Dan Lietha #fundie

Dan Lietha #fundie answersingenesis.org

92 comments

old comment by Zoo

Hmm. . . well. . .

People ARE animals, but that was never told to us outright in class (not even in college if I recall, but I think they think you've figured it out by then). What's wrong with that anyway? Research keeps telling us that how different humans are from other animals is a matter of degree rather than kind.

Life has meaning, but it's not a universe revolves around me sort. Since you bring it up, consider a pathogen's 'purpose' is simply to fill a niche nothing else has taken up (not any fall or curse. . .). A human's purpose, besides what s/he chooses, is pretty much to adapt.

Science teachers are going to be in trouble when they start saying in class there is no god; it's not a topic for science class anyway. I can't recall it ever being even implied. Not even in the college class where the professor made comments on creationism (which was appropriate for that particular course).

What's wrong with life being an accident? If you're not taught this is a bad thing and that your life is what you make it (or you figure it out for yourself after a lifetime of hearing otherwise) there's no issue.

And what is it with you guys and absolutes? Some of us can handle that life is full of gray situations, and that a right answer one time might be the wrong one another time. And we tend to agree on the important absolutes anyway; humans deserve to not be killed by other humans, and people's stuff belongs to them and it's not ok to take it. We don't need a god for that.

Hey, look at that. I learned all these things and I still don't want to kill massive numbers of people (or any people).

old comment by Giveitaday

None of that has anything whatsoever to do with evolutionary theory. The ToE does not claim tha there are no absolutes, no "gods", or no meaning to life, and the fact that people are animals is quite fucking evident to anyone with eyes.

The problem I have with you creationists is that that you lie, you bear false witness, you misrepresent the views of millions of people, and the you lie some more, all in the name of your "god" who commanded you to not lie or bear false witness. So I'm left wondering "Does your own religion mean anything at all to you?", or do you just want so badly to be right, to feel superior, that you will go to any lengths to make yourself feel justified that your own supposedly sacred commandments with nary a second thought?

It seems to me that the only thing you care about your religion is being able to impose it by force of law on everyone else because you think it will somehow make all your bias and opinions the truth. Too. Bad. Even if the entire world fervently believed the sky was Red it would still be Blue.

old comment by Higgs Boson

School shootings are mercifully rare events, even though each individual one is a horrific tragedy. If there really were a correlation between learning evolution and school shootings they would literally be happening every day, all over the world.

The reason there are school shootings is because there have been previous school shootings, and every school shooting is heavily covered by the media. These sad, deranged kids are inspired by previous similar events and a feeling of total helplessness in a world they can't seem to fit into.

After the endless frustration of not being able to connect with their fellow human beings, they instead start to despise them, and know that by committing an act of extreme violence on them, they are finally guaranteed a few moments of the control over others that they crave, as the victims cower in fear in front of them.

old comment by Mister Spak

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5587616.html

EMORY, Texas Stunned high school students returned to campus Monday after three of their classmates and another man were arrested in the weekend massacre of an admired family.
Among those missing at rural Rains High School was a 16-year-old relatively new to campus, who authorities said killed her mother and two brothers with the help of a boyfriend she was forbidden to date again.
The lone survivor of the pre-dawn ambush Saturday was Terry Caffey, the girl's father. He was shot five times but managed to drag himself through the woods for help after his family was shot, stabbed and had their home set on fire.
Killed were Penny Caffey, 37, and sons Tyler, 8, and Mathew, 13.
Terry Caffey remains at East Texas Medical Center in nearby Tyler. He was last reported in critical but stable condition late Sunday, but the family has since asked the hospital to release no additional information.
At Rains High School, a steady rain fell as counselors inside were available to grieving students. Three of the four suspects arrested and charged with capital murder, including the Caffeys' daughter and her boyfriend, attended the school.
"These were students who had not been in trouble a great deal," Rains school district superintendent David Seago said just after classes started Monday. "Maybe some tardies and absences, but that's it."
Seago said the daughter, who police are not identifying because of her age, had enrolled in the school just six weeks earlier.

Classmates and Emory residents have said the girl previously had been homeschooled.

old comment by

You know what the real correlation with school shootings is?

Oh yeah, I remember!

The higher the access minors have to guns, the higher the amount of student shootings there are in that country!

Other contributing factors include a "gun culture" and the knowledge that suicide by cop is a surefire way to make sure you are remembered because the cops in America always seem to shoot to kill in these cases.

Seriously America needs to wake up to the obvious difference between itself and other western nations and examine the implications of such. That's not to say ban guns, but rather observe the regulation and real safety measures used in other country's.

