Theists actually believe this stuff!

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. :)

Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth



Science Books at Embiggen Books
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, Richard Dawkins

'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.

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

Eugenie Scott's presentation at the AAI 2009 Convention in Burbank, California. Scott is the head of the National Center for Science Education, which works to protect the teaching of Evolution in American schools.



National Center for Science Education's Critique: Exploring "Explore Evolution"

This book uses the creationist "evidence against evolution" and "teach the controversy" strategies to misrepresent scientific consensus and distort the conclusions of legitimate scientific research. Explore Evolution offers anonymous "critics" in place of substantive analysis. Students who read Explore Evolution will come away with a flat-out wrong understanding of evolution.

Explore Evolution promotes "intelligent design" creationism. Beneath all its distortions, all its misrepresentations of modern evolutionary science, Explore Evolution uses hackneyed creationist anti-evolution arguments. Students who are required to read this book in a science classroom will be confused by its flagrant inaccuracies, and will be put at a disadvantage in standardized tests which require an understanding of modern biology.

Link:

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

'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.



Science Books from Embiggen Books
Dan Dennet's Breaking the Spell

Lawrence Krauss Discussion (1/12) - Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss sat down for a public discussion at Stanford University on Sunday, March 9th 2008. The focus was on Science education, but the discussion also covered religion, physics, evolution and more. This video will be released on DVD soon at RichardDawkins.net , along with other unmoderated discussions with Richard Dawkins.



Science Books at Embiggen Books
The Physics of Star Trek, Lauwrence Krauss

'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009



Lawrence Krauss gives a talk on our current picture of the universe, how it will end, and how it could have come from nothing. Krauss is the author of many bestselling books on Physics and Cosmology, including "The Physics of Star Trek."

Lying to children for Jesus



Ken Ham making sure young children never develop critical thinking. His representation of the children having monkeys as grandparents is a common misrepresentation of process of evolution.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Widow saves dead husband's sperm

A grieving widow has won a Supreme Court injunction to save her dead husband's sperm after a Brisbane IVF clinic informed her it would be destroyed.

Kate Bazley launched the action after the Wesley Monash clinic told her it was against their policy to provide IVF treatment to a single woman.


Link:

In a secular democracy a hospital is allowed to use it's misguided morality and black and white view of the world to hurt a person who is grieving the loss of her husband. She is not a single mum, she is a widow. She didn't unmarry him or unlove him, he fucking-well died. The very last thing she has of him is the chance at having the baby they planned while he was alive.

And what if she was a single woman who wants to have a baby. What the hell does it have to do with the hospital? If she wants a child these bronze age minds need her to have a husband - to be owned by a man.

Shit it's hard not to really hate fuckwits like this. The Uniting Church and Wesley are definitely off my donation list.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Father George Coyne Interview - Richard Dawkins



This is the full uncut interview with Father George Coyne which was omitted from Richard Dawkins' television program "The Genius of Charles Darwin" for Channel 4 in the UK.

On Dawkins' site:

Dan Dennett's response to Rick Warren



Dan Dennett's Breaking the Spell from Embiggen Books - Science and Philosophy Books: Embiggen Books is my local bookstore. Unlike other book stores they sell science and philosophy books.

Few forces in the world are as potent as religion: it comforts people in their suffering and inspires them to both magnificent and terrible deeds...

Stephen Fry again. He's just wonderful.

Deepak Chopra Interview with Richard Dawkins



Quantum Theory accounts for the anomalous behaviours of light and atoms. It's astonishingly accurate but notoriously difficult to grasp. But Deepak Chopra, who once qualified as a doctor, has ceased upon quantum jargon and applied it to healing. He claims that disease can be cause and cured by a shift in consciousness.


Mr Embiggen from Embiggen Books says that this book covers what Quantum Theory is really about: Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Dan Dennett Lecture

19 March 2009. World famous philosopher and humanist Daniel Dennett speaks at Conway Hall, providing "A Darwinian Perspective on Religions: Past, Present and Future"

A.C. "Giggles" Grayling: Darwin, Humanism and Science

Philosopher and BHA Distinguished Supporter, A C Grayling, speaks at the Darwin, Humanism and Science Day Conference on the 6th June. Thanks to Adservio Digital for recording the event and producing this video.

Richard Dawkins Interviewed on NZTV's Close Up

The Dawk was interviewed by NZTV's Close Up program.



