The Failures of Creationism

This was my presentation to the 1st annual 'Reason_in_the_Rock' in Little Rock Arkansas.10/27/2012. The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers and the Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason put on a good conference, sponsored by the national United Coalition of Reason and the James Randi Educational Foundation as well as American Atheists, Camp Quest Oklahoma, the Secular Student Alliance, and Recovering from Religion. This group once had Hitchens speaking in the same room. Preceding me were Teresa MacBain and Jerry DeWitt, both practiced preachers in their former lives, and hard acts to follow. After me were J.T. Eberhard and Seth (theThinkingAtheist) Andrews.

[@harzanium]

My dad was actually a person who believed in the "demons cause illness" thing. I remember when I was little he told me that I had allergies because I didn't pray enough.

[@danhammond8406]

Child abuse.

[@2degucitas]

Ugh.

[@jinkisaragi874]

When i was 12 my kidney developed a kidney stone as big as a walnut, my super religious father convinced that the reason for that was that i watched these evil japanese cartoons (Pokemon and DBZ was the hotshit back then) and it would slowly make me gay (however that works). He was ofcourse smarter then the doctor and his idea of a cure was just praying and geting rid of the TV in my room....yeah turns out that didn't helped so i had the worst pain i ever expirenced in my life and was lying on the ground grunting from the pain , my father didn't wanted my mom to call an ambulance so she slaped him and called him anyway. I was spending almost 2 months in the hospital , i would have died when we would have listen to my father a few weeks longer is what the doctor said. I hate this man so much and never had anything to do with him after that and my mother knew that a normal live just wasn't possible with this man so she divorced him the same year and fond a new man who was way more open minded and just a cool guy through and through , he was more of a father to me then my real one. The best thing is that the whole local church folk saw my mother as a slut and supported every decision my father made, fuck religion seriously.

[@johndeska1]

Old comment, but I have a friend who told me that you should pray your illness away and that medicine is "satanic" because the "x" in the Rx symbol looks like an inverted cross.

[@Eisenbison]

@@johndeska1 The inverted cross is the symbol of Saint Peter, and many Christians use it in place of an upright cross to symbolize their subordination and devotion to Jesus. Christians don't even know their own mythology...

[@NOXFPV]

I went through my 11yo son's leukemia. Christians said it was because of my sin and God was trying to teach me something. It was because of a toxic chemical being sprayed in our area for mosquitoes.. Lots of kids in my area were diagnosed with leukemia.

[@annal3708]

I’m so sorry for you and your family and so sorry for your son. There are no words to tell how awful that was.

[@A-non-theist]

If a Christian told me that I would probably have went to jail. I feel so sorry for you and your son and your whole family is terrible I just hope he's doing fine.

[@darknight8139]

So sad, shame on them.

[@markbriten6999]

Just seen this. Hope your son recovered. Why are do many so called christians act in a way that if he had existed jesus would condemn

[@brianvance1178]

God is a dick-sucking egomaniac with a sadistic streak a hundred miles wide. If anything he gave your son leukemia out of spite and sadistic pleasure for himself. Your so called sins were just his excuse, typical abusive lover tactic really, and maybe appealing to Satan would have helped

[@LamirLakantry]

There is a place in Norway literally called Hell, so yeah, it does freeze over at least one a year.

[@zenkim6709]

Actually I think the roadsign was in Hell, Wisconsin -- but yeah, Hell *does* freeze over at least once a year!

[@jokeherders2913]

In holland is a place called helmond. Mouth of the hell

[@amberreed5324]

Michigan has a Hell, too. This 'spring' I think it just stopped freezing over

[@brianfulwood7827]

We have Route 666 on the south west coast of Florida

[@thefnaffan2]

In Michigan US, we have a town called Hell

[@SadisticSenpai61]

Great words to begin with - I was one of those outspoken Christians myself once. Now an atheist. And it wasn't arguing with hostile atheists that changed my mind. It was ppl who calmly asked me rational questions that I couldn't answer.

[@bretzajac7986]

OK lets use the backbone of science "observation" and the ability to "falsify". We do not observe mutations resulting in new species (evolutionary model) and when tested its falsified because DNA studies have proven we are locked in to our genetic codes not to be able to mutate in to new species. We do observe in every life form kind producing kind (creation model) and when tested it proves true in all cases. So by using "science" we see the better explanation is the creation model. As a side note isn't it funny God said mankind was his final creation and the moronic atheist also cannot show any new speciation after mankind shows up in the world. You idiot atheist believe this jackass who is so off on his biblical critics its hilarious, wow talk about being easily conned. lol

[@badideass]

@@bretzajac7986 evolution is observational... Have you read Darwin's book? There's also an experiment with bacteria, absolutely shows evolution at work. Also mountains of other evidence. Why are you struggling so badly to understand evolution???

[@OmniphonProductions]

@@badideass Because he's actually struggling _NOT_ to understand.

[@OmniphonProductions]

@@bretzajac7986 Wow, the exact same incorrect comment...word for word...posted twice in the same feed. I won't bother to recite my original response. I'll simply boil it down to this. Try actually reading a book _on_ these topics that was written by somebody with a PhD _in_ these topics. I promise they know more about it than you do.

[@fernandoalarcon8534]

@@bretzajac7986 www.sciencealert.com/darwin-s-finches-evolve-into-new-species-in-real-time-two-generations-galapagos Mama's wrong again.

[@AronRa]

When I found out about the 14th European Skeptics Conference in Stockholm in August 2013, they were asking for speakers with diverse backgrounds, and I readily volunteered. The response I got however said that I wouldn't be relevant because [they said] they don't even have creationism in Sweden.

[@Mossmyr]

Would have loved to listen to you speak in Stockholm... ten years ago.

[@brianvance1178]

If Sweden did have creationism, I’d at least hope for the creation myth of Norse mythology to be extremely popular there, as opposed to what Americans would recognize as creationism

[@Jrez]

That sounds pretty diverse to me! What chance would they get to hear from a skeptic in America battling something they don't have? So weird. Like I get they have the internet, but would they also not accept speakers from Africa discussing the role that religious superstition plays on the AIDS epidemic there? They probably don't have many people in Sweden that promote sex with a virgin as an AIDS cure either, that doesn't change the importance of skepticism.

[@heavymetalpancake1133]

i fucking lost it at this comment, thanks for the laugh Aron

[@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK]

I'm hooked on your videos and lectures, on the educational content alone. As someone who lives in the UK, I have no horse in the creationism race at all, but It's great to see how rational people are standing against such nonsense.

[@Sherrbear1404]

The biggest reason I turned away from religion initially was the hypocrisy of my parents who were both very religious. I was an intelligent and curious child who wanted to understand everything so I would often ask "why". Many times the only answers I got from my parents were "just because" or "because I say so". Then I would hear the same in church, "because the bible says so" or "because God says so". It was very frustrating so I spent a lot of time learning things mainly by reading a lot.....

[@atheist535]

Creationism is mythology. Evolution is reality.

[@sjoncarlson4422]

And how did life begin

[@atheist535]

@@sjoncarlson4422 We do not know, yet.

