Archive for the 'Propoganda' Category
When I was growing up, the biggest debate around relating to video games was whether Ms Pac-Man was attractive or not (yes she is). Turns out, video games have moved on some way since then and are now causing the sort of theological debate once reserved for books, films and rap songs.
The hot button topic at the moment is a game called Spore. Essentially it allows you to create an organism and guide it from single cell to galaxy conquering race. It’s been a controversial title on both sides of the evolution / intelligent design debate, with evolutionists deriding the intelligent design aspects and id-ers deriding the evolutionary aspects. Stomping into this debate like the proverbial chimpanzee into an intelligent debate is the AntiSpore website. As pointed out by gaming blog Kotaku, this is one of those sites that’s so badly written, researched and conceived that it’s initially difficult to know whether it’s a parody or not.
Our first thought was “Ha! A clever satire on religious censorship and the intelligent design debate!” quickly followed by, “hang on, it’s quite deadpan for satire, isn’t it?”
Kotaku
The problem here is two fold. Firstly, the game isn’t really about evolution. In fact, it very much falls into the “Intelligent Design” side of things. Otherwise, it would be quite boring. You put into place the basic elements of your species, you design them. Secondly, the website is just like the 100s of other creationist/ID websites out there. It’s badly written, misinformed, and sets out the deceive and mislead. The current newest post is claiming that you have to present ID to see sex in the cinema, but not in Spore! Well, for starters the game is rated for people 10 years and over. Secondly, you can watch a documentary about animals having sex at pretty much any time of the day on Discovery. That, if anything, is what the copulation in Spore should be compared to. This isn’t pornography, and only someone with a truly distorted view of sex and sexuality would believe it is (my previous comments about Ms Pac-Man not withstanding!).
Update: Thankfully, the site has been revealed as a hoax. Although it does raise the very serious point that we all know, and have met, people with views this extreme. The site, while extreme, was not so extreme as to be unbelieveable. Which is scary when you think about it.
Tags: Evolution, Intelligent Design, media
I came across this video (embedded below) on Richard Dawkins.net today and, well, WOW. This is a video made with the clear intention of scaring impressionable individuals, specifically school children, into either converting to Christianity, or if they are already Christian, evangelizing to their friends. I watched the entire thing, giggling throughout. At the end, I found myself asking some questions, some questions that seem really obvious to me.
- This is a letter written by a fictitious person? So it’s a fictitious letter and scenario then? I’m just glad the Christian religion has never tried to pass off a piece of fiction as fact before now! Wait a minute…
- How does the dead guy know what burning brimstone smells like? It’s hardly common.
- Once again we see that believing in God is enough. Despite the fact that it appears the two central characters (with names plucked straight from the 90’s) were together and partaking in the same acts, the one who believes in God would get to go to heaven?
- Why is there a corridor in hell?
- Would you rather be in hell with the burning brimstone (I hear it smells like fish) or in heaven with the despicable people who made this video?
- Do any Christians out there actually believe that an Atheist friend of theirs would blame them for not trying hard enough in converting them to Christianity? What a ridiculous idea. Yes, of course it’s the Christians fault that the Atheist chose not to be brainwashed by a cult. I mean, really. Typical Christian self-importance.
Did I miss anything? And don’t forget, I wish you were here…
Tags: Christianity, media, Propogander
I’m incredibly grateful to whoever put together this gallery of pictures from the Creation Museum because there is no way I could ever walk round that place with a straight face. I’d be lynched (or crucified, perhaps) for rolling around of the floor laughing. Comedy on such a scale that little bits of wee would be coming out.
I’d recommend you take a look at some of the pictures in the gallery, it’s a real eye opener to the levels of ignorance Christians are willing to partake in just to perpetuate their beliefs. For example, take a look at this image and tell me how any reasonable person can buy into the “God” side of things. Especially bearing in mind that we know, 100% that the world is older than 6000 years. There are parts of the world older than that.
Another pearl of wisdom, in answering the question “How did dinosaurs fit on Noah’s Ark?” they came up with the following.
