Monday, December 20, 2010
Sam Harris - The Moral Landscape - Talk at Berkley.
I'm reading The Moral Landscape at the moment. I think I'll have to read it twice.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
YouTube - Christopher Hitchens Debate! (1 of 10)
YouTube - Christopher Hitchens Debate! (1 of 10):
Just click forward to 2 minutes to avoid the mentally challenged rubbish by the theist nutters at the start...
""
Just click forward to 2 minutes to avoid the mentally challenged rubbish by the theist nutters at the start...
""
YouTube - Q and A - Adventures in Democracy (Panel Includes Richard Dawkins) (Part 1/6)
Dawkins on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Q and A
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Radical Islamists attack World Cup Soccer fans in Somalia
Radical Islamists attack World Cup Soccer fans in Somalia:
"According to the BBC, 'Somali militants have threatened football fans they will be publicly flogged - or worse - if they are caught watching the World Cup on TV.' Two have, in fact, already been killed on Saturday when militants stormed a house where they were watching a game on satellite television."
I don't really like soccer but killing people would be a bit much... but I don't have an invisible magic sky friend who whispers "kill people who like soccer, it's the only moral thing to do".
Our online family portrait: slightly paranoid
Our online family portrait: slightly paranoid
Kids:
. we are overprotective compared to other countries.
. they lie to adults because they think they'll get in trouble or that their internet will be limited or filtered.
. we wont turn parental controls on
. they surf less and have more rules.
So, the fear campaign has worked. Parents are frightened of the net so their kids, not able to fathom why the adults are in such a tizz, are protecting them from the worst of it.
Kids:
. we are overprotective compared to other countries.
. they lie to adults because they think they'll get in trouble or that their internet will be limited or filtered.
. we wont turn parental controls on
. they surf less and have more rules.
So, the fear campaign has worked. Parents are frightened of the net so their kids, not able to fathom why the adults are in such a tizz, are protecting them from the worst of it.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Fallacies of Ambiguity: The No True Scotsman Fallacy
Fallacies of Ambiguity: The No True Scotsman Fallacy:
"This is actually a combination of several fallacies, but since it rests ultimately on shifting the meaning of terms — a form of equivocation — and begging the question, it receives special attention.
The name “No True Scotsman” comes from an odd example involving Scotsmen:
1. Suppose I assert that no Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge. You counter this by pointing out that your friend Angus likes sugar with his porridge. I then say “Ah, yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”
Obviously the original assertion about Scotsmen has been challenged quite well, but in attempting to shore it up the speaker uses an ad hoc change combined with a shifted meaning of the words from the original."
In discussions with theists, being able to pull them up on logical fallacies is important. If done gently, it can coax them towards a more logical, critical, skeptical world view.
If done roughly it can win a point in an argument but it will only strengthen their determination to be religious... that would be winning the battle but losing the war.
More logical fallacies on atheism.about.com:
Third Reich Christianity: Nazi Germany as Implementation of a Christian Agenda - How Was Nazi Germany an Example of Christian Nationalism & Power?
Hitler and the Nazis are often cited as an example of the horrible crimes which atheists have committed in the 20th century. They are only assumed to be atheists, though, because people can't imagine Christians doing such things; in reality, Hitler explicitly appealed to Christianity on a regular basis and this was part of why he was popular. Not every Christian supported the Nazis, of course, but he was most popular with conservative Christians seeking a restoration of traditional values.
Third Reich Christianity: Nazi Germany as Implementation of a Christian Agenda - How Was Nazi Germany an Example of Christian Nationalism and Power?:
"In a speech celebrating Germany’s exit from the League of Nations, Hitler again maintained that the Third Reich was actively implementing a Christian agenda: “Along with the fight for a purer morality we have taken upon ourselves the struggle against the decomposition of our religion. We have therefore taken up the struggle against the Godless movement, and not just with a few theoretical declarations; we have stamped it out."
Make it Count | Rudd & Abbott address Christian Voters ::
Make it Count | Rudd and Abbott address Christian Voters ::
Invitation only god-fest with Australia's leading politicians.
Invitation only god-fest with Australia's leading politicians.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Hitchens answers Pascal's Wager:
Hitchens sums up Blaise Pascal's wager with this memorable imagery:
"Religious hucksterism of the cheapest, vulgarest, nastiest kind it's possible to imagine. He says, 'What have you got to lose? I've got a good offer for you. Come into my used car lot. Come on baby, just lie a little, and you never know!' No, don't talk to me like that, and don't call it piety when you do, or be prepared to have piety despised."
Hitchens and Fry vs. Ann Widdecombe on The Ten Commandments
Good until about 3:15 Widdecombe shows that she hadn't listened to either of them:
Which ten commandments are we talking about here? These ones? Is it really that important not to boil a kid in its mother's milk. Is that really one of the basis for modern morality?
Which ten commandments are we talking about here? These ones? Is it really that important not to boil a kid in its mother's milk. Is that really one of the basis for modern morality?
