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You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think: Answers to Questions from Angry Skeptics is a 2009 book by Christian apologist Ray Comfort.
Critical Review[]
In this book, Ray shows a complete misunderstanding or wants to convey an untruthful understanding of atheism and evolution. The title is absurd as atheists are nothing if not thinkers. Ray obviously lacks a fact checker as no one even attempts to keep him accoruate. After reading his first chapter, a few things about Ray become rather clear. He has no problem with 'lying for Jesus', and looks delusional. Ray seems to be so disgusted with the concept of being related to other primates through evolution. We speculate he would reject his own god if it were revealed to Ray that he used evolution as the process for speciation.
Ray likes to compare being an atheist to that of a person playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded firearm. "To be an atheist is to play Russian roulette with all the barrels loaded."
This is a faulty analogy for a few reasons. Least important is that Russian roulette is played with a revolver with one loaded chamber not a loaded barrel. It is only Russian roulette IF Ray is correct and HIS god is the one that exists. Furthermore, it is easily reversible. When considering the vast number of Gods to choose from, picking one would be like playing Russian roulette with a revolver wherein all but one chamber was loaded (aside from the typical way Russian roulette is played).
He says that a person's conscience doesn't speak to point out the wrong tie /shirt color, but this is false. This voice is the same voice that you hear when you are told something is wrong. It is your conscience. He asks where the conscience comes from and implies that it can only come from god, but the conscience is 100% consistent with evolution. Animals have morals to a degree. This is why you only see animals killing others in their own social group under certain circumstances. He then claims that all civilizations know that it is wrong to lie, kill, and steal. This is demonstrably false. Many civilisations thought human sacrifice was acceptable. Others were built on theft and murder (see Hannibal and other tyrants.) There are also differences about morality between different cultural groups over issues like slavery, the role of women etc. If the conscience is as Comfort says, god-given why does god give such an indistinct message? The notion that every human has a god-given conscience is demonstrably false. The sociopath does not have a conscience. Did god screw him on purpose?
Ray also claims that the scripture is unchanged throughout the centuries. This is also demonstrably false. Several parts of John are forgeries. Meanings and interpretations were deliberately changed over the centuries by scribes. The Dead Sea scrolls prove this. They contain many fragments of the Bible and show that the Bible has changed quite a bit from translations and copies of copies of copies. There are dozens of translations. The KJV has been modified no fewer than 19 times over the last few centuries. There is no original version of the scriptures with which to compare the Bible.
Ray refuses to acknowledge that the Bible claims the world is flat and circular.
Ray says that Christians never lie in testimony. This is demonstrably false as will be proven later. He also claims that judges lend most credence to eyewitness testimony and do not like flowery speeches. This is also untrue. Eyewitness testimony is the least credible of all forms of evidence. This video is a great example of how eyewitness testimony should be evaluated. Ray's assertion that Christians do not lie is false Ray puts a lot of effort into demonstrating that virtually all human beings lie, when challenged Ray admits that he has lied too, if no Christian lies there are few or no Christians. There are many who believe that lying for Jesus is acceptable.
He also claims that Jesus claimed to be god in human form. This is not completely accurate. Jesus never said so in so many words, but may people infer that he made that claim from several passages in the gospels.
In addition, Ray's claims also beg the question of the actual existence of Jesus. It can be argued that the Jesus of the Bible never existed. There are no contemporary documents containing his name or the names of his followers. Several documents written later are proven forgeries (Josephus, the gospel of John, etc.)
Chapter 1 Creation must have a creator[]
The title of this chapter is one of Ray's favorite arguments. He continues to use it to this day despite it being totally debunked. See Argument from design.
Ray starts off the chapter with a quote from Steven Hawking that is taken totally out of context, making it appear that Hawking believes in a god and that god must have created the universe. This is an example of Ray's habit of quote mining.
Ray claims that evolution is a totally random process. This is demonstrably false and he has been corrected on this issue time and time again. The only random part of evolution are the mutations. The selection processes are not random in the least; they are the antithesis of random. He also claims that if evolution is NOT random, then it is planned and someone (god) must be doing the planning. This is a false dichotomy.
Ray attempts to use a number of misrepresentations to explain what evolutionists believe. He abuses the 'goldilocks zone' and attempts to prove that evolution must fail because we must have been designed for the planet and the planet for us. He fails to understand that we evolved to suit the conditions on the planet and not vice versa. He goes on to claim that atheists believe that gravity evolved and is not a property of space-time and that we would not know what to do with water unless his god had told us what to do with it. There are numerous logical fallacies inside his claims.
As happens frequently Ray assumes without proving it that the universe is a creation. Ray says that "Creation is absolute proof of a Creator. You cannot have a creation without a Creator. It is impossible ("Then who made God" has a logical answer). End of argument; unless, according to the Bible, you are a fool." But he never does give the 'logical answer' of who made god; he just declares the argument over.
Ray claims he never struggles with doubt about his creator. This is clearly a delusion.
When it is pointed out that his comparison between building / builder and creation / creator is a logical fallacy, he fails to address the error and points to the bible as proof "For every house is built by some man; but he that built all things is God. (Hebrews 3:4)". This is a prime example of circular reasoning. Believers in other religions can point to their personal sacred texts just as easily.
Ray likes to claim on his blog that he never calls atheists fools. This is demonstrably false. "When an atheist says he sees no evidence that God exists, I take the time to reason with him about creation not being an accident (atheists do not claim this, if god has no cause is god an accident?), even though it is intellectually demeaning to have to do so (atheism is the epitome of stupidity)".
Ray says that his brain is an average brain. This is debatable, but beside the point. He is awe-struck with his brain's ability to recall events and relive them. He clearly is not aware that memory is not reliable in the least. He says the atheist brain is lacking common sense.
Ray claims that to be an atheist is to deny both common reason and logic. But this is clearly false. Atheists revere logic and reason. Ray does not seem to have a basic grasp on what logic and reason are.
Ray claims that atheists call any reference to the Bible as proof of god as circular reasoning. He is dismissive, but it does not invalidate the fact that using the Bible to prove god is circular reasoning. The bible proves neither Christianity nor Judaism in the same way that Greek mythology does not prove the Greco-Roman pantheon, Celtic mythology does not prove the Celtic pantheon, repeat for other religions.
In a section called The Asunist HQ, Ray attempts to show that atheists are just as stupid as people who claim there is no Sun. He says:
- Because a tribe was killed by the Sun they deny it's existence.
- Scientists have searched the NIGHT sky for the sun, but have not found the Sun.
- Entered a pitch black room and read a book about the Sun and found no evidence.
- Confirmed their beliefs by interviewing blind people.
- Call those who testify as to the existence of the Sun liars.
This is just fatuous for so many reasons, but to name a few:
- The sun can be observed, tested, measured, and quantified. God cannot.
- God has been sought, but never found; even the blind can feel the sun.
- The claims of believers pertaining to the powers and deeds of god are not testable, but the Sun is.
- There are no people who claim the Sun does not exist. There are, on the other hand, billions of people who either believe in a different god from that of Christianity or no god at all.
Ray claims that if the universe has been around for trillions and trillions of years, the Earth would have crumbled to dust despite gravity... he uses this as evidence that god does not need to be created because he is without beginning or end. He also abuses the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Real scientists never claim that the earth would have crumbled.
Later, Ray says that any Christian who believes in evolution has created a false idol in the shape of his own 'god'. So, you cannot be a real Christian unless you totally reject evolution according to Ray. Evolution is not an idol, it is a theory, Ray Comfort's Way of the Master system of evangelism can just as well be called a false idol.
Ray also claims that Stephen Hawking is not an atheist and believes in god by using a few mined quotes. This is false. Hawking is an atheist or agnostic at best.
