Albert Einstein: "I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied
this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be
called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of
the world so far as our science can reveal it."
Unfortunately his quote "God does not play dice with
the Universe." leads one to believe he DID believe in God. To those
who already wish that he believed in god, his mere mention of
"god", here, is all the "assurance" they need.
Scientists often informally use "god" to mean "the laws of
nature".
Does Praying work?
by William Edelenhttp://www.secweb.org/bookstore/author.asp?AuthorID=395
The prestigious Mayo Clinic has thrown the
weight of their name and reputation behind the task of educating the
public and exposing the phony claims as to the relationship between
religion and health. Phony claims that are not just in tabloid journalism
but well read national magazines as well.
The study at the Mayo Clinic was conducted
between July 1997 and October 1999. Results were published in the Mayo
Clinic Proceedings. The statement said that...quote: "researches
found that intercessory prayer had no
significant effect on a patient's medical outcome
after hospitalization. We found that prayer had no effect on rates of
death, heart attacks, strokes and hospitalizations."
The research was described as a "single-center, double-blind,
controlled trial. Researchers could find no scientifically significant
differences between those who prayed and received prayer and those who did
not."
My mind goes back in a slow rewind to the point in my life when I started
questioning all of the ministerial cliches about prayer. Those of you in
my age group will remember the name of Eddie Rickenbacker who was a big
name in military aviation. He and his crew crashed in the South Pacific
and were staying afloat on an ocean raft. After finally being rescued, he
said that day after day they all uttered desperate prayers for rescue...A
ship finally did appear and rescued them. They gave all the credit to
prayers and to God who heard their prayers, they said.
Do you know what bothered me terribly when I read their statements. I
thought, with aching heart, of all of the thousands of good and fine men
who desperately croaked out words of urgent appeal to God through parched
and anguished throats and whose answer was to
be devoured by shark and barracuda, or to die from
starvation or drowning.
Were they less good; less virtuous, less sincere than Rickenbacker? There
is always, and I repeat always, a massive clergy
cop-out filled with pious cliches and utter nonsense when
asked these questions. The usual pathetic
answer is this...(I hope you are sitting
down)..."well...God heard their prayers and his answer was no...God just said...no...you must go ahead and get chewed up by a
shark or barracuda...it will be a learning lesson for someone..."
Or, if you really believe that God heals those at so called "sacred
shrines" such as the waters of Lourdes, then what about those who do
not have the money to make such an expensive trip? Are we to assume that a
God of love and mercy will allow a child to
come down with leukemia simply because the parents of the child did not
have the money or the correct religious belief that
would attract Gods intervention?
Who could believe in such nonsense? A God so
capricious as to heal some and permit others to suffer the most horrible
pains due to a lack of money for medicine or travel.
Or a lack of a proper theology?
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Links
Creationism
BullShit
National
Center for Science Education
BIOLOGY 3380 -- EVOLUTION
Creation LOL Scientists
The Liberty council
alleged in Federal Court that students are punished for having Christian
texts on campus. The Liberty
Counsel is a religious right group that claims separation of church
and state only applies to the Federal government and that State governments may each have an established
church. School Districts were accused of
unconstitutionally punishing students for bringing their Bibles and Ten
Commandment book covers to school. Not only do the schools deny these
charges, but they have stated that students are free to bring Bibles to
school, to have religious book covers, and to read Bibles during free
reading time. (Sources: Freedom Forum Online, Associated Press)
Now for the first time Federal Law requires School
Districts to certify that:
Religious clubs
- may meet during class time if secular
clubs meet during class time.
- may receive school funding if school funding is provided to other
student clubs.
Those that don't certify; risk losing
$23 billion in Fed funding.
But how can
religious meetings during class be Constitutional?
Current Status of Church-State Separation:
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