the good, the bad, and the ugly: ON TV

[MyOneAndOnly]

Tyson calls himself an Agnostic, but doesn't like talking about it publicly. But he's no different from 90% of all scientists. There are very few practicing theist physicists and astronomers.

Johnny Carson was an Atheist. And he brought guests on his tv show and promoted Skeptics and Scientists like Carl Sagan, James Randy, etc. He once brought uri geller onto his show as a guest and publicly humiliated him in front of tens of millions of viewers, because he hated spiritualists and felt that the guy was a con artist.

If anything, Carson was more of a "modern atheist" than Neil Tyson. And Carson is considered an icon of American Television

[yo soy el mejor]

purely diabolical

[MyOneAndOnly]

the New Cosmos series averaged 8.5 million viewers per episode when it aired. If the public associated Tyson with Modern Atheism I doubt Fox would have had so much success with it.

[MyOneAndOnly]

Originally Posted by yo soy el mejor

purely diabolical

true

Atheists want to hide behind science and facts and poison the minds of children and kill Jeebus

[Mayfuck]

I remember right off the bat, the first NDT cosmos episode took a swipe at the Catholic church and I was just like "well that didn't take long "

[Bread Regal]

The story of Galileo's death is an important parable of scientific discovery, though.

[MyOneAndOnly]

Originally Posted by Mayfuck

I remember right off the bat, the first NDT cosmos episode took a swipe at the Catholic church and I was just like "well that didn't take long "

Those 'swipes' weren't against religion. They were against dogma and instances where the church did awful things in an attempt to suppress scientific understanding. For instance the church decides to burn people at the stake, condemning the act isn't a condemnation of religion.

It was no different than how Cosmos treated the history of women in science, which is rife with countless examples of misogyny and women not getting credit for their contributions. That's not a swipe against Male humans. It's recognition of the negative impact patriarchy has on empiricism.

[Mayfuck]

i'm just saying he's not without his agenda. but i'd easily take him as science's mascot over bill nye or dawkins any day.

[Bread Regal]

Nye way more effective as a science communicator than Dawkins, but I get what you're saying.

[MyOneAndOnly]

Originally Posted by Mayfuck

i'm just saying he's not without his agenda. but i'd easily take him as science's mascot over bill nye or dawkins any day.

I've listened to him talk about religion at great length. He has an "agenda" but I don't think it's an anti religious agenda per se. He would state that his only agenda is empiricism and science. Where dogma conflicts with science he will choose science. Not because he's an agnostic or "anti theist," but because he feels the world is best understood using logic and the scientific method.

in that sense every single advocate of the scientific method is advocating against religion.

[Trotskilicious]

thb i dont like mod atheism but a scientist that has faith in an invisible skyman or believe in magical people who live atop a sacred mountain arent being very scientific

[Lucky Day Spa]

yeah but sonic johnny says science and spirituality are not incompatible therefore a science tv show ought to embrace that for reasons or it can't possibly be worth watching

[Lucky Day Spa]

i mean this guy was threatening castration, are we gonna split hairs here or what

[Mayfuck]

Originally Posted by Lucky Day Spa

yeah but sonic johnny says science and spirituality are not incompatible therefore a science tv show ought to embrace that for reasons or it can't possibly be worth watching

the NDT cosmos episode i referenced did a thing on giordano bruno, who was a mystic and an astrologer, but treated by NDT as if he were a persecuted scientist. so new atheists are already ahead of you here.

[Mayfuck]

i mean why do people like dawkins and NDT aestheticize science so much? these guys want to follow a religion so badly their hangups manifest themselves in the most obvious and hypocritical ways.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by Mayfuck

i mean why do people like dawkins and NDT aestheticize science so much? these guys want to follow a religion so badly their hangups manifest themselves in the most obvious and hypocritical ways.

I've never fully understood this criticism. To be frank I think it's completely nonsensical. But you sure do see it a lot.

[Eulogy]

My problems with NDT mostly deal with his propensity to shit all over works of fiction for not being 100% accurate

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Mayfuck

I remember right off the bat, the first NDT cosmos episode took a swipe at the Catholic church and I was just like "well that didn't take long "

aeww are we supposed to feel sorry for tge fucking vatican now

[Trotskilicious]

lol mayfuck talking abt agendas

what a fucking troll

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

My problems with NDT mostly deal with his propensity to shit all over works of fiction for not being 100% accurate

seriously this is a problem for you? who cares?

[Eulogy]

I guess problem was overstating it?

[Bread Regal]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

thb i dont like mod atheism but a scientist that has faith in an invisible skyman or believe in magical people who live atop a sacred mountain arent being very scientific

man.

this is a TV thread. do we need to have the religion vs science conversation for the billionth time in this board's history.

[Trotskilicious]

YES

[Trotskilicious]

Regular folks can dip into both. i know a left wing jesus missionary kinda guy, he say science is discovering gods tools. i thought that was refreshing and poetic

[MyOneAndOnly]

so much great content on the teevee

praise jesus!

[Lucky Day Spa]

Originally Posted by Mayfuck

the NDT cosmos episode i referenced did a thing on giordano bruno, who was a mystic and an astrologer, but treated by NDT as if he were a persecuted scientist. so new atheists are already ahead of you here.

if you were following along at home before your the vatican moment, you'd have noted that he was treated by NDT as a very much a non-scientist

[Lucky Day Spa]

really didn't see that as being ambiguous in the slightest tbh

[MyOneAndOnly]

it's like he didn't actually watch the episode

[Bread Regal]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

Regular folks can dip into both. i know a left wing jesus missionary kinda guy, he say science is discovering gods tools. i thought that was refreshing and poetic

My roommate, a math PhD candidate, is a devout christian. He was raised a baptist and still attends church every Sunday with his dad. However instead of tithing he gives 10% to a local non-profit run by crust punks called Food Not Bombs, something I think the Notorious J.H.C. would have been cool with.

He has this thing he rhetorically asks young earth creationists: "what is more impressive? a being that uses their omnipotence to build a clock, or one that creates a world where the clock builds itself?"

When you put it that way, young earth creationists really kind of sell god short, don't they.

[MyOneAndOnly]

I'm more impressed by a universe that doesn't need a being to create it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Universe_from_Nothing