sarcasm | Evolution Space

Power of Prayer Proven (and Disproven) – Videos Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Posted by Henry in animation, Bible, Christianity, Ed Current, faith, funny, God, humor, humour, Jesus, parody, prayer, rationality, reason, religion, sarcasm, video.
2 comments

Here is another great video from Ed Current, whose other previous works The Atheist Delusion and The Deluded Mailbag I have bloggged earlier. He really has a knack of creating good parody!

Here is his latest work which proves that prayer works:

Courtesy of the Friendly Atheist.

Okay, for all the atheists out there, here is a different video which refutes the power of prayer. Now I am totally confused as to whether prayer works or not…

Evolving Out of Kansas Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Posted by Henry in anti-fundamentalism, art, artwork, comic, evolution, fundamentalism, funny, human evolution, humour, Kansas, parody, sarcasm, United States.
1 comment so far

This is just so clever that I have to post it!

… why didn’t I think of this?

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist.

R.I.P. – Stanley Miller, Father of Origin of Life Chemistry Thursday, May 24, 2007

Posted by Henry in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, exobiology, Harold Urey, Miller-Urey, origin of life, sarcasm, science, science experiment, Stanley Miller.
6 comments

Stanley Miller, a leading pioneer in biochemistry, has sadly passed away due to heart failure at the age of 77.

Stanley Miller

He is known for his landmark and famous Miller-Urey experiment conducted as a graduate in 1953. This experiment shows that simple chemical elements can be catalysed into amino acids – the building blocks of protein – that is, simple inorganic chemical compounds can be made into organic elements.

The novel experiment was designed to show that the assumed primitive atmospheric condition of the early Earth could possibly produce life chemical compounds. With only water, hydrogen, methane and ammonia mixed in a flask, zapped with some serious sparks of electrical discharge, amino acids were formed in a “molecular soup” within a week.

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The Animation of The Atheist Delusion 2: Decluded Mailbag Thursday, May 10, 2007

Posted by Henry in animation, anti-fundamentalism, atheism, Bible, Christianity, Ed Current, faith, fundamentalism, funny, God, humour, parody, rationality, religion, sarcasm, science.
48 comments

The creative Ed Current has done it again with a follow-up animation to his previous popular animation The Atheist Delusion. This time it is called “Atheist Delusion 2: Deluded Mailbag”, in which the faithful Christian guy answers some of the common (and deluded) atheist questions.

Take a look at the witty and hilarious animation!

The Animation of The Atheist Delusion Thursday, May 10, 2007

Posted by Henry in animation, anti-fundamentalism, atheism, Bible, Christianity, Ed Current, faith, fundamentalism, funny, God, humour, parody, rationality, religion, sarcasm, science.
1 comment so far

After a number of rather serious posts, I thought it is a good time to post something humorous. Just in case you haven’t seen it – because this is too good to miss – here is a marvellous piece of presentation titled “The Atheist Delusion“, created by Ed Current, that brings a little bit of humour and sarcasm to the age-old debate of atheism vs. theism.

No matter which side you are on, it is worth a look.

How To Think Like a Religious Fundamentalist Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Posted by Henry in anti-creationism, anti-fundamentalism, anti-ID, atheism, Christianity, creationism, education, evolution, faith, fundamentalism, funny, God, humour, intelligent design, parody, rationality, religion, sarcasm, science.
50 comments

I have just discovered this seemingly ancient, yet ageless article on how to think like a religious fundamentalist. Buried in a Web 1.0 style website, I decided to bring it to spotlight and submitted that page to Digg. Don’t you just love it when stumbling upon a germ like this?

The opening statement is great:

Planning a career in online Christian fundamentalist apologetics? How about the exciting world of Young-Earth Creationism? Witnessing to, and debating with, atheists and other hellbound unsaved sinners on the internet can be hard work, so you need to familiarise yourself with the tried and tested methods used by fundies all around the world. After completing this simple training course, the shadow of doubt will never again flicker across your mind whilst listening to the lies and deceptions of those ignorant infidels who disagree with your self-evident truths.

After all, that is what religious fundamentalism is about – being blinded by faith without any discourse to reason and rationality. This how-to “training course” then starts with what I call the Fundy Rule 1 on inerrancy:

First and foremost, the Bible is the absolute, literal word of God. Contrary to popular opinion, it contains none of the following: errors of any kind, contradictions or absurdities .

which I believe can be expanded to the Koran of Islam, as well as other holy scriptures, not just that of the Bible of Christianity.

