Here's an idea: what if the Government introduced voluntary gay marriage?
SMH opinion piece:
It's got humour and barbs, and best of all it's up moralizing dumb fundies. :)
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The anti GLBTI league are at it again:
Story:
My post which probably wont go up cause it's too long and just rambles on with my reactions to other people's posts:
I'm 39, have been married for 15 years and am straight and I want gay people to be allowed to get married. We don't have children, so getting married isn't for that. I don't believe in any of the thousands of gods available for belief in, so it's not for that. People have a very narrow view of what marriage is for and what it does. My view is also narrow. It is for love. Why can't people get married if they are in love regardless of sexual orientation.
GBLTI people don't effect me. They are doing their own thing with their own lives. However, the moralising prudes who oppose gay marriage do have an effect on me. This minority of busy bodies sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong effects my life too. If you want to live your life by some set of rules made up by goat herders in a time when "the wheelbarrow was emergent technology" (Harris) then go and do that and leave the rest of us to get on with our information age lives. The Amish might have the lifestyle you're looking for.
Do people really imagine that coupling in permanent relationships is a thing that came to humanity via religion? The married state of two people looking after children together resulted in more children. This married state was been co-opted by religion because they knew that they needed to get control of the sex lives of people or they would have no social recognition. As soon as people gave this control to the church, the church knew it had us byt he short and curlies... literally.
Just read the Galaxy report. How would the people complaining about the quality of the survey like the questions to be surveyed? "Thinking about how you will burning in hell for all eternity for supporting gay rights, we're thinking about Sodom and Gomorrah here people, would you say that evil, dirty Gays should be allowed to destroy the world by getting married?" Would the phrasing of that question have made the religious right happy?
Really the GLBTI community is not asking for the right to be married, they are asking for the restriction on their marrying being removed. It is not self evident to me that GLBTI marriage should not be allowed.
Christianity (I'm assuming that this is the god that many people has sighted) has had just shy of 2000 years to make the perfect society. There is a special word for societies where religion has the absolute power that they think they deserve through divine right. That special word is a dark age. Islam is in a dark age at the moment where women can be beaten on the street for dressing in a manner unacceptable to someone holding the Koran and couples can be gaoled for having an affair. Before people want their holy books brought in as law they should have a close look at what they will be tortured and gaoled for. Poly-cotton, eye glasses and shell fish would be crimes carrying the same punishment as being gay.
I don't think that gay people are going to want to force churches to marry them. Why would anyone want to be married in a church where people hate them?
My post which probably wont go up cause it's too long and just rambles on with my reactions to other people's posts:
I'm 39, have been married for 15 years and am straight and I want gay people to be allowed to get married. We don't have children, so getting married isn't for that. I don't believe in any of the thousands of gods available for belief in, so it's not for that. People have a very narrow view of what marriage is for and what it does. My view is also narrow. It is for love. Why can't people get married if they are in love regardless of sexual orientation.
GBLTI people don't effect me. They are doing their own thing with their own lives. However, the moralising prudes who oppose gay marriage do have an effect on me. This minority of busy bodies sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong effects my life too. If you want to live your life by some set of rules made up by goat herders in a time when "the wheelbarrow was emergent technology" (Harris) then go and do that and leave the rest of us to get on with our information age lives. The Amish might have the lifestyle you're looking for.
Do people really imagine that coupling in permanent relationships is a thing that came to humanity via religion? The married state of two people looking after children together resulted in more children. This married state was been co-opted by religion because they knew that they needed to get control of the sex lives of people or they would have no social recognition. As soon as people gave this control to the church, the church knew it had us byt he short and curlies... literally.
Just read the Galaxy report. How would the people complaining about the quality of the survey like the questions to be surveyed? "Thinking about how you will burning in hell for all eternity for supporting gay rights, we're thinking about Sodom and Gomorrah here people, would you say that evil, dirty Gays should be allowed to destroy the world by getting married?" Would the phrasing of that question have made the religious right happy?
Really the GLBTI community is not asking for the right to be married, they are asking for the restriction on their marrying being removed. It is not self evident to me that GLBTI marriage should not be allowed.
