The late Christopher Hitchens, may he rest in peace, was a popular journalist and outspoken atheist probably most famous for writing the 2007 book titled "God is not Great." Much like Richard Dawkins, his fellow member of the atheistic quartet known as the Four Horsemen, Hitchens made sure the word "God" was the smallest text on his book cover, wanting to make sure his contempt for God was known to everyone willing to listen to him. Not only did Hitchens achieve fame as a writer, he was also considered by many to be a formidable debate opponent, possibly because he was very eloquent, had strong command of the English language, and spoke really fast. Words just effortlessly flowed from his mouth. True, Hitchens was clever, eloquent, and he spoke very fast. But brilliant? That is debatable. For example, during a debate Hitchens once asked, "Why do we have religion in the first place? Why are we having this discussion? Because we are pattern-seeking mammals. It's part of our evolution. We look for patterns. We're designed to look for them and if we can't find a good explanation, we'll come up with a bad one rather than none at all. Most people would rather have a conspiracy theory than no theory. It's very observable that there's a lot of junk science around before good science arrives. Before we have astronomy we have astrology. Before we have chemistry we have alchemy. All these things are derivatives of religion because in a very sinister verse in the Bible that used to upset me when I was forced to listen to it as a little boy. It says, "Seek and ye shall … [Read more...]
A Free Tank of Gas
Today I could have had a free tank of gas. I was in a bad mood because my daughter had an object d'art that she made and wanted it delivered over forty miles from home. She asked me to drive it there because she knows I'm a writer and keep my own schedule, which means I have no schedule. It is now 9:30 p.m. and I just now decided to write this piece. It's kind of nice to be my own boss and work when I please. But this morning the Ryder Cup had started and I wanted to watch the golf matches. I didn't want to drive 45 miles to drop off a fancy painted ginger jar my daughter made, but there I was, and saw that I needed gas before hitting the road. I pulled up to the pump and swiped my card, but for some reason, the pump already said, "Lift nozzle and select grade." Someone else had pulled up to the pump, tried to pay, and then pulled away for whatever reason in spite of the pump being activated and ready to fill my car with gas. I tried hanging up the pump to cancel the sale, but the pump remained active, as if Satan himself was tempting me to help myself to free gas. The pump was primed and ready to give me a free tank of gas. All I had to do was remove the nozzle, stick it into the gas tank, and pull the lever. It wouldn't be like I was actually stealing from someone, would it? Yeah, it was exactly like I would be stealing because I would have been stealing. Someone else had tried to pay for gas and then went to another pump without realizing they had left the previous pump active. The gas I would have pumped would have been charged to someone else's … [Read more...]
Why evolution cannot possibly be true
[This article has been inspired by the numerous visitors to my Facebook page for The God Conclusion who wish to argue the details of evolution theory in the hope of saving everyone their time. However, I know this attempt will ultimately be futile, just as all the others proved to be. Many people just like to argue for the point of argument, and nobody believes they can ever be wrong. (Sadly, this includes me.) The only difference is that I am willing to organize my thoughts into ordinary English and publish them for the world to see. I welcome people who will try to bridge the gap between my understanding and the real world without resorting to insults or sarcasm. I've been thinking about this problem for some time. However, it won't be easy to change my mind at this point with mere words. I'm going to need to see some hard evidence; otherwise I shall remain a Doubting Thomas to Darwinism.] There are very few incontrovertible facts in this world. For example, the universe exists. And life exists. It should also not be a controversial fact that this image of the one-eyed dinosaur was a joke. Perhaps humorless people should contemplate the potential outcome before leaving snide yet serious comments about a joke. I may not be a professional biologist, but I have been blessed with common sense. I can still say what a woman is, and what a woman is not--anyone with XY chromosomes. It is also an incontrovertible fact that life cannot evolve unless and until it exists. The theory of evolution is a human's attempt to describe undirected changes that occur to living … [Read more...]
