Joe B

To be honest, I'm a Pats fan, but what he's done this year is incredible. I mean, the talent of the '07 team was MUCH better than this year and he still went 14-2. Also, I don't think his success is due to physical talent...he completes the 6 yd passes to receivers running full speed like no one ever has. That, I believe, is the key to success in the NFL (that and recognizing and adapting to defenses). Thoughts?

Thanks

Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell, etc. and of course common sense has clearly PROVED that religion within the narrow scope of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc, is incorrect. C'mon...virgin birth, talking snakes, walking on water, earth is 3000 years old, etc. I admit that Dawkins can't answer questions regarding whether there was a designer behind evolution, the sunrise, and sunset, etc. Maybe there was...but to believe in the "Jesus is God/Mohammed is God" myth that has been perpetuated for centuries is baffling to me. You are the same people that would have believed in Isis and Thor thousands of years ago. How do you not see that and why is "I don't know" so frightening?

...don't fill an unknown "gap" with something that feels safe

Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin, and of course common sense has clearly PROVED that religion within the narrow scope of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc, is incorrect. C'mon...virgin birth, talking snakes, walking on water, earth is 3000 years old, etc. I admit that Dawkins can't answer questions regarding whether there was a designer behind evolution, the sunrise, and sunset, etc. Maybe there was...but to believe in the "Jesus is God/Mohammed is God" myth that has been perpetuated for centuries is baffling to me. You are the same people that would have believed in Thor thousands of years ago. How do you not see that and why is "I don't know" so frightening?

when there is evidence that the founding fathers were both for and against Christianity...there is irrefutable evidence that many of the founding fathers were in favor of slavery. Doesn't their wrong opinion on slavery render any other opinion regarding Christianity pointless? While the Constitution is a valuable and mostly great document, why do Christians put it on a pedestool as if it was delivered by Moses on the Mount (as if that story were true too)?

I am told that 91% of Americans believe in God. Why are the majority of people on here non-believers? Is it possible that agnostics/atheists are underrepresented in these studies? If so, why? Or does the small minority of non-believers just have no life so therefore have to entertain themselves by discussing theological issues with strangers? (BTW, I am agnostic).

the last day before a 2 week break. I have one student (a black kid) who never said a word before we began this unit....Now that he has, I know he is sharp as a tack. I want to inspire this kid because he will do great things if pushed in the right direction. Does anyone know of a video that includes MLK's great '63 speach, but also has some relevance to the Civil War?

I am an agnostic, but wholeheartedly believe that if God does exist, He does not exist in the narrow scope in which Christians, Muslims, etc. define Him. Science has continually disproved the bible and koran, but there are still two questions we can't solve...where we came from and where we are going after death. Why is it so hard to say, "I don't know". Do you find it somewhat absurd that atheist writers observe without an agenda, while religious writers start with the preconceived notion that there IS a God and only examine "evidence" within that narrow scope?

All I encounter is Dylan snobs who don't want to be associated with rap and ignorant Eminem fans that would never even listen to Dylan (that old acoustic guitar fk)...These are two brilliant artists and, though very different, come from the exactly same place...the message, I mean...

Frankly, I didnt come. But she is a week before her fertile period. I know its not 100%, but what are the chances shes pregnant?

I know that this is a problematic philosophy...essentially if God is all good and all powerful, why is there evil? Or more specifically...

Logical problem of evil

God exists. (premise)

God is omnipotent and omniscient. (premise — or true by definition of the word "God")

God is all-benevolent. (premise — or true by definition)

All-benevolent beings are opposed to all evil. (premise — or true by definition)

All-benevolent beings who can eliminate evil will do so immediately when they become aware of it. (premise)

God is opposed to all evil. (conclusion from 3 and 4)

God can eliminate evil completely and immediately. (conclusion from 2)

Whatever the end result of suffering is, God can bring it about by ways that do not include suffering. (conclusion from 2)

God has no reason not to eliminate evil. (conclusion from 7.1)

God has no reason not to act immediately. (conclusion from 5)

God will eliminate evil completely and immediately. (conclusion from 6, 7.2 and 7.3)

Evil exists, has existed, and probably will always exist. (premise)

Items 8 and 9 are contradictory; therefore, one or more of the premises is false: either God does not exist, evil does not exist, God is not simultaneously omnipotent, omniscient and all-benevolent, or all-benevolent beings who can eliminate evil will not necessarily do so immediately when they become aware of it.

I know that this is a philosophy that has been examined and reexamined time and time again, but I don't think I have ever found validity in the counter-argument. There are many intelligent people that I know that still have faith, yet I do not. Can someone offer me an argument to help me believe in an all-powerful and all-good God in light of the argument that was initially proposed by Epicurus 2300 years ago?

I mean, I agree with him...but the devotion that we are showing the man is starting to remind me of a different group of people that are pretty fond of a man that may or may not have lived 2000 years ago. Can't even glance in R&S without seeing his name (oops, perhaps this post isn't helping us get him out of our collective consciousness). I think we need to at least give credit to some of our other friends (Sam Harris, Bertrand Russel, oh and especially Mark Twain). Do we need to quit the Dawkins worship or is he worthy of our worship?

(apologies to all the cynics out there who take comfort in the belief that all politicians are greedy and evil). My differences with Obama lie in policy, not integrity (Sorry Ann Coultier, Obama is neither the Antichrist, nor a Socialist). I am happy for the black community and realize what an important statement this election has made toward racial equality in our country. However, what troubles me is the blind Obama supporters who voted for him for reasons not based in policy or experience, but simply BECAUSE he is black and BECAUSE he is a great orator. I truly doubt that Obama, given his age and experience, would ever have been elected if he were white...and in some ways, does that really mean that we have moved beyond the issue of race, or has the pendulum just swung (with due respect, I still realize there is significant racism against blacks in everyday America)? But I do believe that race played a significant role in this election. Agree/Disagree?

I mean, I don't get it. Why is all this money being spent to prevent this? Outside of religious reasons, what are practical reasons as to why a same sex couple shouldn't marry? And I don't mean civil unions either...marriage (does it really matter what word we use to define it?) I'm just a heterosexual male that would like to know...

Would you have been equally devoted to Mohammed as you are to Christ if you were born to Shiite parents in Basra or would the power of Christ have compelled you to break the chains of Islam and turn to the one true savior?

He doesn't seem so loving, caring, and accepting here. Did the author make a mistake? Why is Jesus so jealous that we might have a closer relationship with our mother or father instead of with Him? He seems quite threatening.

Matthew 10:34-39 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."