Progress: The Three Presidential Candidates All Accept Evolution

I'm sure John Hagee has done everything in his power to get John McCain to stop "believing" in evolution. Probably threatened not to support him, may have even offered him hookers. But so far McCain hasn't changed sold out on the evolution issue.

Now Hagee and the rest of the Republican supporting Young Earth Creationists have a choice: McCain or to write in JC.

Here is what McCain has said regarding evolution:

From his 2005 book "Character is Destiny":

"Darwin helped explain nature’s laws. He did not speculate, in his published theories at least, on the origin of life. He did not exclude God, for Whom the immensity of time is but a moment, from our presence. The only undeniable challenge the theory of evolution poses to Christian beliefs is its obvious contradiction of the idea that God created the world as it is in less than a week. But our faith is certainly not so weak that it can be shaken to learn that a biblical metaphor is not literal history. Nature doesn’t threaten our faith. On the contrary, when we contemplate its beauty and mysteries we cannot quiet in our heart an insistent impulse of belief that for all its variations and inevitable change, before its creation, in a time before time, God let it be so, and, thus, its many splendors and purposes abide in His purpose.”

And this after saying he believed in evolution:

"But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also." It turns out that McCain's views have, well, evolved over time. Back in 2005, McCain thought that intelligent design should be taught in public school science classes because "all points of view should be presented." By the next year, McCain said that he respected those who believed that world was created in seven days. However, he asked, "Should it be taught in a science class? Probably not."

Looks like he followed the Dover Trial or at least was made aware of the crock that intelligent design is.


Now for the Democrats

...in October The New York Times quoted Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) as declaring, ''I believe in evolution, and I am shocked at some of the things that people in public life have been saying." She added, "I believe that our founders had faith in reason and they also had faith in God, and one of our gifts from God is the ability to reason."

“I am grateful that I have the ability to look at dinosaur bones and draw my own conclusions,” she added, saying, too, that antibiotic-resistant bacteria is evidence that “evolution is going on as we speak.”

Obama hasn't said much about evolution versus creation but he did say this:

"It's not 'faith' if you are absolutely certain," Obama said, noting that he didn't believe his lack of "faith" would hurt him a national election. "Evolution is more grounded in my experience than angels."

"Substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution." Obama declared in that speech that the single biggest political gap in America was "between those who attend church regularly and those who don't." He then excoriated "conservative leaders" for exploiting this gap by suggesting that "religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design." At the very least, this implies that Obama believes intelligent design is unnecessarily divisive.

OK, now for some quick US political quips from an atheist Jew in Canada:

If Hillary really wants to win the Democrat nomination all she has to do is get a reporter to ask Obama if he thinks OJ killed Nicole. There is no right answer for Obama, either way he'll lose enough votes to blow his chances.

I wonder if Eliot Spitzer is an atheist Jew. I know he is an ethnic one. Apparently he grew up in a very secular household and he never had a Bar Mitzvah. Not having a Bar Mitzvah might be why he is in the news right not. There was a survey done at an Israeli University that showed that Jews who never had a Bar Mitzvah were most likely to overpay for hookers.

The difference between a Democrat and a Republican? Democrats have sex with female hookers.

AL JAZEERA APOLOGIZES FOR ALLOWING TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM TO BE TOLD

Al Jazeera apology for guest remark

Al Jazeera has apologised for "offensive" remarks made by a guest during a live debate about the reprinting of cartoons in Denmark said to insult Prophet Muhammad.

In a statement on Wednesday, Al Jazeera expressed its "deepest apologies" for comments made by Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born US-based academic, which "offended Islam".

The comments were made during the Tuesday evening debate on the talk show "The Opposite Direction".

The statement did not say what offensive remarks had been made in the programme, which was moderated by Al Jazeera's Faisal al-Qassem.

Sultan has drawn strong criticism for her controversial views on how Islam needs to be reinterpreted to suit the modern world.

Protests have raged across the Muslim world since several Danish newspapers recently reprinted a drawing featuring the prophet.

The cartoon, first published in early 2006, caused days of protests worldwide, including in Afghanistan, where 11 people were killed.

