10.7 Billion Year-Old Spiral Galaxy Stuns Astronomers

[Clearing the Eye]

You don't have to like religion, but please don't try to consciously destroy the primary form of identity for my ethnic group.

I will try and so will the majority of humanity, and we will succeed. It's taken a long time, but we're closer than ever as a species to being rid of superstition and fairytale. From near universal belief stretching back thousands upon thousands of years, we've ended up here, where some of the best countries on Earth to live in (as judged by quality of life index) have a largely sane population (read: more and more people disregarding Christianity and Judaism)--places like Sweeden, Denmark and Australia. The future is bright for the intelligent. It'll just take willpower and logic.

Then I can only hope that it fails because I have no desire to see my ethnic groups beliefs destroyed because some former Christians want to make everybody else one of them. But I have to lol, that you think the majority of people are becoming atheist.

The majority of the people with the ability to actually affect things on a global scale, I meant to say. More than half the planet is made up of fairly vicarious individuals, not so much a part of our species as a sheep moving forward. Their religious beliefs are destructive and a hindrance to us, but they can be herded by the more rational among us--after all, what is religion if not a heard of lambs?

 

[Buizel91]

Sorry to be a party-pooper, but I honestly doubt FTL will ever exist. We might be able to bend space-time to our will, making a shortcut, but actually moving faster than the speed of light will likely never happen.

Hmm yes. To travel faster than the speed of light means you have to be mass less. That obviously presents a lot of problems.

You quoted the wrong guy :c

 

[Nyaliva]

It doesn?t hurt anyone that I believe in something so why can?t I just believe in it in peace?

I was going to pick apart your every response (no one else on the entirety of the planet recorded a mass escape of slaves from an Egyptian ruler and god? lolol), but then you went and said that. Now I'm just going to lay it out straight; religion is the single most destructive force in human history. No other cause outside nature has led to and been the catalyst for as much death, suffering and misery as religion. More human beings have died at the hands of the faithful than by the heathen's. From the archaic sacrifices of infants, the god ordered genocides of entire peoples, a legacy of hatred, bigotry and condemnation that sees men alienated from one another and keeps minorities in constant fear, to the modern day wars that cripple our growth as a species and ensure the poverty stricken remain impoverished.

The human species cannot flourish to its full potential and achieve peace within itself until religion is shamed into self-extinction. Until every false prophet and every purveyor of ignorance is corrected, stupidity will run rampart. While preachers spread myth and baseless faith, the naive and the desperate will be led into spiritual slavery. Just as we round up the con-man, so too must we round up the priest. Just as we educate the dumb, so too must we illuminate the faithful. As we give the schizophrenic their medication, we give the religious a dose of reality. As every child grows up and leaves behind their invisible friends, humanity will mature and leave behind theirs.

It's not okay to lie anymore. We have to stop kidding ourselves. We cannot allow religion to exist in a time when we would strive for knowledge and understanding. Thankfully, as a species we are less religious than ever before in history. Statistically, per capita there are fewer individuals that belong to any particular faith than there has been since perhaps the dawn of the biped ape. Humans have been around for a long time--it's about damn time we stop believing in fairy tales, and, like it or not, people are figuring that out.

I just hope I'll be around to see it.

*Sigh* And I thought you might've been at least a little less conceited than the masses of atheists I hear from but I see now, you're just like them, condemning religion and believing you are the more "enlightened" for doing so. But somehow I knew that whether you argued my other points or not, you'd definitely come back with this one. Do you really believe that if we had no religion, there would be no conflict? If people are so ready to kill for the sake of something they have no evidence of, don't you think they would've killed anyway and just used a different reason? WWI and WWII were started by political agendas (you could argue that WWII was partially religious but it could also be argued the people who believed in Hitler made it religious). I don't deny there would have been less conflict in our history if there was no religion but not by as much as you seem to claim.

Besides, that was then and this is now. I have my faith and very few people even know about it apart from people on these kinds of threads. The fact is, I'm not going to go on a killing spree and it has no influence on what I do other than moral choice so why can't I believe? You can say I'm an idiot, hiding in the dark but if it has no influence on your life and barely any on my own, why can't we just leave it until we're dead? I know I'm just one person in a sea of morons but I'm pretty sure, apart from the middle east, religious people have become more pacifist than the slave driving, crusade starting barbarians of the first millenium. Not to mention, atheists probably have more drive to help humanity flourish as a rebellion to the religious oppressors than if that oppression didn't exist. You can claim religion is holding you back but I ask how? Actually I don't. I'd really like to go to bed now...

Also, the only two parties involved in the Jews' mass exodus would have been the Egyptians and the Jews, the latter of which proceeded to walk through the desert for 40 years in total seclusion and, as it has been written in the Bible, would have been the only ones to record it.

Oh, and my friend wanted me to post this to you, if there are an infinity of universes and each one's a little different, couldn't it be that one of them contained a God? Atheists:0 Christians: Over 9000!