Exodus 34:11-34:27
11 Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles* 14(for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.
17 You shall not make cast idols.
18 You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.
19 All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male* livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.
No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
21 For six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in ploughing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 22You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
25 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning.
26 The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
27 The Lord said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Don't call me an Islamophobe : Johann Hari
Don't call me an Islamophobe : Johann Hari:
People who believe in opposing hatred of gay people everywhere – in Teheran as much as Tunbridge Wells, in Kingston, Jamaica as much as Kingston-Upon-Thames – are being subjected to a bizarre counter-campaign. As so often, Peter Tatchell is facing the most abusive backlash on our behalf. Tatchell believes all people are equal, regardless of their pigmentation. He does not see a difference between the white far-right preacher Jerry Falwell calling gay people diseased, and the Muslim leader Sir Iqbal Sacranie doing the same. He does not see the difference between gay teenagers being lynched to death in Jamaica and murderous gay-bashings on Clapham Common. He reacts to them in exactly the same way – by fighting to stop them.
Theists play the victim card at the drop of a hat. Here we are told of people pleading "But it's my religion" while they are advocating the lashing and stoning of gay people.
Gay people are not trying to force their beliefs onto other people. If adults want to have consenting sex with each other it is none of my business.
Sure, doing it in missionary position only, with the woman unable to say 'no', while praying to an invisible friend, is pretty weird but if that's the way two (or more) adults consent to sex than their weirdness is none of my concern.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding
Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding:
Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.
A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish 'maternal relations' and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.
The bit I like here is the last sentence. They are asking for secular laws to control the issue of fatwas. This fatwa shows that the process can generate some very strange results.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Women and Pornography | BYU Women's Services
Women and Pornography | BYU Women's Services: "Like visual pornography, such literature presents a warped view of sexuality and is arousing and addictive."
Wanna see a warped view on sexuality? Take a long hard look at your bible with Lot fucking his daughters, armies taking female children as sexual slaves from defeated cities and God sneaking up on Mary, sex without consent is called rape.
When your moral system has sorted out its sexual hangups, then you can try to propagate it to the whole world.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland : Pharyngula
Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland : Pharyngula:
"We all know the Catholic Church has a serious public relations problem right now — they're hidebound, they're insensitive to the human needs of their congregations, and, well, sheltering an evil bunch of child-rapers that they shuttle about among unknowing parishes like a buggerymobile or a penis-on-wheels program doesn't help."
PZ Myres is not happy with the Catholic Church's attempts to re-assert their control over Ireland's hearts and minds... and sex lives.
The Atheist Blogger � Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit Responds to Atheist & Christian Billboards
The Atheist Blogger � Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit Responds to Atheist & Christian Billboards: "Christians have recently begun putting billboards up claiming that the separation of church and state is not what the Founding Fathers wanted for America. This is actually quite true, since it is a well established fact in the Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit that both George Washington & Thomas Jefferson were devout Jaffalots. Far from wanting a separation of church and state, the Founding Fathers wanted a joining of the “state and cake” to honour McVities forever."
The Atheist Blogger � Questions Atheists CAN Answer
The Atheist Blogger � Questions Atheists CAN Answer: "Ray Comfort has another hilarious post containing 10 questions atheists apparently cannot answer. Here to disprove him yet again, I give some possible answers."
Monday, June 7, 2010
Threats to expose brothel clients | QLD News | Breaking News in Queensland | Toowoomba Chronicle
Threats to expose brothel clients | QLD News | Breaking News in Queensland | Toowoomba Chronicle
A comment:
So the religious right (I'm assuming it's them - if it quacks like a duck...) have taken up blackmailing law abiding citizens to try to force everyone into their sexual dysfunction.
A comment:
Typical. The prudes weren't able to win their petty fight against the brothel opening so they are trying to force their twisted hatred of sex and fun onto everyone else. This is school yard bullying at its worst.
I hope all the sensible, liberal minded people in Toowoomba all take up visiting the brothel, whether they partake of their services of not, to give the law abiding patrons cover from the bigotry of the self-appointed moral police.
So the religious right (I'm assuming it's them - if it quacks like a duck...) have taken up blackmailing law abiding citizens to try to force everyone into their sexual dysfunction.
Synthetic life form accuses God of ‘playing science’
The world’s first artificially created life form has accused God of ‘playing science’ and ‘meddling with things He cannot possibly understand.’
The single celled organism, created by Dr Craig Venter and his team, was said to be ‘outraged’ when it discovered that a supernatural being, not subject to any form of regulatory control, was still involved in the creation of life.
Link:
The single celled organism, created by Dr Craig Venter and his team, was said to be ‘outraged’ when it discovered that a supernatural being, not subject to any form of regulatory control, was still involved in the creation of life.
