tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:56:48 +0000This blog is an online presentation of my newspaper opinion columns. Subjects vary widely, from political commentary to personal reflections.http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)Blogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-5479299636072715263Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:08:00 +00002009-11-14T11:10:59.662-05:00When Galileo pointed his newly-improved telescope to the skies 400 years ago, he saw things he wasn’t supposed to see. He saw that the sun has blemishes; today we call them sunspots. He saw that the moon’s face was pockmarked. And, most importantly, he noticed that the planet Jupiter had little moons orbiting it with regular periods.He wasn’t supposed to notice these things because, according to http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/11/bible-writing-101-for-almighty.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-297836545372379186Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +00002009-11-09T19:07:48.655-05:00by Shana Wilson(This week's entry is by guest blogger Shana Wilson, who happens to share my opinion regarding the H1N1 pandemic and how the media may be responsible for bringing undue alarm to parents.)The spread of the influenza virus, H1N1, also commonly known as the swine flu, has struck panic in many parents. Add into the equation that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get vaccinated, http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/11/h1n1-causes-undo-alarm-in-parents.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-8418093733533758969Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:09:00 +00002009-10-31T16:27:12.547-04:00I used to go to church a lot. My church of choice was the First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. But I’ve also been to other protestant denominations including Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Assembly of God. I’ve heard a lot of sermons in my day. Most of the sermons centered around the teachings of Jesus, as would be expected in a Christian church. The Pentecostal http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/10/bible-verses-not-read-in-sunday-school.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-4057589765644277557Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:13:00 +00002009-10-24T17:14:25.195-04:00After living for years in a sort of religious limbo (no pun intended) I now call myself an atheist, not because I know there is no god, but because I do not believe in one. God might or might not exist; I have no way of knowing for sure, so I’m an agnostic atheist.I used to call myself just an agnostic, and before that I called myself spiritual but not religious and before that I called myself a http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/10/fundamentalist-christians-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2202781333756587129Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:28:00 +00002009-10-10T09:30:25.378-04:00America does not exist in isolation. The isolationist policies that existed prior to World Wars I and II cannot work in the global economy of today. One can argue that they didn’t even work back then, since those wars might have been prevented by a United States that was more engaged in world affairs.The United States, if we are to be a world leader, needs to have the respect of the nations we http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/10/nobel-peace-prize-often-given-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-6968165343197290189Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:33:00 +00002009-10-04T11:43:24.142-04:00Most people have heard of the five-second rule. It says if you drop a piece of food, such as a potato chip or an apple on the floor, and if you pick it up right away, within five seconds, it is still clean enough to eat.Our science class at George Washington Community School decided to test this rule. No, we didn’t use each other to test the rule by eating dropped food to see who would get sick. http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/10/five-second-rule-myth-or-reality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-3348890741240657268Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:36:00 +00002009-09-19T15:37:02.833-04:00Republicans are at it again, bashing Obama for something that they let slide under George W. Bush. This time it’s about Obama’s appointment of so-called czars to advise him on various policy issues.The word czar originally meant an emperor, like Caesar, which is the term’s root. Russia was ruled by czars for centuries. But it is not at all affiliated with communism or socialism, which is what http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/09/whats-up-with-czar-wars.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-3866004225556689389Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:02:00 +00002009-09-06T19:04:00.683-04:00Ever since Barack Obama was elected president, conservatives have been crying and bellyaching over one thing or another. I guess that’s normal in a two-party system. Democrats complained a lot when George W. Bush was president. But then so did many Republicans. After all, Bush was a blithering idiot.Obama is an intellectual and is very charismatic. Outwardly, he is a lot more like Ronald Reagan, http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/09/obama-to-indoctrinate-schoolkids-into.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2515493822638096909Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:54:00 +00002009-08-29T16:59:51.729-04:00When I was a kid, I believed all the popular stories of the bible. I believed that Noah and his family really did build a big boat. I believed Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth. I believed that Eve spoke to a snake and that Jonah was eaten by a whale (although it turned out to be a big fish). The sad part is I believed most of these things at least a little all the way into my college http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/08/how-to-debate-christian.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-5127972788159688421Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:15:00 +00002009-08-09T09:19:43.457-04:00This column is going to be a little different from all the others I’ve posted. It is much more personal and relates an incidence regarding my wife’s death and how she communicated to me just before it happened. I’ve never related this story to anyone in detail, especially my thoughts on how I should have reacted to her message.It was two days before Christmas, 2002. Donna had recently been http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/08/my-confrontation-with-spirituality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-509680007830203310Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:38:00 +00002009-08-02T10:38:54.552-04:00The earth is the center of the universe, with the sun, moon, stars, and planets all circling around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. That was the view of Aristotle and Ptolemy and was the accepted view of all thinkers up until the time of Copernicus.Copernicus suggested that the behavior of planets could best be explained if the sun was in the center of the universe, and not the earth. http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/08/in-science-v-religion-science-always.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2073879619172331957Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:22:00 +00002009-07-27T13:23:00.180-04:00Once upon a time I was a Christian. I was a true Christian, not just in name only. I was not a perfect Christian, but then who is? I went to church every Sunday. I, in fact, attended several different churches from time to time as I tested the waters. I prayed. I repented. I was baptized. I sang the hymns. I made the offerings. I attended bible study. I read the bible on my own. I witnessed for http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/07/christians-turned-me-away-from-religion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2102161206002167124Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:21:00 +00002009-07-25T12:22:12.628-04:00Sometimes scientists get things wrong. That should come as no surprise to anyone. Science is a process of discovery, analogous to the exploration of new lands by fifteenth-century sailors. Christopher Columbus originally thought he had discovered the East Indies when he landed in the New World.So when science gets it wrong, that sometimes means the process has to start over or change directions. http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/07/strength-of-science.