No, more Darwinism won’t stop COVID-19

_{Denyse O'Leary

March 18, 2020

Culture, Darwinism, Intelligent Design}

Share: Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; Flipboard; Print; Email

The media is full of talking heads and experts. They’re mostly doing their best, but the ideologues and grifters are all too plentiful. To wit, we get lots of “reminders” about the importance of evolutionary science and Darwin in the management of the coronavirus pandemic.

There’s no doubt that COVID-19 evolved: populations of viruses change with time. Of course, we know that from epidemiology and virology and simple observation. Darwin’s theory has little to do with epidemiology…
Epidemiology, to which Darwinism is a “narrative gloss,” is an old and vigorous science. But there’s more to the amelioration of epidemics than superb science. The most important advance in preventing epidemics — probably more important than vaccinations and the gamut of 21st-century high-tech science — is low-tech public sanitation. There is probably nothing (except for food and water and blankets) that has saved more lives from epidemics than enforcement of the principle that drinking water and sewage water must not be the same water. And low-tech medical care is indispensable as well…

Every stock boy or housekeeper or nurse is doing more to fight this pandemic than all the politicians and talking-head science grifters and tenure-track professors in the department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard. And more than all the neurosurgery professors, too.
So say a prayer, whether evolutionary biologists like it or not. Pray for the stock boys and the housekeepers and the nurses.
Michael Egnor, “Upstairs into the Plague” at Evolution News and Science Today

See also: Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor: Prayer during an epidemic makes sense; diehard Darwinian Jerry Coyne is scandalized. It started when Coyne made fun of U.S. Veep Mike Pence and colleagues praying about the coronavirus epidemic…

Comments

"Moreover, Werner von Braun, who first put a man on the moon, was a devout Christian" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Rocritter_{April 14, 2020
April
04
Apr
14
14
2020
11:21 AM
11
11
21
AM
PDT}

Seversky goes on to state,
According to the Old Testament, your God wiped out almost every human being and all other living creatures on the face of the Earth in the Great Flood. That vastly exceeds what the twentieth-century dictators ever achieved. Christians seem to think this was a Good Thing when God did it but a Bad Thing when human beings did it. Care to explain the cognitive dissonance?
Well, first off, there is substantial geological evidence backing up the claim that was indeed catastrophic global flooding approx. 14,000 years before the present. Secondly, God did not just willy nilly wipe the slate clean on the face of earth, but gave ample warning, repeatedly, for mankind to repent,
Scripture makes a tremendous emphasis on sin as the cause of the Flood. Humankind was multiplying and people were making decisions on marrying based upon fleshly choice rather than the will of God. Furthermore, the Bible clearly says wickedness increased to the degree that God had no choice but to wipe out all of humanity and start over. The Scripture stresses that humankind's wickedness had come to the place where judgment was necessary. They were not only evil, they were evil continually. There was no shame whatsoever and no desire for godliness. .,,, In light of the conditions that brought the Flood in Noah's day it is a sobering thought that this Flood is a picture in Scripture of the final judgment of God. Jesus used it as an example of what the world will be like before He comes and sets up His kingdom. The unexpectedness hit them because they had not paid attention to the warning of God. Jesus said: https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_735.cfm
Seversky goes on to ask,
Is there a Commandment or any other specific prohibition in the Bible against abortion?
Well considering that God destroyed several nations, after repeated warnings, for infanticide, i.e. 'child sacrifice', I would say that God, who forms each of us in our mother's womb. definitely favors life for children, especially including unborn children, more than he favors their wholesale slaughter as is currently happening. Seversky finishes with this flurry of statements:
Prayer didn’t stop the Black Death from killing a third of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages, although it was about all they had to use against it. It took over three hundred years of solid, materialistic science to discover the tiny physical organisms that cause disease and find the physical means of treating them. And it wasn’t prayer that put men into space. It was the same solid, materialistic rocket science them there. If you want to believe in something that actually works then try naturalistic/materialistic/physicalist science.
Well, besides the fact that the Christian worldview gave rise to modern science and the term 'materialistic science is an oxymoron, Louis Pastuer himself had zero respect for materialistic science
Louis Pasteur on life, matter, and spontaneous generation - June 21, 2015 "Science brings men nearer to God.,, Posterity will one day laugh at the foolishness of modern materialistic philosophers. The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator. I pray while I am engaged at my work in the laboratory.,, The Greeks understood the mysterious power of the below things. They are the ones who gave us one of the most beautiful words in our language, the word enthusiasm: a God within.,,, I have been looking for spontaneous generation for twenty years without discovering it. No, I do not judge it impossible. But what allows you to make it the origin of life? You place matter before life and you decide that matter has existed for all eternity. How do you know that the incessant progress of science will not compel scientists to consider that life has existed during eternity, and not matter? You pass from matter to life because your intelligence of today cannot conceive things otherwise. How do you know that in ten thousand years, one will not consider it more likely that matter has emerged from life? You move from matter to life because your current intelligence, so limited compared to what will be the future intelligence of the naturalist, tells you that things cannot be understand otherwise. If you want to be among the scientific minds, what only counts is that you will have to get rid of a priori reasoning and ideas, and you will have to do necessary deductions not giving more confidence than we should to deductions from wild speculation." [en francais, Pasteur et la philosophie, Patrice Pinet, Editions L’Harmattan, p. 63.] https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/louis-pasteur-on-life-matter-and-spontaneous-generation/ smallpox: Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine,,,, His father was the Reverend Stephen Jenner,,, "The most famous champion of vaccination was a Christian doctor, *Edward Jenner* who did his work against fierce opposition and in the teeth of threats against himself. In effect he wiped out smallpox from among the diseases that terrify mankind. He died from a cold caught carrying firewood to an impoverished woman." http://www.rae.org/pdf/influsci.pdf
Moreover, Werner von Braun, who first put a man on the moon, was a devout Christian
"Some people ... still maintain that since science has provided us with so many answers the day will soon arrive when we will be able to understand even the creation of the fundamental laws of nature without a Divine intent. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?" — Wernher von Braun, rocket pioneer, 1972 - genius behind Apollo program
One final note, prayer is not nearly as futile as you want to believe, Who are you to say that God did not answer prayers during the black plague? I've seen answered prayers several times in my own life. Many times the prayers are not answered directly the way I would have personally wanted them to be answered, but, none-the-less, I still knew that God was there with me through whatever troubling time I was going through. I suggest you read Eric Metaxas's book "Miracles", or perhaps look up Craig Keener's scholarly work on miracles. Prayers definitely get answered!bornagain77_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
07:09 PM
7
07
09
PM
PDT}

