine.

So, you think it's "reasonable and logical" to assume that people of faith are obviously, and universally, somehow less bright than people without?

Error in study:

They did not differentiate between true religion and the false religions.

The true religion will always make you healthier. Problem is 99 percent of religions are false religions where you can still eat fast food, drink beer smoke and do all kinds of suicidal things

"Problem is 99 percent of religions are false"

Problem is 100 percent of religions are false.

FTFY

"Problem is 99 percent of religions are false"
Problem is 100 percent of religions are false.
FTFY

This sort of blind arrogance from atheists always makes me a little more comfortable with my agnosticism.

-Libs abuse science to the point of making it a joke.

Palin/Huckabee '12!!

"Science is a Joke!"

The power of prayer has been soundly disproven.
#10 | Posted by nutcase at 2010-02-09 03:07 PM | Reply | Flag
Proof or just your opinion?

-Libs abuse science to the point of making it a joke.
Palin/Huckabee '12!!
"Science is a Joke!"
Posted by Corky at 2010-02-09 04:00 PM | Reply

QED

If I'm made in God's image and he has heart attacks and strokes, then why should Christians complain about these illnesses. They are blessings, right?

watching out for lightning bolts...

Ken_Schwartz,

It's not that religious people are less smart they simply willfully ignore the obvious...choosing not to eat from the tree of KNOWLEDGE.

"No. Believing in myths (religion) is apparently not healthy."
#5 | Posted by member2586 at 2010-02-09 02:00 PM | Reply

Pardon me, but the headline clearly states that believing in religion will not make you healthier. How did we get from that to "is apparently not healthy"?
Would that be called "a leap of faith?"

Ken_Schwartz,

It's not that religious people are less smart they simply willfully ignore the obvious...choosing not to eat from the tree of KNOWLEDGE.

So, in your view, only the ignorant have religious faith?

You're more wise than, say, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jonas Salk?

Further- are you in the habit of assuming that because something isn't obvious or immediately "provable", it must be untrue? Because that doesn't strike me as particularly brilliant...

You're more wise than, say, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jonas Salk?

#28 | Posted by ken_schwartz at 2010-02-09 05:04 PM

NOT SO SURE,

in a double blind study of 150 heart bypass operations those who were prayed faired slightly worse than those that were not.

But God is sticking global warming up the arses of the voodoo scientists that have their heads jammed up their own asses. Talk about being lost in the flatulosphere, breathing their own, lying clowns.

Tutamen Deus

god is coming and he's pissed

god is pissing after he came

Seems to me that a fervent belief in any particular religion reduces the I.Q. This was acceptable to many provided it helped keep them healthy.

Agnosticism is the new Christianity...

Never whistle while your pissing.

---God------

I'm not sure what is worse, a world without religion, or a world with it.

The very ideal that somehow you can take a giant ecclesiatical eraser and rub your sins clean, makes my skin crawl.

(for all you jesus people out there, 'skin crawl' is called a figure of speech, a 'metaphor', it is an instrument used in writing, it creates an ideal that is different that the actual words used. Also, you may want to look up simile, analogy, allegory. You need to look these up because the bible is full of them, which means it is not a literal text. so stop fucking it up!!!).

They did not differentiate between true religion and the false religions.

And you can? What a crock of shit. You're incapable of differentiating truth from a bedtime story.

#37 | Posted by ZombieHunter at 2010-02-09 08:38 PM | Reply | Flag: Pot Meet Kettle; Ultimate Contradiction

A study of heart disease and clogged arteries finds that attending religious services or having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.

A new study? They reached down deep to come up with that one! What a crock. Common sense. But since an atheist had nothing better to do, he came up with a 'study'. Religion is in dire jeopardy now!

Religion does not make you healthier according to a new study?

Interesting.

A study of heart disease and clogged arteries finds that attending religious services or having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.

Ya know wot does help a heart attack victim?

Owning a pet.

A study by the US Department of Health concluded that pets increased the survival rate of heart attack victims. The study revealed that 28% of heart patients with pets survived serious heart attacks, compared to only 6% of heart patients without pets.