Most dinosaurs were reasonably small - the size of a sheep or pony, on average. Even large sauropods, as young adults, were not overly large. So Noah’s Ark had plenty of room for all the land animal kinds, including every dinosaur “kind”.
To really grasp the absurdity of that statement, you have to realize it sits pratically next to a model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, albeit a hugely scaled down version. Maybe even the Christians would find it hard to believe if they had a visual way of comparing a T Rex to the Ark. And lets be clear, there are so many things wrong with that sentence, I don’t really need to go on. Maybe if I just leave you with the thought that if the average size of a dinosaur is that of a sheep or pony, what are the extremes of the set? Considering we know the Diplodocus was 60 feet tall. So to be clear, the ark would have been about the size of an average American town. Believable.
Tags: Christianity, Creationism, Propogander
There’s a widely held, but completely untrue assumption going around that America is a “Christian Nation”. Well, it’s not, and whats more, the founding fathers went to great lengths to ensure it wasn’t eschewed towards any particular religion. Unfortunately, those who wish to further their own agenda are constantly pushing this idea of a “Christian Nation”.
The latest example came in the recent GOP debate when Mike Huckabee claimed that “most” of the founding fathers were clergy men. As some of you will be aware, out of the 56 founding fathers, only one was an active clergyman, with three former members. So no, “most” weren’t clergymen, unless 4 out of 56 can be classified as most. And saying four is pushing it.
If you speak to a Christian about the devil, one of the identifying aspects of the devil is the fact that he/it uses illusions, lies, misdirection and propogander. He will tempt you with false truths so you can do his bidding. So, if you were to be a Christian who applies logic (oxymoron, I know), you could logically deduce that Mike Huckabee, in lying to convince you of his argument, is the devil.
I knew it.
Tags: politics
The Richard Dawkins website today published a post that contains an email sent out to members of a Church. This particular email was regarding the Church’s new drive to combat so called “militant atheists”, although they weren’t educated enough to call them such. It’s all fairly standard stuff really, and I’m sure many of you would have seen things like this before, albeit as flyers in local shops and suchlike. Thankfully, they include a free copy of “Skeptics Answered” by “Dr” James Kennedy, a book that’s already been wildly discredited.
However, this email did flabbergast me. In it lies the following:
Jesus said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42 NKJV).
Now, I’ve posted ridiculous bible quotes here before, but I missed this one. It begs three questions. Firstly, if I was a Christian, would this justify me drowning somebody who tried to teach my children an alternative way of thinking? It sounds like it. Secondly, how can Christians “love” a “person” who shows such contempt for those who do not share his point of view? Could you see President Bush telling his supporters to drown and kill anyone who was going to vote for the other guy? Ok, bad example. But can you imagine the uproar? Yet in the Bible, it’s fine. Par for the course.
The third question, and this really tells me allot about the proponents of Christianity, why wouldn’t you question someone who tells you not to question them? If a scientist came to me and said “I’ve discovered how to travel through time, but I can’t prove it, and anyone who questions me should be punished” I would be immediately suspicious. In fact, I would challenge them as hard as possible. Yet, the Bible makes claims, amazing claims that can’t be proved, and then threatens those who don’t believe those claims. Why are people not challenging it? It ASTOUNDS me.
Tags: Christianity, Quotes, The Bible
I came across the image to the right today on the Friendly Atheist. As many people have pointed out, remove the word “magic” and you’re pretty much there. In case you can’t see it (click to enlarge) it says:
Atheism
The belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason what so ever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs.
I’ve tried to come up with my very description of religion, well really Christianity, just to see how it fits in with the description of Atheism. I’ve posted it below.
How would your definition of Religion read?
Tags: Humor, Propoganda
When I was growing up, the biggest debate around relating to video games was whether Ms Pac-Man was attractive or not (yes she is). Turns out, video games have moved on some way since then and are now causing the sort of theological debate once reserved for books, films and rap songs.
