Terry Pratchett - 'I'd Rather Be a Rising Ape Than a Fallen Angel'

Sam Harris

Slip The Dawk a few bucks. He's a champ!

Tim Minchin : 'Peace Anthem for Palestine'

Tim Minchin's "White Wine In The Sun"

Buy it via iTunes to make it a Christmas hit... that'd be funny.

Controversial Christmas Display, Jesus versus Santa

NIPOMO - One Nipomo man's holiday decorations has his neighbors banding together to get it removed.

The display is of Jesus and Santa, the two icons of Christmas. However, Jesus is holding a shotgun over the dead body of Santa Claus.

Neighbors want the display taken down citing that there are children in the neighborhood and they find it disturbing. "I know its freedom of speech, but it's pretty disturbing and there are lots of children, that's our main concern," says neighbor Susana Cruz.

Link:

Finally this Jesus dude is showing his true colours. It's obvious that he is a trouble maker with all of that cursing figs that he used to do.

Embiggen Books - Peter Ellerton Critical Thinking Talk

Embiggen Books

Mercy Ministries Australia Closes

It seems that the money and support have finally dried up. I wonder if Mercy had reviewed their treatment regime, produced something based in science and adequate research, as opposed to some extreme right biblical views they might have had a chance.

Link to SeanTheBlogonaut's post.

Old news but we were away when this happened. Good to see these scam artists finally closed down. People with eating disorders need careful, qualified, scientifically proven assistance, not bible studies and cruelty.

Well don't Sean. You've made the world a better place with your diligent pursuit of the truth of this matter.

Evangelical ministry facing 'demonically inspired financial attack'

So this is christianity doing more good work. A multi-millions dollar settlement because their woolly headed book says beating children is OK. How could a two year old benefit or learn from corporal punishment? They're too young to understand most anything.

I wonder if they'd have gotten as many donations if they'd been honest and said: "We need $3,000,000 so we can keep beating toddlers. Don't let the government stop good, moral christians from beating two year olds."

Link:

Great reaction from a Mum about a kid who comes out as an atheist.

glumbert - Don't tell Mom you're an atheist

That's it forever. This kid's never coming back to her church after this display of Christian love.

Google has MarJoe as one file

Britons are losing their faith

Further questions showed that 37 per cent of Britons either do not believe in God or are unable to say if a supreme being exists, while 35 per cent have a definite belief in God or belief with occasional doubts.

Link:

Climate Change -- Those hacked e-mails

Not atheism but the video is by thunderf00t and his videos are always excellent. The core of the climate change deniers are the core of the evolution deniers.

Thunderf00t on youtube

Thunderf00t has 78000 plus followers!!!

Link:

When Ray Comfort published...

When Ray Comfort published his own version of Darwin's Origin, he had to come up with some original content for the introduction. He couldn't. Instead, he stole the first three pages outright from an essay by University of Tennessee professor Stan Guffey - those are the only reasonable pages in his 50 page contribution - and the rest is a mish-mash of standard creationist arguments that you can find on the internet. It's actually kind of impressive that he reached so low on the stupid scale with this one; there isn't one creative thought in the whole sloppy, plagiarized piece of work.

Link to P Z Myers' blog

A Lesson for All Christians 13 Hitchens Breaks the Bible Down

Christopher Hitchens Owns the Christian Book Expo 2009

Atheist-mas

Atheist-mas comic:

Octopus using tools.

Footage of an octopus carrying a coconut shell around just in case it needs it for protection. This is illustrative of planning and tool use, things that theists have tried to claim is exclusive to humans.

Boing Boing post:



Boing Boing's funny comment:
Warning: This video contains footage of an octopus hiding under a coconut shell that it has carried around just in case it needed to hide from something. Watching this footage may contradict your previous assumptions about animal tool use, and may be too adorable for some viewers.

Turkey censors evolution

It has been the biggest crisis in Turkish academia since last year's lifting of the headscarf ban in universities. Last week a portrait of Charles Darwin was taken off the cover of the March issue of the government-backed science magazine Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology) just before it went to press. TÜBTAK, Turkey's national science funding agency, which publishes the magazine, then sacked its editor, Çidem Atakuman. Scientists, assuming censorship, are justifiably outraged and protests are ongoing.

