YouTube - Billy Connolly on Catholicism, Sarah Palin and 'How' vs 'Why'

YouTube - Billy Connolly on Catholicism, Sarah Palin and 'How' vs 'Why': ""

FORA.tv - Elliott Sober: Darwin & Intelligent Design

FORA.tv - Elliott Sober: Darwin & Intelligent Design: "Elliott Sober"

ABC The Drum - Free speech reserved for the chosen ones

ABC The Drum - Free speech reserved for the chosen ones

Anyone who dislikes Fielding is OK by me.

Here Be Dragons - 41 Min

ABC The Drum Unleashed - A return to wowserism in the name of politics

ABC The Drum Unleashed - A return to wowserism in the name of politics

Radical Islamists attack World Cup Soccer fans in Somalia

Radical Islamists attack World Cup Soccer fans in Somalia:

"According to the BBC, 'Somali militants have threatened football fans they will be publicly flogged - or worse - if they are caught watching the World Cup on TV.' Two have, in fact, already been killed on Saturday when militants stormed a house where they were watching a game on satellite television."

I don't really like soccer but killing people would be a bit much... but I don't have an invisible magic sky friend who whispers "kill people who like soccer, it's the only moral thing to do".

Our online family portrait: slightly paranoid

Our online family portrait: slightly paranoid

Kids:
. we are overprotective compared to other countries.
. they lie to adults because they think they'll get in trouble or that their internet will be limited or filtered.
. we wont turn parental controls on
. they surf less and have more rules.

So, the fear campaign has worked. Parents are frightened of the net so their kids, not able to fathom why the adults are in such a tizz, are protecting them from the worst of it.

Fallacies of Ambiguity: The No True Scotsman Fallacy

Fallacies of Ambiguity: The No True Scotsman Fallacy:

"This is actually a combination of several fallacies, but since it rests ultimately on shifting the meaning of terms — a form of equivocation — and begging the question, it receives special attention.

The name “No True Scotsman” comes from an odd example involving Scotsmen:

1. Suppose I assert that no Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge. You counter this by pointing out that your friend Angus likes sugar with his porridge. I then say “Ah, yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”
Obviously the original assertion about Scotsmen has been challenged quite well, but in attempting to shore it up the speaker uses an ad hoc change combined with a shifted meaning of the words from the original."

In discussions with theists, being able to pull them up on logical fallacies is important. If done gently, it can coax them towards a more logical, critical, skeptical world view.

If done roughly it can win a point in an argument but it will only strengthen their determination to be religious... that would be winning the battle but losing the war.


More logical fallacies on atheism.about.com:

Third Reich Christianity: Nazi Germany as Implementation of a Christian Agenda - How Was Nazi Germany an Example of Christian Nationalism & Power?

Hitler and the Nazis are often cited as an example of the horrible crimes which atheists have committed in the 20th century. They are only assumed to be atheists, though, because people can't imagine Christians doing such things; in reality, Hitler explicitly appealed to Christianity on a regular basis and this was part of why he was popular. Not every Christian supported the Nazis, of course, but he was most popular with conservative Christians seeking a restoration of traditional values.

Third Reich Christianity: Nazi Germany as Implementation of a Christian Agenda - How Was Nazi Germany an Example of Christian Nationalism and Power?:

"In a speech celebrating Germany’s exit from the League of Nations, Hitler again maintained that the Third Reich was actively implementing a Christian agenda: “Along with the fight for a purer morality we have taken upon ourselves the struggle against the decomposition of our religion. We have therefore taken up the struggle against the Godless movement, and not just with a few theoretical declarations; we have stamped it out."

Make it Count | Rudd & Abbott address Christian Voters ::

Make it Count | Rudd and Abbott address Christian Voters ::

Invitation only god-fest with Australia's leading politicians.

Hitchens answers Pascal's Wager:

Hitchens sums up Blaise Pascal's wager with this memorable imagery:
"Religious hucksterism of the cheapest, vulgarest, nastiest kind it's possible to imagine. He says, 'What have you got to lose? I've got a good offer for you. Come into my used car lot. Come on baby, just lie a little, and you never know!' No, don't talk to me like that, and don't call it piety when you do, or be prepared to have piety despised."

Hitchens and Fry vs. Ann Widdecombe on The Ten Commandments

Good until about 3:15 Widdecombe shows that she hadn't listened to either of them:


Which ten commandments are we talking about here? These ones? Is it really that important not to boil a kid in its mother's milk. Is that really one of the basis for modern morality?

Exodus 34:11-34:27

11 Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles* 14(for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.

17 You shall not make cast idols.

18 You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

19 All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male* livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

21 For six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in ploughing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 22You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

25 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning.

