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.

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.

'Did Jesus Exist? - Richard Carrier

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."

Theists say: love the sinner, hate the sin... a good comeback.

Other suggestions:
Love the faithful, but hate the faith?
Love the godly, hate the god.

From Reddit:

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.

Dawkins at Adelaide Writer's Festival

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?

"George Rekers Is Completely Heterosexual" by Roy Zimmerman

From: Pharyngula Blog

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.

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.

Slaves to Super-stition - Richard Dawkins - First of 5 - just follow your nose

God Strikes Back - Richard Dawkins

YouTube - Lars Vilks Attacked at Uppsala University

YouTube - Lars Vilks Attacked at Uppsala University

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

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:

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.

4 Horseman Discussion - Higher Quality

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.

QI: David Mitchell on Pascal's Wager - Heaven For Atheists

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.

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.

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.

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:

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

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:

'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.

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.

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

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"