Christianity (I'm assuming that this is the god that many people has sighted) has had just shy of 2000 years to make the perfect society. There is a special word for societies where religion has the absolute power that they think they deserve through divine right. That special word is a dark age. Islam is in a dark age at the moment where women can be beaten on the street for dressing in a manner unacceptable to someone holding the Koran and couples can be gaoled for having an affair. Before people want their holy books brought in as law they should have a close look at what they will be tortured and gaoled for. Poly-cotton, eye glasses and shell fish would be crimes carrying the same punishment as being gay.
I don't think that gay people are going to want to force churches to marry them. Why would anyone want to be married in a church where people hate them?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
ReligionIsBullshit.net
Religion is bullshit has an excellent description of atheism.
I like what the writer is saying about "denying god". Dumb fundies always want to way that I am denying god. I've never been able to put my finger on why this bugs me so much.
I like what the writer is saying about "denying god". Dumb fundies always want to way that I am denying god. I've never been able to put my finger on why this bugs me so much.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Some Quotes
It is often imagined that atheists are, in principle, closed to spiritual experience. But the truth [… ] is that there is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing self transcending love, or ecstasy, or rapture, or awe. In fact, there's nothing that prevents an atheist from going into a cave for a year or a decade and practising meditation like the profit Misif (?). What atheists don't tend to do is make unjustified and unjustifiable claims about the cosmos on the basis of those experiences.
Sam Harris
We're all connected. To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To rest of the universe, atomically. That's kinda cool. That makes me smile. And I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It's not that we are better than the universe, we're part of the universe. We're in the universe and the universe is in us.
Neill deGrasse Tyson
I don't want the religious person in the lab telling me that God is responsible for what it is they cannot discover. Cause look at the hubris of that. You're in the lab and he says "I don't know how this works and not only that but no one on earth knows how this works. And not only that no one that will ever be born will know how this works. That's kind of audacious when you think about it. Then you put it down and go onto the next problem. This problem is the cure for alzheimers, the cure for cancer, or what ever else. I don't want them in the science class room. So the issue is simply about progress and discovery.
Neill deGrasse Tyson
Sam Harris
We're all connected. To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To rest of the universe, atomically. That's kinda cool. That makes me smile. And I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It's not that we are better than the universe, we're part of the universe. We're in the universe and the universe is in us.
Neill deGrasse Tyson
I don't want the religious person in the lab telling me that God is responsible for what it is they cannot discover. Cause look at the hubris of that. You're in the lab and he says "I don't know how this works and not only that but no one on earth knows how this works. And not only that no one that will ever be born will know how this works. That's kind of audacious when you think about it. Then you put it down and go onto the next problem. This problem is the cure for alzheimers, the cure for cancer, or what ever else. I don't want them in the science class room. So the issue is simply about progress and discovery.
Neill deGrasse Tyson
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Religious love in action in Northern Ireland
Protestant football fans beat a random Catholic to death. This is the love that Jesus inspires.
Scientology
Scientology is being taken to court by French authorities for fraud.
"The Paris court was hearing the complaint of a woman who alleges she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euro ($36,000) for costly Scientology products, such as an "electrometer" to measure mental energy."
Go France!!
But what I want to know is why they are limiting themselves to Scientology? Why not Catholicism? They offer outcomes they cannot prove and take a fee for the "service". I don't see any difference.
"The Paris court was hearing the complaint of a woman who alleges she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euro ($36,000) for costly Scientology products, such as an "electrometer" to measure mental energy."
Go France!!
But what I want to know is why they are limiting themselves to Scientology? Why not Catholicism? They offer outcomes they cannot prove and take a fee for the "service". I don't see any difference.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Kiva: We're beating the Christians! Yay!
The "Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious" group on Kiva has loaned USD522,700 against the "Kiva Christians" group's USD406,675. Ha!
It doesn't matter but any beating christians is still beating christians. :)
It doesn't matter but any beating christians is still beating christians. :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
This priest didn't realise sex with children was harmful or illegal!
How can they say that they are offering moral guidance when this core idea alludes them?
I think I'll be shaking my head all week.
I think I'll be shaking my head all week.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Parenting without religion.
These parents are meeting on Sundays in a park or at a member's home to replace the community of church. People do this for the benefit of themselves and their kids. There are plenty of dumb comments if you want to get pissed off.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Who'd be female under Islamic law?