Link:

Matt Dillahunty's things that he would call "sins"

Starting around 3 min.45 sec.

1) Credulity
2) Voluntary wilful ignorance
3) Letting fear prevent you from understanding reality
4) Limiting the rights and freedoms of others in order to make them abide by your standards.
5) Sacrificing the mental, emotional and physical well-being of a child in deference to your religion
6) Wasting the one and only life that you know you are going to have worrying about and working for an afterlife that someone told you might be there

Sam Harris at AAI 07

The problem of dualism

Public Funding of Muslim schools in Britain

BBC Newsnight on Public Funding of 'Muslim Extremist Schools' in Britain



This is an issue of public money being used to indoctrinate children into anti-democratic, xenophobic views.

"Are you a good person?"

If an apologist asks you "Are you a good person?" be ready to repel them with this:

A conversation with Dawkins

Richard Dawkins at Origins Symposium

Jim Wallace to attend Mayoral Prayer Breakfast in Gympie.

"BRIGADIER Jim Wallace served with distinction in the Australian Army for many years after graduating from Duntroon, the British Army Staff College and the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies."

Link:

The Gympie Times article fails to mention that Jim Wallace is not just some lovable ex-army Brigadier but is also a raving evangelical and the head of the ACL.

I corrected them with a letter to the editor thus:

The Gympie Times article discussing the 2010 Gympie Mayoral Prayer Breakfast promised "unity" and made regular use of the word "values." In inviting president of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace, to address this council-sanctioned religious event, exactly what "values" are being endorsed?

A look at the ACL website reveals that Mr Wallace opposes gay marriage, euthanasia and reproductive choice for women. He is a strong supporter of government censorship in the form of the mandatory internet filter and has led a campaign against a charter of human rights being introduced into Australia. The ACL questions the scientific reality of climate change.

These "values" weren't mentioned in the article, which overlooked Mr Wallace's political affiliations. It seems to me that this "unifying" meeting is espousing "values" that many Gympie ratepayers would not support. Why, then, does it have Mayoral and council endorsement?

Hitchens: Moral Superiority of Atheism

Heaven's Gate

Hilarious!

American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

We're gluttons for infographics, and a team at Kansas State just served up a feast: maps of sin created by plotting per-capita stats on things like theft (envy) and STDs (lust). Christian clergy, likely noting the Bible Belt's status as Wrath Central, question the "science." Valid point-or maybe it's just the pride talking.

Link:

Attenborough

Hitchens in Collision

Christopher Hitchens in Collision
by Xrunner17

Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most amused'

Dan Dennett: Ants, terrorism, and the awesome power of memes

I dismiss theists out of hand.

Atheists are accused of dismissing religious people out of hand. It is true that I do this if they are trying to explain their position from a religious point of view. What it comes down to, for me, is the same as maths and science. You might have the correct answer but if your method is wrong or you can't show your workings then you don't get full marks.

In any situation if you are going to introduce magical thought you haven't been able to show your workings so you are wrong.

Further to this, this is a thought pattern that I can't access. I can't say that god/s will give me the strength to get through some hardship. I need something that I can access without magical thought.

How "Christmas-Friendly" Are Retailers?

Instead of doing something constructive or socially useful, these theists are analysing retail employees to see which retailers are parroting xmas cheer.

Link:

Gay student recounts painful conversion therapy, abuse

This is part one of a five - part series addressing the gay community and its relationship to organized religion. Parts one and two are a profile of a K-State student, whose name was changed for anonymity, who underwent a conversion therapy program as a child. The reference to LGBTQI stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, questioning and inter-sex.

Link:

side hugs and sex education

Anti-gay school bus incident renews calls for anti-bullying legislation

Chinea Larkin, the 10th grade student of the district, told the station: "When I got off the bus, I stood up and was about to get off the bus, she was like, 'now you can get your gay self off my bus.' Well, she said 'get your gay tail off my bus.'"