Seversky, (wanting to hold onto his nihilistic atheism no matter what lie he has to believe), states,
You have one study which found evidence that people with religious affiliations – essentially self-identified attendees of religious observances but not just Christians – lived a few years longer than those who didn’t.
Well actually, "Concerning atheism and health, there is considerable amount of scientific evidence that suggest that atheism is less conducive to mental and physical health than theism (belief in the existence of God/gods).[2]"
Atheism and health Concerning atheism and health, there is considerable amount of scientific evidence that suggest that atheism is less conducive to mental and physical health than theism (belief in the existence of God/gods).[2],,, 2. Multiple references: Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications by Harold G. Koenig, ISRN Psychiatry. 2012; 2012: 278730. Mueller, Dr. Paul S. et al. (December 2001). "Religious involvement, spirituality, and medicine: implications for clinical practice". Mayo Clinic Proceedings vol. 76:12, pp. 1225-1235. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic Proceedings website on July 20, 2014. "Research library". Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. Retrieved on July 24, 2014. McCullough, Michael E. et al. (2000). "Religious involvement and mortality: a meta-analytic review". Health Psychology. vol. 19:3. pp. 211-222. Retrieved from University of Miami, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology website on July 24, 2014. Casey, Professor Patricia (April 3, 2009). "The psycho-social benefits of religious practise" [executive summary]. Iona Institute for Religion and Society [Ireland] website. Retrieved on July 24, 2014. McCullough, Michael E. and Willoughby, Brian L. B. (2009). "Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: associations, explanations, and implications". Psychological Bulletin, vol. 135: 1, pp. 69–93. Retrieved from University of Miami, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology website on July 24, 2014. University of Colorado at Boulder (May 17, 1999). "Research shows religion plays a major role in health, longevity". ScienceDaily. Retrieved on July 24, 2014. Dervic, Kanita, et al. (December 2004). "Religious affiliation and suicide attempt" [abstract]. The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 161:12, pp. 2303-8. Abstract retrieved from National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Pub Med on July 24, 2014. University of Warwick (December 2003). "Psychology researcher [Dr. Stephen Joseph] says spiritual meaning of Christmas brings more happiness than materialism". Scienceblog. Retrieved on July 24, 2014. https://www.conservapedia.com/Atheism_and_health
As Professor Andrew Sims, former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, states, “The advantageous effect of religious belief and spirituality on mental and physical health is one of the best-kept secrets in psychiatry and medicine generally.”,,, “In the majority of studies, religious involvement is correlated with well-being, happiness and life satisfaction; hope and optimism; purpose and meaning in life;,,”
“I maintain that whatever else faith may be, it cannot be a delusion. The advantageous effect of religious belief and spirituality on mental and physical health is one of the best-kept secrets in psychiatry and medicine generally. If the findings of the huge volume of research on this topic had gone in the opposite direction and it had been found that religion damages your mental health, it would have been front-page news in every newspaper in the land.” - Professor Andrew Sims former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists - Is Faith Delusion?: Why religion is good for your health - preface “In the majority of studies, religious involvement is correlated with well-being, happiness and life satisfaction; hope and optimism; purpose and meaning in life; higher self-esteem; better adaptation to bereavement; greater social support and less loneliness; lower rates of depression and faster recovery from depression; lower rates of suicide and fewer positive attitudes towards suicide; less anxiety; less psychosis and fewer psychotic tendencies; lower rates of alcohol and drug use and abuse; less delinquency and criminal activity; greater marital stability and satisfaction… We concluded that for the vast majority of people the apparent benefits of devout belief and practice probably outweigh the risks.” - Professor Andrew Sims former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists - Is Faith Delusion?: Why religion is good for your health – page 100
Seversky goes on to state,
You could just as easily encourage people to become Muslims on the basis of this study.
Well, I guess I would consider you becoming a Muslim to be a vast improvement over your current situation of being an Darwinian atheist, since at least you would live longer, but you would still suffer from the fatal flaw of believing in a false religion. Christianity has a rich history of apologetics rigorously defending its claims. Islam, on the other hand, as David Wood has made abundantly clear on his YouTube channel, can't even stand minimal scrutiny
WELCOME TO THE LIBRARY OF HISTORICAL (Christian) APOLOGETICS http://historicalapologetics.org/ Act17Apologetics https://www.youtube.com/user/Acts17Apologetics/videos
In my honest opinion, there is simply no comparison between Islam and Christianity. Islam, basically, has given us nothing but continual Jihad (at the cost of tens of millions of lives since Islam was first formed),, whereas Christianity has given us,
From Josh McDowell, Evidence for Christianity, in giving examples of the influence of Jesus Christ, cites many examples of Christianity’s positive influence on the world. Here are just a few: 1. Hospitals 2. Universities 3. Literacy and education for the masses 4. Representative government 5. Separation of political powers 6. Civil liberties 7. Abolition of slavery 8. Modern science 9. The elevation of the common man 10. High regard for human life
Seversky goes on to state
Atheism doesn’t pretend to offer meaning or purpose. In one sense, it’s just the view that there is no one else there to provide one for you.