Ray claims that atheists hate god because god exists. This is false. Atheists do not hate things that do not exist. They hate the problems that religions have caused all over the world for centuries. They despise the promotion of ignorance and people who scorn reason and rational thought.
Ray's Opinion and Hatred of Evolution[]
What to tell your kids[]
Michael Shermer was raised in a fundamentalist Christian home. He presumably came home one day and told his parents something like this: "Mom and Dad, I've been studying biology in college and you know what you and Pastor Bob taught about how everything was created all at once? Well, as it turns out, there's a couple of centuries' worth of evidence to show that it didn't happen that way." If you were in their place, what would you say to your kid? (Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine.)
Ray Replies:
- Michael, your parents and pastor may have encouraged you to give your heart to Jesus when you were a little boy. It is wrong to do that. That is the recipe for a false conversion. They instead should have taught you the Ten Commandments—that God considers lust to be adultery, and hatred to be murder; that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. Then the fact that Jesus paid your fine—by suffering for your sins to save you from hell—would have made sense to you. You need to repent and trust the Savior to escape God's eternal justice. When you do that, you will come to know God. Not know "about" Him, but you will know Him personally. He will transform your life and grant you the gift of everlasting life. John 14:21 is either true or it isn't: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." As you obey Him, His presence will become more real to you than the early morning sunlight.
- A theory exists out there that contradicts God's Word. It says that man wasn't made in God's image, but that we evolved, over a long period of time, from primates. If I were your parent, I would say that when you are told this, I want you to ask questions about it. I want you to be the ultimate skeptic. Don't just believe it. The entire theory stands or falls on whether or not there is proof. So ask for scientific proof.
- This is not correct. Evolution does not say that we evolved from primates. We ARE primates. Furthermore, (assuming the Christian god's existence for the sake of the argument), what is "God's Image"? Is it that of a bipedal humanoid? (If so, why the need for Jesus-as-god?) Could "created in God's image" refer not to superficial appearance, not to the physical characteristics of muscle, blood, and bone, but rather to the fundamental differences between humans and non-humans? Ray's argument doesn't even stand up within a Biblically dogmatic belief system, let alone from a scientific viewpoint.
- Evolutionists say that all the animals we have now were not as we see them. They were radically different. Dinosaurs, over millions of years, became birds, fish became lizards, dogs were something else, primates evolved into human beings, etc. So, when they tell you this, ask why there are no species-to-species transitional forms in the fossil record. Why is there no evidence anywhere (in the billions of bones of dead animals) of any species becoming another species?
- Ray's misunderstanding of evolution is made apparent by requests for evidence of a Crocoduck, and other fictitious creatures possessing the characteristics of two randomly selected animals. He seems to believe that evolution requires that every set of two characteristics be present in some species, that for evolution to be true, we would need to see chickens with gills and hamsters with leaves. Given the two solutions he has allowed in his head (god and absurdity), the idea of god clearly makes more sense. However, his dishonesty or delusion hasn't allowed him to understand the nature of evolution. He does acknowledge variation within the species - the offspring of a two similar dogs may be slightly different from either of its parents - but he doesn't seem to understand that the cumulative effect of these slight variations can lead to unique lines no longer capable of naturally interbreeding - chihuahuas and great danes, for example. He doesn't understand that subsequent variations within the chihuahua line can no longer affect the great dane line, nor can subsequent variations within the great dane line affect the chihuahua line. Once two lines have reached the point where they can no longer breed, they are generally referred to as distinct species. In this case, the "transitional forms" of both a chihuahua and a great dane are every type of dog capable of interbreeding with either the chihuahua or the great dane.
- When they maintain that there are masses of fossils that prove this, don't take their word for it. Press the issue. Blind faith is another word for ignorance. Say you want facts. Ask for specific scientific evidence of species-to-species transitional forms in the fossil record. When they say that museums are full of them, don't just believe it as they do. Press the issue again. They will talk about variation (evolution) between species. That's not Darwinian evolution. It's a rabbit trail. Ask again for just one example of species-to-species evolution.
- Again, Ray has no clue what Darwinian Evolution really is, apparently imagining it to be the idea that a crocodile and a duck can create a crocoduck. He is intelligent enough to understand that a duck and a crocodile can't mate, but apparently not intelligent enough (or he is just dishonest or delusional enough) to realize that Darwinian evolution doesn't suggest that they can.
- They will try to sidetrack you by talking about moths being stuck to trees, vestigial organs, mutations, bipedalism, or mitochondrial DNA. Or they will maintain that there is something called "observed speciation," or try to dazzle you with names like Sinosauropteryx and Ambulocetur and other pseudo-intellectualisms. Then they will say that they aren't experts, and use words like "maybe," "possibly," "perhaps," "probably." When they say that science has the proof somewhere, push it. Demand evidence like your life depended on it. Tell them that you want to use your God-given brain to make a rational decision regarding evolution. You want to know if it's true. Stay open-minded. If it is true, then embrace it. If it's not, reject it.
- So if someone presents you with a word you don't understand, then they must be trying to confuse you, according to Ray. Science does not deal in proofs. To remain honest, science can only use words like those that Ray so quickly dismisses.
- If they maintain that there's just a "handful" of bones to prove it, don't believe them. There are none. They don't have any evidence anywhere for their theory. None. It's all blind faith, conjecture, and wild imagination.
- Again, even when you are shown proof, it isn't proof. This is classic Ray demand and deny. It is arguable that if god appeared to Ray and personally demonstrated that He used evolution to create all the species including humans, Ray might call god a liar.
- So, Michael, you will have a choice between the two beliefs of the origin of mankind. There is no fence to sit on. Was it evolution or were we intelligently designed by God? You can either rest in the evidence of the God you know personally, or you can turn your back on Him (and His gift of everlasting life), and blindly have faith in an unscientific theory. And why would an intelligent person do that?
is there really no fense to sit on? Christianity is pne of many competing creation theories, there is also Theistic evolution. There is the possibility of a god, who rewards those who use their critical faculty and refuse to believe more than the evidence shows. If that god exists people like Ray Comfort who practise blind faith and encourage it in others could be in big trouble.
Ray's views on Tiktaalik[]
A blogger writes to Ray: "Using your thirty years of in-depth research into the evidence for evolution, please inform [us] why Tiktaalik doesn't count as a transitional form."
- "Let's look closely at Tiktaalik, which evolutionists believe is an example of a species-to-species transitional form. We will go to the experts at Berkley. In an article published back in May of 2006, they ask the question, "What has the head of a crocodile and the gills of a fish?" (Wait a minute. Are the experts saying they have found a "Crocafish"? Why then am I so mocked by evolutionists when I ask you to show me a "Crocaduck"?)
- "This is their fishy story: "Unearthed in Arctic Canada by a team of researchers led by Neil Shubin, Edward Daeschler, and Farish Jenkins, Tiktaalik is technically a fish, complete with scales and gills—but it has the flattened head of a crocodile and unusual fins."
- "So this find is "technically a fish, complete with scales and gills." Let me repeat what the experts said, in case you missed it. Tiktaalik "is technically a fish, complete with scales and gills," and it has an unusual head that looks like a crocodile. Big deal. This has nothing at all to do with the theory of evolution or species-to-species transitional forms. (emphasis added) It's a fish, and God has created thousands of other fish with strange heads.
Ray leaves out material information in the article where the fossil IS describes as a transitional fossil. It is stated in article that, " Tiktaalik is more accurately described as a transitional form than a missing link." Transitional forms help show the evolutionary steps leading from one lineage to another by displaying characteristics of both the ancestral and the new lineage." and "The adaptations it had for this lifestyle ended up providing the stepping stones for vertebrates to climb onto dry land — but of course, Tiktaalik was not "aiming" to evolve features for land-living. Tiktaalik was simply well-adapted for its own lifestyle and later on, many of these features ended up being co-opted for a new terrestrial lifestyle."
