False Prophets vs. True Prophets

The vast majority of religions are based upon claims made by prophets. Being that evidence cannot be used to back supernatural claims (otherwise the claims would be historical or scientific), the number of believers is the only factor at work—it is what makes Jesus the "true son of god" and not Chuck Norris (who is much more likely to be the son of God).

The main point here is that people that have faith in the words of a prophet really have faith in the people that believe those words (themselves and those around them). This point is obvious because if no one had faith in a prophet's sanity/honesty then that prophet is considered to be false by default. It takes great self-confidence to have faith in prophet—in a group it is mind-numbingly easy to have all the needed confidence (confidence a person has to tell the difference between one set of supernatural claims versus the another). And of course as a lone individual it takes much more courage (or insanity).

Christians, for example, need no evidence of God to believe in him—but make a claim about humans evolving from monkeys and they become the most skeptical people on earth. It is the large numbers of believers in God which make him easy to believe in.

All prophets make supernatural claims that cannot be objectively shown to be true; therefore any person can make any sort of claim (such as rainbows are caused by unicorns taking a dump), and have that view be respected just so long as many people (the more the better) have faith in its validity. Believing in a talking snake is respectable in the United States, but believing in talking mice is not. The only difference between 'false prophets' and 'true prophets' is the amount of gullible people that believe their words.

Tortoise Helping Another Tortoise.

Interesting to see these animals engaging in such behavior.

43 dead in Iraqi bomb blast

A suicide bomber killed 43 people in Iraq Sunday, injuring an estimated 40 more.
The attack occurred southwest of Baghdad and targeted members of a government-backed militia, Sons of Iraq, also known as the Sahwa, who were waiting to collect their pay. Early reports say the attacks killed at least three soldiers and injured an additional thirteen, while three accountants died and four more were wounded. It's not yet clear who the remaining casualties are.

A survivor of the bombing said that "[t]here were more than 85 people lined up in three lines at the main gate of the military base to receive salaries when a person approached us. When one of the soldiers tried to stop him, he blew himself up."

An Iraqi military official said that "[t]he suicide bomber blew himself up in the biggest group of Sahwa members. We generally let them enter the base in groups of 10 for them to get their salaries."

A second suicide bombing took place in Western Iraq, when an attacker fired upon Sahwa militants in Al-Qa'im before blowing himself up, killing three people, with six more injured.

Credit for the attacks has not yet been claimed, but al-Qaeda is considered the probable culprit.

The Sahwa movement is a Sunni militia group that split from al-Qaeda in 2006, and with US support have been one of the groups fighting al-Qaeda. In recent months, members of the militia have said that they have come under attack from other militant groups, and support from the Iraqi government has been reduced.

Source: WIKINEWS
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

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It takes an extremely dark worldview to motivate a person to willingly destroy themselves in order to kill others. Is Islam a religion of peace? Well, the followers of that religion do not appear to be all that peaceful with those they disagree with. Being peaceful with those that you agree with is redundant. Either many Muslims are hypocrites or Islam is not as peaceful as it is claimed to be (two paths leading to the same end).

Starting Daily Meditation

Meditation is suppose to be a very healthy activity for the mind and body. I'm going to start doing it for an hour a day (30 min in the morning/30 at night, or whenever I can fit the time in during the day). I will post updates on how its going, along with the effects that I notice. I'm blogging about it mainly to keep me motivated. If anyone wishes to join me, or already meditates, feel free to comment about it.

The technique I plan on using is to focus on the sensation of my breathing (not sure about whether I will be sitting or laying down at this point). If anyone has any advice, please share. 

Pat Condell on Political Correctness and Islam

New Forum Added To Site

I added a forum to the blog, check it out (big yellow 'forum' on right side).

Researchers discover last common ancestor of apes and monkeys

Researchers have unearthed a new fossil primate that they think may be closely related to the common ancestor of apes and Old World monkeys, collectively known as catarrhine primates. The new species, Saadanius hijazensis was discovered near Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and gives new insights into human evolution.

The specimen, a partial skull, dates to Oligocene, approximately 29 to 28 million years ago and exhibits puncture wounds from a large predator that may have killed it. Saadanius is thought to have been a tree-dweller and lived at a time when the Arabian peninsula had not yet split away from the African continent, forming the Red Sea. The discovery may help resolve the dating of the split between Old World monkeys and apes. Paleoanthropologists have traditionally dated the divergence to between 25 and 23 million years ago, based on early fossils of the two groups. Genetic studies, however, date it to between 30 and 23 million years ago.

Although Saadanius shares some features with living catarrhine primates, such as a bony ear tube, called an ectotympanic, it also possesses other features more common in the fossils of primitive or basal catarrhines, from which Old World monkeys and apes did not evolve. These basal features include a longer face and the lack of a frontal sinus.

Source: WIKINEWS
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 

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What are the excuses Christians? Did the Devil do it? Or is God testing our faith again?