Table of Contents

The Atheist News.................................................................................................................................................1

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes..........................................................................................2

Feedback for Post "Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes"................................................4

Happy New Year for the Readers of the Atheist News!..................................................................................5

Internet Imams act as Recruiters for Al Qaeda...............................................................................................7

Court: Vatican Bank can't be tried in U.S. for storing Nazi loot...................................................................9

"Forget Jesus" The Stars Died For Us - Lawrence Krauss..........................................................................11

Feedback for Post ""Forget Jesus" The Stars Died For Us - Lawrence Krauss"...................................13

Danish police shoot intruder at cartoonist's home.........................................................................................14

Daniel Dennett - The Genius of Charles Darwin: The Uncut Interviews....................................................16

The new blasphemy law in Ireland causes fears of prosecution...................................................................18

Feedback for Post "The new blasphemy law in Ireland causes fears of prosecution"...........................21

Fox News Anchor: Tiger Woods Should 'Turn to the Christian Faith'.......................................................22
Feedback for Post "Fox News Anchor: Tiger Woods Should 'Turn to the Christian Faith'"................24

VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization...........................................................................25

Feedback for Post "VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization"....................................27

"The God Fraud" - Sam Harris owns Karen Armstrong.............................................................................28

Call to fix creationist abuse of the DMCA in YouTube................................................................................30

Are We 'Hard-Wired' for God?......................................................................................................................32

Feedback for Post "Are We 'Hard-Wired' for God?".............................................................................34

Blasphemy Battles Continue at the United Nations.......................................................................................35

Feedback for Post "Blasphemy Battles Continue at the United Nations".............................................37

Iran: The World's Biggest Journalist Prison.................................................................................................38

Everybody Knows What Blasphemy Is...........................................................................................................40

Fox News' Shameless Christian Crusade........................................................................................................42

Beyond belief.....................................................................................................................................................44

Student, community groups bring together non-believers, free thinkers....................................................46

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Richard Dawkins in "One on One"................................................................................................................48

Nicholas D. Kristof: Religions as source for oppression of women..............................................................51

Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of humans................................................................................................53

Feedback for Post "Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of humans".......................................................55

Why book bans don't prevent riots.................................................................................................................56

Herb Silverman; Everybody's a blasphemer.................................................................................................58

Muslim prisoners 'refuse to take part in group therapy as it's against religion'........................................60

How Iran intimidates protesters abroad.........................................................................................................62

Robertson: Haiti had pact with devil..............................................................................................................64

Feedback for Post "Robertson: Haiti had pact with devil"....................................................................66

Bad Faith Awards 2009: Pope Benedict XVI emerges victorious................................................................68

Rachel Maddow- Haitian ambassador shames Pat Robertson.....................................................................70

Televangelist Robertson is Likely Possessed by Satan..................................................................................72

85 sharia courts in UK, says report.................................................................................................................74

Non-Believers Giving Aid: a religion-free way to help disaster victims......................................................76

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010)...........................................................................................................78

Feedback for Post "BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) "..............................................................80

Making Darwin the Legend a Man Again......................................................................................................81

Some Haitians See Hand of God in Earthquake............................................................................................83

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes.............................................................85

Feedback for Post "U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes ".....................87

Haiti's "pact with the devil" myth explained.................................................................................................88

The Creation "Museum" in Vanity Fair........................................................................................................90

Religious riots spread despite Nigerian troops...............................................................................................92

Feedback for Post "Religious riots spread despite Nigerian troops".....................................................94

Muhammad Cartoonist Defiant After Attack................................................................................................95

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The Bible Is True!.............................................................................................................................................97
Feedback for Post "The Bible Is True!".................................................................................................99

Ricky Gervais takes a philosophical turn.....................................................................................................100

Feedback for Post "Ricky Gervais takes a philosophical turn"...........................................................102

RTE Prime Time Report on Ireland's Blasphemy Law.............................................................................103

Plans collapse for Britain's biggest mosque in London...............................................................................105

Feedback for Post "Plans collapse for Britain's biggest mosque in London"......................................107

Holy water puts 117 Russians in the hospital...............................................................................................108

Catholics cry foul as Celebrity Cruises drops priests from voyages..........................................................110