Actually, since it is impossible for atheists to live their lives happily and consistently as if their lives really did not have any meaning or purpose, then "pretending' their lives have meaning and purpose are what atheists are forced to do:
The Absurdity of Life without God - William Lane Craig Excerpt: Meaning of Life First, the area of meaning. We saw that without God, life has no meaning. Yet (atheistic) philosophers continue to live as though life does have meaning. For example, Sartre argued that one may create meaning for his life by freely choosing to follow a certain course of action. Sartre himself chose Marxism. Now this is utterly inconsistent. It is inconsistent to say life is objectively absurd and then to say one may create meaning for his life. If life is really absurd, then man is trapped in the lower story. To try to create meaning in life represents a leap to the upper story. But Sartre has no basis for this leap. Without God, there can be no objective meaning in life. Sartre's program is actually an exercise in self-delusion. Sartre is really saying, "Let's pretend the universe has meaning." And this is just fooling ourselves. The point is this: if God does not exist, then life is objectively meaningless; but man cannot live consistently and happily knowing that life is meaningless; so in order to be happy he pretends life has meaning. But this is, of course, entirely inconsistent—for without God, man and the universe are without any real significance. https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/the-absurdity-of-life-without-god/
Moreover, the fact that atheists are forced to 'pretend' that their lives have meaning and purpose, is a very powerful proof that their worldview cannot possibly be true, Specifically, as the following article points out, if it is impossible for you to live your life consistently as if atheistic materialism were actually true, then atheistic materialism cannot possibly reflect reality as it really is but atheistic materialism must instead be based on a delusion.
Existential Argument against Atheism - November 1, 2013 by Jason Petersen 1. If a worldview is true then you should be able to live consistently with that worldview. 2. Atheists are unable to live consistently with their worldview. 3. If you can’t live consistently with an atheist worldview then the worldview does not reflect reality. 4. If a worldview does not reflect reality then that worldview is a delusion. 5. If atheism is a delusion then atheism cannot be true. Conclusion: Atheism is false. http://answersforhope.com/existential-argument-atheism/
Whereas Christians don't have to pretend their lives have meaning and purpose but can live their lives happily and consistently knowing full well that lives really do have meaning and purpose and that our lives do not end at the grave.
“I know, that whomever is reading this, you are deeply loved. Your life is deeply important to God. God is greater than anything you could ever even fathom — too great for me to even experience. I just felt the presence of God and His love. You, my dear person reading this, are important. Your life is critical. The love you have inside you is beautiful and brilliant and it is needed on this Earth. You can change this world with your love, which is entirely particular to you only. You have your own song.” – NDEs & The Purpose Of Life https://the-formula.org/ndes-the-purpose-of-life/
Seversky goes on to state,
It would be interesting, however, to compare the longevity of regular churchgoers with that of atheists who belonged to a similarly supportive social group of some sort. I wonder if there would be such a difference.
Well I know one important factor is love, Digging into the details of “belonging to any group that provides strong social support” we find that, as I referenced, “the effect of volunteering and participation accounted for 20% or 1 year of the impact, while religious affiliation accounted for the remaining four years or 80%.”
Can Religion Extend Your Life? – By Chuck Dinerstein — June 16, 2018 Excerpt: The researcher’s regression analysis suggested that the effect of volunteering and participation accounted for 20% or 1 year of the impact, while religious affiliation accounted for the remaining four years or 80%. https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/06/16/can-religion-extend-your-life-13092
Digging even deeper we find that,
Social isolation and its health implications January 2012 Excerpt: Studies show that social isolation and/or loneliness predict morbidity and mortality from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and a host of other diseases. In fact, the body perceives loneliness as a threat. Research from the University of California suggests that loneliness or lack of social support could triple the odds of being diagnosed with a heart condition. Redford Williams and his colleagues at Duke University directed a study in 1992 on heart patients and their relationships. They discovered that 50% of patients with heart disease who did not have a spouse or someone to confide in died within five years, while only 17% of those who did have a confidante died in the same time period.12 http://www.how-to-be-healthy.org/social-isolation-and-its-health-implications/
It just so happens visiting people who are socially isolated is exactly what Jesus, the Great physician, prescribed. Verse:
Matthew 25 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Moreover the positive effect of a caring/loving attitude is found to work both ways, in that not only does the person receiving loving care from another person heal more quickly, but it is also found that people of a genuinely loving nature also receive the tangible benefits of a longer and healthier life in return:
Study finds it actually is better (and healthier) to give than to receive – February 4, 2013 Excerpt: A five-year study by researchers at three universities has established that providing tangible assistance to others protects our health and lengthens our lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-healthier.html
Of course, from a Theistic-Christian perspective, this tangible effect of loving one another is to be expected, whereas from a Darwinian perspective of survival of the fittest, i.e. dog eat dog, it is, to put it mildly, very counter intuitive:
John 13:34-35 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
bornagain77_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
07:07 PM
7
07
07
PM
PDT}