It's a troll, don't respond to it.

 

[Nyaliva]

You don't have to like religion, but please don't try to consciously destroy the primary form of identity for my ethnic group.

I will try and so will the majority of humanity, and we will succeed. It's taken a long time, but we're closer than ever as a species to being rid of superstition and fairytale. From near universal belief stretching back thousands upon thousands of years, we've ended up here, where some of the best countries on Earth to live in (as judged by quality of life index) have a largely sane population (read: more and more people disregarding Christianity and Judaism)--places like Sweeden, Denmark and Australia. The future is bright for the intelligent. It'll just take willpower and logic.

Then I can only hope that it fails because I have no desire to see my ethnic groups beliefs destroyed because some former Christians want to make everybody else one of them. But I have to lol, that you think the majority of people are becoming atheist.

The majority of the people with the ability to actually affect things on a global scale, I meant to say. More than half the planet is made up of fairly vicarious individuals, not so much a part of our species as a sheep moving forward. Their religious beliefs are destructive and a hindrance to us, but they can be herded by the more rational among us--after all, what is religion if not a heard of lambs?

Wow, after this I really think I'm on the better side of this argument because no-one who thinks like that about people is worth any amount of the ego he gives himself for the sake of something so simple as belief. I refuse to converse with you any further.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Hey. Hey guys. Can someone answer a question for me?

What in the holy hotsauce hells does this article have to do with religion? Because I thought it was about a cool astronomical find.

And if this article has absolutely nothing to do with religion...

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT RELIGION?

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Hey. Hey guys. Can someone answer a question for me?

What in the holy hotsauce hells does this article have to do with religion? Because I thought it was about a cool astronomical find.

And if this article has absolutely nothing to do with religion...

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT RELIGION?

Because one person said that "science has been proven wrong again", another person jumped to conclusions and attacked all religion. Never mind that the comment that said science is wrong, didn't mention religion at all.

The majority of the people with the ability to actually affect things on a global scale, I meant to say. More than half the planet is made up of fairly vicarious individuals, not so much a part of our species as a sheep moving forward. Their religious beliefs are destructive and a hindrance to us, but they can be herded by the more rational among us--after all, what is religion if not a heard of lambs?

Really? The classical "the Jews are out to control and harm us"? Tell me, what exactly is Judaism doing to harm you? Really, I want to know, how me praying at our fallen temple [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall] harms you in any way? What exactly has Judaism done to stop stem cell research? What has Judaism done to stop the study of Astronomy? What has Judaism done to stop the progression of science?

 

[rayen020]

Am i the only one who noticed that the super-old galaxy that kinda breaks the astronomical physics we know has a name that ends with "42"?

just wondering...

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Every time I see a picture of a galaxy I can't help but wonder if there are any advanced civilizations there and I'm trying to imagine what they're like. Hell, I think the same when I look at the night sky. And not knowing is pissing me off. We know so little about the universe. That's where our focus should be. We should do everything in our power to discover it's secrets.

 

[Tsaba]

Their religious beliefs are destructive and a hindrance to us, but they can be herded by the more rational among us--after all, what is religion if not a heard of lambs?

What is God?
What is Religion?
What is this direction you talk of being held back from and who guides you towards it?
Who are you to condemn people for the direction they seek because it is not one you see fit?

The more thought you put into these questions, the more you will realize you have more in common with the Nazis of WW2.

Just because someone has a reason for believing something, there is no reason to condemn him, isn't that how all science is about? "I don't agree with this, I will find proof to back my theory." All ways of thinking have their benefits. People are unique and are therefore entitled to what ever they believe in, even... even unicorns.

Please go take your one track mind way of science somewhere else. Thank you.

 

[Brad Shepard]

ITT people that dont get a joke.

 

[Drathnoxis]

It doesn?t hurt anyone that I believe in something so why can?t I just believe in it in peace?

I was going to pick apart your every response (no one else on the entirety of the planet recorded a mass escape of slaves from an Egyptian ruler and god? lolol), but then you went and said that. Now I'm just going to lay it out straight; religion is the single most destructive force in human history. No other cause outside nature has led to and been the catalyst for as much death, suffering and misery as religion. More human beings have died at the hands of the faithful than by the heathen's. From the archaic sacrifices of infants, the god ordered genocides of entire peoples, a legacy of hatred, bigotry and condemnation that sees men alienated from one another and keeps minorities in constant fear, to the modern day wars that cripple our growth as a species and ensure the poverty stricken remain impoverished.

The human species cannot flourish to its full potential and achieve peace within itself until religion is shamed into self-extinction. Until every false prophet and every purveyor of ignorance is corrected, stupidity will run rampart. While preachers spread myth and baseless faith, the naive and the desperate will be led into spiritual slavery. Just as we round up the con-man, so too must we round up the priest. Just as we educate the dumb, so too must we illuminate the faithful. As we give the schizophrenic their medication, we give the religious a dose of reality. As every child grows up and leaves behind their invisible friends, humanity will mature and leave behind theirs.

