Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Happy Wonderer · 04-21-2002, 09:11 PM

Hmm, I'm beginning to wonder. On <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/members.html#PALEY" target="_blank">this link</a> they have bios of their members. They don't quite seem like parodies, but one strikes me:

Quote:

Kyle Goldman
Kyle started out hating Christians. He listened to anti-Christian music, played violent video games, and created a website attacking various Christian organizations while praising the work of Chris Harper. Kyle was a troubled boy. However, this all changed when he found Jesus. Since then he has gotten himself cleaned up, has started listening to Christian rock, and is now a respectable looking young lad. His parents - being Jewish - were hesitant to accept his new found faith, but they do consider it better that Kyle is now following Jesus instead of Marilyn Manson. Kyle has been helping us maintain our website since finding Jesus and is now attending Fellowship Christian High School.
Favorite Passage From Scripture

This is the guy running their web site. I wonder if the adults are serious and the kid is scamming them by encouraging to look silly? Perhaps a small edit or two? That would be TOO funny and something I would have done had the internet been around when I was a kid....

-HW

Pantera · 04-21-2002, 09:16 PM

The site is a parody - and a very good one. Fellowship University does not appear to exist (even as a Patriot University style diploma mill) and the name Paley is an obvious nod towards William Paley of the well worn watchmaker argument/analogy.

My favourite part is that they have a <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/index_es.html" target="_blank">Spanish Translation</a> of their <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/index.html" target="_blank">main page</a>, but with the Bible quotes in English, along with the note "De la Versi�n King James, la �nica versi�n verdadera de la Biblia" - a nice little dig at the KJV only crowd.

BTW, <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/babyj.html" target="_blank">Have you accepted Jesus yet?</a>

Scrambles · 04-21-2002, 09:21 PM

The site is a parody. It was hosted at ilovejebus.com/etc. but I think it moved because some infidels started pointing out that it was a parody. I distinctly remember the bit about
JC penny in the "Mall Mission" section.

Scrambles

Pantera · 04-21-2002, 09:25 PM

See also <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=54&t=000331" target="_blank">this thread</a> in the humour forum.

A search in the archives should turn up a few more threads on it as well.

Toto · 04-21-2002, 09:39 PM

I remember this coming up before, and I decided it was a parody. But now I notice that there seem to be real ads for the Creationist Museum, Holyland Amusement Park, and a Home Schooling site, and there is a link to something called the top 500 Baptist Fundamentalist sites. It's all too confusing.

Voodoo Child · 04-21-2002, 09:56 PM

It is beautifully crafted satire, but the fact that people are not sure is a sorry commentary on the world. There are many instances of WORSE quote mining and 2nd law arguments, afterall.

1st Place: "Life Doesn't Come From Non-Life"

Quote:

Patricia Lewis (grade 8) did an experiment to see if life can evolve from non-life. Patricia placed all the non-living ingredients of life - carbon (a charcoal briquet), purified water, and assorted minerals (a multi-vitamin) - into a sealed glass jar. The jar was left undisturbed, being exposed only to sunlight, for three weeks. (Patricia also prayed to God not to do anything miraculous during the course of the experiment, so as not to disqualify the findings.) No life evolved. This shows that life cannot come from non-life through natural processes.

hehe

[ April 21, 2002: Message edited by: Voodoo Child ]</p>

Oolon Colluphid · 04-22-2002, 12:48 AM

I�d re-write that, to show that life can only come about through having the breath of life put into it (Gen 2:7):

Patricia repeated the experiment as above, but this time breathed heavily onto the surface of the waters (cf Gen 1:2) before closing the jar. When the jar was checked a few weeks later, the water was cloudy and the sides of the jar had a dusty appearance. Microscopic analysis revealed that the water contained a variety of bacterial and mould forms. Thus the breath of life was established as a prerequisite for abiogenesis.

The theobiologists who reviewed the paper prior to its publication in Naturist (Vol 6 No 66) noted that it�s obvious that one�s breath is not alive, hence their support for the paper�s findings.

Oolon

Nialler · 04-22-2002, 06:53 AM

Landover is one of my oldest bookmarks. I'll book mark this one as well.

I've had many hours of fun reading the Landover guest book which demonstrates that many religious don't recognise parody when they read it.

The gap between parody and evangelising is obviously a very narrow one.

