Wow I always assumed that the sift was like, fifty years old or something. In this case, I'm honored to be a three-year member, the discussions, the videos and the level-headed people here on the sift really have had a huge impact on my life in more ways than one. Ofcourse, anyone outside the community reading this might think I'm laying it on a bit thick, I mean honestly, can a couple of youtube videos and comments really change a person's life?

Three years ago, I had only just graduated highschool and was still very much woefully ignorant in terms of politics, philosophy, science, you name it (for the record, not much has changed) And whats more I found myself within a great deal of spiritual/emotional turmoil. I was trying to reconcile the biblical teachings and practices I learned in the Church (I went to a Catholic high school) the teachings of the longhouse, the 7 grandfathers, as well as this deep cerebral yearning for more.

My mind was exposed to so many intellectually stimulating figures here on the sift. Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Bertrand Russel, Christopher Hitchens, the list goes on and on. Whats more, aside from the occasional bursts of hysteria, I found myself much more politically aware and far more comfortable with all those little skepticisms haunting the back of my mind all those years in highschool. Never before had I encountered so many learned and witty, like-minded individuals.

Happy Anniversary Dag, awesome work. Let's keep the good times rolling.

Thanks!

In reply to this comment by NordlichReiter:
*promote

Your video, Bertrand Russell on God (1959), has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

De nada.

In reply to this comment by Duckman33:
Muchos Gracias!!

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
*quality

Thanks you very much!

In reply to this comment by radx:
*promote

Muchos Gracias!!

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
*quality

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Bertrand, Russell, God, christian, muslim, jewish, atheist, atheism, religion' to 'Bertrand Russell, God, christian, muslim, jewish, atheist, atheism, religion' - edited by lucky760

I get that this guy is doing satire, but there's a line between satire and a pure straw man--and NonStampCollector took a flying leap over that line in this video.

In the first place, any halfway competent theist using those arguments will of course make it clear that these argument do not necessarily support any one religion over the others. This is how Aquinas used similar arguments in the 13th century, and it's how theistic thinkers deploy them today. They are only intended to weaken the atheist position generally. NonStampCollector doesn't even attempt to address them on this level.

In the second place, it's asinine to assume that every religion is the same--either with regard to how well they are supported by the cosmological, teleological and moral arguments, or how much or little they incline their followers to religious violence. As it happens, the Hindu has a much better case than the Christian or Muslim for saying that these arguments support his religion. Brahma, unlike the God of Abraham, does not have a seemingly petty concern with particular tribes of humans or become angry or feel wronged because of sin. Brahma is described as illimitable, all-embracing. Brahma is a more cosmic God, better supported by the discovery of the age and vast distances of the universe.

Other Gods or divine realities so supported include Plato's Form of the Good, the Logos of the Stoics, the God of Leibniz or Spinoza, and even the God of A. N. Whitehead (co-author of the Principia Mathematica with acclaimed atheist Bertrand Russel) and Charles Hartshorne.

Tendencies toward violence differ considerably between religions. The Hindu and the worshiper of Amun have no reason to get into a fight about religion. Hinduism is not a single religion, but thousands of intertwined religions which have co-existed peacefully for thousands of years. A plurality of religious beliefs and practices--including atheism--has long been not fought by Hindus, but embraced. Only when aggressive evangelistic monotheisms actively attack Hinduism does anything like an instinct to violence come into play--and even then it tends to arise mainly in extreme circumstances. (As in Orissa in 2008, when the assassination of a Hindu leader by Christian Maoist extremists sparked a riot and violence by members of both religions, or the year before, in 20007, when Christians deliberately provoked Hindus by .) Likewise, there is no reason anyone would go to war over Amun. It would not be appropriate to describe the religions of Egypt as tolerant--the word implies a perception of annoyance or burden in allowing others to co-exist, when co-existence was assumed as a daily fact of life. In fact, the priests of Amun welcomed Zeus-worshiping Greeks to the oracle of Amun at Siwa, which once declared Alexander the Great to be the son of Amun.

But, of course, NonStampCollector doesn't actually know any of this. He just assumes, like nearly all the New Atheists, that all the other religions in the world are more or less just like the ones he's most familiar with. Makes it easier that way; you don't have to do as much studying or thinking.

Ordered a batch of books from Amazon just last week, so now I'm reading Bertrand Russel's Why I Am Not a Christian.

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion -Steven Weinberg

People say we need religion when what they really mean is we need police. - H L Mencken

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. - Bertrand Russell

Why I'm Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Wedge by Mark Riebling (deals with the rift between the FBI and CIA that caused Pearl Harbor, JFK assassination and 9/11)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

he is basically stating (for all events and purposes) that for the non theist the world could have been created 5 minutes ago. With all of its history, physical laws etc.


"There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago."

Bertrand Russell

"The Principles of Mathematics" by Bertrand Russell.

Favourites

1) Season - Fall, when Delta Burke comes out to see her shadow.
2) Place in the world - In the bushes outside of KP's house, watching him watch me on his live-feed broadcast.
3) Children's book - Encyclopedia Brown or George W. Bush's biography
4) TV Series - South Park and the episode of To Catch a Predator with blankfist.
5) Word - scrumdiddlyumptious
6) Film - American History X
7) Curse - FUCKING COCKSUCKING MOTHERFUCKING BITCH ASS CUNTLICKING SONOFABITCH
Creature - duck-billed platypus
9) Past time - Trivial Pursuit
10) Person - My best friend, who continues to lurk, without joining VS.

