Elaib Harvey: "Kapitein, I take your point. However the day that I filter all my writings through a [sic] anger filter I may as well give up."

What "anger filter" are you referring to?

Amy,

Trust me, I don't think that all who do not believe in a God are witless, however for the crowd I am talking about both adjectives are apposite.

Kapitein, I take your point. However the day that I filter all my writings through a anger filter I may as well give up.

Elaib Harvey

"I repeat, who typically in Europe promotes or pushes for restrictions on business operations: trade unions, socialists, greens, or 'churches'? "

-Marc Frans

The final blow to technology will come from a alliance of socialists/unions, greens, churches mosques and synogogues.  The first casualty will be advanced medicine and biotechnology.

Oh yes the great evil of smoking!!!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom--the godless are unwise and see smoking as an evil.
These are the same that declare what is right as now wrong-- while what is wrong as now right.

REAL CLEAR RELIGION

@ Amsterdamsky

1) No, sharia law in 20 years will have nothing to do with "democratic parliamentary" decisionmaking.  There are parliaments everywhere: in China, in Cuba, in Zimbabwe, in Iran, etc.....but that does not mean that there is "democratic" parliamentary decisionmaking everywhere.  That would require among other things: (1) freedom of speech, (2) regular power alternation between different parties and ideologies, (3) de facto separation of powers, with constitutional protections of individual rights enforced.  None of these things would exist under "sharia law".  It is amazing that, after being so long present on this website, you still confuse "democratic" parliamentary decisionmaking with 'majority rule'.  As I said, patience is a virtue, when faced with such resistance to 'learning' and 'growing up'.

2) What is your point?  Are you claiming that the people who vote for the "Christian Democratic party" in the Netherlands are all "christians"?  I repeat, who typically in Europe promotes or pushes for restrictions on business operations: trade unions, socialists, greens, or 'churches'?  And, do you really believe that these trade unionists and others do this for 'religious' reasons?  Let's see how well 'integrated' you are in contemporary Benelux 'culture'.    Empirical observation around the world can teach you that there is no clear correlation between business restrictions and religion.   It is, of course, a fact that cultural differences are partly rooted in historically different religious traditions.  It is therefore to be expected that certain 'restrictions' might coincide with (or reflect) certain cultural/religious traditions and 'holidays'.  But the extent (or the degree) of business 'regulation' is not typically based on religious considerations, but rather on political ideological considerations.  In fact, there are some indications that, at least in the past, there was more of a correlation with (private) business restrictions under anti-religious regimes (e.g. the soviet union, Mao-China, Castro-Cuba, etc...) than under religion-respecting and/or 'neutral' regimes.   

"First, your 2 examples have little or nothing to do with "civil liberties", but rather with democratic political decisionmaking in parliamentary systems. "

And so will Sharia law be in 20 years.  Why do you think abortion is illegal in Ireland Poland and Portugal?  Because the people want it illegal or because the Catholic church gives the order and will excommunicate anyone who doesn't obey?

"Ask yourself a few simple questions.   Where do you think there are more 'restrictions' on businesses: in typical muslim countries or in democratic countries with market-based economies?   In addition, if you accept that the USA is still a more 'Christian' country than most of western Europe, where do you think are the restrictions on "opening hours" for businesses the most severe?   Who do you think determines these restrictions in Europe: the trade unions or some 'religious' authority? "

The Christian Democratic Party is the largest party in the Netherlands.  They enforce these types of laws closing businesses on Sunday.  If it were muslims they would close them on Friday.  I suspect the restrictions are more or less the same.  There are still dry counties in the US also and internet gambling is now illegal.  Straight from the "Bible". 

@ Amsterdamsky

Please read your 'original' comment again, before accusing someone else of "ranting".  You used two examples to illustrate that christians are more of a threat to "our civil liberties" than muslims are. 

First, your 2 examples have little or nothing to do with "civil liberties", but rather with democratic political decisionmaking in parliamentary systems. 

Second, even if we were to accept your original premise, let' s examine your first purported example: opening hours of businesses on sunday.  Ask yourself a few simple questions.   Where do you think there are more 'restrictions' on businesses: in typical muslim countries or in democratic countries with market-based economies?   In addition, if you accept that the USA is still a more 'Christian' country than most of western Europe, where do you think are the restrictions on "opening hours" for businesses the most severe?   Who do you think determines these restrictions in Europe: the trade unions or some 'religious' authority?   If you know the correct answers to these questions, then you should be able to recognize that the "ranting" was all yours.    

"Amsterdamsky's stupidity is of a slightly more subtle nature, but not less stupid.  He seems to think that muslims are more likely to engage in "useful stem cell research" and less likely to interfere with "opening times for businesses", than 'christians' are."

And how did I imply that please?  Christians have already done it.  If muslims proposed such restrictions they would be laughed at (until they take over in another 20 years of course).

from peter V."Just read "The Selfish Gene", and you'll see we're almost there. And guess what? No sign of a God."