Since Aus introduced strong gun regulation after the Port Arthur Massacre 20+ years ago there have been no gun massacres since while the USA seems to have at least 3 or more a year (and that's just what we hear about over here).

old comment by gremlinn

1. "Life is an accident." FALSE: an accident is a failure of adherence to intent. Without intent in the development of life there can be no accidents.

2. "Evolution." Supplying the word "happens", TRUE.

3. "Life has no meaning." TRUE, for "meaning" is a term applied to such things as words, symbols, signs, and willed actions. The word 'life' has meaning, for example. If this word is substituting for "purpose", then also TRUE (see 1 above).

4. "People are animals." TRUE. What, are they plants? Fungi?

5. "There is no god." Might as well be TRUE even if it's not.

6. "No absolutes." FALSE. No absolute morality, but this does not mean no absolutes whatsoever.

You got 4 out of 6 in your portrayal of Big Bad Secular Evil godless Education. Unfortunately, NONE of the statements, whether true or false, serve as a motivation for a student shooting.

Let's see if any Bible-based statements would better explain the motivation for a shooting:
1. "People who worship false gods should be put to death." Motivation for a student to shoot other students of different religions.
2. "Homosexuals should be put to death." Motivation for a student to shoot homosexuals.
3. "Accepting Jesus as your personal savior will earn you a trip to heaven." Motivation for a student to shoot sincere Christians, since this ensures they will go straight to heaven without the temptation to slide into atheism later in life and end up in hell.

Gee, it looks like the Bible can be used to justify a whole lot of student shootings.

old comment by Marc

remembered because the cops in America always seem to shoot to kill in these cases.

Why wouldn't they? If someone is shooting at you, presumably they wish to kill you. If you shoot only to incapacitate, you run the risk of two things:

1) You could miss. The parts of the body that will cause incapacitation (as opposed to death) are small (compared to center mass). It's harder to hit them. If you miss, your target can than fire back.

2) The target will still be conscious. In this case (which is likely), the target can still fire back.

While I agree with you that a gun culture is a bad thing, and that using weapons that incapacitate is better than weapons that kill, for the time being here in the US, our police use guns. Since guns cannot just incapacitate, it is better to shoot for center mass to prevent the target from killing you first.

old comment by observiNG

@ TheReligiousCommie: Seconded. Epic fail is epic.

On the comic in question; I personally found myself cherishing human life much more after my de-conversion, when life, according to this comic, lost all meaning to me.

Christianity teaches you that this life is a "test from God" at best, and worthless shit at worst, and that after death you really get to live, forever and ever. Humanism, though, which requires no religion (is atheistic), is based on the premise that we live but once, and this life is all you have, and that everyone should be treated as you'd like them to treat you. Now, who, do you think, would be more likely to shoot at a bunch of people -- the one who believes that once they are gone, they are gone and there is no turning back, or the one for whom this whole thing is transitional and not real, before you get to the next level, kind of like in a computer game?

Actually, scratch that. A sane person won't shoot at a crowd, no matter what their religious views are.

Also the people who use tragedies of others to advance their agenda are truly despicable.

old comment by Swede

Here in Sweden biology and religion are two different subjects in school. We learn about all kinds of religion and everyone is free to choose whichever they like, or none for that matter. People are choosing to leave the church in such droves that the churches now have a problem with the economy.
Evolution is intermingled in the things we learn in biology, nothing particulary special about that, it just is, just like photosynthesis.

It's rather difficult to get a gun here. You have to have a hunter's certificate or be a member of a target shooting club. The gun must be kept in a special locker, with gun and ammo separated. Carrying permits is not an issue at all, only policemen, customs officers, coastal guards and the like are allowed to carry guns, when they work.

I don't think we ever have had a school shooting here in Sweden.

old comment by

Why would Johnny read and write stupid things like that? And so what if people are animals? Animals deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.

Life has meaning in and of itself; the meaning of life is to live as good a life as you can, and hopefully leave some kind of beneficial legacy behind when you die.

There ARE no absolutes. In most countries it's wrong to kill, but some of those countries have the death penalty. The death penalty, when carried out, kills a person. Not even the Bible has absolutes; God says "Do not kill" on one page, on another page he says "Kill every man, woman, child and ox in the land".

If lack of gods make you shoot people, how come the US has so many school shootings, and Sweden have not had a single school shooting yet. Is Sweden so much more religious than the US?

Dan Lietha #fundie answersingenesis.org

92 comments

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