Another study revealed that the cholesterol levels of pet owners were 2% lower than the cholesterol levels of people without pets. The risk of those pet owners having a heart attack was reduced by 4%.

Owning a pet can reduce blood pressure as effectively as eating a low-salt diet or reducing alcohol intake.

"Having spiritual expereinces or attending church may not prevent heart attack or strokes...."

I don't know any Christian who would think that was true. I suppose you might find some, perhaps the same percentage as atheists who think evading church prevents heart attack or stroke.

I can state this, out of what are now years of personal observation, that church-going folk are much, much less likely to drink, drug, or smoke tobacco---Because they are religous.

They are also much, much more likely to be in a stable and loving relationship and, of course, to have a positive social support group generally.

It would therefore follow that these people have that extra protection against heart attack and stroke.

All this bullshit says is the obvious - physical and mental stress shortens our lifespan. It has nothing to do with religion per se. It's the stress!

"It's the stress!"

Goddamnit, the stress!
Do you hear me?!?!?
THE FUCKIN' STRESS!!!!

I don't like the stress

Yes, better, thanks.

Much better.

"It seems to me that fervent religous belief reduces the IQ..."

That would be an interesting study, proviuded you could define "fervent" and also "religous belief", and if you could perform suitably controlled pre and post measurements.

"Agnosticism is the new Christianity...."

As lazy as many younger people seem to be, I'm absolutely sure you're correct.

But, leaving that aside, I'd like to see the same IQ study with agnostics, provided you could define agnosticism (no, that's not all that easy).

I guess agnostics are exempt from that "fervent" part. That laziness thing once again.

Ken_Schwartz,

Do you understand the difference between ignorant and stupid? A person can be ignorant on a variety issues but still be a wise and intelligent person. The difference here being that religious people willfully remain ignorant on anything that would disprove their beliefs, and yes I do mean Ghandi and Dr. King...I don't know who the other guy is.

Zed,

Mother Theresa was an agnostic...in fact she questioned the existence of God all the way up to her death.

Religious fervor is generally driven by the agnostic who desperately wants to feel this "love" or "oneness" with some g-d that was promised them.

The tree of knowledge is the inerrant word of God.

Science so called falsely is false knowledge if not appropriately utilized.

example: you need to have gasoline to eat since all McDonalds customers drive in.

you can do the study and you will see it is right.
Completely scientific
completely wrong

so is evolution.

scientific method means reproducibility

lets see you make a germ from mud.
won't ever happen

I watched a HISTORY CHANNEL video on the beginning of life and it showed a beautiful tidepool with lots of colorful starfish and then an animated drawing of how a germ appeared and wiggled around.
I guess that proved (with the new age music) that life comes from the sea.
yeah, real science.

I will give a billion dollars to anyone who is able to make an ALL ISOMERIC LEVO PROTEIN from a racemic mixture of PURE AMINO ACIDS.
it CANNOT be done with all the science on the planet, totally impossible no matter what techniques you use.

Actually you can't even manufacture amino acids levo or dextro in an oxygen atmophere so even that is moot.

but to string together 10,000 LEVO amino acids in the proper sequence to make ONE protein is incomprehensibly stupid.
know how many DIFFERENT PROTEINS are in the simplest cell.

IT DID NOT HAPPEN FOLKS SCIENCE PROVES IT
you cant reproduce it, you been hypnotized.

never happened,
never will
happen
isn't so.

Ken_Schwartz,
Do you understand the difference between ignorant and stupid? A person can be ignorant on a variety issues but still be a wise and intelligent person. The difference here being that religious people willfully remain ignorant on anything that would disprove their beliefs, and yes I do mean Ghandi and Dr. King...I don't know who the other guy is.

One can not be ignorant and wise, although one can be ignorant and intelligent.

religious people willfully remain ignorant on anything that would disprove their beliefs

What an unbelievably asinine assertion. Most people of faith question their beliefs at some point. Do atheists ever question their atheism and allow for the possibility that there are, in fact, things they don't know?

No, because to do so makes one an agnostic rather than an atheist.