Why would a person stick with a religion which hates them? Why wouldn't a woman just leave? I just don't get this.
Independent UK article:
Independent UK article:
Sagan's 'Dragon in my garage'.
The Dragon In My Garage
by
Carl Sagan
“A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage”
Suppose (I’m following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you’d want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!
“Show me,” you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle–but no dragon.
“Where’s the dragon?” you ask.
“Oh, she’s right here,” I reply, waving vaguely. “I neglected to mention that she’s an invisible dragon.”
You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon’s footprints.
“Good idea,” I say, “but this dragon floates in the air.”
Then you’ll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.
“Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.”
You’ll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.
“Good idea, but she’s an incorporeal dragon and the paint won’t stick.”
And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won’t work.
Now, what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I’m asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.
The only thing you’ve really learned from my insistence that there’s a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You’d wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I’ve seriously underestimated human fallibility.
Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don’t outright reject the notion that there’s a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you’re prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it’s unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative– merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of “not proved.”
Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons–to say nothing about invisible ones–you must now acknowledge that there’s something here, and that in a preliminary way it’s consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.
Now another scenario: Suppose it’s not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you’re pretty sure don’t know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages–but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we’re disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I’d rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren’t myths at all.
Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they’re never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon’s fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such “evidence”–no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it–is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.
-Carl Sagan
by
Carl Sagan
“A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage”
Suppose (I’m following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you’d want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!
“Show me,” you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle–but no dragon.
“Where’s the dragon?” you ask.
“Oh, she’s right here,” I reply, waving vaguely. “I neglected to mention that she’s an invisible dragon.”
You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon’s footprints.
“Good idea,” I say, “but this dragon floates in the air.”
Then you’ll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.
“Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.”
You’ll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.
“Good idea, but she’s an incorporeal dragon and the paint won’t stick.”
And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won’t work.
Now, what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I’m asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.
The only thing you’ve really learned from my insistence that there’s a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You’d wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I’ve seriously underestimated human fallibility.
Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don’t outright reject the notion that there’s a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you’re prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it’s unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative– merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of “not proved.”
Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons–to say nothing about invisible ones–you must now acknowledge that there’s something here, and that in a preliminary way it’s consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.
Now another scenario: Suppose it’s not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you’re pretty sure don’t know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages–but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we’re disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I’d rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren’t myths at all.
Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they’re never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon’s fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such “evidence”–no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it–is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.
-Carl Sagan
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Muslim chef wont cook pork.
A Muslim chef refuses to cook pork in England. He picked the wrong job now he wants to sue them.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Russian mayor bans gay parade
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov says gay parades were "a satanic act" and will be stopped by police forse.
He's been the mayor since 1992. Moscowians, look at who you are voting for. You are voting for someone who believes in the ultimate bogeyman, satan, and, presumably, the ultimate tooth fairy, god. Shouldn't you have someone in charge who believes in you. Someone who believes that people are fundementally good.
He's been the mayor since 1992. Moscowians, look at who you are voting for. You are voting for someone who believes in the ultimate bogeyman, satan, and, presumably, the ultimate tooth fairy, god. Shouldn't you have someone in charge who believes in you. Someone who believes that people are fundementally good.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Australian debate between Dr. Paul Willis and Dr. Carl Wieland
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Another Knox Gramma sex criminal.
Watch out for the ex-Uniting-Church-private-school-teachers, not the internet pornographers.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Nazi Catholic Priest
The Catholic church was all over the nine year old rape victim who aborted the twins that doctors thought she could never have carried to full term. However, when a priest greets his flock with a Nazi arm band on the Vatican is strangely silent.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Evangelicals promoting persecution of children in the Niger Delta.
Children are being denounced as witches or warlocks. The Niger Delta has lots of orphans as a result of the AIDES virus. These children are persecuted by church groups for their alledged witchcraft
This just makes me too cross to even read. This is being driven by dumb fundies both in the area and the ones who fund it via donations from the first world.
http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/node/18
There's a link to a flyer towards the bottom.
Channel 4 program on the topic.
I don't know who Channel 4 are.
Blog post:
This just makes me too cross to even read. This is being driven by dumb fundies both in the area and the ones who fund it via donations from the first world.
http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/node/18
There's a link to a flyer towards the bottom.
