Catholic Priest vs. “silly” Stephen Hawkins on Science

A Catholic Priest, Father Robert Barron, “weighs in on renowned scientist Stephen Hawking's upcoming book release in which he offers his "scientific" view on the existence of a creator.”

You can read the article here: -

http://wordonfire.org/WoF-Blog/WoF-Blog/September-2010/Culture--Stephen-Hawking---More-Tiresome-Atheism.aspx

How time repeats itself. Millennia ago scientists were no doubt ridiculed by theologians that “philosophized” that the Earth is round. Galileo was put under house arrest for proposing that the world isn’t at the center of the universe. And Charles Darwin’s discovery of bottom up, as opposed to top down design, evolution, is still denied today.

So Stephen Hawkins quote of, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing”, one would have though that theologians would have learned to keep their moths shut for fear of sounding ridiculous… again… and again… and…

Quoting Father Barron, “scientists tend to make lots of silly statements when they attempt to philosophize”. Implying that only those like him that are gifted with the powers of witchcraft, voodoo, and magic can tell us such things as, god injects a human “soul” into a zygote at the moment of conception, and god won’t allow two people of the same sex that love each other to get married, and the integrity of the Catholic church is more important than the sexual molestation of our children, and that condoms are bad, even if one partner is known to have AIDS.

Real brain twisters like, space and time are interconnected so high speeds and immense gravity alter the passage of time itself, (what?), the double slit experiment where electrons can behave as either waves or particles depending on if a conscious entity is observing them, (what? what?), or when two particles are ‘entangled’, they can theoretically be on opposite sides of the universe but behave as if they were together, (what? what? what?). So Father Barron’s philosophical quote of “from nothing comes nothing” sounds just as ignorant as saying, “what goes up, must come down”, in reference to the Voyager space craft.

Our brains were designed by natural selection over millions of years to serve us well as hunter gatherers. The comprehension of concepts such as cosmology and quantum physics is only a lucky byproduct of that evolved intelligence. We can’t honestly comprehend times in excess of more than a few human generations, or distances more than one could naturally travel. But theoretical physics pushes us beyond that. Our brains can’t comprehend a ‘place’ without space or time so it’s an arrogant person that can so easily deny it in the face of mounting evidence, and an ignorant person that demands everything, including gravity, needs “contingency”.

The only true answer to the question, “why is there something rather than nothing” is, “nobody knows”. Science is starting to discover that, contrary to human intuition, “nothing” is unstable. Religion is still flogging the medieval dead horse of “magic man did it”, and “magic man doesn’t need an explanation”. Science is turning to evidence, such as the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider experiment. Conversely, Father Barron is trying to make the existence of god NOT a scientific question. He relies on fuzzy “metaphysics”, vague rhetoric and the degradation of science (by calling the need for evidence before acceptance an “ism”), as his tools. But god’s ‘gap’, continues to get even smaller.

My First Mega Church

To get a flavour of my new South Carolina home of Greenville, I thought I'd sample the local hospitality and attend a Mega Church, the Redemption World Outreach Center, that's just a few miles from my new home.

For a start, it's not a church; it's a campus! In addition to the "Main Sanctuary", a sports stadium sized arena where the Voodoo takes place, the 10,500 strong congragation are privy to a gym, basketball court, and Family Fitness Center, a preschool, a bookstore, cafateria, a regular Chapel, a "City Transformation Center", (transformation to what?), and a "Power Source Building", (to transform 'older' children). Sounds scary right?


Well, the service, lead by "Apostle" (*face palm*) Ron Carpenter, was an exquisitly executed event that used social psychology to whip up the deluded into a frenzy of Jesus love. Lights, cameras, loud music, and stage performances akin to a rock concert, sporting event or politicl rally, that had the faith heads literally dancing in the asles full of the love of a guy that was executed 2000 years ago. In other words, an abortion doctor murderer breeding ground.

I have no problem with people having a good time, but to so passionatly follow this supernatural garbage at the expense of reason is at best delusional and at worst dangerous. Here's a secular video that instills the same sence of passion in us that's based on our evolutionary heratige - the need for community. "I get by with a little help from my friends" Go Joe Cocker!

Personal Info

As neither atheist nor theist is immune to the ravages of the economic crisis, I've relocated from New Orleans, Louisiana to Greenville, South Carolina.

However, have no fear. My Godless Evangelism shall continue in the Buckle of the Bible Belt just as it did in Cajun Country. Actually, from my brief few weeks, the religious 'nutters' here are more plentiful and assertive, so I'm needed even more here than there.

God moves in mysterious ways?

NFL Player Gives Up Football for Jesus

NFL third round pick, Glenn Coffee has retired after just one year of playing professional football because of his faith.

My initial thought were of sadness for him and his family that, because of a delusion, he's turned his back on a financially secure career that would have been a good foundation for his life. However, thinking about it, maybe from a purely money perspective, he's doing the right thing. He signed a four year contract for $828,000. Now that's not chump change, it's only for four years and an equally talented individual, say a Wall street wizz would be getting that for a life time. In leaving the NFL and turning to a life of spreading the virus... I mean "message" of Jebuz, Coffee will be able to milk his story for the rest of his life.

The only difference of course is that a sports star earns his money by entertaining people. A preacher earns his money by lying to people.

I Get YouTube Comments

Question: If the idea of God can be dismissed as a memetic parasite trying to survive, then any idea can be dismissed the same way--including atheism. The idea of rational thought would itself be a meme. The idea that there are such things as memes would be a meme. Rational thought breaks down entirely under such as system as we could have no way of knowing whether any thought we have has any relationship to reality at all.

Answer: No, you're conveniently ignoring the fundamental difference. EVIDENCE! Using reason, rationality, critical thinking and common sense based on empirical evidence that is testable, repeatable, and subjected to the rigorous scrutiny of peer review.

It's interesting that theists attempt to portray reason, atheism, and even science as a religion. Subconsciously they know the very word "religion" is delusional, divisive, disingenuous and dangerous. It's a fascinating 'panic' defense.

A "Viral Memetic Infection" Victim

Diane Benscoter spent five years as a "Moonie." She shares an insider's perspective on the mind of a cult member. She admits she had a "viral memetic infection".

Can some one please tell me how the Moonie cult differs from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion? The only true answer is numbers of members"

"When one person believes something stupid, it's called insanity. When thosands of people believe something stupid, it's called a cult. When millions of people believe something stupid, it's called a religion."

What "Cult" Size Fits You?

I came across the following slide of a presentation at the Faculty of Philosophy lecture by Robin Dunbar, Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/events/conferences/religion,_tolerance_and_intolerance


Using 19th century 'utopian cult data' (whatever that is), he determined the optimum group sizes for both religious and secular communities. Not surprisingly, for religious communities the number is about 150. The group size that is considered to be that throughout the majority of human evolution. But for secular communities, that number drops to about 50. It seems that a supernatural component to a group (whether it's true or not) provides increased social adhesion.

What we can deduce from that is to not worry so much when you see attendance at your secular events in onesie-twosie numbers while people are pouring into churches by the dozens. It's natural. Secular organizations should be more numerous, but smaller in size. From a membership of one, (like me), to around 50.