Now you have to go to cosmology to find G-d again. See any trends? Remember G-d used to cause lightning a few hundred years ago.

It would appear that Doney and Amsterdamsky have started a competition to see which one can be more silly than the other. 

Doney 'thinks' (sorry, make that 'parrots') that Bush and Blair are engaged in "murder and forced conversion of the rest of us".   Whatever one may think (or like, or dislike) about those politicains, the expressed opinion illustrates that humans can lack both fair reasoning and empirical observation at the same time.  The reason has something to do with irrational 'emotions'.

Amsterdamsky's stupidity is of a slightly more subtle nature, but not less stupid.  He seems to think that muslims are more likely to engage in "useful stem cell research" and less likely to interfere with "opening times for businesses", than 'christians' are.   Now what does that say about the incapacity of supposedly 'secular' westerners to make 'objective' empirical observations in their advanced state of decadence?

"Luckily, Christians have moved on from the days of murder and forced conversion of the rest of us."

Bullshit!  I can go right down a list of non-rights we have such as opening a business on Sunday to useful stem cell research.  Christians are as much or more of a  threat to our civil liberties than muslims are.

LOGICAL MAN is anything but. He writes: "If there were no gods why should anyone care about goddesses, especially those who give advices and not love or sex :) ??? Interestingly the God of the bible anticipated such attitude by inspiring David to write: "The stupid keeps saying there is no god"

Yes, and Islamic texts say you'll get 72 virgins if you murder the rest of us for not believing in what your ancient, highly contradictory text says. Of course the bible says stuff like this -- it's how the business of religion stays in business.

The fact that you can't explain how things got here doesn't mean you can assign an explanation to god. Not logically and rationally, anyway. I know, you've been told god exists. Just as Muslims have been told they'll get 72 virgins in "the afterlife" -- which nobody has a shred of proof for either. All we know about death is this: You die, you decompose, you are eaten by worms. Enjoy life while you have it, and kindly avoid taking the lives of the rest of us in the name of your irrational belief in god. Luckily, Christians have moved on from the days of murder and forced conversion of the rest of us. The barbarians of Islam have not.

Amy Alkon
syndicated columnist in over 100 newspapers
blogging daily at advicegoddess.com

This is how it all starts.  Some aggressive bureaucrat gets a law passed and gets the right to levy fines.  This pays for more employees and better offices and their own personal fiefdom that they can use as a launching pad for their political career (and of course more laws and fines).  Of course none of this is in the interest of the serfs/taxpayers.  I actually think this is a stage of economic evolution which comes before collapse.  When conditions are harsher nobody has time for this kind of bullshit.

"People don’t smoke in churches as it would be considered both rude, and somewhat sacreligious."

I have never heard a better reason to start smoking.

If there were no gods why should anyone care about goddesses, especially those who give advices and not love or sex :) ???

Interestingly the God of the bible anticipated such attitude by inspiring David to write: "The stupid keeps saying there is no god"

The bible also says that "Their belly is their god" i.e. many people are devoted to pursuit of plaisir or money.

Now if the advicegoddess referred to the Almighty God that she claims doesn't exist, her attitude is actually OK with him.  He gives us the free choice.  People can choose to do whatever they desire and reap its consequences including death, while those obedient to God could have everlasting life after God's judgement day.

BTW many see in multitude of God's creations as evidence of God's existence.  When one sees a house, one knows there's a builder of that house.  The builder of the universe is God.

Human don't need to see colors to survive, just like dogs don't see colors.  Yet we see colors and are able to enjoy flowers and sunsets and other beauties.  Our tastebuds can differentiate millions of flavors while dogs and cats etc... don't seem to care much about the taste.  For many, those facts are manifestations of existence of God.

And what about mosques, synagogues etc? Will they be exempted from this joke?

I also take exception to the statement, "godless, witless pack of heathens," not for Ms. Alkon's reasons, but because it detracts from the article's point, namely that the British Department of Health is wasting time and money to prohibit smoking in places where there is no smoking to begin with. Additionally, forcing churches to place gaudy signs at the entrances only makes them appear more like community centers rather than places of religious worship. Surely religionists, pagans, agnostics and atheists can all equally see the stupdity and futility of this campaign, which serves only to use tax revenues to pay bureaucrats and advertising executives exorbitant sums of money.

You use "godless" as if it's an insult. I'm godless, as I see no evidence there's a god, hence I don't believe in god. I think irrational belief in god -- especially over there in the Middle East, where they use the irrational belief to encourage violence against those who don't share their particular brand of irrationality -- is extremely damaging, and will quite possibly mean the end to civilization; at the very least, western civ.

I'm godless because I'm not witless -- I gave some thought to the notion of whether there was a god when I was a kid, and realized that others' strong belief in god and/or often-contradictory writing in ancient books are not evidence there's a god. Neither is the fact that the planet and life as we know it are pretty amazing and inexplicable. Because you don't have an explanation for how we all got here doesn't mean you can just make one up.

Amy Alkon
syndicated columnist in over 100 newspapers
blogging daily at advicegoddess.com