I saw a bumper sticker: "The Big Bang is the moment atheists appeared". I don't get involved in the cat fight between believers and non-believers.

It's risky to even defend a believers right to believe. I understand why believers defend their beliefs and traditions. But I don't understand aggressive non-believers, especially the ones who claim to have a firm handle on the complexities and nuances of the science involved.

If either of these parties should understand the difference in science and faith, it should be the science party. But they are very agressive, horribly degrading, militant, even vulgar. I think Palinioa is a prime example.

It's hard to pretend her faith has nothing to do with their hatred for her. If I were a believer, I'd say they come across as demonic. But Ann Coulter beat me to that. I recall being rather shocked when another mother bragged to me how much her very young child hated Santa Claus. Last time I checked, "hate" is a "bad word" in the child world.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it classifies as a "VERY bad word", practically unspeakable. But there she was, chuckling as she described how her 6 year old gets in other kids faces and tell them how vile Santa Claus is. You have to wonder about people like that.. "What the hell happened to them in their lives to make them so fucking intolerant?"

Wow. A child who has been taught to hate Santa Claus? That is pretty warped. I'm fairly certain that no such thing existed in my childhood.

Also, I'm an agnostic, but the militant, smug, self-righteous atheists turn my stomach. I liken them to smokers who flick their butts out the car window. They give us all a bad name.

Loved that book. Bought it during my graduate school days at IU in Bloomington and had hours of laughs with friends. Wish I still had it.

"If either of these parties should understand the difference in science and faith, it should be the science party."

I recently caught a science bit on NPR about the time before the big bang. The time when 'something was created out of nothing.'

Clearly, at least some in the science field do not understand the nature of faith, or that they may have crossed over into that realm of belief.

Of course, having blindly done so they rapidly find no limit on what may be pronounced upon (some might see that as a warning sign.) Even though the very nature of our existence post big bang would seem to preclude any potential for scientific knowledge of that which may have preceded it.

Yes, they may collect post bang data, much as the Mayans observed the stars, and may construct imminent and immensely dense theories that extend back before time began, but they simply cannot perform anything approaching a controlled experiment, or ever test their beliefs in any essential manner.

They are still talking about events in a (non)time of nothingness.

They seek to fill the void, they claim with knowledge, but knowledge has real limits. And like all, when they transgress those boundaries they can only be left with faith.

And when all else fails, they just make up a deity that suits their cause! Atheists worship. I just haven't figured out what it is they worship - Science? Intellectualism? Self. Even on my agnostic days, I still feel the need to honor the "faith of our fathers". The Left honors academic elitism, group think, organized corruption (including Big Science) and for everyone else, collective misery.