Feedback for Post "Catholics cry foul as Celebrity Cruises drops priests from voyages ".................112

Paul Bettany on Charles Darwin: 'He Was an Atheist and So Am I'........................................................113

Problem of evil and religion's double standard...........................................................................................115

Scientologists "heal" disaster patients by touching in Haiti.......................................................................117

'Oral sex' definition prompts dictionary ban in US schools.......................................................................119

Feedback for Post "'Oral sex' definition prompts dictionary ban in US schools"................................121

Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself With Belt, Book Says.......................................................................122

Iran executes two over post-election unrest as 'enemies of God'................................................................124

Massive overdose of homeopathy in Britain.................................................................................................126

Feedback for Post "Massive overdose of homeopathy in Britain"......................................................128

United States grants political asylum for Christian German homeschoolers...........................................129

The Weird World of Occult America............................................................................................................131

Evidence for Evolution...................................................................................................................................133

Feedback for Post "Evidence for Evolution".......................................................................................135

"We should not absolve Islam of the crimes committed in its name".......................................................136
Feedback for Post ""We should not absolve Islam of the crimes committed in its name""................138

Priest checks fingerprints for mass attendance............................................................................................139

Feedback for Post "Priest checks fingerprints for mass attendance"...................................................141

Ricky Gervais: 'The Invention Of Lying isn't atheist propaganda'...........................................................142

Feedback for Post "Ricky Gervais: 'The Invention Of Lying isn't atheist propaganda'".....................144

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Voodoo: The old religion rises from the rubble in Haiti.............................................................................145

Embarrassment for the Catholic Church, Bishop Williamson Unrepentent in Holocaust Denial..........147

Pope: I'll visit Britain, but I don't like your equality laws..........................................................................149

Nine people wait execution in Iran for crimes against God; 'There is no room for Islamic mercy.'......151

Atheist from Botswana speaks out................................................................................................................153

Antievolution bill in Mississippi dies.............................................................................................................155

Feedback for Post "Antievolution bill in Mississippi dies".................................................................157

"Voodoo Histories": When smart people believe dumb things..................................................................158

India's 'untouchables' declare own religion.................................................................................................160

A big increase in religious programming in BBC for Easter......................................................................162

Is Popular Religion Derived from Egotism?................................................................................................164

Unite for human rights in Iran on February 11th.......................................................................................166

The Fallacy of the God Gene..........................................................................................................................168

Christians are fatter than other Americans.................................................................................................170

Celebrity judge spares a violent man from prison because he is a ːreligious manə in Britain..............172

Al-Shabaab declares Holy War on Kenya....................................................................................................174

London bus driver pulls over to worship in the aisle..................................................................................176

Feedback for Post "London bus driver pulls over to worship in the aisle"..........................................178

'Christian' Manifesto Comparing Liberals to Nazis Gathers Signatures of Religious Right Leaders
-- and Catholic Bishops..................................................................................................................................179

Hindu wins Northumberland funeral pyre battle........................................................................................181

Atheist billboards appear in Sacramento area.............................................................................................183

Donˈt know your Sunnis from your Shias?.................................................................................................185

Being religious may not make you healthier after all..................................................................................187

Iran 'suspends' Gmail....................................................................................................................................189

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Stephen Fry: "it is essential to nail oneˈs colours to the mast as a humanist."........................................191

Can Christians Read Your Mind?.................................................................................................................194

Forget the war on Christmas; it's a war on Valentine's Day in Saudi-Arabia.........................................196

Dave Allen and God (1986)............................................................................................................................198

The Ties that Bind Extremist Politics to Christian Patriarchy..................................................................200

One hundred little windows into humanity..................................................................................................202

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The closed minds that deny a civilisation's glories............................................205

What the "Theory" in Theory of Evolution means.....................................................................................207

Sam Harris in a candid radio interview in SCPR........................................................................................209

Bernard-Henri Lévy: Why I Support a Ban on Burqas..............................................................................211

Feedback for Post "Bernard-Henri Lévy: Why I Support a Ban on Burqas"......................................213

Michael Lind: The mythological politics of Christian right.......................................................................216

Atheist billboard vandalized in Sacramento area........................................................................................218

Canadian church faces 'extinction'...............................................................................................................220