26 The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

27 The Lord said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

Don't call me an Islamophobe : Johann Hari

Don't call me an Islamophobe : Johann Hari:

People who believe in opposing hatred of gay people everywhere – in Teheran as much as Tunbridge Wells, in Kingston, Jamaica as much as Kingston-Upon-Thames – are being subjected to a bizarre counter-campaign. As so often, Peter Tatchell is facing the most abusive backlash on our behalf. Tatchell believes all people are equal, regardless of their pigmentation. He does not see a difference between the white far-right preacher Jerry Falwell calling gay people diseased, and the Muslim leader Sir Iqbal Sacranie doing the same. He does not see the difference between gay teenagers being lynched to death in Jamaica and murderous gay-bashings on Clapham Common. He reacts to them in exactly the same way – by fighting to stop them.

Theists play the victim card at the drop of a hat. Here we are told of people pleading "But it's my religion" while they are advocating the lashing and stoning of gay people.

Gay people are not trying to force their beliefs onto other people. If adults want to have consenting sex with each other it is none of my business.

Sure, doing it in missionary position only, with the woman unable to say 'no', while praying to an invisible friend, is pretty weird but if that's the way two (or more) adults consent to sex than their weirdness is none of my concern.

Draw Mohammed

League of Reason

Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding

Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding:

Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish 'maternal relations' and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.

The bit I like here is the last sentence. They are asking for secular laws to control the issue of fatwas. This fatwa shows that the process can generate some very strange results.

Women and Pornography | BYU Women's Services

Women and Pornography | BYU Women's Services: "Like visual pornography, such literature presents a warped view of sexuality and is arousing and addictive."

Wanna see a warped view on sexuality? Take a long hard look at your bible with Lot fucking his daughters, armies taking female children as sexual slaves from defeated cities and God sneaking up on Mary, sex without consent is called rape.

When your moral system has sorted out its sexual hangups, then you can try to propagate it to the whole world.

Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland : Pharyngula

Sour old men have new plan to capture the love of Ireland : Pharyngula:
"We all know the Catholic Church has a serious public relations problem right now — they're hidebound, they're insensitive to the human needs of their congregations, and, well, sheltering an evil bunch of child-rapers that they shuttle about among unknowing parishes like a buggerymobile or a penis-on-wheels program doesn't help."

PZ Myres is not happy with the Catholic Church's attempts to re-assert their control over Ireland's hearts and minds... and sex lives.

Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit

Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit

The Atheist Blogger � Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit Responds to Atheist & Christian Billboards

The Atheist Blogger � Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit Responds to Atheist & Christian Billboards: "Christians have recently begun putting billboards up claiming that the separation of church and state is not what the Founding Fathers wanted for America. This is actually quite true, since it is a well established fact in the Church of the Smashing Orangey Bit that both George Washington & Thomas Jefferson were devout Jaffalots. Far from wanting a separation of church and state, the Founding Fathers wanted a joining of the “state and cake” to honour McVities forever."

The Atheist Blogger � Questions Atheists CAN Answer

The Atheist Blogger � Questions Atheists CAN Answer: "Ray Comfort has another hilarious post containing 10 questions atheists apparently cannot answer. Here to disprove him yet again, I give some possible answers."

Threats to expose brothel clients | QLD News | Breaking News in Queensland | Toowoomba Chronicle

Threats to expose brothel clients | QLD News | Breaking News in Queensland | Toowoomba Chronicle

A comment:

Typical. The prudes weren't able to win their petty fight against the brothel opening so they are trying to force their twisted hatred of sex and fun onto everyone else. This is school yard bullying at its worst.

I hope all the sensible, liberal minded people in Toowoomba all take up visiting the brothel, whether they partake of their services of not, to give the law abiding patrons cover from the bigotry of the self-appointed moral police.

So the religious right (I'm assuming it's them - if it quacks like a duck...) have taken up blackmailing law abiding citizens to try to force everyone into their sexual dysfunction.

Catholic sex abuse cases

Wikipedia entry on RICO legislation being used to charge Catholic priests:

Stephen Hawking BT Commercial

Synthetic life form accuses God of ‘playing science’

The world’s first artificially created life form has accused God of ‘playing science’ and ‘meddling with things He cannot possibly understand.’

The single celled organism, created by Dr Craig Venter and his team, was said to be ‘outraged’ when it discovered that a supernatural being, not subject to any form of regulatory control, was still involved in the creation of life.

Link:

Heroic or Quixotic? The High Court Challenge against Australia’s National School Chaplaincy Program � Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear

Heroic or Quixotic? The High Court Challenge against Australia’s National School Chaplaincy Program � Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear

The Atheist Book

You want to know what the bible and the koran say about women, homosexuals, non-believers... You want to understand why religions generate intolerance and obscurantism... You want to know more about the different faiths...You will find answers to these questions in "the atheist book".