Al Jazeera is based in the Gulf state of Qatar.
****************************************************

So what exactly did Wafa Sultan say?

"The Muslim is an irrational creature ruled by instincts. Those teachings have deprived him of his mind, incited his emotions, and reduced him to the level of an inferior creature that cannot control himself or react to events rationally."

"Why are they upset about what is going on in Gaza, while the Koran says to them: 'They shall kill and be killed.' So here they are – killing and being killed. What's wrong with that?"

"...you know that you cannot separate Islam from politics...Islam says to them that they will 'kill or be killed', and here they are—killing and being killed. So what's wrong with that? They want to be martyred and to meet their black-eyed virgins, and Israel is merely helping them get what they want. What's wrong with that? If you want to change the course of events, you must reexamine your terrorist teachings, you must recognize and respect the right of the other to live, you must teach your children love, peace, coexistence, and productive work. When you do that, the world will respect you, will consider you in a better light, and will draw you in a better light."

Read the whole thing at Elder of Ziyon's blog.

If you don't believe Wafa Sultan's words perhaps you'd like to explain the recent Jerusalem shooting? The shooting it typical of the Islamic mentality which makes no distinction between purposely targeting civilians versus purposely targeting military.
Hey lets forget the shooting, lets just look at the Palestinian's culture and their reaction to the shooting. Remember, it was mostly 14 and 15 year old students who were senselessly shot to death while studying. Again, back to Elder of Ziyon's blog for the reactions.

I can tell you, the majority of Jews are grief stricken when a Palestinian child dies (I know there is a minority that doesn't get upset too; the indecent minority) when Israel defends herself. But when a Jewish child is murdered, the Palestinians collectively rejoice.

What a sick culture. Today's Islam is a cancer on humanity.

Sorry Sherlock, Moses Wasn't High On Drugs

'According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.......the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, contain the same molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared....."As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either. Or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics."

I'm not going to defend Moses on this one or ancient Jews in Israel. I'm sure there have always been plants and concoctions throughout time that have had mind altering affects.

There is evidence that the acacia tree was around in Israel 3300 hundred years ago. But there is no evidence Moses existed, and even "negative evidence" that the Exodus occurred.

The story of Moses and the Exodus was most certainly a work of fiction that most likely got orally transmitted around 650-800 AD, until it was finally written down by Ezra and company around 450 BC.

Again I will link this fascinating video "The Bible Unearthed." Seriously, watch the series if you are at all interested in this topic (the history of Judaism) whatsoever. It is a real eye opener.

I look at history this way. If something deemed historical "factually" describes a supernatural event, then it is not historical non fiction; it is historical fiction.
I've lived on this planet for 47 years, and I've yet to witness a supernatural event. Even in an age with all sorts of cameras, I've seen nothing recorded that is supernatural. I've yet to see anyone fly, or an amputee magically grow back a limb.
I've never heard God's voice or has anyone ever recorded God's voice. Invisible people don't go to my house and move furniture. When I see a tooth brush in the kitchen, I know my cat brought it down the stairs.

My point is, that in order for history to be put together, all sources that claim the supernatural need to be ignored as fantasy. Dated real letters, archaeological artifacts, secular historian writings, etc. is what needs to be looked at to figure out what really happened.

There should be lots of evidence that Jesus existed found dated between 1-40 AD for example. None is found. Doesn't mean he didn't exist, but it does mean that it is highly unlikely. We do know someone started Christianity, and it was probably Paul or someone exactly like Paul. But as Rook Hawkins from Rational Response Squad points out, Paul never talked about Jesus as a historical person.
So it is possible that Paul was smoking or snorting too much acacia.

The same is true with the Exodus, but if you watch the video, the case for the Exodus is even less probable than a historical Jesus. Canaan was already full of Egyptians at the time the Exodus was to have occurred, and monotheism didn't appear until between 650-450 BC. If oral history had any legs, there should be immediate evidence that Jews worshiped one God from the Exodus on. The evidence points that Jews were most likely an ethnicity first, and then the ethnicity started a religion followed by the masses in a localized area by 450 BC.

