Richard Dawkins at Kepler’s Bookstore

Richard Dawkins spoke at Kepler’s Bookstore: an interesting post

Dagon: a Philistine deity

The Sabbatarian Web site is for those who think that the original church of the real messiah was corrupted back about 300 AD.

Part of their thesis is that the current Christian church incorporates many pagan elements.

For example, here’s their illustration of a priest of the maritime god Dagon sprinkling holy water. It’s amazing how those traditions persist, isn’t it? But how do the Sabbatarians know that it’s holy water and not blood from a sacrifice or plain old sea water?

They also assert that the bishop’s angled hat, or mitre, is copied from the fish jaws on the headdress of Dagon’s priests. But how long have mitres been around? Has it really been that long?

I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct the church as it was in 300 AD. It would also be pointless, since the farther back you go the more pagan elements you find.

10^262 is an unwritable number!?

Thanks to Jared Asay at the Axis of Jared for pointing out this howler of a mistake in Christian science materials for children, as pointed out by Tiny Frog:

…scientists have computed that to provide a single protein molecule by chance combination would take 10^262 years. Take thin pieces of paper and write “1” and then zeros after them – you would fill up the entire known universe with paper before you could write that number.

The comments are amusing, too.

Uh, guys… that’s “1″ followed by 262 zeroes. I think we can do that without filling up a sheet of paper.

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

LOLCAT pirates celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow!