Thursday, May 04, 2017

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how the evidence fails to support the existence of God.

Courtesy of DeadState:  

“The more I look at the universe, the less convinced I am that there is something benevolent going on,” Tyson said. 

“I look at disasters that afflict Earth, and life on Earth: volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, disease, pestilence, congenital birth defects — you look at this list of ways that life is made miserable on Earth by natural causes, and I just ask, ‘How do you deal with that?'” 

Tyson said that if science and inquiry someday leads to evidence of a creator, then that’s “not a problem.” But that’s not where we’re at now. 

“There’s just no evidence of it.” 

“And this is why religions are called ‘faiths’ collectively,” he continued. “Because you believe something in the absence of evidence. That’s what it is. That’s why it’s called ‘faith.’ Otherwise we would call all religions ‘evidence,’ but we don’t for exactly that reason.”

It seems like I rarely get to touch on another of my favorite topics, which is religion and the existence of God these days.

This is STILL in my opinion an incredibly important topic, as religious faith continues to have a significant impact on our politics, foreign relations, and social interactions.

If I believe in anything, it is that what is very important to the survival of our species is that we stop looking for differences which allow us to hate and war against each other, and instead focus on what we have in common, which would then allow us to focus on solving the very real problems we face together.

It is my opinion that one of the main filters we use to find differences with each other in 2017 is still differing religious faiths, and that the very fact that it remains so indicates that we are allowing primitive superstitions to actively interfere in our ability to grow closer together as a community.

That is why I feel it is important to raise awareness about the lack of evidence to support any and all religious faiths, as well as how religion is used to separate and manipulate us into doing things that are ultimately not in our best interests.

I think this interview with NDT, helps to move us a little further in that direction.

34 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:10 AM

    If 40 or so misogynists had never pieced together a book of fiction on how to control people titled, The Bible, then humanity would be in a much better place today. I for one like the Muslim charade the best though.. at least they dress so you know they are crazy for Cocoa Puffs nuts for the Profit Mohammad.

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    1. Anonymous6:55 AM

      “Anytime someone no longer wishes to be involved in a sexual act … they have the right to withdraw that consent and the right to revoke that consent.”

      “We’re the only state in the country where NO doesn’t mean NO” Jackson pointed out.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:23 AM

      @6:55
      https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-hires-official-five-students-accused-sexual-assault

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:25 AM

      http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/trump-munoz-state-department-official-sexual-assault

      Delete
  2. Anonymous4:42 AM

    Our government (Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches) has been run by dysfunctional Christians for 441 years. Lets give Athiests a chance.

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  3. Did you see this excellent Quillette essay? Not about different faiths but us vs. them in general: http://quillette.com/2017/05/03/time-retire-political-spectrum/

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    1. Anonymous8:00 AM

      1. Confusion
      2. Hostility
      3. Dogmatism

      Philip Tetlock once said, “Partisans across the opinion spectrum are vulnerable to occasional bouts of ideologically induced insanity.”15 It’s time to stop the insanity. "

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:20 AM

      Good read. Thank you.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5:10 AM

    I'm reminded of a line from one of my favorite books from my adolescence. the book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the protagonist Francie, when taking her first algebra course and being in awe of what she was learning, wonders why people do not think of math as a religion.
    I too choose to worship science over faith.

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    1. Anonymous6:10 AM

      Just as an aside, math and science has allowed mankind to develop weapons that can destroy this world many times over. Something faith and religion could never do.

      Delete
    2. No they just provide much of the reason why mankind still feels it is okay to use those weapons on their fellow humans.

      You think about that while you are surfing the internet on the smart phone that science created for you, or driving to work in the car that science created for you, or watching your favorite brain cell murdering reality show on the television that science created for you.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:32 AM

      Lol, you naively think if religion did not exist, mankind would be all peace and holding hands Gryphen?

      You don't know much about the inherent nature of man and his ceaseless quest for control and power.

      Signed- An agnostic at best.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous7:48 AM

      "You think about that while you are surfing the internet on the smart phone that science created for you, or driving to work in the car "

      Yup, not only did science create weapons of mass destruction, but also created all these energy sucking devices leading to an energy dependent world. An energy dependency which is the the sole reason for the carbon emission levels we see today. Which according to scientists like Tyson and others, you ironically watch on the idiot box Gryphen, state as the cause of global warming.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous8:37 AM

      6:10
      What about the crusades?
      Mankind has been inventing ways to kill each other since the beginning of time.
      Science just gave us different ways.
      Really, not a good argument.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous9:00 AM

      Science also gave us antibiotics so the plague can't wipe us out either anymore.
      But I'm sure the sicko scientists are hard at work making the next superbug that tries to cull the herd.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous5:17 AM

    4:10
    I'm rereading Jesus Interrupted, which proves how the bible was written years later by people with an agenda to push.
    The easiest place for the uninitiated to start:
    Jesus' disciples were dayworkers, fishermen, simple tax collectors (not tax figure-outers)or jobless. At the time of the alleged disciples, only 10% of people were literate. We could expect the simple day laborers to not be literate. Also, they spoke Aramaic.
    Scholars know that the bible was written 20 years to a few centuries after the person Jesus, if there even was a person Jesus. Again, no historical evidence of him exists.
    Anyway, how can one justify that the bible, written in fluent Greek with good storytelling ability, was written by illiterate Aramaic speaking dayworkers from years back?
    Start there and then keep reading.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not disagreeing with your overarching point, but the authorship argument in particular is a poor one. At least in terms of whether it was Peter, Paul, John, etc putting literal pen to papyrus. It was always my understanding as a Catholic that the Epistles may just have been dictated to a follower with a gift for writing.

