Dumbasininity of the Day

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he truth is that the study of evolution and creationism is historical science, not laboratory science. Some aspects of this historical science can be studied and analyzed in the laboratory, but how this actual science gets extrapolated back into history depends on one’s worldview. If you believe there is no god and that everything around us came from nothing, then you will be convinced that the laboratory science supports evolution. If you believe in God and the historical Genesis account, you will see clearly how this same laboratory science supports creationism.—Jim Hittepole

[“Letter: Science Supports Creationism,” in Statesville Record & Landmark, 11 November 2015]

Quotation of the Day

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f you want to understand US foreign policy, this is it: we are terrified of ‘foreigners’, so we build up a massive military that lets us bully everyone else, but when battered, fearful men, women, and children knock on our door and ask for mercy and understanding, we blubber in fear and add extra locks. We’re cowards. Understand that, you understand America.—P. Z. Myers

[from “Cowards,” Pharyngula, 20 November 2015]

Quotation of the Day

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he “culture of offence” absurdly implies that civility and manners are all that are needed to stop abductions and the slaughter of generations from Nigeria, Iran to Algeria. But the “culture of offence” is a smokescreen. It serves to legitimise Islamist terror and blame the victims. It misses the point. Being a woman, a freethinker, being gay, being unveiled, improperly veiled, an atheist, going to school, driving a car, having sex, falling in love, laughing out loud, dancing … “offends” them. Calling for civility, censorship, silence or “respect” for the “offended” is merely heeding the Islamist demand for submission at the expense of dissenters.—Maryam Namazie

[from “Apostasy, Blasphemy and Free Expression in the Age of ISIS”]