In the video, the unidentified woman bus driver can be heard saying to Larkin: "Hopefully you and your little girlfriend don't get lost in your unsaved lives."

Link:

Transcript of "The Four Horsemen"

Including:
"[CH] What I say to these people is this, you're sending your e-mail or your letter to the wrong address. Everyone says let's not judge religion by its fundamentalists. Alright. Take the church of England, two of whose senior leaders recently said that the floods in north Yorkshire were the result of homosexual behavior, not in north Yorkshire presumably, probably in London, I think they're thinking …

[DD] God's aim is a little off!

[CH] One of these, the Bishop of Carlisle, is apparently about to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Now, this is extraordinary. This is supposed to be the mild and reflective and thoughtful and rather troubled church making fanatical pronouncements! Well, I want to hear what Allister McGrath is gonna to write to the Bishop of Carlisle, not to me. Is he going to say, my Lord Bishop, do you not realise what a complete idiot you're making of yourself and of our church? Did he do this? If he did it in private I am not impressed. He has to say it in public."

Link:

Sam Harris

MARJOE the movie.

Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

The Dawk on 'the arrogance of religious persons'

Dredg - I Don't Know ( music video )

redg - I Don't Know ( music video )

redg - I Don't Know ( music video )

redg - I Don't Know ( music video )

redg - I Don't Know ( music video )

Kiva

The Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious group has made 41,000 plus loans for USD1,254,350. Yay!

Link:

'Creationism: Still Crazy After All These Years' - Eugenie Scott, AAI 2009

(1/14) Intelligence Squared - Atheism is the new fundamentalism

14 might seem like a lot but with The Dawk in it the time will fly. :)

Science Jokes

This is what happens when you start making laws based on religion.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has failed in his bid to stop his sodomy trial from going ahead in another blow to his fluctuating fortunes.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today rejected Anwar's application to have the case thrown out before it is heard in court.

Link:

Forget Christmas! Shakehands Midwinter!

Shakehands Midwinter, the perfect secular celebration.

Wikipedia are denying the very existence of Shakehands Midwinter

Uncyclopedia are a little more open minded.

TED: Richard Dawkins on militant atheism

ATHEISM IS THE NEW FUNDAMENTALISM

Intelligence Squared Video

The motion proposes that "atheism is the new fundamentalism", i.e., atheism has replaced religion as the new faith of the secular age, exploring the notion that modern atheism is itself guilty of the very dogma and belief in its own infallibility which it scorns in the religious community.

The Dawk: At TED

Biologist Richard Dawkins makes a case for "thinking the improbable" by looking at how the human frame of reference limits our understanding of the universe.

Islamic scholar being tolerant... sorta.

Islam demands tolerance from Europe and this is their answer to why other religions are not allowed to build churches in Muslim theocratic countries.



No wonder the Swiss have voted to ban the construction of minarets.
Where are all the moderate muslims denouncing his outrageous claims? Clean up your own act before you start attacking others.

Why We Believe in Gods - Andy Thomson - American Atheists 09

Pat Condell's new video.

Salvation Army homophobia

Opposition to hiring homosexuals
The Salvation Army in the U.S. has been the topic of some controversial discussions about discrimination against homosexuals in their hiring practices.[22] According to lesbian/gay newsmagazine The Advocate, in 2001, the Bush administration was "willing to do whatever it takes to perpetuate, support, and defend discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals" in exchange for The Salvation Army's lobby support for Faith-Based Initiatives, in what the publication described as a "secret arrangement."[23] The New York Times reported that the Salvation Army believed it had a firm commitment from the White House to issue a regulation that would override local antidiscrimination laws. A disclosure of The Salvation Army's request "outraged some civil rights groups and lawmakers," and resulted in an immediate reversal of a previous promise to honor the request. The Salvation Army maintains that they were "not trying to get permission to discriminate against hiring gays and lesbians for the majority of its roughly 55,000 jobs and merely wanted a federal regulation that made clear that the charity did not have to ordain sexually active gay ministers and did not have to provide medical benefits to the same-sex partners of employees. [24]
The Salvation Army's position is that because it is a church, Section VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly guarantees its right to discriminate on the basis of its religious beliefs in its hiring. To reinforce its position, it threatened to close all soup kitchens in New York City when the city government proposed legislation that would require all organizations doing business with it to provide equal benefits to unmarried domestic partners.[25]

Howard Stern bags Kirk Cameron

Hitler, Stalin and Statistics

Statistics on the number of religious people in Australia.