Whether this was a deliberate or unintentional omission is unknown, but given his track record, it is questionable.
- "I can hardly believe how people will swallow anything as long as it has a big (or strange) name and is believed to be millions of years old. I wonder why atheists are the ultimate skeptics when it comes to the axiom of God, and blind believers when it comes to the theory tale of evolution.
Chapter 2: Our Conscience Testifies to a Creator and Our Need for a Savior[]
In this chapter, Ray tries to make people understand that the existence of the universe is undeniable absolute proof that his god exists.
"An impersonal force like evolution, if real, would have left us sitting on that bare rock, because it wouldn't care about us beyond mere survival."
- If Ray had studied evolution for 30 years as he claimed in Chapter 1, he could know that evolution is not an intelligence or conscious force; it is a process that has no goal or desires.
"But God does, and He proved it when He gave us this incredible planet to inhabit. The evidence of His existence and of His love is all around us."
- Ray fails to offer any evidence here other than the universe.
"We humans have an implicit responsibility to the One Who gave us so much. We owe Him our worship, and obedience to His Law—that is why atheists hate Him so vehemently."
- It can be argued that if humans "owe" god worship and obedience, then he owes us proof that he exists.
"Atheists want to be free from all moral or spiritual responsibilities, but their God-given conscience tells them deep down that they can't. That explains the intense reactions some of them display to the very name of God."
- The reaction to the mention of the word god is not hatred for something that doesn't exist, but the dislike for the followers of gods that do not exist and the evil done in the name of those gods.
"Humans choose to murder when God gave us the intellect to cure disease."
- This is absurd because murder existed long before we had the capacity to cure anything.
"We obviously cannot keep God's Law on our own."
- If we are created by god, who is to blame for that?
"We need a Savior, and atheists detest that fact."
- Atheists realize that humans are alone in survival and we MUST do it on our own.
"The conscience is a dilemma for the believer in evolution. He doesn't know why it exists. Neither do the experts. Why would evolution create something that tells us that it's wrong to lie, to steal, to kill, and to commit adultery? Was primitive man committing these sins before he evolved a conscience? If he wasn't, why did the conscience evolve? If he was, why did the conscience evolve?"
- This reveals that Ray has a complete misunderstanding of evolution. A number of other species have demonstrated that they have a basic conscience and a rudimentary system of morals. For example, it has been observed that chimps will exhibit what appears to be shame when they do something that violates the rules of their social group. Morals are the rules in which a social group functions, so it should be no surprise that other social animals have a conscience. God is not needed to explain the conscience.
Chapter 3: Humanity's Sin Deserves Punishment[]
In an answer to an atheist, Ray claims that the Bible has made over 600 correct prophecies that have come true. This is a dubious claim as many of the 'prophecies' are not actually prophecies. They were poetry or other verses that were later claimed to be prophecy when a situation arose where it could be applied out of context (for example, Psalm 22 which was originally just poetry and later promoted to 'prophecy' when it could be (forced?) applied to the death of Jesus). Some of the prophecies he mentioned are actually failed prophecies (Isaiah 7:14 for example which failed to predict the name of Jesus)
Ray also claims that Nostradamus 'stole' his prophecies from the Bible. He states that Nostradamus' prophecies are also vague and generic but the ones in the Bible are exact and precise. While the veracity of Nostradamus' predictions is dubious at best, they are far more precise than the ones in the Bible.
He claims that Matthew 24:1,2 is a prediction of the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E., but this is hardly prophecy and more of a recording of a current event as Matthew was written after 70 C.E..
Chapter 4: Salvation in Christ - The Promise of Heaven and Eternal Life[]
Chapter 5: The Testimony of the Holy Scripture[]
Chapter 6: What Set Christians and Christianity Apart[]
Ray Comfort begins this chapter talking about his ongoing goal to reach atheists and nonbelievers. Ray says that nonbelievers do no know genuine Christianity. Rather they have seen empty catholic churches and hypocritical money-grabbing pastors (like Ray Comfort??).
Ray says atheists are bitter and angry, then moves on to mention "bitter and angry" atheists he and Kirk Cameron debated on Nightline. Before the debate, Ray received letters from mothers whose child has an atheist.
How do you know you have the right God?[]
Ray says this is a good question, and then looks at other religions (Greek, Aztec, Mormon).
Hope for a "True Atheist"[]
This is a section in he page, but it is one big quote addressed to Jacques Reulet, who claims he was "true" atheist. Here is the piece in whole,
"I was a true atheist. I was addicted to pornography and a big fan of torture. I hated the Bible and literally looked at 'contact killer' as a career option. I favored Darwinian abortion of potentially disabled children and agreed with he majority of Adolf Hitler's statements about the disabled and invalid. I fantasized about murder and contemplated suicide and held nothing but hatred in my heart for anyone who told me I was wrong. In short, I was the most degenerate scum to ever walk the Earth. That God saved me is still far beyond my comprehension I have to wake up everyday and think 'wow.' Nowadays I work at the church I once hated going to. I greet daily a pastor I once did everything in my power to ignore, and I serve as an assistant to a youth leader I once despised. I play in the Sunday band and teach drums to the young boys in the congregation for extra income. I teach Sunday school and am a regular fixture at the weekly prayer meetings and church events. People who have know me throughout the process have told me how astonishing it is to have seen the transformation. But no one is as impressed as me with how God has changed my heart and life. So that's m. I'm a 6'6 nineteen-year-old motorcyclist who plays drums, carries a Bible, vacuums a church, writes scripts that will never be made into films, and carries around a hefty supply of Way of the Master on his iPod."
Even the least uneducated atheist can see the above statement from Reulet is just one big poe.
According to the statistics, Christian regions are far worse than secular regions[]
Ray says this is interesting, but dismisses it and blame the church for teaching a "false gospel" - basically the No true Scotsman fallacy. Ray says the false gospel tells people that their lives will improve upon conversion, but Ray says the opposite will happen (there will be trials and hardships).
I worship Anthony Flew, I cannot worship anything than may be torturing Anne Frank[]
Ray says "let's ignore the what is commonly called the 'age of accountability'" and pretend that Anne Frank heard the gospel from a fellow captive and accepted the Jewish Messiah. "Then our skeptic friend will therefore end up in Hell, when he could have instead ended up in Heaven with Anne Frank." Basically, Ray tries to rewrite history and does not answer the question.
The Christian God is morally bankrupt for punishing children and victims like Anne Frank. And it is very possible by Ray's standards, that Hitler can be up in Heaven as well if he repented before he died. Also Ray reveals that he is aware of the "age of accountability" - which means that he must be aware that in Christianity while children are born in sin, they are not accountable for things like thievery or lying. But since Ray says that lying or thievery as a child counts as if they were adults that means he constantly ignores the age of accountability altogether. Ray is known to ignore things altogether, such as... evidence!
Here is the first quote Ray posts starts off like: "I think at whether the scriptures are true or not is irrelevant. Christianity is a mindset, a philosophy, a way of living that depends on the practitioners/believers practicing it more than anything...When I was a Christian...." Ray says that this person should have wrote "when I professed to be a Christian" or "when I was a false convert." Ray says that this interpretation of Christianity is false, "A Christian is someone who knows the Lord." Ray says that Judas is a great example of a false convert, "faking" his faith for years and was thief (John 12:6). Ray says that Jesus knew he would be betrayed from the beginning, citing John 6:70. Ray says Judas had no idea who Jesus was, that Judas thought Jesus was no worth the valuable ointment the lady rubbed on Jesus and thought "that the money should have been given to the poor." Ray says Judas later hanged himself.