Feedback for Post "Canadian church faces 'extinction' ".....................................................................222

The War on Neuroscience..............................................................................................................................223

An Atheist In Space........................................................................................................................................225
Feedback for Post "An Atheist In Space"............................................................................................227

Escape from Israel's Ultra-Orthodox; The High Price of Religious Defection.........................................228

Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time.................230
Feedback for Post "Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at
the same time".....................................................................................................................................232

Three women caned for adultery in Malaysia..............................................................................................233

Halal-burgers only and no pork in a big French fast-food chain...............................................................235

MSNBC: New Study Links Religion to Immoral Behavior........................................................................237

Feedback for Post "MSNBC: New Study Links Religion to Immoral Behavior"...............................239

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Saudi-Arabia plans to allow female lawyers to speak in court - in family related cases only, though...240

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot (In HD)..............................................................................................................242

The Times: The fires of Hell are real and eternal, Pope warns..................................................................244
Feedback for Post "The Times: The fires of Hell are real and eternal, Pope warns"..........................246

Virginia State Delegate: Disabled kids are God's punishment for abortion.............................................247
Feedback for Post "Virginia State Delegate: Disabled kids are God's punishment for abortion".......249

Bill Hicks - Religion........................................................................................................................................250

German bishop admits drink-driving three times over the legal limit......................................................252

Major bus company rejects the atheist bus campaign in New Zealand.....................................................254

A publisher and writer convicted for 'supporting Shi'ism' in Jordan.......................................................256

'Puppet cleavage' was too much in Colorado...............................................................................................258

Miss Beverly Hills: "God wants gays put to death"....................................................................................260

Olympian says there's 'no atheist at the top of a bobsled run'...................................................................262

New study: Intelligent people more likely to exhibit novel religious and political preferences...............264

Der Spiegel: The circle of victims of Islam expands rapidly.......................................................................266

Catholics attack distribution of condoms in Philippines.............................................................................268

Context!!!!!!.....................................................................................................................................................270

Rowan Atkinson: "Amazing Jesus"..............................................................................................................272

Danish paper apologises for printing Muhammad cartoon........................................................................274

Islamist militants are starving 360 000 people in Somalia..........................................................................276

Iran: An Unknown Apartheid.......................................................................................................................278

Islamic radicals 'infiltrate' the Labour Party in Britain.............................................................................280

Serb leader Karadzic claims to have led a ' holy war' in Bosnia................................................................282
Feedback for Post "Serb leader Karadzic claims to have led a ' holy war' in Bosnia"........................284

Amnesty urges abolition of flogging of women in Sudan............................................................................287

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Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' (ft. Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye).....289

Indian Humanists Arrested for Distributing a Book Critical of Islam......................................................291

Nigerian court rejects case against Humanist campaigning against witch-hunts.....................................293

Atheist Group Heralds 'First Time in History' Policy Briefing with White House Officials..................295

Muslim rioters try to burn newspaper offices in India...............................................................................297

Creationists use global warming denial to undermine science...................................................................299

Hindu holy man attacked violently because of suspicions of having relationships with women.............301

Vanity Fair - Christopher Hitchens on The New Commandments............................................................303

Islamic solidarity crumbles over dispute of names of waterways..............................................................305

Great Minds: Richard Feynman - The Uncertainty Of Knowledge..........................................................307

Pope's sainthood setback after 'miracle cure' nun reported to be ill again..............................................309
Feedback for Post "Pope's sainthood setback after 'miracle cure' nun reported to be ill again"..........311

Violence fueled by Islam erupts again in four different countries.............................................................312

Feedback for Post "Violence fueled by Islam erupts again in four different countries".....................314

Sam Harris warns about the 'relativistic trap'.............................................................................................315

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Islamic tyranny 'is crushing Iran's artists'.....................................................317

Leading home-school text-books dismiss evolution in the United States...................................................319

US study shows strong links between religiosity and racism......................................................................321

Seven Muslims arrested in Ireland over 'plot to kill Swedish cartoonist'.................................................323

DrJerryK Rebuttal..........................................................................................................................................325

God is all in your head, author of the new book says..................................................................................327

The new Buddhist atheism.............................................................................................................................329

Italian coach banned for saying God's name in vain...................................................................................331

