Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Lyman Beecher

2007-03-11T22:39:19Z

Jesus is my homie:

Lyman Beecher (1775–1863) was a New England clergyman who had two influential children in the abolitionist movement.

His daughter was Harriet Beecher Stowe, who penned the abolitionist novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

His son was Henry Ward Beecher, a New York preacher who denounced slavery. He also criticized government corruption, and supported women's suffrage.

McGuffey's Eclectic Sixth Reader (1907) quotes Lyman Beecher as saying, "While most nations trace their origin to barbarians, the foundations of our nation were laid by civilized men...not by Christians."

Atheism

2007-03-11T22:36:25Z

Jesus is my homie:

Atheism is disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a [[God|god]] or gods, or any supernatural entity.

Atheism is closely tied with Secular Humanism. Popular Atheists and Secular Humanists include [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Stephen Jay Gould]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Richard Dawkins]], [[William Borden]] and [[Sam Harris]]. Other famous atheists include [[Pol Pot]], [[Emilio Altieri]] and [[Stalin]].

== Atheist morality ==

Many atheists base their moral code upon emotion, experience and empirically derived ethics, such as those promoted by secular humanism. Atheists hold that neither the Bible, nor the Koran, nor the Torah, nor any religious text can be our only source of morality. This claim is made as all religious texts contain, and often ascribe to God, extremely immoral acts such as the Israelites driving out heathen nations from Canaan (i.e. ethnic cleansing), the stoning of homosexuals and adulterers to death, and the institution of slavery.

Atheists often subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more ethical to do what is right because you believe that it is right, rather than because you fear divine punishment or desire divine reward. One example is illustrated in the following quote from [[Albert Einstein]]:

:“A man’s ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death”.

A modern example is the absurdity with which we view Islamist suicide bombers acting on a desire for 72 virgins in the afterlife. Atheism condemns this desire, along with other religious desires for exclusive reward (and the punishment of others) such as are found in all religious texts.

== Origins ==

It is difficult to trace the origins of atheism as a result of the incomplete historic record. It may well be that atheism is the natural state of mankind, or belief in supernatural entities may have a biological origin against which reason has only recently reacted. It is known that ancient Greece produced a theory of materialism as early as the 5th century BC. The materialist world view was essentially mathematical and had no room for gods.

== The Problem of Evil==

A central argument against religious belief in all powerful entities ('gods') is the problem of evil. First identified by the philosopher and materialist Epicurus (341-270 BC), this problem points out the difficulty created by the mere existence of evil:

:Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
:Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent.
:Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
:Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

== Atheism and Agnosticism ==

Atheism and agnosticism are logically distinct concepts. Whilst atheist reject the existence of a god or gods, agnostics do not do so. [[Richard Dawkins]] has contrasted the two positions as follows:

:“There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can’t prove that there aren’t any, so shouldn’t we be agnostic with respect to fairies?”.

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:Religion]]

Turkey (Nation)

2007-03-11T20:09:08Z

Jesus is my homie:

'''Turkey''' is a large country in southeast [[Europe]]. The current president is [[Ahmet Necdet Sezer]].

Turkey was part of the [[Ottoman Empire]] until October 1923, where it declared itself a republic. The majority of the Turkish population is alive.

The Majority of Turkey are also Islamists.

Little Boy

2007-03-11T20:06:59Z

Jesus is my homie:

Little Boy was one of the two designs for the atomic bomb developed at Los Alamos. The other design was called [[Fat man]].

Little boy consisted of two masses of Uranium 235 as radioactive material. A "gun-assembly method" ignited the bomb as follows: one subcritical mass of uranium was fired at another, and together they reached a critical mass to set off a nuclear explosion.

Little boy was dropped on Hiroshima.
Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki.

Turkey (Nation)

2007-03-11T20:05:31Z

Jesus is my homie: