Oddly enough, I can think of no “atheist molests children” stories in the news in recent years, but ALL KINDS of “Christian molests children” stories, especially pastors and priests. Methinks this asshole doth protest too much.
He has an agenda. There is a false narrative that he wants to protect, that being "Christian = good, Atheist = bad". He doesn't want to face the truth, that people are good or bad regardless of their belief status. He also doesn't want to face the fact that religion can get good people to do bad things.
I'd rather spend 30 minutes on a bus than 80 minutes in traffic jam and no place to park. Buses has their own driving lane from here and in to central Oslo.
Another funny thing is that in this area the possibility to reach my flight is better with bus and/or train than by car. It is also cheaper than paying for car parking at the airport. We are trying really hard to make public transport the natural first choice where and when available. I consider us lucky.
I believe you, but in Norway it is still mostly used for males only. We sometimes use "kompis" witch has the same meaning as friend (or venn in Norwegian).
I remember a show called "Square Pegs". Jamie Gertz played an airheaded Valley girl, who said she wanted to have the job that makes up fingernail polish color names.
If religion equaled morality this country wouldn't have half the problems that it does. In the attempt to make his lame point, this professor completely ignores the countless horrors perpetrated by religious people in the name of their religion. The KKK considers itself to be a Christian organization, just to name one. He's teaching at a Baptist college for a reason.
And yet, that is what religious people most often do. They begin with their desired conclusion, then work backwards looking for validation. They don't tend to be very picky when it comes to facts.
Man, would I like to see Truscott's internet search history...... His article is revealing, but not in the way he thinks it is. My advice to him: if religion is the only reason you're not out raping, binge drinking or thinking of suicide, have at it. I'd prefer you to stay as religious as possible. The rest of us, however, don't need the supervision of an imaginary sky daddy to keep us from committing crimes. We're just basically better people.
Here’s a question (I’m sure it’s already been addressed in the comments as I am not the first to comment) what is the religious affiliation of the people who are committing the crimes? Did Truscott even ask this? Or is this just “fewer religious people make crime go up” without the reality that the people who commit the crimes are a huge factor in the crime statistics?
If you want to look at more than just some random graphs that on the surface have small similarities, then you delve into the demographics of the people committing the rapes and suicides. It could be that more folks are committing suicide because the religious folks are getting super vocal, violent, and judgmental over LGBTQ people, especially the transgender community and attacking anyone who does not conform to their rigid standards no matter their status as LGBTQ or not.
It’s funny he’s looking at only rapes on campuses and not in the general public or even in religious institutions. Where else can a person spend decades raping children, have his coworkers cover it up and then the community rally around him to vilify the victim? No school could get away with this. No business could either. But clergy have a free pass. Maybe Trump, but that’s only because his followers have formed a cult of personality around him, and it’s just as powerful as all the churches we see facing this issue.
Of course the only publication willing to publish this paper is Christian. It is just biased “research” to make atheists look bad and keep the flock scared. Perfectly Christian.
The criminals only claim to be religious to get benefits in prison and early release. Please ignore that many were weekly church attendees, or at least holiday attendees. Or they never told anyone they didn’t believe before getting caught. They’re only doing it as a front to be treated better in prison. Oh and they weren’t really clergy either.
Isn't that just precious! Nixon speaking on behalf of evangelicals. He was raised as a Quaker. Wonder what his afterlife is? Heaven or Hell. Wait! Ronnie James Dio sang about that. RIP Ronnie!🌹
Dunno what the statistics are, but it's worth pointing out that the large majority of 'nones' will respond positively to survey questions about spirituality, afterlife, God, etc. Most will identify as religious, just no current affiliation with an organized sect. Self-identifying atheists are still only a small part of nones.
So maybe Truscott should be focusing his attention on the Christians that don't attend church.
Atheism leads to more sexual assault, Truscott? Police blotters across the this country say something very different. It's the piety peddlers that specialize in sexual assault. Especially children.
But hey, you're a Baptist. They're second only to the RCC when it comes to child sexual abuse. And they're keen on catching up in that regard.
There is no way this person could hold a job at a secular university. Just like his attempt to publish in proper peer reviewed journals, he would be laughed out of any interview. Just goes to show the harm of religious schools.
