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  1. Japle

    Why?

    I remember a Peanuts cartoon from long ago that said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere”. That’s a contemptible lie. The members of ISIS are sincere. The Nazis were sincere. People who tell you that you’ll suffer eternal punishment if you don’t believe what they...
  2. Japle

    Why?

    I’d love it if someone came up with proof that a god exists. Wouldn’t that be cool? So exciting! But nothing in the Bible or any other religious writings can be considered proof and enormous amounts of those writings can be proven to be false. As Carl Sagan said, “Extraordinary claims demand...
  3. Japle

    Why?

    While I find the concept of “faith” fascinating, I’m far more interested in what’s objectively true. In the search for truth, faith is not only worthless, it’s damaging. Faith gets in the way of learning. Once you’ve bought into some faith-based belief, your chances of getting past that...
  4. Japle

    Why?

    Oh, no. You miss my point entirely. I don’t determine what the truth is, the evidence does that. Believers often claim that the Bible is the inerrant word of their god, but they offer no evidence. Not only can’t certain portions of the Bible dealing with supernatural events be proven, none of...
  5. Japle

    Why?

    I don’t set out to attack anyone’s religious beliefs, but I’m concerned about the truth. If someone says something about a religious matter that I know isn’t true, I’ll often point out why it’s not true. Frequently, I’ll request some evidence to back up their statement. Since, in religious...
  6. Japle

    Why Does God Permit Evil?

    "Meant to find out" by whom? The idea that we'll somehow find out something after death is a hopeful fantasy. There's exactly zero evidence that consciousness in any way survives after death. Belief in life after death is a way of dealing with the fear of death and the difficulty of imagining...
  7. Japle

    Why Does God Permit Evil?

    A typical closing argument on this subject is, “You’ll find out I’m right when you’re dead”. But I won’t find out anything, because I’ll be dead. And it’ll be the same for you.
  8. Japle

    Why Does God Permit Evil?

    Michael1981: If you think your responses are at all convincing, you're just kidding yourself.
  9. Japle

    Why Did Jehovah Create The Universe . . .

    The Church of the Touring Creator
  10. Japle

    Why Does God Permit Evil?

    That “we’re to blame for our own actions” argument, which I’ve heard so many times before, breaks down when it comes to natural disasters. In 1985, a volcano erupted in Columbia, killing 25,000 to 30,000 people. Were those people responsible for the eruption? Was your god punishing them for...
  11. Japle

    How do you be a Christian when the Bible is so faulty?

    On the subject of Biblical contradictions and dealing only with the creation stories, we find that there are two different creation stories and they don’t agree on some important points. Were humans created before or after animals? Were man and woman created at the same time or was Adam...
  12. Japle

    The Bible Is True...

    It can be shown by objective, verifiable, scientific evidence that, arguably the three biggest stories in the Bible – the Creation, the Flood and the Exodus – didn’t happen. Seriously, the Creation story is told as two different, contradictory stories with different events and different...
  13. Japle

    Do You Bow Your Head?

    I play in a municipal band that plays at 4th of July, Memorial Day, Flag Day and the moving Vietnam Wall ceremony every year. Only once has the invocation been given by anyone except a heavily-Christian minister and I believe that’s because I complained in writing to the folks running the...
  14. Japle

    Why Does God Permit Evil?

    The assertion by believers that God isn’t responsible for the evil in the world is absurd. Who’s in charge here? Who has the power? Who has shown that he’s perfectly happy to kill off a man’s family (that’s Job I’m talking about) and wreck his life just to win what amounts to a bar bet with...
  15. Japle

    Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty

    Not at all. If the “seeers” assert the existence of a god, it’s their responsibility to provide evidence. If I claim that there are 18 pink penguins lined up on the lakeshore behind my house here in Florida, it’s unreasonable to put the burden on you to prove me wrong. “Philosophical”...
  16. Japle

    The Church of the Touring Creator

    Several years ago, I was having a conversation about the origins of religion with my daughter. She claimed that all religions were necessarily falsifiable. I disagreed and told her I could invent a religion that couldn't be shown to be untrue. It took me about half an hour to come up with...
  17. Japle

    Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty

    Contrary to what you said, I’ve found that folks in the “spiritual” group are rarely “show me” types. In fact, when they’re shown evidence – historical, physical, chemical, genetic – they either ignore it or come up with some pretty fanciful responses. The definition and treatment of...
  18. Japle

    Do You Bow Your Head?

    Personally, when I’m sitting at a public ceremony, especially one honoring veterans – Flag Day comes to mind – and some preacher gives a strictly Christian invocation, I wonder how the Jews and other non-Christians who served feel about being shut out. I wonder how the non-Christian soldiers...
  19. Japle

    Weapons in Sacred Spaces.

    I never go anywhere unarmed. On the other hand, I don’t have any reason to go to a church unless I’m playing a concert. Two weeks ago yesterday, I played at a church. I was carrying a compact .45 under my tuxedo jacket. Here’s the thing: You don’t get to choose when or where you’re going...
  20. Japle

    Is faith a reliable means of ascertaining the truth?

    Faith is worthless. Totally. In the real world, governed by real forces, faith is an impediment to learning. Not only that, but faith is fantastically dangerous. It’s been responsible for millions of deaths, endless, church-enforced ignorance, torture, wars, genocide, terrorism and more...
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