50k Challenge reopened with higher stakes

[DougShrapnel]

David has closed down his 50k challenge. Some religous persons felt insulted by his challenge. I want to believe that a specific although incoorect view of david's challenge and freerolll is correct, that people who hold ridiculous beliefs can not be smart enough to build weapons capable of mass destruction. Unfortunatly, we all make this wager every day. To a greater or lessor extent when we refuse to challenge these illogical acts of faith. The stakes when we let assinine beliefs be immune to rational skepticism, under the banner of faith and consolation are much greater than a paltry 50k. At stake is nothing less then the survival, and freedom of the human species.

A group of a couple hundred cells to be giving the same rights and consideration as a human. It is claimed that we should respect the religous view over the scientific view. In making this claim, and kowtowing to great number of people suffering from a specific well recieved delusion we are accepting David's Challenge and his freeroll. But it's not a freeroll. Real human suffering is at stake.

To allow the church to proclaim that condom use in Africa is unethical, is nothing short of criminal genocide. I hope that the wrong interpration of david's challenge, the interpratation that those capable of mental laziness that allow for 3 Gods in 1 God, aren't smart. That they aren't smart enough to bring about the end times. That they aren't smart enough to build a nuke and whipe out a large portion of the population while mantianing the preposterous notion that in doing so seventy some odd virgins await him.

I can mention many different forms of this wager that we accept everyday, everytime we allow those who hold positions arrived at thru means other than reason to speak with the same authority as the scientific community. I don't mean to be insuting to anyone. In fact the main view about relgious behavior, perhaps the only problem with faith based views is Unswayvering adhernece to a belief with limited evidence in face of a contradictory mountain of evidence.

One day I will actually title my posts correctly. The 50k challenge isn't reopened. The wager that we make when we allow those who hold faith over reason to continue unabashed in their evanglizing, preaching, and manipualtion of realty is only slighty better defined, I hope.