Ray then address the concept of deception: the thing is that the deceived does not know he is being deceived. "That is why we need God's Word as a guide." It apparently does not occur to Ray that same guide is a deceiver and Ray does not know it.
Ray warns the reader to be careful when they dine with atheists, because they will serve you delicious food that will contain poison that will "go straight to your heart." Ray claims atheists will feed people Bible verses out of context, misquotes, and half-truths.
That's rich, this coming from the guy who still quote mines Charles Darwin on the evolution of the eye.
Are Christians not really Christians until they are born-again?[]
A person asks if Ray if he thinks that Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, etc. are not really Christians unless they are born-again. Ray answers that the Bible does not have these names, rather it has only two: just and unjust. The just are those God has made right with through faith in Jesus Christ while the unjust still live in their sins.
On the issue on who is justified, Ray mentions Martin Luther who asked that question long ago. Luther discovered through reading the Bible that we are all justified. The criminal is guilty, but the judge pays the criminals fine "that's called mercy." Ray later uses 1 Timothy 2:19 to declare who are true Christians.
This is an important piece. Often, throughout all of Ray's books, pamphlets, episodes and debates, Ray argues that a Judge who does not punish a criminal (murderer, rapist, thief, adulterer) is unlawful and evil. However, right here Ray demonstrates that God CAN forgive criminals and attributes this act as mercy. So when Christians believe God is infinitely merciful (2 Corinthians 1:3 "Blessed be God ... the Father of mercies." and James 5:11 "For the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." are some examples).
Note: 1 Timothy was written by a forger. Forgery is the conscious act of deception. Therefore, Ray is following the words of a deceiver on what constitutes as a true Christian.
Gandhi said that he likes Christ, but not Christians[]
A person shares a quote that Gandhi likes Christ, but not Christians because they are nothing like their Christ. Ray Comfort responds nobody is like Jesus Christ, because Christ was sinless.
That is assuming 1) Christ existed and 2) that every detail of his life was recorded accurately. The problem with the second part is that we know that the gospels were not written by eye-witnesses, and we also know that people tend to glorify their role models. Therefore it is entirely possible that Jesus may have sinned, but deliberately not record it. In the eyes of the Jews, he sinned by the sheer fact that he called himself God when the OT states that God is not a man and could not become a man.
I was a believer, but got no response from prayers[]
A person says they believed in God, but his fellow believers never got a response from prayers. Ray says that there is a difference in being a believer and a Christian. "Every sane human being is a "believer" in God's existence. Some pretend he does not exist (atheists) but they know He does."
This is a false and fallacious argument "Atheists know there is a God"
Ray says that the reason why believers do not get a response is because they have not done what they have been commanded to do by God. Ray compares this to not believing in cell phones because no response is heard (all because they did not follow the instructions and turn the phone on). Ray says the procedure and instructions to being heard is repent and trust in Jesus Christ. Ray claims that he gets a response every time he prays: sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes "please hold."
You can get exactly the same results (Yes, No, Please Hold) by praying to a milk jug, your left shoe, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Even the non-genuine Christian who-does-not-follow-procedure Ray is responding to can get the same exactly results Ray gets.
Chapter 7: The Witness of Jesus Christ and of God's Holy Spirit[]
Chapter (Conclusion)[]
Copied from Iron Chariots


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On a Friday, it is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.
In a unanimous ruling, a federal appeals court has struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act. The First Circuit Court of Appeals, in Boston, ruled the 1996 law unconstitutional because it denies giving gay couples the same rights afforded to heterosexual couples. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, the ruling sets the stage for a potential battle at the U.S. Supreme Court.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY, BYLINE: Herbert Burtis waited more than a half-century before marrying his partner, John Ferris, in 2004, the year that Massachusetts recognized same-sex marriage. Ferris died four years ago, and when Burtis went to the Social Security office to apply for survivor benefits, he was told he didn't qualify. The federal government did not recognize his marriage.
HERBERT BURTIS: And you think, well, what's the matter with me, you know? I'm a citizen. I'm of age. I pay my taxes, you know, so why are you discriminating against me?
HAGERTY: Burtis, along with several couples, sued, arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act - or DOMA - is unconstitutional because it creates two classes of married couples - heterosexual couples, who get federal benefits; and gay couples, who don't. A federal judge agreed with them in 2010 and now, the federal appeals court has as well. Burtis says he no longer feels like a second-class citizen.
BURTIS: I feel like a first-class-minus-a- little-bit citizen. I feel much, much better about the future.
HAGERTY: The three-judge panel found that the federal law errs in two ways. First, it targets a group that has been historically disadvantaged. And while the ruling did not say homosexuality is protected in the same way as race or even gender, it did say gay men and lesbians cannot be discriminated against in this way.
Second, it said the federal law intrudes on a state's ability to define marriage. What this means, says Janson Wu, a staff attorney at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, is that if the ruling stands, married gay couples will have the same federal benefits and responsibilities as other couples.
JANSON WU: Leave to take care of your sick spouse; federal health-insurance benefits; Social Security survivor benefits; the ability to file your taxes jointly - bread-and-butter issues that make a big difference in real people's lives.
HAGERTY: But gay couples will have to wait. The ruling won't go into effect until it can be appealed, most likely to the U.S. Supreme Court. Which will certainly happen, says Dale Showengert, an attorney at the conservative Alliance Defense Fund. He says the legislatures in the states and Congress are the ones to decide what a legal marriage looks like.
DALE SHOWENGERT: Marriage is a particularly important social institution, and so any watershed change in its definition should come through the legislative process - and not the courts.
HAGERTY: Showengert says that generally, courts give deferential treatment to the laws of Congress, and the First Circuit failed to do that.
SHOWENGERT: And I think that was a significant legal error, and one that we anticipate the Supreme Court will remedy. And we believe the decision will be overturned.
HAGERTY: But other legal experts say this is not a fire-breathing decision that cries out for a Supreme Court smackdown.
IRA LUPU: I think the opinion is very careful. I think it's very creative. I think it's very clever.
HAGERTY: Ira Lupu is a constitutional scholar at George Washington University. He notes that two of the three judges were appointed by Republican presidents, and that the panel seems to be treading carefully. Lupu says the judges say nothing about whether same-sex couples have a right to marry, or be recognized, in every state.
LUPU: They wanted to write an opinion that said DOMA was unconstitutional. But the grounds for that does not necessarily mean that every state that refuses to recognize same-sex marriage is acting unconstitutionally.
HAGERTY: It's not clear when the U.S. Supreme Court might consider the legality of DOMA, but many scholars believe it will be sooner rather than later.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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House of Commons Papers, Volume 12H.M. Stationery Office, 1962 - Legislation |
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The Appraisal Process
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Interior Inspection
A list of all assets and defects are objectively analyzed and compiled in a detailed written report.
Property Condition
Includes the specifics of construction, property layout, number of rooms and specific features, equipment; improvements and renovations.
Neighborhood and surrounding areas
An assessment is made on a property's proximity to services, facilities and amenities as they may (or may not) relate and affect its market value.
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Public records are analyzed to confirm sales and make comparisons in the particular Round Rock region. A range of public records and sources are used including zoning records, tax data, professional associations and other applicable publications.
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In its most basic form, this approach is built on the premise that the market value of a property is partly derived and comparable to surrounding properties.
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Since the market obviously relates to cost, this approach takes into account and analyzes market trends as defined by two specific elements: Land value and land improvements, minus depreciation.