Link:
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Atheist Book
You want to know what the bible and the koran say about women, homosexuals, non-believers... You want to understand why religions generate intolerance and obscurantism... You want to know more about the different faiths...You will find answers to these questions in "the atheist book".
Link:
Jamiewrites: The Global Atheist Conference
Jamiewrites: The Global Atheist Conference
A roundup of the Australian Atheist Convention held March 2010
A roundup of the Australian Atheist Convention held March 2010
We were really quite nervous for this one. Our first ever interview, and we had, had about 6 hours sleep in 3 days between us.
Pretentious Makes Perfect.
In this episode we interviewed the lovely Leslie Cannold a Bio-ethicist, Lecturer and Colomunist for The Age.
We were really quite nervous for this one. Our first ever interview, and we had, had about 6 hours sleep in 3 days between us.
The interview was a little clunky in places but Leslie Cannold was allowed to shine. :)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Why women in particular should be atheists.
Have you ever noticed that God is still thought of as male? Jesus is definitely male; Christmas is not really about Mary the mother but about the baby; all the paintings of God show a man (think Michelangelo); everyone prays to Him. There are a few who try to make him asexual or even female but they are thought of as odd by Christians etc. Further, most of god's rules favour men - the old testament, much of the new testament, especially by Paul, favours men; all of the Qu'ran favours men although there is some talk of protecting women - a bit like property. The entire bible has no lead characters who were women and until recently, 99% of ministers and preachers were men. The Judeo-Christian society we live in and also the Muslim society is definitely patriarchal.
So why would women want to be Religious? Why would they want to believe that they are inferior?
Continue reading: Why women in particular should be atheists.:
I never can understand why women are going for religion. They really lose out, as far as I can see. They are treated as second class at every turn. Their bodies become church property. They are discouraged from thinking, working, any independence... it goes on and on. It gets worse as we go back though history or into countries where Islam has hold.
Fox fails at discrediting atheism.
Fox fails at discrediting atheism.
These people should stick to sucking at news, this is just embarrassingly bad, even for them.
These people should stick to sucking at news, this is just embarrassingly bad, even for them.
News from The Associated Press
The future Pope Benedict XVI refused to defrock an American priest who confessed to molesting numerous children and even served prison time for it, simply because the cleric wouldn't agree to the discipline. The case provides the latest evidence of how changes in church law under Pope John Paul II frustrated and hamstrung U.S. bishops struggling with an abuse crisis that would eventually explode.
News from The Associated Press:
The Pope is busily pretending to be concerned about communicating with atheists (Link). I can speak for exactly one atheist. Make amends to the people who you and your organisation harmed before you try to tell atheists how to live.
Monday, May 31, 2010
God made animals for testing: Malaysian minister
Malacca Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam said on Monday the lab had received state approval, and animal testing was necessary to make drugs. The project is still in the planning phase.
"God created animals for the benefits of human beings. That's why he created rats and monkeys... We cannot test on human beings," he said.
"This is the way it has to be. God created monkeys, and some have to be tested."
God made animals for testing: Malaysian minister:
If there was a god, wouldn't he just have made everything safe for humans? Or made our noses so we could smell what was safe. Wait, I bet the devil did it.
This nonsense is so densely packed into people's brains that they cannot be made to think a single sensible thing.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Black Cat in a Dark Room — Are Theologians Really Saying Anything?, Albert Mohler
A Black Cat in a Dark Room — Are Theologians Really Saying Anything?, Albert Mohler: "Sanderson doesn't even believe in the so-called 'big questions' about life and its meaning. 'My problem is these questions don't have a answer,' he asserts, 'no matter how long you think about them and however much you try to bring God into the equation.' Sanderson prefers Gertrude Stein's succinct worldview: 'The answer is: there is no answer.'"
Building religious pressures
"We already have religious incursions all through public life. Some hospitals founded by religious orders won't do abortions or vasectomies; public funding for Catholic schools was a deal under Confederation; and even our national anthem is about God in English (and more specifically about militant Christianity in French)."
Building religious pressures:
Building religious pressures:
Friday, May 28, 2010
In Your Face: French attempts to outlaw the burqa strike a blow for the rights of women.
Ah, but the particular and special demand to consider the veil and the burqa as an exemption applies only to women. And it also applies only to religious practice (and, unless we foolishly pretend otherwise, only to one religious practice). This at once tells you all you need to know: Society is being asked to abandon an immemorial tradition of equality and openness in order to gratify one faith, one faith that has a very questionable record in respect of females.
Slate Article:
Doctors don't support 'ritual nicking' - The West Australian
The college for Australia's obstetricians and gynaecologists says it does not support the "ritual nicking" of young Muslim girls and anyone suspected of performing such genital mutilation should be reported to authorities.
Dr Ted Weaver, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), said media reports suggesting the college would review its policy were the result of a misquote.
He said the issue was likely to be discussed at a meeting next month, triggered by recent announcements made by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but a policy shift was not on the agenda.
