Iran launches new crackdown on dress code offenders

From Iran Focus:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police will launch a crackdown next month on small companies which fail to enforce strict religious dress codes, Mehr News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The move indicates an expansion of a clampdown on "immoral" conduct launched last year against women flouting rules to cover their heads and disguise the shape of their bodies in public, in line with Iran's Islamic system.

"In the first stage, police will only confront companies ... that are active in small buildings or complexes," the head of the moral security police, Ahmad Rouzbehani, was quoted as saying.

Mehr said the move was "to prevent social damage" and the hijab, or veil, "should be respected". It said the campaign would start from around May 4.

Iran's religious codes require women to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their bodies in public, including offices where they may work with male colleagues.

Police sometimes check offices to ensure the codes are upheld and can shut them down. Some coffee shops have been closed after police said workers or customers were not meeting standards. Read more

Picture: Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear

From Daily Mail:

A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.

It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.

The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers' shops. Read more

Am I Normal? - Spirituality | BBC 2

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Aired: April 28, 2008
Reports suggest fewer people in Britain today follow a religion than ever before. Yet many still cling to the idea of life after death, spirits and the supernatural. Why are some often judged as true believers and others as religious nuts? And what happens when the worlds of hard scientific fact and pure faith collide? In this documentary, clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron explores what some consider as the fine line between religious devotion and psychiatric disorder. She sees what happens when rational scientists try to analyse religious phenomena like Speaking in Tongues and Hearing Voices, and considers the beliefs of faith healers who claim miracles happen.

Brian Cox: What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider

Filmed Mar 2007; Posted Apr 2008 Link

"Rock star physicist" Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive complex and describes his part in it -- and the vital role it's going to play in understanding our universe.

John Maynard Smith: Royal Institution Discourse on “The Origin of Life”

Link

Here, the late, great, Maynard Smith talks about what it means to say something is living. Like many virtuosos, he makes something difficult seem simple, with utterly clear explanations - the lecture is a small masterpiece.

He considers that what some biologists (such as Stuart Kauffman) define as life i.e. self reproducing things that metabolize, does not differentiate between life and something like a flame and that we must always add heredity (of infinite possible variety) to account for what we consider to be truly alive.

This leads to life as seen from an information perspective i.e how we transmit information between generations, and he outlines 9 milestones in the evolution of life from this vantage point, from replicating molecules to electronic information communication.

From Smashing Telly

Susan Jacoby on Book TV

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With Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.tv
The Age of American Unreason - Amazon

Child on Hamas TV Advises Women of the World to Accept Hijab

Mike Huckabee Promotes "Expelled"

NASA 50th Anniversary Lecture: Stephen and Lucy Hawking

Play all videos (5)
April 21, 2008

Susan Jacoby on The Colbert Report

Thanks to David R. for the link

The JFC Show | Episode 2

Episode 1
(via jfcshow.com)

Darwin's Comet Orchid

Intelligent Design Really Is Being Expelled!

by Edward Current

Pat Condell: The curse of faith

Billy Connolly on Religion

Dr. House on Religion

"It's not about fun, it's about the truth."

Islamic 'Scientist': Neil Armstrong Proved Mecca is the Center of the World

Interview with Dan Dennett | BBC Radio 4

Requires QuickTime Player | Download MP3

A man who has had to "forgive" his friends for praying for him during a life-threatening heart illness, philosopher DANIEL DENNETT is one of the world's best known atheists. He argues that religion is the greatest threat to rationality and progress that we face today and that it is stopping us becoming "the best we could be". Daniel Dennett will be speaking for the motion Religion is the greatest threat to scientific progress and rationality that we face today at the British Council on 22 April. The event is part of rethink, a season of events run by Agora (the Forum for Culture and Education) and The Guardian.

From RichardDawkins.net

Dr. Dean Ornish: Your genes are not your fate

Filmed Mar 2008; Posted Apr 2008
Dr. Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase. And new findings show that a healthier lifestyle can turn off disease-provoking genes and turn on the good ones.

Brian Greene: The universe on a string

Filmed Mar 2008; Posted Apr 2008
In clear, nontechnical language, string theorist Brian Greene explains how our understanding of the universe has evolved from Einstein's notions of gravity and space-time to superstring theory, where minuscule strands of energy vibrating in 11 dimensions create every particle and force in the universe. (This mind-bending theory may soon be put to the test at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.)

The Origin of the Universe

Click PLAY to Begin the UNIVERSE.
by cdk007

Larry David on Religion

(via Cynical-C Blog)

New Skeptologists trailer

www.skeptologists.com
(via Bad Astronomy)

Dan Barker vs. Dinesh D'Souza

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April 22, 2008

Debate at Harvard University between Dan Barker, president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Dinesh D'Souza, conservative political commentator.

Creationism Disproved? Evolution of the Eye

by Expelled Exposed

Church Sign Links Obama & Bin Laden

John Oliver on Evolution and Textbook Stickers

Upon fortieth reflection, John thinks putting a sticker on science textbooks isn't such a bad idea.

Thanks to Dave R. for the link!

God Really, Really, Really, Cares About Us!

by Edward Current

Get Religion For Your Brain Today!

Ken Miller: God, Darwin, and Design

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April 2008 at the University of Texas, Austin

Interviews with Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer

Requires QuickTime Player | Download MP3

From Skepticality via RichardDawkins.net

Saudi Cleric Extols the Breasts and Thighs of the Black-Eyed Virgins of Paradise

From Transcript:

Omar Al-Sweilem: Harith Ibn Al-Muhasibi told us what would happen when we meet the black-eyed virgin with her black hair and white face – praised be He who created night and day. What hair! What a chest! What a mouth! What cheeks! What a figure! What breasts! What thighs! What legs! What whiteness! What softness! Without any creams – no Nivea, no vaseline. No nothing! He said that faces would be soft that day. Even your own face will be soft without any powder or makeup. You yourself will be soflt, so how soft will a black-eyed virgin be, when she comes to you so tall and with her beautiful face, her black hair and white face - praised be He who created night and day. Just feel her palm, Sheik! He said: How soft will a fingertip be, after being softened in paradise for thousands of years! There is no god but Allah. He told us that if you entered one of the palaces, you would find ten black-eyed virgins sprawled on musk cushions. Where is Abu Khaled? Here, he has arrived! When they see you, they will get up and run to you. Lucky is the one who gets to put her thumb in your hand. When they get hold of you, they will push you onto your back, on the musk cushions. They will push you onto your back, Jamal! Allah Akbar! I wish this on all people present here. He said that one of them would place her mouth on yours. Do whatever you want. Another one would press her cheek against yours, yet another would press her chest against yours, and the others would await their turn. There is no god but Allah. He told us that one black-eyed virgin would give you a glass of wine. Wine in Paradise is a reward for your good deeds. The wine of this world is destructive, but not the wine of the world to come.

Caught On Tape: Founder of a Christian School Solicits Sex for Diploma

The Child Preachers | BBC Radio 4

Requires QuickTime Player | Download MP3

From RichardDawkins.net

This half-hour programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning. It features several 'child preachers' including Samuel (now 8 years old) who was in that Channel 4 documentary "Baby Bible Bashers". The radio programme is available via the BBC's 'listen again' service here

Related:
Cutting Edge: Baby Bible Bashers | Channel 4

Play all videos (5)

Aired: February 14, 2008
BAFTA award-winning director Amelia Hann uncovers the unsettling and often disturbing world of child evangelism, following pint-sized preachers Samuel Boutwell from Mississippi, crowd-pleasing Terry Durham from Florida and Brazilian sensation Ana Carolina Dias who began preaching at just three years old and regularly commands TV audiences of millions.

Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed (Parody)

(via RichardDawkins.net)

Maryam Namazie: Du'a was stoned to death

April 12, 2008 at the International Conference Against Honor Killings

I've Converted To EVERY Religion (Just In Case)

by Edward Current

Pope Benedict Protecting Pedophile Priests

Related:
Pope lands in US, vows to fight clergy sex abuse - Yahoo News
(via The Sword & The Pen)

Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss

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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.

Scientific American vs. Mark Mathis

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On March 28, 2008, some of the editors of Scientific American watched a screening of Expelled at their offices and had a discussion with the associate producer of the film, Mark Mathis. This is the entire recording of the discussion, uncut.

Notice while listening that Mark will make some type of assertion about the content of the film or about evolution in general, but when confronted with contrary evidence or an answer to his inquiry, he will say things like "Well, I'm not scientist" or "I had no control over that". Really, Mark? How can you make a film about evolution and how wrong it is if you don't even have any idea about it or the evidence for it? Or, if you don't have all the facts about a certain issue, how can you decide what happened and put it in a film as if it was a fact?