[@sjoncarlson4422]

@@atheist535 now that is truthful, thanks for being honest👍

[@tassadardaris7294]

@@sjoncarlson4422 Abiogenesis, look it up

[@tassadardaris7294]

@Rep Raptor98 The universe expands, hydrogen forms, hundreds on millions years later gravity clumped enough together in certain spots which causes friction which makes heat which turns into a fusion reaction, the fusion reaction passes through various elements until it gets to iron and iron can not sustain the reaction so the gravity overpowers the force of fusion and implodes the star which causes quick fusion and releases a supernova after which is left a black hole or neutron star, the supernova has elements for life and smaller starts, smaller stars form and around them elements that form planets form planets and then life appears by abiogenesis.

[@jaywatson8720]

Imagine how the public would react if a doctor with all honesty briefs a family of a patient who underwent emergency surgery and passed on with the line "I'm sorry ma'am but we're just two prayers short of a miracle and your relating died on the table."

[@manther30]

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" -Douglas Adams.

[@timnemec1572]

I often wonder how many times science got a start only to be lost to our fears and superstitions. Knowledge that isn't valued is certain to be lost.

[@Longtack55]

Yep - religion killed science, particularly medical science, for 1500 years.

[@Syrnian]

+@Laurence Hazlewood I was about to say that.

[@dame3323]

ray salmon that’s just false lol. It’s like 97% of scientists don’t believe in a god lol

[@dame3323]

ray salmon Google it lol. Not sure about the number but you are just making shit up lmao

[@dame3323]

ray salmon Not even atheist that’s the best part😂

[@CharlesvanDijk-ir6bl]

well we reject incest now, but in the Adam and Eve household it must have been normal.

[@andrewgan557]

In fact if people read the original story of Adam, eve and Lilith they are going to realize that how much of a prick is Adam is.

[@chrisdaldy-rowe4978]

ROFLMAO yeah between Islam & the Vatican paedophilla is a favourite pass time lol

[@DAYBROK3]

Raymond Stemmer i have always asked where all the people in the town came from when god made just two

[@bugcooper7441]

and in noah's family

[@CharlesvanDijk-ir6bl]

@@DAYBROK3 People who were around for the 100000 years before Adam and Eve were not human according the fundamentalist. The Muslims call them Jinn or demons like they do today. In other words anybody who is not a Muslim.

[@PaddySnuffles]

I screamed at the oviraptor part. "Oviraptor didn't actually steal eggs" was a 30 minute rant I had on the way back home after watching Disney's Dinosaur as a kid.

[@henriroggeman7267]

Puzzling that there still are people who don't know the difference between a theory and a hypothesis...

[@blackice9088]

Those are the TRUE believers in the (W)holy (untrue) bible is the absolute truth...

[@michaelcainhurst2660]

The last image of the church signs is a real punch in the gut. As a former christian, I now realize that this is exactly how religion works. Faith can't exist in the presence of reason.

[@hypatiaatheiria9647]

you don't have to 'imagine how awful it must have been back then'all that is required is to look at life under sharia

[@GhostLightPhilosophy]

I find it concerning that 40% of Americans reject Evolution. And most of those people can vote!

[@christianmarlon3471]

You think it's a coincidence that Trump's base also seems to be around 40% of the population?

[@weightlifting_socialist]

These people are not anywhere near 40% or 50% of the population. At best they are 20-25% and lowest 5-10%. Hopefully we can get it down to 0% as far as voting goes.

[@miguelquintana8076]

Terrifying

[@jay2times814]

That’s absolutely 💯 scary. 💙🕶️💙

[@MrChristerj]

Thank you AronRa. Luckily I live in Sweden where these religious madmen has no influence.

[@josephrodriguez2780]

I'm moving Sweden

[@johngavin1175]

Sweden sounds awesome,and the music from there is great.

[@davidpersson250]

Jag är med svenne skönt att de finns logiska före religiösa människor ochså

[@davidpersson250]

Roxette!

[@puffin51]

I love watching the rational videos on youtube - a small minority of what's on it - but what always strikes me is the level of professionalism in the presentation. Aron Ra gives persuasive, rational, reasonable, evidence-based argument, and the creationists peddle - that is, they actually sell - irrational, idiotic, fact-blind, sectarian dogma. The sad fact, however, is that they peddle it with slick, professional, colorful, high-production-value media - print and video - while rationalists do... this. It's not Aron Ra's fault, of course. The reason is money. The creationists have money.

[@jeanetteyork2582]

puffin51 ...yes...Aron is "raw"...an honest ordinary man with a keen understanding of, and ability to speak about, a certain set of subjects. I agree that presentations have gotten slicker and more demanding in the main media...however that was Lincoln's style too and it has endured.

[@trichinosis333]

When I developed a seizure disorder in my teens, my parents called in the preacher to see if I was demon possessed. Not surprisingly, there was no change in the disorder until they took me to a hospital and gave me medicine for it.

[@ShaunJW1]

Got to be honest between the Dawkins, Hitchens, deGrasse,Randi etc. videos on KZbin this one (Aron Nelson) really gives the best research information, most in depth and really the most interesting presentation to listen to!

[@sagerider2]

+ShaunJW1 Don't forget geologist Wildwoodclaire1. And potholer54 (a science reporter). And DonExodus2 (another biologist)

[@糸攴鬼㐯衣豸麻]

IdleBigots _He's giving you the detailed information, clean and true_ Clean and true misinformation.

[@糸攴鬼㐯衣豸麻]

IdleBigots How do you know my little I have none? "Failure" of creationism would mean that your stupid myths are true. Your mother nature was not observed to create intelligence in the wild.

[@糸攴鬼㐯衣豸麻]

_Not sure if you're accusing me of being a creationist_ That's just because you are stupid.

[@TheMarcQ]

He's legal name is Aron Ra

[@LucisFerre1]

*Ignorance isn't just what you don't know. Ignorance is what you won't know.* - I've been saying this for years. Ignorance is ignore-ance. To *willfully* ignore so as to continue to *believe* what you want. To keep your *beliefs* from being quashed by *knowledge*. It seems to me that belief, as opposed to knowing, is almost a detrimental trait in humanity.

[@andrewgan557]

LucisFerre1 the question for how long will you remain ignorant? Until the truth finally slap you in the face?

[@jonashellsborn7648]

Well, actually, there is this trouble with the word "ignorant" that you are just pointing at. Allegedly it meant and means "not knowing", but there is this recent divergent interpretation that (like you) adheres to the "ignore" part, so that "ignorant" finally may mean "condescending". Which is (yet) deemed "faulty" by linguists. So your explanation may be "a social construct" :) But just wait a couple of decades, you may be in majority then, as language changes...

[@ZenKloom]

"God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson

[@w8m4n]

Yeah but more like "gaaahhhd.....iiis..aaaann ever-receding pOCKet... of scienTIFIC ignorance"

[@w8m4n]

@@raysalmon6566 2 replies, well 3 now. And what's your point about the stats of a comment? Do you feel the quote may be wrong? If so, you're the problem

[@w8m4n]

sasalmon how so?

