SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Huffington Post is running a story that provides a bit of comic relief from today's mundane news. Creationist Ken Ham, who recently debated Bill Nye the Science Guy over the origins of the universe, is calling for an end to the search for extraterrestrial life because aliens probably don't exist—and if they do, they're going to Hell anyway. In this story, we learn that aliens, if they exist, are doomed to Hell where not even Jesus can save them. Spock would find this to be illogical.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Extra-terrestrial Life is Damned, Search is Futile
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 106 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Kirk to Enterprise -- beam down yeoman Rand and a six-pack.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Lazarus on Tuesday July 22 2014, @07:50PM
You're thinking of something other than the violent Christian god. Christianity is not what you want it to be, it's a lot closer to what the right-wing lunatics like Ken Ham claim it is, though they miss the fact that the supernatural is imaginary.
(Score: 2) by Oligonicella on Tuesday July 22 2014, @09:27PM
Before you get all high and mighty on the left/right political thing, I suggest you talk to some crystal-rubbers who are pretty exclusively lefties, with many holding degrees. Idiocy knows no boundaries.
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Tuesday July 22 2014, @10:30PM
Sure they do. They just think that they are always on the correct side of them.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 23 2014, @01:35AM
At least they're not actively harmful to others.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday July 23 2014, @04:52AM
Really? Is a person who "heals" by selling crystals in place of real medicine not as actively harmful as someone who sells Jesus to accomplish the same thing? Is the medium who tells an auditorium full of people that a warrior-god from ancient Atlantis has given him the secret to eternal life (to be shared for a modest donation) somehow better than the preacher who tells a church full of people that a carpenter-god from ancient Judea did the same? And to further muddy the issue, there's left-leaning Bible thumpers and right-leaning homeopaths. The flavor changes but the poison is still the same.
Mysticism and magical thinking and taking advantage of stupid or desperate people aren't a matter of left and right, and trying to make it partisan just diverts resources and leaves ignorance to flourish in the darkness. Your brains will leak out just as fast if you watch "Spirit Science" or "Shockofgod".
So, to everyone here: Drop the left/right bullshit. Everyone's sharing their faction with nutters. You want to do some good? Clean your own house before you start criticizing your neighbor for the state of his.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 23 2014, @07:12AM
> Is a person who "heals" by selling crystals in place of real medicine
> not as actively harmful as someone who sells Jesus to accomplish the same thing?
That is only half the story, maybe even only a third. Yes, everywhere there are swindlers and con-artists preying on the naive.
But:
(1) The number of luxurious mega-churches built with the money of evangelical suckers vastly outnumber anything on the new-age side. Scientology is about as close as it gets to an organized fleecing operation, but despite their ~$500M/yr in revenue they are a drop in the bucket compared to the megachurch phenomenon which have somewhere in the neighborhood of $10B/year in revenues.
You might argue that there are simply waaay more megachurch goers than there are new-age suckers, but that doesn't really mitigate the amount of damage done, just that there are less new-age types trying to con people.
(2) The new-age guys are much less likely to use their religion as a weapon. Swindling their own is one thing, but justifying the marginalization of others is almost solely the domain of bible-thumpers. Scientology (again) with their anti-gay agenda is basically it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 23 2014, @09:59AM
Well, the point is: The church had much more time to build up its business.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:46AM
The crystal healers and Jesus healers are about balanced, but when is the last time the crystal healers actively campaigned for laws to discriminate against some group? Have you ever seen a mandate to teach crystal healing in science textbooks?
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday July 23 2014, @02:03PM
That the drugstore nearest my apartment has a homeopathy aisle (placed so anyone walking directly from the door to the pharmacist will pass through it) and is still allowed to operate is quite enough regulatory permissiveness for me. It's all evil, one's just got home court advantage.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 23 2014, @05:47PM
Have they passed a law forcing you to use the homeopathic remedies or are they open to your freedom to choose?