This interview is very revealing about the intellectual dishonesty of this movie and its makers. A good illustration is when they point out that Ben Stein will say that "no one is blaming evolution for the holocaust" but then half the movie is trying to illustrate a connection between evolution and the Nazis.

Sam Harris: Liberals Are Clueless About Muslim Extremists

Hamas Cleric: We will Conquer Rome

April 11, 2008

Bnagladesh: Riots over gov. plans to give women more rights

April 12, 2008

What started as a demonstration against women's rights after Friday prayers, turned into a full blown riot.

About a thousand protestors, most members of the Anti-Koran Law Resistance Committee, which advocates Sharia law, expressed their anger over the government's plans to give women more rights.

Indonesia restores access to YouTube

From Reuters:

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Internet service providers have restored access to YouTube and other Web sites that carried a Dutch lawmaker's film that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, an industry official said on Friday.

Isnawan, vice chairman of the Indonesian Internet Providers Association, said service providers would only block access to pages carrying the film by Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party, which alternates images of the September 11, 2001 attacks and other Islamist bombings with quotations from the Koran.

The move followed protests by web users who said they were disadvantaged by the banning of several sites including YouTube, Multiply and My Space.

"We don't need to block the sites but only links that broadcast the film. If the film is moved to another site, we will keep on chasing and block it," Isnawan said. Read more

Richard Dawkins on Real Time with Bill Maher

April 11, 2008

Dan Dennett on CCTV: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

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The End of The World Cult | Channel 4

Link
Aired: December 12, 2007

Formerly a sailor called Wayne Bent, Michael Travesser is the leader of a cult in New Mexico called Strong City.

His 56 followers - men, women and children - hang on his every word, serving him with absolute and unquestioning devotion. They say they are all preparing for death, to go to a better place as Michael claims his days on earth are numbered.

With unprecedented access, this compelling film takes viewers into an undiscovered world, into the heart of a cult whose members are preparing to meet their maker. Film-maker Ben Anthony discovers just how a cult operates and how a leader like Michael exerts his influence. More info

In response to this documentary, Strong city leaders are maintaining a website

Indonesia blocks access to YouTube over 'Fitna'

From Reuters:

JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least four Indonesian firms providing Internet services have blocked access to the YouTube Web site for carrying a Dutch lawmaker's film that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, an information ministry official said on Tuesday.

The move follows a government ban on broadcasts of the film by Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party, which alternates images of the September 11, 2001 attacks and other Islamist bombings with quotations from the Koran.

Titled "Fitna," a Koranic term sometimes translated as "strife," it also shows an image of the Prophet Mohammad primed to explode and says the rising number of Muslims in Europe threatens democratic values.

...

Telekom had also blocked social networking site MySpace and is still looking for other sites and blogs that have posted the film to block them, Eddy Kurnia, vice-president for public and marketing communication, said in a statement. Read more

The Skeptologists (Trailer)

From Skeptologists.com:

Principal photography has wrapped for the Pilot Episode of the TV series "The Skeptologists!"

Production was absolutely amazing and was a great experience for all involved. We had an incredible cast and crew and were able to get everything we needed, ahead of schedule and we are now beginning the process of Post Production.

As we start editing and finishing the show, we're working on ways that the community at large can show their support for this program and support good, responsible and intelligent TV programming. Click on the "Support The Skeptologists" link below and send us an email telling us why you want to see a show like this on TV. We will present these submissions to the networks during our pitch to show them the type of support that we really have for a program of this nature.

Support The Skeptologists

Hitchens vs. Hitchens Press Conference

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Rep. Ted Poe: Muslim Countries Demanding Free Speech Limits

Rep. Monique Davis: Today's Worst Person in the World

Science and the God Delusion: A conversation with Richard Dawkins

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April 2, 2008; Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby
From UHI Millenium Institute:

Professor Richard Dawkins was interviewed on stage by Inverness resident Paula Kirby. Paula, who used to be a Christian and is now an atheist, talked to Richard Dawkins informally about the ideas that have informed his life and work. This was followed by an extended opportunity for the audience to put their own questions and challenges to this world-renowned and controversial figure. Read more

(via RichardDawkins.net)

Illinois State Representative Spews Hate at Atheist

Related:
Representative tries to put the fear of God in atheist - Chicago Tribune
Get out of here atheists - Pharyngula

Saudi Cleric Warns: Freedom of Speech Might Lead to Freedom of Belief

March 30, 2008 on Al-Majd TV

Hitchens vs. Hitchens: Faith, Politics & War

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April 3, 2008 *Re-queued with working copy
Christopher and Peter Hitchens, throughout a long estrangement and recent reconciliation, have clashed in print on many issues. The Hauenstein Center, with support from the Center for Inquiry and the Interfaith Dialogue Association, brought the two together on a stage for the first time to debate numerous issues, from the Bible to the bomb.

