Stormbringer's Thunder

Christianity seems to be frightening more people these days. The most recent flurry of alarm has been over "dominionism," as represented in a New Yorker article by Ryan Lizza. It has been more than thoroughly debunked, but still it seems to represent something more than politics. People are afraid of Christianity. In fact for multiple reasons, many people are saying Christianity is bad, evil, harmful. This post is the first in a series examining reasons for Christianity's bad reputation. In memory of 9/11, I begin with "Guilt by Association." It goes like this. Islam is a religion. Some Muslims attacked us on 9/11 in the name of their God and their religion. Therefore religion is bad. Christianity is a religion. Therefore Christianity is bad. The logic is laughable. Compare this, which is in near-identical form: Rodents are four-legged animals. Mice are rodents and can make a mess in your attic. Therefore rodents are bad. Dogs are four-legged animals. Therefore

No introduction, here's the text: Attitude Adjustment How did 9/11 change America’s attitude toward religion? A   recent post   on CNN’s Belief Blog says: “Before 9/11, many atheists kept a low profile. Something changed, though, after 9/11. They got loud… Criticism of all religion, not just fanatical cults, was no longer taboo after 9/11.” Indeed. Around the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, American Atheists hit the nightly news by suing to remove a steel cross from the September 11 memorial, even as others were calling it a national monument and a symbol of hope. Still, many atheists say 9/11 is a perfect example of why religion itself is evil. Is Religion Evil? Reminds me of reading Sam Harris’   The End of Faith   years ago. I remember when he started to get popular by insisting that religion itself is dangerous and evil. Although he’s got a lot of fans, a   Religion Dispatches   article recently called him “more charismatic than credentialled” as a speaker. In the sa

Kingston, New York, had been my home for about seventeen months. I was working in the warehouse with my foreman, getting the day's rounds planned. Another guy came over to us and asked if we knew what was happening. No, we did not have a radio on. He proceeded to tell us that planes had hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I was waiting for a punch line, because this guy told tacky jokes. When he told us that it was no joke, I ran to the nearest computer and got online. I saw images of the smoking World Trade Center. Two things chilled me. First, the attack on the Pentagon made me realize that this was more ambitious than other attacks, and that the enemy was arrogant and stupid enough to take on the power of the United States military. The other thing that chilled me was when the Internet went down. At the time, I thought it was more than just overload and signal problems, but communications were not destroyed after all. I did not grasp the physical enormity of the Worl

In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the biggest security threat to Canada a decade after 9/11 is Islamic terrorism. In a wide-ranging interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that will air in its entirety on The National Thursday night, Harper says Canada is safer than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., but that "the major threat is still Islamicism." "There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats," Harper said. Harper cautioned that terrorist threats can "come out of the blue" from a different source, such as the recent Norway attacks, where a lone gunman who hated Muslims killed 77 people. But Harper said terrorism by Islamic radicals is still the top threat, though a "diffuse" one. For the rest of "Harper says 'Islamicism&#

Buona sera.  I just had to throw this one at you. Catch! There are several drawbacks to picking the "Stormbringer" moniker. One is that people who are unaware that the world existed and had history before they were born, such as the origins of the name itself . Another problem is that quite a few people use it (notice the URL here, I had to add numbers to the name). One Stormbringer is a purveyor of, uh, "adult" material. I've had quite a few people hit this site looking for his stuff. What I found amusing is that someone is looking for the naughty bits from a public library in Brooklyn! Although it says "stories by stormbringer", I don't write stories, I've had many hits from people searching for "a bit of the other", and I know this horndog was trying to find this stuff to read in a public place. Come on, do it at home in the dark or something.

The death toll in central Nigeria from an intensified series of violent attacks along  religious  and  ethnic  lines continues to rise after reports that Muslim youths killed a Christian family of eight on Sunday.  Sometime after the attack on the family, journalists were taken by a Plateau state spokesman to a house in the village of Tatu, where the hacked bodies of the eight family members were still lying on the blood-soaked floor, according to Reuters. It is estimated that more than 50 people have been killed since Aug. 29 when youths identified as Christians attacked a group of Muslims as they gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan in the city of Jos, capital of Plateau state. Read the rest of "Christian Family of 8 Killed in Nigeria; Death Toll Now 50" here .

