The banana man thinks he’s got atheists on the run

Ray Comfort has a new site, Pull the plug on atheism. It’s a series of short pages which consist mainly of plugs for some bad books he is peddling, with a few paragraphs in which he announces a few of his misconceptions about atheism, with the air of one who has trounced every objection. It really is as bad as his pathetic blog.

For instance, the first thing he does is define what he means by atheist.

An atheist is someone who believes that nothing made everything.

Then he goes on and on with fallacious analogies: “Imagine if I said my latest book came from nothing.” Imagine if I say that I don’t believe a builder build my house.” It’s quite sad.

His analogies are foolish. We know how houses and books are made, so he’s peddling a counterfactual claim. We don’t know all the processes that went into the appearance of the universe — and that “we” includes Ray Comfort — so it is an open question. I’m quite sure it wasn’t his imaginary Christian god, since there is no reason to consider the accounts of his faith to be accurate.

He’s also relying on trickery with the language. When we say “made”, it implies an active event by an agent, so what he is doing is setting up a linguistic conflict between a word that implies agency and an event that scientists are saying was not necessarily caused. The conflict isn’t real, but is only a consequence of a limitation of language and the way our brains work.

And of course, he doesn’t bother with this problem: who made god? I can guess how he’d respond: there was no “who”, and god wasn’t “made”. At which time we do a little judo move and point out that the universe wasn’t “made” by a “who”, either.

He also continues to harp on a very silly argument, the claim that evolution is impossible because both sexes need to evolve simultaneously.

If any species came into existence without a mature female present (with complimentary female components), that one male would have remained alone and in time died. The species could not have survived without a female. Why did hundreds of thousands of animals, fish, reptiles and birds (over millions of years) evolve a female partner (that coincidentally matured at just the right time) with each species?

Curiously, he seems to think that a species is defined by the first male of the kind that appears, and females have to follow along. Weird. Sexist much?

Of course, it’s no problem at all. Species do not poof into existence as individuals without parents, siblings, cousins, or other distant relatives. Populations evolve — populations consisting of both sexes. If the population of the state of Minnesota got on board their rocketships and migrated en masse to underground colonies on the moon, and then had no further contact with the rest of humanity for a hundred thousand years, the two populations would diverge by drift and selection into different species. The population in each location would be continually interbreeding; at no point (except in the isolation mechanism) would there be a sudden transition where one group found itself consisting solely of one reproductively isolated male or female, waiting for a member of the other sex to pop into existence and give them something fun to do. Nor would anyone be able to look back and say precisely when their biology became incompatible — it would be fuzzy shifts among large numbers of people at all times.

But that’s Ray: deluded and confused and ignorant, but still plugging away obstinately with the certainty of tightly closed eyes.

Abort a doughnut today!

It’s inauguration day, and in a fine old American tradition, every event must be associated with a commercial tie-in. Krispy Kreme dougnuts is offering a free choice of a doughnut in honor of the change in presidents.

Did you hear that? Free choice of a doughnut?

Get it? Choice?

Yeah, I know, most of you aren’t obsessive lunatics, so it’s not obvious. You need to see the press release sent out by the American Life League.

The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America is that ‘choice’ is synonymous with abortion access, and celebration of ‘freedom of choice’ is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand.

Buying a doughnut is now interpreted as endorsing abortion. This is insane.

Unfortunately, another fine American tradition is the compounding of the insanity. Krispy Kreme caved and rewrote their advertising copy to carefully spell out at the end that “the Inauguration Day promotion is not about any social or political issue.”

I’m sorry, world. Some Americans are flaming morons, and the rest of us fall ass-over-ankles to cater to them.

Did someone say “cognitive impairment”?

Alzheimer’s disease is a serious problem that causes devastating and progressive mental deficits, and we need to have some of our best minds working on it. So what are these two jokers contributing?

Dr. Michael Salla’s work in Exopolitics seeks to inspire humanity to appreciate pathological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Dementia within a broader context of Extraterrestrial activities, which have been repressed from a vital body of human knowledge. Dr. Salla and his colleagues seek to disclose insight and awareness of Extraterrestrial activities that are potentially having profound effects on the quality of human survival, and human sovereignty on our planet Earth. Dr. Salla specifically documents Manipulative Extraterrestrials that use mind control weapons technologies, that interfere with human cognitive functions. Could Alzheimer’s be a side effect of an alleged interference in human cognitive functions?

