TED Community » Danie Martin

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By disclaiming the idea of a next life we can take more excitement in this one. The here and now is not something to be endured before eternal bliss or damnation; the here and now is all we have-an inspiration to make the most of it. So Atheism is life affirming in a way religion can never be. Look around you, nature demands our attention, begs us to explore, to question. Religion can provide only facile, ultimately unsatisfying answers. Science, in constantly seeking real explanations, reveals the true majesty of our world in all its complexity. People sometimes say “There must be more than just this world, than just this life” But how much more do you want? Richard Dawkins

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English politics, Childcare, Atheism, Religion, Schooling, Science

Comments

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• A reply on Talk: Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better"

  Sep 30 2011: I have compared being gay to being a pedophile before as part of a university seminar. I was shown information about a guy who released a guide to being a pedophile and there was uproar, obviously amazon banned it etc etc. My argument was this; think back...what used to happen to gay people, they were locked up, capital punishment, no one wanted to live near one, everyone would aviod you if they suspected you could be...it was EXACTLY the same as how we treat pedophiles now. so i see your point, and i want to agree that if it is uncontrollable and within our nature to act in that way then bullying and hate crimes are unacceptable. At the same time the difference is two concenting adults vs a child and someone who should know better. If they have those urges then fine...i mean i have urges to push cyclists over as they ride past...doesn't mean i'd ever do it, it's wrong and slightly sick...pedophilia is completely unacceptable, and if someone should find they have those urges they should seek therapy before they do anything that might hurt someone.
  
  Like i said being gay doesn't hurt anyone, you might not think its "natural" and ok, you might have a point but it's not the be all and end all so why does it matter that they can't have children in that way?, since when did someones sexual urges hurt you?
  
  Being gay is fine...and of course...it does get better

• A reply on Conversation: Do you think mankind has stopped evolution?

  Aug 3 2011: wealthy people aren't the ones to survive...wealth isn't passed on genetically and poor people can reproduce too...poor people (in the western world) still survive to reproduce and pass on their genes...
  
  i haven't seen this film but i will go look it up, sounds intresting
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Do you think mankind has stopped evolution?

  Aug 3 2011: no, we are making a huge mistake

• A comment on Conversation: Do you think mankind has stopped evolution?

  Aug 3 2011: i think we have stopped or at least greatly inhibited natural selection, which is the basis for evolution, however with advanced science we are selecting what we want to select...it is no longer survival of the fittest, it is survival of what the humans allow.
  
  I feel this is to our detrement (and quite controversially too) I would like people reading this to understand that this is my opinion and be accepting of any differences we have in opinion.
  
  Think of people carrying *bad* genes, who are genetically disabled or have a genetic illness, by allowing them to live and then reproduce and thefore pass on these genes we are disabling the generations to come, our own worst enemy. medicines allowing people with genetic disorders to llive to maturity are brilliant when looking at the here and now but as evolution goes...we'll end up wiping ourselves out

• A reply on Conversation: Does God exist?

  Aug 3 2011: RE dragon Dino thing...
  
  Bones of dinosaurs have been recovered, put together and analysed. They have been dated using emprical scientific dating techniques and bones are available for you to see and touch and are therefor very real. no horse with a horn coming from it's skull has been found. not to say it didn't exist just because no one has found it yet similarly no dinosaur has been seen to lead to any such idea that one or more flying species of dinosaur can breath fire. I get that just because you haven't found it doesn't mean it doesn't exist however have you heard of the teapot theory?
  
  I know that no matter what, you cannot prove there isn't something, only that there is, but if you are unable to prove that there is something (like god, unicorns and a toothfairy for example) you have to use your best judgments, and in this case more suggests that these things don't exist, like there being a teapot orbiting mars...it probably isn't there, although i cannot prove it.
  
  I know using probablitiy that there probably was no dragon because the extraodinary findings that date back far further than your book show no signs of it...and if you want to argue that there may have been one before then then go ahead but that would mean you admitting to a time before your God even created earth... it's just very very unlikely.
  
  Scientists don't ever emprically say what there isn't, only what there is.

• A comment on Conversation: Does God exist?

  Aug 3 2011: Frank, honest, opinionated, but not against opposing opinions (although i am admitedly frustrated by them lol)
  
  God does not exist.
  
  Fear exists, at first it is like a fear of the unknown...now it is more fear of telling everyone that everything they hold dear to them and that comforts them is not true.
  
  God has many different parts...like the Santa God...he sees you, knows what you are doing, can tell if you are moral and can punish you for all eternity if not...this makes people fearful of not believing, just incase they meet with Hellfire. There is also the creating God, he made each and everyone of us, on purpose, uniquely...he also cares and loves us all as individuals...The number of people who could be here, in my place, outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. If you think of the ways in which our genes can be permuted, you and I are quite grotesquely lucky to be here. The number of events that had to happen in order for you to exists in order for me to exist, we are privileged to be alive yes...love by an almighty? no.
  
  And the whole eye argument.
  Eyes are complex and brilliant and beautiful, it had to be a gift from God...well looking at all these possibilities of mixes of genes as before...how many organs could have been made that just never got made again because the creature with it couldn't see and died before mating?
  
  I find it so obvious that for every single There is a God argument there is a stronger No there isn't.
  And i find it so frustrating that people are still so ruled be fear, of neglect, punishment, outcasting, stereotyping, being wrong, of God itself and of letting go...i get that it's hard to admit to being wrong, let alone admit to thousands of years of being wrong but it will be worth it just to feel the fear and get over it.
  
  I find my knowledge so comforting and refreshing, it's life affirming.
  
  My one life, that i'm statistically lucky to have will not be wasted on talking to an ancient comfort blanket