TV's Frink said:

Did someone mention the fake moon landing yet?

No, but some people think that the Moon itself is fake. Kind if a Death Star with a crispy crusty shell.  

I guess, if you are a fucking moron. Seriously. stuff like this pisses me off. it's stuff like this that makes people think Americans are retarded. You will only find this line of thinking in the glorious United States of A, where you actually have a significant portion of the population that believes in Creationism like a bunch of retarded assholes.

zombie84 said:

I guess, if you are a fucking moron. Seriously. stuff like this pisses me off. it's stuff like this that makes people think Americans are retarded. You will only find this line of thinking in the glorious United States of A, where you actually have a significant portion of the population that believes in Creationism like a bunch of retarded assholes.

 

Are you referring to something such as this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNodf9LF5o8

Zombie84, I'm a little disappointed. I have held your opinions in much higher regard in the past. Creationism is an opinion held by many intelligent and respectable people, and the term itself is pretty broad in scope, ranging from those who believe God created the earth 7,000 years ago in exactly six days, to those who believe in the Big Bang, an 4.6 billion year-old planet, and evolution, all guided by God. So essentially you are saying anyone who believes God had anything to do with creation is "retarded" (another term I don't much appreciate, considering I have a brother with Down syndrome). I hope you're just pulling a Mel Gibson and are saying things under the influence.

zombie84 said:

I guess, if you are a fucking moron. Seriously. stuff like this pisses me off. it's stuff like this that makes people think Americans are retarded. You will only find this line of thinking in the glorious United States of A, where you actually have a significant portion of the population that believes in Creationism like a bunch of retarded assholes.

Relax.

Also, you never answered my question: How's v2 of the book coming along?

You are saying creationsm has scientific basis? My god man. come on. seriously.

And yes, I would say you are  a serious idiot for believing in that if such was the case. Only in the U.S. is there the pretense of respecting that. Its an embarasssment everywhere else. I hope you don't believe in that shit.

In the United States, most people educated up to High School graduation or less, believe in creation in preference to evolution. In the rest of the Western world, the overwhelming majority of all people believe in the Theory of Evolution.

In 1996, the National Science Board put the question, "Believe that humans as we know them today evolved from earlier species of animals" as part of a survey of Science and Engineering Indicators for the United States. The proportions of people who replied 'Yes', by education level:

• Graduate/professional over 70%
• Baccalaureate about 60%
• H.S. graduate about 41%
• Less than H.S. about 29%

The Data360 organisation provides more recent statistics for the population as a whole, in the United States and selected other countries, who believe in evolution:

USA ........ 39.7%

Britain .... 73.4%

France ... 79.5%

Denmark 82.2%

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_believe_in_Creation

I believe in God (and the Big Bang), but I don't believe in the creation theories put forth about fossils being hidden by God just to trick us and test our faith. That is very strange to me.

For the record: I am not a Creationist, zombie84.

You should know enough to not attempt to argue with the same people you're claiming to be poor at exercising logic and reason.

How do you expect this to end? Are you just being cruel?

No, I am just not tolerating people espousing stupid things. Either back up what you are saying with proof or be quiet. You bring down the quality of education by pretending that creationism has any merit.

zombie84 said:

No, I am just not tolerating people espousing stupid things. Either back up what you are saying with proof or be quiet. You bring down the quality of education by pretending that creationism has any merit.

I assume you mean the hypothetical "you" and not myself?

No, I wasn't aiming that statement at anyone specific.

A literal belief in the hands on creation of individual talking animals out of clay, individually named by clay Adam is very silly.

I'm not saying it's not true but it is silly.

Most Christians realise this is a metaphor not the literal truth.

It doesn't really rain cats and dogs when it rains cats and dogs, unless something really weird is happening to the probability matrix of the universe.

Which can happen but only when I push the funny button.

