Uh-oh. Reed Cartwright asks specifically that we don’t game this poll, but doesn’t having me link to it automatically bias the results? Well maybe not. It’s a poll to vote on your favorite geological specimen in a small set of photos. There’s nothing there that could selectively stir the godless hordes…but wait! Is that a squid in one of them?
Anyway, vote for the one that appeals to you most. You can even vote if you are a creationist, no one cares.
Come on, if Texas can open a Camp Quest, what’s your state’s excuse?
There’s also a nice article with a poll on the new godless camp — it’s mostly positive, but they do go out of their way to get a quote from a dissenter.
But Dr. Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary doesn’t believe that being more vocal will have much impact. “People pretty much have their minds made up on these kinds of matters. They’re either going to be for or against,” he said.
Hey, that’s good news! Dr Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary has just declared evangelism dead. Do you think the Baptists will notice?
Oh, and here’s the poll…already going our way.
A group is planning a statewide atheist summer camp for kids in Collin County. What do you think?
No big deal w/ parental approval 50%
This is the Bible Belt, why here? 27%
It should just be a secular camp. 23%
But the sentiment is worthy. There is a petition you can sign asking the British government to express some public remorse for what was done to Alan Turing. I’m sure you all know who he was, but just in case…
Alan Turing was the greatest computer scientist ever born in Britain. He laid the foundations of computing, helped break the Nazi Enigma code and told us how to tell whether a machine could think.
He was also gay. He was prosecuted for being gay, chemically castrated as a ‘cure’, and took his own life, aged 41.
The British Government should apologize to Alan Turing for his treatment and recognize that his work created much of the world we live in and saved us from Nazi Germany. And an apology would recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man’s life and career.
There’s also an article on the petition, with an online poll.
Should there be an apology for computer pioneer Alan Turing over his conviction for homosexuality?
Yes
74%
No
26%
We uppity obnoxious “New Atheists” often get called “militant” or “rabid” or even “fundamentalist”, and unless you’re doing it as a joke, it’s highly inappropriate. Real rabid radicals do things like these animal rights lunatics, who have targeted the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, setting fire to his vacation home and stealing his mother’s ashes from her gravesite. Now that is unconscionable and damaging behavior.
The site also has a poll, if you’ve been pining away for one lately. Maybe you can express how the actions of the real militants make you feel.
Animal research:
Is necessary
43%
Should be abolished
57%
It definitely needs some correction.
A much-abused study showed that in poor neighborhoods with low academic opportunities, better scholastic performance was correlated with church attendance. This slim thread has been seized upon by religious apologists to justify claims that church attendance improves kids’ grades, and is usually accompanied by anecdotes about good church-going children being studious and diligent. The evidence is poor and getting worse, how low can it sink?
You know where it can go, to the worthless world of the internet poll.
Do you think attending church can improve kids’ grades?
Yes 52%
No 36%
Don’t know 12%
I think it is completely unsurprising that academic scores can be improved with discipline, and that part of that family discipline will be expressed in church attendance, in religious families. It’s a long reach to claiming a causal relationship between church and grades, though.
Not long ago, we had a story about the University of Wyoming shutting down their geology museum. Now the issue has become…an online poll! We know what to do with online polls, don’t we, boys and girls?
Should UW put funds into keeping the Geological Museum open?
Yes, it needs to be open all the time.
(935 Votes, 60%)
Yes, but they were right to open it part-time to save money.
(516 Votes, 33%)
No, they need to close whatever keeps them financially sound.
(72 Votes, 5%)
They should turn the museum into a skate park and make some cash instead.
(29 Votes, 2%)
Someone in Kissimmee, Florida got it into their head that the city logo was lacking in pointless accolades to their deity, so they want to jam one in. There’s a poll, of course.
Kissimmee city commissioners are considering putting “In God We Trust” on a new city logo. Commissioner Art Otero says he proposed the change because he doesn’t like the way the country is headed. Commissioner Carlos Irizarry questioned its legal advisability. The ACLU says it discriminates in favor of religions that believe in one God.
Should Kissimmee add “In God We Trust” to its official city logo?
Yes. It’s a patriotic move, just as the commissioner said.
53.3%
No. It discriminates in favor of monotheistic religions.
35.5%
I don’t know. What’s wrong with leaving it the way it is?
11.2%
I never can quite get the connection between patriotism and religion. Oh, wait, of course: it’s because the loudest proponents of both tend to be equally mindless!
I think they should have a new poll: “Should Kissimmee add ‘There is one god and Mohammed is his prophet’ to its official city logo?” If Art Otero can see that as a reasonable alternative, then I’d give him credit for being open-minded and really wanting to endorse faith as a solution to the nation’s problems, rather than being just another sectarian wackjob.
I await the day when someone proposes to put a sign advocating godlessness on a bus, and the Christians and Muslims are so accustomed to it that they regard it with complete nonchalance. That day isn’t here yet, as we can see by all the ongoing perturbation at very simple, innocuous statements. Now Vienna is joining in, and of course we get a poll. We can see that even in secular Europe there are people who are disturbed by mere signage. Go say hello from America (and Australia and Europe and all the other places you’re from) and give some worldwide input to this silly poll.
Was ist Ihre Meinung zu der Atheismus-Kampagne? (What do you think of the atheist bus campaign?)
39,76 % Ich finde sie sehr gut. (very good!)
47,1 % Sie stört mich. (it bothers me)
13,14 % Sie ist mir egal. (I don’t care)
Some polls you know are just set up to try and get affirmations of what the pollster believes. Others are more inscrutable. Why would CNN even bother to ask this?
Do you believe the Apollo moon landings were faked?
Yes 14%
No 86%
It’s meta-meaninglessness. I was tempted to vote yes, not because I think the moon landings were faked (shee-ya, you’d have to be a raving moron to think that), but because the poll question was so freakishly crazy.
But then, I guess that’s what the modern media does. It doesn’t evaluate; its job is just to treat every point of view as if they were equally sensible.
Polls are bad enough, but the editorial that went with this one is something else. A group is lobbying to slap a bunch of religious phrases on the US Capitol Visitor’s Center, and their rationale is inane.
The engravings will cost less than $100,000 of the center’s total $621 million price tag. Fighting this silly lawsuit will probably cost more than the engravings themselves.
One hundred thousand dollars isn’t peanuts, and the argument that nobody should oppose them because it will cost even more money is ridiculous — if economy is a concern, then don’t vandalize the building in the first place! No engraving costs, no legal expenses, we’re all happy.
But this guy hasn’t quite hit his stride yet. Let’s bring on the tired old “freedom of religion, not freedom from religion” argument.
Let’s start by pointing out the First Amendment doesn’t grant freedom “from” religion, just freedom “of” religion. It doesn’t ban religion, it provides freedom for all so that one denomination doesn’t dominate or become the official state religion. Whether you practice a religion or not is up to people’s preferences.
No one is forced to worship because they saw the motto on a $20 bill. Or because they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s pretty innocuous.
All right, I say this fellow needs to put his money where his mouth is. Let’s add “Praise be unto Allah”, “No gods, no masters”, and “Hail, Xenu!” to the center and to our money — think he’ll argue that it is all innocuous then?
Now that he has convinced you of the quality of his arguments, go vote.
Yes: Our motto reflects America’s religious heritage and should be displayed.
62.5%
No: The slogan is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and should not be used for state purposes. 37.5%