"The college does not support - does not - support female genital mutilation, full-stop," Dr Weaver told AAP on Friday.
"This ritual nicking, as it has been called, has been put forward as a way of satisfying cultural sensitivities without making a lot of difference to a woman's genitalia but we do not support that either."
Doctors don't support 'ritual nicking' - The West Australian
So, apparently, they don't support this idea.
Italian priests' secret mistresses ask pope to scrap celibacy rule | World news | The Guardian
Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".
It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".
Italian priests' secret mistresses ask pope to scrap celibacy rule | World news | The Guardian
Another reasonable request for the Vatican to totally ignore.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Archbishop says scale of sex abuse can't be denied
The Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Mark Coleridge, has called on Catholic leaders to do everything possible to stop sexual abuse within the Church.
Archbishop Coleridge says he accepts there is a cultural problem within the Church that has led to the abuse, and an institutional pride that has prevented many from speaking out.
The Archbishop will raise the issue in his pastoral address to the community this week.
He has told Radio National that although the level of abuse in the Church is small, every incident is appalling.
Link:
Sometimes you think they're starting to get this, although they did prattle on about 'sin' (what ever the fuck that is) a lot.
Let's just get this straight. Sin, and original sin, is a blame shift. These guys fucked kids. You can call it a sin if you want. Society is beyond 'sin', they want hard punishment for guys who fuck kids, not blame shifting excuses.
Hand these kid fuckers over to the cops so that they can be put in jail for decades. That is what is needed here. No loving forgiveness of sin. That doesn't unfuck kids.
When you are done doing that, prostate yourself in front of the victims and beg them to forgive you as you pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation until every last cent you have hoarded over the centuries is gone. Then we can start to talk about whether you have made amends.
And stop blaming gay people for all of societies woes. They didn't do this horrible, dreadful, aweful thing. Your organisation did it. You are an organisation of kid fuckers!
Fuck!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
'I never covered up abuse', says Archbishop Philip Wilson | The Australian
THE Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has defended his conduct during the past 35 years in response to allegations aired on ABC TV that he was involved in a "conspiracy of silence" about sexual abuse cases involving fellow clergy in NSW.
Archbishop Wilson maintained he had not mishandled or covered up sexual abuse cases during his time in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, north of Sydney, in the late 1970s and 80s.
'I never covered up abuse', says Archbishop Philip Wilson | The Australian
Anti-gay laws in Africa are product of American religious exports, say activists
When he arrived at Kampala’s Hotel Triangle for a three-day conference, the Rev Kapya Kaoma knew that he would not like what he heard.
The clue was in the event’s title — “Exposing the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda” — and in the line-up of guest speakers arranged by Stephen Langa, head of the Ugandan-based Family Life Network (FLN), and an outspoken advocate for the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda.
Link:
Tax free hate
Tax free terrorism – Christian privilege hides sinister possibilities.
Senator Nick Xenophon has introduced legislation into the senate calling for a public benefits test to be applied to religious organisations wanting to take advantage of tax breaks given to churches and religious groups by virtue of the fact that they are promoting religion (deemed in the distant past to a virtuous thing in itself).
Link:
Corruption is never harmless, in the Church or state
CORRUPTION is the most serious moral scandal of our time. Why? Because corruption is a double-edged sword, a moral evil that may turn one chump's decision to bribe, extort or otherwise abuse his power for personal gain into destruction of the very systems that order our society and make this country great.
Link:
Religion is a drain on society's resources. Like corruption, it adds nothing to society, just gums up the workings of society, slows society down and wastes resources. A friend is from the Philipines. The economy is totally disabled but corruption.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Colbert Report
Friday, May 21, 2010
YouTube - Charlie Rose: Dan Dennett - Breaking the Spell (1st part of 6)
YouTube - Charlie Rose: Dan Dennett - Breaking the Spell (Part 1 of 6): "Dan Dennett joins Bill Moyers on the Charlie Rose show to talk about his new book 'Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon'. Dennett is the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His other books include 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea', 'Freedom Evolves', and 'Consciousness Explained'."
Dan Dennett joins Bill Moyers on the Charlie Rose show to talk about his new book 'Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon'. Dennett is the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His other books include 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea', 'Freedom Evolves', and 'Consciousness Explained'.
YouTube - Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?
YouTube - Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?: ""
http://www.ted.com Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
YouTube - Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny
YouTube - Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny
http://www.ted.com Why are babies cute? Why is cake sweet? Philosopher Dan Dennett has answers you wouldn't expect, as he shares evolution's counterintuitive reasoning on cute, sweet and sexy things. For a topping, try his introduction to a new theory by Matthew Hurley on why jokes are funny.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
YouTube - Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren
YouTube - Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren
http://www.ted.com Philosopher Dan Dennett calls for religion -- all religion -- to be taught in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on The Purpose-Driven Life, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
YouTube - 'The Evolution of Confusion' by Dan Dennett, AAI 2009
YouTube - 'The Evolution of Confusion' by Dan Dennett, AAI 2009: ""
Dan Dennett talks about purposely-confusing theology and how it's used. He also describes his new project interviewing clergyman who secretly don't believe anymore, and introduces a new term: "Deepity."