The West Wing: Two Cathedrals

Translation from Latin:

Gratias tibi ago, domine
Thank you, Lord.

Haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
Am I to believe these things from a righteous God, a just God, a wise God?

Cruciatus in crucem
To Hell with your punishments

uus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth, I did my duty.

Cruciatus in crucem (with a dismissive wave of the hand) eas in crucem
The Hell with your punishments! And to Hell with you! (literally, "may you go to a cross")

Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Play all videos (6)
April 6, 2008
Nicky Campbell hosts a series of moral, ethical and religious debates live from the West London Academy, Northolt. Panellists are: writer and broadcaster, Cristina Odone; The Rt Rev Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark; Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet from the Mill Hill Synagogue; and the winner for this year's Costa Prize for Fiction, AL Kennedy. The special guest will be the renowned atheist, scientist and writer, Professor Richard Dawkins.
Topics:
Can immigrants make Britain more moral?
Do we have the right to offend?
Does the Devil exist?
Related:
The Big Questions - November 25, 2007

Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan on the Tim Russert Show

Play all videos (6)
April 5, 2008
Not related to atheism

The JFC Show | Episode 1

JFCshow.com

Creation Science Must Be Taken Seriously!

by Edward Current

Family Guy on Evolution/Creation

Download the Hitchens vs. Hitchens Debate

If you missed the Hitchens brothers debate you can download it now on torrent:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1302278

Atheist Statistics 2008

(via Bligbi)

Iranian "NGO" Starts Production of 'Beyond Fitna'

From Fars News Agency:

TEHRAN (FNA)- A Non-Governmental Organization in Iran has started production of a documentary called 'Beyond Fitna' to respond to far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders' provocative dissertation 'Fitna'.

The Iranian organization called 'NGO Islam and Christianity' started production of the documentary after the Dutch lawmaker displayed his movie which urges Muslims to tear out "hate-filled" verses from the Qoran and starts and finishes with an insulting cartoon of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

The NGO's documentary called 'Beyond Fitna' deals with incitement of violence in the Bible. Muslims believe that the book deemed holy by Christians today is a distorted version of the original Bible.

'Beyond Fitna' focuses on the orders given to worldwide Christians in the (distorted version of) Bible for stoking violence, committing genocide, attacking others, beheading and burning women and children who have been taken into captivity.

The documentary recycles film clips from crimes committed by extremist Christians under the inspirations of the said Bible teachings, and aims to provide a response to the allegations made by Pope Benedict XVI, who called Islam a religion of violence after misunderstanding certain Organic verses. Read more

Note: Nothing goes public in Iran without the consent of the government. One of the main reasons people rioted in islamic countries is that they don't understand freedom and democracy, or that a government cannot and should not interfere with the publication of a cartoon or film. let alone the fact that they are the ones who make these cartoons and films so popular.

Planet Earth | BBC 2007

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Update: Planet Earth is an Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Alastair Fothergill. The American version is narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
The series was co-produced with Discovery Channel and the NHK in association with the CBC, and was described by its makers as "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet". It was also the first of its kind to be filmed entirely in high-definition. The series was nominated for the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV awards.
Buy DVD

Stephen Hawking: Asking big questions about the universe

Filmed Feb 2008; Posted Apr 2008 Link

In keeping with the theme of TED2008, professor Stephen Hawking asks some Big Questions about our universe -- How did the universe begin? How did life begin? Are we alone? -- and discusses how we might go about answering them.

Join Us (Trailer)

From joinusthemovie.com:

There are 10-15 million cult members in America, and well over 5000 documented cults. The problem of mind control is widespread and insidious, as most of them look like your garden-variety church, temple, or other house of worship. At first, it will be the best thing that has happened to you in a while, and little by little things change…

It is our hope that this website will enlighten you as to the warning signs of brainwashing so that you can identify the process before it happens to you. If you think you may already be involved and didn't know it, we hope by sharing our stories and this film with you that you will be able to help yourself, or your family members or friends.

