tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-103259672026-05-15T04:18:09.460-04:00Promoting Science, Debunking Religion, Exploring Human ThoughtJerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.comBlogger507125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-34132132790534699032020-06-23T19:51:00.001-04:002020-06-25T10:31:54.454-04:00

There is a family of five, living in a small town in the Midwest. It consists of the parents and three kids, all boys, ranging in age from 4 to 9.  It was nearing time for the father to come home from work. The kids were sitting around watching TV while the mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner. All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, she starts yelling at the kids to do their

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-22053772298868137082017-05-17T10:25:00.000-04:002017-05-17T18:59:00.577-04:00

Even though many of the Founding Fathers were opposed to the idea of political parties due to their adversarial nature, the United States has, from its second president onward, been a nation of political parties. Typically, the president has been elected as a member of one of two major political parties, although at times additional parties have fielded candidates. From their beginning the two

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-35990408409580116562017-01-27T10:07:00.001-05:002017-01-27T10:07:55.447-05:00

I have spent some time since Trump's inauguration following the news about his activities as president so far, what he has done and said. And I have divided my time watching the reporting of his antics between CNN and Fox News almost equally, with a healthy dose of CBS and NBC mixed in. Of all those sources, the broadcast networks, CBS and NBC seem not to dwell on the more polarizing aspects of

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-66684077345347341922017-01-05T10:49:00.000-05:002017-01-05T10:49:45.403-05:00

Evolution is "only a theory." If we evolved from monkeys then why are there still monkeys? The climate may or may not be changing but if it is it's not the fault of humans. How can there be global warming when we're having such a cold winter? I am convinced that vaccines can cause autism. Gluten is unhealthy for a lot of people to eat. I have heard the above statements, and many more like them,

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-38010934141940699052015-12-03T21:51:00.000-05:002015-12-03T22:22:01.570-05:00

Sometimes I get asked what my favorite music genre is. That question has, for years, stumped me. I don't think I have a favorite genre. I like some songs from many different genre. I tend not to like Country, but there are exceptions. I tend to like adult contemporary, but there are exceptions. You get the idea. I also tend not to like rap or hip-hop, and there are no exceptions. But that, in

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-66924152751534649832015-06-28T20:48:00.001-04:002015-11-24T12:04:54.460-05:00

"I don't know what the fuck God was thinking," Luke thought to himself as he walked out of the house where the body of the best friend he had ever known as a child had lain rotting. "There is only one way to make sense of all this." Ok, let's go back a few years - twelve to be exact. When Luke was 10 years old the authorities came and took him from his natural mother and father and put him in a

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-10223137681505768202015-06-18T15:52:00.002-04:002015-06-18T15:52:50.535-04:00

Are you a Democrat or Republican? Maybe you're a Libertarian. Perhaps you belong to some fringe party. Or it could be you have no party affiliation at all. Although many voters belong to a political party by choice, some have been thrust into one by default. Since I was raised by parents who called themselves democrats, I always considered myself one as well, without actually knowing what a

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-27560819013922622502015-05-04T15:44:00.000-04:002015-05-04T17:15:06.735-04:00

While having breakfast with my daughter this morning she confided that she had finally given up trying to believe in a god. She was a Christian that became a pantheistic. But recent events involving loss of a student of hers caused her to give up the idea of God altogether. She was a bit surprised to learn that even I, the family atheist, hadn't completely abandoned the idea of God. I'm an

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-53502134973889549132015-03-28T23:54:00.001-04:002015-03-28T23:54:29.602-04:00

The Befriending "Hello how are you doing?" That's how it started. On December 8, 2014 at 10:07 PM I received that message on Facebook Messenger from what I presumed was a very pretty young female called Sue Younge. She had earlier requested to be added to my Friends list. Normally, when I get a friend request it is because someone likes a comment I've made or because they know me through mutual

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-43546424049524587612014-11-08T08:39:00.001-05:002014-11-08T08:39:18.969-05:00

It has now been a few days since the election, when many supposedly close races were decided definitively for the Republican candidate in a wave rivaling that of 2010. My disappointment was at least partially mitigated by the fact that it wasn't really a surprise, though I continued to hold out hope. I've had time to reflect on what happened and why it happened. There have been lots of hypotheses

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2632322604756364052014-11-03T13:56:00.001-05:002014-11-03T14:00:28.600-05:00

Time is something that can be measured with relative ease. Humanity has been measuring time for thousands of years. But scientists and philosophers have been struggling with the definition of time since, well, time immemorial. The best definition of time should be one that does not include references to time within the definition. So words such as rate, before, after, since, passing, sequence,

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-67668393089057637082014-11-02T21:20:00.001-05:002014-11-02T21:27:38.414-05:00

Suppose you needed some work done on your house so you get an estimate for repairs: $1,500. Now suppose a stranger comes up to your door and offers to do the repairs for only $1,200 payable in advance. Would you hand him the money and tell him to get busy, or would you at least do some research, read his online reviews, check his references first? We all know the obvious answer. The same is true

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-523486585138487182014-10-28T12:06:00.002-04:002014-10-28T12:08:36.549-04:00