Happy Wonderer · 04-22-2002, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scrambles:
<strong>The site is a parody. It was hosted at ilovejebus.com/etc. but I think it moved because some infidels started pointing out that it was a parody. I distinctly remember the bit about
JC penny in the "Mall Mission" section.

Scrambles</strong>

Hee hee, I feel so foolish. "Paley" should have been a tip-off but life tends to be full of coincidences like that. Whoever did that one, great job!

HW

Obviously Windows is for the Godly, there is "Windows NT" after all.

MrDarwin · 04-22-2002, 08:45 AM

No, no, no. It's clear that poor little Patricia doesn't have any inkling of the scientific method. For one thing, her experiment lacked an adequate control. She should have prepared two identical jars, A and B, and then asked God to create life in Jar A, but to leave Jar B to its own devices. When life appears in Jar A but not Jar B, she will have definitively proven that life can arise from non-life through divine intervention, and not through entirely naturalistic processes.

(Of course, if she really wanted to be thorough, she would have asked God to create another complete universe, but one in which there was no God, and let it run for several billion years to see what happens. Hey, wait a minute...)

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04-21-2002, 09:16 PM	#12
Pantera Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Cambridge, England, but a Scot at heart Posts: 2,431	The site is a parody - and a very good one. Fellowship University does not appear to exist (even as a Patriot University style diploma mill) and the name Paley is an obvious nod towards William Paley of the well worn watchmaker argument/analogy. My favourite part is that they have a <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/index_es.html" target="_blank">Spanish Translation</a> of their <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/index.html" target="_blank">main page</a>, but with the Bible quotes in English, along with the note "De la Versi�n King James, la �nica versi�n verdadera de la Biblia" - a nice little dig at the KJV only crowd. BTW, <a href="http://members.truepath.com/objective/babyj.html" target="_blank">Have you accepted Jesus yet?</a>

04-21-2002, 09:21 PM	#13
Scrambles Regular Member Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Chch, NZ Posts: 234	The site is a parody. It was hosted at ilovejebus.com/etc. but I think it moved because some infidels started pointing out that it was a parody. I distinctly remember the bit about JC penny in the "Mall Mission" section. Scrambles

04-21-2002, 09:25 PM	#14
Pantera Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Cambridge, England, but a Scot at heart Posts: 2,431	See also <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=54&t=000331" target="_blank">this thread</a> in the humour forum. A search in the archives should turn up a few more threads on it as well.

04-21-2002, 09:39 PM	#15
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I remember this coming up before, and I decided it was a parody. But now I notice that there seem to be real ads for the Creationist Museum, Holyland Amusement Park, and a Home Schooling site, and there is a link to something called the top 500 Baptist Fundamentalist sites. It's all too confusing.

04-22-2002, 12:48 AM	#17
Oolon Colluphid Contributor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alibi: ego ipse hinc extermino Posts: 12,591	I�d re-write that, to show that life can only come about through having the breath of life put into it (Gen 2:7): Patricia repeated the experiment as above, but this time breathed heavily onto the surface of the waters (cf Gen 1:2) before closing the jar. When the jar was checked a few weeks later, the water was cloudy and the sides of the jar had a dusty appearance. Microscopic analysis revealed that the water contained a variety of bacterial and mould forms. Thus the breath of life was established as a prerequisite for abiogenesis. The theobiologists who reviewed the paper prior to its publication in Naturist (Vol 6 No 66) noted that it�s obvious that one�s breath is not alive, hence their support for the paper�s findings. Oolon

04-22-2002, 06:53 AM	#18
Nialler Banned Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Paris Posts: 8,473	Landover is one of my oldest bookmarks. I'll book mark this one as well. I've had many hours of fun reading the Landover guest book which demonstrates that many religious don't recognise parody when they read it. The gap between parody and evangelising is obviously a very narrow one.

04-22-2002, 08:45 AM	#20
MrDarwin Veteran Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 4,140	No, no, no. It's clear that poor little Patricia doesn't have any inkling of the scientific method. For one thing, her experiment lacked an adequate control. She should have prepared two identical jars, A and B, and then asked God to create life in Jar A, but to leave Jar B to its own devices. When life appears in Jar A but not Jar B, she will have definitively proven that life can arise from non-life through divine intervention, and not through entirely naturalistic processes. (Of course, if she really wanted to be thorough, she would have asked God to create another complete universe, but one in which there was no God, and let it run for several billion years to see what happens. Hey, wait a minute...)

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