Italian school angers the Vatican by installing condom machines on campus..........................................333

Feedback for Post "Italian school angers the Vatican by installing condom machines on campus"...335

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Vatican's chief exorcist says that devil is in Vatican...................................................................................336
Feedback for Post "Vatican's chief exorcist says that devil is in Vatican ".........................................338

Scientologists try to block 'intolerant' German feature film......................................................................339

Pharmacist refuses to sell contraceptive pills 'because of her religion' in Britain....................................341

Students flock to Liberty University to study creationism..........................................................................343

Philosopher A. C. Grayling: "Religion can't carry on unconstrained".....................................................345

Feedback for Post "Philosopher A. C. Grayling: "Religion can't carry on unconstrained""...............347

Religion - Man's Flaw.....................................................................................................................................349

The Internet: Where religions come to die...................................................................................................351

Feedback for Post "The Internet: Where religions come to die "........................................................353

"I dumped out all the bathwater and I found there was no baby there.".................................................354

A surprise victory for the campaign against the blasphemy law in Ireland?............................................356

Richard Dawkins: "The whole idea of creating saints, it's pure Monty Python"....................................358

Survivor star gets thrown out of an airplane for uttering the 'Lords name in vain'................................360
Feedback for Post "Survivor star gets thrown out of an airplane for uttering the 'Lords name in
vain'"...................................................................................................................................................362

Public voting for Project Reason video contest has started!.......................................................................363

Feedback for Post "Public voting for Project Reason video contest has started!"...............................365

Hitler Responds To Crackergate...................................................................................................................366

Orthodox Jews fight against the new organ donor law in Israel - but allow receiving organs................368
Feedback for Post "Orthodox Jews fight against the new organ donor law in Israel - but allow
receiving organs...".............................................................................................................................370

Raj Patel Is The Messiah, Says Religious Group After Author Appears On 'The Colbert Report'......371
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'The Colbert Report' ".........................................................................................................................373

Actor Stephen Baldwin Takes Christian Indoctrination to the Xtreme....................................................374

Feedback for Post "Actor Stephen Baldwin Takes Christian Indoctrination to the Xtreme"..............376

Who gave Secular Coalition for America half a million bucks?................................................................377

Introduction To Christianity - Comedian Dave Allen On Religion...........................................................379

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TV presenter gets death sentence for 'sorcery' in Saudi-Arabia................................................................381

Iran will execute another young man for 'waging war against God'.........................................................383

Why Don't Bees Go to Heaven? (or The Rational Anthem).......................................................................385

Feedback for Post "Why Don't Bees Go to Heaven? (or The Rational Anthem)"..............................387

Christopher Hitchens: "All Jihads have always failed".............................................................................388

Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: "All Jihads have always failed""......................................390

Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions.......................................................................................391

Stand up to the Texas Taliban......................................................................................................................393

Iran: New wave of blogger arrests...............................................................................................................395

Sam Harris and Michael Shermer debate Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on Nightline..................397
Feedback for Post "Sam Harris and Michael Shermer debate Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston
on Nightline".......................................................................................................................................399

Breakthrough in "Shabbat module" allows using a scooter on shabbat...................................................400

Whopping 24 per cent of Republicans say that Obama 'may be the Antichrist'......................................402
Feedback for Post "Whopping 24 per cent of Republicans say that Obama 'may be the
Antichrist'"..........................................................................................................................................404

Is Christian Science's extreme opposition to science finally mellowing?...................................................405

Nigerian Islamic court bans discussing sharia-based amputations in Twitter and Facebook.................407
Feedback for Post "Nigerian Islamic court bans discussing sharia-based amputations in Twitter
and Facebook".....................................................................................................................................409

Scandal: National Academy of Sciences will host ceremony for religious Templeton-prize..................410

Supreme Court of India delivers a shocker: "Unmarried couples can live together".............................412

Project Reason's video contest winners announced.....................................................................................414

In Colbert Report: "You make God sound like a opportunistic virus"....................................................416

Feedback for Post "In Colbert Report: "You make God sound like a opportunistic virus""...............418

Hitler reacts to the Global Atheist Convention............................................................................................419

Did Prostitution Really Exist in the Temples of Antiquity?.......................................................................421

Did Jesus live his final days in Kashmir?.....................................................................................................424

