November 28, 2008
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No longer content to silently disavow religion, the so-called New Atheists are on the offensive. Borrowing tactics from the faithful, nonbelievers have taken to proselytizing in books and in the media. And yes, they’re even in foxholes.
What if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament – the cornerstone of Christianity – is based on myth and metaphor? Based on Tom Harpur’s national bestseller, The Pagan Christ examines these very questions. During his research, Harpur discovered that the New Testament is wholly based on Egyptian mythology, that Jesus Christ never lived, and that – indeed – the text was always meant to be read allegorically. It was the founders of the Church who duped the world into taking a literal approach to the scriptures. And, according to Harpur, this was their fatal error – and the very reason Christianity is struggling today.
This video, the second in the series, looks at alternative hypotheses explaining global warming. I am only looking at alternative hypotheses put forward by real, professional climate researchers, and the findings of real, professional climate researchers who disagree with them. Yes, I've left a lot of the detail out. This is a 10-minute video summarizing the arguments and counter-arguments, not a PhD thesis. The comments forum will be free and open, as always, but if you disagree with what real, professional climate scientists say, please take it up with them and dont expect me to defend their point of view. If you have a stunning piece of scientific evidence that disproves one side or the other, dont waste time on my channel, write a paper, and get it peer-reviewed and published in a reputable journal.See also:
Abdul Rahim Green: The hellfire is a place of the most extreme suffering, the most extreme pain of every level that you can imagine physical, mental, and spiritual pain and suffering and torment. It is a place where Allah will burn the skins of the people, and then he will recreate their skins, and burn the skins again, so that the people in there will taste the punishment. It is a place of heat, a place of pain, a place of suffering. The people will cry in agony for water. They will cry for a drink something to cool them and they will be given water, they will be given a drink, but it is boiling water that will scald their faces and burn their insides ...Read more
Your partner may be your soul mate, only your partner doesn't believe in soul mates, because your partner doesn't believe in souls. Atheism may be okay with you, but what about your evangelical folks? Oy vey!
At Serious Play 2008, astrophysicist George Smoot shows stunning new images from deep-space surveys, and prods us to ponder how the cosmos -- with its giant webs of dark matter and mysterious gaping voids -- got built this way.
Michael Medved talks about myths surrounding Thanksgiving and our nation's founding and identity. See what he thinks about America as a Christian nation in an interview with Pat Robertson on The 700 Club.
Florida's strict law banning adoption of children by gay people was found unconstitutional Tuesday by a state judge who declared there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.
Cleveland Museuem of Natural History Professor Shubin (University of Chicago) is a well-known paleontologist who studies the morphological and developmental origins of the tetrapod limb. He recently discovered Tiktaalik, a species linking aquatic "lobe-finned" fishes with early terrestrial tetrapods. Held in conjunction with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting in downtown Cleveland.(via Pharyngula)
This is the first attempt at a future video production which we are working on, and we welcome your comments or criticisms below.
To clarify, this video is just a low-fi capture from the school (that's why it's such a wide shot, and you can't see the slides). We are hoping to create a high-quality video program with similar content, about how religion hijacks cognitive mechanisms in the brain which were 'designed' by natural selection for other purposes. Which parts do you find most interesting? Which need work, or should be cut? The idea is to show that humans are vulnerable to religious ideas, but they don't NEED religion. It's an attempt to answer the question: "Why is religion seemingly everywhere?" - Josh Link
Did you read his book? I'm so sorry you wasted your time. Come find out why you didn't need to pick it up in the first place. Any and all coherent and constructive comments are always welcome. I like video responses the best, oh mighty atheists.
In the aftermath of Barack Obama's historic victory in the US presidential election, this documentary looks at the future of America's Religious Right. Filmed in the run-up to 2008 election, the programme outlines how the Religious Right had previously determined the direction of American politics through the impact of their voting patterns, which helped George Bush to victory in the 2004 presidential race.
Dr. Sa'd Al-'Inzi: When a person commits an abominable act, like homosexuality, for example, or lesbianism, in the case of women's parlors this constitutes "spreading corruption in the land," and should be punished by death. [...]