From "Answering Musims": One of the first articles I ever wrote on Islam was titled "The Two Faces of Islam . . . Still Smiling." In the article, I argued that all Muslims actually benefit from terrorism. Violent Muslims benefit from terrorism because people start living in fear. Peaceful Muslims benefit from terrorism because non-Muslims, in an effort to protect peaceful Muslims from the fabled "anti-Muslim backlash," rush to their aid, giving Muslims multiple platforms to explain "real Islam" to us. Hence, after every terrorist attack, the West becomes a dawah paradise. The words I wrote on the day of the London subway bombing are just as relevant today as they were then: Today’s terrorist attacks in London, strangely enough, will help Islam grow even stronger. There will be a brief period of outrage against Islam, but once the smoke has cleared (both literally and figuratively), the world will once again rush to defend Islam,

In Going Rogue: An American Life , Sarah Palin recounts the vetting process she experienced before she was selected to be the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008. While being interviewed as a potential candidate for the McCain campaign, all went smoothly until something made the McCain staffers wince. “I had just dared to mention the C-word: creationism,” wrote Palin, the daughter of a science teacher. “But I felt I was on solid factual ground.” During the Delaware senate race of the 2010 midterm elections, Chris Coons ordered Christine O’Donnell to “come clean” with voters during a debate. When O’Donnell insisted she had already come clean on every position, Coons mustered up the most devastating, scandalous, humiliating, skeleton-in-the-closet-detecting litmus test he could think of: “Do you believe in evolution?” Recently, a woman parroted the same query over her little boy’s shoulder to Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry. The Texas Governor dared to affir

I really like this one. Note the "Search Words" that brought my visitor:

Buon giorno. I want to give a "heads up" to people who have Websites and Weblogs. Actually, there is something useful for anyone who likes to click on links they find on other people's sites.  I am probably one of the last to learn this, but perhaps this article will help someone anyway. Have you noticed an increase of visits to your Weblog in your "stats"? No, not the site counter stuff, those are somewhat reliable. I mean the strange sites, often ending in .ru, that "gave" you hundreds or thousands of referrals. I thought I had some foreigners really digging my stuff until I clicked on a few and found out that they were junk; there is no way a Russian "hot chicks" site is linking to my articles on Conservativism,  Biblical Archaeology, the follies of Atheism, screen capture tools, Firefox or whatever I'm doing. No way! It was disappointing to learn that those are not real referrals, but also explains why my site counter and s

Two Christian men were seriously injured by young Muslim men this month in Karachi when they refused to convert to Islam, a family member told Compass. Liaqat Munawar, a resident of Essa Nagri in Karachi, told Compass by telephone that his brother, Ishfaq Munawar, and another young Christian man, Naeem Masih, were returning home after an early morning prayer service at their church in Sohrab Goth on Aug. 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day, when ethnic Pashtun youths near Sea View harassed and later attacked them. Read the rest of "Two Pakistani Christians Seriously Injured for Refusing Islam" here .

Buona sera. I think I'm going to post odd searches that people have used to end up on my Weblogs. At any rate, this one from my Piltdown Superman site is too baffling to leave alone. Before anyone gets agitated, I know full well that people often use specific words in the search engines that do not make sense if you are simply reading them. (I do it myself. No sense wasting keystrokes or making the search too broad . ) So, taking it at face value: I hope someone didn't think that it was even possible for Hitler to fake Piltdown Man. He was born in 1889 and the hoax began in 1912 in Piltdown, East Sussex. World War I began in 1914, and Hitler was a minor soldier in that war. He did not rise to power in Germany until 1933. So, what was Hitler doing in England, planting a fake evolutionary ancestor (never mind that the real culprits are known) twenty one years before he rose to power? Well, let's not let the facts mess up a good conspiracy theory. It could be fun, capice?

Buon giorno.   One of the apologetics podcasts that I listen to is Greg Koukl on " Stand to Reason ". He is yet another former atheist turned apologist for the Christian faith. He  has a radio show , and gives monologues as well as receives calls from Christians, atheists and other people. A caller wanted to know how to discuss the atheists' claim that they "lack belief", and Greg shows how that claim not only misrepresents itself, but is essentially dishonest and irrational. You can hear that discussion below, or the  entire podcast for August 21, 2011 . [Edit: Also go here for a related post .]

