Finding the origins of life on earth is a collaboration of geneticists from around the globe. LUCA, or Last Universal Common Ancestor was a Progenote—2.9 Billion years ago. Massimo Di Guilio of the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples, Italy states “Progenotes can make proteins using genes as a template, but the process is so error-prone that the proteins can be quite unlike what the gene specified. The crucial point is that LUCA was a progenote, with poor control over the proteins that it made”.
Not to overwhelm with details, but imagine a single-celled organism capable of reproducing, but the shotgun blast of loosely controlled variations eventually filled the oceans in a cooperative sense creating a mega-organism like none seen since, it filled the planet’s oceans before splitting into three and giving birth to the ancestors of all living things on Earth today.
Like a Gish-Gallup of bullshit points in religion (a mythical and destructive form of progenote) starting as a single idea and having no control over the outcomes, spread through the world like a bacteria, or virus. After 3 Billion years we see the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, and genetically speaking, religion has lost its way but continues to grow in the outermost regions of third world poverty.
While progenote survived by non-competitive cooperation, religion has survived by destroying all noncompliant life in its path.
“One must not let oneself be misled: they say ‘Judge not!’ but they send to Hell everything that stands in their way”—Nietzsche
TheCommonAtheist 
There’s really no doubt, you’d be a superb teaching professor.
Memes, like genes, spread. It’s also estimated that upwards of 80% of all genetic mutations are harmful to an organisms fitness. I wonder if this correlates to memes?
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Well, the numbers are closely correlated to the amount of religious memes, but probably unrelated—maybe, lol. Thanks for the fine compliment.
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I have an off topic question. Emailed you.
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I may be mistaken and often am. There seems to be a correlation between suffering and religiosity. Christianity and Islam appear to use it like fertilizer.
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No mistake. You have deciphered the secret to their success. If there’s enough misery in your life you’ll turn to religion. If there’s not any misery in your life, they’ll bring it to your door if they go unchecked. There’s less misery and torture now because of less religiosity, not more. When they’ve had their full say they’ve historically brought their full measure of torture and genocide till the only genes left have been the compliant ones.
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From my experience I say that what you say makes total sense. The biggest problem(!) of western christianism has been the lack of “steady” suffering in North America and Europe, the countries with the most equitable system of government have the least religiosity. Therefore, horror followed by intense suffering is imposed upon the rest of the world so the beasts can feed while pretending to succour? Great scam, what?
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Great scam, and also the Bible is actually a commentary of its own effectiveness. The warnings and prophecy are a telltale sign of the church itself, not the world.
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Apologies but I totally miss your point. Could you elaborate on that?
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Pick a topic in Christianity. What is said or written is never what we objectively see in reality. “God is love” is a good example, but what we have seen is the opposite in the history of it. Gods mercy is a term thrown about as well, but “his” offspring has been nothing but unmerciful. Only when one breaks away do they see the church IS the problem. It is propped up at every level to be something it’s not, and the Bible, if read through those eyes is a commentary on the effectiveness of the gospel. Matthew 23 is a direct attack in the clergy and those that read it think it’s about the “other guys”. The only thing that has mitigated the torture is secular laws and society said ENOUGH!! The Bible although unintended, is a commentary in the church, not the end times and gentiles. Yes? No? Maybe?
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Yes? No? Maybe? The Bible, sorry, the problem with “the Bible” is that it is not a book but a collection of manuscripts, a grab-bag of historical bits, pseudo-history, tales, fables, instructions for living in certain areas, under certain conditions. Without the compilation and subsequent gross misuse of its contents there would be no bible and no “word of god” to mislead people. If the bible is a commentary on the church it isn’t in its contents or context but how power hungry priests and associates in the political sphere chose to selectively use certain books and passages in it. Anyone can interpret or use “the bible” any way they want. I used it and got myself unceremoniously invited to leave the last church I was a member of because I used the “wrong” passages, the ones that clearly and unequivocally condemned the Christian church leaving none unscathed. I didn’t have to go far, just read and interpreted the messages to the seven churches in Revelation. You won’t hear those expounded in the churches of today… The bible, in context, is still very relevant to me today. It is the language I use to communicate with my Christian friends at MDS work sites. The Trump supporters, there are many, are not thrilled with my interpretations and references of from “then” to “now” but caught here without their paid pastoral mouths to defend them and mostly ignorant of much of the bible, they cannot counter. Like shooting fish in a barrel in a way.
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Religion and and suffering have always been bedfellows. Religion claims that it offers relief from that suffering. If you sacrifice and quietly suffer now while you’re alive and, oh, by the way, give us your money too, not only will your suffering end but you will be eternally rewarded . The catch, of course, is that the promised reward only comes after you’re dead. Religion is an ideal tool to keep us unruly peasants in line.
