[Phantom Hoover]

You're forgetting that the parents who didn't let their own child die but are otherwise the same are going to outcompete these people.

[S-99]

You don't seem to understand how the Darwin Award works. The Darwin Award is granted for stupidity that results in you removing yourself from the gene pool, either by death or giving yourself the inability to have children. It's not granted to people who caused someone else's death through their stupidity. If some people have another definition, it's not the one used by the people who came up with the idea of having a Darwin Award.

But even if you don't use the official definition, even if we strip the Darwin Award down to its bare minimum, you're still wrong. The basic point of the Darwin Award is that their stupidity is meant to result in them having less children and thereby result in a selection pressure against them and people like them. As time goes on, they weed themselves out of the human race and their stupid genes are not passed on. If they still have 7 children, their genes are passed on. Whatever selection pressure exists from them going to jail for being bad parents is going to be fairly small in comparison to the sheer number of children they have.

Arguing that what they've done is not a viable strategy is like arguing that cuckoos must be extinct cause they are also bad parents.

Yeah i forgot the meaning of the darwin awards. In retrospect, we will wait and see them hopefully weed themselves out kids and all

[Mr. Vega]

- That the religious conservative movement is rather "young" politically (started up with the Reagan election), but many people are ****ing tired of their shenanigans already;

I mean, yes, it was with the 1980 election that American politicians started going crazy proclaiming themselves born again Christians, but the reason it took off in the first place was that they saw the numbers President Carter (who was almost certainly a sincere believer) took in from religious conservatives in 1976 and realized that there was a massive untapped supply of cheap votes from that demographic.

[General Battuta]

Somebody better redact #7

The Doctor-General has spoken. Thy will be done.

For serious though, Battutism was a thought experiment about how to devise a religion that consistently reinforces, rather than departs from, what we consider secular norms of progress and rational thought. Naturally it owned

[Phantom Hoover]

i thought it was the one with the invisible time ninjas

[Ghostavo]

I'm still waiting for the Javarian movement to pick up.

karajorma, when are we going to invade France the holy land? 

[BloodEagle]

Has there been a follow-up on this, yet? 

I'd kinda like to know if the thread title is accurate.   

[Turambar]

Yeah i forgot the meaning of the darwin awards. In retrospect, we will wait and see them hopefully weed themselves out kids and all

Well their kids have first-hand evidence now that PRAYER DOESN'T WORK.  Might help them out in the long run.

[mjn.mixael]

Yeah i forgot the meaning of the darwin awards. In retrospect, we will wait and see them hopefully weed themselves out kids and all

Well their kids have first-hand evidence now that PRAYER DOESN'T WORK.  Might help them out in the long run.

Aaaaaaand that's the kind of lack of respect I was referring to on page 2...

[Dark Hunter]

You're expecting respect for religious belief on HLP? 

[Lorric]

Yeah i forgot the meaning of the darwin awards. In retrospect, we will wait and see them hopefully weed themselves out kids and all

Well their kids have first-hand evidence now that PRAYER DOESN'T WORK.  Might help them out in the long run.

Aaaaaaand that's the kind of lack of respect I was referring to on page 2...

Why should we respect a myth? A myth which kills people. Faith healing is 100% ineffective.

[Dark Hunter]

Nobody is saying that the parents of this unfortunate child are anything other than complete and total idiots. The vast majority of Christians, even those who believe in faith healing, would still take their children to a doctor rather than rely entirely on faith healing.

However, comments like this:

Well their kids have first-hand evidence now that PRAYER DOESN'T WORK.  Might help them out in the long run.

...cannot be called anything other than disrespectful.

It's actually kind of hilarious how such people will call out Christianity and its ilk for being "intolerant" and then say things like that unironically.

[General Battuta]

Well, work for what? The question of whether prayer works in any empirical domain is a testable proposition, and saying so isn't inherently disrespectful. The question of whether prayer builds a stronger relationship with God, or otherwise improves spiritual life, is not testable.

[Turambar]

It was disrespectful.  I don't respect things that don't deserve respect.  At least, not on the internet.

[watsisname]

I'm perfectly okay with people doing prayer.  I am even okay with them practicing faith healing or whatever spiritual activity they prefer.  However, belief that faith-healing is a magical cure-all and a substitute for doctor-recommended treatment is another matter entirely.

Let us please not confuse these things and turn this into an unnecessary bash of religion in general.

[An4ximandros]

 Too late for that, it's already gone there.

[Dark Hunter]

Then it that case, let's pull the discussion back from that.

[mjn.mixael]

It was disrespectful.  I don't respect things that don't deserve respect.  At least, not on the internet.

I would think one who is so enlightened as you could take a higher road. Which was my point back on page 2. If your non-religious worldview leads to treating people in that way.. I don't want any part of it. Why should I renounce my faith to become a grand troll of the religious on the internet?

[Qent]

You're forgetting that the parents who didn't let their own child die but are otherwise the same are going to outcompete these people.

Mightn't reliance on faith healing cull disease-prone genes and leave more resources for disease-resistant individuals?

[General Battuta]

You're forgetting that the parents who didn't let their own child die but are otherwise the same are going to outcompete these people.

Mightn't reliance on faith healing cull disease-prone genes and leave more resources for disease-resistant individuals?

No. The selective process isn't this simple.