Moderator: Other than life imprisonment and the death sentence, what can be done?
Dr. Sa'd Al-'Inzi: According to Islamic law, a homosexual should be thrown from a tall building.
Moderator: What would you do with them?
Dr. Sa'd Al-'Inzi: To be honest, death is too good for them. They should be gathered in a public place, where they would be flogged and tortured, so the truth about these people is made clear and they serve as a lesson to others, because they are an epidemic plaguing society. Read more
Kirsty Wark talks to Eddie Izzard about atheism, his current live show 'Stripped' which begins its London run tomorrow, and religion and politics in America.
The sour economy has many people seeking out the advice of Reno, Nevada psychic Theresa Peacock.
A young mother has become the first in the world to get a new part of her body made from her own stem cells.
The woman in Spain received a new windpipe -- grown in a lab.
British doctors who were involved in the revolutionary transplant say it heralds a new era in medicine.
A Dispatches special following the work of Gary Foxcroft, a 29-year-old Englishman who has devoted his life to helping youngsters in Nigeria accused of witchcraft and blamed for catastrophes, death and famine. Gary's charity Stepping Stones raises funds to help Sam Itauma, who cares for more than 150 children in a makeshift shelter and school in the Niger Delta region. Narrated by Sophie Okonedo.
DENVER -- A controversial billboard will likely be popping up in a neighborhood near you, just in time for the holidays.
The billboard is paid for by a Colorado atheist group. The message sits against a blue sky backdrop and says, "Don't believe in God? You're not alone."
Ten billboards will pepper metro Denver, while one will be put up in Colorado Springs. Read more
For Darwin's 200th birthday celebrations next year, record a YouTube clip talking about your work and how Darwin has impacted or influenced what you do. The YouTube clip should conclude with you saying "I am Darwin!"(via RichardDawkins.net)
More than 100 retired U.S. military leaders -- including the former head of the Naval Academy -- have signed a statement calling for an end to the military's "don't ask-don't tell" policy, according to a California-based think tank that supports the movement. Read more
CNN's Rick Sanchez reported on a church marquee that reads "America we have a Muslim president. This is a sin against the Lord." Mark Holick is pastor of The Spirit One Christian Center in Wichita, Kansas where the sign is being displayed.
Protesters from both sides picketed outside Saint Marys Church in Greenville, SC. Its the first service since Father Jay Scotts writing in a church bulletin that church members should repent for voting for Barack Obama.
The pastor of a Dallas mega-church has begun his challenge to married couples. He wants them to have sex every day for a week. Rev. Ed Young says it will strengthen their marriages.
At a lunch event in New York City, Christopher Hitchens and the Catholic theologian Lorenzo Albacete squared off over the Big Question: "Does science make belief in God obsolete?" The event was jointly sponsored by the Templeton Foundation and On Faith, the online religion forum of the Washington Post and Newsweek. The discussion was moderated by Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, and Sally Quinn of the Washington Post. The event received widespread coverage, in publications ranging from Newsweek and the New York Daily News to Vanity Fair and National Review Online.
In this portion of Current presents Digg Dialogg, Kevin Rose interviews former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore on whether or not he believes an atheist could be elected President of the United States.
FOX News Interviews Jesse Gailen from the American Humanist Association and Bill Donohue from the Catholic League on the new atheist ad campaign.Visit WhyBelieveInGod.org
DALLAS (AP) — The pastor of a mega-church says he will challenge married congregants during his sermon Sunday to have sex for seven straight days — and he plans to practice what he preaches. Read more(via Friendly Atheist)
Fox News Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade and Alisyn Camerota discussed an ad campaign by an Atheist group that will be appearing on Washington D.C. busses. Kilmeade said that atheists chose to feel alone at Christmas.
Former evangelical leader Ted Haggard broke his silence on a sex scandal that ended his career during a sermon at a small church in Illinois. Haggard said that his sins stemmed from sexual abuse that received in the second grade. Haggard was one of the most powerful evangelical leaders in the country when accusations of gay sex and drug use caused him to step down.
Bill O'Reilly talks to FOX News analysts Monica Crowley and Margaret Hoover a day after proposition 8 protests in California.
