Comments on: Mealtime incantations and Big Bang ignorance

By: milukfrog

milukfrog — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:44:04 +0000

My husband’s family says a short grace before meals. For family peace, we don’t say anything. They don’t ask my husband to say prayers any more, because many years ago at Thanksgiving, he started out this prayer. “Dear Lord, we beseech thee to heal this turkey…” That’s as far as he got before his mother said “Oh son!” and then did the prayer herself.

Sadly for me, this happened before we were married, so I missed all the fun. But that story still makes me laugh.

By: JJR

JJR — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:35:11 +0000

One thing I don’t miss about trekking to Missouri for the holidays anymore (now that both sets of grandparents have passed) is passing all the “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart” billboards and religious blather. My Dad still has a family friend in Missouri who is very religious (my dad is agnostic and I think a closet atheist) and one Christmas I sent them a religious themed Christmas card (I accidentally picked up a bargain set of them at Walgreens) and they totally got the wrong idea about me. They were United Methodists but now have their own splitter Church because mainstream Methodism had grown too liberal for them. They send me their monthly church e-bulletin by email, which I mostly quietly delete without comment. I’m kind of glad the job I interviewed for up there fell through, since it would be harder to be “out” in that community…dashing off to the Rationalist Society of Saint Louis for a dose of sanity and reason on weekends! I’m in Texas, but if anything, Missouri seemed even more religious in its cultural atmosphere, with a greater proportion of older Americans (who tend to be more religious) in the general population. Texas–well, Houston anyway–always seemed more younger, vibrant, and secular, and still does.

By: KA

KA — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:36:06 +0000

But they gave it to him and they know not what they did because he won’t hold back if he gets any religious bullcrap from them.

Forgive them, for they know not…waitaminnit. Don’t forgive ‘em – they should know better.

By: Tommykey

Tommykey — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:30:38 +0000

Of course, none of these people thanking God for putting the food on their plates ever seem to getting around to thanking the farm workers and all of the other people who are involved in getting the fruits and vegetables harvested and meat animals killed and packed and then transported to their supermarkets.

By: Stardust

Stardust — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:53:22 +0000

KA, thanks for the link. We will keep that handy in our debate “arsenal” for future reference. I know the subject is going to come up again with them. Now hubby has their email address and I am like…oh noooo! But they gave it to him and they know not what they did because he won’t hold back if he gets any religious bullcrap from them.

Many of the school friends I recently found via FB are also god botherers and so it seems as if I am surrounded by all this god baloney. It gets hard to take after awhile. I have had to “hide” some people on my newsfeed.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:32:41 +0000

I have good news on this front, for once. My supervisor at work, who is a victim of non-critical Catholic thinking, began reading my blog. He asked me, if I can reject the idea of God, how do I think the universe came into being. I gave him a detailed, but concise and understandable answer of quantum fluctuations, the big bang, cosmological and chemical development, abiogenesis and finally, evolution (while drinking home made sambucca and playing co-op on COD Modern Warfare 2, no less). His answer? “Oh. That makes sense.”

Isn’t it great when they actually listen to the science?

By: KA

KA — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:17:36 +0000

Oh, & the junkyard analogy? It’s known as Hoyle’s fallacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoyle%27s_fallacy

By: Fritzy

Fritzy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:37:30 +0000

“I would dare say that all the people making this kind of statement don’t even know what a scientific theory is…”

That’s been my experience when discussing any scientific theory with a fundie that doesn’t jive with their mythology.

A minister giving a lecture on the Big Bang? *Facepalm* Kinda like the janitor at an Oncology clinic giving his medical opinion about a patient’s leukemia.

Only in this case, I guess the patient wants to hear that he is not only going to survive the cancer, but live forever.

Sad thing is, I’ve heard that ludicrous 747 “analogy” before–his sermon wasn’t even original.

Nice to have you back Stardust. Congrats on surviving the godbothered relatives and taking the high road in this situation.