The Islamic State - Vice

August 2014 on Vice

The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced its intention to reestablish the caliphate and has declared its leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph.

The lightning advances the Islamic State made across Syria and Iraq in June shocked the world. But it's not just the group's military victories that have garnered attention — it's also the pace with which its members have begun to carve out a viable state.

Flush with cash and US weapons seized during its advances in Iraq, the Islamic State's expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.

VICE News reporter Medyan Dairieh spent three weeks embedded with the Islamic State, gaining unprecedented access to the group in Iraq and Syria as the first and only journalist to document its inner workings.

BBC Panorama: From Jail to Jihad

First broadcast May 12, 2014 on BBC One

The Muslim prison population in England and Wales has doubled in the past ten years to nearly one in seven inmates. This rise is five times faster than the increase in the overall jail population.
Evidence shows most Muslims are not radicalised, but the prison system is also home to the UK's greatest concentration of Islamic terrorists and extremists. Many more are converted or radicalised behind bars. 

Reporter Raphael Rowe follows one radical convert as he leaves prison, interviews some convicted terrorists and extremists about their experiences inside and asks if the authorities are doing enough to prevent the increasing threat of radical Islam inside prison.

Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham - Full Debate

February 4, 2014

Richard Dawkins vs. Howard Conder on Revelation TV

Daniel Dennett, Lawrence Krauss and Massimo Pigliucci discuss The Limits Of Science

FOX: Megyn Kelly Brawls With Atheist Over 'God' in Air Force Oath

October 24, 2013 on Fox News

Megyn Kelly took on former Air Force office and atheist Mikey Weinstein on Wednesday over the invocation of God in the Air Force oath, with the conversation getting so heated Kelly had to practically shout, "Mikey, chill!" at one point. Weinstein also sporadically mocked the "Fox world" he jumped into and got so frustrated he told Kelly he would try to speak in one-syllable words only.

Kelly asked Weinstein why he just can't let the invocation of God be optional. Weinstein shot back, "That's like saying why don't you just opt out of robbing a bank! Because robbing a bank violates the law."

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Creationism is fine ‘as long as you don’t confuse it with actual science’

From Raw Story:

Wednesday on his radio show “Star Talk,” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson addressed a reader’s query about the Creation Museum and the theory of a “Young Earth,” which is part of the Christian Creationist myth, the idea that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.

“I visited the Creation Museum,” wrote the listener, “purely out of a sense of mystified curiosity. The recorded narration in their planetarium said that contemporary astrophysics predicted [sic] that certain stars were older than the known age of the universe and cited this problem as evidence against science and for Young Earth creationism.”

“I was hoping Neil might tell me a little bit more about the problem and its solution,” the note concluded.

“Which problem?” asked Tyson. “That the Creation Museum exists at all?”

He went on to say that while he has nothing against Creationism museums, per se, “just keep it out of the science classroom.”

“We live in a free country,” he continued, “and you can say whatever you want about whatever. That’s what it means to be free. Just don’t confuse it with actual science.”
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An Atheist, a Jew, and a Christian Walk Into Fox to Battle Over Religion in Government

October 15, 2013 on FOX News with David Silverman, Rabbi Aryeh Spero and Father Jonathan Morris.

An Appetite for Wonder: Richard Dawkins in Conversation with Adam Rutherford

Professor Richard Dawkins discusses the influences and inspirations that have shaped his life and thinking.

Chatting to science broadcaster Adam Rutherford in the world-famous Ri Lecture Theatre, the pioneering scientist and public thinker reveals how he developed an "appetite for wonder" for the biological sciences.

From his upbringing in Nairobi and Nyasaland (now Malawi) to his early experiences with religion, Dawkins talks about his motivations for becoming a scientist and his experiences at Oxford University and Berkeley, California during a period of social and political unrest.

Find out how he arrived at the idea of the "selfish gene" -- the basis of his seminal 1976 publication, one of the best-selling popular science books ever written -- and discover more about his research and writing process.

Plus, the Ri audience ask a range of revealing questions -- from how he overcome his natural shyness and stutter at school to what his advice would be to an 18 year old who wants to get into popular science.

"An Appetite for Wonder" author Richard Dawkins discusses the relative existential dangers of science and religion.

