Give me that old time religion!

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Congressman Paul Broun (R-Ga.) said last week that evolution and the big bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of Hell."

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell," said Broun, who is an MD. "It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior." He continued: "You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says."

According to NBC News, Broun's comments were part of a larger speech given at the 2012 Sportsman's Banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia on September 27th.

Broun is a high-ranking member of the House Science Committee,
of which Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) is also a member.

Akin made headlines last month for suggesting that women don't get pregnant from "legitimate rape" because their bodies have "ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

As Gawker points out, Broun made headlines in 2009 for trying to make 2010 "the year of the Bible."

Broun is running for reelection unopposed, the AP reports.>>

Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 550
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

<<[Noah's] ARK: It may be interesting to recall the account given in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1771), which contained a summary of some of these various views (substantially repeated up to the publication of the eighth edition, 1853).

"Some have thought the dimensions of the ark as given by Moses too scanty... and hence an argument has been drawn against the authority of the relation. To solve this difficulty many of the ancient Fathers and the modern critics have been put to miserable shifts. But Buteo and Kircher have proved geometrically that, taking the cubit of a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it. Snellius computes the ark to have been above half an acre in area and Dr Arbuthnot computes it to have been 81,062 tuns... if we come to a calculation the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of quadrupeds, nor to two hundred of birds.... Zoologists usually reckon but an hundred and seventy species in all. The progress of the " higher criticism," and the gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible, are indicated in the shorter account given in the eighth edition, which concludes as follows:—" the insuperable difficulties connected with the belief that all the existing species of animals were provided for in the ark, are obviated by adopting the suggestion of Bishop Stillingfleet, approved by Matthew Poole, Pye Smith, le Clerc, Rossenmuller and others, that the deluge did not extend beyond the region of the earth then inhabited, and that only the animals of that region were pre-served in the ark."

The first edition also gives an engraving of the ark (repeated in the editions up to the fifth), in shape like a long roofed box, floating on the waters; the animals are seen in separate stalls. By the time of the ninth edition (1875) precise details are no longer considered worthy of inclusion; and the age of scientific comparative mythology has been reached.>>

. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[Chris Peterson]

Broun is a high-ranking member of the House Science Committee,
of which Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) is also a member.

The U.S. is pretty much doomed.

[owlice]

The U.S. is pretty much doomed.

Exactly what my son, nearly 19, has been saying for some years. He tells me he will live somewhere else once he's on his own.

I've told him I might join him there!

[Beyond]

Too late! The U.S. was 'doomed' in 1913. It's just showing up more now.

[owlice]

Why was it doomed in 1913?

I think it's sad that someone my son's age feels that the US is not going to prosper in the future, that society does not have a safe place for a young adult like him.

[neufer]

I think it's sad that someone my son's age feels that the US is not going to prosper in the future,
that society does not have a safe place for a young adult like him.

Fortunately for U.S. a lot of highly educated immigrants don't feel the same way:

In the United States of America, a large proportion of scientists and engineers are foreign-born, as well as students in science and engineering programs.

55% of Ph.D. students in engineering in the United States are foreign born (2004)..

Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of Ph.D. scientists and engineers employed in the United States who were born abroad has increased from 24% to 37%..

45% of Ph.D. physicists working in the United States are foreign born (2004)..

80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States are foreign-born (1988)..

At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90-95% of the student population since most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries. Yet, the size of the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools including foreign born engineers and scientist..

the proportion of foreign-born engineers among assistant professors younger than 35 years has increased from 10% in 1972 to 50%-55% in 1983-1985, illustrating a dramatic increase on US dependence on foreign-born students in the US college system. The increase in non-citizen assistant professors of engineering is the result of the fact that, in recent years, foreign-born engineers received close to 50 percent of newly awarded engineering doctorates (naturalized citizens accounted for about 4 percent) and, furthermore, they entered academe in disproportionately large numbers..

33% of all U.S. Ph.D.s in science and engineering are now awarded to foreign born graduate students (2004)..

In 1982, foreign-born engineers constituted about 3.6% of all engineers employed in the United States, 13.9% of which were naturalized; and foreign-born Phds in Engineering constituted 15% and 20% were naturalized..