Income Profit
Generally reserved for valuations for investment properties, determining the market value using the income capitalization approach relies on the perspective that the potential earning power of real estate is significant when calculating its actual value. Income capitalization techniques are used to analyze sales data that measures potential profit and loss.
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No one wants to submit a claim, but when accidents happen it's good to know there's a team of professionals who have your back. Behind the scenes, you'll discover a career in claims is both rewarding and filled with opportunities to grow and advance.
If you've been looking for a new job, it might be time to take a second look at a career in claims here at Erie Insurance.
What is an Insurance Claims Professional?
If you've ever submitted a claim before, you may have some idea of what the job entails. Our insurance claims employees are often the first to respond to a car accident or a natural disaster to help make things right again for our customers. There are two primary "categories" for claims employees: those who file and process policies and claims and those investigate and inspect the damage from a claim.
Career Opportunities in Claims
Here's a closer look at a few career options in claims.
Insurance adjusters are the professionals that will inspect the loss or damage from a claim, then help determine who's at fault and what the insurance company will pay. This includes inspecting property damage, investigating medical bills and bodily injury and interviewing any witnesses. Adjusters can either work remote and travel to the scenes of claims or be "inside" adjusters and instead investigate their claims via telephone, calling customers and securing photographs digitally.
At ERIE, we have adjusters for all types of claims:
- Material Damage Adjusters inspect vehicle damage which often includes driving to the site of the accident, taking photos of the damage and determining repair costs.
- Property Adjusters take the lead in inspecting damage to a customer's home from something like a tree falling or home fire. They also often help out with catastrophe claims.
- Catastrophe Adjusters work specifically with ERIE's Catastrophe (CAT) team to identify damages from catastrophic events like hurricanes or tornadoes. Learn more about ERIE's specially trained CAT team.
- Workers Compensation Adjusters are responsible for workers' compensation claims that result between an employee and employer, for example, if an employee was injured on the job.
- Liability Adjusters are brought into claims where it's questionable who exactly is responsible for the damage. They inspect auto, property and litigation claims and will conduct investigations and interview individuals to determine who's liable and what the total claim value is.
Most adjuster positions require a high school or bachelor's degree and some related experience, and depending on the state you might need a particular license. Often these positions request certain insurance certifications or experience, like completing a General Insurance or Associate in Claims (AIC) program.
Claims Support
At ERIE, most of our claim support comes from our Claims Support Specialists. They perform support and administrative functions, including answering phones, filing, processing and preparing claim files. They also provide support to any of the above adjusters, often having a wider insurance knowledge. As a support liaison, they often make calls to customers, our independent ERIE agents and adjusters to finalize or update claim documents.
Why Explore a Career in Claims?
The world of insurance has a lot of different career avenues, from IT and sales to accounting and actuarial, but at ERIE, claims careers make up almost 40 percent of our total workforce. It's a field crucial to the insurance world, and in general has some nice perks. Working in claims you'll find:
- A rewarding career. Our claims professionals are with our customers after an accident occurs and are with them every step of the claims process, from explaining their coverage to writing the check for damages.
- Something new each day. No two claims are alike. Whether you're filing a new claim or calling a customer, you'll find each day to be a little different. Plus, you'll be continuously learning. Each state has different insurance regulations, which can offer a challenge with the variety of coverages and unique claims that come in.
- Room for growth. There are a lot of different claims that can be submitted, so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and advance your career. This could include venturing into a different subset of the job, like property damage or injury claims, or exploring management opportunities.
- Great benefits package. At ERIE, we value our employees and one way we express that is through a robust benefits package. In 2022, our health insurance plan paid up to 97% of your monthly medical and prescription premium, we offer a pension and 401(k) plan and a handful of other benefits entirely free to our employees.
Explore a Career with ERIE
At its heart, insurance is a promise. When something bad happens, we promise to help our customers get back on their feet. At ERIE, our claims professionals help keep that promise. From adjusters to claims support specialists and facilitators, a career in claims is a rewarding opportunity to assist someone in their time of need. View our current job opportunities in claims and explore what a career at ERIE is all about.
A better insurance experience starts with ERIE.
Haven't heard of us? Erie Insurance started with humble beginnings in 1925 with a mission to emphasize customer service above all else. Though we've grown to reach the Fortune 500 list, we still haven't lost the human touch.
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lemme Eat glass Roblox ID
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text: Coffeinne int cover Scott Adams2017-04-22T11:18:03+10:00 Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookXRedditLinkedInWhatsAppTumblrPinterestVkXingEmail About the Author: Scott Adams Writing, playing, managing, roadying... as long as it's metal related I've been doing it in some form since 1986, and not thinking about slowing down just yet - tempt not the pen! Leave A Comment Cancel replyComment Δ


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NEW Japanese Mentos 2-Pack! Including: Lemon, and Grape Flavours 38g Each (JAPAN) LIMITED EDITION
How much does delivery cost?
Delivery is calculated according to the weight of the items you're buying. BUT, if you spend over $99, shipping is free! So start spending!
How long will it take for my order to get to me?
We endevour to pack your order within 24 hours of receiving it, and we then lodge it with the shipping carrier, Australia post. As a guide, they work to the following shipping times:
If you're within NSW:
Metro - up to 2 business days
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If you're outside NSW:
Metro - up to 3-6 business days, depending on lodgement and destination points
Country - Australia Post don't provide a guide for this, but we'll get your order in the post as quickly as possible!
We don't currently offer express shipping, but watch this space as this may change!
Do you deliver internationally?
Get in touch if you're outside Australia and we can try to work something out!
What if an item is damaged on its way to me?
Although I do regularly tell my son "it still tastes the same, even if it's broken!", in the unlikely event that a product is damaged in transit, get in touch and hopefully we can work something out!
I'm desperate to track down a product and you don't have it! Can you get it?
Get in touch if you're on the hunt for an amazing product you lived off while on an American or European holiday - we can do our best to get our hands on it! We're always looking for new ideas about great products.
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We do not accept returns for changes of mind or incorrect selection, please choose carefully before purchasing! If for any reason you are unsatisfied with the quality or condition of any product that you receive from us, as always, please get in touch and we will work to resolve your concern.
Bruce Super Convenience is located in Bruce, ACT. We started off by servicing our local community, but when word got out about our pretty incredible offering of American and European treats, we quickly realised we needed to make this easily available beyond Canberra!
We now have a huge array of our best stuff available online for those who can't make it to Canberra. We're passionate about treats, and we make it our business to track down delicious treats that are ordinarily hard to find in Australia.
We try to taste as many of the goods as possible (it's hard, but someone has to do it). We do most of these taste testings (and lots of other shenanigans) on our Instagram page @brucesuperc !
If you do want to visit us in person, our store opening hours are:
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We're a friendly team who love to chat, and we'd love to see you down at the store!
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However, I did ride my road bike on a mountain bike trail at one point, which officially made my road ride "epic:"
Granted, I did so extremely gingerly and only for only about 10 minutes, so in that sense it was like having sex after surgery. But that didn't matter, because the point of my brief skinny-tired off-road foray was reconnaissance, as I am in the process of "curating" a mixed-terrain route which I plan to have dialed in by the fall. Ideally, I'd like this route to be cyclocross bike-friendly and to include some singletrack, so I figured if I could pick my way through a section of this particular trail on a road bike than a cyclocross bike should be no problem.
So you'll be pleased to know that I am now that much closer to charting a route of unprecedented awesomeness, and because I don't use Strava or a Garmin or anything else you can be assured I will take it to the grave:
The rest of you can just keep on shuttling to Nyack and back.
