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"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
So said Mark Twain upon hearing of the reports of his own demise in the New York Journal.
Those who believe that the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch *, were written by Moses must not have noticed the following in Deuteronomy 34:5 And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. 6 He buried him [b] in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.
And so it goes for another five verses. Are we to assume that, like Mark Twain, Moses would have said that reports of his death and burial (by who?) were greatly exaggerated after he laid down his quill after Deuteronomy 34:12?
12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Rather arrogant of him, if so!
In fact, the consensus amongst unbiased biblical scholars is that the books attributed to Moses actually had 4 sets of authors, J, E, P, and D **. This interpretation of the evidence is know as the Documentary Hypothesis.
The central fact of these sources and editing remains the dominant model among critical scholars, though not among most fundamentalist or orthodox scholars, who remain committed to traditional beliefs.
The phrase "traditional beliefs" is a euphemism for stubbornly ignorant, in my opinion. It is no surprise that fundamentalist and orthodox scholars are in denial of any and all evidence that indicates that the Bible is an internally inconsistent, human invention.
* Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
** J and E in the flood story



Numerous studies demonstrate an inverse or negative correlation between religiosity and:
► intelligence
► educational level
► education in science
► liberal moral attitudes
► acceptance of the fact of biological evolution
* "Of 43 studies carried out since 1927 on the relationship between religious belief and one's intelligence and/or educational level, all but four found an inverse connection. That is, the higher one's intelligence or education level, the less one is likely to be religious or hold "beliefs" of any kind." ~ Bell, Paul. "Would you believe it?" Mensa Magazine, Feb. 2002, pp. 12–13
"In 1998, most members of the National Academy of Sciences rejected the notion of God, with the highest rate of disbelief noted amongst biological scientists." Table. ~ Larson, Edward J.; Larry Witham (1998). "Leading scientists still reject God". Nature 394 (6691): 313. Available at StephenJayGould.org, Stephen Jay Gould archive.
However, intelligent, rational indoctrinees seem to be the more likely to deconvert. My impression is that fundamentalism loses more indoctrinees than mainstream religion, but this might be a false impression that results from the resentment towards religion that many fundamentalist escapees feel. Deconversion can be very painful and protracted for fundamentalists, and can result in alienation from family and friends. Resentment and a desire to help others through deconversion is understandable.
The past 30 years or so have been an age of endarkenment. It has been a period in which truth ceased to matter very much, and dogma and irrationality became once more respectable.Colquhoun is author of the Improbable Science blog in which he expands upon his exposition of the reasons that we should be concerned about the "New Credulity.":
This matters when people delude themselves into believing that we could be endangered at 45 minutes' notice by non-existent weapons of mass destruction.In my opinion, the root causes of this problem of fashionable ignorance lies in a number of failures:
It matters when reputable accountants delude themselves into thinking that Enron-style accounting is acceptable. It matters when people are deluded into thinking that they will be rewarded in paradise for killing themselves and others. It matters when bishops attribute floods to a deity whose evident vengefulness and malevolence leave one reeling. And it matters when science teachers start to believe that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago.
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Apologetics
Belief: mental state that is equivalent to knowledge if 1. the Bible says it's TRUE, 2. enough fellow believers agree that it is true.
Cognitive Dissonance
Coping Strategy (Creationism)
: see entries for crealogic, creation science, critical thinking, education, evidence, PROOF, theory, or invent your own.Crealogical
: see entry for Logic (Creationism)Creation science
: science fiction for those who literally swallow godidit mythsCritical thinking
: negative thoughts about any unwelcome ideaEducation
: anything regurgiquoted from AiG or a similar websiteEducational Qualifications (Creationism)
: anything that can be purchased online, or claimed to have been attained, without a requirement for learning (similar items can be purchased by online ministers).Educational Qualifications (Science)
: something to be approached with derision or incredulity.Evidence (Creationism)
: anything taken, or invented, to supports one's favourite belief.Evidence (Science)
Faith: creationism must be RIGHT because lots of fools believe in it.
Falsification: 1. declaring ad nauseam that unwelcome facts are WRONG, 2. inventing misinformation for the sake of making an illogical argument against a scientist, evolutionist, or atheist, 3. Lie-orama.
Godidit (also Goddidit)
Knowledge: any strongly held belief, regardless of intrinsic truth value.
Lie-Orama: expensive falsifications that depict dinosaurs cavorting with humans.
Logic
: 1. quoting cherry-picked scriptures, 2. regurgiquoting misinformation, 3. resorting to fallacies of logic, particularly in emotional arguments.Logical argument (Creationism)
: using creationist logic (aka crealogic) and making irrelevant, negative remarks about the holder of any unwelcome idea.Logical argument (atheism, science)
: dangerous, faith-testing arguments from generally better-educated evolutionists, scientists, and atheists.PROOF
: declaration that CREATIONISM IS RIGHT and GOD EXISTS.Refutation of creationism
: something that must be ignored, or denied, at all costs.Theory
: the latest desperate creationist invention that is intended to deny reality.Another Unpaid Advertisement: MacLiar's Guide to Disreputable Colleges and Universities, the definitive guide to unaccredited purveyors of false qualifications or should-not-be-accredited religion-affiliated institutions of lower learning.

"They are starting to piss me off,they earth is not billions or millions of years old.They have no proof that the big band theory is true,but they teach it like it really happened."
(That's fair. Creationists piss me off. Have done for a long time.)
Um, it's the Big Bang, not a mega-orchestra.
The sole contribution of intelligent [sick] design creationism advocate, biochemist Michael Behe comprises the scientifically refuted notion that a multicomponent functional system could not have arisen by "Darwinian" evolution."The sole dissenter from this position, Prof. Michael Behe, is a well-known proponent of "intelligent design." While we respect Prof. Behe's right to express his views, they are his alone and are in no way endorsed by the department. It is our collective position that intelligent design has no basis in science, has not been tested experimentally, and should not be regarded as scientific."