Dan Dennett is the author of many excellent books, including "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". He is also featured in the video "The Four Horsemen" along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.
Download Quicktime Version
Small: http://c0116791.cdn.cloudfiles.racksp...
720p HD: http://c0116791.cdn.cloudfiles.racksp...
Watch "The Four Horsemen" in HD on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DKhc1...
Filmed by
JOSH TIMONEN
Edited by
JOEL PASHBY
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Campbell lived with secret for two decades: Keneally
David Campbell, who resigned last night before television footage of him visiting a gay sex club was aired, had been living a double life for more than two decades, Premier Kristina Keneally said today.
Link:
I do not care that he's bi-sexual. It is none of the public's business.
He is a product of society's homophobia. Mr Campbell has never been allowed to express something that is a part of him. This can be seen in his wording of his apology:
“I want to make it very clear that never, over the period of my public life have those personal choices impacted in any way shape or form on the decisions I’ve had to make in public life.”
Choices? He is saying that he chose to be bi-sexual. He is saying that being bi-sexual is wrong.
What he did wrong was lied to his wife. But he lied to his wife over issues on infidelity. This is a thing that people lie about. No-one is going to tell the truth over this. It is inherently a lie. If she knew about it, it would be called an open marriage.
So, it rolls forward. There are rumors that he campaigned on a 'family values' platform. Did this include an anti-gay component, as 'family values' propaganda often does?
Now he's done something wrong. He has been hiding who he is and putting others down for the very same thing. This would be cynical and hypocritical of him. However, he is still a product of society. A society which treats being gay as a bad thing, not just a thing. If society had been more accepting of the perfectly normal state of being gay none of this crap would have happened.
So, I blame theists. Their bronze age bullshit about homosexuality is played out again.
Search for leaders of doomsday cult
South Australian police are continuing their search for the leaders of an international doomsday cult after they uncovered a stockpile of weapons and explosives during raids of the group's compounds yesterday.
About 90 police searched 12 properties in Adelaide used by Agape Ministries, finding guns, fuses, detonators, detonator cords and 20,000 rounds of ammunitions - some of which were hidden in the steel frames of bed-heads.
But Superintendent Jim Jeffery of South Australian police's Commercial and Electronic Crime Branch said it was not yet known why the group was amassing weapons.
Link: SMH
Presumably this religion applied for and received tax free status. So, because I pay taxes, my money has been spent on guns. Way to go religious wingnuts!
Gay couple jailed for 14 years - with hard labour
A Malawi gay couple has been sentenced to the maximum 14 years in prison with hard labour for holding the country's first same-sex wedding, which landed them with a sodomy conviction.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested on December 28 after their symbolic wedding and accused of violating "the order of nature". They have been in jail ever since.
Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and most other African countries.
Link:
They forgot to mention the important part: why is Southern Africa so homophobic? Religion. This is a religiously motivated hate crime, not justice.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
YouTube - Muhammad tells it like it is
ZOMGitsCriss depicts the hell out of Mohammed on Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
An accidental depiction...
An accidental depiction...
Scientology expose by daughter of Aus President - LateLine 18/05/2010
Scientology expose by the Daughter of the Australian President of the Cult of Scientology.
Tonight is exposed the horrible treatment of children inside the church. They only get away with it because they were granted a status of a "religion". If they were any other type of organisation the authorities and government would be all over them like a rash.
Lateline is the only news service I watch. It's a bullshit free zone.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c On Topic: In the News – Gay Marriage
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| On Topic: In the News - Gay Marriage | ||||
| ||||
Watch through to the end if you can. There is a person thanking her god that she isn't a slave any more so that she can vote to stop gay marriage. FUCK!
Myths about sex offenders from the Qld Department of Corrective Services.
So, according to this, obviously, most sexual crime occurs within the community. Grooming doesn't happen online.
So, Conroy's filter can't be to prevent sex crimes against kids. If Conroy was looking to stop sex crimes against kids he would be working out a way to ban houses. That's where most sex crimes against kids occur.
So, according to this, obviously, most sexual crime occurs within the community. Grooming doesn't happen online.
So, Conroy's filter can't be to prevent sex crimes against kids. If Conroy was looking to stop sex crimes against kids he would be working out a way to ban houses. That's where most sex crimes against kids occur.
Ship of Fools: Gadgets for God
Ship of Fools: Gadgets for God: "Since God is punishing the nation for watching too much Who Wants to be a Millionaire, why not give Him a hand by punishing yourself? If you thought Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code made up that bit about the weird monk torturing himself with a spiky metal belt strapped to his bloody thigh, here's the real thing... click here for an alarming close-up."
