In Defense of God: An Agnostic Manifesto

      A school like Episcopal is rare these days and children need to pray. I say this not because He's real or not, but because when a child can't lean on friends, or family they can believe whether or not its true that someone cares they exist.I would hate to offend but if I do, comment in a reasoned fashion.

     First off, I say religion is what allows for some to have moral stability. This is because many people only follow rules because they fear hell.Its sad but people don't always do things for good.If God isn't real then whey not cheat?
    Second, many people can lose their hold on life if not for religion. Everyone wants to believe in something, and without it most go down into the emotional abyss.A great example is cancer victims, victims of drug abuse, and simply people who were dealt a bad hand in life.All these people can try to kill themselves already, and I think it would be worse if they didn't believe in a deity of some kind.
     A third, in all honesty humanity will always believe in something. Whether it be a person, or thing, or even themselves.We all must believe we're special in some way. Its a pinciple that just doesn't die. There's always a soul, or at least consciousness somewhere inside of us.

Dune- Reading Response

8/20-10 min. 18 pages
8/21-30 min. 60 pages
8/22-60 min. 100 pages
8/23-60 min. 100 pages
8/24-120 min. 180 pages

 Dune by Frank Herbert is one of the greatest works of science fiction ever written. It won the Hugo award and the Nebula award in 1996 and is the first in a series of six science fiction novels. It takes place in the desert covered planet of Arrakis, where water is wroth its weight in gold and is a financial resource for the most addictive substance in existance the pyschostimulant, called spice. Our main characters Duke Leto, Paul Altreides, and Jessica the mother of Paul, and concubine of the Duke.
  Throughout the story the main theme seems to be related to politics and class warfare, with many clashes between characters. The Baron of the House Harkonnen, the main antagonist, wants to rule Arrakis for its spice and its viability as a planet for him to begin the formation of an army to rival the Emperor's Sadaukar.The Duke Leto is killed in political subterfuge, and Paul our main pritagonist, is left to fight for his role as the ruler of Arrakis. The story is littered with religious undertones and fierce loyalty in the face of adversity.The Baron's people though not mentioned much in the story are ruled by fear, while Paul's are fiercly believe in him and will fight to the death in his name.
   I believe that the Baron's Hitler-like style of leadership will bring his downfall through unloyalty, while Paul's far superior warriors will rule Arrakis and cause many problems for the world at large. This book is an extremely enjoyable read and one of my favorite science fiction stories.

Ringworld

  This summer I read Ringworld by Larry Niven. It is a science fiction book where there are four alien races: the outsiders a intelligent gas-like race capable of extradinarily advanced technology, a race of intelligent felines known as Kzin, humans and puppeteers three legged creatures with two heads. The puppeteer discovers a strange ring  around a sun similar to Earth's , which the puppeteers, evolutionarily made as cowards, cannot go to alone.
    To aleve their fears they take two humans,Neela Brown and Louis Gridley Wu and one feline,Speaker-to-Animals to the ring and discover a something extraordinary. It's an amazing novel and everyone should read it. Many shocking secrets are discovered within this tome, which are both horrifying and amazing.
   At the same time, it is the strangest science fiction I have ever read. It's unusaul characters, and strange dialougue force me to think about what I am reading.But at the end the story we are left a cliffhanger: who will tell the inhabitants of known space back home? Why does this ring exist?

pOST 1

   Hi my name is Terrell , and this is my discussion about the meaning of life. To me honestly I think life is a pointless drivel and we life(not humans, life) have gained a foothold of order and complexity in a sea of meaningless thermodynamic equilibirum. Comments?