And as to you not knowing who Dr. Salk is, I'm not at all surprised. He's a rather well-known 20th Century scientist- the man who cured Polio.

It's endlessly amusing to see confirmed, no-doubt-about-it atheists mindlessly, stupidly railing against people of faith. The bigotry rivals anything you'll hear from Pat Robertson or James Dobson.

science says to make random levo proteins even ONE INSULIN MOLECULE would have so many false starts that the universe would be FILLED with false attempts (odds are greater than 1^70 power to do this.

actually 2.0^73 power odds to make ONE COMPLETELY LEVO INSULIN MOLECULE

the rest of the 1.99 ^ 70 th MIXED proteins (all worthless since they wouldn't do the job, would FILL THE INTERGALACTIC SPACE OF THE UNIVERSE.

you see, each attempt at the manufacture process isnt just TRY AGAIN cause each failed attempt leaves a BAD PROTEIN and uses up resources.

so the odds of 2x10^7othe power bad attempts would be avagadros times more than all the atoms in the univers

get it?
it didnt happen folks, it is a lie.
SCIENCE SAYS SO

but all you have to do is play some new age music and show a tidepool and everyone thinks it happened.
how do you spell HYPNOSIS?

wake up, people. You been lied to.
every protein had to be created by a specific prebuilt enzyme to make it all levo
and each enzyme could NOT have delevoped by itself
and each amino acid has a different enzyme!

NO
WAY
HOE
ZAY

Praise GOD who is wise enough to discern between levo and dextro when even our best scanners cannot do this.
Praise GOD who created all things.

And he created all things to make you happy.
And he died for YOU and gave his son to pay YOUR ticket, so you can see he loves you enough to die for you.

No biology loves you enough to even tell you the truth! They know it, I know they know it. I know these guys, they care about tenure I know they know it that is why you never hear about levo or destro proteins, undil some grad says LETS MAKE INSULIN FROM SCRATCH and they say Um, can't
not possible

gotta get it from a living cell or germ
we cant make it the right shape
THEY KNOW THIS and they are lying to you
it cannot be done
only God can do it.
and he did.

Get a KING JAMES BIBLE if you want to live through the plagues this summer

or get a NIV if you want to die and just be saved into heaven the easier way.
either way, Read it and look for who
God really is.
e is wonderful I know him he makes everything right even makes me want to finally be good.
that is a miracle.
amen/

How dare you point that many civil and human rights leaders weren't whiney atheists on the internet!

Jonas Salk was born Jewish and learned to be a humanist. His book, World Population and Human Values: A New Reality was a humanist treatises, some idiots might attempt to call the book "whiney" as a result. He accepted Humanist of the Year in 1976. It should also be noted that long before Danish crackpots were hip to protest flu vaccines, the suicide-bombing/child-
mutilation community protested Salk's vaccine (that has saved millions of lives) because it attempted to interfere with "God's will" (presumably disease is also a benevolent creation of the lord).

Gandhi was certainly no monotheist. If you think the worship of cows is a noble or moral enterprise, well, you're truly lost. Gandhi is directly responsible for the violent Pak-Indian relations today, all the border disputes around India, and the world's most likely scenario for thermonuclear annihilation. If he would have been a man capable of compromise there probably wouldn't even be a terrorist State of Pakistan. Contrary to legend, when Gandhi wasn't doing constructive political contemplation on his spinning wheel, he did in fact use violence when it suited him. At the precise moment when India needed a secular nationalist leader, they got a Fakir Guru that retarded their economic development and chopped the Raj into unsustainable, religiously segregated states. Britain's retraction from India was a foregone conclusion long before the salt marches or starvations.