PZ Myers at Freethought University Alliance - "Vegemite brings out the worst in Jesus"









AC Grayling and Russell Blackford on Atheism

Talk held at Cinema Nova (Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, Australia), Sponsored by Readings Bookstore on 11 March 2010 at 6.30pm.











I support my local book store. This advances science and reason in my local community.
Grayling books at Embiggen Books.
Blackford edited 50 Voices of Disbelief

Women to blame for earthquakes, says Iran cleric

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Women in the Islamic Republic are required by law to cover from head to toe, but many, especially the young, ignore some of the more strict codes and wear tight coats and scarves pulled back that show much of the hair. "What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon last week. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes." Seismologists have warned for at least two decades that it is likely the sprawling capital will be struck by a catastrophic quake in the near future. Some experts have even suggested Iran should move its capital to a less seismically active location. Tehran straddles scores of fault lines, including one more than 50 miles long, though it has not suffered a major quake since 1830.


Link:

Typically of theists, they are scapegoating again. Women-skin is making earthquakes. This is the president of Iran... that dude that wasn't really voted in.

We Can't Let the Pope Decide Who's a Criminal

It must be noted, also, that all the letters from diocese to Ratzinger and from Ratzinger to diocese were concerned only with one question: Can this hurt Holy Mother Church?


Slate:

Hitchens on the guilt of the pope in enabling the sexual abuse of children.

Hungry Beast: Catholic Church Sex Scandals



They would like us to think that this is a new problem caused by homosexuals and secularization of society but the Catholic Church is going to have to face up to the fact that they've had this problem from the start.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Uproar in Canada over face-veil ban



In the Canadian province of Quebec a furious public debate has erupted over Muslim women who wear the niqab - face veil.

Out of over 200,000 Muslims in Montreal in Quebec, only a few dozen women wear the niqab, but under a proposed new legislation they could be barred from receiving public services.

Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds reports from Montreal where the debate has divided the Muslim community. (18 April 2010)



Tarek Fatah: Burn your burka

Defenders of the burka contend that the wearing of a face-mask by Muslim women is protected by our Charter's right to religious freedom. But such arguments are premised on the myth that a face-mask for women is a necessary part of religiously prescribed Islamic attire.


Link: Full Comment - National Post

The 7 Craziest Things Ever Blamed on Homosexuals

In light of the Catholic church blaming homosexuals for the child rape they are committing, here are the 7 most inane, ridiculous and idiotic things that have been blamed on homosexuals. People in a position of power, including various world leaders and fundamentalist Christians, have been blaming the minority with the least amount of power in the state for a whole slew of insane problems that they were either responsible for or couldn't explain for a long time now. People don't seem to blame homosexuals for something unless they have an agenda to push, and that agenda is usually that of hate.

Link:

If Christians Deny The Reality Of Evolution It Will Make Us A Cult! Evangelical Scholar Bruce Waltke

Pat Condell on the Koran's permission to beat women

God Botherers: Read this before knocking...

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Kiva's article on Atheist's making $1 million in loans.

First Lending Team to surpass $1 million in loans

Pete is the team captain of the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious Lending Team. Last year, his team became the first Kiva Lending Team to reach $1 million in loans. We had the honor of interviewing Pete about his teams' accomplishments.


Link:

Pope's No. 2: Pedophilia linked to homosexuality

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."

His comments drew angry reactions from Chile's gay rights advocates.

"Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality," said Rolando Jimenez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile.

Jimenez also said no reputable study exists to support the cardinal's claims.

"This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection," he said.
At least one of the highest-profile pedophiles in the Chilean church victimized young girls, including a teenager who became pregnant."


Many? Really? Where are the peer reviewed studies on this? Revelation and authority just don't cut it anymore guys. You have to come up with a hypothesis, your's is that gay people rape children, then gather all the evidence, not just eh evidence that supports your point. You have to analyse all the evidence and determine whether it supports your hypothesis. So, where's your evidence? These priests may very well have been gay but that is different to being a pedophile. Someone may very well be attracted to children of the same gender but that makes them a homosexual (same sex) pedophile (child fucker).

In the end it doesn't matter what anyone says to the Catholics. They are just trying to shift the blame for their own twisted lives and actions onto an easy target. They have been demonising minorities like to consolidate their power for years. They wont stop doing just because it is evil. They don't care about being evil in this world because they think that this world doesn't matter. all that matters to them is sucking up to their supernatural friends.

Hugh Wilson of the Aust Secular Lobby radio interview

Media Pop Up Player

Richard Dawkins calls for arrest of Pope Benedict XVI

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain "for crimes against humanity".