Defeated Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said she hopes God will "show her the way" on any future bid for the White House.
[...] In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, the 44-year-old said: "I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is." Read more
Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity's holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus' tomb.
An ancient legend on the Indonesian island of Flores tells of an elf-like creature similar to the fictional hobbit of novels and film. But a controversial 2003 archeological find not only suggests that there could be some truth behind the legend but promises to rewrite a key chapter in the human evolutionary story. NOVA investigates the discovery, analysis, and startling implications of the hobbit of Flores, on Alien From Earth.
Rachel talks to Melissa Harris-Lacewell about how the issue of gay marriage voted on in Prop 8 was not adequately explained to the African American community or they'd might not have voted for it.See also:
In this excerpt from NOVAs two-hour special, The Bibles Buried Secrets, archeologist William Dever describes evidence that the ancient Israelite God, YHWH, had a female counterpart.See also: The Bible's Buried Secrets (Trailer)
More than 2,000 people protesting the ban on gay marriage marched through streets Thursday, snarling rush-hour traffic as hundreds of police officers sought to contain them.
Reporter: This is the "Incredible Hulk" or the Samson of our times. He got married 28times and has fathered 35 sons and daughters. The eldest, Sameh, is 24 years old, while the youngest, Sayyed, is only three. Medical tests have proven that his strength equals 260 horsepower. He can bend a metal coin with his eye socket or his tongue. Then he breaks it in two with his bare hands. Sayyed Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah is a gifted man.
Allah has bestowed upon him great strength, but he uses it only to do good. This is a man on whom Allah has bestowed the strength of 30,000 men, or 260 horsepower. Allah has also blessed him with a faithful and humble heart, as well as good values and self-restraint. Read more
“Is religion good for the world?”
More than 1,500 people went to Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest synagogues in the world, on Wednesday evening for a wide-ranging debate on that age-old question. On one side: Christopher Hitchens, the writer, wit and author of the polemic “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” published last year by Twelve/Warner Books. On the other side: Rabbi David J. Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, whom Newsweek has called the No. 1 rabbi in America and the author of “Why Faith Matters,” published last month by HarperOne. Read more
Rev. Arnold Conrad at the McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa
GodTV has been running a 2 hour "election special" featuring everyone from John Hagee and James Dobson to Pat Robertson and Lou Engle. This is a 10-minute collection of the highlights.(via RightWingWatch.org)
A group of Peruvian Shamans gather in Lima to send good vibes to their favorite U.S. presidential candidate, Barack Obama, and to send "deathly spirits" to his rival, John McCain.(via Cynical-C Blog)
The amazing life - and disturbing death - of an extraordinary woman who successfully challenged the place of God in American life for 30 notorious years.(Thanks to TroisVitesse)
Madalyn Murray O'Hair had come to occupy a special place in the American psyche since her 1963 campaign which ended compulsory prayer in US schools after a Supreme Court action on behalf of her son William. O'Hair's campaign succeeded, but she became the most hated woman in America (her own label), as she fought to take the name of God off the dollar bill - and her son became a born-again Christian.
Then, on a summer's day in 1995 , she suddenly disappeared, leaving her breakfast dishes on the table - and half a million dollars missing from her organisation's bank account.
A wedding between a 7-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl is stopped by authorities in Pakistan. The ceremony was to end a feud between families. The parents could now face jail time and a fine.
Blitzer: But did she make a mistake Donna by going to that fundraiser at the home of the woman who professes that there is no god?(via C&L and The Atheist Jew)
Brazile: You know Wolf there are a lot of believers. I'm one of them. And there are people who just don't believe in an existence of a god. I don't know why because clearly there's strong evidence that there's a god but I believe that you serve all the people. Not just those that profess to have faith but those with little or no faith. That's how you convert them.
Blitzer: Is it a problem Bill to associate with atheists?
Bennett: Well this is an active atheist. This is a woman, ah, people who are campaigning to get "In God We Trust" off the currency. You know it would have been sensible for Kay Hagan or Kay Hagan's advisers to say let's just pass on this one. That's just going to get you into the association game. You know the "house of" like Barack Obama's been tagged with for the last six months or six years.