Feedback for Post "Did Jesus live his final days in Kashmir? "..........................................................426

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Fewer than half of Americans link Easter to Resurrection........................................................................427

Why Don't Scientists Fear Hell?....................................................................................................................429

Feedback for Post "Why Don't Scientists Fear Hell?".........................................................................431

Eric Idle's "Not the Messiah" -show banned from a British radio channel..............................................432
Feedback for Post "Eric Idle's "Not the Messiah" -show banned from a British radio channel ".......435

Stephen Fry goes hard on the "New Age" stuff...........................................................................................436

Advertising authority in New Zealand: 'Its okay to comment on the sexual activities of the parents
of Jesus Christ'...............................................................................................................................................438
Feedback for Post "Advertising authority in New Zealand: 'Its okay to comment on the sexual
activities of the parents of Jesus Christ'"............................................................................................440

Carl Sagan on Astrology................................................................................................................................441

Sam Harris responds to the vicious criticism on his TED-talk...................................................................443

Feedback for Post "Sam Harris responds to the vicious criticism on his TED-talk"...........................446

Iowa town renames 'Good Friday' as 'Spring Holiday'..............................................................................447

Students protest gender-segregation in buses in Jerusalem.......................................................................449

Iranian rapper allegedly arrested for 'dressing in outrageous outfits, dancing and performing
repulsive acts'.................................................................................................................................................451

Flow of money dries up in US churches........................................................................................................453

Director Joss Whedon: "I'm an atheist and an absurdist".........................................................................455

A absolute first in Ireland; Limerick pubs allowed to open doors in 'Good Friday'...............................457

CNN: Man accused of sorcery will be beheaded today in Saudi-Arabia...................................................459

Necla Kelek; the Muslim Islam-critic who loves democracy......................................................................461

Beheading of the man accused of sorcery postponed in Saudi-Arabia......................................................463

A secretive temple commemorates Japanese war-criminals.......................................................................465

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We're part of the universe"....................................................................................467

Feedback for Post "Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We're part of the universe""............................................469

A Catholic chapel becomes a shrine for Nazi past in Germany.................................................................470

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A. C. Grayling: "Philosophy is a driving force in society".........................................................................472

Symphony of Science - The Poetry of Reality (An Anthem for Science)...................................................474

You Can't Leave Islam!..................................................................................................................................476

Michael Shermer puts 'miracles' in perspective..........................................................................................478

A month in jail for a British couple for kissing in public in Dubai............................................................480

Skeptic Bible Study: Easter Sunday..............................................................................................................482

How is fear of death used in religious infection?.........................................................................................484

The struggle against stoning of women continues in Iran...........................................................................486

Reuters: Gambling in real estate hurts churches badly in the US.............................................................488

Large German Jihadist colonies in Waziristan............................................................................................490

The writer of Golden Compass writes of 'scoundrel Christ'......................................................................492

Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV -- let's get rational...........................................................................494

God and Karma: Batchelor Rejects 'Consolatory' Beliefs..........................................................................496

British Islamist Anjem Choudary: They Give US Money, But We Attack Their System.......................498

Powerful Islamic groups demand that radio station stop broadcasting music in Somalia......................500
Feedback for Post "Powerful Islamic groups demand that radio station stop broadcasting music
in Somalia ".........................................................................................................................................502

10-year old with explosives belt arrested in Iraq.........................................................................................503

Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From National Science Foundation Report......................................505
Feedback for Post "Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From National Science Foundation
Report "...............................................................................................................................................507

Why Call Him God?.......................................................................................................................................508

The Atheist Barbie doll is finally here!.........................................................................................................510

Humanist Heroes.............................................................................................................................................512

Sir David Attenborough Sums Up Evolution In 5½ Minutes.....................................................................514

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Leonard Pitts: Christian terrorism is alive..................................................................................................516

Sikhs battle out their differences in Canada with kirpans..........................................................................519

Ringo Starr: 'Vatican has more to talk about than the Beatles'.................................................................522

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "I chose the principles of The House of Liberty"...........................................................524

Somali radio stations stop playing music on demand of the Islamists.......................................................527

Was the biblical covenant copied from a Assyrian text?.............................................................................529

Feedback for Post "Was the biblical covenant copied from a Assyrian text?"....................................531