Arguments against he Hitler/Stalin/Mao = atheism bomb from RichardDawkins.net

New Left Media - Palin

Australian Skeptics Announce: TAM! Australia 2010

The 2010 Australian Skeptics National Convention will be held in Sydney. Six years after the last time Sydney hosted the convention, and 10 years after the World Skeptical Convention III in 2000, this will not be an ordinary convention; it will be an international event in the true sense of the word. Not only will our speakers come from all over the world, but so will many of the delegates, and we expect more than 500 of those.

Link:

Dawkins on CNN

Good interview.

Nell McCafferty makes a good point.

From Pharyngula

I think I like this woman. Nell McCafferty rips into representatives of the Catholic church, asking, "What's holy about the Vatican?" and insisting that they ought to set aside the titles of "Father" and "Grace" and so forth, because they've betrayed them. I love the Irish when they get that fire in their eye!

PZ Myers

"Victorian Government Refuses Funding for Atheist Convention in Melbourne"

From:

The Victorian State Government has basically ignored the request for funding for the "Rise of Atheism" Convention in Melbourne next March, while allocating $4.5m in funds for the "The Parliament of the Worlds Religions".

This decision to basically ignore the funding request shows gross contempt for Atheism and Atheists alike in favour of religion and religious organisations.

See article posted at the convention's website Atheists Too Hot to Handle for Victorian Government.

Today in the "Comment & Debate" section of The Age devotes an entire column to this injustice.

I see this as an odd reaction from the Government, who describes Australia as "multicultural and secular".

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

And the Lord said unto John, "Come forth and receive eternal life."

But John came fifth and won a toaster.

Bush: Iraq Must Be Invaded to Thwart Gog and Magog

Link - please read the original article. I've put it all up here in case the original gets taken down.

I wonder if all of the allies of USA got the same story? Did John Howard believe in all this biblical rubbish and drag Australia into it?

A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush

JAMES A. HAUGHT

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible's satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn't a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their "common faith" (Christianity) and told him: "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins."

This bizarre episode occurred while the White House was assembling its "coalition of the willing" to unleash the Iraq invasion. Chirac says he was boggled by Bush's call and "wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs."

After the 2003 call, the puzzled French leader didn't comply with Bush's request. Instead, his staff asked Thomas Romer, a theologian at the University of Lausanne, to analyze the weird appeal. Dr. Romer explained that the Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains two chapters (38 and 39) in which God rages against Gog and Magog, sinister and mysterious forces menacing Israel. Jehovah vows to smite them savagely, to "turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws," and slaughter them ruthlessly. In the New Testament, the mystical book of Revelation envisions Gog and Magog gathering nations for battle, "and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

In 2007, Dr. Romer recounted Bush's strange behavior in Lausanne University's review, Allez Savoir. A French-language Swiss newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche, printed a sarcastic account titled: "When President George W. Bush Saw the Prophesies of the Bible Coming to Pass." France's La Liberte likewise spoofed it under the headline "A Small Scoop on Bush, Chirac, God, Gog and Magog." But other news media missed the amazing report.

Subsequently, ex-President Chirac confirmed the nutty event in a long interview with French journalist Jean-Claude Maurice, who tells the tale in his new book, Si Vous le Répétez, Je Démentirai (If You Repeat it, I Will Deny), released in March by the publisher Plon.

Oddly, mainstream media are ignoring this alarming revelation that Bush may have been half-cracked when he started his Iraq war. My own paper, The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, is the only U.S. newspaper to report it so far. Canada's Toronto Star recounted the story, calling it a "stranger-than-fiction disclosure … which suggests that apocalyptic fervor may have held sway within the walls of the White House." Fortunately, online commentary sites are spreading the news, filling the press void.

