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	<title>Comments for The Enchanted Naturalist</title>
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	<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com</link>
	<description>&#34;Isn&#039;t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?&#34; -Douglas Adams</description>
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		<title>Comment on Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms by Oliver</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/22/sir-david-attenborough-on-the-wonderful-creation-of-parasitic-worms/#comment-401</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Oliver]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:55:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1472#comment-401</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[1) it obviously bothers him that a worm is boring into the boy, so he concludes there must be no God.

Classic Straw Man argument - that is not what he said Matt. He has not &quot;concluded&quot; there is no god from this fact, he was responding to a very specific claim (by theists)  about the wonder of nature and how that must &#039;prove&#039; the existence of god. He says at the very first that he doesn&#039;t know why we&#039;re here! All he is saying is that the wonder of nature would (should?) be a lot less unpleasant for many living creatures (humans included) if it actually had been designed by some kind of all loving god rather than just evolved in the way that he understands

2) why is the humanist bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do?

I can only assume from this statement that you have no actual idea what it is to be humanist, or you are simply deliberately misrepresenting it to try and make your point. To be humanist, by very definition, is to care about other humans - just without the fear of reward/punishment for doing so. So of course a humanist cares about organisms that inflict harm and suffering on other people. You can still be amazed at how some parasitic creatures or deadly bacteria/viruses evolved while at the same time trying to help stop them from wrecking death and misery on other human beings!]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>1) it obviously bothers him that a worm is boring into the boy, so he concludes there must be no God.</p>
<p>Classic Straw Man argument &#8211; that is not what he said Matt. He has not &#8220;concluded&#8221; there is no god from this fact, he was responding to a very specific claim (by theists)  about the wonder of nature and how that must &#8216;prove&#8217; the existence of god. He says at the very first that he doesn&#8217;t know why we&#8217;re here! All he is saying is that the wonder of nature would (should?) be a lot less unpleasant for many living creatures (humans included) if it actually had been designed by some kind of all loving god rather than just evolved in the way that he understands</p>
<p>2) why is the humanist bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do?</p>
<p>I can only assume from this statement that you have no actual idea what it is to be humanist, or you are simply deliberately misrepresenting it to try and make your point. To be humanist, by very definition, is to care about other humans &#8211; just without the fear of reward/punishment for doing so. So of course a humanist cares about organisms that inflict harm and suffering on other people. You can still be amazed at how some parasitic creatures or deadly bacteria/viruses evolved while at the same time trying to help stop them from wrecking death and misery on other human beings!</p>
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		<title>Comment on God&#8217;s Omniscience: Religion&#8217;s Ultimate Cop-Out by Swing and a Miss &#8211; The Castrated God. &#124; Ken&#039;s Cushion</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/10/03/gods-omniscience-religions-ultimate-cop-out/#comment-377</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Swing and a Miss &#8211; The Castrated God. &#124; Ken&#039;s Cushion]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:30:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1539#comment-377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[...] God&#8217;s Omniscience: Religion&#8217;s Ultimate Cop-Out (enchantednaturalist.com) [...]]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] God&#8217;s Omniscience: Religion&#8217;s Ultimate Cop-Out (enchantednaturalist.com) [...]</p>
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		<title>Comment on Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms by Louis</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/22/sir-david-attenborough-on-the-wonderful-creation-of-parasitic-worms/#comment-342</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Louis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:26:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1472#comment-342</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Matt--I&#039;m sorry, but you&#039;re putting words in Attenborough&#039;s mouth. The quote is pretty clear: the theist can&#039;t on the one hand assert that a living thing like a butterfly or hummingbird proclaims the glory of god while turning a blind eye (no pun intended) to other living things like parasitic worms that rob children of their eyesight. It&#039;s a clear case of special pleading.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Matt&#8211;I&#8217;m sorry, but you&#8217;re putting words in Attenborough&#8217;s mouth. The quote is pretty clear: the theist can&#8217;t on the one hand assert that a living thing like a butterfly or hummingbird proclaims the glory of god while turning a blind eye (no pun intended) to other living things like parasitic worms that rob children of their eyesight. It&#8217;s a clear case of special pleading.</p>
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		<title>Comment on Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms by matt</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/22/sir-david-attenborough-on-the-wonderful-creation-of-parasitic-worms/#comment-341</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[matt]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:44:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1472#comment-341</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[i&#039;m not sure about our interpretations here.  from this paragraph i read Attenborough having difficulty accommodating the suffering from the worm with the existence of god... Attenborough intentionally brought up suffering as the difficulty.  that&#039;s the only difference in going from the hummingbird to the worm; is not the worm just as an amazing a creature biologically?]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>i&#8217;m not sure about our interpretations here.  from this paragraph i read Attenborough having difficulty accommodating the suffering from the worm with the existence of god&#8230; Attenborough intentionally brought up suffering as the difficulty.  that&#8217;s the only difference in going from the hummingbird to the worm; is not the worm just as an amazing a creature biologically?</p>
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		<title>Comment on Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms by Louis</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/22/sir-david-attenborough-on-the-wonderful-creation-of-parasitic-worms/#comment-335</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Louis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:32:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1472#comment-335</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hi Matt! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. With all due respect, I think you&#039;ve missed Attenborough&#039;s point completely. He&#039;s responding to a very specific assertion theists have made to him, namely that the wonders of the natural world are reflective of the divine. His point is that these theists have an obvious double-standard that&#039;s laid bare by the life forms that they choose as examples (e.g., aesthetically-pleasing butterflies as opposed to parasites that wreak havoc on humans).

