Gene Frenkle

Don't go stealing theories from your wife.

Somebody's got his panties in a bunch! Admirable story by the way.

I like you Betty.

Let's call a lifetime of spiritual delusion 65 years. The average lifespan is between 70 and 75 years I think and we'll cut the first 5 or 10 before you've been brainwashed. Setting aside the "getting ready" and travel for a moment, let's say church takes 1 hour per week. Let's additionally assume that you pray for 15 minutes per day. 1 (Sunday) * 60 (Minutes) * 52 (Weeks) * 65 (Years) = 202,800 (Minutes) 365 (Days) * 15 (Minutes) * 65 (Years) = 355,875 (Minutes) 202,800 (Minutes) + 355,875 (Minutes) = 558,675 (Minutes) 558,675 (Minutes) = 9311.25 (Hours) 9311.25 (Hours) = 387.97 (Days) 387.97 (Days) = 1.06 (Years) 1.06 full years of your life. If my math is no good, I'm sure I'll hear about it. Not as bad as I thought, but it was a conservative calculation. You're right in that you probably waste more time watching TV, but think about how much more TV you could be watching!

Except that with the children in question, it's not the decision of the parents. It's a requirement by the schools for the greater good of the student population. SOUND FAMILIAR??? Socialism! What about vaccination requirements for employment in other public and private jobs? Same thing. I think you might argue the point if somebody you consider Liberal told you that water is wet.

No, if you're wrong you've wasted vast amounts of the short time you have praying, going to church and lecturing reasonable folks about the absolute truth of your beliefs. Please don't argue the ridiculous idea that such self-deception would not be a waste of time. You need not worry, of course, because of your absolute knowledge.

When a Scrabble-playing caveman spells out forty two, Arthur Dent pulls random letters from a bag, but only gets the sentence: "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" "Six by nine. Forty two. That's it. That's all there is." "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe."

Ok, take it easy dude. Imagine - propaganda and politics from politicians!

I just wish he would enact a Socialist policy that says that all WSJ articles belong to the people instead of this "privileged subscriber" crap.

I must need to be a subscriber to get the full article and read about how this is Obama's fault.

No I fully get it and even agree with the sentiment in general. In this case though it's misplaced. Nobody's answered me yet: What about every school and job for which vaccination is a prerequisite? Are NYS healthcare workers required to have their Hep A and B vaccines as terms of employment? Tetanus shots? How is this different? Where's your righteous indignation with these things?

"Anti-religious religious crusade" is such an interesting choice of words.

Socks are insignificant next to such a deep understanding of the Universe.

Did you know that you can tell that the Earth is not flat by watching a ship sail over the horizon? The top of the mast is the last thing to disappear. Your flat-earther bit was not a very good example in that the shape of the Earth is evidence-based and testable. Personally, I'm open to any idea that is backed by evidence or at least a reasonable explanation. Your 'man in the sky' story just doesn't make the cut. I have little use for labels really. I personally don't believe in god, at least not anything resembling what you're talking about. Something must have started it all, but there's no evidence of what that might be so people make up stories to make themselves feel better and cope with their own mortality. For me personally, that is an unacceptable and intellectually dishonest sentiment. To my understanding, an agnostic has no opinion either way. Some people think this is a wishy-washy way to keep from saying one's an atheist. I think it means that someone has finished thinking it through or just can't make themselves take the leap. By this definition, I was an agnostic for a long time before fully turning to the dark side. An atheist is one who does not believe in god. Atheism is different than religion in that atheism is not an absolute statement.

It's from the book. Pretty good books if you haven't read them.

If you're wrong we can continue the discussion in Hare Krishna Hell. I'm sure you just happened to be born into the "right" religion though, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Even better, you are absolutely sure of it.

So it's "up to three" harmless vaccines. Suck it up, Nancy! And vice-versa of course, RIGHT???

Your obvious knowledge of evolution is clearly illustrated by your chimp gene remark. Priceless! Did you know that more than 95% (conservatively) of your DNA is indistinguishable from chimp DNA? Maybe more for you! I have two children and both of their first words, much to my delight, was 'Da-Da'. Of course they called everything 'Da-Da' for a while! 'No' came later, but it certainly came. What exactly do you think that proves again? It's pretty amusing where you were going with that. Proof of god and original sin! That's !@#$ing classic. Finally, I make no absolute claims. I do not believe in god, but that doesn't mean the same thing as 'I'm positive god doesn't exist'. It's obviously a subtle difference that you're not picking up on. Let me try to help: When you say 'I'm absolutely sure god exists', that is an absolute claim. When I say 'I don't believe in god', that is a conclusion I've come to that is absolutely non-absolute.

It would not be much of a stretch to say that most healthcare workers deal almost exclusively with people who are sick, most susceptible to disease and most likely to die from contracting the flu. I have a hard time getting past that point.

Nope, just fire them for failing to take the proper precautions to do their jobs effectively. In a non-Socialist country, your continued employment is still based on job efficacy and performance, right?

I claim no absolute knowledge about anything, unlike you.

It's no less likely than Christianity or Scientology.

The people who perpetrated those acts were certainly evil, but I'm sure they all committed some good act at some point in their lives, so they can't be absolutely evil. How about the Crusades? Islamic jihads? The Inquisition? Human Sacrifice? The Salem Witch Trials? The Mormon Mountain Meadows Massacre? The conflict in Northern Ireland? Civil war in Iraq? Pedophilia in the Roman Catholic priesthood? There are many, many, many more. The common thread here is that all of those horrible acts were committed by humans. Religion, belief, or lack-there-of has little to do with it.

Sounds like a pretty !@#$ing arbitrary and subjective process to me.