Nothing Created Everything

Ray Comfort and the folks at Living Waters seem fixated on the idea that atheists believe, "nothing created everything." Every few videos they post, every few blogs they write, and every few billboards they put up has the slogan, "nothing created everything, a scientific impossibility." As if Living Waters is relevant in deciding what is scientific or what isn't.

First of all, atheism has nothing to do with the creation of the Universe. It's only a theological position regarding the non-existence of God. It's a bit like accusing Wiccans of believing the world rests on the back of a turtle. The two have little relevance to each other.

Secondly, absolute nothingness doesn't exist. This is plainly obvious by our existence. No one knows if nothingness is even possible for even where we think there is nothing, the fabric of space-time weaves together reality in tight, multi-dimensional knots.

If absolute nothingness doesn't exist, why should one assume the universe came from nothing? Why would you even assume nothing is a default position before existence? This line of thinking makes no sense.

"An atheist believes nothing created everything," is simply a bad strawman argument, easily ignored. Everyone should be suspect when one side says, "My opponent believes..." because, most likely, they don't believe that at all.

So let Living Waters be fixated on their notion that atheists believe nothing created everything. Their words betray their dishonest arguments and only serves to make them look only more foolish.

The Problem of UFOs and Reported Miracles

Everyone who visits this blog should understand that there is not enough evidence to support the idea that alien spacecraft have visited Earth. However, you can find tons of eye-witness testamony regarding UFOs and UFO abductions. Why is this so?

Part of the reason for people believing they saw a UFO is due to a psychological phenomena known as argument from ignorance. Someone sees bright lights in the sky, they don't know what it is, so they say, "It must be a UFO!" Their thought processes should have stopped after they realize they don't know what it is, but the human mind craves understanding of the world. We sometimes impose improbable and unlikely rationales simply because our minds cannot stand not understanding.

The same is true of God. Plenty of people claim to have experienced miracles by the hand of God, but as evidenced by UFO beliefs, eye-witness testamony is a horrible form of evidence. Here's a typical story of a theist explaining a miracle:

Theist: "One time, I got in a car accident. I should have died, but God saved me. That's how I know God exists; through miracles like that in my life."

The statement above falls prey to the argument from ignorance phenomena. The theist got in a car accident, doesn't know why he survived, but proclaims divine intervention as a way to understand what happened.

So whenever someone proclaims to have seen UFOs or miracles from personal experience, you can remind them of how our brain tricks us through argument from ignorance.

If Genesis Were Written in the Language of Science...

If Genesis was written in the language of science, it would have sounded like this:



By the way: Sorry for not updating my blog for a while, my computer went down for a while.

Universal Healthcare is Actually Very Popular in the United States

Despite what the GOP and Fox News would have you think, the American people are overwhelming in support of universal health care and a public option made available by the government. So just how much are the American people in favor of universal health care? You won't believe it.

86 percent of Americans support universal health care. 79 percent are in favor of a public option. These numbers come from a recent poll by the AARP which included Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Not surprisingly, Fox News watchers are woefully misinformed (that's why I'm here!) about the current health care bill. 72 percent think illegal aliens will be covered, 79 percent think health care reform was a government takeover, and 75 percent believe in "death panels" which I debunked in an earlier post.

Link to the poll results.

Skeptical Comedy Jam

I present to you the comedian Dara O'Brian. In this video, he lambastes homeopathy and nutritionists. Please enjoy.

Best Fossils of the Year

Just a heads up! National Geographic posted a new article showcasing many of the most well-preserved fossils recently unearthed.

You can read it in full here.

World Health Ogranization Says Homeopathy Is Not a Cure

The World Health Organization is discouraging the use of homeopathy for the treatment of diseases such as TB, HIV, and malaria. Why is this so? Homeopathy doesn't work, and when it's used in place of real medicine, lives are lost.

I would like to thank the WHO for taking a stand in debunking homeopathy. Nonsense should never disguise itself as medicine.

Paula Ross, the chief executive of the Society of Homeopaths wrote in response, "This is just another poorly wrapped attempt to discredit homeopathy." No Paula, the lack of evidence of the efficacy of homeopathy has already discredited it. The WHO is just stating facts.

Here is the full story via BBC News.