Well, 2007 is over, and I’m STILL not rich. Bummer. I’m working on it though… I figure if I buy enough lottery tickets…I DO take the new year to reflect on the time past and plan the year ahead. Truth be told, I have not done enough for my activism recently due to business woes. I intend to reverse that. I’d also like to write that book — really.So let’s play tradition and talk resolutions. Where do you want to be in a year?
What,
Thanks. It’s a cozy, sentient cat mystery, with underyling music and Celtic myth elements. Inspired in part by my own cats. It ain’t Shakespeare, but I hope it’s entertaining
Sorry to hear about your brother and sincerely wish him all the best.
Cheers!
rna2dna,
Thanks for finding the 2006 number. Nice to know that the article Phreedm referred to was talking complete rubbish. 15.9% is definitely different to 2%.
Phreedm, are you prepared to concede that you built a snide comment on a false claim? I grant you that you quoted the article accurately, but the article certainly seems to be grossly incorrect in its research.
What
I hope your brother has a full recovery and is able to continue with the work he so enjoys. Is he in the medical field also?
I will work harder to understand the laws of mathematics and of the universe better.
Karen
Thank you. He’s in architecture, particularly single family dwellings.
Tarma
Cat mystery! This sounds like something my daughter and I might enjoy reading together.
deak
Did you know that there is already an atheist blog by vjack called Atheist Revolution? This may cause some confusion for your new effort.
http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/
Dave, if making money is the motivation, you should resolve not to buy any more lottery tickets. That is, if you actually do. I can’t tell if you are only joking.
Not only are the publicised odds against you, there is a fairly high chance the retailers and others working for the lottery have found ways to reduce your odds even further, by cheating. They end up ‘finding’ winning tickets for themselves.
Skepticism is a good fit with atheism. It bothers me to see atheists indulge in counter productive wishful thinking in other parts of their lives.
Now let me wish everyone success in their resolutions. Even if you don’t really want to give up that particular guilty pleasure. Nasty, eh?
My father always referred to the lottery as a voluntary tax for idots.
Of course Dave was joking about the lotto tickets.
Thanks to whomever(KA? HZ?) fixed my blockquote screw-up on my post to deak!
karen,
I noticed the duplicate names today, thanks to your post. One is simply a blog but http://www.atheistrevolution.com/ provides many more functions. It is however still under development and has some problems but the owners are very responsive. Why don’t you check it out. It needs some intellectual input.
deak
I cruised it the other day when you posted about it. Will look again, but I’m afraid if it’s intellectual input that’s needed, I’m not the brightest crayon in the box!
There are others here whose input would be much more valuable, I’m sure.
karen,
You have impressed me so I rate you as one of the brightest crayons. But regardless, this new site needs to be nursed along to ensure success. I don’t expect it to rate # 1 like this blog but I would like to see it gain a spot in the top 100.
deak
Well, thanks, I’m humbled. I registered over there and will make it a daily stop on my blog-go-round. I see that podry and danaellyn (sp?) are there also.
karen,
Yeah, there are a few familiar names there and although it is not my site, I’m sure the owners extend an invitation to all freethinkers. I discovered the site thru an invitation they place on this blog a few weeks ago.
Oh, incidentally karen, you have mail.
My ’08 resolutions (not necessarily in this order)…
Continue to grow in my artistic endeavors.
Continue to enjoy my wife and our life together.
Remember my brother-in-law for all that was great about him in a manner that brings me joy instead of being saddened so often by his death.
Improve my financial position by working my ass off and doing all I can to be a better businessman and not just an artist.
Continue to enjoy the posts on this wonderful blog.
Be more politically engaged.
And finally, remind myself more often that reasoned, well-articulated conversation is one of the best ways to have one’s point understood (as opposed to screaming and insults).
Comment from: HeatheNZ
Absolutely not…what you and rna2 are doing is taking part of the overall survey out of context…to fit a preconceived opinion.
You know as well as I do that a well respected organization would not make such a claim if their “overall research” didn’t point to the conclusion they released in their report…
I find it fascinating that the two of you have spent so much time trying to disprove a survey…who knows what or Who you’d find if you put the same effort into Seeking…
In addition to my earlier post I also plan to maintain my membership in the following organizations and provide additional financial support which will allow these organizations to make legal and political progress.
American Atheists
http://www.atheists.org/
Freedom From Religion Foundation
http://www.ffrf.org/
Secular Coalition For America
http://www.secular.org/
phreedm,
This is the kind of thing that is so exasperating about your comments. I took your figures in good faith, and wanted to check them, because as you said they are very different to what we commonly hear.
So, rna and I both did a little research (far less than yo seem to think). We found the study referenced, and the actual figures quoted in the article you referenced. We showed that the article you referenced was just plain wrong. And yet, instead of thanking us for doing the research for you, you ignore the evidence presented and blindly try to berate us for checking the facts.
I find your response breathtakingly inappropriate, and am sad to say that all it does is show me how little your integrity must mean to you, or how important your perception of your own correctness must be.
Why would anyone reading this exchange bother to listen to your god assertions when you show yourself to be so unwilling to concede to an error (even when the error was not yours – but an error in an article you quoted (presumably) in good faith)?
You and I have exchanged a few emails in the past. I don’t know why you don’t expose the persona you have showed their on this blog. I keep hoping to see it one day, but this kind of exchange makes that hope seem rather forlorn.
Hallowed words of wisdom.
Stat prof:
The lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged.
Comment from: HeatheNZ
Hold on…are you claiming that your ability to use the material is superior to those who actually conducted the survey? Are you calling the author of the article a liar at worst or a poor journalist at best? Are you claiming that the two of you know more about what you’re discussing then those who are actually experienced within the field?
Arrogance…plain and simple.
You’ve got to be kidding…inappropriate?
Did you go through the ENTIRE survey and replicate EXACTLY the work done by those who actually conducted the survey? And you call my answers inappropriate?
Tell you what…write to the author of the article and write to those who actually conducted the survey and tell them that their research is wrong…
If THEY agree with you, then of course I’ll concede that an article I referenced was in error…
Hey…I’m curious. Did you break down the online Harris poll also?
I doubt it…
phreedm
The article you quoted was not produced by the researchers, so no.
I think that in this case the figures used are clearly not what was published in the research, so yes.
Just checking the facts presented…
Green, John C.. The American Religious Landscape and Political Attitudes: A Baseline for 2007 University of Akron. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
From 8.2% in 1990 / 14.2% in 2007 described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion,still significantly less than in other postindustrial countries such as Britain (44%) and Sweden (69%).
This study is referenced in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States.
the best to all of you in 2008 and beyond.
i have a ? for you all, what about all those who particpate in a religion but don’t actually believe.should they be counted as religious or atheist.some go for sense of community/cultural identity, on the surface they are religious but actual belief they scoff at supernatural claims.
reason
They should be counted as whatever they identify themselves as, I would think. Who else but they, themselves, can say what they are?
karen,
I’d agree with that.
jcc seems to think he can decide who can and cannot call themselves christian.
OK. Late new year resolution:
I resolve not to feed the troll named phreedm.
Have been practicing quietly for a few days; now I’m ready to make the commitment and announce my intentions, so you guys can whip me if I falter.
karen, that’s exciting! Should I be wanting the ice cream or the cake, what a tortuously delicious decree.
Karen,
Ok, but no cheating just so you can get a spankie.
By the way, welcome to the no-response-to-phreedm coalition. I joined months ago. It can be very difficult to maintain one’s silence, but it is also very rewarding.