Posts by Abaddon

30

What's your take on "faith healing" ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

jw
friends

does it really happen, or is it a fake?.

know anyone personally who was cured by a faith healer?.

Abaddon

In view of the past failure of those who believe in it to ever demonstrate it in a manner that a science journal or court of law would aoccept as satisfactory proof

In view of the failure of those who believe in it to set up a simple double-blind test that woul determine whether it had any beneficial effect

In view of the proven fact people are able to feel better or worse according to how they think they should feel, even down to the level of measurable physiological responses

... I "take it" as wishful thinking, that despite being 100% moonshine actually seems to work for some people sometimes because they believe it will.

I'm quite happy for those who believe in it to believe in it, but won't patronise them by lying to them that I do too. I hope I get afforded the same latitude.

28

Marijuana may increase psychosis risk, analysis says

by ithinkisee in

(article link)

marijuana may increase psychosis risk, analysis says.

london, england (ap) -- using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.

It isn't really news that recreational psychoactive drugs should be avoided by those with a history of mental instability, or that persons using psychoactive drugs should seriously reconsider their recreational drug use if they have any contraindications. It has definitely become clearer in the past decade that teenagers should avoid heavy pot usage, as they seem especially susceptible to cannabis-linked psychosis.

Of course, there is the old correlation is not causation thing.

It may be that people with certain psychological traits (and therefore weaknesses) are drawn to psychoactive drugs. Do people who go to certain websites (say geeks to Slashdot) go because of internal factors or because of eating lots of M&M's? Statistically one could show correlation between eating M&M's (or other typical 'sat in front of a computer all day' snack) and reading techie websites.

Anecdotally I feel there is causation, but that it only effects some - just like some people are especially susceptible to contracting lung cancer if they smoke cigarettes, or some people are more susceptible to alcoholism.

Equally of course, whilst it may be true those experiencing contraindications SHOULD stop, it could well be they are in the group least able to do so.

What is untrue is that cannabis is getting stronger to any significant level.

What is true is that moving it from class B to C has made supply easier and heavy use easier.

What is not true is that there has been a large increase in users as a result of moving it from B to C.

What is true is that people being admitted for treatment are more frequently diagnosed as probably needing treatment due to cannabis use.

This leaves us with a drug that has been used for thousands of years, that causes far less damage to non-users than alcohol, and that damages the health of users to a greater or lesser extent than other recreational drugs (including nicotine or alcohol), and that may be especially damaging to some more than others, just like other recreational drugs, and that represents an equal risk overall as some commonly accepted and played sports.

But, of course, viewed like that doesn't make for column inches...

71

Has Islam lead to an increase in Atheism?

by nicolaou in

ever since 911 and the subsequent attacks in bali, madrid, and london it seems that everyone feels they have a licence to criticise islam (they do).

fundamentalist and many mainstream christians deride the backwardness of a religion that creates suicide bombers and 'honour' killers.

of course, it was only a small group of hardcore islamist extremists that carried out these attacks but the whole community has been tarred by them, and perhaps in some sense it is only right that the majority of 'reasonable' and peaceful muslims do accept the part they play in providing the soil for these people to grow in.

Abaddon

Illyrian

I started that with;

And are they looking at the same table in making their summary?

Are you a they? I think not. I called them liars. Not you.

71

Has Islam lead to an increase in Atheism?

by nicolaou in

ever since 911 and the subsequent attacks in bali, madrid, and london it seems that everyone feels they have a licence to criticise islam (they do).

fundamentalist and many mainstream christians deride the backwardness of a religion that creates suicide bombers and 'honour' killers.

of course, it was only a small group of hardcore islamist extremists that carried out these attacks but the whole community has been tarred by them, and perhaps in some sense it is only right that the majority of 'reasonable' and peaceful muslims do accept the part they play in providing the soil for these people to grow in.

Abaddon

I agree that % atheism can only be answered with statistics, but those statistics aren't granular enough to reveal that '45% of people becoming atheists in the last 7 years have done so because of Islamic fundamentalism', so they don't answer the questiosn either.

And are they looking at the same table in making their summary?

If we compare the results of surveys in 1991 with those of 1997-98, we can see that the "religious fall" has been stopped
and even reversed, above all in many Eastern countries, and in these, the believers' numbers increase spectacularly, but it
is necessary to say that many are converted not in Christianity but New Age or somewhat difficult to describe.