[@Eisenbison]

@@w8m4n Ray couldn't argue his way out of a wet paper bag. I've beaten him in at least 4 threads now. All he does is make arguments from the authority of the Bible, say that Jesus said God created, therefore Creationism is true, and when I point out that Jesus didn't know germs caused disease, that there are seeds smaller than the mustard seed, and that the Earth is a globe, he simply ignores it and tries to change the subject. He's a liar and a coward, as I have remarked before. First Ray Comfort and now this guy. What is it with "Ray"s and bad arguments for creationism?

[@JohnSmith-xf1zu]

@@Eisenbison Nice. Now those are some good "stats for a comment" XD

[@khagler1979]

That final slide he posted was amazing. It's hard to believe that people posted that and never considered what it was really saying about their followers.

[@TheFallibleFiend]

God may or may exist, but asserting "God did it" is not science and never will be science. "God did it" is no more science than "It must be magic!" It's not science; it's the opposite of science.

[@raymondstheawesome]

"God did it" is the same as "Magic did it"

[@TheFallibleFiend]

Exactly.

[@thehalloweenheavymetalwarrior]

You Christians only claim to know things without evidence.

[@LogicAndReason2025]

Here's a great question for creationists: What has creationism or so called "creation-science" "universities," produced of any actual value? medicine, technology, etc.

[@Leelilou]

A good question, though less than a minute on google gave me the MRI machine. I didn't click on the link, so I don't have any details. It's a good place to start. I find a better approach is attacking Genesis. Particularly the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden. I have tried this method 10 times so far and it's resulted in a lot of headway in conversation. It's worth noting that, by attacking that part of the Bible, I am of course really only asking questions about it. So many questions.

[@Vivi2372]

@@Leelilou even if we accepted that the MRI was invented by a creationist it would be irrelevant. Creationism as an ideology contributed nothing to the scientific understanding necessary to create the MRI because creationism isn't science. It offers no actual explanations, makes no predictions, can't be tested, and simply isn't science.

[@richardkranium2944]

We have a douchebag award thanks to creationists

[@sagerider2]

I just saw today 3/24/2016, that Christianity has fallen to it's lowest level since the founding of the country, especially between 19 & 26 year olds

[@mikeb1031]

+Marilyn Newman thank god

[@sagerider2]

LOL

[@XxW4RB0RNxX]

+Atheist oh the irony lol

[@phi9249]

Perhaps. However that nature that allows 'belief' in things undemonstrated continues. I think when humans are lazy, they sleepwalk. Seems the easy way is to have it all ready to go. Seems we have lost much of our imagination and inquisitiveness. I think we all need to have strong scientific fibers within us.

[@sagerider2]

Phi Sailor Well, I'm a chemist. I look for new things to learn on the internet. It's cheaper than college.

[@petermetcalfe6722]

I will accept creationists have a valid argument when one of them is awarded the Nobel Prize. Until then I will continue to regard them as the fools they are.

[@charlgreyvensteyn8903]

The emperor have no clothes on. What will the emperor do if someone tells him he has no clothes on? Will he thank the person and give him a title/knight hood/Nobel Prize, or will he have him executed.

[@thehalloweenheavymetalwarrior]

God and Jesus are fictional characters. A reason they`re not even in the history books.

[@charlgreyvensteyn8903]

The bible can also be considered as a history book. What do you mean Jesus didnt exist? There is plenty of evidence He existed. Whether you believe He is the Son of God is another one.

[@petermetcalfe6722]

Charl Greyvensteyn What evidence are you talking about?

[@charlgreyvensteyn8903]

One thing that the Jews did well was their miticulus record keeping. Using this Torah data with its prophecys which describes the number of days till Jesus will ride in a donkey in Jerusalem. Or you could use the Talmud and its series of books, describing its disgust at Jesus. You could be like me, believing that He is God incarnated in flesh or like you that He was a mad man. Either way there is more than enough strong evidence that He existed. Some people would believe the big bang and the origin of species on much less evidence at a heartbeat.

[@jameswest8280]

Aron makes 40 minutes go by like 40 seconds.

[@bobbyduckett5465]

I think you got something wrong in this one. Concerning the claim that there are ZERO facts in regards to creation. That simply is not accurate. It is a FACT that it is complete bullshit.

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

You named the one fact regarding creation, :-)

[@BetaZockt]

But he said in support of creationism

[@kiethlashawn1436]

You need to REPENT. Accept the i phone 5 as your true savior or else....

[@NipplWizard]

they had us going in the first half, not gonna lie.

[@pup1008]

Great work Aron you will be rewarded in Heav..... Heavy Metal Rock music!

[@daveeirikid6974]

I love the way you explain yourself to the "believers" in this and your other videos. Unfortunately they are usually just waiting to talk and they don't hear or even want to hear what you're saying but keep it up maybe one day the world will be free of religion and true peace can take place.

[@diamondjack4074]

40:09 scariest thought yet about religion. If we lost the ability to reason as a species we be brought back into another thousand year reign of terror and superstition that would make the dark ages look like Disneyland

[@wunndergurl911]

Loved the Liberty University commercial before the video

[@nuoiptertermer4484]

That quote from Ken Ham about diseases is amazing. Maybe you could excuse Martin Luther for that quote about idiots, the lame, the blind, and the dumb because he live when he did but I don't see an excuse for Ken Ham.

[@QueenBoadicea]

37:21 I think ignorance is not knowing something. STUPIDITY is refusing to know it.

[@ronaldlebeck9577]

*This is just an example* While I know the dictionary definition of "ignorance" and "stupidity", I say "Ignorance" is more like you were warned not to do a particular something, but you chose to ignore the warning and did it anyway (the act of ignoring); "stupidity" is more like being unable/unwilling to understand/comprehend the consequences of an action (or inaction) which leads one to doing something ignorant. This is why I don't like the saying, "ignorance of the law is no excuse", because in order to ignore something, you have to know about it beforehand, and who knows every single law that exists and how to wade through the legalese double-speak they were written in so that they understand what not to do, when, and where? Just my 2-1/3 cents. :P

[@badideass]

@@bretzajac7986 speaking of stupidity, here's bret

[@Leelilou]

@@bretzajac7986 Hello Bret. I read your comment. Am I right to understand you are a creationist yourself? And that you think you know of legitimate experiments that prove the creation model Christians brought forth? If so, can you link the papers describing these experiments so that we 'moronic atheist', as you so eloquently put it, can benefit from your knowledge? No one likes being wrong, and if you're right, those papers would be quite beneficial. More so than empty assertions of creationism and bold accusations of ignorance. Thank you ever so kindly.

[@OmniphonProductions]

@@bretzajac7986 Nobody who has _ACTUALLY STUDIED_ genetics (and DNA specifically) would ever make your first claim, AND your last claim about, "...any new speciation," is demonstrable evidence that you haven't. Try getting your information from people who've actually dedicated their lives to the active study and research of these topics...instead of people who've dedicated their lives to _NOT_ understanding them.

[@TheQueendom-Au]

You have those backward. Ignore= ignorance. Willfully chosen.