MLK is my favorite example, proving once again how effective christians are at re-writing history. The Civil Rights movement was choke-full of secular leaders, atheists, communists, socialists, and homosexuals --groups which continue to feel the wrath of the suicide-bombing/child-
mutilation "conservative" community today-- without which King would have failed. CORE, Annie Stein, Bayard Rustin,.... The strategies of bus rides, sit-ins, school boycotts were all the products of secular organizations in the north.
You can rightly claim MLK a christian as long as you admit that the people and segregated system he was fighting against were also christian and defended long after the 60's by white christian churches. The KKK was a christian organization, too. Slavery itself was a religious construct, and no bible reading bigot will find any holy edict outlawing such a practice anywhere in scripture. Slavery is positively recommended by the God of Abraham, a fact King always left out of his 'neo-Moses' speech. If all one knew about Christianity came from Rev. King, the bible would seem shorter than a Common Sense pamphlet; starting at the top of Mount Siani and skipping all the the way to the hills near Capernaum.

This is all you need to know, if you never learn anything else, memorize this:
It is the key.

For God so loved the WORLD (you) that he GAVE his ONLY begotten son! That whosoever BELIEVETH in HIM!
Shall NOT PERISH but have EVERLASTING LIFE!

And then I can tell you more details then, we'll have eternity together in a loving world, no time now to talk.
Get ready.

O, yes, JOHN chapter 3 verse 16. Read it and believe, very very simple.
Why believe?

Because it is the truth.

#51 | Posted by richardrhine at 2010-02-10 11:15 AM | Reply | Flag: Can't even spell Avogadro.

Not real bright are you, goober?

Ken and richardrhine,

Thank you for proving that the religious and especially the monotheists continue to willfully remain ignorant on things that would challenge their faith.

Quoting from a book that I don't believe means nothing to me but it makes you feel good and allows you to avoid actual intellectual discourse.

And I've heard how he sacrificed his only son for me...sounds like socialism to me. I never asked him to die for me but now I'm supposed to be grateful and get down on my knees to suck his holy knob...I don't think so.

Wow. Blusky finds Gandhi and MLK contemptible, while also completely missing the actual reason their names were cited. (Gandhi wasn't a monotheist? No kidding? There were other people besides MLK in the Civil Rights movement? Wow! Who knew?)

Unsurprising, what with Blusky not being the sharpest tool in the drawer, and with his preference for bigotry and ignorance over reason and tolerance previously noted...

Richardspirit:

Ken and richardrhine,
Thank you for proving that the religious and especially the monotheists continue to willfully remain ignorant on things that would challenge their faith.

Please provide the example from something I posted that suggests any of the following:
1) I'm religious, in particular that I'm a monotheist
2) I'm "ignorant" about something that would challenge my alleged faith

Thanks!

Why would it? When have stories of mythology and superstions made anyone "healthier?"

It's asinine on the face of it.

Blusky finds Gandhi and MLK contemptible

Gandhi - "contemptible"?...maybe, but I'll settle for half-naked fakir and breeder of religious animosity.
MLK - I can only hope others haven't understood me as poorly as you. My point (it just went whistling by your head) is, the white christian community found King contemptible, not me. James Ray wasn't an atheist, he was a Catholic. King never addressed the fact that slavery and segregation come highly recommended by the christian and islamic faiths (and could not have existed otherwise). Pro-slavery and pro-genocide edicts were cleverly omitted from some of the very verses he quoted on Lincoln's steps.

preference for bigotry and ignorance over reason and tolerance

Ahh yes, it is the secular who are ignorant bigots while the religious are reasonable and tolerant! "Who knew?"

1) Never said anything about particular religiosity. The other person I addressed is quoting from KJV bible.
2)Trying to play the semantics game with reference to Wisdom and intelligence. I'm sure that Ghandi and Dr. King both were wise on certain humanity aspects...I doubt either could disassemble a nuclear bomb. Therein you have wisdom combined with ignorance.

Next time try shadow boxing before you step into the ring. Or are you too ignorant to understand what I mean?

edit 1) I never YOU had a particular religiosity however the other person I addressed did quote from KJV bible.

Blusky finds Gandhi and MLK contemptible
Gandhi - "contemptible"?...maybe, but I'll settle for half-naked fakir and breeder of religious animosity.

Your ignorance of Gandhi is astounding.

MLK - I can only hope others haven't understood me as poorly as you. My point (it just went whistling by your head) is, the white christian community found King contemptible, not me.