Saudi Woman Beats Up Religious Cop
According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the woman then allegedly laid into the religious policeman, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be taken to the hospital with bruises across his body and face.
“To see resistance from a woman means a lot,” Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi women’s rights activist told The Media Line. “People are fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years. This is just the beginning and there will be more resistance.”
“The media and the Internet have given people a lot of power and the freedom to express their anger,” she said. “The Hai’a are like a militia, but now whenever they do something it’s all over the Internet. This gives them a horrible reputation and gives people power to react.”
Link:
“To see resistance from a woman means a lot,” Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi women’s rights activist told The Media Line. “People are fed up with these religious police, and now they have to pay the price for the humiliation they put people through for years and years. This is just the beginning and there will be more resistance.”
“The media and the Internet have given people a lot of power and the freedom to express their anger,” she said. “The Hai’a are like a militia, but now whenever they do something it’s all over the Internet. This gives them a horrible reputation and gives people power to react.”
Link:
Is Reason My “God” In Whom I Have “Faith?”
A Christian friend recently told me we all have faith and that reason was my “god” in whom I had faith. Reason is not a ”god” in whom one has faith. That’s just false. Reason is a set of cognitive processes that are potentially truth-conducive. That’s IT. We are all, as rational beings subject to its demands of logic, evidence, honesty, etc. That does not make it a “god” but the only authority in matters of truth we have. That’s not a matter of faith, that’s a rational inference.
Link: Camels with Hammers.
I get this a lot. I'm told that I: "believe in atheism", or "man is my god"... shit like that. I don't have "faith" in reason. Reason works. It has a history of working. Religion has a history of failure. But religion's have a neat trick. When religion fails to deliver a result it's because we didn't use it right. When religion works the god in question scores a point.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Gay marriage an 'insidious' threat to society: Pope Benedict XVI | The Australian
FATIMA: The Pope has condemned gay marriage and abortion as "among the most insidious and dangerous challenges" to society, as Portugal prepares to legalise same-sex partnerships next week.
He described abortion as a "tragedy" and said the family was based "on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman", receiving a standing ovation from church and lay social workers yesterday.
Benedict also criticised Catholics "ashamed" of their faith and too willing to "lend a hand to secularism". Ninety per cent of Portuguese define themselves as Catholic, but Portugal's society is increasingly secular, with far fewer than a third saying they attend mass regularly.
Gay marriage an 'insidious' threat to society: Pope Benedict XVI | The Australian
More buck passing from the Pope. Clean up your own act before you try telling us how to live our lives.
pope child abuse - Google News
pope child abuse - Google News
Using Google News to keep up with the Pope's inability to deal with the Catholic churches chronic child abuse culture.
Using Google News to keep up with the Pope's inability to deal with the Catholic churches chronic child abuse culture.
YouTube - War on everything: Funny Christian Part
YouTube - War on everything: Funny Christian Part: "LMAO... I couldn't stop laughing. People are sooo being taken advantage of."
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Nun demoted after a hospital team carried out an abortion to save a woman’s life
A CATHOLIC nun and long-time administrator at St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix has been demoted because she had been part of a team that decided to end the pregnancy of a critically ill patient.
The decision drew a sharp rebuke from Bishop Thomas J Olmsted, head of the Phoenix Diocese, who indicated that the nun – Sister Margaret McBride, the highest-ranking member of the Sisters of Mercy at the hospital – was “automatically excommunicated” because of the action.
Link:
So it would have been OK for the pregnant woman to die? Really?
Are women really such second class citizens to the church?
The nun in question is excommunicated but the child rapist priests are promoted.
These people are too crazy to even think about. Catholicism is a mental disease.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Gay marriage insidious and dangerous: Pope
Pope Benedict XVI criticised gay marriage and abortion as "insidious and dangerous threats to the common good" in a speech at Fatima as Portugal prepares to legalise same-sex unions.
The pontiff received a standing ovation from an audience of church and lay social workers when he described abortion as a "tragedy" and said the family was based "on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman".
Link:
The Pope is morally bankrupt. He is clinging to the ideas that caused the systematic abuse of thousands of children. He thinks that he needs to do more of what he did in the past and that will make it work.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
This is attributed to many. Who knows who coined it. It sums up the Pope's attitude. The Vatican insists that they have the right solutions for the world's woes despite the evidence:
. if you're gay, you have to be celibate
. celibate priest are a good idea
. gay marriage and abortion are bad for society
. child abusing priests can be prayed out of it
These nonsensical ideas have caused enough harm in the world. Why continue on with them?
ACLU also going after Texas Board of Education over curriculum guidelines
Yesterday, I posted this item about Equality Texas’ plans to attend the Texas State Board of Education meeting to demand that the board revise its Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards to include LGBT people and more accurately the state’s diversity.
Today, I got word that the ACLU of Texas isn’t too happy with the SBOE, either, and is accusing the board of “systemic abuse of power,” and calling on the state Legislature to limit board members’ ability to “insert personal ideologies into curriculum content”
Link:
Oslo Freedom Forum
Julian Assange is a spokesman and advisory board member of WikiLeaks, a transparency website whose mission is to "open governments" and expose human rights abuses.