Channel 4 program on the topic.
I don't know who Channel 4 are.
Blog post:
Hindus are lovely peaceful theists, yes?
Grandfather beheads his granddaughter to use her blood to ensure a good harvest. This is a Hindu tradition. Is this religion teaching us how to be good?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Bumba the African Vomit God
He felt sick so he vomitted the sun, people, a leopard and an alligator. This seems as valid a creation story as any.
Wikipedia
God Checker
Wikipedia
God Checker
'Why We Believe in Gods'
Andy Thomson gives his talk titled 'Why We Believe in Gods' at the American Atheist 2009 convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Anglican minister admits to buggering the alter boy
Those Anglican scamps. They look so mild mannered. As it turns out, yet again, they've been buggering the alter boys. That's right, it wasn't the atheists, the pornographers or the out gay man who did the kiddy fiddling. Once again it was the hypocrite behind the pulpit.
One of the victims was looking for help and guidance after losing his father.
Brisbane Times article:
One of the victims was looking for help and guidance after losing his father.
Brisbane Times article:
Paraguay's president:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wanna protect children?
Keep them away from Sunday school teachers. It's not the atheists who will kill them and dump the body in an irrigation channel in a suitcase.
Is this religion teaching children how to be moral? It isn't working.
More coverage:
Is this religion teaching children how to be moral? It isn't working.
More coverage:
Jedi Church
Jedi Church says their numbers are growing.
UK numbers in the 2001 census:
The religious movement is not being taken seriously. Unfortunately Scientology is taken seriously... and it's just based on science fiction books.
UK numbers in the 2001 census:
The religious movement is not being taken seriously. Unfortunately Scientology is taken seriously... and it's just based on science fiction books.
Child abuse by fundies
This poor kid is applauded by fundies for behaving like a preacher. He talks about as much sence as a fundy.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Islamic Fundies make "No" illegal for Shiite women
Arguments in favour of atheism don't get much stronger than Afghanistan's new law forbidding women from saying "no" to a demand for sex from their husband's. We have come to the nitty gritty of religion. Guys just want sex and religion gives them a way to demand it.
SMH article:
SMH article:
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Skeptic action plan
Many people want to know what they can do to help. Skeptic.com have made a list of things you can do.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
They're at it again!
Fundies have the most fun:
This Focus on the Family Fundy was trying to solicite sex with a 15 year old... played by a police investigator.
And this fundy pastor was stealing church funds (more than USD84k) for plastic surgery and botox treatment. Did Jesus tell him to do it?? Voices in your head are never a good thing.
This Focus on the Family Fundy was trying to solicite sex with a 15 year old... played by a police investigator.
And this fundy pastor was stealing church funds (more than USD84k) for plastic surgery and botox treatment. Did Jesus tell him to do it?? Voices in your head are never a good thing.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Mother drugged 13 year old to get her pregnant.
This report is not radically different to Genesis 30. This mother giving her daughter to her boyfriend to impregnate is pretty much parallel to Jacob shagging Rachel's servant to bear children... so, these people just got their morality from the bible.
Obviously, this report does not mention the religiosity of the mother but that doesn't stop christians from accusing atheists of creating this kind of mind set.
Obviously, this report does not mention the religiosity of the mother but that doesn't stop christians from accusing atheists of creating this kind of mind set.
Churchies volunteering
They say that religious people volunteer more but this stat shows that few of them actually volunteer so they are just contributing to society by association... sorta like spiritual laundering. :)
It is true that fewer non-religious people volunteer. I'm not religious but I look out for the dude over the road. I have a cup of tea with him and listen to his stories. Stuff like this doesn't show up in their stats.
Volunteering that furthers the church shouldn't be counted either. If it is not of general benefit to society it isn't really social capital. Anyway, go have a look at the stats yourself. It's about halfway down the page.
From ABS:
Finally the churches are being pushed out.
The churches are being pushed out of the employment services industry. This was just a way of slipping government funds to churches. This would have been exposing innocent people to christianity, a highly contagious mind disease.
More sexual abuse.
Another week, another case of sexual abuse at the hands of religious leaders is uncovered. They're up the porn users while they are buggering the alter boys!
In depth report:
In depth report:
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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