Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Natural selection vs intelligent design.
Dave has a point.
And by the way I have the same question about prayer. Never made sense to me.
It's a photo you don't often see. And that's for a lot of reasons, I think. Not only does it serve to show the randomness of sperm, and competition, as is your point, but there's no benefit to the pro-life movement, nor the patriarchy, to focus on such an image. And the creationists go hand in hand with those other ideas.
Instead of an egg, it's better to show a fetus, especially an advanced stage, photoshopped one, with enhanced features and skin tone. It's a reminder of what conception leads to if it runs it's course interrupted - a person. But of course, a person DOES start with a clump of cells, as does all life. And looking at this, abortion doesn't quite seem like murder, and life doesn't look much different than the beginnings of a bird, or a frog. It would be wonderful to respect all life equally, if pro-lifers wanted that, I might even consider that trade-off, but of course that's not the case. All other life is to be tortured, poisoned, and destroyed at our whim, simply because they have no rights, no value, in comparison to the human animal.
Secondly, the image of a very large, overpowering egg, in comparison to tiny male sperm, contradicts the idea that males are bigger, better, smarter, and builders of the world, and thus have equal or more rights with the process of making a baby. In fact, when you look at the photo, it's clear that the female egg is towering over the male parts, and is the primary element. As we know, all reproduction started without sperm, asexually. Since then, of course sexual reproduction has proven to be the superior means of evolving, but it doesn't take away from the original form. The size of the egg also suggest it's not being attacked, or invaded, or helpless waiting to be impregnated. It's choosing to allow a sperm inside it's walls. After choosing, all other sperm are then rejected, no matter how perfect they are. Such an image suggests that the female who owns an egg, and carries the womb in which she may choose to grow this fertilized egg into a fetus, with other organs contributing to development...should reasonably have a lot of authority in the management of her body. And yet, republicans don't seem to think she should, and the rights are being scaled back year after year, making it harder to get birth control, demanding ultrasounds for abortions, restrictions on crossing borders (as if you're fleeing nazis into switzerland), asking permission of a male husband, and threatened with jail while pregnant if she engages in certain behaviors. None of that suggests ownership, or power over ones body, which is what the far right wants.
Dick Cheny once famously said that reality is what we say it is. And in a sense, that's true for many other things besides foreign policy or economics. It's that way with gender issues, with childcare issues, with sexual orientation issues, with schooling, and a host of other things that effect women.
But anti-choicers are much more hypocritical than that (See Carlin - if you're pre-born your fine, if you're pre-school, you're fucked) Look what the Koch's are doing with their petcoke - stockpiling in large blowing piles in poor neighborhood where it cases asthma and cancer and death. Bastards.
As to prayer and related thought processes an interesting book which deals with the 'how' of prayer and other such mind processes, scientifically, is The Genie in Your Genes by Dawson Church. There are others, too, but his makes the info understandable and interesting even for those with little other interest in biology or physiology, and in the process makes the whole matter of thought process easier to understand no matter whether one has a history of or bent toward "prayer" or not. As usual science wins out.
Love the image. Reminds me of one of my questions to one of the nuns who were trying to drum Catholicism into my head. "But if God know what we're going to do before we do it, there's no free will, is there?" "You have the will to make a choice." "But if God knows.........." As for prayer, "Why wasn't my prayer answered?" "Because God knows what's best for you." So God thinks it's best for me to live in an abusive home, afraid of parents and siblings? A loving God? Gimme a break. The religionists lost me in the first grade. By high school I didn't even pretend any more. 12 years of hell. And a lot more years of undoing the damage.
Always loved to present the 3 omnis and then the problem of evil. And just let the students fight it out. In 20 years of teaching, many a theist head exploded, not a single atheist or agnostic had a problem with it.
Haha! You, once again, show yourself to be a tool of the Great Deceiver himself. The Bible clearly reveals that sperm is a complete seed, only needing the female to provide fertile ground. The egg is non-existent and the idea of millions of competitive sperm is confabulated nonsense.
