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Amused Muse

Inspiring dissent and debate and the love of dissonance

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Master's Degree holder, telecommuting from the hot tub, proud Darwinian Dawkobot, and pirate librarian belly-dancer bohemian secret agent scribe on a mission to rescue bloggers from the wholesome clutches of the pious backstabbing girl fridays of the world.



Monday, February 12, 2007

Here I Stand

"Do you honestly believe God would allow humans to destroy the earth He created?"
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UPDATED: BeepBeepIt'sMe has some incredible charts for people to look at.

Sir Nicholas Stern lectures an already isolated George W. Bush on the need to act now to combat global warming.

NASA warns that global warming raises risk of drought in vulnerable areas.
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I really cannot believe the depths to which this nation, formerly a powerhouse of scientific thought and achievement, has sunk.

Unlike God, global warming is real and is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels by human beings. Chris Allen, the Discovery Institute, the guys at Uncommon Descent, Katherine Kersten and her budies at the Center of the American Experiment, among the other selfish, dismissive self-styled gadflies, are going to eat their words.

Someday people are going to try to claim, just as the Discovery Institute now claims that no Christians ever thought the earth was flat, that no Christian ever denied the reality of global warming. They’ll pull out their revisionist style book (as they always do) and say, “The church was always at the forefront of this issue! That Christians did nothing about it is a lie manufactured by those unbelievers/atheists/secular humanists.” In religion, it’s like France after World War II—suddenly, no one was not a member of the French Resistance (when in fact, few were).

Sorry, folks. You’re on record—just like William Dembski. (See the count down at left - we're coming up on an anniversary!) We’ll see how it plays out, people. We’ll see.

(Shimmies to Stranger Fruit)

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7 Comments:

Blogger Simon said...

Humans aren't going to destroy the earth. We may destroy a considerable amount of life on it. But then that's all part of nature - life destroys life.

I've voted "green" for over 20 years, so I'm certainly not pro burning up the planet. But it does seem a huge amount of humanity won't really care until it begins to hurt them...

Whose fault is that?

February 12, 2007 12:28 PM  
Blogger Kristine said...

But it does seem a huge amount of humanity won't really care until it begins to hurt them...

That's how it always goes, I think.

I agree that we won't "destroy the earth"--the earth will continue on some level, and we'll probably see some rapid evolutionary changes as niches open up. But this Rapture/2nd Coming thing is what needs to go extinct. It makes me sick. And until I see religious people choosing the look at the evidence in front of their noses I don't want lectures from them about what to think inside my head.

February 12, 2007 12:34 PM  
Blogger Rev. Barky said...

Since we are part of nature, we will follow nature - there's that population bell curve which no species has escaped - it is a fundimental pinciple of all living things on the planet. Someday we will on the downside.

As for al this ani-science bull - I am sickened that my father who made his living and raised his amily applying the priciples of science (painstaikingly crafted by generations of briliant scientists) in order to bring humanity better baked goods, pokes fun at global warming and evolution. Talk about hypocrisy!

I'm glad i didn't inherit that gene.

February 13, 2007 11:27 AM  
Blogger Rev. Barky said...

Oh - and when you try to confront him about it he goes into a little act - a tirade of outrage that prevents the arguement from going any further. I think he KNOWS he's wrong and I know he respects my logical mind and is proud of it but will never let go of all this shit that he has built his house of cards on. He knows he will probably die in the next decade so he doesn't care about the future or his kids future after he is gone. meanwhile - they continue to vote.

February 13, 2007 11:35 AM  
Blogger Kristine said...

I’m very sorry to hear that, Rev. Bark. That’s really hard. I guess you’re not going to convince your father so I would let the topic go. But yes, that’s so frustrating. I understand.

It’s his brain and he has to live with the opinions that he has, and if he doesn’t care about you guys or the future (and I really cannot believe that), then that’s his problem. It’s not your job to make him see. He has to follow his own path and no one can choose another for him—and that’s true for everyone, no matter who they are.

It’s true for William Dembski, no matter what I think of his chosen path. I know that the man is as stubborn as I am (it would probably shock him to realize how alike he and I are), and what he doesn’t appreciate is, to a certain degree and in a certain way I understand what he’s going through and I have a broader comprehension of why he is the way he is more than he does. Maybe someday he’ll realize that—or maybe not. Maybe someday the people I tease and provoke will realize that I am here to point a finger in a different direction when their paths lead—as they inevitably will—to a rhetorical dead end. I’m not just against them, I’m for them, but not for their fantasies. I am somebody who can help guide people out of fantasies. Do they appreciate it? No. Will they? Probably not, but who knows?

Sooner or later this country will have to shake off its fantasies—about global warming, evolution, and all that—and face the bottomless pit of fear when people realize that they have been living a lie. And I’ll be here to say, “Unlike species, the mind can face the extinction of its ideas and live to tell about it, to construct new, more relevant ideas that will survive.” No matter what people in power say about liberals and atheists and environmentalists, I know that someday this country is going to need people like me, and without condemnation I will offer guidance that people are free to take or not.

Sometimes being patient with someone says more than all the logic in the world.

February 13, 2007 12:02 PM  
Blogger beepbeepitsme said...

What concerns me is that religious folks ( read superstitious people), who may be left behind after any "Global Climate Change Rapturing" - will consider any sort of event of nature to be a god's punishment.

They won't even consider that global climate change might in some way be related to human activity, and probably will happily repeat the performance of environmental irresponsibility given the chance.

Oh, and thanks for the link :)

February 13, 2007 9:26 PM  
Blogger Kristine said...

You're welcome, BeepBeep. Thank you.

I have to believe that people, no matter their investment in some (nonbiblical, by the way) religious doctrine, want to see their kids grow up and have happy, healthy lives in a clean environment. That’s all I want, after all. I can’t believe that I’m living in America when I see people give on the future like this, because that’s what this is—giving up.

Don’t people in Europe and in Australia regard Americans as people who are interested in the future? Suddenly, all we’re talking about is the End of Days as some kind of fulfillment of scriptural prophesy. It’s morbid and defeatist, but somehow people have convinced themselves that it’s “good news.” You must think we've lost our minds! The more I look into it, the more I see (and this came out in the talk by Dr. Robert Price at MN Atheists on Sunday—link supplied later) that creationism is more tied to a search for self-esteem than anything to do with science or evidence, even manufactured “evidence.” People are pinning their hopes on a fantasy that isn’t even a part of traditional Christianity—a fantasy about a fantasy. They’re going to be disappointed, and that could manifest itself in a number of ways, most of them bad. That’s the real moment for the defenders of science and reason to communicate why we are optimistic about the future—and if we don’t seize that moment, we have no one but ourselves to blame.

That’s how I see it, anyway.

February 14, 2007 9:31 AM  

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