The definition of hell is being condescended to by idiots. It will probably be MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Contessa Brewer sneering at you for all of eternity for not believing in evolution. Roughly one-third of my 2006 No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," is an attack on liberals' creation myth, Darwinian evolution. I presented the arguments of all the luminaries in the field, from the retarded Richard Dawkins to the brilliant Francis Crick, and disputed them. But apparently liberals didn't want to argue back. Despite Matthews' obsessive fixation on the topic, manifested by his constantly asking elected Republicans if they believe in evolution, in a one-hour interview with me on "Godless" -- the very book that is chockablock with attacks on Darwinism -- Matthews didn't ask me a single question about the subject. No liberal did. Matthews doesn't even know what evolution is. Read the rest of 

How Evolutionists Deal with Contrary Evidence Edited 10-09-2011 Also, a new version is available on video, here . Deny that contrary evidence even exists Refuse to see it Refuse to discuss it Refuse to listen to it Malign people who disbelieve at all costs, ignore basic reasoning skills Lie about people and organizations who disbelieve in evolution Use uninformed, undereducated thuggish disciples to patrol and attack people who disbelieve Use the media, especially social media Never allow the playing field to be level Keep insisting that evolution is a "fact", even though it is assumed through faith, not evidence (that's our little secret, Skippy) Pretend to be totally objective and unbiased, despite the fact that this goes against human nature Demand that disbelievers have all knowledge of all sciences Appeal to the "might makes right" fallacy of "most scientists believe in evolution" to establish "truth" Commit tu q

Buona sera.  I think we should — "Wait, what's an intermezzo , Cowboy Bob?"   I dunno, Nicky. I think it's that little floor-between-floors in a building. Go ask Ernie the Gambler, he gets around.   As I was saying, I think we should pull back the throttle on the Fallacies Express for a moment. Although I like learning about them as well as writing them up, there are so many logical fallacies, variations, blendings and so forth that the series will go on far too long. I have a few more in mind that I really need to write about, and then I may put a halt to them. From there, I think I will do a kind of summary explaining the bigger aspects. That is, logical fallacies get categorized and sub-categorized, even overlapping. I see some greater principles at work that these sub-categories represent. Also, I have learned that sometimes something will seem  to be a fallacy, but is actually quite valid. For instance, something may resemble an Appeal

The subject of Islam in America is front and center with Rep. Peter King's hearings in Washington, D.C., on radical Muslims in the United States. While acknowledging that the vast majority of American Muslims are law-abiding, patriotic citizens, King pointed to a Pew poll which reported that 15 percent of Muslim American men between the ages of 18 and 29 could support suicide bombings. "There are realities we can't ignore," said King. When it comes to how Islam is taught in our nation's public schools, I echo King's admonition - there are realities we can't ignore.   Islam in Textbooks This past fall, the Texas State Board of Education passed a resolution against "Pro-Islamic/Anti-Christian Bias" in textbooks.  Read the rest of " Islam in Our Schools" here .

Uncle Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Edvard Grieg, Ludwig van Beethoven (Click for larger size) Obviously, this is not a coincidence! They must have evolved from a common ancestor, since they all have adventurous follicles. And now, for your dining and dancing pleasure:

Modern science would not have come very far without Christians. I know it goes against everything that propagandists want you to believe, but it is true. Read "The Christian Foundation of Modern Science" here .

Matt Slick of CARM had a good atheist caller to his " Faith and Reason " radio show the other day. They dabbled in several topics for half an hour. (Listen to when he finds out that the caller is an atheist.) I thought this segment was good for several reasons. First, because there really are a few atheists who want to have decent conversations with Christians. Second, Matt touched on some important evidences and lines of clear thinking. Third, this caller was actually willing to let Matt state his case and make his points. Fourth, I hope that people will not be afraid to call the show.  The original hour is here , and the segment that I'm talking about is below:

Did anyone else notice how B. Hussein Obama kept saying, "Muslim-Americans" as if it was a "race"? He was praising Muslims up one side and down the other. Funny how this alleged Christian ignores or disparages Christianity. But anyway... The conversation would be hilarious if it weren't so frightening. MUSLIM AMERICANS: "You non-Muslim Americans have nothing to worry about. We Muslims would never even think about imposing Sharia in the U.S." NON-MUSLIM AMERICANS: "Well then, you wouldn't mind if we pass a law that will ban Sharia from being used in U.S. courts." MUSLIM AMERICANS: "What??? You only want American law in American courts? No Sharia? How dare you! You're Islamophobes! You're bigoted hate-mongers!" NON-MUSLIM AMERICANS: "If you had no intention of bringing Sharia to the U.S., why are you opposed to us banning it?" MUSLIM AMERICANS: "Racists! We'll sue (to keep you from get