If that's your point, it's a foolish one.

Many of those marching by his side were white Christians, along with white Jews, white atheists, white Agnostics, etc.

The religious, like the non-religious, are imperfect, and no individual stands for the group.

Stalin, responsible for 20 million or so deaths, was an atheist.

Intelligent people don't assign the characteristics of an individual to a group, or vice versa.

Imbeciles and bigots, both of which you appear to be, do.

preference for bigotry and ignorance over reason and tolerance

Ahh yes, it is the secular who are ignorant bigots while the religious are reasonable and tolerant! "Who knew?"

I was clearly speaking specifically about you. Don't deflect. It embarrasses you.

Richardspirit, I think you need to do an edit 2).

Two edits to a post that is inciting other to be unwise, ignorant or unintellegent is not helpful.

1) Never said anything about particular religiosity. The other person I addressed is quoting from KJV bible.

If you weren't talking to me, why did you use my name?

2)Trying to play the semantics game with reference to Wisdom and intelligence. I'm sure that Ghandi and Dr. King both were wise on certain humanity aspects...I doubt either could disassemble a nuclear bomb. Therein you have wisdom combined with ignorance.

And Dr. King and the Mahatma's inability to disassemble a nuclear weapon is proof that they "willfully remain ignorant on things that would challenge their faith", how exactly?

okay ken_schwartz,

"The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it."

George Bernard Shaw

On that note I am finished wasting my time. I know you are going to say that I give up because you are masterful in your argument or I am stupid or ignorant or whatever; or perhaps you will praise your g-d for ousting yet another filthy atheist. But it doesn't matter...we are dust in the wind...

Study: Religion Might Not Make You Healthier

But, it does make you richer

- Pat Robertson ($ 11 billion net assets worth)
- John Wesley (As per today's economy $ 1.4 million a year)
- Benny Hinn (multi-millionaire. Net assets worth $ 705 million)
- Joyce Meyer ($ 4.28 million corporate jet + $ 1.7 million worth houses. She also pays herself a salary of $ 2, 08,200 from the Joyce Meyer Ministry account)
- Bill Creflo Dollar (Like his name, Creflo preaches the "Get Rich" Chrisitian policy. His current earnings are $ 48 million)
- Rory and Wendy (Net asset worth $ 36.5 million)

Posted by donnerboy at 2010-02-10 02:55 PM | Reply

Link?

You also forgot Al Gore at $100+ mil.

While your at it, can you paste Sharpton and Jackson in there? Or do they not report that sort of thing?

Richardspirit:

okay ken_schwartz,
"The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it."
George Bernard Shaw

On that note I am finished wasting my time. I know you are going to say that I give up because you are masterful in your argument or I am stupid or ignorant or whatever; or perhaps you will praise your g-d for ousting yet another filthy atheist. But it doesn't matter...we are dust in the wind...

What a strange post, completely unrelated to anything that's come before in this conversation.

Study: Religion Might Not Make You Healthier
But, it does make you richer
- Pat Robertson ($ 11 billion net assets worth)
- John Wesley (As per today's economy $ 1.4 million a year)
- Benny Hinn (multi-millionaire. Net assets worth $ 705 million)
- Joyce Meyer ($ 4.28 million corporate jet + $ 1.7 million worth houses. She also pays herself a salary of $ 2, 08,200 from the Joyce Meyer Ministry account)
- Bill Creflo Dollar (Like his name, Creflo preaches the "Get Rich" Chrisitian policy. His current earnings are $ 48 million)
- Rory and Wendy (Net asset worth $ 36.5 million)

Religion didn't make them wealthy, hucksterism did. They're in the same business as Ron Popeil and the Shamwow fellow.

Your ignorance of Gandhi is astounding.

It isn't the After School Special view, no. From our limited conversations I can guess that is why you are so "astounded". No one has gotten around to producing an HBO series with pictures and stuff. Heaven forbid you ever read something that flies in the face of your preconceived notions.

Many of those marching by his side were white Christians, along with white Jews, white atheists, white Agnostics, etc.