Wikileaks
Abuse, in the West, of enlightenment ideals, which we should all hold dear, and the corrosion of those ideals, not only impoverishes Western countries it is also used as an excuse for terrible abuses in other countries and particularly countries that follow the common law that was set up by the British Empire. For example, abuses of libel law are used to imprison some fine journalists in severe conditions based upon president in the UK.
Anti-censorship fighters are protecting the enlightenment. Anti-enlightenment fighters are lead by the religious.
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.
Link:
Not a new article.
There are no surprises here. When you get a second chance at life, an afterlife, this life matters less. To me, this life is precious and important. I have to make the most of it cause soon enough I'll be dead. If I do something wrong I have to make amends as best I can and apologise. I don't have an all forgiving supernatural friend to let me off the hook.
Men jailed over churchyard 'homosexual' bashing death
Two men have been jailed for the manslaughter of a man who allegedly made an unwanted homosexual advance to one of them outside a Maryborough church.Richard John Meerdink, 41, and Jason Andrew Pearce, 38, were jailed today for the manslaughter of Wayne Robert Ruks, 45, in the grounds of Maryborough's St Mary's Catholic Church in July 2008.
Link:
Well, it doesn't say that they weren't Catholics.
If this was a story about two drunk guys on the steps of a museum it would be all about how museums are full of evolution propaganda and that's why they did it. If they are allowed to lie and jump to conclusions, so am I.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Judge backs Redding atheist who balked at religious anti-drug program
Hazle was ordered to attend a 90-day, inpatient drug treatment program. He agreed to the program but even before his release told prison officials he wanted to be sent to a "treatment facility that did not contain religious components," federal court papers state.
Instead, he was assigned to the Empire Recovery Center in Redding, a 12-step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous and featuring a strong religious overtone, utilizing references to God and "a higher power."
Read more:
I've read an AlAnon book. It is annoyingly religious. It would be nearly impossible for me to sit through it and pretend to participate.
YouTube - Lars Vilks Attacked at Uppsala University
YouTube - Lars Vilks Attacked at Uppsala University
So, is this religion teaching people to be good?
Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who drew Mohammed as a dog, was recently told that a scheduled lecture on free speech, to be held at Jönköping Högskolan, would be canceled due to "security concerns." This, of course, is a common evasion, intended to protect the brittle sensibilities of Muslim students while supposedly standing four square behind the right of free speech.
Alas, the administrators in Jönköping had a point. During a lecture in Uppsala today Vilks was attacked by a pack of feral fundamentalists, one of whom managed to headbutt the artist and break his glasses. Police intervened and waged a short battle with the religious nutters who can be heard in the video below, captured by the newspaper UNT, shouting Allahu Akbar! The AP has a quick report, explaining that "Uppsala University spokeswoman Pernilla Bjork said Vilks was showing a provocative film with sexual content to the crowd when the attacker ran up and hit him in the face with his fists."
So, is this religion teaching people to be good?
Sick and tired of god-stuff - an open letter to theists
There is only one simple reason that I am atheist. There is ample evidence that the concept of gods is entirely man made, and additionally, made from ignorance. Most theists have difficulty with this, yet as a friend of mine says, we atheists simply believe in one less god than you Christians (or Jews, or Moslems, etc) do. I have yet to find a Christian who has difficulty agreeing with me that Zeus or Poseidon ever existed… yet they cling to the ridiculous short-circuited rationalization that their god does exist.
Sick and tired of god-stuff - an open letter to theists
Monday, May 10, 2010
RDF TV - Baloney Detection Kit - Michael Shermer
With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a "Baloney Detection Kit," ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim.
The 10 Questions:
1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2.Does the source make similar claims?
3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?
8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence?
9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim?
TED talk:
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Abbott feels heat on Jesus claim
TONY Abbott is under pressure to justify a claim to primary school students that it was considerably warmer when Jesus was alive than it is today.
The Opposition Leader urged year 5 and 6 students at Trinity Gardens Primary School in Adelaide to be sceptical about the human contribution to climate change, saying it was an open question.
Link:
So Abbott has his hypothesis: It was warmer when Jesus was alive. Where's your data on this Abbott? Were you studying climatology between marathons? Or is it written in your bible? (Hint, it can't be in your hand writing.)
Abbott is working outside of his core skills: budgie smuggling, playing opposition leader, protecting virgins and espousing bible literacy. He should leave climate science to the grown ups.
Islam becomes taboo topic on TV in wake of 'South Park' threats and Times Square scare Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/islam_becomes
Don't mess with Allah. That's the new, unwritten code in Hollywood following the one-two punch of Islamic extremists' threats against the creators of "South Park" and the failed bombing attempt outside the cartoon’s parent company, Viacom, in New York's Times Square, FOXNews.com reported Friday.
