or stillness itself. Kindness itself. Beauty Itself.

most scientists I know get crazy happy studying how amazing it all is.

When I think of evolution I do think of an urge "upward" if
you will -- there is a force of life, something unchanging as
it animates everything coming into and going out of existence.

That force motivates evolution, it urges change, it restores
balance, it is everywhere, always.

In evolution I see the mad energy of creativity, gone wild,
purposeful, creating and recreating, trying new things*
discarding what doesn't work, doing more of what's working and
making it even cooler, and so on and so on and you know what
a crazy amazing world and universe we have. It's going to
keep going long after we're gone. You can dive into fascination
for the rest of your life and never come out, it's that bottomless.

* I don't mean this to sound like there's an external
Creator. I mean from within every particle of everything in
existence, this creative process is happening.

I think the human ability to feel is sorely underappreciated and valued.

Do you ever make a choice based on a feeling?

The sense of touch -- to feel -- is not limited to the skin
and the external world. We can feel also within our own
bodies, and, more delicately, if we pay attention, we can
feel things inside and outside of us that are more subtle
than the intellect.

One of those subtle things is called "feelings" (also known
as emotions.) The words cause confusion. We are feeling
creatures, it is our nature to feel. We feel hot and cold,
we feel hungry and tired, we feel energized, we feel
soft silky cat fur, we feel satisfaction, we feel gratification,
we feel anger, we feel thorns on rosebushes, we feel sad,
we feel if things are sharp or dull, we feel the wind on
our skin, we feel an ache in our hearts, we feel longings.
These are all normal survival functions of the human physical
feeling machine.

If there happens to be a God it makes sense we
would be designed to be able to feel its existence and
our connection to it, even if it made little sense intellectually.

The problem I find with discussions of God is that there
needs to be a bottom-line definition of what God is, or
what people are even arguing about. Him, It, heaven,
hell, who knows. I don't know what others believe, but I
bet no two believers believe exactly the same things.

I have come to respect my own perception of reality, regardless of others.

I do no harm and I treat others as I would like to be treated.

If on the planet we are 6 billion then there are 6 billion different
points of view. Some are very similar and some vastly dissimilar.

Who is to decide which point of view is the accurate one?

We learn not to trust ourselves when we are young -- whether
or not we are indoctrinated by religion. (It's possible to get
just as indoctrinated by atheists or public school teachers,
well-meaning people who care about us and want us to
succeed.)

The effect of the indoctrination is to accept answers and
beliefs of others, rather than find out for one's own self
what is real.

Crucial life skills are too often squelched when we're young.
To think for ourselves, come to our own conclusions, make
choices, experience the consequences, learn to trust
our own instincts and judgement, regardless of popular
or political correctness.

If you were the only person in the world with your perception,
would you own it?

it's tricky to find the boundaries, when we are shedding our skin cells all day long

and manufacturing new ones from the inside out.

My point of view is that everything in the perceivable universe
is in a constant state of change -- either evolution or disintegration,
but never fixed, never absolute.

Science is challenged to prove the existence of what is not fixed,
and constantly changing. Science can prove things now that were
not provable in recent past. The future will be similar.

Einstein purportedly said the subatomic particles appeared playful.
There is a force in life, behind all life, making everything come
into existence, animating, breathing everything. It isn't measurable
by science.

Religion is blind, science is limited. Truth is where they meet.
The connection between the mortal and the immortal.

this is the face of a man who has lost touch with his conscience

one difference, I think, is this:

Fundamentalist Christians seek to take over the US government.
For now, this is mostly understood and spoken about privately,
not shouted in the hallways of Congress.

Laws protecting human rights would be changed by such a
government, Armageddon welcomed and helped along. A different
kind of terrorism.. more slow moving but more insidious,
harder to identify, harder to fight. The country would be steered
toward fundamentalist Christian-based laws and way of life,
as we moved closer and closer to the expected end times.

Fundamentalist Islamists blow stuff up outright, shouting the
name of their god and their savior. Usually predictable and fairly
easy to anticipate and prevent, if the government is doing its job.

You can't compare the two because of context, timing, intention, and especially recent history.

The filmmaker has an agenda which appears to be inflammatory
and hateful, at a time when violent Islamic fundamentalism is a
huge deal in the world. I don't think the Monty Python gang had
a similar intention with their movie.

Many believed the Iraq war was a religious and righteous
war. There are plenty of anecdotes about this view from
Christians in the US military. I won't even try to provide links
to back this up but I think you can research if interested.
Killing for God, killing for Jesus, but legalized because there's
a "war"

I believe at times it is appropriate to provoke a festering illness,
cause it to expose itself, so as to cause the body large to purge
it. This happens in nature and in medicine. But it's hard for me
to justify it happening when it involves human beings who can
make choices.

Hatemongers incite other hatemongers, both for their own side,
and hatemongers among the hated. Hating the hate in each other
and not able to look beyond and see we are human beings.

Look at what has risen up on the far right since 2008. It's a horrible
thing that has emerged, and we've seen its hunger for power.

In the short term, it's a few small minded people with extreme
views and an agenda for war. I don't think this is really about Islam
the religion, and certainly not Muslims in general.

update (unimportant, hardly worth reading)

I believe this person ought to speak