[@JosephKeenanisme]

about your grand-daughter, hope she's OK.... secondly registering with bone marrow donation groups does a hell of a lot more than any prayer will ever do. Had a few scares within the same year with some friends and family members. they turned out OK but still registered because it's a matter of wanting to try to help other people who might not be OK without it.

[@pd4165]

Aron's granddaughter died, at age 6 IIRC. I don't need christian anything to be a donor, I'm signed up to be raided for parts when I'm dead. Charity is a basic human activity - all civilisations have always practiced it, without empathy human civilisation would not be able to exist. So that's pre christian - your 'example' is moot. Last year I got a chain prayer on Messenger. It asked me to pray for the victims of the latest US hurricane. I sent it back with the addition 'send $, cash really works'. I did - the American Red Cross is a useful catchall recipient if you're not American. Actions most definitely speak louder than words.

[@violentpotato6138]

@Muzaffar Krylov You seem like you'd be a blast at parties.

[@johngavin1175]

@Muzaffar Krylov Atheist cohorts slaughtering believers= mumbo jumbo. You are unreasonable.

[@troy4219]

Brilliant! This is why I support your efforts financially, again thank you...

[@JamesRichardWiley]

There is a an invisible, unknowable Hebrew man with three personalities named YHWH, hiding in his kingdom in the clouds. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all wise, all present, and can't make a mistake. YHWH decides to create perfect humans that disobey him and cause him jealousy, anger, and sorrow, forcing him to kill nearly all of them and start over. On the reboot, the same disobedience reappears and cause him jealousy, anger, and sorrow, forcing him to kill nearly all of them and start over. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all wise, all present, and can't make a mistake. Again...Again... Again...

[@LividCreature]

Love this. Yet creationists and fundamentalists will just continue to just keep on claiming “god is love” or some stupid shit like that. Hell a ton of sects if Christianity don’t follow the Bible’s claims of eternal hell for blasphemy and unbelievers. Why so many sects? Why can’t God just use his magic wand and make everyone believe in the right sect?

[@KingofPepsi]

So....the church signs pretty much say, "Reality is the enemy of Fantasy"

[@pinewaves]

What about the "crockaduck"? All joking aside, I absolutely loved your presentation. The one statement that you mentioned that stands out for me is, "...I would rather know an uncomfortable truth than believe in a beautiful lie...There are some people that who prefer or have need to believe...The rest of us would rather have a desire to understand". Thank you.

[@ionutnica3028]

I love how we have tons of evidence that makes the evolution theory true,but creationists never give up their belief,no matter what...damn...too bad that when religion will perish i'll be dead.

[@deadwrong_6_6_6]

My Biology teacher had us skip over the evolution chapter in jr high because he thought it was rubbish. His wife was also a teacher and held prayer meetings. I was judged by her because of the band shirts I was wearing. She questioned me and warned me about the friends I was hanging out with saying, ''If you sleep with the dogs, you are gonna get fleas.''

[@holdencaustic]

Zack Plunkett - did you go to private school?

[@deadwrong_6_6_6]

Jason Rosner- Bass No, just a regular high school in Tennessee.

[@TheMrBuGyZ]

Hello! I'm sorry but could you explain me how robbin fish got arthropod legs. That thing is mind blowing to me!😅 I know it's most likely convergent evolution, but maybie vertebrates are more realated to arthropods than we thing? Sorry for broken english, thank you.

[@Slenderchunk]

Causality does not make an intelligent creator plausible in the least... Quantum fluctuation and the energy of empty space combining to trigger a big bang though not certain, is more plausible than a complex being who just appeared to create everything... Desperate people desperate to keep god relevant...

[@Slenderchunk]

emanuel e How so? Evolution has shown that we started simple and have been slowly progressing ever since. So intelligence from the bottom up view (and not the assumed top down view religionists would love you to assume as well) we have: - atoms falling into stable structures : crystals - molecules and other stable units come in to being - self replication of basic units - simple cells which have an intelligence limited to electric impulses guiding to and away from things - billion years of simple life just existing - complex life arrives and life becomes more intelligent as more faculties are at complex life's disposal (senses) - over hundreds of millions of years we grow increasingly intelligent (though not sentient) simply knowing that we're hungry, we're sleepy, we're horny. - finally in the last tens of thousands of years, we gain another promotion within evolution to the realm of sentient. Once sentient but without science, we think other agents like ourselves are responsible for the terrors and joys we could now ponder in the natural world. There's a long drought? Well the sky man must be unhappy, let's make a sacrifice of another human to quench this sky man's thirst for misery. As we develop second level brain functions and make leaps in morality and logic, the gods become less cruel and human sacrifices are replaced with animal sacrifices until one day, a story of a 'perfect man' comes to Paul in a vision and no longer are even animal sacrifices required. - Science then proves the mysteries of the bible to be fraudulent or allegorical at best. This is the likely story, from all the facts we have. If you want to close your mind to facts and just assume human written history is all there is and we appeared - POOF - a couple thousand years ago from another human like god snapping his fingers, you're free to do so, but in the 21st century, I'd be embarrassed to be so credulous.

[@Slenderchunk]

emanuel e Imaginary evolution huh? LOL how you can deliberately stay so dumb is astounding to me. You have a man made book filled with obvious fiction and then when those of us turn to science for the actual explanations you brush them away in one sentence as if believing your fairytale like a child gives you some sway in valuing and determining evidence... It's hilarious the pomposity of the religiously deluded. The fossil record is proof, the familiar traits among all animals which go back to shared a ancestry is proof, DNA mapping provides us proof down to the genetic level and still you stick with "GOD CAME DOWN, SOMETIMES VIA ANGELS (HUMANS WITH BIRD WINGS) TO SPEAK WITH HUMANS AND LET THEM WRITE A BOOK WHICH AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS HASN"T TOOK HOLD IN MOST OF THE WORLD"

[@Slenderchunk]

emanuel e Wow, Intelligence coming from non-intelligence is impossible? How could you know such a thing when we can't yet see how life began? The big monotheisms were dead wrong on when life began so why listen to those sources? They have a blatant bias of their pre-determined answer being true. Evolution has more evidence than any other scientific theory on earth. What more do you want in terms of proof? Literally every aspect has been confirmed and agrees with the other independant data points... Seriously before you answer with more white noise, tell me what more proof you require for evolution...? You're the fool, you're just too ignorant of reality to see it.

[@Slenderchunk]

emanuel e Oh I see, I'm talking to a child. That response was pretty pathetic dude.. Thanks for dodging my request for what additional evidence you'd like to see for evolution.

[@Slenderchunk]

emanuel e Haha, you can spew white noise until you grow a brain or you can answer my question: "what additional evidence you'd like to see for evolution." You keep choosing white noise.

[@dancepiglover]

At the state fair this summer, I looked at some geese up close. Paying more attention to the head and beak, it was the first time I felt like I was looking at a dinosaur. It's beak had little tooth-like bumps along it. The size being more substantial than song birds helped the look of a dinosaur.

[@bigboy9983]

Are you sure it wasn't Donald Trump?

[@davymckeown4577]

Anaximander postulated from observing shellfish fossils high in the mountains, that all life must have started in the sea because he presumed, that the mountains must have at one time been underwater. Due to the long infancy of our species he concluded that we had once been fish-like. Evolution 2,000 years before Darwin, how far ahead would we be, had science not lost out to mysticism.

