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rug

(82,333 posts)
Sun Apr 20, 2014, 01:27 PM Apr 2014

Kirby: Hard for Utahns to choose between atheists and aliens

By Robert Kirby | Tribune Columnist
First Published Apr 20 2014 01:01 am • Updated 1 hour ago

My closest friends and I are a diverse group. What brings us together is a shared interest in the Big Bang that created the universe.

Some of us believe it was a natural random event. Others believe it was a bored omnipotent being who wanted to see what a laundry scoop of quantum gunpowder would do to an old toaster.

Either way — voila! — here we are.

Two of us are atheists. One is a staunch Mormon and another a lapsed Catholic. The fifth claims to be a Buddhist but none of us really believe him.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/57836861-80/atheists-atheist-kirby-sltrib.html.csp

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Kirby: Hard for Utahns to choose between atheists and aliens (Original Post) rug Apr 2014 OP
Hmmm.. ComCon, AtheistCon or easter eggs with the grandchildren? cbayer Apr 2014 #1
What a terrible column... MellowDem Apr 2014 #2
I spent the time talking to the angel Moroni; he gave me magic golden plates Brettongarcia Apr 2014 #3

MellowDem

(5,018 posts)
2. What a terrible column...
Sun Apr 20, 2014, 02:34 PM
Apr 2014

1. He's a Mormon, yet he's "skeptical". Intellectual dishonesty and cognitive dissonance right there. He must be very selectively skeptical.

2. He claims murdering comes easier than belief in the supernatural. Belief in the supernatural comes far easier than being murderous, mostly due to widespread childhood indoctrination nowadays. Most people never murder another in their life, while most do believe in the supernatural, indeed, among believers, most believe and worship a murderous supernatural tyrant.

3. He uses a mean, stupid letter from an atheist to proclaim he is too skeptical to be an atheist. I have no idea how this logic works, but I guess it's easier than trying to explain the Book of Mormon while proclaiming you are a skeptic with a straight face.

4. He stereotypes atheists as arrogant (while proclaiming to know how the world was created and how it will end, and why, and having access to objective truths about the universe, indeed, he believes the universe was created with us in mind). He doesn't seem to know what the word means.

Brettongarcia

(2,262 posts)
3. I spent the time talking to the angel Moroni; he gave me magic golden plates
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 09:40 AM
Apr 2014

Then I taught everyone to believe in the Easter Bunny.

Then I published all that in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Pretty conclusive, eh?

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