Monday, March 31, 2008

FSM Courthouse Statue in Crossville, Tennessee


From Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster:
This is one of the greatest things to happen in the history of Pastafarianism. The Cumberland County Courthouse lawn in Crossville, Tennessee now features an enormous statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. See more + Video

UK: Muslim Bus Driver Kicks Passengers Out To Pray


From The Sun:
A Muslim bus driver told stunned passengers to get off so he could pray.

The white Islamic convert rolled out his prayer mat in the aisle and knelt on the floor facing Mecca.

Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant.

One, who filmed the man on his mobile phone, said: “He was clearly praying and chanting in Arabic.

“We thought it was a wind-up at first, like Jeremy Beadle.”

The 21-year-old plumber added: “He looked English and had a London accent. He looked like a Muslim convert, with a big, bushy beard.

“Eventually everyone started complaining. One woman said, ‘What the hell are you doing? I’m going to be late for work’.” Read more
(via Cynical-C Blog)

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Islam: What the West Needs to Know

Link
Everything you've always wanted to know about Islam but were afraid to ask. The feature documentary that discovers the basis of Muslim violence in the Koran and the life of Muhammad. Subtitled in Dutch.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Fitna the Movie (English)

Horizon: How Does Your Memory Work?

Link
Aired: March 25, 2008 on BBC 2
You might think that your memory is there to help you remember facts, such as birthdays or shopping lists. If so, you would be very wrong. The ability to travel back in time in your mind is, perhaps, your most remarkable ability, and develops over your lifespan.

Horizon takes viewers on an extraordinary journey into the human memory. From the woman who is having her most traumatic memories wiped by a pill, to the man with no memory, this film reveals how these remarkable human stories are transforming our understanding of this unique human ability.

The findings reveal the startling truth that everyone is little more than their own memory.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

11yr Old Dies From Treatable Diabetes


An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. Read more

Brad Thor discusses 'Fitna' with Glenn Beck


Beck offers to host the movie on CNN after Network Solutions suspended fitnathemovie.com
Thor mentions Pat Condell at the end.
Related:
Wilders Sticks to Film Release before April - Dutch News
Second Dutch Islam-critical film in the Making - Klein Verzet

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Chaser's War on Everything: The Talking Serpent

Hitchens vs Hitchens: On God, War, Politics, and Culture (Trailer)


Live webcast April 3, 2008, 7:30 pm
www.allpresidents.org
www.centerforinquiry.net/michigan
Brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens, both journalists and authors, couldn't be more different and are bitterly divided. A friend to both said, "one is a conservative, traditionalist, church-going Anglican; the other a liberal, louche, drinking-and-smoking atheist." The brothers, throughout a long estrangement and recent reconciliation, have clashed in print on many issues.

Sue Blackmore debates Alister McGrath



Requires QuickTime Player | Download MP3
From RichardDawkins.net

Sue Blackmore debates Alister McGrath (author of 'The Dawkins Delusion') at Bristol University on the motion that "belief in God is a dangerous delusion". This event took place on November 13, 2007. More info

Monday, March 24, 2008

The Word: The Gospel of John | Stephen Colbert

J. Craig Venter: Joining 3.5 Billion Years of Microbial Invention

Link
Biologist, author and businessman Craig Venter discusses his work mapping and synthesizing genomes. Venter recalls his work mapping the human genome and expands on his current work which includes categorizing new genes and species of microbes from ocean water. Venter also explains how microbial research can be used for metabolic engineering and alternative energy sources.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Clarke to have secular funeral


From CNN:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Even in death Arthur C. Clarke would not compromise his vision.

The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as “a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species,” left written instructions that his funeral be completely secular, according to his aides.

“Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral,” he wrote. Read more
(via Cynical-C Blog)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke's Last Message to Earth


From Wired Science:
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, legendary science fiction writer, has passed away at age 90. This video was his last message to the world.

It was uploaded to YouTube in December, and displays his enduring optimism -- despite the dark cloud of failing health.

Clarke said that if he was granted three wishes, he would want: proof of extra terrestrial life, freedom from dependence on oil, and an end to the civil war in Sri Lanka. Although he has had a diverse career in underwater exploration, space and science promotion, and communications technology the aging legend said that he would most like to be remembered as a writer.

WBC Church: God Hates The World

Catholic Church's new Seven Deadly Sins

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Priest Off

Bill Maher: Burka Fashion Show

Under Laboratory Conditions | BBC4

Part 1

Play all videos (6)
Aired: January 11, 2006

Part 2


Play all videos (6)
Aired January 18, 2006
In this 2 part series UCL neurobiologist Dr Daniel Glaser takes a journey around Britain's labs and scientific institutions to find out how science really works and what goes on behind the white coat. Nobel prize winners, professors, lecturers and PhD students reveal what it's like to be a scientist, what motivates them, what the levers and mechanisms are that drive a scientific career and the joys and frustrations of being involved in research.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Radical Islam in Europe: UK and Germany

Link
On the occasion of the release of Policy Exchange's recently published report, The Hijacking of British Islam: how extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK, The Transatlantic Institute hosts a panel debate to discuss the challenge of radical Islam in Europe with author Dr. Denis MacEoin and discussant Alexander Ritzmann.

Richard Dawkins on The Alan Colmes Show | Fox Radio



Download | Requires QuickTime Player
From RichardDawkins.net

Friday, March 14, 2008

Intelligent Design and Creationism/Evolution Controversy

'Intelligent Design' (ID) is a new form of creationism that emerged after legal decisions in the 1980s hampered the inclusion of 'creation science' in the public school curriculum. In the 20 years since ID appeared, there has been no evidence of it being used to solve problems in biology. Although the scientific/scholarly part of ID has been a failure, the 'cultural renewal' part of ID has been a success, as supporters of ID seek 'restoration' of a theistic sensibility in American culture to replace what they consider an overemphasis on secularism.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Picture: Thai Muslims Call for Death of Danish Cartoonist


Photo of a dog peeing on Kurt Westergaard's decapitated head
March 12, 2008

Richard Dawkins on Freethought Radio

MP3 Link
Freethought Radio devotes its entire program to an interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the bestselling blockbuster, The God Delusion.
(via RichardDawkins.net)

Unreported World: Blood, Church and State


Play all videos (3)
Aired: February 22, 2008 on Channel 4
Reporter Kate Seelye visits Nicaragua where, thanks to an alliance between President Daniel Ortega and the Roman Catholic Church, legislation has been passed outlawing abortion under any circumstances. What this ban means in human terms is brought home with unflinching force by the cases Seelye shows us. We meet pregnant women with health problems that force them into an appalling choice: to endanger their lives by continuing with their pregnancy, or risk jail by seeking an illegal abortion.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Bill promotes school religion at expense of education


From Edmond Sun:
EDMOND — The Oklahoma House of Representatives Education Committee has just approved House Bill 2211. The bill is expected to pass the full House, and then to go to the Senate. Its authors describe it as promoting freedom of religion in the public schools. In fact, it does the opposite.

HB 2211 is identical to bills widely introduced into state legislatures across the nation, where they have met various fates. Texas’s Legislature passed it, and Texas is experiencing serious problems as a result. Liberty Legal Institute of Plano, Texas, a group of fundamentalist Christian lawyers, drafted the bill and promoted to legislatures, including Oklahoma’s. It was not written by its Oklahoma legislative “authors.”

The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student’s incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.

The school would be required to reward the student with a good grade, or be considered in violation of the law. Even simple, factual information such as the age of the earth (4.65 billion years) would be subject to the student’s belief, and if the student answered 6,000 years based on his or her religious belief, the school would have to credit it as correct. Science education becomes absurd under such a situation. Read More

Thanks to DoctorE for the link.