[@jameswest8280]

Religion kills progress.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

This video proves that Aron's story of being mistaken for Bigfoot was just a ruse to throw us all off. Notice how he;s out of focus? That's not the camera, Aron just does that.

[@hellmouthisnogod8492]

Reason is the greatest enemy faith has, more than "The Adversary"?

[@zemorph42]

Yes, because "the Adversary" actually helps religion by giving followers an enemy they understand.

[@hellmouthisnogod8492]

Once you believe one kind of bullshit, you get deeper and deeper into the trap.

[@castanheiro6170]

My faith is solidly based on reason. That's why I am a creationist! Evolution requires a faith void of reason. It's simply a matter of the "will", not one of the mind.

[@Eisenbison]

@@castanheiro6170 If you had reason to believe in something, then you wouldn't need faith. "That's why I am a creationist! Evolution requires a faith void of reason." It's funny that you say that, because there is not one single piece of evidence indicative of or exclusive to Creationism, while every single piece of applicable evidence supports evolution exclusively and in brilliant detail.

[@awakeningtovacuity8372]

No missing links have ever been found because once they're found they're no longer missing.

[@DarkGharren]

This guy is awesome.

[@poe2299]

Before becoming atheist, i first gave up christianity. This was mainly based on the hypocracy of Heaven. The concept. I can remember being in church one weekend, and asking "if heaven is a perfect place, and I will be happy, what happens if a friend doesn't get in". I was told something like "well if they lead a good life they will". But I made clear my point, that heaven couldn't be perfect without them. It's a logical fallacy, heaven, if your idea of perfection requires another's actions

[@thenerdshow2702]

I'm pissed Aron Ra's neighbors made him get rid of his velociraptor!

[@annal3708]

Thank you so much this was great! Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@whade62000]

Here's to me the biggest failure of ID which wasn't mentioned: It doesn't even qualify as a hypothesis! In the scientific process, it does not even reach the step of being an unproven proposal. There was a creationist site a few years back. Forgot the name, it was some sort of wiki. You know how they say that god created "kinds". Okay. So this site promised to start compiling an alternate system of taxonomical classification, explaining which species belonged to which "kind". At least, that's what they promised. After a few months, the entire project was pulled from the site, replaced with the usual let's-poke-holes-in-evolutionary theory and God's truth messages. Y'know, I welcomed that project! It'd have given their argument some substance, and those who want ID in classrooms SOMETHING, anything, to teach! (other than Bible studies, of course.) I mean, if you say that, idk, snakes were created by a magi in Egypt in the year 1,000, it may be a shit argument, but at least it IS an argument! It means you have at least some concept in your head about how these things have come to pass and you have some rudimentary idea of how things would look, if they were real science. But of course they can't do that. Because once you have a claim...That claim can be checked. As demonstrated by Mr Ra here, the last thing you want is some "evolutionist" knocking on your door about why snakes and earthworms in the same "kind" doesn't work. If you say at any point that "this is the scientific prediction the Bible makes", it's over. Best to proclaim that both creationism and science are equally vague. There is a self-provessed Christian convert in another comment thread who celebrated having left behind "skepticism" after his professor told him to make evidence fit the conclusion, not the other way around. And, unsurprisingly, he immediately saw that he could make the evidence support the Bible, if only he changed the bits and pieces around! I think that is all they can do - never create anything of substance, just try to shuffle pieces of information around to support themselves.

[@charlesarmour5509]

Where can we find these Peer reviewed Articles? AronRa

[@CJCroen1393]

As I said in another AronRa video, a fluffy raptor is a happy raptor!

[@JohnSmith-hr3wz]

+CJCroen1393 LOL

[@rayandgina6468]

+CJCroen1393 Lol

[@cracgor]

Really changes my picture of raptor Jesus

[@CJCroen1393]

cracgor Yes, now he can have a beard!

[@davidroberts1689]

Can all religions be true? No. Can all religions be false? Yes. It is up to each religion to prove it's correct.

[@josephrodriguez2780]

I was 12 years old when I became an atheist over 300 people in the congregation said they can prove God exists I haven't heard from any of them.

[@Lena-hz7fk]

17:20 Jesus is like a self-insert OC in fanfiction.

[@michaelgolden8255]

lewiss1100 No... sorry, that answer was incorrect. Would you like to buy a clue, or would you like to take another guess?

[@elizabethgaspodnetich9676]

lewiss1100 Now just read what you wrote there. "Jesus IS God" and you can't get to god but through Jesus. The best part is, people still believe in something that can NOT be proven to even exist.

[@sagerider2]

+Elizabeth Gaspodnetich Gen 1 26 God creates the animals 27 God creates Adam & Eve. Gen 2 7 God forgets he did this 2 days ago. God makes Adam out of dust 20 God creates animals & tries to get Adam to get it on with them, but for some strange reason Adam is not cooperating. 21 So God rips a rib out of Adam to make Eve. I guess he ran out of dust? How did he run out of dust? I clean my house, I never run out of dust?

[@Lena-hz7fk]

If I lose my dad beats me! omg lol

[@Lena-hz7fk]

Think I'll go with the flying spaghetti monster, thanks.

[@antitheist3206]

Are those signs at the end real? I've seen some pretty messed up things on church signs, but never that particular phrase.

[@Penningtontj]

+sagely Demonologist It's part of a quote from Martin Luther (that's 16th century Protestantism founder, not Martin Luther King Jr, 20th civil rights activist, people sometimes mix those up), so yeah it's entirely likely that those signs are real. The full quote is as follows- “Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.” That's the kind of people we've gotta deal with.

[@brodericksiz625]

+Penningtontj was that not Martin Luther, the german monk who started the protestant schism? I'm almost sure it was him, not Martin Luther King Jr... I'm going to verify, though

[@brodericksiz625]

+Penningtontj Yes, I was right, it was Martin Luther and not Martin Luther King Jr. The latter was actually much better than the former

[@Penningtontj]

Broderick Siz Yeah that's what I said. Martin Luther, not Martin Luther King Jr.

[@clipboss8052]

There is a creation "science" organization in my state of Wisconsin called The Creation Science Society of Milwaukee. I just posted this video on their Facebook. I'm waiting to see what hateful comments I get or if the post will be removed or if I will be blocked or all three at once.

[@thatguy-notsuraj-6843]

Updates?

[@Jetset906]

Aron-Ra for President!

[@sharpie6888]

Except evolution isn’t a religion. Try again

[@sharpie6888]

Sorry, but you can go down the list of attributes for both creationism and any religion and they follow the exact same neuro pathways. You actually have way more faith than I do, if you believe the earth is 6000 years old, given there's zero evidence for that. And if you believe DNA came from your sky daddy, then you my friend are a dogmatic fundamentalist religtard, 110%, again, given there is no evidence. You're at a concentrated level.