seversky:
If you want to believe in something that actually works then try naturalistic/materialistic/physicalist science.
The ability for abstract thought is what has worked to put men into space. The ability for abstract thought is what has given us technology and the ability to cure. Producing organisms with the ability for abstract thought is well beyond the capabilities of nature. There isn't anything about science that is naturalistic/ materialistic/ physicalist.ET_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
05:38 PM
5
05
38
PM
PDT}

Bornagain77 @ 16
Yet, if Jim Thibodeau, Ed George, and MatSpirit were truly as concerned about preventing death and improving the quality of life for themselves and others, as they want us to believe that they are, then the number 1 thing that they themselves can do right now to prevent death in their own lives, and also improve the quality of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones is for them to forsake atheism and embrace Theism, even embrace Christianity.
You have one study which found evidence that people with religious affiliations - essentially self-identified attendees of religious observances but not just Christians - lived a few years longer than those who didn't. You could just as easily encourage people to become Muslims on the basis of this study.
Atheism, a worldview that is devoid of any true meaning, value, beauty, or purpose for life, is a severely impoverished, even a severely depressing, worldview for anyone to have to hold.
Atheism doesn't pretend to offer meaning or purpose. In one sense, it's just the view that there is no one else there to provide one for you.
And indeed, such a impoverished ‘pointless existence’, as atheism is, has dramatic negative effects on humans. Number one being that atheism has a dramatic negative effect on longevity, Christians live significantly longer than atheists do.
So, apparently, do Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. It would be interesting, however, to compare the longevity of regular churchgoers with that of atheists who belonged to a similarly supportive social group of some sort. I wonder if there would be such a difference.
Furthermore, the unmitigated horror visited upon man, by state sponsored atheism, would be hard to exaggerate,,, Here’s what happens when Atheists/evolutionists/non-Christians take control of Government:
According to the Old Testament, your God wiped out almost every human being and all other living creatures on the face of the Earth in the Great Flood. That vastly exceeds what the twentieth-century dictators ever achieved. Christians seem to think this was a Good Thing when God did it but a Bad Thing when human beings did it. Care to explain the cognitive dissonance?
Moreover, atheistic ideology also lies behind the number 1 cause of preventable death in American and in the world today. Abortion!
Is there a Commandment or any other specific prohibition in the Bible against abortion?
Thus, if Jim Thibodeau, Ed George, and MatSpirit were truly as concerned about preventing death and improving the quality of life for themselves and others, as they want us to believe that they are, then the number 1 thing that they themselves can do right now to prevent death in their own lives, and also improve the quality of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones is for them to forsake atheism and embrace Theism, even embrace Christianity. It’s not rocket science.
Prayer didn't stop the Black Death from killing a third of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages, although it was about all they had to use against it. It took over three hundred years of solid, materialistic science to discover the tiny physical organisms that cause disease and find the physical means of treating them. And it wasn't prayer that put men into space. It was the same solid, materialistic rocket science them there. If you want to believe in something that actually works then try naturalistic/materialistic/physicalist science.Seversky_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
05:05 PM
5
05
05
PM
PDT}

