Is this normal?

[Cyrylek]

That is brilliant. I'd love to hear the migration story .

It had the opportunity to swim all over the place during the Flood. And then - oops! - got stuck in the damn loch.

By the way, Nessie, if she exists, is a very virtuous being. While God wiped out all the people and animals on (solid) earth for "perverting their ways", it clearly did not apply to the likes of dolphins or manatees (and they are awfully nice indeed). Sharks and alligators are simply misunderstood.

 

[HumanBeing]

These people are not extremists, they're just your average creationists who are found all over the USA.

They are not really dangerous, just a little wacky.

Leave them alone, and chances are they'll leave you alone.

I think by some standards such views would be considered a bit extreme. I never heard Christians in the UK talking about it and I grew up there (they all say dinosaur bones were placed as a test of faith, or at least that's what they said when I was growing up). As you say, it doesn't sound like they are dangerous so I have no reason to care. When you say "leave them alone", do you mean you don't think they would be happy with an atheist living in their community, or just that I'd need to be respectful. I can be respectful, I believe in all sorts of stuff that people say is crazy so I can kind of relate to them. But if they simply wouldn't be happy with people who have other views living near them, I guess I should find somewhere else.

 

[mak2]

Looks like a nice place. I personally would not care if someone thought it was haunted or whatever, I would still buy it.

 

[HumanBeing]

Looks like a nice place. I personally would not care if someone thought it was haunted or whatever, I would still buy it.

I made a lot of money here buying up properties that locals wouldn't live in because they said they were haunted by victims of the Khmer Rouge. I bought absurdly cheap in around '02/'03 and was able to sell them to other expats at a great profit when they started flooding in a few years later.

The difference is, I was getting a huge discount because of the "haunting", to the point where I was getting it for less than the value of the land it was sitting on. This place seems pretty cheap, but it doesn't sound like the dinosaurs will get me a discount.

 

[Oftencold]

Well, initially my knee jerk reaction was simply that I wouldn't be able to trust them. I mean, when I buy property, I want substantiated facts about the land, not stories about the neighborhood brontasaurus. But then I spoke to a friend who lives not all that far (relatively speaking) from that area, and he said that I shouldn't take it as a sign that they are trying to be dishonest, and that I'll simply have to get used to people believing in stuff like that if I want to live in rural America. I guess I can get used to it and I suppose it isn't an indication that the seller was trying to be dishonest or anything. I don't know, it just seemed a bit disconcerting.

I've known a fair amount of people who think like that. but, they were otherwise, so far as could tell, and I like to think that I gauge things like that well, intelligent, well informed on political and social issues, sterling parents, kind, charitable, productive, honest and so on.

People can just be weird sometimes.

I personally find the those beliefs annoying, because it is attached to the idea the God must be small enough to operate on time and space scales convenient to Humanity. If one is going to seek a Supreme Being, it seems to me that one ought to expect a supreme scale to be involved.

As a side note, I'm pragmatic where science and most laymen are concerned. I'm much more motivated that they understand that an aluminum ladder will conduct electricity, or that a high fever threatens their child. Whether they even believe in dinosaurs, evolution or the possibility of life on other planets isn't terribly important to the vast majority of their lives.

 

[HumanBeing]

I've known a fair amount of people who think like that. but, they were otherwise, so far as could tell, and I like to think tht I gauge things like that well, intelligent, well informed on political and social issues, sterling parents, kind, charitable, productive, honest and so on.

Sounds fine by me, but how would such people feel about living near an atheist? I mean, clearly it's a rural setup so there's no reason people would need to tread on each other's toes, but I know some communities aren't overly keen on being joined by outsiders.

 

[Oftencold]

Sounds fine by me, but how would such people feel about living near an atheist? I mean, clearly it's a rural setup so there's no reason people would need to tread on each other's toes, but I know some communities aren't overly keen on being joined by outsiders.

It could lead to some friction.

Many traditional religious people feel compelled by their compassion to evangelize Atheists. Were a member of your religion, I would probably feel uncomfortable in a strongly Protestant, especially evangelic Protestant neighborhood.

If you've ever felt any strong urge to convince someone to give up drugs, alcohol or smoking, you will have a fair notion about how Evangelicals will feel about you, at least some of them some of the time.

 

[HumanBeing]

It could lead to some friction.

Many traditional religious people feel compelled by their compassion to evangelize Atheists. Were a member of your religion, I would probably feel uncomfortable in a strongly Protestant, especially evangelic Protestant neighborhood.

If you've ever felt any strong urge to convince someone to give up drugs, alcohol or smoking, you will have a fair notion about how Evangelicals will feel about you, at least some of them some of the time.