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.


Times article:

Dawkins makes are clarification:

Dennett and LaScola interview and study ministers (etc) who've lost their belief in God/s

Walk into a church on a Sunday and you might find that a few of the people in the pews are atheists - there because they like the old hymns or the comforting murmur of the liturgy or because their spouses insist. Or because, at some level, they're still pretending they believe. They are spectators, in other words, not participants.

But what about the person leading the service? How likely is it that a member of the clergy might be an atheist as well - delivering the sermon and choosing the Bible passages, and afterward paying house calls to offer spiritual counsel to those in trouble and doubt, all without believing in God?

Daniel Dennett decided to find out. A leading philosopher of consciousness, a Tufts University professor, and a famously outspoken atheist, Dennett has for years been curious about the phenomenon of nonbelieving clergy. And now, working with a researcher and clinical social worker named Linda LaScola, he has embarked on a project to find and publicize their stories.


Link: Boston Times

Public schools do not need Christian chaplains (Nov 09)

As NSW finally introduces ethics classes as an alternative to scripture classes in public schools, the federal government is headed in the opposite direction.

Kevin Rudd announced last week another $42 million, on top of the initial $165 million, for the national school chaplaincy program that employs religious operatives to work in public schools.


Link:

How could this 200 million have been better spent? Almost anything, in my opinion.
We are given the impression that christians are doing this out of the goodness of their god but, as it turns out, they're doing it for $200 million. Surely we could get hold of a few professional, trained councilors instead of half witted evangelical preachers for this much money.

A disputed quote from Gandhi and Anglican response.


From Sydney Anglicans:


First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Gandhi

Link:

Well, they are laughing and fighting at the same time. We are having the last laugh though:



Keneally allows Anglican Church to vet content of ethics lessons

THE Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has privately lobbied the Premier, Kristina Keneally, against the permanent introduction of secular ethics classes in public schools, saying they would jeopardise the future of religious education.

Archbishop Peter Jensen said Ms Keneally had promised the Anglican Church would have input into the trial, which would be subject to an independent review.

Dr Jensen met Ms Keneally in February to voice his concern that the limited trial of ethics classes, which begins on Monday, could lead to scripture classes being abolished.

Link: SMH

Why would we want an ethics course to be vetted by the Anglican Church? The course will not be attended by Anglican children. All churches have failed to implement an ethical system that stops its own employees from raping children in their care so it cannot possibly be said that they have any special insight into moral issues.


Jensen on ABC Radio

The Anglican and Catholic Archdioceses in Sydney are lobbying the New South Wales Government against the introduction of ethics classes in public schools. Later this year there will be a trial of ethics courses for students who opt out of special religious education.

Currently those students spend the half hour watching videos, colouring in or reading. But church groups fear that the ethics class will lead to a drop in the number of students learning about religion.


The ethics course was "developed by the philosophy department at the University of New South Wales and the St James Ethics Centre.

The centre's director is Dr Simon Longstaff. He says there won't be an exodus of children leaving scripture to attend ethics lessons."

There's no doubt that in an ethics class there is a solid view that you're better off living an examined life than just operating as a matter of habit.

But what it allows basically is for children who might have come from a background at home where they have their own distinctive values and principles, whether they be derived from religion or culture, to give voice to those, to encounter others and to explore what it might mean in practice. So it's not about shoving down the throats of children a particular view which is just derived from one single spot. It's more open than that.

But it's you know, it's a got venerable tradition going back at least as far as people like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the Greek world.


Jensen on ABC radio's PM

Secular Party of Australia

The Secular Party holds that religious beliefs impose and give rise to an increasing intrusion on civil liberties and provide an unwelcome source of social disharmony. We seek to rigorously uphold the internationally recognised Rights of the Child. These imply that children should be free to develop to their full potential their capacity for freedom of thought. This necessitates protecting children from religious indoctrination. This involves instructing them with moral values based on universal principles, free from the corrupting influence of religious dogma.


Link:

Secular society a 'recipe for loneliness '

Anglicans quake in their boots cause secular-ness is coming! EEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

An absence of faith invites an inward focus and undermines human relationships, Dr Jensen said in his Easter address at St Andrew's Cathedral on Sunday morning.

"I have emphasised human loneliness this Easter because that is what expert observers of our society are saying is a real problem," Dr Jensen said.

"It is what we would expect to occur given the secularist philosophy we have embraced.

"This philosophy emphasises the individual and individual rights, it invites us to invent our own lives and it undervalues commitment to other human beings.

