Never underestimate the power of haterdom. If you can hate on a celebrity and do it in a way that's morally sanctified, that's like a 2 gallon orgasm of haterade (and that applies to Rihanna and Chris Brown).

It's hard to tell if they're actually outnumbered or just out-yelled, but certainly many not-assholes will still stay quiet while the assholes do the yelling. A lot of that has to do with poverty though. Rigid belief structures tend to arise from a milieu wherein everyday survival is a struggle.

I dunno. Seems logical to me. Maybe we could just agree that one side in the totally unnecessary battle of science v. religion doesn't have the monopoly on logic.

"It's almost too convenient."

But is the idea that God exists and that she loves us and wants us to love each other really that radical? It seems like an idea that's been asserted for thousands of years. However, the idea that all of existence is an accident, that life exists just 'cuz, that the only order in the universe is the order we make, and…

Don't you think someone who taught at Harvard Medical School has enough money though? Seems like such a random way to hustle people if you're a prominent neurosurgeon. That's my point about being all cynical about people's motives. Atheism seems to prescribe a dour existence.

"is more than unscientific — it is antiscientific. It precludes the scientific investigation of such states."

"Define this love and this feeling. I've never felt anything remotely like that."

Haterz gon hate.

You seem to be operating under the belief that I'm a Christian. I am not. I don't believe that the Bible is the strict word of God. I don't believe that Jesus is my lord and savior.

Yeah, no. Issues of salvation or whatever are one thing, but God loves all his children. They're all pretty up front about that. Don't believe me, ask your local Jesus freak. I find that atheists often have a caricatured understanding of religion, and that's one of the reasons they hate it so much.

What I don't understand are people who don't consume any celebrity news other than Chris Brown headlines. These are people that generally consider themselves above such salaciousness but still will scoop up every detail about Chris Brown who, incidentally, crashed one of his cars last night while on the run from the…

Music categories have always been racially segregated. Just be glad that they don't call them the "Black charts" anymore.

"He is a thug." I know right? An animal. Positively sub-human. Can't change people like that. It's almost as if racists have never had real world examples to hold up as justification of their beliefs.

All major religions.

Well, the central tenet of the whole thing is that God's love is universal and unconditional, but the way religions get their authority is by controlling access to God, dictating her commands and whatnot. But if God's love is universal and unconditional, why do you need a religion to mediate it?

That's not even...what? Are you talking about Ancient Sumer? How can you even make such a claim in anything resembling seriousness? Slavery is as old as civilization.

I think they kill each other over other things. Religious conflicts are more complex than you think. But you know, it's not like we speak the language of a celestial being. It's all nonverbal communication. People are going to interpret signs differently. Human beings have free will, so she can't make them do anything.

Right, because most of it wasn't organized in the black churches of the South. White devout Christians also were the some of the first abolitionists, and their convictions were almost entirely motivated by their understanding of the Bible. You can't pick and choose here.

and the Civil Rights Movement, but why would we ever credit religion when it inspires people to do great things when we can just be glib about it?