AtyHans

The following is just my opinion . If you don't like my opinion, I have others as Groucho Marx once put it. In my opinion , there are three types of knowledge (feel free to comment with more - or less - types). Common knowledge Scientific knowledge Epistemological knowledge  Let's examine these. Common knowledge - "Everybody knows this" The problem with common knowledge is that, just because everybody knows it, doesn't make it true . Once upon a time, everybody knew that the sun revolved around the earth, then, Copernicus had another idea... Common knowledge is also fraught with opinions . Everybody knows that Darwin was the greatest scientist of all time... or Newton, or ... Everybody knows you don't wear socks with sandals. Common knowledge says that there are no atheists in foxholes even though there is evidence against it . There are atheists in foxholes, and have been throughout the ages. Scientific knowledge - "Measured, time a...

I'm asking because I'm getting different opinions from different people. Feel free to comment. According to Josephus, Jesus was the brother of James . His book, "Antiquities of the Jews", was published around 94CE. The only problem with this piece of information is that the oldest preserved text is from the eleventh century [1] . This is the only piece of information about the "historical" Jesus. Absent from Josephus is his birth, his death and all events from his life. Absent from Josephus is the massacre of the infants. Absent from Josephus is the cleansing of the Temple. Absent form Josephus is an earthquake when Jesus died, and the opening of tombs in Jerusalem. The New Testament describes all kinds of events that would have been noted by independent writers, if they had happened. Both the Romans and the Jews knew how to write, yet there are no written documents of the events portrayed in the bible. You'd think there would have been l...

I have had the honor of having two memes made from the things I have said. I must thank @Sandra and @NancyDrew for both of them. [source] [source]

Creationist "scientists" try to convince people that a global flood once happened because they think their holy book is right. To do that, they ignore scientific facts and they lie about science. One example is the K-Pg boundary. The K-Pg boundary has a number of characteristics that are evidence for an asteroid impact. A huge asteroid. The K-Pg boundary layer contains: Iridium - concentration of 30-160 times higher than usual  Shocked quartz - requiring intense pressures  Tektite glass spherules - formed by re-entry of debris into the atmosphere Chromium - isotopic anomalies associated with carbonaceous chondrites The Chicxulub impact crater has been found near the Yucatan peninsula and is, on average, 180 km in diameter. The boundary layer is thicker near the impact crater More shocked quartz is found closer to the impact crater More tektite glass spherules are found closer to the impact crater Creationist "scientists" ignore most of these scient...

After seeing this Youtube video by AronRa, I was inspired to make a related tweet. You know how it is. [ link ] As you can see, it's not a very popular tweet. Still, it's what this post is about; Human taxonomy . We are classified, by scientists, according to the similarities and differences we share with other organisms. This classification is done with the help of different fields within biology: embryology, morphology, genetics, etc. Ever since Linnaeus, thousands of biologists have been working on his taxonomic framework, expanding it and improving it. Thanks to the advent of DNA sequencing, phylogenetic trees are used to improve and refine it even further. No organism has ever been found on earth which doesn't have DNA. All organisms on earth have DNA sequences in common with each other. The top most global classification of humans is Neomura. We belong to a group of organisms that have glycoproteins. This is our Superdomain. We are neomuran. We share thi...

Not long ago, I put my original post about the burden of proof on reddit.com . The comments were... surprising to me. However, as I respect the /r/Atheism crowd (they know more than I do), I feel obligated to address their criticism. Before anything else, I admit that we can construct a deity that might exist. The agnostic atheist position is correct for that reason. "If you can't even define it, discussion or belief seem pointless." In my original post, I used the dictionary definition of 'god' God     1. (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.     2. (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity. I insist this definition of 'god' has evidence against it. We can accept the burden of proof and demonstrate this 'creator and ruler of the universe' doesn...

Let's explore the meaning or the word 'morality' because it's an abstract word and people tend to have strong opinions about what it is without regard to the dictionary meaning. Morality - Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. Right and wrong.  Good and bad behaviour. Seems we can say things about that. For instance, I can say that slavery is 'wrong' and most people would agree with me, but for millennia, people have considered slavery to be 'right'. Then again, not everybody will agree with me that slavery is 'wrong'. This means that my 'opinion' about right and wrong isn't shared by everybody. That's a fact. This fact doesn't make me a moral relativist. Moral relativism - The view that moral judgements are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint is uniquely privilege...