Yep, or Race to Witch Mountain or The Tooth Fairy...the first two we saw. After that, I went back to some of the Scorpion King flicks. The Tooth Fairy is particularly amusing...the Rock in a pink tutu is worth the price of admission all by itself.

Defining the term is to me a largely semantic issue. The way I see it, most atheists are also agnostics, and most agnostics are atheists. The dictionary definition I would say is that atheists answer in the negative to questions like "Do you believe in God/That Jesus was the sun of god/that god created the universe/that Muhammed talked to god/other religious claims"

No, I do not believe in any of those things. Thus I am an atheist.

I am also an agnostic, because I can never be sure of anything. There might be tooth fairy for all I know.

Someone who calls themselves "agnostic" and avoids the term atheist, well, I cant speak for them, but I suppose they almost believe in god or something, or think its 50/50 or think that it is impossible to make up your mind.

To me, personally, It seems silly and non-descriptive for my view to use the term agnostic, since I'm agnostic about everything. I have no faith in any religious claim. so non-theistic, or a-theistic is a better fit to describe my view.

>> ^qfan:

Side note: Being well respected doesn't mean his views are truth.

Agreed. On the other hand, the unassailable mountains of evidence for evolution means his views (at least on evolution) are truth. Or at least as much as it's possible to have any scientific "truth".


>> ^qfan:

Though yes, perfectly fine to have an opinion. I'm not disputing that.
What's in dispute is that he's telling parents not to share their beliefs with their own children. So we're not only telling creationists they can't share their views publicly in school, we also tell them that they can't share their views in private with their own children. It's extraordinarily dangerous thinking in the free world. These are private people who wish to raise their children with their own values. Bill is publicly preaching to parents (unlike those parents who are privately teaching their children) not to share what they believe in, all the while saying "When you're in love you want to tell the world about it." The man is amazingly hypocritical and sadly without an ounce of realisation about it.

He's not saying parents can't tell their children about creationism, he's saying they shouldn't. You can dance around the issue all you want, and believe in creationism, the tooth fairy or santa claus, but there comes a time when you have to grow up and accept reality. Right now, there's no debate about evolution, simply because there is no valid competing scientific theory that even comes close to matching the evidence. That I have to even spell this out is pretty sad.

>> ^qfan:

He says "We need scientifically literate people...". The thousands of scientists that believe in creation are also literate in science, even in the evolutionary aspects, except they choose not to believe in evolutionary theory. Science is a method. Nothing more, nothing less. Creationists aren't ignoring science at all, they are ignoring evolutionary theory.

There might be "thousands of scientists that believe in creation", but they represent a tiny percentage of the overall scientific community and almost none of them work in relevant fields. You wouldn't ask a plumber about aeronautical engineering, so don't ask a physicist about biology.

And if you ignore evolutionary theory, you are ignoring the science of biology. You are cherry-picking which evidence you accept because it doesn't fit your world view.

>> ^qfan:

Bill says "We need engineers, people that build stuff, solve problems...". The example of Wernher Von Braun puts this point to rest.

I have already conceded that you do not need to understand evolutionary biology to build rockets.

>> ^qfan:

You're confusing a lot of things here. First you say he ignored an area (evolution) that conflicted with his belief "because it didn't affect his work", then go on to say "You can be damn sure he benefited from the study of evolution".

If you're going to quote me, at least do me the courtesy of doing it fully and in context. What I said was:
>> ^ChaosEngine:

You can be damn sure he benefited from the study of evolution though, given it's the backbone of a lot of medical research.


I meant that Von Braun benefited from the study of evolution in the same way that every other human in the developed world did, through better medicines. It didn't really affect his work, but it did affect his life.


>> ^qfan:

Von Braun, "For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design,” “It is in scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance." http://www.thespacereview.com/article/656/1

So what? He was wrong about evolution. Big deal. Newton was one of the greatest minds of all time and he got time wrong. Science marches on, and I'm confident that Von Braun if he had the time and inclination to really study it, would eventually have accepted the facts of evolution. And if he still chose to ignore the evidence because it didn't fit his world-view, well, that's sad, but it changes nothing about the truth of evolution.