That Darwinian thinking is useless in developing treatments for COVID-19, which was the main point of Dr. Egnor's post in the first place, (as opposed to the faulty Theological arguments that were presented by the atheists on UD), well that point is obvious since Darwinian evolution is not even a real science in any meaning sense of the term 'real science':
(Jerry) Coyne also admitted that, “Evolution cannot help us predict what new vaccines to manufacture because microbes evolve unpredictably.”,,, Molecular biology, biochemistry, and physiology, have not taken evolution into account at all.” “In fact, over the last 100 years, almost all of biology has proceeded independent of evolution, except evolutionary biology itself. Molecular biology, biochemistry, and physiology, have not taken evolution into account at all.” Marc Kirschner, founding chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, Boston Globe, Oct. 23, 2005 “While the great majority of biologists would probably agree with Theodosius Dobzhansky’s dictum that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”, most can conduct their work quite happily without particular reference to evolutionary ideas. Evolution would appear to be the indispensable unifying idea and, at the same time, a highly superflous one.” Adam S. Wilkins, editor of the journal BioEssays, Introduction to “Evolutionary Processes” – (2000). https://uncommondescent.com/evolution/michael-egnor-prayer-during-an-epidemic-makes-sense-jerry-coyne-is-scandalized/#comment-695207
bornagain77_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
02:12 AM
2
02
12
AM
PDT}

