On the Nature of Things | Forum

Atheists, unfortunately, have absolutely no weapon to overcome this. God in the end and not surprisingly has the trump cards. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson espoused about his Christian faith in a recent documentary entitled “The Making of a Champion.” In the video, Wilson, 24, describ...

Typhoon, RE: Axis offsets -- this is one of the rare cases where it's justified -- a shift of 4.5% of the US working age population translates into a shift of 11 million people from the job market to wherever people go when they don't work anymore, most likely these days disability benefits. It's no...

Has anyone here read or heard of Don Cupitt?

I've just discovered him and Steven Batchelor. Was curious to hear any opinions...

Like in WWII, on the Eastern front? Like in Hiroshima, Saigon and Kandahar. Saigon, in South Vietnam? and (if not already then soon-to-be) Taliban-occupied Kandahar? Still, 1/3 isn't bad. Even if it does, I am still to be convinced that that advances your initial point in any way. I am not clear yo...

It's an asymptote but I digress. http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/05/robot-threat The economist is now saying what I have been saying. Oh no, it's the Hive Mind again. Doubtful. If Terminator is to be believed, that's a losing battle. Doubtful. Humans are pretty durable compar...

Some extra graphs:

Of course, these are just correlations.


The above includes all deaths, including suicide, accidental and defensive use. Which is why they will seem larger then the homicide rate.

One flower does not spring make, nor does one case prove a point. I lack a strong view on the issue myself, but here's some contrary evidence, more statistically grounded: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/07/gun-violence-study-chicago/1969227/ Study: States with more gun laws have l...

It's an asymptote but I digress. http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/05/robot-threat The economist is now saying what I have been saying. Oh no, it's the Hive Mind again. Doubtful. If Terminator is to be believed, that's a losing battle. Doubtful. Humans are pretty durable compar...

The real problems with that analysis are: 1: If/when this market crashes debt to gdp will soar once again for America as gdp contracts and revenues fall, as in 2000 and 2008-2009. We'll be at 120-130% debt to gdp in a sneeze, in a few months time and we're just getting started borrowing. Japan is o...

We're facing I think the largest bubbles of all time at the moment. Juggs and others were thinking that Obama would stumble on the economy in the 2nd term and conservatives would reap the benefits and finally start rebuilding America. This was never in the cards, it was a fatal mistake to think tha...

Well, just as the Catholic Church has lost a tremendous amount of respect because of the numerous rape and sexual abuse scandals, so do Muslims suffer in a similar way because of the actions of a minority. If a majority of Egyptian Muslims thought that killing Copts is a religious duty, all the Copt...

This entire thread is a continuation of your defense of Harris from the New Atheism thread, minus the vitriolic attacks on Harris' critics, and minus Harris' overt calls for violence. No it is not. It is my bringing hard cold data about attitudes prevalent in Muslim societies, and your being unable...

Harassment of Copts has been an ongoing problem in Egypt forever no Arab Muslim would think to harass or kill his Coptic neighbors So how do they do it then? Go to the next town over when they get the urge to burn a church? Take a bus and hack a Copt? I don't understand your question. Your first st...

This entire thread is a continuation of your defense of Harris from the New Atheism thread, minus the vitriolic attacks on Harris' critics, and minus Harris' overt calls for violence. No it is not. It is my bringing hard cold data about attitudes prevalent in Muslim societies, and your being unable...

Harassment of Copts has been an ongoing problem in Egypt forever no Arab Muslim would think to harass or kill his Coptic neighbors So how do they do it then? Go to the next town over when they get the urge to burn a church? Take a bus and hack a Copt? I don't understand your question. Your first st...

Ah, well every retreat starts with the first step. You started out by echoing Harris' claim that Islam doesn't produce civil societies, now you're saying they aren't "effective" civil societies. Looking forward to see how this idea is developed. Red herring. Where did I ever "echo Ha...

This, of course, springs from Taboo's vitriolic response to criticism of Sam Harris. The argument was, and as far as I can tell still is, that Islam has no civil society, or cannot have a civil society, because some number of people in some number of majority-Muslim countries want laws against blas...

In almost every European country today (i.e. not Germany or Norway) it makes no sense for the majority of the population to vote for anyone but leftist parties. The conservatives only offer austerity that will make your life worse if you are working class, and of course if you are unemployed. And u...

http://i41.tinypic.com/eanmgg.png In one of the most hilarious polls released by Pew, 38,000 people in mostly-Muslim countries were asked about freedom of religion. Muslims in some countries both strongly approve of religious freedom—and overwhelmingly support the death penalty for apostates from I...

I think it is clear that the US has no strategic interest in helping either of the parties involved in the war. Neither the Iran and Hizbullah-backed regime not the increasingly jihadist rebels have any sympathy for the US or the Western world-view. The best strategy is to just sit and do nothing.

A quote from an 1899 book by Winston Churchill, "The River War", in which he describes Muslims he apparently observed during Kitchener's campaign in the Sudan" "How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as danger...

how can i quote you when i already addressed the exaggerations in the op article, followed by your refusal to face the fact that a number of Muslim countries have the death penalty and many others jail or metal asylum for being an atheist. That's not relevant to the point of any of the three articl...

Just realized that Ibrahim "replied," with the usual distortions and selective replies. False accusation which you have, unsurprisingly, chosen not to substantiate with quotes. The text of the article, and everyone's comments, are all available. I think we can safely take a pass on your t...

Harassment of Copts has been an ongoing problem in Egypt forever, but the main thing I'd try to communicate to people unfamiliar with Egypt is that its not an accepted thing. There are too many people who do think its ok, but they don't approach anything like a majority. Even most of those who lite...

Just realized that Ibrahim "replied," with the usual distortions and selective replies. On Civil society, Harris states "What constitutes a civil society? At minimum, it is a place where ideas, of all kinds, can be criticized without the risk of physical violence. If you live in a lan...