Hmm. That peak in sexual assault graph looks like it correlates more with the peak of the #MeToo movement than the rise of the Nones. More women reporting what has always gone on would see a spike in that 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 rate. That make more sense than to say atheism causes rape. Most atheists I know are far less likely to commit sexual assault, since they tend to skew towards Humanism. It looks like Truscott is cherry picking data to try and back up the idiocy of "You just wanna sin".
As for the suicide graph, if it were true that atheism leads to a higher suicide rate, Truscott really doesn't care toe explore 𝘸𝘩𝘺 that might be. Could it be the increased stigma from people like him? The fact that atheists get fired just for their nonbeleif? That, like in the LGBTQ community, families disown people for coming out as atheist? At best he can point to a correlation. He needs to look for the underlying causes and identify ways to ameliorate them. And not with more Jesus.
98% of juvenile delinquents have eaten pizza. If you feed your kids pizza, there's a 98% chance they will become juvenile delinquents. -- from the best selling "Statistics by Dummies"
Taylor Swift is donating 10 million to the CA fire relief effort & Travis Kelce is donating 1 million. Hello, Musk & Zuckerberg??? Where is Bezos hiding?
Trump and the Rethugs want to withhold funding from blue states for being run by not-kkkkonservatives.
Remember when the bible belt got hit with all those Acts of God? Rethugs went running to the government for help. Did President Biden withhold relief to red states? Of course not. If he had, both the Rethugs and the media would have wanted Biden's head on a platter. It's all they would have talked about. Where's the outcry by the media for Rethugs trying to withhold relief? Dead silence from them. A shoulder shrug.
You mean something like how he and other Christians cherry-pick the bible for what they want to believe versus what they don't? It's pretty clear to me that Truscott has no interest in the facts. Far more likely he of the atheist-bash-as-virtue-signaling school of thought, while simultaneously insisting on more school vouchers, as though they actually have any impact on crime or suicide rates.
All that said, I think some reporting on Dr. David Speed's rebuttal to Truscott's noise would be appropriate, never mind amusing as all hell in the light of Truscott's BS!
"The most secular Americans exhibit the most care for the suffering of others, while the most religious exhibit the highest levels of indifference." I think the last word should be changed from 'indifference' to 'hate.'
Stepping back from Truscott's amateurish misuse of statistics and sloppy logic, arguments like his have one big flaw that is often overlooked because of all the dumb details:
It's basically an argument from consequence. That essentially says, "Bad things happen when people don't believe my proposition, therefore my proposition is true."
He's not just proposing that atheism causes all that bad stuff. The entirely unexamined proposition implied in the background is that God exists. The whispered message he's sneaking in is "Bad things happen when people don't believe in God," but that's an argument trying to support BELIEF in God, and not offering anything to support the EXISTENCE of God.
This is the very common error of Christians. They conflate belief in their god with the existence of their god, as if belief is evidence and even self-evident proof.
So he's tackling step two without having established step one. He's recommending belief in his god (with really flawed arguments) before he's done anything to show that the thing he wants folks to believe in actually exists.
"They conflate belief in their god with the existence of their god, as if belief is evidence and even self-evident proof."
I came across this exact argument on a fundie website a few weeks ago. The preacher/writer had Bible verses "proving" that belief is evidence of existence.
I've seen a lot of similar presuppositional logic arguments. The only way to argue against god is by using logic, which was given to us by god, therefore god must exist.
Oddly enough, I can think of no “atheist molests children” stories in the news in recent years, but ALL KINDS of “Christian molests children” stories, especially pastors and priests. Methinks this asshole doth protest too much.
He has an agenda. There is a false narrative that he wants to protect, that being "Christian = good, Atheist = bad". He doesn't want to face the truth, that people are good or bad regardless of their belief status. He also doesn't want to face the fact that religion can get good people to do bad things.
His agenda is pretty clear: MOAR SCHOOL VOUCHERS!!
Bingo, is he thinking of cashing in?
Wanna bet he already is?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da7b7aef905927a541346babf6eb19bf0d353a2cb8a3693988df5bdd78d98c27.jpg
I was going to write something similar, but you beat me to it. Yep. Jesus forgives them, so they can do it. Yuchhh.