Sam Harris: Holy Scriptures lose against Modernity

Ken Miller: Disproving Irreducible Complexity with a Mouse Trap

Oklahoma State Rep. Goes On Anti-Gay Tirade


(via C&L)

Rove Live: Peter Helliar interviews Pope Benedict XVI


(via Catholic.ie)

FSM Expelled (Parody)


Related:
Expelled - Trailer
(via Pharyngula)

For the Bible Tells Me So

Link
Released: October 5, 2007
An exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.
Trailer

The Lord Will Not Be Mocked!


by Edward Current

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Sam Harris: Religions are failed sciences

Wonderland: The End of the World Bus Tour


Play all videos (4)
Aired: February 13, 2008 on BBC2
Sharon is leading a group of tourists who believe the Apocalypse is due in a few years. Her customers are going to Israel to take a last look at the valley of Armageddon before it is awash with the blood of unbelievers. They will be baptized and will spend a day helping out at an Israeli military base. As the passengers relate their beliefs, some of which seem to have come straight out of science fiction, they clamour to rescue the film makers' souls.

Carl Sagan's last interview

Carl Sagan gave his last interview with Charlie rose on May 27th 1996. He discussed pseudo-science, religion, unfounded claims, his personal love affair with science and his struggle with myelodysplasia as well as other elements of his last book: The Demon-Haunted World.

"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy."
Amazon: The Demon Haunted World

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Pat Condell: Appeasing Islam

Europe's cultural suicide.

The Veiling of Sculptures and Statues Campaign

More pics
From veiledstatues.blog.de:
Throughout the night on 6th of March we have successfully continued our statue veiling campaign. With this reappearing action, we want to inspire the public to discussion concerning Islamisation and associated taboo subjects. By veiling statues in Berlin, Braunschweig, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Helsinki, Moscow, Tampere, and Turku, we have expanded our activities to Germany, Finland and Russia within six months.

[...]

Through our action we want to show that there exist taboo subjects in a certain religious movement, therefore we need to deal with them at once. We are not supposed to do the same and shall speak about certain subjects that are still being treated as taboos. It is not racist to point out these issues, it is racist to keep ourselves from protecting and advocating the rights of the women in the Muslim world, whether they live in foreign countries or in ours. So, where are the women’s rights activists who used to stand up for women’s rights for the Western women in the our world? There is no reason and no need to leave these Muslim women alone without help in sight. Read more

Friday, March 7, 2008

BBC Horizon: Are we Alone in the Universe?

Link
Aired: March 4, 2008
The search for extra-terrestrial life has been going for 50 years - but there's been a recent breakthrough. Astronomers have discovered a new planet called Gliese 581 c. It is the most Earth-like planet ever found. It orbits a star and may have habitats capable of supporting life. NASA hopes to find 50 more Earth-like planets by the end of the decade, all of which increases the chance that alien life has begun elsewhere.

New tag: Horizon

Charlie Rose Greenroom: Christopher Hitchens

Mr Deity and the Dress Rehearsal

Season 2, Episode 10
Link

Wafa Sultan on Al Jazeeera (New)

Part 1


Part 2


March 4, 2008

Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life | TED


Filmed Feb 2008; Posted Mar 2008
"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into "fourth-generation fuels" -- biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. A fascinating Q&A with TED's Chris Anderson follows (two words: suicide genes).

Disclosure notice: TED Curator Chris Anderson was an early private investor in Craig Venter's company Synthetic Genomics. His ownership position is less than 1% of the company.

Hitch Bitch: A Place Soleley Dedicated to Bitch about Hitchens


From Vanity Fair:
Announcing “Hitch Bitch”: Where You Tell Christopher Hitchens What You Think

No V.F. contributing editor arouses more reader ire than our tireless columnist Christopher Hitchens. To accommodate the overflow of outraged letters and e-mails sent to the magazine, VF Daily introduces a new feature: Hitch Bitch. Readers seeking to weigh in on Hitchens’s recent columns, books, and television appearances are invited to write to us at hitchbitch@vf.com. VF Daily will post a selection of the sharpest, snappiest, and/or most elegantly reasoned letters, but keep in mind that what you submit may be edited. Please include your full name and hometown—and please, don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read.
(via Gawker)

Lewis Black: Televangelists


March 3, 2008

Some Grey Bloke Chooses His Religion


Related:
Re: Jesus loves you - by Some Grey Bloke
(via Friendly Atheist)

A New Pope


by Adam Buxton
Hackers have replaced the Irish Catholic page with a cute video and a link to the Irish Atheists page. I really should scold such deplorable virtual vandalism, but, well, instead I grabbed a quick screen capture before it gets taken down.

