@dgandhi

I don't understand why all self-reported data is "bad" data. Yes, self-reporting by itself is unreliable data. The problem with self-reporting is that you can't be sure the reason people checked a box on the survey is the reason the researcher thinks they checked the box. That's why it is so crucial to triangulate your data--for example with follow-up interviews and observation of how people actually behave (which, for example, Gallup doesn't do). Self-reported data is not "bad" so much as it is incomplete if that's all you're going to work with.

Case in point, in the article you linked to it turns out many people who only attended church once or twice a month reported themselves as attending "regularly." Yet these same people did not in fact differ in commitment to the religion as those that attended weekly--which is why they chose "regularly." So basically the Gallup poll provided an incomplete picture of what was going on (as did the weekly church attendance count--people going to church less often didn't necessarily mean people abandoning the religion entirely). In my comment to you, I was criticizing not the article you linked to but the polls cited by this video which were only surveys and not triangulated in any sort of way. Those are the ones I find unconvincing--for the same reasons the article you linked to found the Gallup data unconvincing. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Also, have you read Ecklund's research? I would be interested in hearing your critique of the methodology used.

As to your second point, I disagree with several of your statements. You can in fact be religious and not believe in the existence of a good deity. Most Buddhists sects have been doing it for thousands of years. There was another Sift on here a while back about an aboriginal group that had only one deity--and it was evil. It basically existed to torment them. Are they not religious?

I also disagree that belief is binary. What empirical evidence do you have that belief is binary? Does anything in neuroscience support this? "Kind of" believing in something sounds a lot like agnosticism to me... you're not sure something is out there, but you're also not willing to rule out the possibility that it exists either. This guy explains why belief can't be binary a lot better than I can.

Now, the information in this video is questioning what would happen if we deported all atheists. It seems clear from the examples of atheists they show that they are referring to self-proclaimed atheists. The atheistempire poll cited by this video clearly states that 7% of the people polled described themselves as either atheist or agnostic. It's not the pinnacle of research by any means, which is why I asked if you have any other data about self-proclaimed atheists. That was the reason I was asking you to keep things simple, by the way. It's not that I don't believe there aren't a lot of hypocrites out there who claim they are religious but act in a different way--I most certainly do believe that. For the purposes of commenting on this video though, I'm completely unconcerned with them.

As an end note (to what unfortunately became a rather lengthy post--sorry), let me just explain that the only reason I commented on this video was because I was disgusted by how completely half-baked most of the sources were and at the completely unjustified conclusions it came to. Now, in your original reply to me you suggested that 10% was a conservative number for the number of atheists in the U.S. And I took that to mean self-proclaimed atheists, which I found hard to believe (which is why I asked for a source). But it's clear to me now that when you say "atheist" you are referring to everyone--the non-practicing Christian who only shows up for Christmas and Easter, the hypocrite who doesn't practice what he preaches, etc.--into the term atheist. And I agree with you--if you lump all those people together, yeah, you'll get more than 10%. But I don't agree with lumping them all together any more than I agree with your "binary" definition of belief.

lol isn't the guy interviewing him in Half Baked or something?

>> ^Throbbin:

We need to restore this man!
promote


Props to anyone that donates an avocado, an ice pick and a snorkel.

Your video, Half Baked - The MacGyver Smoker, 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 don't really like this guy a whole lot - his philosophy seems half-baked.

Maybe I just expected him to be more laconic and convincing under Colbert's scrutiny.

I like wikileaks tho

Someone should start upping the productivity in education, to keep up with the other sectors. if new technologies and techniques can be invented for everything else, why not schools? And I'm not talking about fancy virtual blackboards and telepresence; I'm thinking about the studies that say that homework, for instance, makes no difference to learning, but makes a huge negative difference by antagonizing kids from going to school.

Maybe someone could start an accredited university that only had exams, no classes, but unofficially expected students to download pirated MIT or Harvard lectures by P2P. just a half-baked idea, but inflated tuition fees are definitely an obstacle for this demographic.

Oh well, at least all the people who lose their jobs at the factory can become schoolteachers... "If you can't do, teach. And if you can't teach, teach Gym."

Turns out people in the US won't see this movie...

"Good God, what is this country coming to?

It seems the film Creation, a major-production biopic about Charles Darwin starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, won't be seen in the United States because no distributor with the guts to stand up to the religious right in this country can be found:
The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. More..It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.
However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.
Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.
The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".
Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.
"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.
"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.
"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.
"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people."
No wonder conservatives believe liberals lack the courage of their convictions. We prove them right every other day"
- http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6fe_1253048366

Awesome work GratefulMom! And thanks for supporting my half-baked submissions!

>> ^Throbbin:
I have killed.
I have helped kill.
I have killed part of myself.
I cannot change this. I...
I must seek Buddha.
I must seek Christ
-Janeane Garofalo


Half Baked, the movie
Stoner's film I've not yet seen
Recently Netflixed

Thanks man.

FYI - if you are in the U.S. there are a whole bunch of half baked clips on hulu that I cannot watch. Good sift material.

In reply to this comment by kulpims:
*promote best stoners comedy ever

i only ever owned two DVDs:

Half-baked, and Falling Down.

I love when people use the words "common sense" and "reality" in their arguments...it immediately invalidates everything they say, and I can just stop listening.

On the other hand, I loved Baldwin in Half Baked.

He's mad because his brothers smoke pot AND are more talented and successful than he. I guess his anger makes up for it. (?)

Save us Jebus!

P.S. He didn't "star" in Half-Baked, he had one scene.

See, that's the problem with the American educational system. Everyone goes to sleep instead of learning these things, and boom, idiots abound and inept half-baked schemes are allowed to percolate in the halls of power.

*promote the idea of just getting Jon Stewart to record economics and civics classes so at least the kids will pay attention and then learn something.

>> ^quantumushroom:
"Freedom's Watch" is just another group of half-baked rightwing nutjobs who still see commies hiding under their beds at night.
Actually, the commies are all around, in plain sight. They call themselves democrats, liberals and greens.
Fk 'em. Right in the neck.
You need a session in the van, my man. ha ha ha ha!


Pussy.

Get the fuck out of my country if you hate it so much.