Again and again.
This would be the same kind of statement this pseudo-sociologist is making. I sincerely doubt criminal investigations include “are you an atheist?”
Over-under on when he gets busted for sexual misdeeds?
Sucker bet!
No time to comment. I have a busy day of lawlessness ahead of me.
Nice. Me too, I forgot to pay my bus ticket this morning. And I am an atheist. Coincidence?
Bus ticket? Why didn't you steal a car? Bad atheist.
Why stop at a car? Steal the bus.
Naw, too slow. Every time someone rings the bell you have to stop.
Who are you? Kramer?
Cosmo.
Eta: Not really. But like a good atheist, I stole his joke.
To drop off the wings to the angel?
Last time I stole a bus, I had to keep it above 50 MPH.
Sorry, but you don't look a bit like Keanu Reeves ... OR Sandra Bullock, for that matter! 🤣
I'm more a Dennis Hopper.
Dennis Hopper, then?
You think I would love driving a bus when I can sit and watch the view and/or read a book?
I'm not that crazy.
I kind of don't like to drive when I can sit and read a book. And then there is the problem to find a place to park that car in Oslo central area.
I'd rather spend 30 minutes stuck in traffic and make my flight compared to two hours on a bus and miss it.
I'd rather spend 30 minutes on a bus than 80 minutes in traffic jam and no place to park. Buses has their own driving lane from here and in to central Oslo.
I miss living in Europe...the public transportation alone was a treat!
Another funny thing is that in this area the possibility to reach my flight is better with bus and/or train than by car. It is also cheaper than paying for car parking at the airport. We are trying really hard to make public transport the natural first choice where and when available. I consider us lucky.
Here in the States, Outside of the Washington-Boston megalopolis and maybe Chicago, public transportation is only for the poor. The car is king.
Dude, why didn't you just pull your gun and hijack the bus? That's Atheism 101.
My husband keeps all the guns in a safe storage and refuses to give me the key. He says it is for safety reasons and law.
And I ain't no dude (if dude is male).
Sorry, just being playful with 'dude.' No offense intended.
My daughter and her friends always called each other *Dude* no matter what the gender.
"Dude" has been gender-neutral since the 80s.
Partly because "dude-ette" sounds dumb.
We used Dudette in Seattle in the early 80s. We were easily amused
I believe you, but in Norway it is still mostly used for males only. We sometimes use "kompis" witch has the same meaning as friend (or venn in Norwegian).
No offence taken. Just joking.
'Dude' can be used with any gender these days.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170369/
Dude, Where's My Bus.
And then?
Teacher at Baptist college writes paper printed in Christian periodical saying atheism bad. Color me unimpressed.
My 148 crayola box no longer includes “unimpressed”.
Can you make do with “duh”?
They changed the name to macaroni and cheese.
I remember a show called "Square Pegs". Jamie Gertz played an airheaded Valley girl, who said she wanted to have the job that makes up fingernail polish color names.
If religion equaled morality this country wouldn't have half the problems that it does. In the attempt to make his lame point, this professor completely ignores the countless horrors perpetrated by religious people in the name of their religion. The KKK considers itself to be a Christian organization, just to name one. He's teaching at a Baptist college for a reason.
He has the whole enterprise of Science turned upside down and inside out. You don’t start with a conclusion…
And yet, that is what religious people most often do. They begin with their desired conclusion, then work backwards looking for validation. They don't tend to be very picky when it comes to facts.
So do NeoNazis and Magas, who are all the worst of the worst.
Man, would I like to see Truscott's internet search history...... His article is revealing, but not in the way he thinks it is. My advice to him: if religion is the only reason you're not out raping, binge drinking or thinking of suicide, have at it. I'd prefer you to stay as religious as possible. The rest of us, however, don't need the supervision of an imaginary sky daddy to keep us from committing crimes. We're just basically better people.
They are niot very highly evolved. They are lacking empathy
They are lacking everything that makes for a decent human being. Or even a functional one for that matter.
Hear, Hear! 👏👏👏👏👏
Here’s a question (I’m sure it’s already been addressed in the comments as I am not the first to comment) what is the religious affiliation of the people who are committing the crimes? Did Truscott even ask this? Or is this just “fewer religious people make crime go up” without the reality that the people who commit the crimes are a huge factor in the crime statistics?