Link:

Jamiewrites: The Global Atheist Conference

Jamiewrites: The Global Atheist Conference

A roundup of the Australian Atheist Convention held March 2010

We were really quite nervous for this one. Our first ever interview, and we had, had about 6 hours sleep in 3 days between us.

Pretentious Makes Perfect.
In this episode we interviewed the lovely Leslie Cannold a Bio-ethicist, Lecturer and Colomunist for The Age.

We were really quite nervous for this one. Our first ever interview, and we had, had about 6 hours sleep in 3 days between us.

The interview was a little clunky in places but Leslie Cannold was allowed to shine. :)

Why women in particular should be atheists.

Have you ever noticed that God is still thought of as male? Jesus is definitely male; Christmas is not really about Mary the mother but about the baby; all the paintings of God show a man (think Michelangelo); everyone prays to Him. There are a few who try to make him asexual or even female but they are thought of as odd by Christians etc. Further, most of god's rules favour men - the old testament, much of the new testament, especially by Paul, favours men; all of the Qu'ran favours men although there is some talk of protecting women - a bit like property. The entire bible has no lead characters who were women and until recently, 99% of ministers and preachers were men. The Judeo-Christian society we live in and also the Muslim society is definitely patriarchal.
So why would women want to be Religious? Why would they want to believe that they are inferior?

Continue reading: Why women in particular should be atheists.:

I never can understand why women are going for religion. They really lose out, as far as I can see. They are treated as second class at every turn. Their bodies become church property. They are discouraged from thinking, working, any independence... it goes on and on. It gets worse as we go back though history or into countries where Islam has hold.

Fox fails at discrediting atheism.

Fox fails at discrediting atheism.



These people should stick to sucking at news, this is just embarrassingly bad, even for them.

News from The Associated Press

The future Pope Benedict XVI refused to defrock an American priest who confessed to molesting numerous children and even served prison time for it, simply because the cleric wouldn't agree to the discipline. The case provides the latest evidence of how changes in church law under Pope John Paul II frustrated and hamstrung U.S. bishops struggling with an abuse crisis that would eventually explode.

News from The Associated Press:

The Pope is busily pretending to be concerned about communicating with atheists (Link). I can speak for exactly one atheist. Make amends to the people who you and your organisation harmed before you try to tell atheists how to live.

God made animals for testing: Malaysian minister

Malacca Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam said on Monday the lab had received state approval, and animal testing was necessary to make drugs. The project is still in the planning phase.

"God created animals for the benefits of human beings. That's why he created rats and monkeys... We cannot test on human beings," he said.

"This is the way it has to be. God created monkeys, and some have to be tested."

God made animals for testing: Malaysian minister:

If there was a god, wouldn't he just have made everything safe for humans? Or made our noses so we could smell what was safe. Wait, I bet the devil did it.

This nonsense is so densely packed into people's brains that they cannot be made to think a single sensible thing.

A Black Cat in a Dark Room — Are Theologians Really Saying Anything?, Albert Mohler

A Black Cat in a Dark Room — Are Theologians Really Saying Anything?, Albert Mohler: "Sanderson doesn't even believe in the so-called 'big questions' about life and its meaning. 'My problem is these questions don't have a answer,' he asserts, 'no matter how long you think about them and however much you try to bring God into the equation.' Sanderson prefers Gertrude Stein's succinct worldview: 'The answer is: there is no answer.'"

Building religious pressures

"We already have religious incursions all through public life. Some hospitals founded by religious orders won't do abortions or vasectomies; public funding for Catholic schools was a deal under Confederation; and even our national anthem is about God in English (and more specifically about militant Christianity in French)."
Building religious pressures:

In Your Face: French attempts to outlaw the burqa strike a blow for the rights of women.

Ah, but the particular and special demand to consider the veil and the burqa as an exemption applies only to women. And it also applies only to religious practice (and, unless we foolishly pretend otherwise, only to one religious practice). This at once tells you all you need to know: Society is being asked to abandon an immemorial tradition of equality and openness in order to gratify one faith, one faith that has a very questionable record in respect of females.

Slate Article:

Doctors don't support 'ritual nicking' - The West Australian

The college for Australia's obstetricians and gynaecologists says it does not support the "ritual nicking" of young Muslim girls and anyone suspected of performing such genital mutilation should be reported to authorities.

Dr Ted Weaver, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), said media reports suggesting the college would review its policy were the result of a misquote.

He said the issue was likely to be discussed at a meeting next month, triggered by recent announcements made by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but a policy shift was not on the agenda.

"The college does not support - does not - support female genital mutilation, full-stop," Dr Weaver told AAP on Friday.

"This ritual nicking, as it has been called, has been put forward as a way of satisfying cultural sensitivities without making a lot of difference to a woman's genitalia but we do not support that either."