The French revelation jibes with other known aspects of Bush's renowned evangelical certitude. For example, a few months after his phone call to Chirac, Bush attended a 2003 summit in Egypt. The Palestinian foreign minister later said the American president told him he was "on a mission from God" to defeat Iraq. At that time, the White House called this claim "absurd."

Recently, GQ magazine revealed that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attached warlike Bible verses and Iraq battle photos to war reports he hand-delivered to Bush. One declared: "Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground."

It's awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who "got saved." He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars.

For six years, Americans really haven't known why he launched the unnecessary Iraq attack. Official pretexts turned out to be baseless. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction after all, and wasn't in league with terrorists, as the White House alleged. Collapse of his asserted reasons led to speculation about hidden motives: Was the invasion loosed to gain control of Iraq's oil-or to protect Israel-or to complete Bush's father's vendetta against the late dictator Saddam Hussein? Nobody ever found an answer.

Now, added to the other suspicions, comes the goofy possibility that abstruse, supernatural, idiotic, laughable Bible prophecies were a factor. This casts an ominous pall over the needless war that has killed more than four thousand young Americans and cost U.S. taxpayers perhaps $1 trillion.

James A. Haught is the editor of the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia) and a Free Inquiry senior editor.



While I knew Bush was a nutjob, this still surprises me and frightens me deeply. Why, oh why, is this not on the front page and top story of every news organization in America???

When foreign policy, particularly war policy, is being made based on fundamentalist religion (regardless whether it's Christianity, Islam, or even Mormonism), every person in America should be very, very concerned.

Strike that- I meant every rational, thinking person in America.

Link:

NAZIs actually banned Darwinism

6. Writings of a philosophical and social nature whose content deals with the false scientific enlightenment of primitive Darwinism and Monism (H?ckel).

Militant Atheist

From:

The Dawk: Supervillian

From:

AAI 2009 Conference

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' (ft. Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)

"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Language, not created 6000 years ago.

Best headline ever:

From:

The Intelligence Squared Debate - Christopher Hitchens

Aired 11-7-09 on BBC World Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world? "It stands up for the oppressed and offers spiritual succour to billions say the Church's supporters. But what about the Church's teachings on condoms, gays and women priests, ask the detractors." Speaking for the motion, Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdecombe MP. Speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry.

">

Evolution's classroom crisis

Surveys show that, around the world, teachers and students are rejecting evolution.

Questions abound in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on the second day of a conference on Darwin's legacy. Where can I get a coffee? Is this seat taken? Is religion compatible with evolutionary theory? Delegates search for answers.

Link:

The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion

What happens when an Pro-Lifer actually has to face the fact that they need an abortion.

Link >

""

When the Anti-Choice Choose

By Joyce Arthur

Copyright September, 2000

Abortion is a highly personal decision that many women are sure they'll never have to think about until they're suddenly faced with an unexpected pregnancy. But this can happen to anyone, including women who are strongly anti-choice. So what does an anti-choice woman do when she experiences an unwanted pregnancy herself? Often, she will grin and bear it, so to speak, but frequently, she opts for the solution she would deny to other women -- abortion.

In the spring of 2000, I collected the following anecdotes directly from abortion doctors and other clinic staff in North America, Australia, and Europe. The stories are presented in the providers' own words, with minor editing for grammar, clarity, and brevity. Names have been omitted to protect privacy.

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

Sam Harris inverview with Bill Maher

Hitchens on Fora.tv

First of seven... just follow your nose.

Atheist Life vs Religious Life

Carl Sagan - God, the Universe, & Everything Else

God will fuck you up.

If it's good enough for these fools...

Carl Sagan's last interview

Part One


Part Two

Chaser takes the bible to Americans

Brother Richard at AAI

Hitchens in Sydney

ABC Fora site:

Dawkins on Bill Maher

Richard Dawkins on Real Time with Bill Maher (10-2-09)
Uploaded by Xrunner17. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

Dangerous Ideas in Sydney

This is a live cam. It will have something when there's something there to see.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

And xtians are impressed by a burning bush!