By the way, you'll notice there are no longer any decals on my Ritte von Finkelstein:
"Anyone in a team who's being honest with you will tell you how frequently their bikes are breaking; everybody knows," said Mark Greve, a physician and assistant professor of sports medicine at Brown University who studied injuries to 3,500 competitive cyclists. "Few people in the public appreciate how many bikes a pro team will go through in a season, because they break for one reason or another. The bikes, they completely explode."
Did you hear that? They COMPLETELY EXPLODE:
That's right, pro cyclists shatter their bikes with their scranuses (or scranii) on a regular basis:
But when they spoke on the condition they not be identified, their stories emerged. Riders described landing on the top, horizontal tube of the bikes during crashes and ending up on the road after their frames splintered and collapsed. Small spills that used to mean, at best, straightening handlebars often require a bike change. Mechanics say they sometimes return the shattered remains of frames to manufacturers in bags intended to hold a single bicycle wheel.
It seems to me that instead of worrying about saddles causing impotence we should be worried about crabon top tube splinters causing genital impalement, but unsurprisingly Specialized had this to say on the subject of crabon and durability:
Chris Riekert, a spokesman for Specialized, an American company that supplies bikes to three Tour teams, said in a statement, "Carbon gives our engineers the ability to produce much stronger and lighter products than traditional steel or alloy by letting us put more material in high stress areas to ensure performance and safety in real world riding conditions."
Even though this is what a Specialized bicycle looks like after it touches another bicycle while on a car's roof rack:
Not that it matters, because all the Freds will see is this:
And, to be fair, most of us Freds will probably never have a problem with our crabon bicycles--though the reason cited by the New York Times is obviously wrong:
Greve and Perovic agreed that for consumers who are not constantly banging their bikes around on team vehicles and who are unlikely to be involved in crashes, the risks in buying a carbon bike made by a reputable company should be minimal. Greve said many riders had told him that the performance gains from superlight frames reached the point of diminishing returns long ago, and he questions the wisdom of consumers' buying what are, in effect, very costly throwaway items if they crash.
Actually, if there two things you can count on from a Fred, it's transport mishaps and crashing:
Which is why the real reason our bikes last more than a season is that these companies know we suck so badly that we can't even stress a crappy hunk of brittle plastic to its perpetually imminent failure point.
Lastly, you've probably already seen this video of Kevin Reza filming his own crotch with some guy's helment cam:
I really hope this viral marketing from Team Europcar, because if it's actually real then the guy who owns the helment cam is a complete idiot, as evidenced by his explanation:
ok ppl, 1st I am not standing in the road im standing on the pathway,2nd the helmet camera is being held out at arms lengh, 3rd the riders pass very close to the left side of the road due to spectators on the right standing in the road, 4th I am a massive cycling fan and ride a my bike 365 days a year covering over 13000kms per year, 5th as for the lotto rider elboing it from my hands, he is not protecting any other riders by knocking it from my hands where it is under controll into the road where other riders could ride into it! lastly the camera recording this is a contour roam 2, it has an extreamly wide angle lense and at close range like this destorts things massivly, enjoy the vid, its a unique view of the tour and just a bit of fun :)
Holding a helment camera at arm's length into the Tour de France peloton is basically the Fredly equivalent of doing this.


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Garage doors are meant to protect cars or belongings and are typically made from steel, wood, or vinyl and can easily weigh a couple hundred pounds which is why you need a professional to safely install or replace your door. Most garage doors are sectional, self storing, and activated by an extension spring that acts as a counterbalance to the weight of the door. After installation, every garage door that uses an electric opener should be tested twice a year to ensure the safety features such as light beam sensors, cables, springs, etc.are operating properly.
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Can someone with no musical talent learn to play guitar as an adult? That's what New York University psychology professor Gary Marcus wanted to find out when he turned 40. Along the way, he discovered that the struggle to learn was as rewarding as playing music itself.
In honor of national Wanna Play Music Week, Healthland spoke with Marcus, author of Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning.
Why did you start this project?
I always wanted to make music but at the same time, thought it was completely out of my reach. I had several very disappointing experiences as a child trying to learn.
I tried to learn the recorder in 4th grade and my teacher suggested that my talents lay elsewhere when I couldn't play "Mary had a little lamb." In graduate school I tried to take something called "miracle piano." At each point, I got stuck on rhythm. It was no miracle.
Then, I started playing [the video game] "Guitar Hero." I was terrible. My wife helped me to play. The first time I ever did anything vaguely rhythmic, I got excited. I practiced the game for a while and made it through beginner and medium. I thought, Maybe I should try a real guitar. The video game was a gateway drug that gave me confidence to try the real thing.
What was the most fun part of your learning experience?
There were a lot of fun things. The most fun, but also the most scary, was that I went to a summer camp with 11-year-olds and played in a band. On Day One, you had to start writing a song and by Friday, you had to play it on stage. The kids bring their parents to the performance and I brought mine, too. It was frightening but super fun. (Listen to Marcus' performance here.)
What are some of the differences between the way children and adults learn?
Kids and adults are differently able. They bring different skills. Adults are more analytical. One thing I was able to do was understand music theory and comprehend it in a way [that kids couldn't]. Kids are more patient and willing to practice the same thing over and over. They don't have the same expectations about being good right away and probably cut themselves more slack and probably have faster fingers.
Some people say that music must be an innate human capacity, which evolved the way language did. But you disagree.
For the better part of our evolutionary history music wasn't even on the scene. You can engineer a technology that everyone loves like the iPhone, but that doesn't mean that the thing was itself in [our evolutionary history].
All cultures do have music and it taps into lots of things that our brains come prepared with, like a love of novelty and familiarity. Music has really cool ways of delivering both. There's a steady drumbeat that makes the brain happy and that it can anticipate, and then you have novelty when you change the melody or lyrics.
Both predictability and novelty [release] dopamine [a brain chemical associated with pleasure and desire]. It's seemingly contradictory but music packs it all in.
(MORE: Humility: A Quiet, Underappreciated Strength)
Does learning to play music make you smarter?
One thing we know is that on average, people who play musical instruments are smarter but we don't know if it's causal. Among Nobel Prize-winners, there are a disproportionately high number of musicians, but whether [their music lessons made them smarter or vice versa] is a classic chick-and-egg question.
My guess is that at the very least, music teaches you self-discipline and the rewards of working slowly to build something awesome. When you first start, you are lost and after a few years, you can do it. It's a wonderful way of learning the power of patience. There maybe other things: it makes your ears more sensitive and that may make you better at picking up languages. There's some suggestive data on that.
To the extent that you are thinking about how your instrument fits in with an ensemble, it might help you [connect with other people and empathize]. But it might be that giving acting lessons would do the same thing even better. I don't want to say that music is necessarily better than drama.
Do you think playing music makes you healthier?
There might be some health benefits. I talk about the idea of eudaemonia, the pleasure of self-actualization or fulfillment. There's a kind of pleasure from immediate things like food or sex, but [eudaemonia] comes when we've done all that we can to be the people we can be. Part of what keeps me going is that [music] brings a kind of balance into my life that I think is a wonderful thing.
Even though you learned to play after a whole lot of effort, you don't believe that practice is the only thing that differentiates excellent musicians from lesser ones.
I guess I know why people want to believe that, but I don't know why they do. It's manifestly the case that in music some people work really hard and do well, and some don't. There's a lot of data out there that makes clear that practice is just part of the equation. None of it actually shows that talent doesn't matter. It's bizarre that that idea got as popular as it has.
I'd love to learn to play an instrument, but I don't have a sabbatical like you did during which I could spend hours at it every day. Do you think it's still possible?
I think it's totally possible. I've gotten literally hundreds of emails from older adults who have been learning music for the last 10 or 20 years and they really love it.
