Comments for Why Evolution Is True

Comment on Ricky Gervais causes a stir by suggesting that people send $$ rather than prayers to Oklahoma by Ben Goren

Ben Goren — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:54:59 +0000

I’ll actually be sacrificing a chicken tonight. well, several, actually — I’ve got a family pack of thighs in the ‘fridge, and they’ll be unceremoniously dumped in the pressure cooker with some carrots, onions, celery, parsley, dill, salt, pepper, a splash of wine, and enough water to cover.

I anticipate I will interpret it as an omen of good meals all week long. There’ll be the soup tonight, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken pot pie, chicken noodle casserole, cold shredded chicken over chilled noodles with a Chinese peanut sauce — and that’s just the meat. The broth will go into sauces and arroz con pollo and refried beans and…

…and who says that animal sacrifice is history or somehow evil?

Cheers,

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by dunnfjfrancis

dunnfjfrancis — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:53:07 +0000

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by Dermot C

Dermot C — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:49:40 +0000

Yup, looks to me like a kind of Pelagian heresy on the Pope’s part; Augustine of Hippo (who, as far as I interpret it, was a proto-Protestant) did for poor old Pelagius.

They do half get in a bind on this faith and/or works conundrum.

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by Alex Shuffell

Alex Shuffell — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:48:55 +0000

The Pope is such a wonderful human being, deserving of his divine status. Atheists can be good people, can you understand how much courage that took and how deep an intellect that shows? Sometimes he touches sick and disabled people and says a magic spell. As an atheist I can never understand the amount of compassion it takes to do a truly selfless and compassionate act such as that. Next he will be saying that perhaps women can be intelligent too, if they study hard enough!

Comment on Yet more felids: the Javan leopard by Ben Goren

Ben Goren — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:45:58 +0000

Thanks for that.

I did a bit of poking around on timetree.org…and couldn’t find any pattern. But it was interesting to note that the LCA between jaguars and (leopards, tigers, lions) is all in the ~3MYA range…while the LCA between mountain lions (the only other big cat whose range intersects with the jaguar) and jaguars is ~12MYA. I think the jaguar might actually be more closely related to the cheetah than the puma…be nice to see it laid out in a family tree….

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by makagutu

makagutu — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:43:10 +0000

Oh yes, that is could be possible. He could have exorcised a fellow and the devil decides to possess him.

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by gbjames

gbjames — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:42:54 +0000

That a pope would wrap a perfectly obvious idea (treat people who do good things with respect) and wrap it up in the poison of religious condescension is really not much of a surprise.

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by Diana MacPherson

Diana MacPherson — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:42:09 +0000

….or that the devil made him do it since he seems somewhat devil obsessed.

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by ChrisKG

ChrisKG — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:41:50 +0000

“[H]e who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil”, said the Pope. So, he’s playing the old “you’re either with me or against me” card. Now that sophisticated theology right there. I can’t wait for the witch burnings.

Comment on Pope Francis inadvertently performs exorcism, then condescends to atheists by Jolo

Jolo — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:41:17 +0000

RE: Good works by atheists

At another site I read, this got into a discussion about how Catholics can see you as almost redeemed because you do good works, but Protestants don’t. My meager understanding is that Roman Catholicism says the path to Jesus is “faith & works”, while Protestantism is “faith not works”. I checked with a coworker (The Angry Christian) and he agrees with that assessment.