According to Merriam-Webster, deduction is defined as “the deriving of a conclusion by reasoning; specifically: inference in which the conclusion about particulars follows necessarily from general or universal premises.”
An example of deductive reasoning is as follows:
Premise 1: People cannot see in the dark.
Premise 2: It is dark in caves.
Conclusion: People can’t see in caves.
There’s no arguing about the above example. A person might say that… Continue
Once again, the Lenten season is upon us. For those of you who don't know, Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent, is tomorrow. So of course this means all the good little Catholics are out there deciding what they are going to give up until Easter. Of course this means that I am sitting here and shaking my head at the sheer stupidity of this tradition.
I grew up Catholic, so I am quite familiar with the song and dance that is the Lent tradition. I remember my mom asking me… Continue
Added by Sniz on February 24, 2009 at 3:04pm —
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Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.
As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.
But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were…
The pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow. Why is it there that everybody seeks? Its not about the end result, but the journey getting to the metaphorical pot of gold. The pot of gold seems to be religious in nature, to me at least. Some simply want facts to assure them that they will get that pot of gold. Those people never find it...[they find logic]. I think the pot of gold is there to keep the faith. A promise
of something wonderful to come. Faith alone is a controlling factor.… Continue
A professor at the University of Vermont, Nicholas Gotelli, got an invitation to debate one of the clowns at the Discovery Institute. Here's what they wrote.
Dear Professor Gotelli,
I saw your op-ed in the Burlington Free Press and appreciated your support of free speech at UVM. In light of that, I wonder if you would be open to finding a way to provide a campus forum for a debate about evolutionary science and intelligent design. The Discovery Institute, where I work, has… Continue
I am an atheist because it logically makes sense. I am an atheist because science matches it. I trust experiments that have been correctly conducted and are unbiased. I am an atheist because it is the only thing that gives me hope that a secular America (blasphemous, I know) would be full of sensible people. I am so tired of this religious shit. Religion is used to manipulate millions of young and old thoughts, dreams, hopes, and expectations. Religion is only a tool of control. Nothing more,… Continue
I can only imagine that you're becoming increasingly inundated with mail of all kinds, from criticism and hate to props and suggestions of how to make this better. So I'm somewhat reluctant to put my note onto the "suggestion pile" but I have so many "atheist ambitions" that I feel I must say something.
***UPDATE***
Since I wrote this, my opinions on the subject have changed a bit. Enough that I would not have made this post if I could go back. I'll leave it here b/c it will remind me and other's that I am not above being wrong and/or changing my mind based on new information.
***UPDATE***
The more I read of this bill, the more I get pissed off. There are a LOT of good things in there. A LOT. The problem is that we can't afford it. We don't need all of this extra… Continue
"There have always been those who, as Blaise Pascal phrased it, are 'so made that they cannot believe.' (And there are more of us than the faithful would like to think.) A conspicuous example was Carl Van Doren (1885-1950), a distinguished professor of English at Columbia University and biographer of Benjamin Franklin. Here, he confronts the tired, old argument that without faith there can be no foundation for ethics."
We’re all like Prometheus; chained by the gods to the rock of superstition and fear. Unfortunately, no one knows they’re slaves to the Zeitgeist of the era; of eras past. We are all descended from the same primitive roots of our humanity. Our beliefs about the world are shaped by our ancestors’ misunderstanding of it.
In our waking consciousness, we tried to understand the world based on our perception. We could not explain the phenomenon that caused thunder and so blamed it on a… Continue
1. Respond to something elsewhere on the web: the best way to start blogging: simply link to something elsewhere that you feel is interesting, or (better) that you disagree with. If you make a constructive response to what someone else has posted, for example, you can start a useful inter-blog dialogue. You might add links to evidence that challenges what the original post says, for example. In its most simple form, when you simply post useful… Continue
Added by Morgan Matthew on February 11, 2009 at 11:30pm —
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Why should we care about the separation of church and state? Is the division of government and religion a good thing? What does this concept even mean?
The term “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the US Constitution. What does appear, however, are these words in the First Amendment, stating that “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”
Because a good quote is never a bad thing to have handy =). All posts are in alphabetical order by last name.
Here is just a collection of quote regarding atheism, agnosticism, religion, God, and whatever else falls in between. Feel free to add or to correct any mistakes you see! Most quotes taken from this page. Thanks =)
John Adams
"Where do we find a precept in the Bible for… Continue
My creativity comes bursts. Short, intense, mind-consuming bursts.
It has been unusually warm for February in the Milwaukee area, and so I have been spending more time outside lately. Being able to enjoy nature once again reminded me how remarkable this crazy world again and how lucky I am to be able to take part in it. It sparked this idea for a poem, and I couldn't put it down until I got it out. Then I felt inclined to share it with you guys. Now I don't write a lot of… Continue
Added by Sniz on February 9, 2009 at 6:14pm —
7 Comments
The bus ads in the UK were spawned as a response to christian ads that said non-believers would suffer eternal damnation. Three religious groups want to have the last word, so they are starting their response-to-the-response.
How hypocritical! A few weeks ago those same religious groups were clamoring that the ‘There’s probably no God’ message was offensive, and they appealed to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) that the ad violated truth in advertizing codes,… Continue
In Texas, a teacher has just been suspended for being an atheist and a liberal. Just one more reason why we unbelievers need to step up our presence in America. The link to the article is below:
Even as a young child, I despised church. Church meant itchy dresses, uncomfortable pews, and two hours I could have better spent playing outdoors. Being a child, I never understood gOd in the way Christians want gOd to be understood. To me, gOd was like a friendly old man in the clouds, the same way Santa Clause was a friendly old man in the North Pole. And I don’t remember a thing about Jesus. As far as I knew, Jesus was Starbuck to gOd’s Ahab.
This came up in chat the other day and I wanted to add a couple things.
Oh, and before you both replying with "it's not that easy", I'll go ahead and tell you that I know it's not this easy. This is my argument for an ideal world. We don't live in that place yet; so, just let me bitch and complain about it... thanks.
It started with me accusing Obama of being "like the rest of them".
I'll go ahead and clear up a couple things. I know Obama has only been in office for… Continue
Conservation, Laws of Physical -laws stating that some property of a closed system is unaltered by change in the system; it is conserved. The most important are the laws of conservation of matter and energy. Mass and energy are interconvertible according to the equation E = mc2; what is conserved is the total mass and its equivalent in energy.
((Matter/Energy cannot be lost or destroyed. It is simply converted)
I've always figured that even if there was a god, he'd have to work… Continue