Which one?

11) Dog or cat - Tiger
12) Sweet or savoury - This would be a great question for Jeffrey Dahmer.
13) Cereal or Toast - Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
14) Tan or pale - Fluorescent
15) Shoes or barefoot - Socks
16) Desktop or laptop - special underwater goggles with high-speed wireless Internet
17) Drive or walk - bicycle
18) Drama or comedy - dramedy
19) Sex or food - Why can't we combine them?
20) Futurama or Simpsons - Futurama

The Sift

21) Your fave personal submission - McCain's Press Conference in Front of a Cheese Case, or Tool's Sober
22) A great comment on one of your vids - "More proof god hates orphans." From blankfist, on my post about the orphans.
23) Most off the wall member - QM, if that wall is made of rationality
24) Favourite user name - schmawy
25) Your most used channel - comedy
26) Personal dumbass moment - I only get one? Hmm. Probably when I mocked the brother of Soulja Girl, and bi-polar sufferers everywhere. Good times.
27) Best avatar - Emperor Blankfist
28) Partner in crime - I have so many circle jerk partners. Where to begin?
29) Do people offline know of your sift problem - my lurking best friend does. And my other friends know I love the site.
30) Idea for the site - Give me a crown, and a jar of marmalade.

About you

31) Where do you live - A decent house in Boise in Ada county in Idaho in the United States of America in North America in the western Hemisphere in Earth in the solar system in the Milky Way galaxy in the universe in God's puckered anus.
32) Smoker/non-smoker - It depends on what we're smoking. I don't smoke cigarettes.
33) Left or right handed - LEFT. You know we're better!
34) Hair colour - Brown, with an ever-growing tinge of grey.
35) Relationship status - Single and stalking. I mean looking.
36) How tall - Taller than Jon Stewart, but shorter than Michael Jordan.
37) Children - Hell no. I can barely take care of myself.
38) Ever had an operation - On my left knee when I was ten. They let me watch. It was AWESOME.
39) Best feature - My ravishing blue eyes, or my tattoos.
40) Use four words to describe yourself - intelligent, sarcastic, procrastinator, under-achiever

If you could...what, who, when etc

41) Bring a famous person back from the dead - Bertrand Russell
42) Give 50 grand to any charity - Nope.
43) Send someone on a one way ticket to the moon - Does the Bush administration count as one person?
44) Relive a moment in your life - [redacted] That is privileged information.
45) Have a superpower - Invisibility
46) Find out one thing you've always wanted to know - Find out what would happen if Hitler had won World War II.
47) Have the opposite gender deal with something you have to - Getting a boner in public, in the most awkward of situations. Then trying to hide it.
48) Be president for one hour - FIRE ZEE MISSILES!
49) Delete a period in history - The fall of Greece to the beginning of the scientific revolution.
50) Achieve one thing - Write and publish a book.

hmm...I hated stupid people, regardless of age, before the Internet age. I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, unless you somehow think that the Internet has brought out the worst in people because we're protected by becoming avatars on a screen. Faulty logic.

Imagine this poor woman, you say? Yeah, I feel terrible for someone who should keep her fucking mouth shut if she's so confused and mentally slow. She went to a forum, obviously littered with television cameras, and grabbed a microphone to convey her fear of an ARAB in the White House! Gee golly gosh, Batman! Not an ARAB! Because it would be so terrible if an ARAB was allowed in the White House! *clenches teeth and shakes uncontrollably*

If she's mentally lapsing, it isn't because she's old. It's because she's stupid. Bertrand Russell was almost 98 years old when he died, but his mind was a steel trap. Most likely because he USED IT. If he were alive, he'd probably tell that woman to shut up and sit down.

Also, by your logic we should ignore all the stupid things McCain has said, because he's only three years younger than that woman! Let's give him a break, too!

BULLSHIT.

>> ^bareboards:
>> ^thepinky:
She's 75 and they're sort of bullying her.

I love the internet for all the great things it has brought to our lives, including Obama being so close to the presidency. Wouldn't have happened without the internet.
I am dismayed by the internet when I read some of these ugly comments. The lack of empathy of a fellow human being that is often shown here is distressing to me.
Thepinky gets it -- she's old and confused. Imagine this poor woman. Just take a second and imagine what it might be like for her right now. She clearly doesn't understand the consequences of answering what she perceived to be a polite question -- what's your name. Gee, how do you spell that? She doesn't know that this might be going into millions of houses, filled with irate and unfeeling jackasses who think it is okay to harass a senior citizen.
So here she is, sitting at home, and I'm thinking she is getting inundate with hate mail and hate and pranky phone calls. I hope that I am wrong. SHE IS OLD AND CONFUSED. What do you think is going through her mind, what do you think she is feeling?
Oh yeah, I forgot. She's just a sack of skin to some of you. Not a person with feelings, and children and grandchildren.
She was ignorant enough to give her name. The shameful act is the posters, who put it out on the internet when they could have bleeped it out.
I fear they did a terrible thing to this old woman. A terrible thing.