Dr. John Lash’s voluminous historical research focused on Pagan Gnostics, that documented their discovery of Manipulative Extraterrestrials referred to by Dr. Salla. The Pagan Gnostics referred to a constituency of Manipulative Extraterrestrials that apparently has played a key leading role in an alleged agenda of mind control against humankind, as the “archons”.

Salla and Lash — you aren’t helping.

Maybe he has a Ph.D. in philosophy, and that’s why he’s driving a bus?

Mr Ron Heather, Unprofessional Bus Driver and Pompous Faith-Head, has decided to become briefly famous for his stupidity by refusing to do his job and drive a bus with advertising on it.

Mr Heather told BBC Radio Solent: “I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.

“I felt that I could not drive that bus, I told my managers and they said they haven’t got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did.

“I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God.”

Apparently, passing an intelligence test is not required to qualify for a job driving a bus, since a sign that says, “There probably is no god” does do a little more than merely imply — it’s a simple declarative sentence. I think he’s also a little confused if he thinks his role as the guy with the steering wheel and brakes is to provide intellectual heft to the plethora of adverts sprinkled over his bus.

Although…when the Pope gets me fired and excommunicated, if he spares me house arrest, I think I ought to get a nice relaxing job driving a bus. I’d go in in the morning, look over the signage, and announce, “Shock horror, I don’t like that brand of shampoo. I think I better go home for a nice lie down.” “Shock horror, Victoria’s Secret? I really need a lie down.” “Shock horror, BILL O’REILLY? Boss, I need the week off. With a bonus for trauma.”

I think I could be the most sensitive and delicate bus driver ever, if I tried.

I don’t respond well to threats

I just got a long, whiny, self-serving email from a Mr John Buford, in which he claims that I was in error for banning him, because he once took a 4-credit course in anthropology, and his comments about race are therefore credible.

You may recall Mr Buford by his pseudonym, “hahajohnnyb”. He’s a racist moron.

I won’t bother with posting the whole of his letter, which is mostly a lot of chest-thumping about how smart he is, but I will share with you his closing threat.

It is your blog, and you certainly have the right to ban whomever you choose, and I shall respect your ban, but I intend to post a link to your site on Stormfront, which gets 10s of thousands of hits a day and has 100s of thousands of members, so you will get to hear from an ever increasing number of racial realists. I shall not stop only at your site, but will also have my people inflitrate the entire Dawkins Network with realism about race. Maybe, we will be able to open the minds of a few of your co-religionists or maybe we will make the Dawkins movement look like a bunch of Nazis, either way. You lose.

Woo-hoo! More traffic! Maybe I’ll be able to cover my daughter’s tuition payments this term, after all!

More likely, a few thugs and rednecks will straggle over and leave a few illiterate comments, but be prepared. I’ll also be ready. One of the nice things about our recent software update is one-click comment deletion.

I get email

The other day, I pointed out that tasteless web design is a hallmark of crazy web sites, and used this Overcompensating comic to illustrate it…and you all scurried over to Timecube to see one of the best examples on the web.

I got this email today.

Dear Mr. Meyers,

Putting aside any offensive criticism of our website on your web page at http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/contact.php, we found many of the comments extremely humorous, even though at our expense.

We comment on your page at http://lfnexus.com/scumbagwebsites.htm.

Thank you for the good laugh!

Oh, yes, you can share this email with anyone you wish!

PS: There is method in our madness.

Cordially,

Dr. Michael Bisconti
President
The L. F. Nexus

They got the url of my “offensive criticism” wrong: it’s at an article called “How can you tell when you’re a kook?” I think he shows all the signs.

Here’s what’s really funny. I originally laughed at a whole series of insane arguments he made against evolution, homosexuality, and women, and look at what he considers the most offensive thing I said, that warrants rating me as a “medium scumbag”:

This website incorrectly reported that we believe that Gay “activity” can be sinless. However, this was due to an editorial problem on one of our web pages, which has since been corrected.

I guess my sin was that I accurately reported on a comment that was less than damning of homosexuality.

But now, you must see this: their updated website. Behold, and tremble in fear. This is getting up there pretty darned near Time Cube territory. It may get even better, since up near the top they prominently mention that they have a new site under construction by WebPsyops, Inc.. Yeah, that’s who we all ought to turn to for our professional web design.

Don’t you dare tell me that “Jesus saves!”

Some days, it’s a little depressing to see all the ignorance running rampant in this country, so it’s a bit of a relief to see people in other countries say something brain-bogglingly stupid. In this case, it’s a reaction to the atheist bus advertising campaign in the United Kingdom — the signs that say, “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Now someone is making a legal claim, trying to suppress the signs, and his rationale is hilarious. Stephen Green, a known religious kook, is challenging the statement on its accuracy.