Not many, but most of the people on the other side were god-fearing christians whose support for segregation was firmly founded in the bible. Every single one of the guys in white robes were christians, and probably all of degenerates with fire hoses. They didn't even need to read to know what the bible said, their preachers told them. That's why the recipients of TLFBJ were who they were. King, like any honest person, knew exactly were slavery, segregation, and racism derive their powers.

Your ignorance of Gandhi is astounding.
It isn't the After School Special view, no.

Nor is it accurate.

You have an unfortunate habit, common among people with little education and no critical thinking skills, of applying characteristics of one to many, and vice versa.

You also have an unfortunate habit of ignoring anything which contradicts your personal biases, regardless of how irrational those biases might be.

As an example:

Many of those marching by his side were white Christians, along with white Jews, white atheists, white Agnostics, etc.
Not many, but most of the people on the other side were god-fearing christians whose support for segregation was firmly founded in the bible.

And the congressmen who authored legislation to restore equal rights to minorities were Christian, as were the justices in Brown v the Board of Education, etc.

Your prejudice against people of faith is every bit as irrational as a Klansman's prejudice against blacks, Catholics, and Jews.

"They're in the same business as Ron Popeil and the Shamwow fellow."

Not really, Ron actually has a product.

Not many, but most of the people on the other side were god-fearing christians whose support for segregation was firmly founded in the bible.

Strange you'll require another attempt at pointing out how ^that is false or irrational. Don't deflect this time, remember, that's embarrassing.

every bit as irrational as a Klansman's prejudice against blacks

Their prejudice has literary legitimacy, it is backed by god. You're free to assume the bible is irrational, and I'd agree, but the Klan followed scripture lest their souls burn in hell. They were behaving exactly as their god commands in no less than a dozen books of the bible. My prejudice is founded in the unchallenged fact that religious people use their god and books as a crutch to do evil things throughout history. You'd have to be a fool to disagree with that.

But don't let that stop you.

And the congressmen who...

Some were acting upon public pressure and/or their inner daemon. Others, namely southern democrate christians voted against CR65 and many like Strom Thurmon used the bible as an excuse. Had they all looked to god or the bible for insight the status quo religion fostered would have remained.

Not many, but most of the people on the other side were god-fearing christians whose support for segregation was firmly founded in the bible.
Strange you'll require another attempt at pointing out how ^that is false or irrational.

I've explained it to you at least twice, already. Perhaps you were too busy hyperventilating to understand what you were reading.

It's irrational to assign the characteristics or behavior of one or a few to the larger group. In this case, you're stupidly assigning the behavior of some who call themselves Christian to all who call themselves Christian. It would be as if a Christian pointed to your stupidity as evidence that all non-believers are imbeciles.

Conversely, you ignore or rationalize away any "good" done by believers, because it doesn't conform to your emotional, irrational prejudices.

My prejudice is founded in the unchallenged fact that religious people use their god and books as a crutch to do evil things throughout history.

Some have, some do. Most haven't, most do not. Quite the opposite, in fact.

You'd have to be an ignorant bigot to disagree with that, and I'm confident you will.

And the congressmen who...
Some were acting upon public pressure and/or their inner daemon. Others, namely southern democrate christians voted against CR65 and many like Strom Thurmon used the bible as an excuse. Had they all looked to god or the bible for insight the status quo religion fostered would have remained.

The perfect example of irrational, childish bigotry.

A believer does something bad? Par for the course.

A believer does something good? An outlier, or motivated by something bad.

You're a bigot, and not a particularly bright one at that.

"Religous ferver is driven by the agnostics...."

If you live long enough, you get to see---and hear---everything.

"Thanks for proving the religous and the monetheists continue to be willfully ignorant about things that challenge their faith...."

Mere rhetoric. Very few Christians I have ever, ever met behave as if they want to be willfully ignorant about anything. Much less any Christian that comes here, for what should be the obvious reasons.

I suppose there are some, though. But I think no more by relative percentage than the number of atheists I have met who lecture about Christianity and rarely, sometimes never, read the Bible.

Further, they'll inform you they're proud to argue with the religous from a position of ignorance. Which always seems freaking strange.

