The Guardian’s GrrlScientist blogger, one of their many science bloggers has a post (click here) about judgment day and also links to the Thinking Atheists video on the topic. She says …
Pastors, priests, apologists, ministers, religious philosophers and leaders of every kind, from every generation, have quoted from the books of Daniel and Revelation about the End of Days. Are their claims any less ridiculous? And should they be held any less accountable?
Throughout our history, religious leaders and organizations have claimed that their holy books provide accurate prophecies about the End Of The World. The examples shown in this video are (relatively) fringe organizations, but despite their overt activism and cult-like behavior, organizations like FamilyRadio.com provide a glimpse into what the more mainstream religions adhere to and believe.
Pastors, priests, apologists, ministers, religious philosophers and leaders of every kind, from every generation, have quoted from the books of Daniel and Revelation about the End of Days. Are their claims any less ridiculous? And should they be held any less accountable?
Visit The Thinking Atheist’s YouTube channel.
First, Harold Camping is a good reason why our schools need to do a better job teaching mathematics.
Second, how does Harold Camping know that god hasn’t already raptured his true believers, leaving him and his pals behind, along with all of us non-believing hedonists and failed religious people?
Third, what happened to Earth’s date with divine destiny on 21 December 2012? Or was that Hollywood film wrong?
Based upon past experience, I can guarantee you that among the various threads in the comments section on her blog, you will find these popping up at some point (as I write this there have been zero comments so far, the article has just been posted)
- There will be a few posts complaining that its a science column, and asking why is religious stuff being posted
- There will also be a few believers popping up and saying how beneath them all this is and how very simplistic the atheist arguments are when compared to their far surperior theology
So, in anticipation, here are a couple of thoughts:
- Its the same names every time, apparently they don’t approve, yet they keep coming back to read postings like this every time
- Science is all about exploring the world around us. When claims are made, then we should never take such claims at face value, but should instead examine all such claims to see if they are credible. Religion is not a special domain that has a special science-free pass, even religious claims should be examined.
- The, “my theology is far superior to all this simplistic tripe“, also does not fly. I’ve never ever seen any who take this line actually refute any arguments with any actual evidence or demonstrate anything worthy of consideration.
The bible is of course a fascinating historical text and is also very poetical (both in the original, and also when translated), but when faced with claims that a supernatural entity has crafted it by popping ideas in the heads of the various authors (via telepathy perhaps), we should indeed be skeptical, the actual evidence for this claim is zero.
As for the precise date for Judgment Day, when is that? That’s today, right now as you read this, because in the scientific arena every day is judgment day and you and I are the judges of all claims, and that includes religious ones.
Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. — Mark Twain