Jim Thibodeau at 4, Ed George at 8, and MatSpirit at 12 and especially MatSpirit at 13, reveal their blatant hypocrisy against God. At 13 MatSpirit sums up their Darwinian theological argument against God (and for Darwinian evolution) this way,
America Needs God’s Help!! Why don’t you all go door to door telling people about the wonderful virus that God has designed for us just to kill humans and urge them to become prayer warriers and give thanks to the lord? You’re all IDiots.
Yet, if Jim Thibodeau, Ed George, and MatSpirit were truly as concerned about preventing death and improving the quality of life for themselves and others, as they want us to believe that they are, then the number 1 thing that they themselves can do right now to prevent death in their own lives, and also improve the quality of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones is for them to forsake atheism and embrace Theism, even embrace Christianity. Atheism, a worldview that is devoid of any true meaning, value, beauty, or purpose for life, is a severely impoverished, even a severely depressing, worldview for anyone to have to hold.
Confronting Atheist Ideologies that Devalue Human Life What is the value of human life? Many atheist thinkers argue it is nothing. Life has no value. Confronting this destructive ideology, the five videos below feature talks by Richard Weikart given at the European Leadership Forum in 2018. ,These talks deal with material in his book, “The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life.” https://www.morethancake.org/archives/33997 “Man is a useless passion. It is meaningless that we live and it is meaningless that we die.” ? Jean-Paul Sartre
And indeed, such a impoverished 'pointless existence', as atheism is, has dramatic negative effects on humans. Number one being that atheism has a dramatic negative effect on longevity, Christians live significantly longer than atheists do.
Can attending church really help you live longer? This study says yes - June 1, 2017 Excerpt: Specifically, the study says those middle-aged adults who go to church, synagogues, mosques or other houses of worship reduce their mortality risk by 55%. The Plos One journal published the "Church Attendance, Allostatic Load and Mortality in Middle Aged Adults" study May 16. "For those who did not attend church at all, they were twice as likely to die prematurely than those who did who attended church at some point over the last year," Bruce said. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/02/can-attending-church-really-help-you-live-longer-study-says-yes/364375001/ Study: Religiously affiliated people live “9.45 and 5.64 years longer…” July 1, 2018 Excerpt: Self-reported religious service attendance has been linked with longevity. However, previous work has largely relied on self-report data and volunteer samples. Here, mention of a religious affiliation in obituaries was analyzed as an alternative measure of religiosity. In two samples (N = 505 from Des Moines, IA, and N = 1,096 from 42 U.S. cities), the religiously affiliated lived 9.45 and 5.64 years longer, respectively, than the nonreligiously affiliated. Additionally, social integration and volunteerism partially mediated the religion–longevity relation. https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/study-religiously-affiliated-people-lived-religiously-affiliated-lived-9-45-and-5-64-years-longer/ Can Religion Extend Your Life? - By Chuck Dinerstein — June 16, 2018 Excerpt: The researcher's regression analysis suggested that the effect of volunteering and participation accounted for 20% or 1 year of the impact, while religious affiliation accounted for the remaining four years or 80%. https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/06/16/can-religion-extend-your-life-13092
In fact, atheists have significantly more suicide attempts than Christians do,
Of snakebites and suicide - February 18, 2014 RESULTS: Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/of-snakebites-and-suicide/
Furthermore, the unmitigated horror visited upon man, by state sponsored atheism, would be hard to exaggerate,,, Here's what happens when Atheists/evolutionists/non-Christians take control of Government:
“169,202,000 Murdered: Summary and Conclusions [20th Century Democide] I BACKGROUND 2. The New Concept of Democide [Definition of Democide] 3. Over 133,147,000 Murdered: Pre-Twentieth Century Democide II 128,168,000 VICTIMS: THE DEKA-MEGAMURDERERS 4. 61,911,000 Murdered: The Soviet Gulag State 5. 35,236,000 Murdered: The Communist Chinese Ant Hill 6. 20,946,000 Murdered: The Nazi Genocide State 7. 10,214,000 Murdered: The Depraved Nationalist Regime III 19,178,000 VICTIMS: THE LESSER MEGA-MURDERERS 8. 5,964,000 Murdered: Japan’s Savage Military 9. 2,035,000 Murdered: The Khmer Rouge Hell State 10. 1,883,000 Murdered: Turkey’s Genocidal Purges 11. 1,670,000 Murdered: The Vietnamese War State 12. 1,585,000 Murdered: Poland’s Ethnic Cleansing 13. 1,503,000 Murdered: The Pakistani Cutthroat State 14. 1,072,000 Murdered: Tito’s Slaughterhouse IV 4,145,000 VICTIMS: SUSPECTED MEGAMURDERERS 15. 1,663,000 Murdered? Orwellian North Korea 16. 1,417,000 Murdered? Barbarous Mexico 17. 1,066,000 Murdered? Feudal Russia” This is, in reality, probably just a drop in the bucket. Who knows how many undocumented murders there were. It also doesn’t count all the millions of abortions from around the world. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM Among the Disbelievers: Why atheism was central to the great evil of the 20th century - GARY SAUL MORSON / SEPT. 17, 2018 Excerpt: In its 300-year history in Spain, Portugal, and the New World, the Spanish Inquisition killed a few thousand, perhaps even a few tens of thousands, while in the atheist Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, that was the average toll every week or two. To this objection, the atheist has a ready reply: Atheism had nothing to do with Bolshevik carnage. As Richard Dawkins explains in The God Delusion: “What matters is not whether Hitler and Stalin were atheists, but whether atheism systematically influences people to do bad things. There is not the smallest evidence that it does.” This comment displays an ignorance so astonishing that, as the Russian expression goes, one can only stare and spit.,,, Bolshevik ideology demanded that religion be wiped out. Perhaps even more than constructing dams and factories, creating a population of atheists became the regime’s most important criterion of success. “Atheism [was] the new civilization’s calling card,” as S.A. Kuchinsky, director of the Leningrad State Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, explained. Communist society could be built only by a new kind of human being, one who would at every moment be guided by partiinost (party-mindedness), a singular devotion to the Party’s purposes. Partiinost demanded militant atheism (mere unbelief was not enough), and atheism became, as Smolkin observes, “the battleground on which Soviet Communism engaged with the existential concerns at the heart of human existence: the meaning of life and death.” https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/among-the-disbelievers/
Moreover, atheistic ideology also lies behind the number 1 cause of preventable death in American and in the world today. Abortion!
Was Abortion the ‘Leading Cause of Death’ in 2018? BETHANIA PALMA - 3 JANUARY 2019 Excerpt: If WHO’s estimate of 56 million abortions annually held steady through 2016, when they released their survey on the top ten leading causes of death globally, it would be true that the number of abortions worldwide outnumbered overall deaths from heart disease and stroke, the top two causes of death that year. In 2016, ischemic heart disease and stroke killed a total of 15.2 million people worldwide, according to WHO, noting that “These diseases have remained the leading causes of death globally in the last 15 years”: https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/03/abortion-leading-cause-of-death/
Thus, if Jim Thibodeau, Ed George, and MatSpirit were truly as concerned about preventing death and improving the quality of life for themselves and others, as they want us to believe that they are, then the number 1 thing that they themselves can do right now to prevent death in their own lives, and also improve the quality of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones is for them to forsake atheism and embrace Theism, even embrace Christianity. It's not rocket science.
Proverbs 8:36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death." JOHN 10:10 The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
bornagain77_{March 19, 2020
March
03
Mar
19
19
2020
02:05 AM
2
02
05
AM
PDT}