>> ^qfan:

Bill says that denial of evolution is unique to the US (which is already a very questionable statement in itself), then goes on to say that the US is the most technologically advanced nation (with a grudging acceptance that Japan might be slightly ahead). Again, another questionable statement and slightly elitist I might add So if denial of evolution is holding the US back, why is it the most technologically advanced? You could word it another way... denial of evolution and technological advancement do not correlate with one another.


It's not unique to the U.S., but it's more prevalent than any other developed nation. What he's saying is that the U.S. should know better.

Denial of evolution in and of itself is bad, but it's symptomatic of the larger issues of anti-intellectualism and non-rational thought. The people who made the U.S. the most technologically advanced nation are not the same people that believe in a talking snake.

Besides, he's talking about potential. Maybe somewhere in the bible belt the next Alexander Fleming is having their future taken away from them because they are being lied to (intentionally or not) by their parents and/or preachers.

No, I still believe in all three,

I prefer films have a sense of rules and logic, even in realms of the fantastic.



>> ^Fletch:

>> ^quantumushroom:
I'm sure there's a really good reason why there's only one living stuffed animal in a world where people don't seem to notice it's alive...and then for some reason it has a job.


Someone must have destroyed your Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy delusions at a very young age.

>> ^quantumushroom:
I'm sure there's a really good reason why there's only one living stuffed animal in a world where people don't seem to notice it's alive...and then for some reason it has a job.



Someone must have destroyed your Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy delusions at a very young age.

>> ^kronosposeidon:

Tim Roth was such an excellent baddie in this film. You SO wanted Rob Roy to dice him up like Hannibal Lecter.


This might be the best sword-fight ever captured on film. Certainly is my favorite.

Interesting you bring up Hannibal Lecter. Brian Cox (who was in Rob Roy) was the original, and still the best actor to play the role in "Manhunter" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/. His Hannibal Lecktor was menacing and chilling- much more so than Anthony Hopkins in my opinion. Tom Noonan as the serial killer "The Tooth Fairy" was positively terrifying and utterly convincing.

Now, as for Videosift's very own crazed killer, I wonder how @choggie is doing these days?

*promote

what gets me is that people talk about a figure like the Anti-Christ and don't relate it directly with the Tooth Fairy

*dead I think Tooth Fairy may be better dead though

Why would you try to make people not believe in God?!?! Why not make little children not believe in the tooth fairy?! I would have said,"Woman, because God is the mother fucking tooth fairy."

Oh yea.. Because the Tooth fairy has nothing better to do than watch the internets.

Tooth fairy got nothing on this guy...

@dystopianfuturetoday, awww, you liked Yeardley. Shucks.

That's a great list, Sarzy, You actually have me super excited about seeing Buried and Frozen. I love those kind of movies. I was hoping Phonebooth would've been better when it came out.

BEST
1. Tooth Fairy
2. Universal Soldiers 3
3. Percy Jackson & the Olympians the Lightning Thief
4. Clash of the Titans
5. Furry Vengence
6. Sex and the City 2
7. Marmaduke
8. Jonah Hex
9. Step Up 3D
10. Citizen Kane

Okay this was hard to watch, but I risked the brain damage so I could comment on the stupidity.

People need to stop being so fucking gullible, this story is ridiculous. The kid offers nothing that isn't vague and expected. Mom talking on the phone to a friend, dad in a little room in the hospital praying. His descriptions of God and Jesus are classic little kid tall tales. And I'm sure he'd overheard his parents talking about the miscarriage at some point. This is all the kind of crap little kids go through, they don't yet have the intellectual capacity to understand what's going on, its why the believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, and why they think they've invented words and things that have been around for ages. Luckily for most of us we have parents that explain these things to us, rather than feed and profit off our delusions as in this case.

On another note I'd like say Gretchen herself is evidence God exists, because she looks like she's been pulled from his, stupid christian lady barbie wanna be, clone stamp in photoshop.

Your video, Ryan Stout - Tooth Fairy (plus Heckle), has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I love it! you can pull it out and deliver it to the tooth fairy at the same time!