"It is a recipe for loneliness and the path to a very lonely old age."


The Age Article

Anglican... whatever his fucking title is... Dr Jensen is keeping up the scare campaign with his threats of dying alone if you think that we should protect the 'secular' in Australia's secular democracy. One would think that a professional religionist would at least know what secular means. Secular democracy simply means that the government will be neutral towards religion. This allows all religions to stand on their own merits, without the assistance of the government. That doesn't make it anti-religion. Does he really want the government making rules about religion? What if those rules favour islam or catholicism instead of his favourite meme, anglicanism? Would he be screeching then.

Typical of religionists, he abuses a group of people then blames them for his abuse. Just like rape culture and the cathlics. Atheists this time instead of GLBTI or women or muslims or witches or whoever they've decided to hate this week...

There is no better way to unite a group than to denounce others as evil. They're struggling for relevance, followers and their very existence so they'd better introduce a dose xenophobia just to frighten everyone back to church.

It's not working on me and I suspect that people will just see it for the cynical move that it is.

Qld Education bible lessons and intelligent design

Let's Get 'Secular' Back in the Queensland Education Act (from whence it was deleted in 1910)



Nathan Lee's letter to the education department.

As it has been a concern of mine for a long time now: I'd like to ask is there any reason why we are still allowing religious people into public schools for the purposes of promoting their religion? I would have thought this would have ceased a long time ago.


Link:

Find these kids an alternative, for god's sake

But the five-year-old was the only child in her year to be excused from the lesson and so was forced to sit alone outside the classroom while it proceeded. The little girl was so distressed that her mother - let's call her Karen - reluctantly gave permission for her to attend Anglican scripture. But the decision doesn't feel right and she's still not sure that it is. What should she do?


Link:SMH

Australian Secular Lobby

Bible lessons (from the 'Good News' Bible) in school hours by Education Queensland staff teachers are built-into the Queensland Education Act with a curriculum covering Year 1 to Year 7. Creationism and 'Intelligent Design' are permitted to be, and are being included in the Queensland State school curriculum at any grade level.

Link:
The Fourth 'R'

The High Court Challenge to School Chaplaincy

Mr. Ron Williams expected his children to enjoy a public education in a secular state school.

His family experience, since 2006, has shown that the federally-funded National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) has intervened, creating a non-secular pro-Christian culture in the state schools his children attended.


Link:

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Our view on education: Texas school board seeks to rewrite your kids' textbooks

Because of Texas' massive presence in the textbook market nationwide, the state board's idiosyncratic view of history is likely to show up in what's taught in schools across the USA for the next decade.

Among the other changes in the current draft: Downgrading the place of Thomas Jefferson among the Founders because of board members' dislike of his support for separation of church and state.


Link: USA Today

It doesn't matter whether something happened or not. In an Orwellian move they're just going to write history they way they wished it had happened.

This is a strong argument for online textbooks for public schools... or just using the wikipedia - at least you know that it could be all just made up by bogans.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Newstopia - Hypothetical On Headscarves



Shaun Micallef conducts a brief Geoffrey Robertson-style hypothetical on headscarves and the various religions' stance on them.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The "Pedophile's Paradise"

Alaska Natives are accusing the Catholic Church of using their remote villages as a "dumping ground" for child-molesting priests-and blaming the president of Seattle University for letting it happen.


Link:

One spring afternoon in 1977, 15-year-old Rachel Mike tried to kill herself for the third time. An Alaska Native, Rachel was living in a tiny town called Stebbins on a remote island called St. Michael. She lived in a house with three bedrooms and nine siblings. Rachel was a drinker, depressed, and starving. "When my parents were drinking, we didn't eat right," she says. "I just wanted to get away from the drinking."


Just WTF!? Why do people attend these churches? How could anyone still think that it is appropriate to hold anyone involved in this organisation up as a moral, community leader. Why isn't saying: "I'm a Catholic Priest" a social liability?

Oooh. Thoooose priests.

Bishop of Tenerife blames child abuse on the children

Bernando Álvarez said that there are 13 year olds who are wanting to be abused, and 'if you are careless they will provoke you'

There is outrage in parts of Spanish society following declarations made over Christmas from the Bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Álvarez.

His comments were that there are youngsters who want to be abused, and he compared that abuse to homosexuality, describing them both as prejudicial to society. He said that on occasions the abuse happened because the there are children who consent to it.
'There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what's more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you', he said.


