Rick Reuben wrote:Then explain how science has ruled out a greater intelligence elsewhere in the universe.

Marsupialized wrote:I would like to reiterate my desire to beat a born again Christian to death. If anyone here knows of a 'Hostel' type Island somewhere where I can pay to make this happen please let me know.

If they are in God's good graces why is it such a big deal? They are going to fly off to happy land, no? I mean, I just wanna help them along a little quicker. They won't shut the fuck up about how great it will be when they die, so what's the problem? I'm doing them a service.

Oh, wait...that's because it's a bunch of horseshit and they know it and you know it and everyone else knows it.
They talk the talk but they don't really wanna die, do they? They are scared shitless, aren't they?

They get off on feeling this imaginary persecution for their religion, why not start making them feel REALLY persecuted?

steve wrote:Science has, one by one, proven that things attributed to God or magic are actually comprehensible natural processes: fire, the sun coming up, the tides, wind, stars, the heat of the sun, decay, disease, light, sound, electricity... Jesus, literally everything.

big_dave wrote:Hawking got a medal from the Pope for that statement.

JPII however, was rumoured to loathe Hawking.

unarmedman wrote:You want to beat, torture, and murder people for their beliefs. You are disgusting.

Ace wrote:

big_dave wrote:Hawking got a medal from the Pope for that statement.

JPII however, was rumoured to loathe Hawking.

Right, like JPII ever actually sat down and had a conversation with Hawking


and if they did, wouldn't that just be the most ridiculous thing ever??

Ace wrote:

big_dave wrote:Hawking got a medal from the Pope for that statement.

JPII however, was rumoured to loathe Hawking.

Right, like JPII ever actually sat down and had a conversation with Hawking


and if they did, wouldn't that just be the most ridiculous thing ever??

World-renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God.

Hawking, author of the best-seller A Brief History of Time, said John Paul made the comments at a cosmology conference at the Vatican. He did not say when the meeting was held.

Hawking quoted the pope as saying, "It's OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not inquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God."

The scientist then joked that he was glad John Paul did not realize that he had presented a paper at the conference suggesting how the universe began.

"I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo," Hawking said during a sold-out audience at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The church condemned Galileo in the 17th century for supporting Nicholas Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

But in 1992, Pope John Paul II issued a declaration saying the church's denunciation of Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

Hawking is one of the best-known theoretical physicists of his generation. He has done groundbreaking research on black holes and the origins of the universe, and he proposes that space and time have no beginning and no end.

During a question-and-answer session, Hawking was asked where constants like gravity come from and whether gravity can distort light.

But there were several humorous moments.

The wheelchair-bound Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, communicates with an electronic speech synthesizer. Hawking was asked why his computerized voice has an American accent.

"The voice I use is a very old hardware speech synthesizer made in 1986," he said. "I keep it because I have not heard a voice I like better and because I have identified with it."

He said he once considered using a machine that gave him a French accent, but he did not because his wife would divorce him.

But Hawking said he is shopping for a new system because his current hardware is large and fragile, using components that are no longer made.

"I have been trying to get a software version, but it seems very difficult," he said.

He urged people with physical disabilities not to give up on their ambitions.

"You can't afford to be disabled in spirit as well as physically," he said. "People won't have time for you."

Hawking ended his lecture saying, "We are getting closer to answering the age-old questions: Why are we here? Where did we come from?"