Posts tagged: pz myers
The Great Desecration Is Over
Well, PZ has finally done the deed. The Great Desecration of 2008 has ended and no one was struck down by almighty lightning.
If you haven’t kept up with the story, A parishioner in a Florida Catholic church accepted the holy Eucharist but did not ingest it. Apparently, he was planning to leave service with the holy Eucharist still in his possession. Some local church groups threw a big fit and the local news covered it. Then PZ Myers of Pharyngula noticed the story and posted a scathing rebuttal to the notion that everyone should hold these wafers sacred. This caught the attention of Bill Donohue who, as head of the Catholic league, organized mass efforts to get PZ fired from the University of Minnesota, Morris, as well as many other Christian crazies who began filling PZ’s inbox with various threats ranging from his job to his life.
So what was the horrid act of desecration? …A nail. A dull rusty nail. To keep it fair however, PZ ran the nail through the Eucharist as well as torn pages from the Qur’an and The God Delusion.
And then he threw it all into the garbage.
Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanities’ knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind.
Well said, PZ. Well said.
But That’s Not What I Believe
I’m listening to the radio discussion between PZ Myers and Father Loya on Catholic Radio International’s “Heart of the Matter” radio show and was really hoping for an enlightening discussion but am being treated to the same old religious apologies I’ve grown quite weary of.
The largest offender of these apologies is amazingly intellectual sounding, “but that’s not what I believe,” defense. Anytime someone paints an honest image of the rediculous nature of many religious beliefs the religious debater replies that there are probably people who believe the presented claims but that it’s not an acurate depiction of “their” belief or that people who believe so aren’t “true” Christians, Muslims, etc. Then they typically go into rantings of metaphysical word-salad of ill-defined words, theological “ways of knowing” and attempts to redefine the scientific method.
Father Loya’s “knowledge of the existence of love” argument was beautifully shot down by PZ as well as his attempts to redefine the “empircal” and “nature” during his opening argument. I’m trying to make it through the rest of the discussion about the cracker debacle but Father Loya just keeps avoiding the nature of the issues at hand.
The Young And The Restless Talk Science
The supa-hottie Beauty (Abbie Smith) and the supa-atheist Beast (PZ Myers) have recorded an excellent discussion for everyone over at Bloggingheads where they successfully break down epigenetics, creationism, and crackers.
Via: Pharyngula & ERV
P.S. Sorry about the “Beast” part PZ. But honestly, in comparison…
Some Are Just Disgusting
PZ Myers pointed out this little documentary on Islam’s attempted domination of the world. I tend to agree with PZ regarding the general comparative religion education in schools but I disagree with leaving some out (if that’s what was implied). Scenes like this add vital fuel to the fire against such disgusting acts and 1st century ideas.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410
Via: Pharyngula