Here comes Fundy Rule 2 which is on science:

There is but one measuring stick required to determine the truth of any claim – how it compares with Holy Scripture. More precisely, how it compares with your personal reading of Scripture. So, if some secular humanist scientists dare to dream up a theory (or “wild guess”, as it is more accurately known) that apparently conflicts with the teachings of the Bible, clearly these egg-head mad professors have made yet another idiotic mistake, possibly under demonic influence. How do we know they are mistaken? See “1 Inerrancy”.

Here comes my favourite – how to debate and reason against attacks on fundamentalist thinking. While I don’t claim myself as being particularly analytical and intelligent, and definitely not a fan on belittling people’s mistakes and intelligence – but, time and time again, we come across totally ignorant and utterly bewildering stupid arguments put forward by religious fundies. So this training course has it, with Fundy Rule 3 on how to debate like a fundy:

Self Contradiction – the Bible stands correct at all time;

Logic and Reason – just the playthings of the unbeliever – faith in the Lord is all that is needed;

Burden of Proof on the Skeptic – the unbeliever claim God does not exist – ask them to disprove that;

Repeating Yourself;

Reply with Huge Answers;

Grammar and Spellings – not important, as long as the Holy Spirit guides us;

Knowledge – there is no need to know anything science offers us – all the evidence in the world is no match for a single grain of the True Faith;

Definition of Words – the Spirit will guide us through if unbelievers say we are mistaken with words;

Furthermore, the training course provides the last of priceless rules, Fundy Rule 4 – performing mental gymnastics. Here is :

Lying for Jesus – being economical with the truth, making up data on the spot and ignoring conflicting evidence are all handy weapons to save souls;

Compartmentalisation – keep scriptural knowledge away from the secular knowledge that allows you to function in worldly matters;

Wilful ignorance – Ignorance is bliss, and what is more blissful than reading the Word Of God?

Feel free to click on the Digg button below to Digg that fantastic article.

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Buddha Answers Christian Questions in Kindness Friday, April 27, 2007

Posted by Henry in Buddha, Buddhism, Christianity, faith, funny, God, humour, parody, religion, sarcasm.
5 comments

A Christian website has published 10 questions that they would love to ask Buddha if they could – and someone has cleverly responded with love:

“Buddha, in his typical spirit of compassion and kindness, decided to answer their questions. He allowed an appearance-body to emanate into our world, and took a walking/bus tour of America, giving representatives from this Christian website a chance to find him, and finally get the answers to their concerns.”

As an atheist, this little exchange makes it an entertaining read. If I could ask Buddha 10 questions – not that I have given it much thought – I’d ask more constructive, non-Christian related questions such as solutions to today’s humanity problems, or would Buddha modify any of its tenets after thousands of years have gone by, and so on – rather than focusing narrow-mindedly on Christian ideology such as a personal God.

I thought this little dialogue is so good that I will duplicate it here in its entirety. Mine own commentary is not in quotes.

Here is question 1:

A group of brave Christians, intent on following the example of ancient Brahmins and interviewing the Buddha, found him walking in a forest near the small town of Jaredville, Indiana, and asked him:

“If there is no personal God, and if one can attain nirvana only as a result of the destruction of thirst (tanha) / desire, therefore the destruction of attachment, therefore the destruction of existence–from whence, do you suppose, did personality (or even the sense of personality) ever come? Exactly what is it, and where does it go when one ceases to exist?”

The World-Honored One smiled and responded:

“Christian friend, “Nirvana” is not the name given by me to something lacking, nor to something attained; Nor do I teach of the “end of existence”, nor of its beginning. Those things only lead to ceaseless speculation, and to inevitable suffering. I suggest that your question has been misframed. There is suffering, and there is a way to the end of suffering, and this is all the Buddha teaches. What you call “personality” arises when the conditions necessary for the formation of “personality” are present, and it vanishes when those conditions are no longer present. To ask “where the personality goes” is also a mis-framed question; where does a fire go, when its fuel is exhausted? You have twice stated that I teach of the “destruction of existence” or the idea of “ceasing to exist”, but I teach none of those things. I teach only of the arising of unsatisfactory states, and of the ceasing of unsatisfactory states.”

Here is question 2, another one related to the concept of personal god.

Intent on outsmarting the Buddha, those Christians found him again at a Bus stop out on Route 8. They asked him:

“Without a personal God, on what basis can there ever exist any human moral standard or ethic–and therefore, in what sense do you mean for us to understand the terms noble and truth, i.e. The Four Noble Truths, or the term right in the eight-fold path of right views, resolve, speech, conduct, occupation, efforts, awareness, and meditation?”

The World-Honored One said:

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