Welcome to JOIN US…

John Safran: Can a Jew join the KKK?

Cult leader attempts suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

From Times Online:

The leader of a Russian doomsday sect has attempted to kill himself as his followers continue to emerge from a cave where they have been waiting for the end of the world.

Pyotr Kuznetsov was in hospital yesterday after he was discovered hitting himself over the head with a log. Members of his religious group have been hiding in a cave since November, believing that the world would end in May.

Officials said that he may have attempted suicide after realising his prediction had been wrong. Mr Kuznetsov has been declared to be suffering from schizophrenia and held in a psychiatric hospital for treatment. He was brought back to the remote village of Nikolskoye, 435 miles southeast of Moscow, to help the authorities to persuade his followers to leave the cave amid fears that it was collapsing. Mr Kuznetsov was found with a head wound in a barn at his home after going out for firewood.

"It was an attempted suicide. Pyotr put his head on a tree stump and started hitting his head with a log. He is in hospital with a head wound," said Oleg Melnichenko, deputy goveror of the Penza region. Doctors described his condition as stable after an emergency operation. The local prosecutor Grigori Zhitenev said that Mr Kuznetsov's motives included "that the end of the world has not come". Read more

BBC News: Hybrid Embryo Debate

Andrew Copson from the British Humanist Association debates Paul Tully from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
(via New Humanist Blog)

Sam Harris on the Thom Hartman Show

MP3 Link
April 2, 2008

Thom is challenging Sam - Radical atheism...is it just as dangerous as the radical right wing evangelical movement?

Thanks to Ode for the link

Top 10 Creationist Discoveries of All Time

From Wired Science:

This has been a huge year for intelligent design research. We took a look back at some of the most important breakthroughs. Until recently, Wired has been too hard on the proponents of creationism. To rectify that, our science desk has hired a full staff of religious zealots. Here is their first story:

10. T. rex ate coconuts
According to experts at the Creation Museum, our favorite predatory dinosaur would have fit right in at Whole Foods.

9. The Earth is only six thousand years old
Carbon-13 and potassium argon dating are myths created by the devil to cast doubt on the existence of God.

...

Read more

(via Skepchick)

New Items at RichardDawkins.net Store

From RDF Newsletter:

New items in the RichardDawkins.net store, including new A T-shirts, RDF T-shirts, A Hoodies, RDF Hoodies, RDF Tote bags and new 4.5" clear-back A stickers!

Hamas TV: Child Kills Pres Bush & Turns White House Into Mosque

From Transcript:

Child: You are impure, Bush, so you are not allowed inside the White House.

Bush: What are you saying?! Why am I not allowed into the White House?

Child: Because it has been turned into a great mosque for the nation of Islam. I will kill you just like Mu'az killed Abu Lahab. I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate.

Child stabs Bush repeatedly

Child: Ahhh, I killed him.

Cheesus Christ

Saudi Arabia: girl beaten and shot dead by her father for talking online

From Daily Mail:

A woman was beaten up and shot dead by her father for talking online with a man she met on the website Facebook.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

It said the man shot his daugther after discovering she had been chatting online to a young man she had met on Facebook.

“Security sources assured Al-Arabiya.net that the father beat up his daughter and then shot her dead,” it said.

A leading Saudi preacher told Al-Arabiya.net that Facebook was a "door to lust" for women and called for it to be blocked to prevent social "strife". Read more

Pat Condell: The religion of fear

Dr. Wafa Sultan in Hiding

From INN:

Dr. Wafa Sultan has been forced to go into hiding with her family following a fatwa (religious edict) from an Islamic scholar, according to Omedia. Sultan faces the fatwa following a recent debate on Al-Jazeera in which she challenged Egyptian Islamist Talat Rheim over Dutch cartoons of Mohammed, who Muslims revere as a prophet. Sultan argued that Denmark had the right to print the cartoons.

Sultan joins a growing list of public critics of radical Islam facing death threats. Her supporters have asked the American public to join them in writing to the embassy of Qatar, the country which sponsors Al-Jazeera, as well as to United States President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking them to defend Sultan’s right to free speech and personal safety.