I'm not the sort of person who feels compelled to tell anyone to do anything unless they are harming others, or if they are good enough friends that I feel a duty to give them a bit of advice, but I do know that such people exist in large quantities.

So, how would I know before moving into an area? Is it possible that an advert like this one is trying to send that exact message? I don't want to go around trying to just live in "atheist only" areas, that would feel silly, but I also don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable in their own community.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

I was looking through some property listings for small ranches of the type I'll be looking for if/when I get my visa. I found this little place that looks really nice from the photos so clicked the description. The first line read:

"Dinosaurs walked with man long ago and some say this land bares proof of that"

I have to admit, I didn't even know there were any educated people who believe this, much less real estate agencies. So I did a quick google, and it turns out this is actually quite a widely held belief among religious extremists in America (there don't seem to be many elsewhere who share this particular belief).

How widely held are such views in America? Widely enough that I shouldn't just assume the people who ran the ad aren't the kind of people to buy a house from? And how are people like that treated by the rest of the population? How do people go through school and still believe this kind of stuff by the time they come out of it? I found the whole thing quite fascinating once I got over my initial surprise.

Tracks of Time Ranch

You really havent left your apartment much have you? You really are just sounding like you are bashing Americans, while pretending that you never heard of this before.

Young Earth Creationism is very popular in the UK. I could post many stories about young earthers in the UK. The nuts are everywhere.


Here is a story back in 2002
Scientists sound alarm over advance of creationists | UK news | The Guardian

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Who are the British creationists?

BBC Radio 4 - Frontiers, Acts of Creation

 

[Oftencold]

I'm not the sort of person who feels compelled to tell anyone to do anything unless they are harming others, or if they are good enough friends that I feel a duty to give them a bit of advice, but I do know that such people exist in large quantities.

So, how would I know before moving into an area? Is it possible that an advert like this one is trying to send that exact message? I don't want to go around trying to just live in "atheist only" areas, that would feel silly, but I also don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable in their own community.

Count the churches, drive by on Sunday and see if they are well attended.

I feel that as a matter of full disclosure, I must respectfully tell you that Atheism itself is pretty silly, since it is based in the idea that there cannot be a Supreme Begin, because if there were one, it would behave as we should expect. Members of the religion also tend to tout that they are logical, which is odd in light of the often stated principle that logic is ineffective in proving negatives.

But in further answer to your inquiry, Fundamentalist Christians, and Evangelicals tend to proselytize. It is a fundamental tenant of their religion. Lest we judge them too harshly, we should remember that some other sects hold that those outside of their flocks may be killed of converted by force.

 

[HumanBeing]

You really havent left your apartment much have you? You really are just sounding like you are bashing Americans, while pretending that you never heard of this before.

Young Earth Creationism is very popular in the UK. I could post many stories about young earthers in the UK. The nuts are everywhere.

I've lived pretty much everywhere except the US. I grew up in the UK, but like I said, this stuff was unheard of in the time and place that I was growing up there (Bristol in the 80's). I'm not trying to bash anyone. I've met creationists before, dinosaurs didn't come up in our discussion.

I'm not trying to be rude about anyone or bash anything. Like I said, I believe in plenty of weird stuff that I can't substantiate too, so I can sympathize with them. This may be a common or popular thing in the UK now, I have no idea, I haven't been there since the 90's. I live in Cambodia and have done for about a decade. I don't know what kind of creationism is popular in different places, and I can't find out if people get all upset when I try to ask about it.

People here believe in all kinds of weird stuff too, but they don't seem to get so upset by people questioning it.

Edit: And what's this about bashing Americans? I never did any such thing. It sounds like the vast majority of them don't even believe in this stuff anyway. Why would I be going through so much effort to be able to live there if I wanted to bash them? I have no idea where you got this idea from.

 

[HumanBeing]

Count the churches, drive by on Sunday and see if they are well attended.

I feel that as a matter of full disclosure, I must respectfully tell you that Atheism itself is pretty silly, since it is based in the idea that there cannot be a Supreme Begin, because if there were one, it would behave as we should expect. Members of the religion also tend to tout that they are logical, which is odd in light of the often stated principle that logic is ineffective in proving negatives.

But in further answer to your inquiry, Fundamentalist Christians, and Evangelicals tend to proselytize. It is a fundamental tenant of their religion. Lest we judge them too harshly, we should remember that some other sects hold that those outside of their flocks may be killed of converted by force.

I understand. I don't care if they think atheism is silly, and I wouldn't tell them I thought their religion was silly even if that was how I felt. I could even be counted as more of an agnostic than an atheist, not in the sense that I don't know if there is a God, but simply in the sense that I don't care. I don't think it's relevant. I judge people based on their actions, not the book that motivates them. I believe in being the best person I can be in this lifetime regardless of what happens after.