Buona sera.  This is a two-in-one post. First, I want to show you a troll with one of the strangest accusations that I have ever encountered. Second, I want to show you how I get these screenshot things. The troll: "Blocks all scientists."  HUH? That's right, Buttercup here says I block all scientists. As if "scientists" are on patrol, looking for bad old rotten creationists like me so they can troll, harass, try to intimidate and spew forth  horrible  logic. Nope. Scientists have better things to do, capice? I think this illustrates the atheists' notion that they are all at the scientist level in their minds, and Christians are dumb as stumps (even though this Christian shows their failures in basic logic ). No, I block types like this who waste my time, as well as abusive clowns. By the way, I blocked  him  with far less than "a few" replies. OK, now it's time for the screenshot tool. Screenshot... screen shot... one word or

This made my day! I gave a flirt on Twitter to Ann Coulter, thinking (a) there's no way she'll see it, and (b) probably an imposter anyway. Well, from the way people are treating that Twitter account, it may very well be her.  Anyway, you have to acquire the "eye" for it, so I'll give you the background. Someone said something, I added on with, "@Ann Coulter is my One True Love. Ask her about me and she'll say, 'WHO???'  She gave me a reply, a "retweet": That's her sense of humor, that's for certain! Nice thing to do for me, huh? Addendum: This was sent to me later: " Excellent! Yup that's really her, I've been following her for a while now. Very nice! I'd be on Cloud Nine if somebody like her ever noticed me. And I'd get that framed."

Whoever practices evil pays attention to wicked speech, and the liar listens to malicious talk. (Prov. 17:4 , ISV) Buona sera. Although I have written about this before, I thought it needed to be revisited. Briefly. Some people that I have to deal with seem to have a great deal of confusion about lies. This is a bit surprising to me, because I thought everyone knew that a lie is a deliberate false statement with the intent to deceive. That's the basic form. You can lie in other ways, such as withholding relevant information or even telling the truth in such a way that it is not accepted. For the most part, a lie involves the intent to deceive. And I think most people know that. "How are people confused about lies, Cowboy Bob?" There are several things that occur in the course of communication, and certain rabid dogs will try to bite you with the epithet, "Liar!" Mistakes. Maybe it was simple carelessness, maybe it was irresponsibly repeat

Buon giorno. My regular readers know that I am very annoyed with the "gay is okay" and "acceptance" propaganda for "alternative lifestyles". Somehow, a minority of people confused about their sexuality are using politics, religion and various forms of bullying to attempt to force the rest of society to redefine relationships and marriage itself. Now that a few states have passed same-sex "marriage" laws, the rest of society is expected to redefine marriage itself, even though it has worked quite well for civilization for five, ten, a few thousand years. Those of us who believe that homosexuality is unnatural and/or sinful are given the nonsensical label of "homophobes" . I'll say it yet again: I don't phobe any homos. And I have nothing but contempt for people who use such a term as a substitute for actual thought, capice? On a recent Dr. Who episode, some future-esque space marine types had one male soldier refer to another m

Buon giorno. Here are a couple of audio clips from Matt Slick's "Faith and Reason" radio show. He takes many kinds of calls, whether it's a Christian that wants clarification, a cultist that wants to argue, a Calvinist that wants his Calvinism reinforced — and atheists. I have heard several shows where atheists call in and want to get into some of the heavy philosophical stuff. (When this kind of material goes on for a while, my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders.) Some will give him direct challenges as well. I remember one caller that was so obnoxious and verbally bouncing all over the place, changing definitions and basically making a rational conversation very difficult, Matt told me to give him the message to have him call back so people could see what atheism does to the mind. Good conversations can be had if callers are courteous and have some degree of sense. If you're willing to listen and have a decent exchange, you should have a good call. If,

Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory. — Stephen Jay Gould, 1977 Evolution is racist. Why is this concept not being proclaimed more clearly? Evolution, as is popularly defined, is a gradual continuance and weeding out of physical traits. Therefore all the physical traits that we know as defining race……skin color, shape of the eyes, hair, etc., are all supposed to be due to some evolutionary benefit for survival. So we are told, no trait survives the proces of natural selection unless it benefits survival in some way. Therefore all the races of human got that way due to some evolutionary reason. The shape of the eyes, skin and hair color, all presumably got that way for a reason benefitting survival. This, by definition, is racial. Notice what I’m NOT saying. This does not mean that every person who holds to evolution is a biased racist. I’m not saying