Oh! You have reminded me of a wonderful "bit" by the great Irish comedian Dave Allen. If you want to start the day with a bit of a laugh -
ReplyDeleteDave Allen on sperm
It's a photo you don't often see. And that's for a lot of reasons, I think. Not only does it serve to show the randomness of sperm, and competition, as is your point, but there's no benefit to the pro-life movement, nor the patriarchy, to focus on such an image. And the creationists go hand in hand with those other ideas.
ReplyDeleteInstead of an egg, it's better to show a fetus, especially an advanced stage, photoshopped one, with enhanced features and skin tone. It's a reminder of what conception leads to if it runs it's course interrupted - a person. But of course, a person DOES start with a clump of cells, as does all life. And looking at this, abortion doesn't quite seem like murder, and life doesn't look much different than the beginnings of a bird, or a frog. It would be wonderful to respect all life equally, if pro-lifers wanted that, I might even consider that trade-off, but of course that's not the case. All other life is to be tortured, poisoned, and destroyed at our whim, simply because they have no rights, no value, in comparison to the human animal.
Secondly, the image of a very large, overpowering egg, in comparison to tiny male sperm, contradicts the idea that males are bigger, better, smarter, and builders of the world, and thus have equal or more rights with the process of making a baby. In fact, when you look at the photo, it's clear that the female egg is towering over the male parts, and is the primary element. As we know, all reproduction started without sperm, asexually. Since then, of course sexual reproduction has proven to be the superior means of evolving, but it doesn't take away from the original form. The size of the egg also suggest it's not being attacked, or invaded, or helpless waiting to be impregnated. It's choosing to allow a sperm inside it's walls. After choosing, all other sperm are then rejected, no matter how perfect they are. Such an image suggests that the female who owns an egg, and carries the womb in which she may choose to grow this fertilized egg into a fetus, with other organs contributing to development...should reasonably have a lot of authority in the management of her body. And yet, republicans don't seem to think she should, and the rights are being scaled back year after year, making it harder to get birth control, demanding ultrasounds for abortions, restrictions on crossing borders (as if you're fleeing nazis into switzerland), asking permission of a male husband, and threatened with jail while pregnant if she engages in certain behaviors. None of that suggests ownership, or power over ones body, which is what the far right wants.
Dick Cheny once famously said that reality is what we say it is. And in a sense, that's true for many other things besides foreign policy or economics. It's that way with gender issues, with childcare issues, with sexual orientation issues, with schooling, and a host of other things that effect women.
But anti-choicers are much more hypocritical than that (See Carlin - if you're pre-born your fine, if you're pre-school, you're fucked) Look what the Koch's are doing with their petcoke - stockpiling in large blowing piles in poor neighborhood where it cases asthma and cancer and death. Bastards.
DeleteAs to prayer and related thought processes an interesting book which deals with the 'how' of prayer and other such mind processes, scientifically, is The Genie in Your Genes by Dawson Church. There are others, too, but his makes the info understandable and interesting even for those with little other interest in biology or physiology, and in the process makes the whole matter of thought process easier to understand no matter whether one has a history of or bent toward "prayer" or not. As usual science wins out.
ReplyDeleteLove the image. Reminds me of one of my questions to one of the nuns who were trying to drum Catholicism into my head. "But if God know what we're going to do before we do it, there's no free will, is there?" "You have the will to make a choice." "But if God knows.........." As for prayer, "Why wasn't my prayer answered?" "Because God knows what's best for you." So God thinks it's best for me to live in an abusive home, afraid of parents and siblings? A loving God? Gimme a break. The religionists lost me in the first grade. By high school I didn't even pretend any more. 12 years of hell. And a lot more years of undoing the damage.
ReplyDeleteAlways loved to present the 3 omnis and then the problem of evil. And just let the students fight it out. In 20 years of teaching, many a theist head exploded, not a single atheist or agnostic had a problem with it.
DeleteHaha! You, once again, show yourself to be a tool of the Great Deceiver himself. The Bible clearly reveals that sperm is a complete seed, only needing the female to provide fertile ground. The egg is non-existent and the idea of millions of competitive sperm is confabulated nonsense.
ReplyDelete