That doesn't mean that if you start at 50, you're going to be playing with the symphony orchestra at 60. If you only practice once a week, you're not going to get anywhere. If you can do a little bit every day, almost anybody can make progress.
I'm someone who doesn't have any natural talent. I'm likely congenitally arrythmic. I'm close to tone deaf. I had almost no talent. I had more time but less talent than most people. If you have even a little more talent, you might get there faster with less time.
Do you think people will stop learning to play instruments eventually and just do it all with computers? Will something be lost if that kind of skill disappears?
There's certainly an amount of music you can make with iPhone apps without knowing a lot, but to really put together an ensemble that works, you really need to know something.
I don't know what the place of instruments will be. I think some people will always love them. There's a kind of physical joy that comes from playing that you just don't get from the iPhone, but there's more than one route to music.
(MORE: What the Jazz Greats Knew About Creativity)
With computers, you don't need to learn a physical skill just to make the right sounds, so it seems like it would take less practice.
You can to some degree cut out some of the practice in terms of learning where the notes are, but not the practice of learning to understand what actually sounds good.
What should you look for in a music teacher?
I'll tell you what you shouldn't look for: a great musician. They might be good, but they might not be. You want someone who understands how you learn, who cares about the learning process itself and has a good eye for what you're doing wrong and can in a constructive way tell you how to practice and get better.
A good teacher is a little like a car mechanic who can know what things look like when they go wrong and how to fix them, not just what they look like if they work correctly.
Should parents make their kids stick with their music lessons and practice?
I think that being a good parent is like being a good guidance counselor. You have to help people find from within what they like to do. If they are very young, you probably do need to nudge them, but not everyone has to be a musician. A good music teacher will often involve the parents and teach parents how to be supportive of their kids. [They will] teach parents not to be very critical and to be supportive, but at the end of day it is the child's decision I think.
See more of Healthland's 'Mind Reading' series.
Maia Szalavitz is a health writer for TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.


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Peter Kardia was instrumental in his experimental teaching methodologies of the 1960s. In the show, From Floor to Sky at Ambika P3, 28 artists show their work juxtaposed from the past to the present.
England during the 1960s and 1970s was a tumultuous, exciting and, without a doubt, revolutionary period of modern history: the Cold War, Vietnam, the Apollo 11 mission with Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, the Beatles splitting up, and the Watergate Nixon scandal are but a few major events that defined those decades. Art, as a creative method of expression, was vital to those rebelling against the traditional political and social systems. It was used as a tool to articulate the discontent and dissatisfaction felt by much of mainstream society after the previous four decades of austerity and strife. The pedagogy of art schools, specifically St. Martins School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, changed dramatically during this time. There was an abrupt and decisive break away from modernism and its emphasis on the individual arts and how each medium was applied within them. Teacher's, such as Peter Kardia, were instrumental in the development of this new pedagogy, which in Kardia's words: "Focused on developing in students a genuine engagement with their creative process" rather than on the finished piece of art. Unconventional though some of the projects and tasks set to the students were, they did inflame the creative process and force the students to think outside the box.
This March, From Floor to Sky, a comprehensive exhibition of contemporary British sculpture, opens at Ambika P3 in London. The exhibition, curated by Kardia, looks at the history of contemporary British sculpture as a reflection of the teaching methods and programmes offered in London during the 1960s and 1970s. Kardia, who taught at St. Martin's and the Royal College of Art, has asked 28 artists to contribute two pieces of their work: one example from their current oeuvre and one example from their time as students at the colleges. The resultant exhibition offers a brief, but succinct glimpse, into the creative development of artists from their time as students to the present day.
The development of these young burgeoning art students into established, successful artists had as much to do with their innate talent as with the innovative and radical teaching methods of tutors like Kardia. Teaching experiments, such as that of the "Locked Room" at St. Martin's in 1969, obliged students to move past the delimiting rules of conventional sculpture and art history that had been battered into them for years. The experiment, which lasted a term and was conceived of by Kardia, Peter Harvey, Garth Evans and Gareth Jones, consisted of placing students into a locked studio from 10am – 4pm, with scheduled breaks. They were given the materials with which to work but were allowed to bring in their own tools, though not new or additional material. When the tutors deemed the works done, whether it had been four weeks or four days, the "finished" pieces were removed and the next day the students would arrive to find an entirely new material with which to begin working with. Choice was taken out of their hands and by doing that Kardia, as well as Harvey, Evans and Jones, compelled the students to step out of their comfort zone – to play with the material and the process of creation in a temporally, and spatially, confined space. There was an almost panoptic quality to the experiment in that they were watched and observed by each other, forbidden from socially engaging with one another, and all unaware of the final outcome and impetus behind the project. The unfamiliar qualities of the material and of the task, that being to create a work of art, forced the students to experiment with their own preconceived notions of fine art and sculpture. As Louisa Buck states, in reference to the work of Richard Wentworth, but which can be applied quite easily to the impetus behind the pedagogy of Kardia: "If Wentworth gives one message to his audience, it is this; keep looking, keep wondering, and consider all options."
The artistic process became of paramount importance; a process defined by art historian and critic Kristine Stiles as, "a point of intersection and transit between traditional painting and sculpture and the profusion of experimental practices that occurred in the late 1960s, which collapsed form and content into a continuous state." The emphasis on this idea of "process" in the pedagogy of the Royal College of Art and St. Martin's can be seen reflected in the works of many of the artists chosen for From Floor to Sky. Artists such as Hamish Fulton, whose long walks in the countryside document, through the physical movement of his body through space, the landscape. The piece of art is the progression of his body unto and within the physical environment and, analogous to the sculptor's hands that alter a piece of marble, so do his feet alter the earth. The resultant photographs and paraphernalia, which visually document this alteration and appropriation of the physical site, are akin to a marble sculpture. Fulton, like Richard Long and Roger Ackling, who both also studied at St. Martin's during the 1960s, focused on art outside of the studio: at the ability of their bodies to physically alter the surrounding landscapes, thereby emphasizing the impact our environments have upon us and vice versa.
The exhibition strives to illustrate the innate problems that arise when attempting to teach art, as it is difficult to grade a piece of art by a set list of criteria. Kardia states: "Any person teaching in art colleges always has to face up to the requirement that in some way the educational process being carried out has to be validated. Finished objects tend to be the easiest and most convenient way in which this can be done", hence the historical emphasis on the final art work in art schools. However, the creative process is as important as the finished object and it is this value that Kardia tried to impart upon his students during this period.
The willingness of both the students and the teachers, to experiment must not be underestimated; the artists selected for the exhibition have, and are willing to break down preconceived precepts of art and technique, in a way that Kardia feels contemporary art students miss out on. He argues that: "Students do not appear to be give time to develop a passionate belief in the priority of art and seem willing to allow what they produce to exist at the same level as advertising and fashion." Perhaps this is just indicative of the disappearance of the lines separating "high" and "low" art: lines famously broken down by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst. The priority of art is intrinsically tied in with the act of making, of physical production, and thus begins with the germ of an idea. The preliminary idea must then be expanded into a concept which can result in a final piece of art. With hindsight this act of making seems quite clear, but for artists it is never as clear-cut or simplistic as it appears. From Floor to Sky juxtaposes the selected artists' early works with newer pieces in a chronological order to illustrate how each artist has developed in this process of creating art.
Other than the fact that the artists selected were all previously students of Kardia, there is a common thematic strand as well: each artist pushes the artistic and theoretical boundaries of art historical discourse and practice in a very much Duchampian way. As Marcel Duchamp appropriated everyday objects so do many of the artists in this exhibition; some, such as Richard Wentworth, appropriate mundane, functional objects and incorporate them into their works, whilst others, such as John Hilliard and Nina Danino, use them as a source of inspiration and instead apply digital means (whether it be a photograph or video) to document the often ephemeral nature of their work. Duchamp infamously shattered the historical idea of what constituted a piece of art, and these artists continue in that tradition, pushing against historically fixed ideas and standards of art.