Doctors don't support 'ritual nicking' - The West Australian

So, apparently, they don't support this idea.

Religion in the Classroom

SBS's Insight's "Religion in the Classroom"

Theists are squarking about the St James Ethics Course

Italian priests' secret mistresses ask pope to scrap celibacy rule | World news | The Guardian

Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".

It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".

Italian priests' secret mistresses ask pope to scrap celibacy rule | World news | The Guardian

Another reasonable request for the Vatican to totally ignore.

Christian groups say that biblical armageddon must be taught with global warming

Christian Groups: Biblical Armageddon Must Be Taught Alongside Global Warming

Archbishop says scale of sex abuse can't be denied

The Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Mark Coleridge, has called on Catholic leaders to do everything possible to stop sexual abuse within the Church.

Archbishop Coleridge says he accepts there is a cultural problem within the Church that has led to the abuse, and an institutional pride that has prevented many from speaking out.

The Archbishop will raise the issue in his pastoral address to the community this week.

He has told Radio National that although the level of abuse in the Church is small, every incident is appalling.

Link:

Sometimes you think they're starting to get this, although they did prattle on about 'sin' (what ever the fuck that is) a lot.

Let's just get this straight. Sin, and original sin, is a blame shift. These guys fucked kids. You can call it a sin if you want. Society is beyond 'sin', they want hard punishment for guys who fuck kids, not blame shifting excuses.

Hand these kid fuckers over to the cops so that they can be put in jail for decades. That is what is needed here. No loving forgiveness of sin. That doesn't unfuck kids.

When you are done doing that, prostate yourself in front of the victims and beg them to forgive you as you pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation until every last cent you have hoarded over the centuries is gone. Then we can start to talk about whether you have made amends.

And stop blaming gay people for all of societies woes. They didn't do this horrible, dreadful, aweful thing. Your organisation did it. You are an organisation of kid fuckers!

Fuck!

'I never covered up abuse', says Archbishop Philip Wilson | The Australian

THE Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has defended his conduct during the past 35 years in response to allegations aired on ABC TV that he was involved in a "conspiracy of silence" about sexual abuse cases involving fellow clergy in NSW.

Archbishop Wilson maintained he had not mishandled or covered up sexual abuse cases during his time in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, north of Sydney, in the late 1970s and 80s.

'I never covered up abuse', says Archbishop Philip Wilson | The Australian

Anti-gay laws in Africa are product of American religious exports, say activists

When he arrived at Kampala’s Hotel Triangle for a three-day conference, the Rev Kapya Kaoma knew that he would not like what he heard.

The clue was in the event’s title — “Exposing the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda” — and in the line-up of guest speakers arranged by Stephen Langa, head of the Ugandan-based Family Life Network (FLN), and an outspoken advocate for the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda.

Link:

Tax free hate

Tax free terrorism – Christian privilege hides sinister possibilities.

Senator Nick Xenophon has introduced legislation into the senate calling for a public benefits test to be applied to religious organisations wanting to take advantage of tax breaks given to churches and religious groups by virtue of the fact that they are promoting religion (deemed in the distant past to a virtuous thing in itself).

Link:

Corruption is never harmless, in the Church or state

CORRUPTION is the most serious moral scandal of our time. Why? Because corruption is a double-edged sword, a moral evil that may turn one chump's decision to bribe, extort or otherwise abuse his power for personal gain into destruction of the very systems that order our society and make this country great.

Link:

Religion is a drain on society's resources. Like corruption, it adds nothing to society, just gums up the workings of society, slows society down and wastes resources. A friend is from the Philipines. The economy is totally disabled but corruption.

Colbert Report

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YouTube - Charlie Rose: Dan Dennett - Breaking the Spell (1st part of 6)

YouTube - Charlie Rose: Dan Dennett - Breaking the Spell (Part 1 of 6): "Dan Dennett joins Bill Moyers on the Charlie Rose show to talk about his new book 'Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon'. Dennett is the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His other books include 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea', 'Freedom Evolves', and 'Consciousness Explained'."

Dan Dennett joins Bill Moyers on the Charlie Rose show to talk about his new book 'Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon'. Dennett is the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His other books include 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea', 'Freedom Evolves', and 'Consciousness Explained'.

YouTube - Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?

YouTube - Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?: ""

http://www.ted.com Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

YouTube - Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny

YouTube - Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny

http://www.ted.com Why are babies cute? Why is cake sweet? Philosopher Dan Dennett has answers you wouldn't expect, as he shares evolution's counterintuitive reasoning on cute, sweet and sexy things. For a topping, try his introduction to a new theory by Matthew Hurley on why jokes are funny.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

YouTube - Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren

YouTube - Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren

http://www.ted.com Philosopher Dan Dennett calls for religion -- all religion -- to be taught in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on The Purpose-Driven Life, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10