This is a tack most recently advanced by Dawkins and so the independent thinkers picked up on it, er, independently.

"Very few Christians I have ever, ever met behave as if they want to be willfully ignorant about anything. Much less any Christian that comes here..."

You're joking, right? A lot of the "Christians" here believe the moon is a light, simply because the Bible erroneously states as much.

#51 | Posted by richardrhine at 2010-02-10 11:15 AM | Reply | Flag:

"You're joking, right....?"

Not in any shape, way, or form. Really, you're the one who amazes me.

"Not in any shape, way, or form"

Then you're clueless.

Anyone who believes the Bible is inerrant has their head in the sand.

"Then your clueless...."

Mere namecalling DANFORTH. I've known you a while now. I think you have a clue; you should understand that I do as well.

" I think you have a clue; you should understand that I do as well. "

So do you actually believe a book with multiple provable errors is inerrant?

BTW...when you quote me, it's best to copy and paste. That way you won't misspell what I wrote.

"Anyone who believes the Bible is inerrant..."

The Bible is a fascinating book. There isn't another like it. Some people think it's magic. Most of those, I sincerely believe, aren't Christians.

"That way you won't misspell what I wrote...."

No need to be surly. You need to get over the idea you can't mow down the universe with the sheer force of your intellect, or you'll wind up like ZAT quicker than you think.

All spark and no plug is a bad way to go through life.

"Mere namecalling DANFORTH"

Nonsense. You're the one who suggested Christians aren't willfully ignorant, when they consistently shun facts proving them incorrect. The moon is a reflector of light, much like a mirror. Yet I've had at least a dozen discussions with apologists who refuse to admit that fact. What else is that, other than willful ignorance?

"They consistently shun facts that are incorrect...."

I just don't know those people, DANFORTH. Just don't know them.

"No need to be surly."

Look in your mirror. You're the one who misquoted me.

"You need to get over the idea you can't mow down the universe with the sheer force of your intellect'

If you can't keep up, just admit it.

I've had the "Monn" debate with you myself. I thought I disposed of it. You disagree. How surprising.

"Just don't know them."

I sure hope you can get all the sand out of your ears the day you decide to stand upright.

WHUPS---She would be "Moon", lest I provoke thy spelling wrath once further.

I just don't know them, DANFORTH. Sorry that reality doesn't always live up to your arid imaginings. Someone needs to give you a hug.

"I've had the "Monn" debate with you myself."

Yeah....and the "monn" still isn't a light, and never was. Convenient, isn't it, that apologists can claim the Bible is inerrant, until it's proven wrong, and then retreat to the "metaphor" stance.

"You disagree"

Only because the moon isn't a light, but a reflector of light. You'd never claim a mirror is a light, any more than a white wall reflecting light is an actual light. Why do you insist on being so intellectually dishonest, all the while pretending Christians aren't willfully ignorant?

"Sorry that reality doesn't always live up to your arid imaginings. "

Too fuckin' funny, coming from a guy who believes the moon is a light.

"And the Moon still isn't a light, never was...."

Your command of language, she be lacking. As is your sense of humor. Goodnight.

"Your command of language, she be lacking"

Hey, asshole, quote me correctly or fuck off. That's twice now. Misquoting me, and then bashing me based on your misquote, is cowardly.

Speaking of where science falls short and a proof of a designer...

Proof?

Lawls!

This word, you keep using this word. Spud don't think it means wot you think it means.

A lack of a proper scientific explanation fer anything is not any kind of "proof" of the existence of God.

God, throughout history, has been the default explanation fer anything Man couldn't explain.

Thunder and lightening?

God's pissed!

The universe?

God's home.

Volcano's?

God's pissed again.

Eclipses?

A sign from the Gods!

And so on and so forth.

The more humanity learns the smaller God becomes.

Be Well.

Do any of you actually read the article?

"Religion" was specified in such a broad way that probably 85% of THIS lost blog would qualify!
If any of you have actually read any of the "prayer and health-related studies" you'll see widely convergent studies with very different results.