[@marcelprinsloo7692]

actually look up radiometric dating and comparisons with meteors etc. There's your proof for fossils and the relative age for the Earth

[@marcelprinsloo7692]

radiometric dating is the study of rubidium, uranium-235, uranium-238 and other elements with extremely long half-lifes. they can find the age of a fossil by analysing what elements a fossils has inside it and see how much of it has decayed to get the relative date of it, and since the half-life of rubidium is 48.8 billion years and the half-life of uranium is around 5 billion years, they are the most favourable to look at. and additionally, we know the relative age of the earth (4.6 billion years) because we compare the compisition of the rocks we have on Earth to meteors, and we found that they we exactly the same, so it was correct to believe that they were the same age.

[@marcelprinsloo7692]

and they have observed that, (even in extreme temperatures, atmospheric pressures, under water) the decay rate does not change.

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Wow, those last words say so much. Something I actually agree with.

[@Smilley85]

+Paul TheSkeptic They are so right, but so for the wrong reason.

[@sladechimera2837]

14:20 regarding baptism they say that the devil tries extra hard when you get baptized because he realizes that he's losing you. Funnily enough alot of my doubts started after being baptized and damn I'm thankful for them!

[@sladechimera2837]

@Bobby Allen problem with that is I read the bible, got education on history and science and how scams work and couldn't possibly take the rubbish in the bible seriously. Highly advise you find out about the real world too

[@brianvance1178]

The ancient Greeks and Romans were judged by how good or evil they were in life when they died. They were judged when they got to the Underworld though, not beforehand while they were alive, since a person's soul was incapable of lying to the judges of the Underworld

[@blackice9088]

While according to the bible, you are judged solely on whether you believe in god or not.

[@brianvance1178]

@@blackice9088 which is a shit system to judge by if you ask me. Serial murderers can get into heaven by professing a belief in the Christian god while heathens and atheists who do or try to do actual good are consigned to hell? You know what, the Christians and their fellow Abrahamic losers can fucking have heaven if the worst of the worst of humanity is there for simply believing in Abraham’s god. I’ll gladly take hell over heaven any day, at least in hell I’ll be with all the fun people: George Carlin, Julius Caesar, numerous hookers and gamblers, and of course the demons and Satan himself. Fun times all around down there

[@miskatonic_alumni]

​@@blackice9088Thus demonstrating that despite being capricious d-bags at times, the Olympians were still morally superior to the genocidal demon-god of Abraham.

[@ummmummm563]

Wish that warning label was on the one I bought 32 years ago

[@hisxmark]

You are not going to reason creationists out of their positions. Nor are you going to abuse them out of it. These are people who have been forced into delusional states by social pressures. They must be kept from harming others. It is also desirable that they be kept from harming themselves, although that is not always possible. What must be done is to keep them from driving children into the same insanity. And the best tool for that, imperfect as it may be, is education. It is sometimes necessary that children be shown that their parents are bat-shit loony, and that they must just accept this because the delusional state is almost never curable.

[@Darkstar1484]

If there is no afterlife then we have every reason to try to make our lives good and enjoyable, and to aid, guide and protect our fellow man to create a better more equitable world.

[@Argeaux2]

I love hearing Aaron talk about taxonomy.

[@frettchen1498]

Good speech, just as always!

[@zombiewack]

I'm a Christain and I think creationism is stupid

[@jacopman]

That is a step in the right direction.........now spend some time like I did in biblical scholarship regarding the source of biblical manuscripts and the canonical structure of the bible and see how convoluted and manufactured the process of any historical accuracy fails there too..............

[@TheOnly1Zalo]

There is only one step from christianity to theism, there's only one step between theism to agnostisism and there's only one more step between agnostisism and atheism. You just keep looking for the truth, regardless if it may prove your religion to be wrong. Best of luck, I used to be a theist until I was 12, I became an agnostic at the age of 13 and I consolidated myself as an atheist only two years afterwards.

[@edwardlecore141]

TheOnly1Zalo Its not about reaching agnostic or atheist like they are achievements, its about a consistent application of critical thinking, thats what you should focus on. The "isms" take care of themselves. fundies are consistently illogical, moderates are inconsistently logical/illogical and atheists CAN at least attempt to be consistently logical, many fail, but nothing of that label itself holds you back, just don't get into new age, conspiracy theories, political extremes, etc, nothing more depressing than seeing someone apply logic to theism, but fail to do so with some other pet belief..

[@TheOnly1Zalo]

Ed Core Sure.

[@Kevo216666]

So does the Pope.

[@MsDjessa]

14:24 What I find interesting in this quote is that Luther acknowledges the fact physicians actually do HEAL people. And still refers to them as ignorant without any respect to the fact they are helping people. Even if he would be right about the origin of illness it wouldn't make the fact the physicians managed to treat people with them any less admirable.

[@kurtluttrell4013]

Being naive is to not know when the info is available. Ignorance is refusing to believe or even listen to the info to protect their false beliefs

[@danielcurtiss3005]

Thank you Aron. I'm still dancing on the fence, but damn, your work is amazing.

[@sly5999]

I watched a few of your videos yesterday and you had 206 000 subscribers. Today, 2019-04-09, I've just realised that there are now 207 000 of us who can claim to be equipped with a reasonable brain. Keep on rocking man!

[@TheBelieveit1]

If you don't mind me asking, how and where did you get a pet emu?

[@dienekes4364]

19:20 -- What I see, in that list (and, yes, I've heard every one of those arguments from theists), is that they are trying to either ride religion to the same level as science or drag down science to the level of religion. Whenever I encounter this, I thank them for admitting that science is superior to religion, even in their own eyes.

[@ThatGuy182545]

Holy SHIT he provided evidence that Hell has in fact frozen over! *Brain Explodes*

[@erictaylor5462]

9:20 The really bad news, he's pissed you have placed another God before Him.

[@sabin97]

just curious about your supposed relationship with your favourite supernatural entity. do you have actual conversations with it?not monologues, not warm fuzzy feelings, but actual two-way conversations, like a human being has with another human being.

[@Roedygr]