Origins Of Us | Dr. Alice Roberts | BBC Documentary

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Origins of Us tells the story of our species, homo sapiens. In every one of our bodies is the evidence of how we evolved away from our ape cousins to become the adaptable, successful species we are today.

Anatomist and physical anthropologist Dr Alice Roberts reveals the key adaptations in our body that has contributed to our extra-ordinary success. Far from being inevitable, the evolution of our species is a product of pure chance. And with each anatomical advantage comes a cost, which many of us are still paying today. Bad backs, painful childbirth, impacted wisdom teeth are all a by-product of our evolutionary success.

This is a journey through your own body, 6 million years and 300 000 generations of our family, from a tree dwelling ape in the forests of Africa, to you and the six billion other humans on Earth today.

Richard Dawkins on His Life and Childhood | The Times

via RDnet

Pastor Asks Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Why He Supports Gay Marriage

September 2, 2013 on Q&A (ABC TV Australia)
(Thanks Doug)

Dr. Richard Carrier: Why the Gospels Are Myth

Dr. Richard Carrier is a world-renowned author and speaker. As a professional historian, published philosopher, and prominent defender of the American freethought movement, Dr. Carrier has appeared across the country and on national television defending sound historical methods and the ethical worldview of secular naturalism. His books and articles have also received international attention. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in ancient history, specializing in the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, particularly ancient philosophy, religion, and science, with emphasis on the origins of Christianity and the use and progress of science under the Roman empire.

He is best known as the author of Sense and Goodness without God, Not the Impossible Faith, and Why I Am Not a Christian, and a major contributor to The Empty Tomb, The Christian Delusion, The End of Christianity, and Sources of the Jesus Tradition, as well as writer and editor-in-chief (now emeritus) for the Secular Web, and for his copious work in history and philosophy online and in print. His latest book is Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus.

He is currently working on his next books, On the Historicity of Jesus Christ, The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire, and Science Education in the Early Roman Empire.

Are Atheists Smarter Than Religious People? - BBC

August 18, 2013 on BBC One

Teenage Exorcists | VICE

From VICE

Sick of taking responsibility for the shitty things that have happened to you in your life? Help is on the way, in the virginal and strangely vacant form of three Bible-thumping teenage exorcists from Phoenix, Arizona. Eighteen-year-old Brynne Larson and her friends Tess and Savannah Sherkenback (18 and 21, respectively) claim to be able to confront the demons lurking inside traumatized people and draw them out using nothing more than a crucifix and a few choice words. But are these teenage exorcists really empowered by the Almighty, or merely by Brynne's father, a failed televangelist named Reverend Bob?

In our new film, the girls and Reverend Bob give us exclusive access to their tour of Ukraine, during which they attempt to save the souls of recovering drug addicts and exorcise people's "sexually transmitted demons."

Lawrence Krauss: The Flavors of Nothing

Theoretical Physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the different types of nothing. Or something.

Dr. Andy Thomson: The Neuro-physiology of Religious Belief & Spiritual Practice

July 14th, 2013 at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies

11-Year-Old Girl From Yemen Flees Arranged Marriage, Posts YouTube Video Telling Her Story

From Global News Canada:

A video posted on LiveLeak and YouTube on Sunday tells the story of an 11-year-old girl from Yemen called Nada Al-Ahdal.

Looking right into the camera, Nada says her parents tried to force her into an arranged marriage but she fled to her uncle’s house, who works as a graphic artist for a local TV station.

She talks about how in Yemen it is common for kids to commit suicide if they are forced into marriage, and how some children’s lives are stolen from them.

Nada is now waiting in hopes that journalists, human-rights activists and different local organizations will help her make a strong case against her parents who are trying to get her back so they can go on with the marriage process.

Yemeni law states that girls of any age are allowed to wed, and according to the United Nations, Yemen has the second youngest population in the world as there are so many young brides.

Nada’s video has now been viewed more than two million times on YouTube.

(via RDnet)

The March of Reason: A New Age

Part 3 of 5 in the March of Reason Series

It isn't necessary to have seen the first two, since each film stands on it's own. This third episode touches on New Age beliefs, psychics, alternative medicine, religion's treatment of women, and a few other topics.

The March of Reason: Ridicule the Ridiculous

Part 2 of 5 from the March of Reason Series