In the current, supercharged climate, it just isn’t worth endangering the safety of an entire production staff or network by pursuing a storyline that Muslim extremists might find offensive, media executives and writers told Fox.
Link:
Where are all the moderate Muslims denouncing these threats as against Islam? Well, come on! These people are speaking for Islam. Your silence confirms that Islam requires the killing of the South Park writers.
Burkas should be banned as 'unAustralian', senator claims
Cory Bernardi, a Liberal from South Australia, complained that the full Islamic veil was a "repressive domination of men over women" and established "different sets and expectations in society".
Writing on his blog following an armed robbery in Sydney by a man wearing a burka and sunglasses, he said: "It is un-Australian - and it's symbolic barrier is far greater than the measure of cloth it is created from. For safety and for society, the burka needs to be banned."
Link:
The word 'unAustralian' makes my skin crawl. I agree that the burka should be banned. I'm not allowed to walk into a service station or bank with a full face helmet on for security reasons. I would not talk to a person with dark/mirrored glasses on. It's just rude.
For balance, the good things about the burka:
. they hide the bruises and missing teeth
. cross dressing is easy so Muslim men can take their underage bum boys bitches out to lunch
. with all that mystery, Muslim men can dream that they're not married to a skin-headed pit-bull with a bull's nose ring
Facebook's New Policies Make Harassment Easy
North Africa has become a testing ground for a new sort of online harassment, and ReadWriteWeb is in the middle of it. Groups of Islamists are using the proliferation of Facebook's public pages to single out users they consider ideologically unorthodox (a broad category indeed by their definition) and then using Facebook's public ban process to stop their mouths.
Link:
I had a complaint lodge against me for linking to a natural birth video in the breast feeding group. The video was removed and I was copped a warning. Facebook's going to have to do something to protect people from these trolls.
Sanal Edamaruku - An excellent skeptic in India
Sanal Edamaruku is the President of the Indian Rationalist Association (their blog)
He appeared here in youtube videos where he challenged a mystic to kill him with his 'powers' (not his Austin Powers. Nooo Baby, No.)
He has started his own blog and has tweets:
India needs rational thought. They have so much woo in their lives.
He appeared here in youtube videos where he challenged a mystic to kill him with his 'powers' (not his Austin Powers. Nooo Baby, No.)
He has started his own blog and has tweets:
India needs rational thought. They have so much woo in their lives.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Muslims
If you want to claim that your religion is a religion of peace then you should not be silent while people spew hatred in the name of your religion. Your silence emboldens them.
South park creators show an episode of various religious characters, yet no religious groups act like cry babies or spark outcry, but when muhammad is CENSORED and shown in a bear costume, radical muslims spark outcry and call for creators of south park to be killed. If you beleive anybody that these weren't death threats, your obviously stupid and very naive. If giving out a warning message, along with a picture of Theo Van Gogh with a knife in his back and the addresses for the south park creators is not a death threat, then you need a reality check.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Bill Maher on the Superiority of Western Values
In response to multiculturalists who believe Muslim culture is "just different" and not inferior. Clip from "Victory Begins At Home", HBO Special from 2003. . .
Richard Dawkins What if scientists worked like religions?
Richard Dawkins What if scientists worked like religions?
Ask Raptor Jesus
Only those with the freshest, most succulent livers will be saved...
Worth it for the last 20 seconds.
Worth it for the last 20 seconds.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality
Theists say that we can't be moral without some supernaturally gifted morality and that the supernaturally gifted morality required is the one they profess rather than one of those false ones that other religions profess.
Q&A full episode youtube playlist:
Friday, April 30, 2010
Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything
Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, talks about his quest to make all knowledge computational -- able to be searched, processed and manipulated. His new search engine, Wolfram Alpha, has no lesser goal than to model and explain the physics underlying the universe.
Theists like to argue that everything is irreducibly complex. Stephen Wolfram says the opposite. Simplicity can generate complexity. A few simple rules can create massively complex systems and even randomness.
The Nightline Face-Off: Does God Have a Future?
Sam Harris and Michael Shermer vs. Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston
The Nightline Face-Off: Does God Have a Future?
Sam Harris and Michael Shermer vs. Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tim Minchin - Pope Song
Tim recently recorded his own tribute to Pope Benedict XVI in time for his state visit to the UK. Annimation by Fraser Davidson.
Lots of swearing. I don't care about swearing. If you're that easily offended you're on the wrong fv(#ing blog.
They say: "You're an atheist, Hitler was an atheist."
Firstly: Godwin's law of Nazi Analogies says you lose.
Secondly: Hitler was a Catholic. The Third Reich was a Catholic regime.
That's it... thanks for dropping by. :)
'Design vs. Chance' by PZ Myers, AAI 2009
PZ Myers' lecture at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 conference in Burbank, CA. Watch this YouTube channel for many more talks from the conference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