In 1985, foreign-born Phds represented almost 33% of the engineering post-doctorate researchers in US universities. Foreign-born Phd engineers often accept postdoctoral position because other employment is unavailable until green card is obtained.. A system that further incentivising replacement of US-citizens in the upper echelons of academic and private sector engineering firms due to higher educational attainment relative to native-born engineer who for the most part do train beyond undergraduate level..

In recent years, The number of applicants for faculty openings at research universities have increased dramatically. Numbers of 50 to 200 applications for a single faculty opening have become typical, yet even with such high numbers of applicants have yielded a foreign-born component in excess of 50%..

An astounding 60 percent of the top science students in the United States and 65 percent of the top math students are the children of immigrants. In addition, foreign-born high school students make up 50 percent of the 2004 U.S.Math Olympiad’s top scorers, 38 percent of the U.S. Physics Team, and 25 percent of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists—the United States’ most prestigious awards for young scientists and mathematicians..

Among 1985 foreign-born engineering doctorate holders, about 40% expected to work in the United States after graduating. An additional 17 percent planned to stay on as post-doctorates, and most of these are likely to remain permanently in the United States. Those, almost 60% of foreign-born engineering doctorate holders are likely to become part of the US engineering labor force within a few years after graduating. The other approximately 40% of foreign born engineering Phds mostly likely find employment working for Multinational corporations outside of the US..

In the 2004 Intel Science Talent Search, more children (18) have parents who entered the country on H-1B (professional) visas than parents born in the United States (16). To place this finding in perspective, note that new H-1B visa holders each year represent less than 0.04 percent of the U.S. population..

Foreign born faculty now accounts for over 50% of faculty in engineering (1994)..

27 out the 87 (more than 30%) American Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology between 1901 and 2005 were born outside the US.

At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90-95% of the student population since most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries. The size of the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools..

[geckzilla]

I'm not sure he realizes he's preaching while standing in front of a deer holocaust.

[Chris Peterson]

Fortunately for U.S. a lot of highly educated immigrants don't feel the same way:

Things are changing, however. Overall, more scientists are remaining in China and India after they receive their educations, and more Chinese and Indian students educated in the U.S. are returning to their native countries. More American scientists are moving to other countries after college- especially England, Germany, Australia, and Canada. Fewer European scientists are coming permanently to the U.S.

These are trends that will hurt the U.S. if they continue for a few more decades. I've certainly advised American science students, who often don't have deep roots in the U.S., to consider advanced education and employment opportunities outside of the U.S., where they might well have better lives.

[Beyond]

Why was it doomed in 1913?

Because that was when the elected representatives started becomeing politicians.

[neufer]

Why was it doomed in 1913?

Because that was when the elected representatives started becoming politicians.

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act 5, Scene 1

HAMLETT: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once:

• how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were
  Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It
  might be the pate of a POLITICIAN, which this ass
  now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God,
  might it not?
  -----------------------------------------
  Twelfth Night Act 3, Scene 2

SIR ANDRE: Wan't be any way, it must be with valour; for policy

• I hate: I had as lief be a Brownist as a POLITICIAN.
  -----------------------------------------
  King Lear Act 4, Scene 6

KING LEAR: None does offend, none, I say, none; I'll able 'em:

• Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
  To seal the accuser's lips. Get thee glass eyes;
  And like a scurvy POLITICIAN, seem
  To see the things thou dost not. Now, now, now, now:
  Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.
  -----------------------------------------
  King Henry IV, Part i Act 1, Scene 3

HOTSPUR: Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,

• Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear
  Of this vile POLITICIAN, Bolingbroke.
  In Richard's time,--what do you call the place?--
  A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;
  'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept,
  ----------------------------------------

[Beyond]

Gads! I didn't realize that i was abbreviating ShakeSpeare

[Moonlady]

Broun is honest, that should be given credit...he says what he thinks...his thinking potential may be disputable.

Some people can't accept reality (science) and they should be left in denial, I lived with people ( my family) who are having their minds up and
won't change even there are evidences, I have met many medical students ( I live in a students dormitory) who are conservative Christians and I realized
that they have to live in a bubble of illusion created by their families and life experients (traumata) , or they go insane.
A girl I met told me after we discussed dinosaurs and the fossils, I showed her books, and went to a museum, that her family told her, dinosaurs are
figures of a fairy tale and they didn't exist.

And moving from US to Europe depends on what kind of scientist you are. Engineers in general are needed in Germany, but Germany is not a country of
Imigration therefore hard to be accepted by the people.
German craftsmen move to Scandinavian countries because there are jobs for them, and they get better intergrated.