This is a lie; if you know anything about statistics you can see the ONLY cases of a drop in atheism are cases where the drop would fall within a normal margin-of-error. All the others are clear increases in atheism beyond any possible statistical effect.

But the Data table the source refers to I headed 'SECULARIZED COUNTRIES'. Which is my point.

The ONLY major countries that have de-securised are Iran and Afghanistan. Even Russia, which was atheistic for years in law, now only has a 2% church attendence.

I think that secularism could be best measured by the following yardsticks;

Church/Mosque/whatever attendence
% population agreeing with abortion is a right
% population agreeing homosexuality is not wrong
% population agreeing pre-martial sex is not wrong

... which means most of Europe is secular, and America is almost secular...

71

Has Islam lead to an increase in Atheism?

by nicolaou in

ever since 911 and the subsequent attacks in bali, madrid, and london it seems that everyone feels they have a licence to criticise islam (they do).

fundamentalist and many mainstream christians deride the backwardness of a religion that creates suicide bombers and 'honour' killers.

of course, it was only a small group of hardcore islamist extremists that carried out these attacks but the whole community has been tarred by them, and perhaps in some sense it is only right that the majority of 'reasonable' and peaceful muslims do accept the part they play in providing the soil for these people to grow in.

Abaddon

metatron

As to European societies being more peaceful, I would say that , given what we're seeing develop as to home grown terrorism there, the matter is still up for debate,

Not really. Go to Nationmaster.com and play with the statistics. The US's population is 298,444,215 and the number of murders is 12,658. Totting up Western European countries until I got to a population of 305,678,958 I only have 4,893 murders in those same countries.

Our Islamic terrorists could kill over twice as many people each year as died on 9/11 ON TOP OF CURRENT MURDER RATESand Europe would still be a more peaceful place.

in that regard the high unemployment rates in much of Europe are suspect

Only Italy, Finland, France, Germany, Belgium and the UK have greater unemployment %'s than the USA. If you look at the populations of those countries you find that 276 million people in Europe live in countries with higher unemployment rates and 217 million live in countries with lower unemplyment rates than the US.

I think you are using what statistics you know to support a pre-conceived notion. You are linking uemployment with Islamic immigrants yet fail to consider that Islamic immigrants are a minority of the unemployed and therefore cannot be responsible for unemployment rates in exesss of what you amusingly seem to use as a standard of perfection (the USA).

along with emboldening their ideas of 'dhimmi-tude'.

For Pete's sake; how can a minority impose dhimmi on a majority? It is fundmental Muslims who have the rule of secular law and equality of rights imposed upon them. They have to face secularitude. The facts don't support anything else and the vocal complaints of a sub-set of Muslims are no more meaningful than other non-Islamic religious lobby groups who want to restrict non-believers rights on the grounds of their beliefs.

71

Has Islam lead to an increase in Atheism?

by nicolaou in

ever since 911 and the subsequent attacks in bali, madrid, and london it seems that everyone feels they have a licence to criticise islam (they do).

fundamentalist and many mainstream christians deride the backwardness of a religion that creates suicide bombers and 'honour' killers.

of course, it was only a small group of hardcore islamist extremists that carried out these attacks but the whole community has been tarred by them, and perhaps in some sense it is only right that the majority of 'reasonable' and peaceful muslims do accept the part they play in providing the soil for these people to grow in.

Abaddon

Whilst the arguments about global warming and the evidence that may support it will rage for some time, I think one could reach an easier consensus on the evidence supporting 'global atheisming' and 'global secularising'.

Plot the trend. Consider the factors causing this trend; outside of cult-like thinking and totalitarian religious regimes, it can only become more pronounced.

Look also at how secularism is also increasing outside of those same areas.

The percentage of population who are in cult-like thinking and totalitarian religious regimes is quite small.

In the rest of the world, secularisation and increasing atheism are givens.

Of course cult-like thinking and totalitarian religious regimes will resist this, are resisting this. Be it through driving explosive-filled Jeeps into airports or by seeking to impose their own faith-based beliefs on others.

It will pass. We don't burn witches much anymore, we are getting better, "the slow curve of humanity IS towards justice". And the slow extinction of religion is not the end of spirituality or good.

I think licencing religions is a great idea, but a bit like teaching your cat to use the a toilet. Okay, it's possible, but...

I think a much better idea is to make sure education is such that the harmful effects of religious belief are moderated, helping the move towards secularism.

done4good

In the USA, it is still easier to really become succussful, (in the monetary sense), if one takes the initiative.