Mr Green has challenged the adverts on grounds of “truthfulness” and “substantiation”, suggesting that there is not “a shred of supporting evidence” that there is probably no God.

Seriously. Stephen Green thinks “there is probably no god” is a misleading advertising claim, and he’s trying to get it eliminated in the same way one would pursue the claim that “chocolate cures cancer”. He cites parts of the marketing code that say, “No marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.”

This could get interesting.

So, if even general and mild statements about the nature of the deity are disallowed, what shall be done with the stronger statements of the Christian clique? Should something like this also be banned?

i-0971215382c1540d64110fd880ab2466-churchsign.jpeg

After all, there is absolutely no evidence that god will make traffic move more slowly if someone shouts “Jesus!” when they stub their toe. This sign is in violation of the truth in advertising guidelines!

(via Muse in Vivo)

The woo is strong in Glastonbury

Glastonbury is the legendary burial place of King Arthur, so as you might imagine, if you’re a fey English wackaloon with a fondness for magic crystals and pagan rituals, it’s a magnetic attraction. How bad can it be? Well, the wicked government of Great Britain, always trying to suppress the Old Ways and encourage this horrible practice of “modernization”, has flipped the switch and turned on free wireless networking for the whole town. Evil!

“I don’t want my son exposed to risk 24 hours a day, including at his primary school, which is within the Wi-Fi zone,” yoga teacher Natalie Fee tells London’s Telegraph. “I would be failing in my duty as a parent if I did.”

Hey, Natalie, what about those darned dangerous radio waves that you’re soaking in right now? AM, FM, there are all these fluctuating vibrations permeating everything, everywhere you go. Let’s shut them all down! And are you going to tell your son that he isn’t allowed to own a cell phone, ever?

One man has even begun making orgone generators, which use crystals, semi-precious stones and gold to purportedly put out positive energy to combat the negative vibes flooding the town from the Wi-Fi base stations.

“I have given a number of generators to shops in the High Street and hidden others in bushes in the immediate vicinity of the antennae. That way you can bring back the balance,” Matt Todd told the Telegraph. “The science hasn’t really got into the mainstream because the government won’t make decisions which will affect big business, even if it concerns everyone’s health.”

I’d like to see the evidence that 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies are “negative”, and that a bunch of cheap gee-gaws some space cowboy slaps together with a hot glue gun emit any energies, let alone “positive” ones.

And hang on, orgone generators? Devices that pump out magical sex energies? Isn’t that going to be even more confusing to Natalie’s little boy?

They do have a special problem out there in the UK that we don’t here in America — ley lines haven’t been a big deal in this country.

Todd says the Wi-Fi network is weakening the ley lines, supposed invisible webs of energy running through the landscape that the Druids and other ancient Britons are said to have been well aware of.

We also get fake biology. This is nonsense: melatonin really doesn’t do everything, the pineal is not going to be particularly responsive to random radio frequencies, and these kooks don’t even have a way to assess melatonin levels.

Others Glastonburians say their levels of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and is seen as a wonder drug by natural-health types, have been all out of whack since the Wi-Fi network went on.

“The pulsed microwaves feed the pineal gland with false information,” local Jacqui Roberts tells the Western Daily Press. “Melatonin fights the free radicals and cancer-producing cells.”

Let’s be fair to Glastonbury, though. I get the impression that whoever put this article together made a special effort to dig up a few New Age nuts who are having hysterics over a non-problem, and probably ignored the sensible majority that are quite pleased to have freely accessible wireless networking everywhere they go.

Unclear on the concept

Speaking of people who can’t understand basic science, here’s Denyse O’Leary:

A couple of years ago, after I had been following the controversy for several years, I found myself listening to a long lecture by a Darwinist, replete with bafflegab and pretty lame examples. Finally, sensing (correctly) that I was unconvinced, he proclaimed to me, “You just don’t understand how natural selection works, do you?”

And suddenly, the penny dropped. What he meant was that I just don’t believe in magic. I can’t make myself believe in magic; I haven’t been able to since I was a child.

Natural selection is not magic; there are no miracles, no unexplained steps in the process, and once you grasp it, it’s simple and obvious. That O’Leary equates the two means the correct answer to the question was “yes”.

The real funny part, though, is that O’Leary is an intelligent design advocate and ardent Catholic. She does believe in magic!