godlessness
pharyngula | December 24, 2010The country has passed a significant threshold. Christians, you're officially a minority now.
Every year, researchers from the British Social Attitudes survey ask a representative sample of British people whether they regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion and, if so, to which one? When the survey first asked these questions in 1985, 63% of the respondents answered that they were Christians, compared with 34% who said they had no religion (the rest belonged to non-Christian religions).
Today, a quarter of a century on, there has been a steady and remarkable turnaround. In…
pharyngula | December 24, 2010The cartoonists are having fun with it. Jesus won't be bringing them any presents tonight!
pharyngula | December 22, 2010Tim Moyle (I will not call him "Father"; I have a lot of respect for my father, none of it transfers to the clergy) wonders why atheists are so grumpy, and offers some explanations. He apparently does not know any atheists and is completely lacking in self-awareness, so his arguments don't hold up very well.
Why is it that so many in the atheist community cannot bring themselves to get past their anger whenever they engage in discussion about religion? The language of many of atheist contributions in public debate is laced with venom and dripping with sarcasm.
Well, actually, when I consider…
pharyngula | December 21, 2010Are you planning to round out the year with some charitable donations? Are you looking for suitable targets for your gifts that won't waste the money on religion? Here's a handy list of atheist charities.
pharyngula | December 18, 2010On Atheist Talk radio on Sunday morning at 9am Central time, James Kakalios will be joining the gang at Minnesota Atheists to talk about his new book, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-Free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). It should be very entertaining. The book looks good, although I've only had a chance to flip through it so far…but it's right here by my side at the computer desk, and it's on my short list of books to get read over break.
We also have some videos by Jim Kakalios, and here's one…although I hesitate to put it here. The first…
pharyngula | December 17, 2010Sorry, fellow atheists, but if you thought you could just get away with sitting quietly and not making a noise, you're doomed. The situation is worse than simply some silly believers flying into a snit because horribly militant, aggressive, obnoxious atheists put up signs that say something offensive and vile, like "you can be good without god" — you thought if you just avoided confronting people with such criminal sentiments, you'd escape their notice and condemnation.
But soon, they'll be coming for you if you are insufficiently fervent in cheerleading for god. Look at this: a group of…
pharyngula | December 14, 2010You've probably been wondering. Who in their right mind would declare war on a family holiday? Who would be crazy enough to think such a thing was actually happening? You might have the impression that it's all a delusion erupting from the fevered brain of blowhard Bill O'Reilly, but it goes deeper than that, back to the 1950s, when the Cold War fostered a whole generation of destructive nuts. Here's a lovely summary of the history of the War on Christmas, which finds its roots in paranoia about Communists:
In 1959, the John Birch Society, a far-right organization that sees anti-American and…
pharyngula | December 8, 2010You want an atheist Christmas carol? Here it is.
I still remember the shock when I heard the news on 8 December 1980.
pharyngula | December 8, 2010Down in Texas, they had a holiday parade, and the atheists showed up — not to be mean, not to beat up Christians, not to stink up the event with doom and gloom and cynicism, but to celebrate the Christmas season.
18 people made up the Atheist Vuvuzela Marching Band which paraded down Texas Avenue while playing "Jingle Bells" on vuvuzela horns.
News 3 spoke with the leader of the group who said they weren't protesting Christmas or the parade but were there to announce their presence in the community.
…
"We just wanted to say hey, were here, its' ok, you know. We didn't intend to be…
pharyngula | December 5, 2010This is genuinely screwed up. Supporting separation of church and state can get you beat up in Hawaii.
When Senate President Colleen Hanabusa introduced a reverend to say the invocation, Mitch Kahle stood from his seat in the gallery of the Senate chambers and said, "I object. My name is Mitch Kahle and I object to this prayer on the grounds that it's a violation of the first amendment of the constitution of the United States. I object."
Kahle's protest lasted about seven seconds. Then he stopped talking and sat down. The Senate's Sergeant at Arms was determined to remove Kahle. When Kahle…
pharyngula | December 5, 2010It's still going on. Jerry Coyne repeated our common criticism that the NCSE spends too much effort promoting Christianity; then Richard Hoppe fires back, complaining that his comment was held in moderation (Coyne has been sick for a while, you know…I wish people would have more patience), and then repeating the common and misguided defense that NCSE is not an atheist organization. We know. We've both agreed on multiple occasions that the NCSE should not be an atheist organization. But still we get this same tiresome objection.
NCSE's main remit is defending the teaching of evolution in the…
pharyngula | December 4, 2010As you all should know, the inimitable Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He's writing about it as long as he can, and so far he's remarkably lucid and open…and also, you can tell, a bit angry at the sheer arbitrariness of the disease and the difficulty in finding treatment for it.
…it is strange that a disease that attracts so much attention, awe, fear and superstition is so underfunded in treatment and research. We don't know what causes it, and as far as we know the only way to be sure of not developing it is to die young. Regular exercise and eating sensibly are…
pharyngula | December 4, 2010Minnesota Atheists went back on the air a while back, and I think I'll tune in tomorrow at 9am central time (and it will also be streaming live on the web. Lynn Fellman and Glendon Mellow will be talking about art and science. It should be good!
pharyngula | December 3, 2010While Jerry Coyne is laid up, I guess I'll step up and dole out a picture of something furry for a change.
That I'm stepping on his turf may reinvigorate him, too!
pharyngula | December 3, 2010The Queen of England gets it right:
The Queen, who is supreme governor of the Church of England, said: "In our more diverse and secular society, the place of religion has come to be a matter of lively discussion. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue and that the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation depend on the contribution of individuals and groups of all faiths and none."
I tip my hat to the lady. She's a voice of reason for at least once.
pharyngula | December 1, 2010Now the Catholic League — you know it's going to get ugly when Bill Donohue joins the fray — has bought a billboard near the American Atheists' billboard. The pro-superstition sign says, "You Know It's Real: This Season Celebrate Jesus". Isn't that sweet? It's just like the religious side to proclaim a falsehood. Anyway, they're welcome to buy the ad space. The real winners here are the commercial enterprises marketing billboards and selling, selling, selling…and when you get right down to it, isn't that what Christmas is really all about?
Meanwhile, the British have their own weird version…
pharyngula | November 30, 2010
That is a billboard that's appeared in New Jersey, thanks to American Atheists. It is assertive and strong and clearly expresses an idea of atheism, that the tales we are told about religious ideas are superstitious myths, and I approve of that message.
Some atheists don't.
I was raised pretty devoutly Catholic, attended a Catholic university (Go Irish), and after college realized that I'm an atheist. My family is still Catholic and many of my friends still attend mass, and every day, I struggle with Not Being A Big Fucking Dick About It (and I often fail and end up acting like a jerk, and…
pharyngula | November 28, 2010
Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, has spoken.
"A minority of people, usually people without religion, are frightened by the future," he says. "It's almost as though they've … nothing but fear to distract themselves from the fact that without God the universe has no objective purpose or meaning. Nothing beyond the constructs they confect to cover the abyss."
Mr Pell has a few wrong ideas there, but there is a grain of truth to his statement. We don't believe the universe has been granted a grand purpose by some kind of deity, something central to the Abrahamic religions, at least,…
pharyngula | November 27, 2010There was a debate in Toronto yesterday, between Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair on whether religion is a force for good in the world, and I think readers here properly predicted the results: Hitchens was dynamic, clear, and forceful, while Blair was a simpering, weak, maker of feeble excuses. It is resolved: religion is wrong and evil.
You can get full accounts from the BBC, the Guardian, and the New Humanist.