tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post8336465196596729428..comments2010-01-11T02:09:50.669-08:00Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16462967960533017441noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-36128110853960495882010-01-11T02:09:50.669-08:002010-01-11T02:09:50.669-08:00Oh, wow. I just had a large, painful pang at reading this. I remember back in the day I could talk with this with my dad, before it started getting to the point where he&#39;d dismiss everything I&#39;d say and I&#39;d get so choked up trying to talk to him I just don&#39;t bother any more. I can only go certain topics with my mother, and even with her, she has a preconceived world that doesn&#39;t broach argument.<br /><br />Treasure that family.Jachrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09578334893322487881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-8914488346499791552009-12-29T03:42:04.875-08:002009-12-29T03:42:04.875-08:00Ah, Sunday school..... I guess the average working stiff would be annoyed if he had to put in a seven-day week, but it&#39;s OK to make the kids do it. (I had six-day school + about 4 hours homework per evening, while my parents were enjoying their &quot;well-earned&quot; downtime). Sunday school should be forbidden internationally as child abuse. <br /><br />And another thing -- we have heard a lot, especially under the Bush Administration, about the evils of the <i>madrassah</i>. The IMF destroys the Arab social-welfare states, so that the poor people turn to the mosque for their social security. &quot;Faith-based initiatives&quot;, as Bush would say. The strings are that the kids must go to Koran schools, in some of which they learn to become intolerant fanatics and terrorists. Quite different from Sunday school, of course.........Hugo Grinebiterhttp://www.hugogrinebiter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-71335066856302342892009-12-28T20:05:41.143-08:002009-12-28T20:05:41.143-08:00Speaking of evolution.<br /><br />I found this article today and thought you might be interested in it, Jen. I&#39;d love to hear your thoughts on it.<br /><br />http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/12/pbs_pushing_bad_science.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-31427408322801868812009-12-28T10:20:18.951-08:002009-12-28T10:20:18.951-08:00I did this with my Dad once, with Politics. I put a Republican Candidate&#39;s (to my defense the guy was very moderate and in the wrong party) sign in our front yard. You can tell where this went after that.Mike Brownsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15461594921822370231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-4139414561982380892009-12-27T15:15:00.319-08:002009-12-27T15:15:00.319-08:00Have you read Jared Diamond&#39;s Collapse? That would give you common ground with dad... it&#39;s a lot of history about why certain civilizations ...collapse. :) My dad is reading it right now and keeps sharing tons of cool tidbits from it.Claire Vnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-58347795076603899242009-12-27T14:06:20.417-08:002009-12-27T14:06:20.417-08:00It&#39;s all good stuff except &quot;Hot, Flat, and Crowded.&quot; Tom Friedman is a terrible, terrible writer.Eddie VanBogaerthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16618677584489840776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-443896031983508362009-12-27T13:49:21.741-08:002009-12-27T13:49:21.741-08:00Your &quot;conversation&quot; with your dad was much like mine with my dad, only that the one with my dad&#39;s was really serious. My dad and I were in the American Museum of Natural History when he had trouble grasping the big bang theory. &quot;But if the universe came into being like that, then where was God?&quot; he asked. I didn&#39;t have the heart to tell my dad that there was likely no god, and so I just said &quot;I don&#39;t know.&quot;<br /><br />I spent the first 22 years of my life in church because my dad and his entire family have been going to church, ever since missionaries made their way to southern China. Thus, it didn&#39;t occur to me just how much Sunday school will suppress a child&#39;s natural sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness until I was recruited to teach Sunday school in college.<br /><br />It&#39;s great that your parents value science so much. :)Gia-Lệhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03884626369111604552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-50847471759855312612009-12-27T10:12:06.440-08:002009-12-27T10:12:06.440-08:00Tell your dad I&#39;m glad he likes my book!Jerry Coynehttp://www.whyevolutionistrue.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-1168246127631040372009-12-27T09:48:29.019-08:002009-12-27T09:48:29.019-08:00yeah, my parents dragged me to Ken Ham conferences and Worldview Weekend. I was taught to distrust science. Oh, well, at least I know to teach my own daughter science instead of faith.Laurahttp://redheadedskeptic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-28597654486331262092009-12-27T08:17:09.408-08:002009-12-27T08:17:09.408-08:00I&#39;m very jealous of you; I wish I could have that sort of conversation with my family. My own parents are accommodationists who won&#39;t call themselves atheists (even though they are), and are so ashamed of the fact that I&#39;m outspoken that they&#39;re constantly imploring me to keep my mouth shut in public. I&#39;ve been arguing that point with them for years, but they never seem to come around.<br /><br />My father listened to an interview with Dawkins a few months ago and was very impressed with him... but my father is too attached to conservative politics to call himself an atheist or even to entertain any hostility to religion.<br /><br />Neither of them are very scientific or sceptical in their thinking either. It irritates me to no end, but there&#39;s not much I can do about it... I&#39;ve tried.mcbendernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-61630248083674026872009-12-27T00:52:31.071-08:002009-12-27T00:52:31.071-08:00*Le sigh* indeed. When I was a kid my dad told me that dinosaur bones are there because god used other planets to moosh together ours and that carbon 14 dating is a lie that all scientists know is a lie but pretend to believe in to get their nefarious devilish evolution theory accepted.<br /><br />Oh, and he&#39;s a doctor.[kɹeɪ̯ɡ̊]http://www.blogger.com/profile/09374110841642375968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-24474553083304531462009-12-27T00:40:17.868-08:002009-12-27T00:40:17.868-08:00Playing the devil&#39;s advocate is fun. It would be even more fun if we can act like a serious creationist or a Christian fundamentalist with the right facial expressions. I have encountered them in real life, and it&#39;s so hard not to laugh in front of them after hearing their arguments.<br /><br />I think it may be a good idea to write a play to satirize creationists. ;-)Egoist Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13590549942129475745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-54720290724040698592009-12-26T21:43:24.944-08:002009-12-26T21:43:24.944-08:00Wish I had a cool science-savvy family like yours. *Le sigh*Joé McKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08037015111554209304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547139591340610952.post-33207424364537613592009-12-26T21:41:09.346-08:002009-12-26T21:41:09.346-08:00Brilliant plan! I just finished WEIT about a month or so ago and it was easily the best book I read this year. I wish I had thought to buy it for my niece and nephew for Christmas. Oh well, their birthdays are coming up. ;)Rev. Ouabachehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06750423741735453398noreply@blogger.com