Read more:

... every lemon meringue pie, every velvety wrinkle in the Pope's cassock, all just taunting and teasing and tantalizing you, begging you to stick your penis in them.


LOL - PZ Myer's Comment:

Which part of "Don't fuck children" do priests not understand. If a 13 year old came up to them and pestered them for a machine gun, would they give it to them? No! Why not? Because you're the adult and you know it wont end well. How can these people not see this.

Enough already! Apologize and fix the problems with your system instead of trying to blame everyone else.

Atheism: King Of The Bigots

That is not to say that Christians do not attack Atheism, but let us remember the creed of Atheism seeks to rid the world of Christianity. Christianity (at least practiced as it is supposed to be) is respectful of other peoples beliefs. Christianity respects Atheism and the rights of those who practice it to hold their beliefs. Christianity believes in individual morality. While it appears Atheists do not extend this same right to Christians.


Link:

Another hilarious day in the alternate universe of Catholicism.

Watch closely:
I am an atheist. That means I don't believe in any gods, not just yours. You are an atheist when it comes to Islam's god and thousands of other gods.

Just because I don't believe in your god, it doesn't mean I want to wipe you from the face of the earth. That you thought that says more about your mindset than mine.

Show me the evidence for your god and I will believe in it. Produce your proof.

You are under attack because your church helped men have sex with children. I don't need to look at your bible to know that this is wrong (your bible doesn't say that this is wrong - I would have thought an all loving god would have included that sort of thing in the 10 commandments). An apology to the people your organisation has hurt would be a great place to start.

Stop having a huge tantrum and blaming me. I didn't hold those innocent children down so your priests could rape them. I'm not into that sort of thing. I'm firmly against it.

Clean up your own game before you try telling everyone else that condoms and gay people are evil or what ever.

Stop trying to force everyone else to play by your rules. I have not joined your church. If I thought you represented god on earth I would have signed up. How would you like being bullied by, say, Muslims, and made to comply with all of their obtuse rules? Say if they started telling you not to drink wine in holy communion because it's all extra evil and stuff.

Vatican gets it wrong again.

Cardinals claim opposition to gay marriage, abortion fuelling 'hate' campaign.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic "hate" campaign targeting the Pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining "the motive for these attacks" on the Pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal.

"The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different" agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the radio.


Link:

Well... you could put it that way... or, better still, you could say that people are attacking the Catholic Church because their employees abused hundreds of thousands of children all over the world and they were never punished and often protected. I know! It sounds amazing.

Australian government gives more millions to Exclusive Brethren cult for small schools that indoctrinate children

A TINY school campus in Bendigo run by the controversial Exclusive Brethren religious sect is receiving $1.2 million in federal funding to upgrade its library, despite having just 11 primary students last year.

Documents also show that the Exclusive Brethren-run Glenvale School's Swan Hill campus - which has just 16 primary students - received $800,000 for a hall under the schools building program.


Link:

Fair suck of the sav, pollies. Why are these people getting money thrown at them? What about public, equal schooling in a democratic country. That money could have gotten class sizes down in a disadvantaged school or put some properly trained student councilors into schools instead of unqualified fundamentalist christians.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

20 year old Muslim woman killed by father

Honor Thy Father: The Inside Story of the Young Muslim Woman "Honor-Killed" by Her Father Because He Believed She'd Become Too Americanized


Link:

They moved from Iraq for a better life but brought the major source of the disfunction of their country with them, their fundamentalist religiosity.

To Sinead O'Connor, the pope's apology for sex abuse in Ireland seems hollow:

When I was a child, Ireland was a Catholic theocracy. If a bishop came walking down the street, people would move to make a path for him. If a bishop attended a national sporting event, the team would kneel to kiss his ring. If someone made a mistake, instead of saying, "Nobody's perfect," we said, "Ah sure, it could happen to a bishop."


It's excellent to see someone not pulling any punches. If we don't push this home we will just be seeing another round of child abuse cases in 20 years time. What ever is wrong with the catholic system needs to be repaired. This wont happen while they refuse to take responsibility for their actions and keep trying to deflect blame onto others or saying they will have a little pray and it will all go away. It's not going away this time. Catholics need to get in and retake their church from child abusers.

O'Connor goes on to say:
Benedict's apology states that his concern is "above all, to bring healing to the victims." Yet he denies them the one thing that might bring them healing -- a full confession from the Vatican that it has covered up abuse and is now trying to cover up the cover up. Astonishingly, he invites Catholics "to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland." Even more astonishing, he suggests that Ireland's victims can find healing by getting closer to the church...