      Mind you, I'm not talking about when the books were written or the possibility that the Peters and Pauls actually had anything to do with them at all.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:05 AM

    I believe my ass is like an ATM machine and one day $20 bills will come flying out of it. If just a few more people believed that, we get a prayer chain going and that would make all the difference. You just have to believe it.

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  7. Anonymous6:33 AM

    "That is why I feel it is important to raise awareness about the lack of evidence to support any and all religious faiths, as well as how religion is used to separate and manipulate us into doing things that are ultimately not in our best interests."

    Khmer Rouge had a policy of state atheism.
    Up to 3 million killed.

    Hitler and his regime sought to reduce the influence of Christianity on society. From the mid-1930s, his government was increasingly dominated by militant anti-Christians like Bormann, Goebbels, Himmler, Rosenberg and Heydrich whom Hitler appointed to key posts. ...... Hitler said he anticipated a coming collapse of Christianity in the wake of scientific advances, and that Nazism and religion could not co-exist long term.
    Between 6-11 million people killed.

    Stalin. Atheist. Estimates of death due to this regime vary. Many more recent historians put the number around 20 million.

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    1. Anonymous8:40 AM

      If we had to kill all the bible thumping sky fairie believers we have, what would our total be lol?
      Again, really weak arguments people.
      Let's step it up a notch or two!

      Delete
    2. Hitler believed that religion should be taught in schools.

      "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.... We need believing people."

      -- Adolph Hitler, April 26, 1933

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:33 PM

      Historical surveys of the causes of war assign only a small number to religion. The figure ranges from 7 to 12 percent, depending on how scholars rate various factors.

      The Encyclopedia of Wars is one reputable source.

      Or Google "causes of war" or just search "atheist myths." It's one they keep repeating in the vain hope it will somehow become valid. Makes them feel good about themselves or something.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous6:38 AM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-pence-anti-abortion-white-house_us_590a8914e4b05c39768623c4?u2r&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    666pence LOOKS like $atan in 'the Passion of Christ'
    white, washed out CREEPy.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous8:30 AM

      http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/04/house-republicans-embarrassed-health-care-bill-wrong.html

      http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/04/safe-trumpcare-employer-sponsored-plan.html

      http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/04/paul-ryan-plotting-evil-500-billion-cut-medicare-medicaid-food-stamps.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:57 AM

      http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/04/republican-senators-admit-republican-health-care-bill-die-senate.html

      Delete
  9. Anonymous6:40 AM

    http://crooksandliars.com/2017/05/how-many-lgbt-legal-protections-did

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:47 AM

    http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/congress-ignored-trump-boosted-americas-science-funding/

    thank you Jesus....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:05 AM

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/05/04/their-dream-president-trump-just-gave-white-evangelicals-a-big-boost/?utm_term=.8ccd82db90fb

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7:08 AM

    http://www.newsweek.com/stephen-hawking-warns-100-years-earth-extinction-593609

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:19 AM

    I read a book called 7 steps to personal freedom by Gerry Spence, A famous Lawyer. One line I really noticed was "From the beginning of Mankind, Man has used religion to enslave his fellow man". The entire books will open your eyes and help to understand freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous11:21 AM

    Lock them up lock them up lock them up #LOCKTHEMUP. #TRUMPSMOUTHISPUTINSHOLSTER.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11:26 AM

    In an interview with Big Think, Tyson said, "So what people are really after is what is my stance on religion or spirituality or God, and I would say if I find a word that came closest, it would be agnostic ... at the end of the day I'd rather not be any category at all." Additionally, in the same interview with Big Think, Tyson mentioned that he edited Wikipedia's entry on him to include the fact that he is an agnostic:

    I'm constantly claimed by atheists. I find this intriguing. In fact, on my Wiki page – I didn't create the Wiki page, others did, and I'm flattered that people cared enough about my life to assemble it – and it said "Neil deGrasse Tyson is an atheist." I said, "Well that's not really true." I said, "Neil deGrasse Tyson is an agnostic." I went back a week later it had been rewritten and it said "Neil deGrasse Tyson is an atheist." – again within a week – and I said, "What's up with that?" so I said "Alright, I have to word it a little differently." So I said, okay "Neil deGrasse Tyson, widely claimed by atheists, is actually an agnostic.

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    1. Anonymous11:19 PM

      No surprise he doesn't want to be labeled atheist.

      Assigning people to narrow categories is a big step along the "us versus them" pathway which often leads to the bias and hostility Gryphen blames on religion. The adamant atheist and fundamentalist believer are more alike than they are different, each believing they alone know the truth. And they only believe. They do not know for sure, but pretend they do.

      Tyson is too intellectually sophisticated to fall into that kind of trap.

      Delete

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