I don&#039;t see how from this specific quote you could derive the notion that Attenborough has chosen to be a nonbeliever because of the existence of parasitic worms. He doesn&#039;t even allude to such thing. What he finds &quot;difficult to accommodate&quot; is that a parasitic worm speaks just as much to a wonderful creator  as a hummingbird (which is the implication of this specific theistic argument).

As to why a humanist would be &quot;bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do,&quot; I&#039;m a little stumped. What is it about secular humanism that precludes such a sentiment? How does intellectual assent to naturalistic evolution preclude an atheist from not wanting to get infected by a parasitic worm? Help me understand your logic.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi Matt! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. With all due respect, I think you&#8217;ve missed Attenborough&#8217;s point completely. He&#8217;s responding to a very specific assertion theists have made to him, namely that the wonders of the natural world are reflective of the divine. His point is that these theists have an obvious double-standard that&#8217;s laid bare by the life forms that they choose as examples (e.g., aesthetically-pleasing butterflies as opposed to parasites that wreak havoc on humans).</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t see how from this specific quote you could derive the notion that Attenborough has chosen to be a nonbeliever because of the existence of parasitic worms. He doesn&#8217;t even allude to such thing. What he finds &#8220;difficult to accommodate&#8221; is that a parasitic worm speaks just as much to a wonderful creator  as a hummingbird (which is the implication of this specific theistic argument).</p>
<p>As to why a humanist would be &#8220;bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do,&#8221; I&#8217;m a little stumped. What is it about secular humanism that precludes such a sentiment? How does intellectual assent to naturalistic evolution preclude an atheist from not wanting to get infected by a parasitic worm? Help me understand your logic.</p>
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		<title>Comment on Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms by matt</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/22/sir-david-attenborough-on-the-wonderful-creation-of-parasitic-worms/#comment-334</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[matt]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:15:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1472#comment-334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[1) it obviously bothers him that a worm is boring into the boy, so he concludes there must be no God.
2) why is the humanist bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do? 

there is the question of why &quot;god&quot; would allow such a thing.  there is another question of why the humanist in a &quot;godless&quot; world is bothered by nature being nature.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>1) it obviously bothers him that a worm is boring into the boy, so he concludes there must be no God.<br />
2) why is the humanist bothered by a life form doing what it has evolved to do? </p>
<p>there is the question of why &#8220;god&#8221; would allow such a thing.  there is another question of why the humanist in a &#8220;godless&#8221; world is bothered by nature being nature.</p>
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		<title>Comment on Upping One&#8217;s Spiritual Carbohydrate Intake by Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms &#124; The Enchanted Naturalist</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/20/upping-ones-spiritual-carbohydrate-intake/#comment-328</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sir David Attenborough on the Wonderful Creation of Parasitic Worms &#124; The Enchanted Naturalist]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:39:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1453#comment-328</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[...] Our Periodic Pasta: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know [why we&#039;re here]. People sometimes say to me, &#8216;Why don&#8217;t you [...]]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Our Periodic Pasta: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know [why we&#039;re here]. People sometimes say to me, &#8216;Why don&#8217;t you [...]</p>
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		<title>Comment on Peter A. Angeles on Creation Ex Nihilo by Louis</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/21/peter-a-angeles-on-creation-ex-nihilo/#comment-327</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Louis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:33:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1463#comment-327</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pasta al dente is a necessary and sufficient condition for divine creation.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Pasta al dente is a necessary and sufficient condition for divine creation.</p>
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		<title>Comment on Peter A. Angeles on Creation Ex Nihilo by JT</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/21/peter-a-angeles-on-creation-ex-nihilo/#comment-326</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[JT]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:17:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1463#comment-326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe he/she/it evolved into a social being? Feasting alone on pasta for eternity would make any creature want company. Once you get the sauce just right, you have to share it...]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maybe he/she/it evolved into a social being? Feasting alone on pasta for eternity would make any creature want company. Once you get the sauce just right, you have to share it&#8230;</p>
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		<title>Comment on Upping One&#8217;s Spiritual Carbohydrate Intake by Peter A. Angeles on Creation Ex Nihilo &#124; The Enchanted Naturalist</title>
		<link>http://enchantednaturalist.com/2011/09/20/upping-ones-spiritual-carbohydrate-intake/#comment-324</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Peter A. Angeles on Creation Ex Nihilo &#124; The Enchanted Naturalist]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:30:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://enchantednaturalist.com/?p=1453#comment-324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[...] Today&#8217;s Our Periodic Pasta: [...]]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Today&#8217;s Our Periodic Pasta: [...]</p>
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