I thought the video was pretty funny, too, mocking the silly costumery of the Catholic hierarchy. Alright, hackers, you were naughty, don't do it again … but you did make me laugh.

Good news — it's not a hack at all. Those clever Irish atheists merely beat the Irish Catholics to their domain name…so it should be up indefinitely. (www.catholic.ie)
(via RichardDawkins.net and Pharyngula)

Related:
Songs of praise with subtitles - by Adam Buxton

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Kuwaiti Cleric Ahmad Qattan on the Rewards of the Martyr

UK: Dozens of missing schoolchildren feared forced into arranged marriages


From Daily Mail:
Dozens of children are missing from school amid fears they have been forced into arranged marriages, it was revealed yesterday.

In Bradford, 33 children remain "unaccounted for" after being off school for at least two months with no explanation.

The Government is also concerned about another 14 areas of the country where it is feared children under 16 could also be missing from school rolls.

The figures were disclosed yesterday by Children's Minister Kevin Brennan during evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which is investigating the controversial issue of forced marriages. Read more

Geert Wilders Speech to the Dutch Parliament


From Geert Wilders Website:
Madam Speaker, allow me, first, to express my sincere thanks to you personally for having planned a debate on Islam on the very day of my birthday. I could not have wished for a nicer present! Madam Speaker, approximately 1400 years ago war was declared on us by an ideology of hate and violence which arose at the time and was proclaimed by a barbarian who called himself the Prophet Mohammed. I am referring to Islam.

Madam Speaker, let me start with the foundation of the Islamic faith, the Koran. The Koran’s core theme is about the duty of all Muslims to fight non-Muslims; an Islamic Mein Kampf, in which fight means war, jihad. The Koran is above all a book of war – a call to butcher non-Muslims (2:191, 3:141, 4:91, 5:3), to roast them (4:56, 69:30-69:32), and to cause bloodbaths amongst them (47:4). Jews are compared to monkeys and pigs (2:65, 5:60, 7:166), while people who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God must according to the Koran be fought (9:30). Read more
Related:
FitnaTheMovie.com - The official website for Wilders film

Theologist Karen Armstrong on 'The New Atheists'


February 27, 2008 (Added today)
In conversation with Rev. Alan Jones.
Author and theologist Karen Armstrong comments on "new atheists" like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and discusses their role in the current religious debate.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Christopher Hitchens on Morning Joe


March 5, 2008

Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics


From NYTimes:
BAGHDAD — After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives.

“I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.”

Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.” Read more
Thanks to Joe for the link

Glenn Beck asks John Hagee if Obama is the anti-christ

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

On Vacation


I am going away on vacation for 6 weeks 2 months, so posting will probably be slower till I get back. I will still be checking my email and feeds at least once a day. It would really help if you send me any interesting links you come across (include your name and website for credit). Thanks in advance, now I have to prepare for a really long flight!
Update: I extended my vacation for two more weeks. I will be back on the second of may.

Speechless: Silencing the Christians

Trailer:

The show is available online at SilencingChristians.com
(via Religious Freaks)

Wife Swap: Liberal vs. Conservative Christians


Play all videos (5)
Aired: February 13, 2008

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Steven Pinker on Reason

Sam Harris: What is Happiness?

Sam Harris: What is Faith?

The Freethinker Interviews Pat Condell

With over 5 million hits on YouTube, and another couple of million on LiveLeak, Pat Condell is a leading voice of atheism on the internet. He is also a stand-up comedian, a playwrite, a former lumberjack, a talk-show panelist, and a subscriber to The Freethinker.

We tracked the blaspheming infidel down to a garden shed in London and asked him a few questions. Read the Interview
(via xJediHowieX)

Message from a would-be suicide bomber | Al Jazeera


March 1, 2008

Real Time Panel Discussion with Christopher Hitchens


Play all videos
February 29, 2008
Bill Maher, Christopher Hitchens, Harry Shearer and Shashi Tharoor.

In My Language: Autism

The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.
Related:
Happy Dance - by Amanda Baggs (silentmiaw)
The Language of Autism - NY Times article on Amanda Baggs

(via eddygoombah)