13 | February | 2007 | Honjii's Harangues

Great Comment

February 13, 2007 at 2:06 am | Posted in Atheism, Beliefs, political, Religion, technology | 9 Comments

A friend sent me the following comment she found in an article on http://www.truthdig.com

“I have an idea: those of us who oppose the religious right
should take a strong, pro-science stand.
We stand up in favor of learning the truth about our world and our society via the scientific method and point out the idiocy of flat-earth ideas like “truth by decree” and “revelation”.
We remind our friends, family and government that for
centuries religionists believed the Sun orbited the Earth, and that
they would still believe that today if not for science.
We shout out the fact that the technology we use today comes from science, not prayer.
We demand that our government recognize our secular
Constitution, not a primitive book, as the source of our rights and well-being.
and most of all, we stop allowing ouselves to be cowed by all who are upset because we don’t believe in their ridiculous god.”

A Not So Intelligent Design!

February 13, 2007 at 1:58 am | Posted in Atheism, Beliefs, evolution, rants, Religion | 21 Comments

While waiting in line at a checkout the other day I overheard an amusing conversation about how prices keep going up. I wasn’t really paying attention, but the conversation was close so I only half heard most of it, but took notice when the clerk declared, “You know when you have a baby boy they charge for the circumcision and call it cosmetic surgery”.

Having seen adult males that have and have not been circumcised, the circumcised ones, in my opinion, are much nicer looking. Since they’re calling it cosmetic surgery, perhaps I’m not the only one who thinks so.

I’ve often wondered about the routine practice of circumcision in the
US. In some religions this is a ritual. Now that makes me wonder about that god thing again, and how this came about. For what possible purpose would god’s law dictate that you give birth to a cute and cuddly baby boy and one of the first things you need to do is cut off part of his ding dong? Though in some cultures it happens on reaching sexual maturity, OUCH! I know this is going to bring some comments about to my lack of religious education, but here goes: I had always heard that ‘man’ is perfect as he is made in god’s image. So what happened here? Did god look into the mirror one day, gaze at his penis (c’mon guys you know you all do this) and decide you know if this little part here were gone, I’d be a major stud? But it was too late since he’d already created man in his image, so was the circumcision thing like an amendment to our constitution?

Now circumcision is done routinely, usually at the hospital very shortly (no pun intended) after birth, supposedly for health and hygienic reasons. I always thought if babies are born with foreskin, then they are supposed to have foreskin. We evolved this way for a reason. So why is it as soon as the baby is born we need to make an improvement by chopping it off? It’s like those poor puppies that happen to be born of a breed that people seem to prefer without a tail, so shortly after birth we chop them off. I’ve witnessed this barbaric ritual and anyone who thinks it’s not painful and traumatic for puppies (and actually gives a crap) should try to observe a tail cropping (and don’t even get me started on the ears).

But I digress. I’m thinking if baby boys are born and need to be altered in some way because they are not perfect the way nature made them (or god for those of you believers)….well that’s not a very intelligent design now is it?

Are We De-Volving?

February 13, 2007 at 1:22 am | Posted in Atheism, Beliefs, evolution, Religion, technology, What if? | 5 Comments

Evolution. I really wanted this (next) sentence to say something like; we all know the basic theory, right? Unfortunately it is amazing how many people completely and utterly discount this theory when they don’t have even the most basic understanding of how it works. I’m not going to educate anyone here and now, but I would strongly urge you to educate yourselves a bit.

A major component of the evolutionary process is survival of the fittest. That means in any population, individuals that are most fit to survive in their environment are those that produce the most offspring. That might mean the most physically attractive, most intelligent, maybe the strongest. This process is working well in every species except our own.

The modern world we live in is not our (humans) natural environment, and this artificial environment seems to have changed the rules. The fittest among us, the most intelligent, resourceful, physically fit, just to mention a few qualities that would be desirable contributions to the gene pool, with the aid of modern technology are choosing to produce the fewest offspring.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, but in general those individuals making lots of babies, are opposite of what will continue to improve and enhance our species. If this trend continues, and I suspect it will, what will humans be like in the future? Will we be a bunch of overweight, physically and intellectually challenged people? Will it matter? Will technology have reached such a peak that we no longer need to think or act on our own behalves? Perhaps the only skill required of us will be the ability to plug into a thought module which will guide us through our daily activities, whatever those might be.