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An interesting analogy.
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Here is something for you Jim that is not mentioned on your chart, and maybe not yet looked at in your whole blog– I don’t know cuz I haven’t taken the time to read it all. But anyways, here goes:
What about all the similarities between christianity and buddhism? Just like English absorbs the languages it encounters, just like christianity absorbs the pagan religions it encounters, so do the teachings of christ may have absorbed many of the teachings of the buddha.
I cannot remember them all now, but I am sure a good researcher such as yourself can easily find a comparative study of christianity with buddhism. Rebirth = reincarnation, slightly removed. Jesus walking on water = buddhist monks walking on air. Amen = aum, or om. Heaven = nirvana. My memories are not good right now, I am not recovering well from the anaesthetic from my recent surgery, but these are just a few things. Not associated with christ, but still associated with especially catholicism, are prayer beads, which were used in hindu and buddhist rituals predating the time of christ.
Christ’s “time in the desert” is believed by many scholars as actually having taken him to India where he studied under buddhist gurus. Some of these teachings later showed up in Jesus’s teachings. Do you have any thoughts on that?
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Tip of the day brought to you by rawgod 🙂 I’ll look at it. I think professor Taboo mentions this at in point as well. Also, where was Jesus for 17 years? Not a peep from 12-30. Great point RG.
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My pleasure, Jim, but I’m only working on decades old memories. None of these thoughts are mine, which is unusual for me. My problem, I cannot remember whose writings they are.
After I wrote this comment last night I spent hours searching the web, but almost everything I could find looked at the differences, and barely paid lip-service to the similarities. Plus, all that I found was recent, nothing from 40 or so years ago. So I hope you can do better than I did.
Maybe PT remembers? Or anyone in Readerville Land? I do remember being totally blown away by the info. But there was no web yet. You had to be lucky, or use library cards to such microfiche. That! was a chore in itself, lol.
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Maybe it’s your own. Did you know that accidentally plagiarizing subconscious memories is called Cryptomnesia. I know this isn’t your case, but when you think an idea was your idea yours but it wasn’t. Lol. We’re getting old.
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I wish I were as “old” as you, I might still have some fight left in me. As it is, especially right now, my fighting spirit, such as it is, is at the lowest it has been in years. See, I’m even repeating myself in the same sentence: such as it is. How did I devolve to this?
But I am still alive, and I shall recover my spirit. I just finished leaving a comment on a blog I happened across because there was a picture of two horses fighting, over a title promising a debate between a christian and an atheist. Some debate! The site was a christian site, and the debate was between a fool and a coward. (I will not say which was which.) Needless to say, the blogger used it to prove how stupid we atheists are for not researching our evidence. Look up White Knight, I can’t remember the name of the blog. It painted all atheists with the brush they used to humiliate the supposed atheist. I think they can use a bit of educational help, if you get my drift.
Yeah, I didn’t know there was a name for cryptomnesia, but it doesn’t surprise me, nor does it surprise me you are the one who knew it, lol. TY.
But that had always been a concern of mine. As a kid I read three or four books a day, and who knows what all is stored in this memory-bank of mine. I could be plagiarizing unconsciously every time I type, there is no way to know. But I also know my mind is great at putting facts or ideas together most people don’t see as related. So, where does plagiarism dnd, and composite thought begin? Who knows. I just write what my brain tells me. The rest is up to the reader, lol.
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Cryptomnesia can reveal who our influences have been. Thanks for the great comment and Rawgodhonesty.
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Again, my pleasure, but please no capitals. Just rawgod, plain and simple. Thank you.
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Something I’ve discovered whenever I do any web researching on a religious topic, Christian perspective dominates. The first 10-12 (or more) links are to Christian sites!
I KNOW there are other ways of looking at certain things because I found it in my book research, but to look for it on the web is like the proverbial needle in a haystack. So don’t feel bad, rawgod. It’s not you.
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On my post from today, the first thing I found was the SDA scientist that debunked Ellen’s potential seizure diagnoses. You can always find a religious opinion mixing the science at a slant.
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Thanks, Nan. At least I came across some writing by a catholic bishop who actually turned some of the Dalai Lama’s words around without batting an eye of miscomprehension.
The Dalai Lama, being a good buddhist who believes in reincarnation, said that belief in a religion, any religion, is just a step along the road to spiritual enlightenment (which knows needs no religious affiliation). According to the bishop, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, the Dalai Lama will eventually be the one corrected when he comes to understand that all roads lead to god and catholicism.
What a superior bit of arrogance. Christians of any ilk seem to have it, their way is the only way, no matter how good or bad another way might be. One god, and only one way to know him. 7.2 billion people in the world, septillions or more of living beings, and only 1 way for anybody to be right. If you will pardon the expression, OH MY GOD!!!!!
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