MS
He thinks Corona was built by God for a purpose and that purpose seems to be killing people.
You are the people who have no problem with procedures designed to kill babies in the womb. More non-sense and darwinian hypocrisy.Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
09:20 PM
9
09
20
PM
PDT}

MS, the stupid giving stupidity awards. For once, a darwinian making sense :) Materialism is retarded. The load of crap and imbecile things you spout is e ndless. You can not even define what that 'matter' you love so much is. In your world people are meat-robots and you no longer deserve to be called sane. Novella is a fantastic example. Dawkins, Coyne and most evos are so imbecile and illiterate that COVID-19 is genius compared to them. Darwinism/ materialism is mental cancer.Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
09:06 PM
9
09
06
PM
PDT}

Oh yeah, one more thing. Evolution may actually help us a tiny bit here. A virus that kills quickly dies when it's host dies and doesn't have as much time to multiply and spread before its host dies. A mutation that slows it down a little can actually be beneficial (to the virus and it's hos) because its victims will have a little longer to hatch out and spread new viruses. This has been documented with several diseases which killed wholesale numbers when they first appeared and then another mutation "quieted them down" a bit so their hosts lived longer, which helped the virus spread better. And a few humans will probably be resistant to the Corona virus and they will have more descendants than usual, increasing their percentage of the human population. But, as PaV points out, this virus doesn't kill that large a percentage of its hosts, so that probably won't help as much. Say, I have an idea! PaV, Behe, Truthfreedom and all the ID regulars here: In this time of Emergency, America Needs God's Help!! Why don't you all go door to door telling people about the wonderful virus that God has designed for us just to kill humans and urge them to become prayer warriers and give thanks to the lord? You're all IDiots.MatSpirit_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
08:53 PM
8
08
53
PM
PDT}