Link:

Vatican blasts anti-Catholic 'hate' campaign

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic "hate" campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining "the motive for these attacks" on the pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal.


Link:

They really just don't get this:

They are claiming to have moral authority over 1/6th of the planet.
They claim that one can only be good through submission to their pope.
They claim to have been guided by their god through their pope.
Yet, something self-evidently wrong to anyone who isn't a creepy 50 year old muslim, having sex with children, did not result in being excommunicated from their church.

They insist on sticking to their story that sexuality and sexual urges can be prayed away. This flaw in logic and ethics reveals itself in a number of ways:
1) The shuffling around of child abusers instead of banning them from all contact with children. They honestly believed that these people would not offend again. This is totally at odds with systems in place in Australia where by a sex offender is never allowed to have contact with children again. If you can't get a blue card you can't teach or mind children. If they were serious about protecting children they would have sacked the offending priests and called the police immediately. I don't believe in god/s and I know to do that.
2) Their insistence that being gay is a sin and that the sexual orientation model is flawed. They presume to tell two adults what they can do in the privacy of their own bedrooms whilst protecting child abusers from the law. They claim moral authority, standing in a church, standing in front of the parents of an abused child, getting a hard on while the choir boys are singing, yet somehow they don't understand that this is wrong. I would have been too ashamed to breath!
3) They insist that they can instruct people on sexual issues such as the use of condoms, divorce, virginity of girls and extra marital affairs while they are raping children. They are probably sitting there with the residue and blood of injured children on their cocks while lecturing other people on sexual issues. WTF?!

Then their leaders have the audacity to accuse people who are trying to stamp child abuse out of society of being anti-catholic. If it is anti-catholic to not want children sexually abused then sign me up.

The mind boggles!

Angie The Atheist on BlogTV


AngieAntiTheist- Broadcast your self LIVE

Bishop uses Easter to Launch Attack against Atheism

Dear Catholic Bishop Anthony Fisher,

I find it curious that you chose the solemn Christian festival of Good Friday to launch your attack against what you see as a recent surge in atheism. Rather than speak of how God morphed himself into a human being only to have himself grotesquely slaughtered on a dirty, dusty piece of Palestine as a way of demonstrating his forgiveness or atonement of our sins, (sorry, the New Testament doesn't make it clear which of the two) you took this moment to lecture your congregation on your claim that "atheism is not a rational philosophy."


Link:

Bikinis-for-Burquas: swapping favors with EuroMuslims

Extremist Muslims in Europe demand that their creed be accepted and accommodated -- they want "freedom" to observe their customs via mosques, minarets, halal food, burquas, veils, sharia law, and charming rituals like public stoning, honor killings, and exhortations for global jihad.

Do Extremist Muslims realize how hugely hypocritical their requests are? In Saudi Arabia - birthplace & centre of Islam - there are stringent restrictions on all other faiths.

Perhaps Muslims need help understanding how two-faced they appear? To assist them, I've compiled a few proposals that enable Saudi Arabia and Europe to enjoy equal levels of religious tolerance.


Link:

Sometimes you have to turn something up-side-down to see what it is.

Monday, April 5, 2010

The God Delusion Debate (Dawkins vs Lennox)

On October 3rd of 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama, Professor Richard Dawkins and his Oxford University colleague Professor John Lennox engaged in a lively debate over what is arguably the most critical question of our time: the existence of God. The debate centered on Dawkins' views as expressed in his best-seller, The God Delusion, and their validity over and against the Christian faith. Both presenters agreed to the format and topics of discussion.


Link:

Response to Jensen and co:

As a part of Easter messages in Australia, atheists have copped an earful.

My first thoughts, aside from a mild irritation brought on by the sheer silliness of the claims, were that this was a beautiful thing. Yes.


Link:

500 butchered in Nigeria killing fields

Dozens of bodies lined the dusty streets of three Christian villages in northern Nigeria yesterday. Other victims of Sunday morning's Muslim rampage were jammed into a local morgue, the limbs of slaughtered children tangled in a grotesque mess.

One toddler appeared fixed in the protective but hopeless embrace of an older child, possibly his brother. Another had been scalped. Most had severed hands and feet.


Link:

More religion informing people's behaviour.

Friday, April 2, 2010

At Vatican Service, Persecution of Jews Is Invoked

ROME - A senior Vatican priest speaking at a Good Friday service compared the uproar over sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church - which have included reports about Pope Benedict XVI's oversight role in two cases - to the persecution of the Jews, sharply raising the volume in the Vatican's counterattack.