If you want to look at more than just some random graphs that on the surface have small similarities, then you delve into the demographics of the people committing the rapes and suicides. It could be that more folks are committing suicide because the religious folks are getting super vocal, violent, and judgmental over LGBTQ people, especially the transgender community and attacking anyone who does not conform to their rigid standards no matter their status as LGBTQ or not.
It’s funny he’s looking at only rapes on campuses and not in the general public or even in religious institutions. Where else can a person spend decades raping children, have his coworkers cover it up and then the community rally around him to vilify the victim? No school could get away with this. No business could either. But clergy have a free pass. Maybe Trump, but that’s only because his followers have formed a cult of personality around him, and it’s just as powerful as all the churches we see facing this issue.
Of course the only publication willing to publish this paper is Christian. It is just biased “research” to make atheists look bad and keep the flock scared. Perfectly Christian.
Silly rabbit, christians don't commit crimes.
If THAT's the case why are US prisons predominately filled with Christians? [Oh, of course, they're not TRUE CHRISTIANS™, are they? 🤦♂️]
The criminals only claim to be religious to get benefits in prison and early release. Please ignore that many were weekly church attendees, or at least holiday attendees. Or they never told anyone they didn’t believe before getting caught. They’re only doing it as a front to be treated better in prison. Oh and they weren’t really clergy either.
"If a conservative Christian commits an act, it is legal."
Richard Nixon, speaking prophetically on behalf of 21st century Evangelicals.
Isn't that just precious! Nixon speaking on behalf of evangelicals. He was raised as a Quaker. Wonder what his afterlife is? Heaven or Hell. Wait! Ronnie James Dio sang about that. RIP Ronnie!🌹
Who'd have thought Tricky Dick would look so liberal and moral to us today?
It really is a mindfuck, I loathed his evil hippie-bashing ass, now he looks almost benign,
To be clear, susan, I was speaking tongue-in-cheek for Nixon, substituting "a conservative Christian" for his actual words, which were that ""Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_interviews#:~:text=In%20part%203%2C%20Frost%20asked,not%20illegal%22%2C%20by%20definition.
To be clear, susan, I was speaking tongue-in-cheek for Nixon, substituting "a conservative Christian" for his actual words, which were that ""Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_interviews#:~:text=In%20part%203%2C%20Frost%20asked,not%20illegal%22%2C%20by%20definition.
Dunno what the statistics are, but it's worth pointing out that the large majority of 'nones' will respond positively to survey questions about spirituality, afterlife, God, etc. Most will identify as religious, just no current affiliation with an organized sect. Self-identifying atheists are still only a small part of nones.
So maybe Truscott should be focusing his attention on the Christians that don't attend church.
Baptist
Atheism leads to more sexual assault, Truscott? Police blotters across the this country say something very different. It's the piety peddlers that specialize in sexual assault. Especially children.
But hey, you're a Baptist. They're second only to the RCC when it comes to child sexual abuse. And they're keen on catching up in that regard.
There is no way this person could hold a job at a secular university. Just like his attempt to publish in proper peer reviewed journals, he would be laughed out of any interview. Just goes to show the harm of religious schools.
Hmm. That peak in sexual assault graph looks like it correlates more with the peak of the #MeToo movement than the rise of the Nones. More women reporting what has always gone on would see a spike in that 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 rate. That make more sense than to say atheism causes rape. Most atheists I know are far less likely to commit sexual assault, since they tend to skew towards Humanism. It looks like Truscott is cherry picking data to try and back up the idiocy of "You just wanna sin".
As for the suicide graph, if it were true that atheism leads to a higher suicide rate, Truscott really doesn't care toe explore 𝘸𝘩𝘺 that might be. Could it be the increased stigma from people like him? The fact that atheists get fired just for their nonbeleif? That, like in the LGBTQ community, families disown people for coming out as atheist? At best he can point to a correlation. He needs to look for the underlying causes and identify ways to ameliorate them. And not with more Jesus.