Celebrate the International Day of Blasphemy

Stewart Lee on creationism and Richard Dawkins.

Thunderf00t on logic

That wacky pope is at it again:

Guardian Articles:
Ignore the bells and the smells and the lovely Raphaels, the Pope's visit to Britain is nothing to celebrate
Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican

Why is this guy even given a visa for the UK. This is a known enabler of child abuse. He should be refused entry into other countries.

Betty Bowers Explains Traditional Marriage to Everyone Else

America's Best Christian takes time to explain to less informed Christians the curious details of the Lord's concept of marriage.

Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

The God Who Wasn't There.

Full video:

Richard Dawkins on The Greatest Show on Earth

Richard Dawkins talks about why it's time for a book setting out the evidence for evolution, when calling someone ignorant isn't an insult, and how the media have made him into a militant atheist.

Link:

Jury in on heroin ban

Inequality has been a constant theme in illicit drugs. Australia's first laws on drugs in the late 19th century banned the smoking of opium in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. The only opium smokers then were the Chinese working in the goldfields.

Link:

Once again, we find ourselves looking at studies that show the zero tolerance is a waste of time. Conservatives insist that they are making progress on their War On Drugs... but it looks more and more like at least as dead a duck as their War On Terror.

Jennifer McCreight's talk on her visit to the Creation Museum

Jennifer McCreight, President of the Society of Non-Theists and senior majoring in Genetics and Evolution at Purdue University recaps her visit to the Creation Museum, a multi-million dollar enterprise by Answers in Genesis to spread the gospel of literal Biblical Creation. The museum teaches that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, evolution is a lie, and human reason and science are dangerous. Its child friendly environment complete with animatronic dinosaurs and a petting zoo is worrisome, to say the least.

When Dinosaurs Walk With God: A godless biologist's trip to the Creation Museum from Jennifer McCreight on Vimeo.

House

Babies!

Children! - watch more funny videos

Jesus all about life... Fail!

Here's the news guys: If you buy the .com.au, you've gotta get the other dots...

Too late!

Jesus. All About Lies is an about-time media campaign developed by people who use reason. It aims to motivate people to use reason, rather than rely soley on institutions historically built on power, for the basis of their morals. We are aiming to run outreach events for the general public which are promoted by thinking people and through the jesusallaboutlies.com website. For general information about the Jesus All About Lies campaign, or if you are interested in being a part of upcoming campaigns, please click on the appropriate link to the right or below.

Link>

FriendlyAtheist has the story:

Another pointless Xtian hate fest

Therefore in the 20th century atheism lies behind Mao Zedung, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot. Atheists seem to be behind not just abortion but eugenics, family planning, radical feminism and the gay movement, political extremes of capitalism and communism and practically every evil I can think of.

Link:

I don't expect them to post my response:

Once again I, an atheist, am able to take the high moral ground over theists. I don't hate you. I'm not accusing you of crimes you haven't committed. You people should have a long hard look at your bible and see if it says that you should be judging others... that sort of thing. Some of the unpopular parts of your bible.

Bad people do bad things. Good people do good things. I cannot believe for a moment that any one of the people on this board would start a massacre if they lost their faith. People all over the world lose their religious convictions every day. Show me the statistics that prove that this directly causes massacres. It should be, if you are right, that you would be able to show statistically that within (say) 30 days of not believing in any god people are (say) 50% more likely to kill more than one person. Show some facts instead of baseless accusations. I'm not seeing the word 'atheist' come up many times on Wikipedia's List of Massacres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_events_named_massacres

It is pointless to try to tally up the deaths. Christianity has its hands dripping with blood and is in no position to criticize others. What you are doing here and now on this blog is inciting hatred, xenophobia and division. These are the things that caused the most bloody chapters in human history, not disbelief in someone else's creation fairy tale.