Link: NY Times

A leading advocate for sex abuse victims in the United States, David Clohessy, called comparing criticism of the church to persecution of the Jews "breathtakingly callous and misguided."

"Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims," he said. "And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be."


Hey Vatican! Dig Up!

These people are ridiculous. They just cannot get it. Their arguments from moral authority are totally worthless and useless. They took their moral authority and flushed it down the toilet when they enabled child rapists year after year then showed no sign of remorse. They have this model in mind that you can take a pedophile, pray at him for a while and his sexual drives will magically go away.

Oppressive Religion & Punishment for Porn Associated with Higher Sex Crimes

Conservative Christians like to complain that pornography and perhaps any sexually explicit material is harmful -- for example, by making sex crimes more likely. Extensive research has not only failed to find any link between access to and use of pornography with sex crimes, but what correlations have been found are just the opposite: more pornography may reduce the numbers of sex crimes.


Link: About/Atheism Article

The Scientist Article

Atheists are believers who hate God, says Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen

A day after Sydney Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell criticised non-believers, Dr Jensen said in his Good Friday sermon at Sydney's St Andrew's Cathedral that atheism was a form idolatry.

"As we can see by the sheer passion and virulence of the atheist - they seem to hate the Christian God - we are not dealing here with cool philosophy up against faith without a brain," Dr Jensen told worshippers.

Link:

I hope that all the xians enjoyed the hateful, xenophobic messages of their religious leaders. Is this really what your Jesus would do? Is this really religion teaching people how to be good. Why didn't these hate filled men just come straight out and call for the death of atheists? they didn't because this secular country's secular legal system constrains the worst of their hatred.

Atheology

Atheology

How many times have you been bothered on your own doorstep by unsolicited visits from the likes of Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, etc? How often have you been accosted in the street by the zealots of various religious denominations, all of them eager to thrust meaningless propaganda leaflets into your hand?


Link:

Pell praises Aussie Christian values

The Australian way of life is the envy of many outsiders because its foundations are built on Christian teachings, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell says.

In his Easter message, Cardinal Pell called on Australians of faith and no faith to give thanks for these influences and for the work of Christian agencies and communities that "pump the waters of life into the wider society".

"We are not like ancient Roman society where up to 40 per cent were slaves, where women had almost no rights, where infanticide, especially of young girls, was common and where men and women gladiators fought one another to death as a spectator sport," he said.


Link: Yahoo News

Sean the Blogonaut's post:

I thought Australia was built on the teachings of Ned Kelly, convict transportation, rum rebellions, Eureka stockades and ANZAC traditions.

The mind boggles to think of a Catholic Cardinal telling us that women's rights were invented by Christianity. This is the church that does not allow female priests preaching the bible that clearly states that women must defer to their husbands in all things. Outrageous!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Thinking is Real

Thinking is Real:

There is one very interesting paragraph from the judgement, and one which I expect will be republished in blogs around the world. The comment refers to the initial ruling by Justice Eady in regards to the meaning of what Singh had written [my bolding]:


'Once the allegation that there is 'not a jot of evidence' to support the claims is properly characterised as a value judgment, the word 'happily', even if synonymous with 'knowingly', loses its sting. But we respectfully doubt whether the judge was justified in any event in attributing to the word any significance beyond, say, 'blithely'. The natural meaning of the passage, in other words, was not that the BCA was promoting what it knew to be bogus treatments but that it was promoting what Dr Singh contended were bogus treatments without regard to the want of reliable evidence of their efficacy – a meaning which takes one back to the assertion that there was not a jot of evidence for the BCA's claims.' [para 30]


Also:
The Guardian:
Reuters UK
and
BBC

U.S. Bishops Quietly Reinstate Accused Priests : NPR

U.S. Bishops Quietly Reinstate Accused Priests : NPR

While the Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal unfolds in Europe, the Catholic Church in the U.S. is under renewed scrutiny.

In the wake of its own scandal almost a decade ago, the U.S. church says it has reformed its policies for handling sexual abuse allegations and will remove from ministry every priest who is credibly accused of abuse.


They are trying to foist the blame onto atheists in the SMH (see a couple of posts ago) and all the while they were generating the next crop of broken people by sneaking pedophiles back into positions of power.

Fight the Rape Trade

Fight the Rape Trade

I've donated $25 via paypal. Almost nothing really but lots of little amounts add up.

