I agree with the sentiment of this “Words that Christians Misuse” but I think this graphic utterly full of crap.

“Study” saying what they really do at “Bible Study” is really “Bible Worship” is semantics. Most people who study something usually revere that thing or else they wouldn’t be studying it.  You might as well call Neil deGrasse Tyson a “Science Worshipper” (and you’d be accurate).

“Truth” this is NOT the “conformity with fact or reality.”  I’m not sure where this definition even comes from.  Merriam-Webster defines truth as the following (important part emboldened/italicized by me):

a archaic : fidelity, constancyb : sincerity in action, character, and utterance 2a (1) : the state of being the case : fact (2) : the body of real things, events, and facts : actuality (3) often capitalized: a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality b : a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true <truths of thermodynamics >c : the body of true statements and propositions3a : the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality b chiefly British : true 2c : fidelity to an original or to a standard 4capitalized Christian Science : god— in truth: in accordance with fact : actually

So, in other words, one of the official definitions of the truth fits pretty much with the way Christians use it.  Sad that language, itself, seems to be biased toward religion.  But again, Christians aren’t really misusing the word “truth.”

“Morality” is NOT what causes the least amount of harm to others.  That’s the most absurd definition of “morality” I’ve ever read.  Morality is doing what is right (though it’s definition is more involved than just that). Sometimes we define “right” as doing more harm for the greater good.  Like going to war, or killing in self-defense, or euthanasia.  Morality is a big fat gray zone of debate since so often the very definition of what is “right” changes based on one’s mood.  So, if you believe what God says is right and someone tells you God said that it’s OK to slaughter the Canaanites, then wiping out all of the people of Canaan is a moral thing to do.

“Freewill” is not a word.  Well, not a noun, anyway.  It’s an adjective. It means “voluntary” or, oddly, “spontaneous”.  What Christians say God gave us is “Free Will”.  In other words, the ability to be free with our will. Of all the problems I have with religion, I think this is the part I have the least trouble with.  But the above graphic says “In the Bible God only gave us the ability to choose what we want to do (will), but not the freedom to act upon those choices.” This makes no sense. The Bible says we are free to exercise our will. Which part of “free will” stops you from “acting upon those choices”?  The reality, for both Believers and non-believers, is that there are consequences to your actions.  Christianity dreams up all sorts of scary shit to keep Believers in line, but there’s nothing in Christianity that forces Believers to be a certain way—they just scare you into it.  That’s still free will since it is your choice to do something that will result in punishment.

“Adultery” does not mean “having sex with a person who is married to another.”  I’ll paraphrase the correct definition and say that adultery is having sex with someone other than one’s spouse.  As for the part where Jesus says adultery and lust are the same thing, I think, from a certain point of view, that’s an accurate statement.  The idea is to keep all of your love for your spouse and when you feel amorous toward someone who isn’t your spouse without acting on those feelings, in a way, you’re cheating.  Of course, you’re also giving into your genetics, which aren’t really programmed for monogamy, so whatever.

“Love” is the second of two words that is properly defined by this graphic.  Though it is incomplete.  The complete definition is “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.”  It is standard Christian propaganda to say that God has a personal relationship with all of us and that “He” “loves” us.  This is obviously not true since there is no God.  However, this is not an example of Christians misusing words.  They say that “God is love” because they are good at marketing.

Wow, I’m really starting to wonder about my fellow atheists.  When you make up a whole graphic that claims to describe how Christians misuse certain words, you might want to consult a dictionary, first.

Seriously, this stupid graphic is one of the most moronic things I’ve read in weeks—and I’ve been reading a lot about Rick Perry, so that’s saying something!

unknownskywalker:

Vast cosmic filament discovered connecting Milky Way to the Universe

Astronomers at The Australian National University have discovered proof of a vast filament of material that connects our Milky Way galaxy to nearby clusters of galaxies, which are similarly interconnected to the rest of the Universe. By examining the positions of globular clusters, they found that the clusters form a narrow plane around the Milky Way rather than being scattered across the sky.

Furthermore, the Milky Way’s entourage of small satellites are seen to inhabit the same plane. This is evidence for the cosmic thread that connects us to the vast expanse of the Universe. The filament of star clusters and small galaxies around the Milky Way is like the umbilical cord that fed our Galaxy during its youth.

A consequence of the Big Bang and the dominance of dark matter is that ordinary matter is driven, like foam on the crest of a wave, into vast interconnected sheets and filaments stretched over enormous cosmic voids – much like the structure of a kitchen sponge. Unlike a sponge, however, gravity draws the material over these interconnecting filaments towards the largest lumps of matter, and the globular clusters and satellite galaxies of the Milky Way trace this cosmic filament.

In the picture, most of these star clusters are the central cores of small galaxies that have been drawn along the filament by gravity. Once these small galaxies got too close the Milky Way the majority of stars were stripped away and added to our galaxy, leaving only their cores. It is thought that the Milky Way has grown to its current size by the consumption of hundreds of such smaller galaxies over cosmic time.

I think I’ve figured out why science isn’t more popular.  It’s because of discoveries like these.  Science is a tool that, if used properly, is constantly updating with new information.  People don’t like change.  People like stable rules they can trust to always be there.  They pretend that the Bible is God’s unchanging word, despite historical fact to the contrary.  So why do they ignore facts and embrace belief?  Because facts challenge established norms.  Like this story about a vast cosmic filament connecting our galaxy with the rest of the galaxies in our universe.  This is a HUGE discovery.  It’s like discovering there was a tiny stream of matter connecting you to every other human on the planet.  HOW COOL IS THAT?

Unexpected? Surprising? Even a little mind blowing? Sure. But that’s what science does.  It’s a tool designed to facilitate learning.  The Bible is a 2000 year-old book of instructions written and re-written a few times to reflect the views of those in charge at the time. (Google “Council of Nicaea” for a good example.)  Science, however, updates our knowledge almost constantly.  In fact, there have been quite a few amazing discoveries in the past ten years that make me think we just might be entering a period of incredible discovery that is only quiet and largely unnoticed because of the general distain Americans have toward science ( I wouldn’t be surprised if we finally find proof of life that didn’t originate on Earth any day now).  

I’m growing a new theory about humanity.  There’s roughly two kinds of people in the world, those who get off on fear and those who get off on learning.  The former are afraid of new things, close minded and prefer 2000 year-old ideas.  The latter are interested in being challenged, proved wrong, and therefore, better educated.  

So, the next time someone tells you science isn’t as important as war or the economy, tell them to stop being fearful of change.  Only science provides the things that revolutionize our way of life.  Religion has never done that.  Religion didn’t invent the wheel, the steam engine or the integrated circuit.  While religion did bring us the pretzel and champaign, it is science that has brought us the computer, the cell phone, lasers, electricity, dark matter, dark energy, dark flow, quantum physics, galaxy-connecting filaments, and soooo much more.

It’s like Carl Sagan once said: why is there an astrology section in the daily paper but no astronomy section?  It’s because one reinforces our beliefs and makes us feel good, while the other challenges us, makes us wonder and forces us to consider things so much bigger than ourselves.

And who wants to do that?

I mean, aside from me?