It's not okay to lie anymore. We have to stop kidding ourselves. We cannot allow religion to exist in a time when we would strive for knowledge and understanding. Thankfully, as a species we are less religious than ever before in history. Statistically, per capita there are fewer individuals that belong to any particular faith than there has been since perhaps the dawn of the biped ape. Humans have been around for a long time--it's about damn time we stop believing in fairy tales, and, like it or not, people are figuring that out.

I just hope I'll be around to see it.

I hope you realize just how much you and religious zealots have in common. Much of the conflict that you speak of was due to the members of one religion refusing to allow the existence of another. Well, you have just said that Nyaliva has no right to simply hold a belief that you disagree with, even though their act of believing has *no* impact on anyone but themselves(unless, of course, they choose to act as you and force their belief(or lack of) on people of other faiths). You have called for the eradication of something that is a source of strength and comfort for a great many people, simply because *you* can not see any value. I think that if you had the power and the will to enforce that desire it would turn out exactly the same as any of the countless religious wars. Furthermore, these people would be right to defend themselves considering you are the aggressor threatening to take away such a predominant piece of their identity.

In short, you possess the exact type of religious intolerance that you despise so much.

You claim to wish to help the human race achieve peace and realize it's full potential. But the sort of hostile environment that your attitude would breed will cause nothing but conflict amongst anybody with opposing ideas.

Your goals would be much better achieved by propagating a message of tolerance and understanding(which, if I understand correctly, was the original intent of Jesus). Because if you can understand what each person believes what they do and why it makes it all the easier to get along and have worthwhile discussions, leading to a more intelligent and productive society. After all, it shouldn't matter what faith a person follows, as long as they tolerate the fact that not everybody believes what they do.

Most of the time it seems that disputes arise from a misunderstanding of what each party believes and that, in truth, people are a lot closer to agreeing than they think.

Also, I'm not religious, but I can say that you will have a very hard time winning any Theists over to your line of thinking with insults to their intelligence and beliefs. It doesn't lead to a pleasant discussion and is more likely to cause the other person to completely dismiss anything you say.

 

[Snotnarok]

Science: Getting proven wrong every week.

Religion: Proving itself wrong every minute of everyday.

Religion isn't wrong, it says so in that book in the hotel room! :U

OT: Space is amazing, they're always finding things that are mind blowing and make no sense, then turn around a little while later and have reasons down. That's why space is so fun and interesting there's infinite possibilities, new discoveries and well, lots of stuff to explore.

 

[Daedrin]

You claim to wish to help the human race achieve peace and realize it's full potential. But the sort of hostile environment that your attitude would breed will cause nothing but conflict amongst anybody with opposing ideas.

And you're being intolerant of his intolerance! It's almost like this is a cyclical series of arguments and someone has to stop being an instigator before it will end!



OT. Space is cool.

 

[Arakasi]

Science: Getting proven wrong every week.

Religion: Proving itself wrong every minute of everyday.

Care to post some tact next time?

Tact needs to make way for fact.

Sorry about quoting an old post, but I could not resist the rhyme.

 

[grigjd3]

I guess it's time to update our estimates of black hole distributions...

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Care to post some tact next time?

Nothing wrong with suggesting religion is a fallacious product of its time, indelibly bias, provably wrong and best equipped to bring about its own destruction.

Religion isn't sacred and it's okay to point out its floors. You should no more humor the schizophrenic man than the supposedly righteous. If we don't remind people how silly their beliefs are remind them of the thousands of faiths that have come and gone, dissolved by history and reason, we'll never be rid of ignorance.

EDIT: typo.

So we should remove anyone who doesn't believe what they "should" believe? Neat to see how being "without God" has made you say the same crap "crazy religious" people say.

You want truth? Religion isn't evil. People are evil. Having no religion won't change that, nothing will. To have good people we need bad people. You're just using religion as an excuse, like the people who say "God told me to do it", or "It says so in the bible!" "No people can't be the problem. If we just remove religion everything will be fine!" How is that any less of a fairy tail than religious stories?

Yes, we shouldn't let people say stupid things, but we should first make sure what we say isn't stupid.

 

[jecht35]

Wow one innocent quote and a wild atheist appears, I choose you religion; fight! eh I wanted to work in some pokemon in this thread
OT: Space is so cool. I really wanted to be a astronaut once, but bad medical issues make it a no go at least I can see the pretty picture and admire it through a telescope

 

[Palademon]

Clearly it is the will of fellow spiral beings in the unvierse, kicking logic to the curb to preserve their galaxy.

 

[Erttheking]

...how the fuck did this turn into ANOTHER Religious thread? It's a news article about galaxies.