Ali G Interviews Religious Wingnuts
From ScienceBlogs:
Ali G talks to religious wingnuts about their beliefs .. oddly, religious wingnuts don’t like talking about aspects of their own religion that offend them .. if their religion and its real-life applications are so offensive, why believe all that wingnuttery in the first place?
[Read more at ScienceBlogs]
Earth Religions Get Worship Area at AF Academy
From The Washington Post:
The Air Force Academy has set aside an outdoor worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other Earth-centered believers, school officials said Monday.A double circle of stones atop a hill on the campus near Colorado Springs has been designated for the group, which previously met indoors.
“Being with nature and connecting with it is kind of the whole point,” said Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, who sponsors the group and describes himself as a Pagan. “It will dramatically improve that atmosphere, the mindset and the actual connection.”
The stones were moved to the hilltop last year because erosion threatened to make them unstable in their previous location near the visitors center. Crews arranged them in two concentric circles because they thought it would be a pleasant place for cadets to…
America’s Pact With Satan
Given the polarized nature of our current political climate, it never ceases to amaze me that the people who claim to be guided by the most spiritual of intentions end up acting like villians. Are the fundies the real Satanic conspiracy? I’ve often wondered, much like this writer for the Huffington Post:
It’s clear that America’s Founding Fathers must have made a pact with the Devil. How else to explain the curse America is so obviously under today? I want to go even farther than Pat Robertson and tell it like it really is!
(Disclosure: back in the 1970s and 80s before I quit the evangelical right, I was on the 700 Club with Pat 6 times, given my late father Francis Schaeffer was a founder of the religious right).
What else besides…
Banned Mormon Cartoon?
I can see why this might be disowned by the Powers That Be. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Average Age of Churchgoers Now 61, Church of England Report Finds
From The Telegraph:
The report, compiled by the research and statistics department of the Archbishops’ Council, also found half of those in the pews are pensioners.
Some rural congregations were older than 65 on average, while the youngest Anglicans were found in London, with the ‘standard’ churchgoer aged 54.
It compares with the population as a whole where the average adult age is 48.
This is the first year in which the Church has analysed the ages of its congregations in detail, so no long-term trends can be determined.
However, weekly church attendance continues to fall according to separate figures published on Friday. Around 1.14m people went to a church service at least once a week in 2008, the latest figures show, but average Sunday attendance was down to 960,000 from 978,000 the previous year.
There…
Why It’s So Tricky for Atheists to Debate with Believers
From Alternet:
Debates over faith often leave non-believers holding the bag: look like a jerk or leave the debate unfinished and apparently concede defeat.
In conversations between atheists and believers, is there any way atheists can win?
I’ve been in a lot of discussions and debates with religious believers in the last few years, and I’m beginning to notice a pattern. Believers put atheists in no-win situations, so that no matter what atheists do, we’ll be seen as either acting like jerks or conceding defeat.
Like so many rhetorical gambits aimed at atheists, these “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” tactics aren’t really valid criticisms of atheism. They really only serve to deflect valid questions and criticisms about religion. But they come up often enough that I want to spend a little…
Ireland’s Blasphemy Law
From The National Post:
On the first day of 2010 (note: not 1310), Ireland’s new blasphemy law came into effect, making statements about the folly of religion punishable by a 25,000 euro fine. Specifically, the law forbids “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion.” Ireland, yet again, has shown the world the toxic result of religious influence on the state. Fortunately, the Irish specialize in blasphemers as well as zealots; a group called Atheist Ireland is flouting the law by posting on its website 25 quotations selected intentionally to outrage religious sensibilities and daring the authorities to prosecute them. They chose a wide range of blasphemy, which was smart, because the new laws, ironically, are intended to promote tolerance. Blasphemy…
Canada Refuses to Seize Dead Sea Scrolls
From CBC News:
The Canadian government says it will not act upon a request by the Jordanian government that it seize the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls, now on their last day of display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.Discovered in 1947 by Bedouin tribesmen in caves bordering Israel and Jordan, the 100,000 fragments of ancient religious parchment and papyrus manuscripts have been a source of conflict between Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians — who all claim ownership.
Jordan formally asked Canada to seize the 16 scrolls, which have been on display at the ROM since last June. Jan. 3 is the last day the scrolls will be exhibited.
According to The Globe and Mail, the Canadian government issued a statement at the end of the year in reaction to Jordan’s request saying that…
Christian Story of Jesus’s Birth Is a Myth Born of Politics
From Alternet:
The Advent season is a fun time. For many Christians, it is the happiest season of the year. The joy comes from the anticipation: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king.”
I do not desire to dim the lights of Christmas, but it might be helpful to some to hear what the stories of Jesus birth are really about.
There are four versions of the life of Jesus. We call them the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Only two of the versions say anything about the birth of Jesus.
Mark, the first of the Gospels, begins the Jesus story with Jesus as an adult. John, the last Gospel written, likewise says nothing about the birth of Jesus. Matthew tells the birth story in only a…
Atheism and Diversity: Is It Wrong For Atheists To Convert Believers?
From Alternet:
Do atheists hate diversity?
Is the very act of atheist activism (trying to persuade people that atheism is correct and working to change the world into one without religion) an act of attempted conformity? Are atheists trying to create a drab, gray, uniform world, where everyone else is just like them?