No doubt, the original writers of these stories had very good imaginations, and it is highly possible they were doing mind altering substances when they made the stuff up.

Sherlock Holmes' author Sir Conan Doyle had a heroin/coke habit. Great imagination. He even gave Holmes a heroin/morphine habit which apparently helped give Sherlock that extra edge to be the greatest detective ever.

The "Burning Bush" could easily of been an acacia tree on fire. And the affects on anyone breathing in the fumes would have made them awfully creative.

The original dude who made up the Exodus/Moses story probably sounded a lot like Cheech and Chong with a middle eastern accent. No doubt he thought he was talking to that bush and the bush was talking back, giving him "the history" of Jewish people.

Tagged: Six Unimportant Things About Me

I've been tagged by fellow Canadian atheist and Zionist extraordinaire Robert Jago from A Dime A Dozen blog.

Meme: Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

There are so many "unimportant" things about me, that choosing 6 is a bit of a task. I'll give it a shot any hoot:

1. I have a hard time throwing things out. Like record albums I will most probably never play again, and even tapes as well.

2. When I start thinking about mortality, I have learned to quickly find something entertaining to do.

3. I've always been attracted to older women, well until recently when I hit 45. I'm still not into 20 year olds though. Important thing note: My wife never reads my blog:)

4. When I dream I almost always have a full head of hair.

5. I've been a pacer all my life (I just caught myself pacing while thinking about what to write here). I sometimes worry about stupid stuff too. I'll check to see if my dog, Daisy is breathing alright if I wake in the middle of the night (she has slept on our bed since she was a puppy). I never check to see if my wife is breathing though:)

6. I cognizantly avoid manual labour whenever possible.

I will now tag The Temple Whore, Basiorana, Rondi, Lex, and Gert.

Before I click Publish Post, I want to let my readers know of a few blog sites I've been hanging around of late:
God Is For Suckers has always been a fave of mine. Atheist Media keeps finding great stuff and updates quite a few times a day. The new kid in town, The Atheist Blogger, has been able to attract a few off the wall Fundy commenters which leads to some entertaining discussions. And finally, speaking of off the wall Fundies, check out Christian Cross Talk. The guy is nuts. So far gone, that many people think he is a sarcastic atheist. Not me though, he seems to be just an extreme assmonkey Fundy. One thing I admire about him though, he is still allowing us lowly atheists to comment to our hearts content, something almost unheard of when it comes to Fundy bloggers.

Americans Just Can't Decide Which God Is Right

Wow. 44% of Americans have changed religion from the one they were raised in to the one (or none) that they are in now. That is amazing. You'd figure that today's religions have figured out how to make their Good Books solid by now:)
Which religion is attracting the highest amount of recruits? Those who affiliate themselves with NO religion. I realize this includes many who believe in God, but just don't buy into the crap that religion has to offer, but it includes many who have morphed into atheist or agnostic, like me.
No surprise, the Protestants (the Fundy ones) are losing the highest percentage of their flock. The Fundy lies that are taught, like the Great Flood, a young earth, and their anti-evolution bs, has no doubt turned many faithful into doubters. Once they figure out about the lies, and yes, Young Earth Creationism is a proven lie, impressionable intelligent most likely question everything to do with their forced upon religion and then the existence of Jesus, Moses and God himself/herself/itself.

The survey didn't give reasons for change in religions. I'm sure marriage is a big one. The stringent rules that Catholicism offers probably turns a few off especially when it comes to the simplicity that goes with being a Baptist.
Baptists can go to strip joints as observers and even attempt to save the odd stripper, where Catholics have to repent for even thinking about going into such an establishment.
I have to think that the big reason for switch is what I mentioned earlier. We are in the information age, and the internet, schools, and nature/science TV shows have to have a major influence on making quite a few people just shake their heads when it comes to religion.
Note to Fundies: Start accepting evolution, or your flock will disappear slowly but surely. All that will be left will be a bunch of low IQ Yokels. Look up theistic evolution and bend your Holy Book a tad so that you can accept science instead of deny science.