Avaaz's email:

Amita was a sweet 9 year old girl who loved her family. One day, she was kidnapped, taken to a city far away and put in a cage. She was forced to have sex with dozens of men per day, and brutally beaten when she cried or refused. 5 terror-filled years later, suffering from sexually transmitted disease, she died from a beating at age 14.

Amita's story is about the worst nightmare imaginable, but millions of women and girls are traded for rape every year -- one of the most evil problems in our world today. The best way to tackle it is to expose the rape traders and kill their profits. In January Avaaz members voted to make this a top priority this year, so we're beginning work across the world with expert teams, local campaigners and investigators to shut down these brutal and shadowy businesses.

Every minute this problem continues is too long. We can't bring Amita back, but every minute, two more Amitas are sold into horror. Let's stop it now -- click to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fight_rape_trade/?vl

In the annual Avaaz poll, almost 90% of our community voted for tackling the rape trade as a top campaigning priority for 2010. Here are the actions we are developing:

* Supporting a team of expert sting operators to pose as sex customers, working with local law enforcement to expose the rape trade one location at a time, breaking trafficking rings, freeing the women and girls and hurting the profits of the rape traders.
* Publicly shaming complicit officials and politicians in countries where official corruption is part of the rape trade. The ads would name and shame individuals and campaign for their removal and reform.
* Running a global day of action outside slave houses - exposing locations across the world where trade victims are being sold and raped This shocking violence is often going on just down the road from our homes and schools.
* Lobbying elected leaders to make this issue a priority and use the full resources of our governments to stop it, including passing better legislation to protect and provide for the women caught in the rape trade.
* Partnering with sex work activists, who have deep understanding of the business, to expose the violence and take on the traffickers.
* Tracking key trade routes and blocking ships carrying kidnapped girls and women in key transit ports.
* Going after rape traders directly by publicly exposing them with WANTED billboards in their communities.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fight_rape_trade/?vl

Avaaz emails like this one have generated millions for other causes like Burma, climate change and Haiti. That's what it will take to stop this trade. It's not about how much we give, but how many of us do. Right now, a girl's life is being transformed into an unimaginable horror, and we can do something to stop it:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/fight_rape_trade/?vl

In the time it took to read this email, we've lost another 4 girls. There's no time to waste.

With hope and determination,

Alice, Raluca, Ricken, Graziela, Paula, Paul, Benjamin, Pascal, Milena and the entire Avaaz team.

More Information:

BBC on modern slavery:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/slavery/default.stm

Source for statistics and more information about human trafficking at UN Office on Drugs and Crime:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html?ref=menuside

FBI's work on human trafficking:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/slavery.htm

Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=197&CM=1&CL=ENG

Simon Singh wins his libel case.

Simon gives makes a statement after winning his libel case. It's OK for us to say that chiropractic claims of treating childhood asthma is 'bogus' while we are in the UK now. Excellent! I think I'll proxy on over and say it now. Aaaaah! That feels good. (Didn't really do it.)


Dawkins talks about the importance of keeping libel out of science.

Cardinal Pell to the rescue!!!

Cardinal Pell tipped to tackle Church's sexual abuse scandal

IRISH and British media, and Catholic Church officials, are speculating that Australia's Cardinal George Pell will be sent to clean up the mess over church abuse in Ireland.

In his pastoral letter to the Irish people, the Pope wrote: "I intend to hold an apostolic visitation of certain dioceses in Ireland, as well as seminaries and religious congregations."

The Belfast Telegraph and British newspaper The Independent reported Cardinal Pell could be called on for help during the abuse scandal.

But a spokesman for Cardinal Pell said he had not heard anything about the visitation teams to Ireland.


Link: The Australian

Here's my hit prediction. He'll go over to Ireland and spread more anti-secular hatred. Link: SMH Here he is accusing atheists of never giving to charitable causes. This explains why atheists have vast wealth stacked all over the world, controlled by an unelected structure in a city state somewhere in Italy... wait, that's not atheists!

We are atheists. We sponsor 2 kids through World Vision. Not for supernatural reward but because it is the right thing to do. We have much. Two little girls go to school because of us. One in Chad (Muslim country) and one in Vietnam... dunno what Tan's views on religion are. It doesn't matter. They are going to school and have a chance at a better life because of it. we don't know what they will make of it.

The church says it spends it's tithes on charity. That explains why they have vast wealth because spending every penny on charitable works makes you vastly rich.

The Catholic church might believe their own spin but I don't. Hard working, community minded Catholic people achieve charitable actions despite the influence of their church.