It’s probably pretty obvious that I think the answer is a big fat “No!” (Probably said in the Ted Stevens voice.) But it certainly is the case that many atheist activists, myself among them, are working very hard to persuade religious believers out of their beliefs. Not all atheists do this, of course; many have the more modest goals of separation of church and state and religious tolerance, including tolerance of atheists and recognition of us as equal citizens. But…
Can Science Resurrect God? New Scenario Says ‘Yes’
From Huffington Post:
According to Nicholas Wade, veteran New York Times science reporter, and author of the new book The Faith Instinct, religious fervor has dwindled of late because religions have failed to keep pace with human knowledge. For faith to thrive, our concepts of God must adapt to our evolving scientific knowledge.
What happens if we project our current scientific knowledge into the future? A new scenario suggests the evolution of a new concept of God.
Imagine 100 years ago, looking up into the sky and seeing a pinhead in the stratosphere, and someone telling you the dot contained 400 people whizzing off to China faster than the chariots of the Greek gods. Or consider the progress with cloning; we now have the ability to resurrect species that no longer exist, such…
Televangelist Oral Roberts, Dead
Or floating forever on a giant pile of money in the Kingdom of Heaven. You decide.
from the NY Times:
Oral Roberts, the charismatic Pentecostal evangelist whose televised ministry attracted millions of followers worldwide and made him one of the most recognizable and controversial religious leaders of the 20th century, died Tuesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 91.
The cause was complications of pneumonia, said Melany Ethridge, a spokeswoman for Mr. Roberts.
At the height of his influence, Mr. Roberts sat at the head of a religious, educational and communications enterprise based in Tulsa, Okla., that managed a university, conducted healing “crusades” on five continents, preached the gospel on prime-time national television and published dozens of books and magazines.
By 1985, the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and the university that bore his name employed more than 2,300 people and earned $110 million in revenue. The expanse of Mr. Roberts’s ministry, coupled with his fiery preaching, tycoonlike vision and jet-set lifestyle, also attracted persistent questions throughout his career about his theology and his unorthodox fund-raising techniques, although no credible evidence of malfeasance was ever produced. Some of the harshest criticism was generated by former members of his staff.
Witch Side is Right? Woman: Bath & Body Works Fired Me Over Pagan Holiday.
From The Boston Herald:
A Connecticut Bath & Body Works staffer who practices witchcraft claims her boss put a hex on her career for using vacation time to attend Salem’s annual Halloween celebration.
Gina Uberti charges in a federal lawsuit that Bath & Body Works fired her after she took a week off around Halloween 2008 to mark the Wiccan holiday of Samhain.
“Any and all excuses offered by (Bath & Body Works) for the plaintiff’s termination are a pretext for the true reason – religious discrimination,” the East Haven, Conn., woman’s lawyer wrote in court papers.
Neither Uberti, her attorney or Bath & Body Works returned calls seeking comment on the case.
But in court filings, Uberti alleged that the chain canned her after eight years because she took time off for the holiday, also…
Sketchy Santas
I’m glad to see someone is collecting these precious moments. This blog has a great collection.
New Food Fad: The Jesus Diet
The Daily Mail reports on a hot new way to knock off the pounds: mimicking the diet of Christ. Because the scripture is all about weight loss:
Faith-based diets take the principles of Christianity and apply them to our overwhelming craving for chocolate, chips and cheese.
The trend began in America in the Eighties, but it’s finally taking hold [in Europe], with Christian weight-loss groups springing up, and dramatically increased sales of ’spiritual dieting’ books such as Hallelujah Diet and The God Diet.
What Would Jesus Eat? author Dr. Don Colbert explains: ‘Jesus ate…lots of vegetables, especially beans and lentils. He would have eaten wheat bread, fruit, drunk a lot of water and also red wine. And he would only eat meat on special occasions.’
Pat Robertson: ‘Islam Not A Religion’
From ScienceBlogs:
A Muslim takes on Pat Robertson and his form of fundamentalist wingnuttery known as “evangelical religion”. Pat Robinson demonstrates nicely that even religious people of different denominations do not respect each other even though they supposedly are on the same side. They are so busy pointing fingers and making judgments about each others’ faith that it’s beyond silly for them to try to covert atheists .. because they can’t agree as to which religion is “the one true faith” nor can they (apparently, according to this video) agree as to what constitutes a religion at all.
[Read more at ScienceBlogs]
The Cowardice and Calumny of Creationism
From HuffPost:
On Monday, November 30, 2009, Occidental College paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Donald Prothero and I teamed up against Intelligent Design (ID) proponents Stephen Meyer and Richard Sternberg. The topic was suppose to be on the origins of life and whether evolutionary theory or intelligent design best explained it. Then it evolved to just: “Has Evolutionary Theory Adequately Explained the Origins of Life?”, and finally, five minutes before the start, it changed again to “Has Neo-Darwinism Adequately Explained the Origins of Life?”
Why the word games? Because ID creationists have no science, no theory, and no research program. The only thing they can do is attack evolutionary theory and hope people don’t notice that they are employing the fallacy of false alternatives: If A is wrong then B must be right.…
Hey Religious Believers, Where’s Your Evidence?
From Alternet:
What evidence do religious believers have for their beliefs?
And when they’re asked what evidence they have, how do believers respond?
In my conversations with religious believers, I’ll often ask, “Why do you think God or the supernatural exists? What makes you think this is true? What evidence do you have for this belief?” Partly I’m just curious; I want to know why people believe what they do. Plus, I think it’s a valid question: it’s certainly one I’d ask about any other claim or opinion. And if I’m wrong about my atheism — if there’s good evidence for religion that I haven’t seen yet — I want to know. I’m game. Show me the money.
But when I ask these questions, I almost never get a straight answer.
What I typically get…