People mistakenly think that atheism is a moral code. It is not. It simply states the lack of belief in a god or gods. Just as the people posting here don't believe in Allah or the Australian Aboriginal Dream Time, I don't believe your claim that the god of the christian bible exists. After all of these creation myths are discarded an atheist decides on a moral code. It can be as simple as the codes attributed to the fictional character Jesus: 'Do unto others as you would have the do unto you'. This is a creed adopted all over the world by many religious figures and philosophers. I tend towards the Humanist Ethical Codes (such as this: http://nireland.humanist.org.uk/handbk/a_humanist_ethical_code.html ). Note that 4 of the list of ten aren't wasted on the vanity of a jealous god's dislike of other gods and petty need to be worshipped 24/7.

Anyway, I don't expect this post to be put up. I guess I'll put it on my blog so as to have not wasted my time in writing it. Time, after all, is precious when there is no offer of a magical second life.

More comments at reddit:

Professor Richard Dawkins on Ireland's The Late Late Show, 18.09.09

Dawkins touring his new book, The Greatest Show on Earth.

The Might Be Giants - Kids Album

Available at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/TMBGSIR

What Scientologists believe...

Atheist reads the Bible.

Protect children while near churches.

A site listing church sexual abuse.

Broken Rites:

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny is the saviour of all animals:

Putting faith in its place

Faith has no place demanding agreement or punishing disagreement.

Church groups say that 16 year old girls should stay at home quietly rather than sail around the rule, no exception.

Schoolgirl's solo sail 'irresponsible'

BNE Times link:

Jessica Watson, now 15, announced plans yesterday to circumnavigate the globe by herself in an attempt to become the youngest person ever to sail solo non-stop around the world.

So, she wants to do it and her parents don't mind. The scene is set for the moral majority to start going on and on about it:

First cab off the rank:

Bill Muehlenberg, secretary of the Family Council of Victoria, said the trip was "irresponsible".

"It sounds fairly reckless indeed given that even old experienced sailors can get into a lot of strife," Mr Muehlenberg told ABC radio.

Second cab off the rank:

But John Morrissey, of the Australian Family Association, said the trip was too risky.

"I'm a secondary teacher and I've been teaching 15 year-old girls for 42 years and I'd be amazed if any of them could cope with something like that," Mr Morrissey said.

So, they have an opinion, like arseholes, everyone's got one. The organisations that they represent are chronically ignorant about child protection. Most child sexual abuse comes from their cherished family model or direct from the churches themselves. Family, ironically, is a topic that "Family" associations are chronically ignorant about. They would do better to be silent and be thought fools.

CNNNN xtian gene

When Jehovah's Witnesses come-a-knocking - Youtube Vid.

This gets a bit confrontational but it's all in good fun.

Non-belief is belief... WTF?

Atheist Camel looks at the atheism is a religion flawed logic.

A theist emailing me at Eternal Earthbound Pets tells me that since I have no belief in the existence of a God, that non-belief is therefore a belief, and thus equates to a religion.

Full post:

Modern geocentrism

Modern geocentrism is the belief by extant groups that Earth is the center of the universe as described by classical geocentric models. This belief is often based on Biblical verses and is most common among American Protestants. This belief is directly opposed to scientific evidence that the Sun is essentially the gravitational center of the solar system, and that the location of the Earth is not privileged.

No, really. They think that the Sun revolves around the earth cause it says so in the bible. The Flat Earth is only a blow to the head away.

Wikipedia article:

Procrastination - Just have to add AN to this list.

AN is my favourite waste of time:

Pastor Steven L Anderson ravings about gynocologists.

What's Wrong with Male Gynecologists?
by Pastor Steven L Anderson, 2006

1. Is nudity before the opposite gender a sin?
2. Are male obstetricians or gynecologists condoned in the Bible?
3. Are male gynecologists professionals or perverts?

This guy is so misguided!

Link:

Simpsons' take on religion

Some irreligious Simpsons quotes:

Sean the Blogonaut - some good posts.

Hillsong pushing the boundaries again…

Shine - The sickly sweet face of Hillsong Evangelism

Mercy Ministries - Honest at last ?