From Floor to Sky ran from 5 March – 4 April 2010, at Ambika P3 in London. www.p3exhibitions.com.
Niamh Coghlan


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Connecticut Education Foundation
c/o Joslyn Delancey
21 Oak Street, Suite 500
Hartford, CT 06106
CEA may be eligible to elect up to 30 state delegates to the NEA RA in 2020. Here are descriptions of the open positions:
Category 1 At-Large/State Delegate: Fifteen Positions (Term: two years)
Category 1 At-Large/Ethnic Minority Concerns: Four Positions (Term: 2
These categories must have Active classroom teachers (Membership Type AC-1) or NEA Life members (Membership Type AC-7) in local affiliates are eligible for these positions.
Aspiring Educators: one Position (Term: 1 Year)
Only Aspiring Educators with a SEA and NEA membership are eligible for this position.
Membership Units: nine positions from specific Membership Units (Term: one year)
Only active members (Membership Type AC-1) or NEA Life members (Membership Type AC-7) who teach in a local CEA affiliate in one of the seventeen Membership Units may be nominated for these positions. The nine open units include E, F, H, J, K, L, M, P & Q.
Bethel, Brookfield, CEA New Milford, Easton, NEA Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman
Amity, Bethany, Branford, Derby, East Haven, Milford, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Woodbridge
ACES, Cheshire, Hamden, North Haven, Wallingford, Wolcott
Berlin, Farmington, Newington, Plainville, Plymouth, Southington, Thomaston, Wethersfield
Cromwell, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester, Rocky Hill
Bloomfield, CREC, East Windsor, Enfield, South Windsor, Suffield, Windsor
Avon, Canton, East Granby, Granby, Simsbury, West Hartford, Windsor Locks
East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, Montville, New London, North Stonington, Preston, Project LEARN, Stonington, Voluntown, Waterford
Clinton, East Haddam, East Hampton, Guilford, Haddam-Killingworth, Madison, Old Saybrook, Regional 4, Regional 13, Regional 18, Portland, Westbrook
Category 2 At-Large: One position (Term interim position open this year)
Nominees for the Category 2 At-Large position must be Active members (Membership Type AC-1) in supervisor/administrator positions or NEA Life members (Membership Type AC-7) who are no longer teaching—but only if they are not also NEA-Retired members. (NEA Life membership is a special category terminated in 1973.) Members with Active Life Memberships who are not retired from teaching are eligible for Category 2. NEA-Retired Members for Life (Membership Type RT-7) or annual Retired members (Membership Type RT-8) ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR CATEGORY 2
Bethany Education Association
Education Association of Preston
Franklin Education Association
ISAAC Education Association
Lisbon Education Association
New Beginnings Education Association
Norwich Integrated Education Association
Sherman Education Association
Sprague Education Association
Voluntown Education Association
Waterford Education Association
Wethersfield Education Association
Barkhamsted Education Association
Canaan Education Association
Colebrook Teachers' Association
Cornwall Consolidated Faculty Association
Gilbert Education Association
Hartland Education Association
Housatonic Valley Regional Faculty Association
Kent Center Faculty Association
New Hartford Education Association
Norfolk Teachers' Association
North Canaan Faculty Association
Salisbury Center School Faculty Association
Shared Services Teachers' Association
Sharon Center School Faculty Association
Winchester Education Association
Andover Education Association
Columbia Teachers' Association
Hebron Education Association
Marlborough Education Association
Willington Education Association
Ashford Education Association
Brooklyn Education Association
Canterbury Education Association
Chaplin Education Association
Eastford Teachers' Association
Hampton Education Association
Pomfret Community Education Association
Regional District #11 Education Association
Scotland Education Association
Sterling Education Association
Teachers' Education Association of Union
Woodstock Association of Teachers
Standing Committees of CEA-Retired are appointed by the CEA-Retired President with the advice of the Advisory Council after the CEA-Retired Annual Meeting in May. This typically takes place in June with additional appointments made in September. Terms will be for one year commencing on August 1.
If you are interested in serving on one of the committees, please indicate your willingness below. Please remember that committees have a limited membership and not all of the requests can be filled. By giving a first and second choice, CEA-Retired members will have a better chance of being chosen. If you filled out a form and returned it at the Annual Meeting, please do not fill out another form.
For inquiries or donations, visit http://henrybarnardfund.org/index.html
Contact CEA Retirement Specialist Robyn Kaplan-Cho at 860-525-5641, 1-800-842-4319, or email@example.com.
Your contract can serve as an important vehicle for protecting your rights and advancing your concerns as a teacher working with special education students. In this workshop, teachers will learn how to integrate special education issues into the collective bargaining process. Participants will study the pros and cons of negotiating contract provisions related to performing health procedures, teacher notification and scheduling of PPT meetings, professional development opportunities, class-size limitations, local dispute resolution procedures for special-education-related problems, placement decisions, and many more related topics. Model contract language will be provided. This workshop is ideal for negotiating committees and teachers with a particular interest in this area of the law.
Length 2+ Hours
Presenter: Robyn Kaplan-Cho, CEA


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Homebuyer Demand Is Far Above Last Year's Pace
Homebuying has been on the rise over the past few months, with record-breaking sales powering through the market in June and July. Buyers are actively purchasing homes, and the momentum is continuing into the fall. It is, however, becoming harder for buyers to find homes to purchase. If you've been thinking about selling your house, the coming weeks might just be the timing you've been waiting for.
According to the Pending Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR):
"Pending home sales in July achieved another month of positive contract activity, marking three consecutive months of growth.
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, rose 5.9% to 122.1 in July. Year-over-year, contract signings rose 15.5%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001."
This means that for the past several months, buyers have signed an increasing number of contracts to purchase homes – well above where the market was at this time last year. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR notes:
"We are witnessing a true V-shaped sales recovery as homebuyers continue their strong return to the housing market…Home sellers are seeing their homes go under contract in record time, with nine new contracts for every 10 new listings."
Below is a graph that shows the impressive recovery of homes sales compared to previous years. The deep blue v marks the slowdown from this spring that turned into an exponential jump in sales that followed through the summer, skyrocketing above years past:
What Does This Mean for Sellers?
If you were thinking about putting your house on the market in the spring, but decided to wait due to the health crisis, it may be time to make your move. Buyers are in the market right now. With so few homes available to purchase, homeowners today are experiencing more bidding wars, creating an optimal time to sell.
Is This Trend Going to Continue?
As CNBC notes, there are no signs of slowing buyer demand this fall:
"The usual summer slowdown in the housing market is not happening this year. Buyers continue to show strong demand, spurred by the new stay-at-home world of the coronavirus and by record low mortgage rates."
Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at realtor.com, concurred:
"In a typical year in the housing market, buyer interest begins to wane before seller interest causing the usual seasonal slowdown as we move into the fall. Due to a delayed spring season and low mortgage rates, we could see buyer interest extend longer than usual into the typically quieter fall. Whether this means more home sales will depend on whether sellers participate or decide to stay on the sidelines."
As Hale mentioned, homeowners who are willing to sell their houses right now will play a big role in whether the trend continues. The market needs more homes to satisfy ongoing buyer demand. Maybe it's time to leverage your equity and move up while eager home shoppers are ready to purchase a house just like yours.
Bottom Line
If your current home doesn't meet your family's changing needs, let's connect to help you sell your house and make the move you've been waiting for all year.