Actually, in Europe, a greater percentage of people own 20% of the wealth. So one could say in Europe it is easier to become wealthy, as more people do, and in the US it is easier to become extremely rich, as there are fewer sharing the 20% of wealth.

Now, which society do you want to live in?

metatron

Doing something that leads to societal benefits is still a good idea even if some people impose their agenda upon it. If welfare states tend to better distribution of wealth (fact), reduction of intrasocietal tensions and a correspondingly more peaceful society (fact) and a reduction of poverty and harm caused by poverty (fact), why stop it because some idiots think they deserve it? There's lots of white 'Christian' welfare scroungers (those who could work but don't) who think they deserve it. Why stop because some of them are Muslim?

62

Are UFOs Fact or Fiction?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

are ufos fact or fiction?

recalling my days as a jehovahs witness i recall the watchtower society or jehovahs .

witnesses explaining away the phenomena of unidentified flying objects as something .

Abaddon

The wanderer

Pointing out what seemed to be faults in your thinking process which arose as a result of you being unclear about your thought process (which you admit) is not a lack of respect.

Anything but; I'm treating you like an adult. If you do the same to me we will get on just fine.

A person receives respect in a discussion in proportion to the nature of the accuracy of the facts that support their opinions and how they treat others. A word to the wise; you may not realise it, but in attempting to appear respectful (by saying it in every post) and credible you make your posts sound a little condescending and portentous.

Lighten up a little.

I say this as you make rather comments about how I should conduct myself yet are in need of some friendly advice yourself.

Regards

Gyles

62

Are UFOs Fact or Fiction?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

are ufos fact or fiction?

recalling my days as a jehovahs witness i recall the watchtower society or jehovahs .

witnesses explaining away the phenomena of unidentified flying objects as something .

Abaddon

The wanderer

Please realise I am not having a 'go' at you personally, but at the argument you are advancing.

My understanding about "fairies" in Ireland is that
they are "evil" mythological creatures. However,
in the United States "fairies" are supposed to
be "good" creatures.

How are they viewed in England?

As mythological creatures? What does it matter what the local fairy stories (BIG clue in that phrase) say? It has no more relevance than Dementors being bad in Harry Potter; Dementors are made up, so are fairies. Prove otherwise. And note the psychology you display; you go from pondering the nature of UFO's to pondering the nature of fairies when NEITHER have ONE shred of proof. Isn't that sugestive of something about your method of analysing things, as distinct from fairies or UFO's?

I know this is a silly question to ask, however,
I am looking at this from a standpoint of critical
thinking.

You are? Where is the critical bit? You are PRESUPPOSING folk tales have validity and using this to critique FAKE photos of fairies.

That's not critical thinking Richard.

Regards

Gyles

62

Are UFOs Fact or Fiction?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

are ufos fact or fiction?

recalling my days as a jehovahs witness i recall the watchtower society or jehovahs .

witnesses explaining away the phenomena of unidentified flying objects as something .

Abaddon

Here you go;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies

Note the following from the article;

Harold Snelling, a man considered an expert in fake photography in the early 1900's, said "these dancing figures are not made of paper nor any fabric; they are not painted on a photographic background—but what gets me most is that all these figures have moved during the exposure." However in the long exposure wind could have moved the fairies' wings or bodies if they were made of paper or fabric.

I suggest you check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO as well.

Check out this article on sun dogs too;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dogs

Regards

Gyles

62

Are UFOs Fact or Fiction?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

are ufos fact or fiction?

recalling my days as a jehovahs witness i recall the watchtower society or jehovahs .

witnesses explaining away the phenomena of unidentified flying objects as something .

Abaddon

Photographs could be manipulated WAY before digital technology; the techniques were different but the intention and effect was the same; deception.

Consider this; there were a bunch of photos of FAIRIES that were declared to be genuine back in the 20's.

So, I say UFO's might be U and F and O.

People see them; therefore they are a fact. They REALLY REALLY are an Unidentified Flying Object.

But that doesn't mean they are alien. Or anything else geee-whizzz, apart from a few occasions where people have 60'd the next generation of millitary aircraft in testing.

A weather ballon can be a UFO. Like the one at Roswell (wait for the true believer to scoff at my credulity... wait for me to ask for decent evidence... wait for them to blame their inability to prove their beliefs on me, or some conspiracy). Sun dogs are another frequent cause of UFO sightings.