If it was true that atheism led to higher rates, would there be as many of us here commenting? 🤔
98% of juvenile delinquents have eaten pizza. If you feed your kids pizza, there's a 98% chance they will become juvenile delinquents. -- from the best selling "Statistics by Dummies"
It's the pineapple on pizza people* that you really have to watch out for.
*I'm one of them. : )
And me. We're a breed apart.
OK, I'm keeping my eye on you both!
https://rukminim1.flixcart.com/image/416/416/jnoxa4w0/poster/w/z/t/medium-darth-vader-join-the-dark-side-poster-2694-original-imafabgwvxw2h3zt.jpeg?q=70
"We have cookies, too."
And not just cookies, either!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeRaGUnNiyE
I even make my own with freshly sliced pineapple. Never mastered the hand tossed crust though
Same here. Most people combine it with ham, but try it with pepperoni instead -- the completely opposite flavors/textures really works.
I had a pepperoni, pineapple, and pesto one last month. It was, pun intended, divine.
Pineapple, jalapeno, cream (or goat) cheese.
(Points finger) AHA!
anothr book
Another 15 bucks.
EMBARRASSING.
Taylor Swift is donating 10 million to the CA fire relief effort & Travis Kelce is donating 1 million. Hello, Musk & Zuckerberg??? Where is Bezos hiding?
Trump and the Rethugs want to withhold funding from blue states for being run by not-kkkkonservatives.
Remember when the bible belt got hit with all those Acts of God? Rethugs went running to the government for help. Did President Biden withhold relief to red states? Of course not. If he had, both the Rethugs and the media would have wanted Biden's head on a platter. It's all they would have talked about. Where's the outcry by the media for Rethugs trying to withhold relief? Dead silence from them. A shoulder shrug.
In tangeini's posterior with all the others.
The fact that a Christian publisher was the only one to publish this tripe is all I need to know. The only thing missing is the Change My Mind meme.
He needs to post his graphs to this web site: https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
I remembered the existence of that site but not the name. Thanks!
At least Tyler Vigen (site owner) explains his graphs in great detail, pointing out that correlation is not causation.
That's HILARIOUS! 🤣🤣🤣
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎, 𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑒, 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒’𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦-𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛...
You mean something like how he and other Christians cherry-pick the bible for what they want to believe versus what they don't? It's pretty clear to me that Truscott has no interest in the facts. Far more likely he of the atheist-bash-as-virtue-signaling school of thought, while simultaneously insisting on more school vouchers, as though they actually have any impact on crime or suicide rates.
All that said, I think some reporting on Dr. David Speed's rebuttal to Truscott's noise would be appropriate, never mind amusing as all hell in the light of Truscott's BS!
"The most secular Americans exhibit the most care for the suffering of others, while the most religious exhibit the highest levels of indifference." I think the last word should be changed from 'indifference' to 'hate.'
This life is negated by religion. It means little to kkkristers as it is just prep for some "next" eternal life.
Stepping back from Truscott's amateurish misuse of statistics and sloppy logic, arguments like his have one big flaw that is often overlooked because of all the dumb details:
It's basically an argument from consequence. That essentially says, "Bad things happen when people don't believe my proposition, therefore my proposition is true."
He's not just proposing that atheism causes all that bad stuff. The entirely unexamined proposition implied in the background is that God exists. The whispered message he's sneaking in is "Bad things happen when people don't believe in God," but that's an argument trying to support BELIEF in God, and not offering anything to support the EXISTENCE of God.
This is the very common error of Christians. They conflate belief in their god with the existence of their god, as if belief is evidence and even self-evident proof.
So he's tackling step two without having established step one. He's recommending belief in his god (with really flawed arguments) before he's done anything to show that the thing he wants folks to believe in actually exists.
That's not ethical. It's what con artists do.
"They conflate belief in their god with the existence of their god, as if belief is evidence and even self-evident proof."
I came across this exact argument on a fundie website a few weeks ago. The preacher/writer had Bible verses "proving" that belief is evidence of existence.
I've seen a lot of similar presuppositional logic arguments. The only way to argue against god is by using logic, which was given to us by god, therefore god must exist.
Oh, so that's where the unicorn in my garage came from... 🤔 😉
bishop-accountability.org keeps close tabs on abuse. Most of us ar very familiar with it.