Originally posted by mikhael
Don't tell me you buy into that crackpot...
OK, most of his actual examples are bollocks. He accuses the religious historians of ignoring facts which don't fit their arguments and warping other facts to suit their position, then he goes and does it himself.
However, there are some simple facts which I find very interesting. The fact that the Ark would have made a potent battery and radio reciever. Five thousand year old pyramids which we couldn't rebuild with today's technology. Native American traditions which talk explicitly about travellers form other stars landing in space ships (rather than spirits descending from heaven, etc). The ancient religion of Jainism, which produced pictures of huge flying ships seven thousand years before the Wright Brothers or NASA got their arses into gear. The weird 'mixed' animals we find in pictures from allover the ancient world, the kind of hybrids we could probably reproduce with modern genetic jiggery-pokery.
And what strikes me the most is the fact that, deep down, all the major religions are identical, with only minor cosmetic differences. We find the same stories all over the world - Noah, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the creation of the world - identical stories, retold to suit the culture telling them but unmistakably the same.
As was pointed out to me during my geology lectures, the story of Genesis is basically correct - first came the heavens, than the earth, than the seas then the plants and animals and then finally us lot. Like I say, all major religions got the creation myth geologically and paleontologically accurate. Impressive stuff for people who thought the world was flat or that the sun came out of the sky god's arse
. Plus, God (or whoever you believe runs the show) is/was one helluva physicist to have come up with stuff like hydrogen bonding and gravity, without which we probably wouldn't be here. Me hat goes off...
And why did the ancient people pay such particular attention to certain stars? The Egyptians, for example, obsessed over Sirrius, even though Sirrius is on the horizon in Egypt and can barely be seen for most of the year. What was so important about it?
How come pyramids in South America, Africa and Asia are aligned with the same stars?
I could happily go on all night, but now I'll get on to the fun stuff. Everyone remember that episode of TNG with the pre-industrial Vulcanoids the Federation were studying? The Ferderation outpost was accidentally revealed to the locals, and Picard had to convince them that he was not an almighty and vengeful god, despite the natives seeing Crusher 'bring someone back from the dead' and the transporter making people disappear into thin air.
And finally, let's look to S:AAB (yeah I know,
. You can say it, I know it). During WWII, the Merkins used Navajo (s/p?) radio operators, since Navajo was the one language the Jerries coudn't crack. So why did Terran Command attempt to deliver false information to the Chigs written in Navajo? How could a completely alien civilization understand a language even humans struggled with?
Iiiiinteresting...
Additional point - I know this stuff happens a lot in Merkin Land, but apparently a school up in Sunderland (the NE of England, for those who don't know and who might actully care) has dropped any form of geology or what have you and is now teaching Creationism as the only truth about the history of the world. That makes me so unspeakably angry... this is why I Don't Do Religion(tm)
Right, where's me asbestos underwear? *braces for flames o' plenty*
Wow, that nearly killed me writing all that. I think I'll ctrl+c at this point, just in case... right, enough theology for one day, back to hunting for celebrity porn for me 