I have a somewhat deistic POV when it comes to creation. God set up the laws that resulted in the universe's creation, and the extent of his guidance after he set events in motion is not important--I mean, if he's omnipotent, he can set the exact events in motion right at the beginning without direct intervention thereafter, right? Am I an idiot? Very brilliant people hold more biblically literal interpretations. Are they idiots, just because science doesn't always agree? I'd wager if I read your posts more carefully, I'd find less than scientific assumptions in your posts. Let's see, ah...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Canada#Census_results

In 2001, 77% of your country identified themselves as Christian of one brand or another, not to mention the small sample of other religious affiliations. 22% of the country believes God created mankind in his present form and 20% are unsure. That's a sizeable group there, meaning that Canada is not so "creationist-free" as you might like to believe. Sadly this does not measure how many believe God had a role in the process of evolution, but considering how many are affiliated with Christianity, I'd say it's a decent portion. Meanwhile in the US, 46% believe mankind was created as-is, while 32% believe God guided the process. The US is about 73% Christian, plus some other minorities. So while we hold more to creationism than others, we are still largely open-minded to evolution and science.

http://ncse.com/news/2008/08/polling-creationism-canada-001375

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

It appears to me that you have a very un-scientific hypothesis: that Americans are nearly all "retards" who believe in unscientific things (and I gave you a qualifier that you yourself did not use) while Canadians are nearly all intelligent, rationally-minded individuals who don't preoccupy themselves with such nonsense. A simple examination shows that you are generalizing, that your hypothesis is false in its strictest interpretation, and not even true on a more general level. You have not thought scientifically. You have thought like a bigot. But at least gay marriage is not an issue for you, so you can sleep soundly at night knowing you're not a bigot.

In a flat universe it only takes one bump.

Zodiac Mindwarp claims to be the prime mover I am skeptical.

Let me add a PS to make my point clear. Just because someone differs from you, and just because someone believes in something that is not scientific, that doesn't make that person an idiot. Zombie has shown a great lack of scientific thinking in his blanket statements, yet he clearly has shown great intelligence with his research. People are fallible, and there is value to opinions, even wrong ones.

My behavior is often guided by the credo: live and let live.

My religious belief (or lack thereof), Strong Agnosticism, makes a much stronger claim than Atheism inasmuch that some would even consider it offensive.

I refuse to promote in-person or online confrontation regarding religious matters, despite my strong belief(s).

It's just not nice.

darth_ender said:

It appears to me that you have a very un-scientific hypothesis: that Americans are nearly all "retards" who believe in unscientific things (and I gave you a qualifier that you yourself did not use) while Canadians are nearly all intelligent, rationally-minded individuals who don't preoccupy themselves with such nonsense. A simple examination shows that you are generalizing, that your hypothesis is false in its strictest interpretation, and not even true on a more general level. You have not thought scientifically. You have thought like a bigot. But at least gay marriage is not an issue for you, so you can sleep soundly at night knowing you're not a bigot.

I don't believe this to be true, it just doesn't play a role in our governance. I am a product of the Catholic school system. A government funded religious public school system. Should be illegal but its not. How messed up is that? But it exists.I went through Canadian funded Catholic school from age 4 to age 19. I'm not sure what you are saying.

Yes but just because someone is different it doesn't mean they aren't an idiot.

I don't have time to deal with this at the moment. Zombie84, I sure appreciate your suddenly softened wording. However, you clearly made several statements that actually branded the entirety of Americans and our culture as idiotic. And even if you speak only of our government, as a republic, it is representative of the people. You are free to disagree with how we do things. But you have made bigoted statements, regardless of how noble you feel because you stand against other forms of bigotry. I don't mean to say you are a bigot, or at least any more guilty than the rest of us. Sadly, if we were all to reflect, we'd all find ourselves bigoted in some thoughts. But you have been rather insulting today as well as foolish in your statements. I don't appreciate it, and I pointed out your fallacies.

I'm just responding to what you guys are saying. I'm not a bigot, any more than I am against my fellow Canadians, who can be quite stupid. It's unfair to say because I target Americans I am bigotted when Americans say a disproportionate amount of stupid things. This is precisely the problem in the first place. Instead of addressing the issue you instead accuse people of prejudice. It's backwards, and that's the whole problem in the first place. Again: the reason I stay out of American politics. You have Creationism idiots but then criticism of them is seen as prejudice, when instead they should be seen as the problem with society. instead it's an "opinion". okay. if you are a religious wacko then fine.