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2983920403045599798Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:11:00 +00002009-07-19T11:14:06.738-04:00For the past couple of days I’ve been entertaining myself by taking part in the discussion forum attached to a Facebook opinion poll. The poll is really an overly simple one with only three options. It is called the Evolution vs. Creation Poll and the three choices are evolution, creation, or don’t know. There are more than 18,000 responses so far and the results show that almost half pick http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/07/dont-single-out-evolution-as-bad.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-5465985893218715172Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:07:00 +00002009-07-12T10:10:02.930-04:00A new Pew Research Center poll released July 9 is interesting in what it shows about the public’s perceptions about science and scientists compared to the views of scientists themselves on the same topic. The good news is that the public holds scientists in high esteem, with 70 percent of respondents saying that scientists contribute a lot to the public’s well being. Scientists rank third, below http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/07/poll-how-public-views-scientists.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-6721587765991035657Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:18:00 +00002009-07-05T08:41:43.802-04:00Hello Muddah. Hello Faddah.It’s summer and all across America and around the world kids are attending summer camp. They are playing ball, swimming, hiking, canoeing, and sitting around campfires singing silly songs. It’s all great fun for the younger set.And most of them are also engaging in other mandatory activities that may or may not be so fun. They are praying and listening to their camp http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/07/different-kind-of-summer-camp.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-8686020018533915393Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:28:00 +00002009-06-28T17:15:07.509-04:00According to the bible, Jesus performed many miracles during his ministry. He is said to have walked on water, healed lepers, restored the sight of the blind, calmed a storm, expelled demons, and most miraculous of all, brought his friend Lazarus back from the dead. Some of these miracles were performed using nothing but hand gestures, such as when he calmed the storm; others required the use of http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/06/mircales-made-me-agnostic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-258042668388928080Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:55:00 +00002009-06-19T14:56:33.523-04:00The advancements in consumer technologies never cease to amaze me. Take the GPS devices for example. These little units have become commonplace over the past few years as their prices have become more affordable to the average American. But what they do, and how they do it, is nothing short of amazing.Let’s take a quick look at how these little gadgets know exactly where you are and where you’re http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/06/gps-it-know-where-you-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-6563301252394714587Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:42:00 +00002009-06-07T08:43:11.578-04:00Did you neglect to go to church this Sunday? Do you feel guilty because of it? Well, don’t worry. Here is a countdown of the top ten things you missed by not going to church. They don’t all apply to all churches since each denomination has its own idea of which part of the bible is most important, but you can pick out the ones that seem to apply to your church and go with those.10 – They sang http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/06/ten-things-you-missed-by-skipping.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2905481675651706488Sun, 31 May 2009 14:08:00 +00002009-05-31T10:08:35.143-04:00I’m writing this on a Sunday morning while millions of Americans are getting ready to go to church. Some go because they feel obligated. Others go because it’s just a Sunday morning habit. There are those who go because they are afraid not to; hell is a scary place for those who believe it exists. Still others go because they actually enjoy going for whatever reason. And a few go just because it http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/05/faith-is-stupid.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-6153550344652364832Sat, 23 May 2009 14:19:00 +00002009-05-23T10:19:48.806-04:00When the 2010 congressional elections are held, the more intelligent people of Georgia might want to consider replacing Rep. Paul Broun with someone who won’t make that state a laughingstock. Just as the Kansas board of education made that state a laughingstock eight years ago when it kicked evolution out of the school curriculum, Broun isn’t doing his state any favors with his idiotic suggestionhttp://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/05/year-of-whose-bible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-7346232866328175328Sat, 16 May 2009 14:06:00 +00002009-05-16T10:06:52.246-04:00Wars are fought for many reasons, including territory, politics, oppression, and religious differences. Throughout history religious differences have been a major excuse for declaring war. More people have lost their lives in the name of God than for almost any other reason.Our war against terrorism is really rooted in religious differences. The terrorists are religious fanatics who use theirhttp://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/05/all-bubbles-are-equal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-3656110600401201406Sat, 09 May 2009 13:06:00 +00002009-05-09T09:06:47.213-04:00Did you take biology in high school? If so, were you taught about the theory of evolution? Were you also taught creationism or intelligent design? It might surprise some of us but according to recent research about a quarter of high school biology students were taught creationism as a valid alternative theory to evolution.That is having an effect on the way college biology students think about http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/05/biology-teachers-should-stick-to-real.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-1836816590962613916Fri, 01 May 2009 15:52:00 +00002009-05-01T11:52:55.638-04:00Most of my family and friends differ markedly from me on their religious views. Most of them are Christians; some go to evangelical churches. I, on the other hand, am not a Christian and I hold religion in complete and utter contempt. I believe religion through the ages has been the bane of society and has held back scientific and social progress. I believe religion remains a danger to society, http://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/05/can-we-all-be-wrong-about-religion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-161120454396773964Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:50:00 +00002009-04-26T11:52:43.815-04:00Let me start by saying that the logical arguments that follow are not against the existence of a supreme being per se. I am not an atheist, but an agnostic. I acknowledge that a god might possibly exist. The arguments are against the premise that the Christian God exists.So let us first define some terms: The Christian God is the god of the bible, the main characteristics of whom are that he is ahttp://wilstar.com/OverCoffee/blog/2009/04/logic-rules-out-christian-god.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jerry Wilson)18