From the Archives, Oct. 2002 As most frequent readers of this column have come to realize, I am a staunch supporter of the teaching of evolution in school. They also know that I have always opposed the teaching of so-called creation science. But I have recently gone through a change of heart and mind regarding the evolution/creation controversy. Although I don't actively support the

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-89810396027404379832014-10-21T16:42:00.003-04:002014-10-21T16:42:37.062-04:00

I'm not an atheist by choice. To not be an atheist I would have to DECIDE to believe in a god. To make that decision, I would have to choose a god that I believe is not only possible, but probable, or at least plausible. And since, knowing what I know, that doesn't seem likely, I'm stuck being an atheist. All gods I know of are completely implausible ideas and I can't for the life of me figure

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-58908829398702834022014-09-21T13:44:00.002-04:002014-10-28T11:18:07.034-04:00

I get annoyed, angry, even depressed every time I get on Facebook these days and am confronted with yet another news item or opinion piece that points out how gullible, naive, undereducated, or silly the American public is when it comes to evidence-based reality. From new polls showing a backward trend to the public's acceptance of the highly-supported theory of evolution to TV preachers decrying

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-68516269323408420632014-08-26T10:11:00.000-04:002014-08-26T10:11:10.424-04:00

Creationists, such as Ken Ham, insist that the earth is a mere 6,000 years old and that God created it all in six literal days. As evidence for this belief, they site the Book of Genesis. But what if that book had never made it into the bible? What if the bombastic bevy of bishops who made up the Council of Nicea in 325 CE decided not to include the Old Testament in the Christian canon? After all

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-73969055318231581062014-08-03T11:48:00.003-04:002014-08-03T12:01:51.980-04:00

I'm official neither Democrat or Republican as far a political party affiliation goes. But since Democrats tend to lean liberal and Republicans tend to thrust as far to the right as they can, then I tend to favor Democrats in the voting booth, at least over the last few election cycles. I have voted Republican before, for both presidential as well as local elections, because I mostly focus on the

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-64208799331363959552014-07-16T19:54:00.000-04:002014-07-16T20:47:07.451-04:00

In my younger days, when I lived in conservative Johnson County, Indiana, I was more politically liberal. When I moved to liberal Lake County, I was politically conservative. Now I'm in Indianapolis, the second most liberal county in the state and I find that I lean heavily liberal again. But I hesitate to pigeonhole myself because I still lean conservative on some issues. So I'll leave it to the

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-48988153798068135102014-07-14T19:23:00.002-04:002014-07-14T19:53:45.592-04:00

I've been told a number of times by different ministers that all Christians have doubts once in awhile. I've always had doubts, even back when I did not question the existence of God, as a child, I wondered about certain things, such as who created God, or why do we pray if God's will is going to prevail regardless of what we ask him for. The resolution to these doubts, according to Christian

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-68055914560931587202014-07-11T21:16:00.002-04:002014-07-11T21:58:13.213-04:00

The slaying of a local police officer in the line of duty, as happened last weekend in Indianapolis, is certainly a tragedy. Local news stations obviously covered this story and its aftermath, as they should have. However, while I know I'm inviting criticism for being somehow unsympathetic or uncaring, it is my opinion, as well as the opinions of others with whom I've spoken, that this local

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-70757548916879856322014-07-04T11:40:00.002-04:002014-07-04T11:40:23.691-04:00

Christians' biggest problem is explaining how an all-loving God can allow so much suffering. But they make up excuses by saying things like, "God's morality is different from ours. Maybe what seems like suffering to us is necessary to God's larger plan that we don't know anything about." But that's just a cop out, a conceit, because they can't explain it within the context of their Christian

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-43531978448729867232014-07-04T09:18:00.002-04:002014-07-04T09:18:35.967-04:00

It seems like a lot of court cases these days are centered around separate Bill of Rights issues, such as the freedom of religion vs. freedom of speech or whether the right to choose your own reproductive health care is trumped by someone else's right to their religious views. Then there is always that pesky right to bear arms issue and how far it should go. So, to fix all that, what we really

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-43546334615927766122014-06-29T19:06:00.001-04:002014-06-29T19:06:43.702-04:00

Have you ever noticed that all of the Abrahamic religions get creepier and more far fetched the later in time they were conceived of? It started, of course, with Judaism. Its adherents beliefs were fairly simple: There was just one god who had no real name that anyone could pronounce, but Yaweh was close enough. There were lots of do's and don'ts, most of which sound rather bizarre or silly and

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-8830276471316564792014-06-28T10:06:00.002-04:002014-06-28T10:06:21.987-04:00

I admit I was unaware that there is a dichotomy of opinion on intelligent alien life between astronomers and biologists. My degree is in biology but I also love astronomy. I have always been suspicious of the statistical claims made by the astronomers, that because of the sheer number of stars there MUST be intelligent life somewhere else. And I agree that it is likely that some kind of sentient,

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-60936889160957705952014-06-10T17:44:00.001-04:002014-06-10T17:50:52.813-04:00

How to improve America in five easy steps: 1. Build up our failing infrastructure. What does that entail? Let's develop a plan to fix all our decrepit bridges and highways for one thing. Then, let's upgrade our railroad system to add more bullet trains and high-speed rail services. Let's also upgrade the mass transit systems in all cities where an upgrade is needed, and build new ones in cities

Jerry Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05466226925773904805noreply@blogger.com0