[bystander]

• 
  
  Can you live without answers? Because if you cannot, then most assuredly you will invent your own answers and they will comfort you.
  And all those who do not share your view will by their very existence strike fear and hatred into your heart. What god blesses this?
  
  ~ Steven Erikson

[geckzilla]

My experience is that while people may initially be angry, crazy, or in denial when presented with facts, it does give them something to think about and in time it is possible for them to accept a new way of thinking.

And I'm very thankful that I was able to have learned new things and think very differently from what I was taught.

[Beyond]

• 
  
  Can you live without answers? Because if you cannot, then most assuredly you will invent your own answers and they will comfort you.
  And all those who do not share your view will by their very existence strike fear and hatred into your heart. What god blesses this?
  
  ~ Steven Erikson

Is that the same guy who wrote-->Malazan Book of the Fallen??

[bystander]

Is that the same guy who wrote-->Malazan Book of the Fallen??

Yes, the quote is from Toll the Hounds, eighth book in the series.

[Beyond]

Is that the same guy who wrote-->Malazan Book of the Fallen??

Yes, the quote is from Toll the Hounds, eighth book in the series.

8-th book of the series?? Well, i guess I'll for-go checking him out. I'm not much of a reader anymore, since my close vision's hit the crapper with years of computer use.

[Ann]

In Europe, wealth has traditionally been inherited, which has created a fertile soil for socialist ideas. Rich people have been accused of grabbing a too large piece of society's cake, leaving too little for the poor.

In the U.S., poor immigrants have arrived and created their own wealth through their own hard work. Therefore the rich, who have been seen as societal parasites in Europe, have been regarded as admirable role models in the U.S.

But lately wealth in the United States has become something that is mostly passed down from one generation to the next - it is inherited, so if you were born poor, you have little chance of ever becoming rich. This situation could potentially lead to a gaping divide and rising tensions between the rich and the poor in the U.S.

Many people find such a possible development unwanted. Some other explanation than unfair wealth-grabbing on the part of the rich must be found for the poverty of the unprivileged classes. One such explanation could be to blame the poor themselves for their situation. Unfortunately, if the poor people become too numerous, blaming them might have adverse effects on anyone aspiring for public office in a general election. One of the presidential candidates recently made what sounded like an accusation of 47% of Americans, which was probably unwise.

No, you need to accuse a relatively small group of people whose societal influence is disproportionate to their demographic numbers. (The most obvious such group of Americans would be the billionaires themselves, of course.)

But another group really is rather small and really has a comparatively large influence. This is the well-educated people, particularly the top scientists. They speak so that ordinary people can't understand them and make strange claims based on their books and their test tubes. They force lawmakers to protect the spotted owl rather than allowing them to drill for oil and create jobs.

America's top scientists are typically a bit less religious than the average American. So not only do they claim to know a lot of nonsense that they've read about in their books, they also disrespect the great religious truths that most other Ameircans believe in.

(I don't mean to imply that most religious Americans have a great knowledge of the Bible or have actually read it. On the contrary, I suspect that most of them haven't. But everyone can join a church where the preacher and the congregation will tell you what the Bible says.)

That's my take on what is going on in the United States. In a country that was founded on the idea of equality and religious freedom, where the vast majority of the population are either, broadly speaking, "liberal Christians" or "conservative Chrisitians", religion has become what I believe it has rarely (or never) been before - a wedge issue where you are not primarily asked to believe in science and reason even though you are a Christian, but rather where you are asked to choose between believing in science and believing in God.

Ann

[neufer]

In a country that was founded on the idea of equality and religious freedom, where the vast majority of the population are either, broadly speaking, "liberal Christians" or "conservative Christians", religion has become what I believe it has rarely (or never) been before - a wedge issue where you are not primarily asked to believe in science and reason even though you are a Christian, but rather where you are asked to choose between believing in science and believing in God.

Flood Stories from Around the World by Mark Isaak.

Tibet was almost totally inundated, until the god Gya took compassion on the survivors, drew off the waters through Bengal, and sent teachers to civilize the people, who until then had been little better than monkeys. Those people repopulated the land.

[emc]

It’s impossible to put faith into religion that is poorly represented. Science evolves enlightenment. Religion should evolve in sync if we are to have religion that isn’t scoffed by science.