Believing god's truth above even the evidence of your eyes is not that crazy. What is crazy is presuming the bible is god's word when it clearly could not possibly be and without a scrap of evidence that it is. It is just a convention kept alive by Christians telling to each other. How You Know the Creator of the Universe Did Not Write the Bible The only reason Christians believe the creator of the universe wrote the bible is their peers said it was so. Those peers in turn had no reason to think that other than their peers told them. It is a belief based on sand. What matters far more than does god exist is did he write the bible. If he existed but did not write the bible, Christians are all chumps, taken in by a forgery. Christians bet the farm that the creator of the universe wrote the bible. If that is not so, then Christianity is blithering nonsense. It is rather distressing for Christians, but you can easily show the creator of the universe could not possibly have been the author of the bible. If they wish to remain Christians, their only strategy is to refuse to look. Yahweh allegedly created the universe. He should, therefore, know every detail of how it works, but in every matter of science, the authors of the bible got it wrong. They think the earth is flat, resting on pillars. They believe the earth is at the centre of the universe, is surrounded by a metal bowl with holes for the stars, that in turn is surrounded by a celestial ocean. They think π is 3. They think disease is caused by demonic possession. They think dove blood will cure leprosy. They think showing goats a striped board will cause them to have striped offspring. They think the earth was created before the sun and the stars. This is not the creator of the universe talking. This is ignorant desert dwellers reciting the primitive science of the age. All it takes is the bible to be wrong about one thing to disprove inerrancy. Because God is incapable of error, if you find so much as one error, that proves God could not be the author of the bible. Since the bible is the source of all information about God, there is no longer any reliable information about god. Scholars have reported thousands of errors and inconsistencies. There are entire books called apologetics of lawyerly excuses for the errors. The creator of the universe should be capable of writing clearly without ambiguity. In Mark 7:1-15 Jesus commanded people not to wash their hands. This was either a filthy trick or evidence Jesus was an ordinary man with no more knowledge than the people of his time. Archaeology has turned up no sign of Moses, Solomon or David. If the bible were correct, there should have been tonnes of remains. We have discovered the Moses babe in a reed basket story is a rip-off of the Sargon myth. Moses allegedly wandered in the desert for 40 years, yet that desert takes only 3 days to cross by horseback. Surely Yahweh would not try to pass off fictitious characters and silly stories as real. I would expect the bible to be perfect, completely consistent, no errors of any kind. But it isn’t. It was clearly written by many different editors and slapped together without an editor. There are thousands of errors and inconsistencies, blatant enough for a child to notice. I would expect Yahweh to craft prose considerably better than Shakespear. But is not. It is disorganised, redundant, even doddering. Read the bible cover to cover if you doubt. If you read the bible cover to cover, most of it depicts Yahweh in a very bad light: petty, erratic, sadistic, unjust, partisan. What sort of being writes an autobiography and makes them out to be the villain? It is like Joan Crawford authoring Mommy Dearest. To create the universe, Yahweh would have had to know all of modern physics and more, advanced mathematics, atoms, black holes, DNA, elements, evolution, exoplanets, expansion of the universe, galaxies, gamma rays, germ theory, gravity, ions, metallurgy, Newton’s laws of motion, plate tectonics, quantum mechanics, quarks, radioactivity, relativity, spectroscopy, speed of light, stars, String theory, thermonuclear reactions, X-rays… There is absolutely no hint the authors of the bible knew any of this stuff that the creator of the universe must have known. A deity may well have created the universe, but it wasn’t Yahweh. The majority of species of animals - dinosaurs, trilobytes, pterodactyls, Megalodons… went extinct long before the first human. Ancient desert dwellers knew nothing of them, but surely Yahweh did. He should have mentioned such a big piece of earth’s history in the bible, but he didn’t. It appears the authors of the bible had never heard of them. We have no original copies of the bible, not even copies in the original language. All we have are copies of copies of copies. All the copies wildly differ. Bits are left out, added and changed. Surely if Yahweh were in charge, he could have arranged for perfection in the copy process as the alleged perfection in the composition process. There is no reason to think Yahweh had anything to do with writing the bible. There is not even a reported miracle where Yahweh gave his blessing to some version of the bible. All we have is a tradition that authors claimed inspiration. Egotistical twits make such claims for their meandering drivel every day. The Internet is crawling with them. That does not make it true. All kinds of books were left out of the bible at the Council of Nicea. From what I have read, that process was pure politics, nothing whatsoever to do with Yahweh. If the bible were intended as a universal message for all sentient beings throughout the universe, why is it so focused on desert shepherds and Israelites? It badly needs an update. The bible is a con, perpetrated by ordinary humans. It had absolutely nothing to do with any god. Why did they do it? To con people out of money. To gain control of people’s minds (e.g. so they will die on command in battle). For prestige, to bamboozle people into giving them respect. To terrify children into sexual acts and convince their parents not to intervene. If the bible were written by con artists creating a forgery, what would you expect it look like? If the bible were written by the creator of the universe, what would you expect it to look like? Read your bible presuming the creator of the universe was the author then presume con artists pretending to be god as the authors. See which is more plausible? Which fits the facts? Humans make mistakes. Gods by definition do not. Humans are ignorant. Gods are not. Humans are inconsistent. Gods are consistent.

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

Creationist is just a fancy title for professional liar and goalpost shifter.

[@heshlaw56ify]

Windtalker human beings if designed are pretty stupidly designed. The pipe to our fuel tank and our exhaust pipe are the same, not to smart, choking hazard thousands die every year in the U.S. from choking on their food.

[@djNemo72]

Design humans with an appendix which only function is to get infected. Design humans with a cheeck that is too small for its teeth. Design humans with eyes that have their choroid and retina switched, decreasing the sight.

[@kodofile]

1994djNemo Lungs get infected, foot gets infected, mouth gets infected- every biological structure has a function. Our mouths grow just like our penises and vagina, teeth needs to be increased to grind more food and swallow bigger chunks Our eyes are perfect under normal conditions to protect our eyes from radiation. Fish eyes are protected in the water so need to have the retina and choroid switched. You are just another stupid idiot!

[@djNemo72]

kodofile When we say that certain organs are vestigial, this means they are vestigial, not 'useless'. Vestigial does not mean 'useless'. The point is, due to our increasing lifespans, we experience more and more teeth diseases and pain. Our main energy source, gives us skincancer. To protect anything from radiation, you better get some thick lead. The choroid is only 200-300 micrometers thick. Not every land animal has this switched setup. But of course, our setup needs to have at least some advantages, for else it would not be persistent.

[@kodofile]

1994djNemo Get your eyes switched then, perhaps that would make you look through people. We are very happy with the current structure. Lol!!

[@djNemo72]

kodofile Oh, I certainly am. I can work with these eyes. Except that they show everything extremely blurry due to lens malformation!

[@differous01]

18:07 "...you might come back. I'm not talking zombies, but something else going on there..." "Sweet zombie Jesus!" (H.J.Farnesworth)

[@Mrz-sb1hw]

I would rather accept reality than live in a fantasy world.

[@BenjaminEaster-b8b]

AronRa is ingeniously skeptical amd comedic 🎉

[@BenjaminEaster-b8b]

You just earned your first subscriber 💝

[@BenjaminEaster-b8b]

I am frankly becoming less mentally capable of withholding negative judgment regarding the historicity and moral perfection of Christianity ❤

[@BenjaminEaster-b8b]

Here is a sample of the Lord promoting abortion.

[@BenjaminEaster-b8b]

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, 13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner; 14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: 15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. 16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord: 17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water: 18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:

[@Fimbulvinter19]

If you are unwilling to allow reason to examine your beliefs, then that says more about your beliefs than anything about reason. If you *know* that your beliefs are true, you should welcome reason and logic, since they will no doubt prove that truth. That you fear it says that deep down, you understand how crazy this stuff is, that it doesn't accord with reality around you, and you desperately want to shove your fingers in your ears and keep believing while pretending everything is fine.

[@AthenaSchroedinger]

Enjoyed your lecture. Very well done!

[@BardicLiving]

The message at the beginning about hostility is so important. What you say makes so much more of an impact when you say it politely and with respect. It's never worth dismissing anyone, no matter how wrong you may think they are.

[@Brickerbrack]

The status at 6:50 didn't look anything like Ray Comfort, but it did have Ken Ham's beard...