I don't care what they believe, all I need to know is whether my presence in their community would be enough to make them feel uncomfortable. They are welcome to proselytize all day long if it makes them happy, as long as they don't get offended by my lack of religious conversion.

 

[Oftencold]

Agnosticism is a far more honest and intellectual position, in my vastly superior, verging on cosmically endowed opinion.

I am always curious to know by what standard those who believe themselves to be outside of religions define terms like "being the best person" or by what non-capricious standard they judge the actions of others. Even the idea that any judgement at all is valid seems to be an absurdity in a mechanistic universe.

For my part, were I to elect a wholly rational value system, by human scientific and natural standards, I'd go with "the strong shall exploit or destroy the weak as it pleases them."

 

[HumanBeing]

I am always curious to know by what standard those who believe themselves to be outside of religions define terms like "being the best person" or by what non-capricious standard they judge the actions of others. Even the idea that any judgement at all is valid seems to be an absurdity in a mechanistic universe.

I define being the best person in much the same way as religious people do: From the books that I read, my interactions with people, how they impact my day to day experiences, etc. A key difference is that I don't confine myself to just one book. So for example, even if one of the books that had some good lessons in it said that rape victims should be stoned to death for not screaming loudly enough, I wouldn't automatically just assume that it was right and go along with it.

With regards to the idea of passing judgement, you may have noticed from my other comments that I try my best to only judge things when they affect others. I'm happy for people to believe whatever makes them happy, as long as they are happy for others to do the same. In practice, that means they can read and enjoy the bible all day long, but if they start stoning rape victims in the street, I will raise my objections, just like any decent human being would

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

I've lived pretty much everywhere except the US. I grew up in the UK, but like I said, this stuff was unheard of in the time and place that I was growing up there (Bristol in the 80's). I'm not trying to bash anyone. I've met creationists before, dinosaurs didn't come up in our discussion.

I'm not trying to be rude about anyone or bash anything. Like I said, I believe in plenty of weird stuff that I can't substantiate too, so I can sympathize with them. This may be a common or popular thing in the UK now, I have no idea, I haven't been there since the 90's. I live in Cambodia and have done for about a decade. I don't know what kind of creationism is popular in different places, and I can't find out if people get all upset when I try to ask about it.

People here believe in all kinds of weird stuff too, but they don't seem to get so upset by people questioning it.

Edit: And what's this about bashing Americans? I never did any such thing. It sounds like the vast majority of them don't even believe in this stuff anyway. Why would I be going through so much effort to be able to live there if I wanted to bash them? I have no idea where you got this idea from.

Young earthers used to deny the existence of dinosaurs completely but somewhere along the line they changed it to dinosaurs existed with humans.

At any rate there were young earthers in the UK in the 80's they just didnt call themselves young earthers, nor do a lot of the young earthers today.

Young Earth creationism goes back historically a longtime. Its been around long before either of us were born.

ANd for all appearance your thread seemed to have been designed to poke at Americans. It looked like bashing to me. Now you assert that it wasnt, Ill take your word over my impression.

 

[HumanBeing]

Young earthers used to deny the existence of dinosaurs completely but somewhere along the line they changed it to dinosaurs existed with humans.

At any rate there were young earthers in the UK in the 80's they just didnt call themselves young earthers, nor do a lot of the young earthers today.

Young Earth creationism goes back historically a longtime. Its been around long before either of us were born.

ANd for all appearance your thread seemed to have been designed to poke at Americans. It looked like bashing to me. Now you assert that it wasnt, Ill take your word over my impression.

I've been aware since childhood that there are people who believe the world is only a few thousand years old, but when I was growing up they all said that dinosaur bones were planted by God as a test of faith. That was just their default answer to it at the time. I guess things have changed

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

I've been aware since childhood that there are people who believe the world is only a few thousand years old, but when I was growing up they all said that dinosaur bones were planted by God as a test of faith. That was just their default answer to it at the time. I guess things have changed

Well they could make really engaging childrens propaganda books since kids love dinosaurs. lol

 

[clownboy]

I don't mean to start a debate about whether we really walked with dinosaurs, but many would argue that it is provably false, and therefore crosses the line between puffery and provably inaccurate information.

Furthermore, my point was less about the fact that they said it and more about how such a statement would be received by people there. I mean, are such beliefs so widely accepted that this could be considered to be a good marketing strategy?

No, I don't think they are. However, you capture the attention of more than the Jesus riding a dinosaur set with that advo. If you're a dirt doctor and have an interest in fossils, this will capture your attention too. If you're a speculator, likewise. You know how much some fossils sell for? Can be huge money.

Also could be a local community of believers that the RE agent is part of who want to find a like-minded person for a buyer.