I was going to give PaV an award for Extreme Stupidity Under Fire for his "Pass me a Corona" post, but then I read Michael Egnor write, "There’s no doubt that COVID-19 evolved: populations of viruses change with time. Of course, we know that from epidemiology and virology and simple observation. Darwin’s theory has little to do with epidemiology…" and I'm awarding it to him. PaV and Truthfreedom get honorary awards and all the rest of the ID Regulars get Oak Leaf Clusters because they've won this award so many times over, but Miky, you win the grand prize. If anybody does want to see evolution in action, Covid-19 is a great example. A few months ago, it was just another virus, one member of a large family that more or less ignored humans. Then it had one mutation and SHAZAM! It's now a supervirus, hyper infective and killing people right and left. It's brought the world to its knees. You see, to a virus, being able to infect more more people than other viruses is beneficial and leads to lots and lots of baby viruses, just like Darwin said. PaV, old buddy, China started locking down weeks before we did and they have managed to hold the infections down to "only" 60,000 or so in their whole country. Why don't you move there and take Michael with you. Leave us Truthfreedom, though. He's entertaining. Oh, and take Mike Behe with you. He's the IDiot who says viruses are designed. He thinks Corona was built by God for a purpose and that purpose seems to be killing people. You're all IDiots.MatSpirit_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
08:40 PM
8
08
40
PM
PDT}

JD, what pathology do you think makes a person behave like Truthfreedom? Using the opportunity of a pandemic to mock and deride others. You can’t get much more pathetic than that.Ed George_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
08:09 PM
8
08
09
PM
PDT}

We need to learn from Darwin? He married his first cousin :) Inbreeding is bad.Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
07:51 PM
7
07
51
PM
PDT}

Final Solution! According to this darwinian genius, COVID-19 is an illusion:
“[This is] the illusion that our brains evolved to have, a very compelling and persistent illusion – namely that the reality we perceive is real, rather than a constructed representation.” https://mindmatters.ai/2019/07/tales-of-the-mind-a-neurologist-encounters-the-house-of-mirrors/
-We are seeing a 'representation' :) (from certain lunatic cult being passed as 'science').Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
07:42 PM
7
07
42
PM
PDT}

JT@4, regretfully, I agree with you. For most people the symptoms will be minor but that is not all that comforting knowing that for thousands, they will not be. In Trump’s obsession of getting rid of everything Obama did, he may have sentenced thousands to death.Ed George_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
07:26 PM
7
07
26
PM
PDT}

To recap: If you are sad, exhausted, worried or lost a loved one, never forget that you are: - useless - an accident - a 'bag of chemicals' - equally worth as an 'armadillo' And that: - no one will remember you - nothing you did ever mattered - the universe does not give a f*** - pitiless indifference rulez Pray Darwin.Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
07:18 PM
7
07
18
PM
PDT}

Pray the "armadillo". If you know someone really desperate, please share:
"That Man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve individual life beyond the grave. . . Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built". Bertrand Russell
Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
07:09 PM
7
07
09
PM
PDT}

Regarding @3, COVID-19 is a ssRNA virus, so no purpose for it. Darwinism solves everything. Best religion ever.Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
06:59 PM
6
06
59
PM
PDT}

The numbers are looking really bad, contrary to our leaders a few days ago, it is not a hoax, nor is it just a few cases, which are going to go away like a miracle. I think the epidemiologistS and biologists were right, and it is going to be very bad. People who did nothing for weeks, and rejected this as a Democrat hoax, and rejected test kits, are going to have a very bad place in history.Jim Thibodeau_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
06:55 PM
6
06
55
PM
PDT}

More:
Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life…life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA…life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. Richard Dawkins
Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
06:52 PM
6
06
52
PM
PDT}

More wisdom:
The universe and life are pointless… In a YouTube video he states that evolution “says that there is no special purpose for your life, because it is a naturalistic philosophy. We have no more extrinsic purpose than a squirrel or an armadillo.” Jerry Coyne, the dim-witted biologist.
Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
06:50 PM
6
06
50
PM
PDT}

What we need are words of wisdom/ encouragement:
The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant… Stephen Hawking.
Truthfreedom_{March 18, 2020
March
03
Mar
18
18
2020
06:49 PM
6
06
49
PM
PDT}

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Leave a Reply