gdp's Comments

Atheist Revolution : Idiot of the Week: Brit Hume

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 16:04:06 +0000

I love the "real conversion" comments. We "know" Chuck Colson mad a real conversion because...he's now making money off his adopted beliefs? And Brit seems to believe that if Tiger made a "real conversion" he'd know it because it would show in his character. Didn't he just say that he always admired Tiger's character? So Tiger had a "real conversion" character up to the time Brit learned that he wasn't as pure as Brit assumed he was? What's truly pathetic is these people don't even grasp the contradictions in their own attitudes.

Atheist Revolution : Time to End Government-Funded Religious Discrimination

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:23:52 +0000

He needs to start acting on his campaign promises. Between his inaction on this and several other topics of concern to those of us who supported his election and the failure of the Democratic House to take positive steps to remove the taint of the past 8 years of Republican mismanagement from the federal government, the Democrats may very well lose their majority in the next election cycle...and they'll deserve the loss.

Atheist Revolution : The Best Atheist Forums

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:45:38 +0000

I've tried twice to initiate an atheist forum only to have the majority of members join to spam the board. I'd still like to see the forum concept succeed for atheists, but I'm done attempting to reinvent the wheel. Instead, I've joined a couple of those mentioned.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:40:05 +0000

No problem, it's been changed.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:10:48 +0000

Guess that answers that. I needed to try another theme since I noticed (though not before now) that other posts were having the same problem. As much as I liked the serenity and natural appearance of the other theme it's deleted. Please say a prayer to the Spaghetti Monster on my behalf that this issue is resolved and no new ones crop up. ;)

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:03:39 +0000

Well hell, I might as well live up to my "radical" status and try a radical fix. This is probably not the best time to try out a new theme, but let's see if that fixes this issue (without causing 20 more). You know, 99% of the time I love WP. Tonight is one of those other 1% times.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:47:51 +0000

Grrr... Not the plugins. I disabled each one in turn and no change. I also notice the options to edit, leave a comment and go to comments are also inoperative. I'm left thinking it's something in the permalink structure or the theme. Thanks to everyone for your patience and suggestions.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:39:04 +0000

It's possible. I'll disable it and see.
Thanks.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:27:13 +0000

Well, I've validated the HTML in an editor and done everything I can think of to make the links work to no avail. Supremely frustrating. It may be something to do with the way the theme works, though it's never done this before. My apologies, all. I'll add a note to let everyone know to read this on the home page to be able to access the linked pages.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:51:16 +0000

I'm not sure myself, Jebus, but I'm looking into it.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Carnival of the Godless - Aug. 23, 2009

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:20:28 +0000

Oops. Thanks for the correction.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Atheist or agnostic? Both.

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:59:08 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Burk.

I'm not a big fan of absolutes, so I'm not going to say that we ought to be skeptical about everything nor will I endorse agnosticism about every thought that crosses our minds. Life consists of relative degrees, degrees of belief, degrees of opinion, degrees of conviction. There are also degrees of importance.

It's true that we constantly make decisions and arrive at conclusions based on incomplete information. That's the natural result of our limited senses and intellects, as well as the short time humans have been sentient beings. We have only had a short period of time to evolve and an even shorter time to make sense of our few centuries of exploration and inquiry. We are simply in no position to be making absolute statements about grand ideas like the origin of the universe or how life began.

As I've said before, skepticism (agnosticism) is a useful tool for keeping us honest about our conditional knowledge. It keeps us from forming absolute statements, or should. And it was by being agnostic about the many claims made throughout history that this or that god really exists that led me to the conclusion of atheism. That, too, is a conditional conclusion. Someday I may encounter evidence that irrefutably leads to the conclusion a god exists. It hasn't happened yet and I seriously doubt it ever will, since the quality of evidence thus far provided for the existence of any god falls far short of convincing.

Who knows what the future holds? Whatever comes, I'll face it with my skepticism intact.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Atheist or agnostic? Both.

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:07:04 +0000

Thank you. I appreciate that.

The Atheist Blogger : Prayer, Death, and Motivation

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 03:25:29 +0000

This is a well written and well reasoned post. My congratulations on your current life and condolences for your past. Some more progressive Christians are willing to adapt their beliefs to allow for their god to work through doctors. At least their children aren't in immediate danger of becoming victim to their parent's delusions. I've also seen a couple of stories this last month about mothers killing their children either at the request of their god or because of demonic influence. Let's hope this lunacy doesn't spread.

Atheist Revolution : News Corp and GE CEOs Put End to Olbermann-O\'Reilly Feud

Sat, 1 Aug 2009 14:48:53 +0000

I'm going to laugh if the ratings indicate that people were watching those shows because they were enjoying the bickering between O'Reilly and Olbermann. People didn't watch the Jerry Springer show because they wanted to be better informed on social issues. It will be interesting if it turns out that killing the feud also kills ratings.

Unenslaved : TWIT

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:34:06 +0000

Since I respect your blogging and trust your judgment, I'd love to be included in your blogroll. I'll let you decide which to include, if any, and where they should be listed, if at all. radicalatheist.com - focuses on atheism and its social and political implications frethink.com - focuses on free thought and thinking for oneself heathenqueer.com - where I rant and rave, less polite than the other blogs

Radical Atheist - think about it : It's retarded

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:44:05 +0000

Thank you, Tilly, for grasping the actual versus common definition of \"retard\". Words are important and we should strive to, as often as possible, employ the words that mean most precisely what we are trying to say or write. Often the context will determine whether or not we use a term properly, but no matter the context, \"retard\" will always mean just what you wrote. It's unfortunate when the sloppy application of a word influences common understanding of the word's meaning. Anyone who has only ever used \"retard\" as an insult directed at another less fortunate human being will have a difficult time understanding why I chose that word to refer to religious belief.

Radical Atheist - think about it : Religious Delusion

Fri, 3 Jul 2009 01:56:11 +0000

I appreciate your thoughtful and informed comment. It's comforting to know that when I post one of my hyperbolic rants, someone will step up to put it into a more practical and realistic context.

Still, I'm disappointed but not surprised that an adult who still believes in Santa Clause is considered delusional while an adult who sincerely believes in the equally fantastic notion that gods exist are given a pass. I understand that when a delusion becomes as widespread as theism has it's not easy to challenge it, or call it what it is.

AnAtheist.Net : Michael Jackson Goes to Hell

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:13:47 +0000

It amazes me that Christians like Keller pretend to know not only the innermost thoughts and beliefs of others but also the thoughts of their god. How does Keller know what Jackson thought or believed? If actions truly count for nothing and only the acceptance of Christian dogma will get one into heaven, how can Keller judge Jackson by his life? He has absolutely no way of knowing what Jackson believed or accepted. It's rather transparent that all Keller is doing is trying to generate publicity for himself by making a controversial comment that he can't possibly support or justify. For Keller, Jackson's death is just another excuse for slimy proselytizing.

Atheist Revolution : Ecto 3: A Brief Review for Blogger Users

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:22:34 +0000

Word Press's own rich text editor doesn't handle images very well, either. Too many times I've had it refuse to float an image right or left, instead plopping it down in the center of a paragraph, breaking the text in an awkward way. Repeated attempts to reposition it may or may not work. I'm sad to say that Live Writer is one of the best blogging tools I've used. Still looking for a better, non-MS, solution. I don't blog much from my Mac, but I often do from Linux.