Shine…for Jesus

Hillsong's Shine School Program

A critique on Hillsong's Shine School Program:

The Christian evangelist organisation "Hillsong" has developed a program which is being delivered in schools nationwide. The program statement released on 26th July 2008 claims that it is non-religious; delivered by qualified staff from the areas of youth work, community work and welfare; does not reinforce gender stereotypes; and uses "personal care" topics merely to break down barriers for the discussion of issues such as peer pressure, self-esteem, bullying and other challenges of adolescence. This paper provides a critique of these claims and a caution in support of the legitimate concerns of parents and educators about the potential for facilitators to influence students towards their religious beliefs and recruit them to their organisations. Of equal concern is the program content and its implicit endorsement (despite claims to the contrary) of narrow and potentially debilitating feminine stereotypes.

Atheist Alphabet Meme project

The atheist alphabet meme project:

Christian Privilege in Australia, as demonstrated by our Prime Minister

From Sean the Blogonaut:

When a wacky fundamentalist Islamic Cleric Samir Abu Hamza says that its okay for men to rape and beat their wives our Prime Minister rightly condemns it.

Equality? 'Real Muslim women in Mali don't want it - it's un-Islamic!'

TENS of thousands of people in Mali's capital, Bamako, have been protesting against a new law which gives women equal rights in marriage.

There is just no point in trying to disabuse them of their retardation, they wallow in it.
As soon as you criticise intellectuals you've lost me.


Link to freethinker blog below. Warning, disturbing (but true) image.






Link:

Simpsons Top Trumps: Skeptics Edition

So, here's another batch of top trumps, this time inspired by the Simpsons, but skeptically themed. You probably can't read the text on the card so click each one to expand them.

Link:

Glycine in a comet tail.

Glycine in a comet tail might not sound like much but abiogenics is a set of provable facts which have the advantage,over ID, of not being looney rubbish.

SMH Article:

Dawkins in Free Inquiry

"If you live in America the chances are that your next door neighbors believe the following: the inventor of the laws of physics and Programmer of the DNA code decided to enter the uterus of a Jewish virgin, got himself born, then deliberately had himself tortured and executed because he couldn't think of a better way to forgive the theft of an apple, committed at the instigation of a snake. As Creator of the majestically expanding universe, he not only understands relativistic gravity and quantum mechanics but actually designed them. Yet what he really cares about is "sin," abortion, how often you go to church, and whether gay people should marry. Statistically, the chances are that your neighbors believe all that-and they vote."

Richard Dawkins, -- In his letter to recommend the magazine Free Inquiry.

Answering "... but atheism is a religion"

The Good Atheist blogs about:
Tired Christian Claim #1: Atheism is a Religion

Abiogenics is mentioned in the comments with a reference to the Miller-Urey experiment.

Darwin's work vandlised

Darwin's Origin of the species has been forwarded by a fundie. Make sure you don't buy this version and that your school doesn't have this tampered with copy available to students.

TheGoodAtheist's blog post.

The rape challenge: upsetting fundies.

Austin Cline blogs about atheism on About.com

He issues the following challenge to anyone who cares to accept it, but especially to anyone who holds that the Bible is a book of good morals. Make the following three declarations:
1. I denounce rape as morally wrong: there are no exceptions.
2. I denounce as evil the practice of forcing rape victims to marry their rapists.
3. I denounce as evil any law, code of ethics, or any other statement of moral principles that contains an injunction requiring a rape victim to marry to her rapist.

Since the Bile does contain such an injunction, accepting this challenge necessarily means that you are denouncing the Bible, declaring it NOT to be a good source of moral guidance.

This is where the wheels will fall off your wagon cause they'll go on about how that part of the bible was not written for this time. Like the not eating things that swim without fins, prawns, and wearing eyeglasses before the lord... how the hell are you supposed to know where he'll be? Unlike the homosexual bits... they were definitely written for this time, yes?

How can a book written by an omnipotent, omniscient being not be universally applicable throughout all time... as one would expect it to be?

About.com article:

Thunderf00t talking to Ray Comfort.