[@sciencefirst7032]

Knowledge...is the enemy of God.

[@badideass]

Haha yup... Asking questions is poison to religion

[@jackthebassman1]

what's the matter with the USA?

[@B2BCreditandCollection]

Jack bassman the answer is religion

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

Well said, Michael.

[@zenkim6709]

Jack bassman > what's the matter with the USA? Read the book "What's The Matter With Kansas?" and you'll find out.

[@johngavin1175]

@Muzaffar Krylov You have a beef with reality and science. You should go uber Amish or something. And take your childish buddy Hovind with you.

[@johngavin1175]

@Muzaffar Krylov You're pretty childish. And judging by looks is kind of a teen girl thing. I bet my life savings you dont look any better,and you're certainly more ignorant. And your conflation of science and religion is bogus.

[@maidenjapan66]

I have a question for you, Im kinda quoting Alan Moore here but: We are all (humans) different physically and mentally, why should we be all be the same spiritually?

[@hotelmag-a-lardo]

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!! Curiosity Stream is an Intelligent Design wedge. Every episode I watched mentioned Creator and Design. Do not subscribe!!!

[@MrWhiteav6]

White House of Cards God damnit

[@fxexpert4541]

Church: Cancer cured! Hospital: Come over. Church: God works in mysterious ways buddy.

[@Raz.C]

re - 33:00 AronRa talks about christians who make claims like *"Well GOD tole mi so, so I KNOW it te be reeeel!!!"* I mean, if they have direct communication with the christian God... Well that's undeniable proof and you can't argue against that! But hang on... I was speaking to a Hindu recently and he told me: "Shiva introduced me to Vishnu, *The Supreme Being* and then Vishnu *The Supreme Being* told me 'blah,' so I KNOW that it's real!!!" And my muslim friend told me that Mohamed came to him in a vision and put him in direct contact with Allah, who told him 'Blork' and that's how he KNOWS that it's real!!! Then there's my Jewish friend and his experience, not to mention the experience my Sikh friend had and a similar one had by my Hare Krishna friend... In case you were wondering, the answer is "yes," I was making these up. However, the unfortunate truth (unfortunate for theists, I mean) is that people from the aforementioned religions actually DO make claims like the ones I invented above. Only when they present these claims, they are as genuine as christians are. I do not understand, not even remotely, how/ why christians seem to think that they are the ONLY religion whose adherents can pretend to have a direct line to god. If a christian hears about a Hindu having a near-death-experience, where the Hindu met and spoke to the Blue-Skinned-Gods associated with Hinduism, the christian assumes it's all a lie, because ONLY his delusions can be real (in his mind). He doesn't bother looking beneath the surface to investigate whether these "encounters" are delusions or not, instead, he denies reality and assumes that ONLY christian near-death-experiences with jesus/ god/ heaven are real and anything that differs from it are the result of delusions (though it's unlikely for him to recognise this) or are the result of Satan deceiving the other people and succeeding in leading them away from jesus. I mean, they are just so very committed to their delusions, they have to deny vast chunks of reality to maintain their fantasy make-believe world that they've so diligently constructed around themselves. It's both awe-inspiring and woefully depressing. Knowing that humans can be this ignorantly stubborn and delusional gives me little hope for humanity and its future. In fact, it actually gives me anti-hope (would that be "epoh?")... This kind of stupidity is understandable- perhaps even expected- in humans such as our distant ancestors, or in modern humans who don't have access to an education. But what's the excuse of every other theist??? You might think that they prefer their comforting delusions to the truth, but I'm not sure I buy that. I mean, if that were the case, then why don't people like me pretend really hard that we're living in the world of The Expanse, or Star Trek? Instead of God and the Angels, my imaginary friends would be the Vulcans and other Federation species. Instead of Satan and the Demons, my imaginary enemies would be the Romulans and the Cardassians, etc... I could pretend that any time I take a flight somewhere, that I'm really in a starship. And yet, no matter how hard I pretend that these things are real, I don't think I could ever really convince myself, so how is it that theists can really convince themselves of their delusions?

[@TheJiminiflix]

Have you read anymore than the first chapter of Mathew's Gospel?

[@ANTINUTZI]

... The Almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster says that 2 + 2 = 22. So *THERE.*

[@elderberries4840]

Ramen

[@ANTINUTZI]

... Amen ... *WITH FLAVOUR PACKET INCLUDED!!!*

[@datdamnmegabusta5604]

*Heretic!* You are a false prophet! Our saucy lord so said it himself that only true believers will know his "flavor". Your words in vein are not unseen by his most juicy meatballs.

[@emanuele2810]

What a bunch of idiots!

[@jameshicks9797]

Aron Ra you are a very wise man. Thanks for all you are doing. Because of you and several others like you, I have opened my eyes and started to question and challenge things I was forced fed my entire life. 80 percent of my family and friends are willfully ignorant and believe totally in the Bible won't listen to anything else. According to my Dad, Everything is God's plan. I asked him if that is true, why does he pray and ask God to change his plan just for him?

[@The482075]

Question 1: How do mutations happen? Question 2: If mutations didn't happen, would Darwinian evolution still be possible? Question 3: Is it just me or do the Darwinian awards completely misrepresent evolution? Question 4: Why do people confuse Pokémon style evolution (which is a little bit like metamorphism) with Darwinian Evolution (which is nothing like Pokémon evolution)? Question 5: Is South Park's idea of where humanity is heading (single coloured race with no hair with everyone looking identical) likely? Question 6: According to this video, Birds are a subset of dinosaurs. So when we look at birds we are really looking at modern dinosaurs? Question 7: What happened to the Neanderthals and similar humanoid species that have become extinct? Did our ancestors kill them? Did they simply not meet the criteria needed to survive? Question 8: I happen to be Christian but still accept evolution and Big Bang Theory as facts. What do you make of this combination? One being a belief and the other being science.

[@redspah]

Answers-not-in-Genesis 1: DNA replicating isn't perfect. Sometimes when replicating, random mistakes happen. We call these random mistakes mutations. 2: No. 3: What darwinian awards? 4: Because they're idiots. 5: Unlikely, unless we globally eliminate poverty and xenophobia. 6: Yes. 7: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_extinction_hypotheses 8: Good-willed Cognitive Dissonance.

[@MartinezX5]

RedSpah 3. It's a spoof award given to people who accidentally kill themselves in an 'asking for it' manner. This year a chap exploded himself trying to fix a leaking but still full gas tank, by welding it.

[@redspah]

***** Oh right, now I recall them. For Natural Selection!

[@The482075]

***** I find it quite depressing really. Lots of good and valuable members of society who died before their time in unfortunate accidents.

[@redspah]

Bobby Ranger Good-willed, maybe. But not exactly very bright.

[@RhetoricIndian]

I would like to communicate with you regarding Gita and Hindu scriptures in general. I know your primary area of concentration is Semitic religions. However, I assume your only exposure to gita is through ISKCON which is not the full picture. They are kind of cultish in their representation not only in the modern form, but right from the beginning. I will be really glad and honored if you would respond. Thank you for all the work you do! Ragavendran AKA Rhetoric Indian