Atheism
purepedantry | November 22, 2006Dinesh D'Souza, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, defends organized religion from criticism that links it with violence and wars:
- In recent months, a spate of atheist books have argued that religion represents, as "End of Faith" author Sam Harris puts it, "the most potent source of human conflict, past and present."
Columnist Robert Kuttner gives the familiar litany. "The Crusades slaughtered millions in the name of Jesus. The Inquisition brought the torture and murder of millions more. After Martin Luther, Christians did bloody battle with other Christians for another three…
clock | November 19, 2006Imagine an ecosystem in which all the players are groups defined by their religion: fundies, liberal believers, apathetics, atheists, etc. Then, use the ecological and evolutionary priniciples, e.g., competitive exclusion, niche-construction, arms-races, parasitism, camouflage, symbiosis, etc. to model the interactions between these entities ("populations").
Amanda made a first stab at it. Can you do more?
How do Unitarians fit in that environment? Or Humanist Jews? How does the US ecosystem differ from that of other countries (island biogegraphy?)? What are the lessons for atheists…
clock | October 29, 2006Carnival of the Godless #52 is up on Skeptic Rant. Check the invisible links.
clock | September 15, 2006An interesting new study of religiosity in America:
One God, four views:
"Not all Americans see the powerful old man in the sky"
Really?
The authors suggest religion may most successfully motivate individuals through what it can offer them in spiritual intimacy and congregational connectivity rather than through demands backed by threats of divine punishment. Believers in an "angry" God tend to reject the idea that church and state are or can be separate, and are more likely to feel that one's religious faith is exclusively the correct path of righteousness.
Read the whole thing...
clock | September 7, 2006From a press release (via e-mail):
U.S. Congressional Scorecards
109th Congress:
Washington, D.C. - The Secular Coalition for America (SCA) today released its House and Senate Scorecards of the 109th Congress. The SCA, an advocacy group for atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheists, provides roll-call votes to demonstrate the members' commitment to the separation of church and state and their willingness to protect the interests of the nontheistic community.
The scorecards cover votes taken from January 2005 until August 2006. The SCA used ten key votes in both the House and…
clock | August 20, 2006Oh yes there are atheists in Foxholes!
In the latest Newsweek:
There are no atheists in foxholes," the old saw goes. The line, attributed to a WWII chaplain, has since been uttered countless times by grunts, chaplains and news anchors. But an increasingly vocal group of activists and soldiers--atheist soldiers--disagrees. "It's a denial of our contributions," says Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, who founded the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. "A lot of people manage to serve without having to call on a higher power."
It's an ongoing…
clock | August 19, 2006Yeah, I know everyone is doing it, but when I first tried I never got quotes that were really satisfying. But when PZ set up a random 5 from his own vault, I got an embarrasment of riches. So here are the first 5 I liked from there:
Creeds made in Dark Ages are like drawings made in dark rooms[Joseph McCabe, The Story of Religious Controversy, 1929]
So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.Bertrand Russell
The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight -- that God is,…
clock | August 8, 2006 Do you want to know more about my kids and how we are raising them? If so, this post from March 21, 2005 may be interesting to you.
I have two kids: an 11-year old son (Coturnix Jr.) and an 8-year old daughter (Coturnietta). They are really smart and cool kids and I love talking with them about all sorts of things: school, science, music, computers, video games, Boy Scouts, ...whatever they want to talk about (or the good old days when I was a kid and had to walk to school ten miles uphill both ways - to which they yawn and run away). But we never talk about politics or religion. Sure, when…
clock | August 2, 2006You should really go now and read the "Meet The Enemy" interview with me on a satirical blog called God, Country & Apple Pie. Check out the rest of the far right-wing Christian, anti-science, fascist-theocratic fare there as well.
clock | July 18, 2006
I love my kids, and they are growing into wonderful, passionate atheists. This one is from March 24, 2005, under the fold....
The kids' spring break just started, the weather is gorgeous, and the computer is broken. What a great opportunity to spend a lot of time together (instead of timing each other's computer use)! Zoo next week? Oh, yeah!
In the last post about my kids, I concentrated on Coturnix Junior. This one is more about Coturnietta. She is eight years old. We went to Weaver Street Market for lunch (and also to get food for the rest of the family who remained at home). At one…
clock | July 7, 2006This post is really ancient - from September 24, 2004 - but it was fun to write, I remember. In the meantime I learned that it is actually official - as an atheist I cannot get elected for any office in North Caroina (and a dozne or so other states). That is written in the state law. Only people who believe in fiary tales (or are good at lying about it) can get elected here. Under the fold....
I will never be elected a dogcatcher. I'd never run for that office as I happen to like dogs and would have a problem with taking them to the pound. Even if I ran I would never get elected for a…
clock | June 26, 2006There is a whole slew of responses to this silly post by Comissar/
It is a typical effort to make "balance" between Left and Right in order to make the Right appear more palatable, ...or palatable at all. The typical He-said-She-said approach that tries to equalize the enormously dangerous policies of the Right (see my previous post below) with follies of some powerless, silly people on the fringes that nominally belong to the Left (and vote Nader when it really matters!).
But, since when was Astrology part of the Democratic Party platform, even at state level, like Creationism and Global…
clock | June 20, 2006 This is an early post of mine, written on February 11, 2005, a rare one in which I discuss my own lack of religion:
I had major computer problems last week so didn't think I would have the time to write a blog entry of my own for the third installment of the Carnival Of The Godless (found here), so was going to post a link to an old post, but the title of one of the new Carnival entries, I, Bloginette, made me think that my blog also has a bird as symbol (a quail, not a magpie), and I also remembered how much I loved the old TV series "I, Claudius", and how wonderful it would sound if I…
clock | June 17, 2006Back To The Woom is a blog that needs to get much more exposure. It is written by a very smart couple here in Raleigh, NC. The posts are always very thoughtfull and well-researched and the topics range from Ann Raynd to immigration, from capital punishment to harsh capitalism. Always worth your time to read (even if you disagree on a detail or two).
This time, I'd like to point your attention to the latest post - The moral majority is watching your inner child molester:
The implication is that, without the threat of eventual punishment at the hands of an omniscient cosmic dictator, many…
clock | June 11, 2006Want this badge?
The newest edition of the Carnival of the Godless is up on The Atheist Mama. If you are unfamilirar with this carnival, check out the Archives here.
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