Many include any religious faith, some specify specifically Christian (or I suppose other specific faiths).

Plus, many studies show what fat-arses many in the full-time ministry are.

The Christian faith making someone healthier is tenuous at best.

After Jesus' resurrection, every apostle, and many others, were martyred, and that happens often today in the rest of the world (actually Saint John, they tried to murder but it didn't work--look it up).

I had a Muslim tell me, after reading him a Bible verse here in America, "You mother______, I will f___ing kill you!"

I don't know any Christians who "signed on" for the health benefits...except maybe one friend who used to be gay.

"Hey asshole, quote me correctly or fuck off...."

Nothing wrong with you. Really, I mean it.

...A study of heart disease and clogged arteries finds that attending religious services or having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.

Well, duh. Nobody ever said going to church would keep you from having a heart attack or stroke.

How many of our tax dollars went to pay for this idiotic "study"?

(actually Saint John, they tried to murder but it didn't work--look it up).

Religion does offer many people a sense of comfort and hope when either they or a family member may have a serious illness to deal with.

Whether one's religious belief in God and use of prayer plays a definitive part in any actual healing or cure isn't the issue.

The benefit comes when one's religious beliefs help to lessen the extreme stress which so often accompanies a serious illness -- whether for the person who is ill or for their family members. So in that one sense, then yes, any method (including religion) which can assist in the lessening of stress provides both physical and mental benefit to the body.

I don't know any Christians who "signed on" for the health benefits...except maybe one friend who used to be gay.

~Cap'n Tiberius

Who says religion makes you healthy? I think I missed something ...

#100 | Posted by dethspud at 2010-02-11 12:46 AM | Reply | Flag:
A lack of a proper scientific explanation fer anything is not any kind of "proof" of the existence of God.

#81 | Posted by L_RContrarian at 2010-02-10 11:08 PM | Reply | Flag:

Earth was created very rapidly, not in millions of years.

A major sidestep, Spud? "Lack of proper scientific explanation" or a direct contradiction in science?

"the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun" Isaiah 30:26

ummm no sorry no it won't... it is a reflection of the sun. A God would have known this...at that time humans did not.

"For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. " Isaiah 13:10

Christians (not a God) thought that the moon was a light just like the sun and the stars

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

wrong again! the moon is not a light not even a lesser one it is nothing but a reflector. A God would know this.

1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

But, what else that is REALLY WRONG with this picture?

is it that God made light BEFORE he put the Stars and the Sun in the sky?

Neat trick God! That is why He is so awesome. He doesn't have to follow the rules of this Universe! Therefore He must be from outside it.

"Is it that God made light before He put the stars and sun in the sky...."

Not that you'd feel stupid of anything if you were caught out---I know you're quite beyond any simple sense of shame---But you just let yourself open to anyone who might suggest that in this universe light can come from something other than stars, or the sun, which come to think of it, is a star. I'll bet you knew that.

Just in passing: The Moon is in fact a light. It just doesn't generate any. Glad to settle that for you. Again.

Study: Religion Might Not Make You Healthier

But, it does make you richer

- Pat Robertson ($ 11 billion net assets worth)
- John Wesley (As per today's economy $ 1.4 million a year)
- Benny Hinn (multi-millionaire. Net assets worth $ 705 million)
- Joyce Meyer ($ 4.28 million corporate jet + $ 1.7 million worth houses. She also pays herself a salary of $ 2, 08,200 from the Joyce Meyer Ministry account)
- Bill Creflo Dollar (Like his name, Creflo preaches the "Get Rich" Chrisitian policy. His current earnings are $ 48 million)
- Rory and Wendy (Net asset worth $ 36.5 million)

#68 | Posted by donnerboy at 2010-02-10 02:55 PM | Reply | Flag: Flag: (Choose)
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Posted by donnerboy at 2010-02-10 02:55 PM | Reply

Link?

You also forgot Al Gore at $100+ mil.

#69 | Posted by SHEEPLESHEPERD at 2010-02-10 03:24 PM | Reply | Flag: Flag: (Choose)
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Tax free count for anything?