Evangelical scholar expelled over evolution.................................................................................................532

Feedback for Post "Evangelical scholar expelled over evolution"......................................................534

Every Black Hole Contains Another Universe?...........................................................................................535

Feedback for Post "Every Black Hole Contains Another Universe?".................................................537

Stephen Fry's magnificent speech in The Intelligence² Debate..................................................................538

Feedback for Post "Stephen Fry's magnificent speech in The Intelligence² Debate ".........................540

Federal judge: The US National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional...........................................................541

Islamist militants ban school bells as un-Islamic.........................................................................................543

Feedback for Post "Islamist militants ban school bells as un-Islamic"...............................................545

Darwin's Legacy - Genie at Stanford............................................................................................................546

Holocaust-denying British bishop fined in Germany..................................................................................548

'Osama Bin Laden' Facebook page shut down............................................................................................550

'What I know about Islam' by Pat Condell..................................................................................................552

'The Unconsidered Life' by A.C. Grayling...................................................................................................554

Christian beliefs do not prevent belief in witchcraft and evil spirits in Kenya.........................................556

When Jews slaughtered Christians; The forgotten massacre of Mamilla.................................................558

Feedback for Post "When Jews slaughtered Christians; The forgotten massacre of Mamilla"...........560

Study: More crime at church than strip clubs.............................................................................................561

Iranian cleric says that promiscuous women cause earthquakes...............................................................563

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Stan Cox: Four of the Most Dangerous Fraudulent Scientific Theories That Must Be Confronted......565

James Randi's fiery takedown of psychic fraud in TED-talks...................................................................567

CNN: Muslims extremists threaten to kill South Park creators.................................................................569

Sarah Palin vs. Thomas Jefferson in ABCNews..........................................................................................571

Young Turks: "Hot Women Cause Earthquakes?! ".................................................................................573

Feedback for Post "Young Turks: "Hot Women Cause Earthquakes?! ""..........................................575

Thousands sold their immortal souls - for five pounds...............................................................................576

Facebook's 'Boobquake' aims to shame a Iranian cleric............................................................................578

Shall we have The International Day of Reason on May 6th?....................................................................580

The Giant Plus Sign........................................................................................................................................582

Orthodox experts considers Iceland volcano eruption a sign of God's wrath...........................................584

A Islamic group calls for banning 'A Thousand and One Nights' and jailing its publishers..................586
Feedback for Post "A Islamic group calls for banning 'A Thousand and One Nights' and jailing
its publishers"......................................................................................................................................588

Was Marco Polo an 'Islamophobe'?..............................................................................................................589

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on CNN: Religion, Violence & South Park.......................................................................592

Taliban suspected of attacking a girl-school with poison-gas in Afghanistan...........................................594

'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' grows in reaction to 'South Park' [................................................596

Feedback for Post "'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' grows in reaction to 'South Park' ["...........598

German Muslim politician wants to ban headscarves AND crucifixes from classrooms.........................599
Feedback for Post "German Muslim politician wants to ban headscarves AND crucifixes from
classrooms".........................................................................................................................................601

Iranian Woman on Cruel Islam.....................................................................................................................602

Religious Origins of Secularism: Secularism is Not an Atheist Conspiracy..............................................604

Feedback for Post "Religious Origins of Secularism: Secularism is Not an Atheist Conspiracy"......606

'the plunder the LORD your God gives you'................................................................................................607

New Scientist: Brain shuts off in response to healer's prayer....................................................................610

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Supreme Court allows talking about pre-marital sex in India...................................................................612

Chief of police: A sinful tan will get a woman into jail in Tehran..............................................................615

Mark Morford: 'Placebo effect beats God, Prozac'.....................................................................................617

Charlie's Playhouse: Evolution for kids.......................................................................................................619

The New Republic: The End Of The European Church.............................................................................621

Feedback for Post "The New Republic: The End Of The European Church".....................................623

You Can't Trust Science!...............................................................................................................................624

Have You Seen This Man?.............................................................................................................................626

Feedback for Post "Have You Seen This Man? "................................................................................628

Church of Maradona is still well and kicking..............................................................................................629

Feedback for Post "Church of Maradona is still well and kicking".....................................................631

Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality..........................................................................................................632

Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality "...............................................................634

South Pacific tribe preparing for return of ˈgodˈ Prince Philip...............................................................635

A C Grayling: Why no Asbo for the Pope?..................................................................................................637

Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions).................................................................................................................639

Feedback for Post "Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions)"......................................................................641

Christian extremists join forces with Muslim hardliners in banning a book in Egypt............................642
Feedback for Post "Christian extremists join forces with Muslim hardliners in banning a book in
Egypt".................................................................................................................................................644

Austin Cline: Modern Science Needs No Religion or Gods for Values......................................................645

Feedback for Post "Austin Cline: Modern Science Needs No Religion or Gods for Values".............647

Tomorrow is the day for "The International Day of Reason"...................................................................648

Richard Dawkins: If Science Worked Like Religion...................................................................................650

Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins: If Science Worked Like Religion".........................................652

Steven Pinker: 'Humanism will succeed when no one notices that it's there'...........................................653
Feedback for Post "Steven Pinker: 'Humanism will succeed when no one notices that it's there'".....655

What Is Secular Humanism?.........................................................................................................................656

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'YouTube ʒ The Internet's Primary and Rapidly Expanding Jihadi Base'..............................................658

25-day walk across Ireland for blasphemy referendum..............................................................................660

Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa by Christopher Hitchens...............................................................................662

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Why are Muslims so hypersensitive?'............................................................................664

Sarah Palin wants Bible as basis for US law................................................................................................667

Feedback for Post "Sarah Palin wants Bible as basis for US law"......................................................669

Iran hangs woman, four other as 'enemies of God'.....................................................................................670

Feedback for Post "Iran hangs woman, four other as 'enemies of God'".............................................673

Young Turks bash Palin & O'Reilly: 'US Law Based On God, Bible'......................................................674

When Islamic atheism thrived.......................................................................................................................676

Christopher Hitchens: 'French attempts to outlaw the burqa strike a blow for the rights of
women'............................................................................................................................................................678

Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg: 'I don't believe in God'..............................680
Feedback for Post "Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg: 'I don't believe
in God' "..............................................................................................................................................682

India in uproar over decision to include caste in national census..............................................................683

1,000 former Church of Scientology members speak publicly against Scientology.................................685

List of biggest Christian evangelist scandals in the US...............................................................................687

Does Atheism Need to Be Rebranded?..........................................................................................................690

Listen to the Scientists, Genie Scott on science , videos parts I - III..........................................................692

The Guardian: Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns..........694

Tim Minchin - The Good Book (Live video)................................................................................................696

Angry ultra-orthodox Jews fight against building a hospital in Israel......................................................698

Christopher Hitchens: Can they erase Thomas Jefferson from history?..................................................700

Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: Can they erase Thomas Jefferson from history?"............702

Michael Zimmerman: "Intelligent Design: Scientifically and Religiously Bankrupt"............................703

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Iranian cleric wants Iran to rule the entire Middle East and Central Asia..............................................705
Feedback for Post "Iranian cleric wants Iran to rule the entire Middle East and Central Asia"..........707

The legendary BBC Bertrand Russell interview right here in Atheist News!...........................................708
Feedback for Post "The legendary BBC Bertrand Russell interview right here in Atheist News!"....710

Bertrand Russell: 'Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed''.................................711
Feedback for Post "Bertrand Russell: 'Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to
succeed''".............................................................................................................................................713

Pakistan court orders block of Facebook over caricatures of Prophet Mohammad................................714

Johann Hari: Islamists, their victims, and hypocrisy..................................................................................716

Feedback for Post "Johann Hari: Islamists, their victims, and hypocrisy"..........................................718

Pakistan blocks also YouTube over unIslamic content...............................................................................719

Hemant Mehta: 'Why I Support Drawing Muhammad '...........................................................................721

British Humanist Association wants to know: Who's your Humanist Hero?...........................................723

Remember The Sabbath.................................................................................................................................725

Feedback for Post "Remember The Sabbath"......................................................................................727

Religious extremists to picket Ronnie James Dio's funeral........................................................................728

Feedback for Post "Religious extremists to picket Ronnie James Dio's funeral"................................731

Why atheism grows faster than religion?.....................................................................................................732

Court forces Hispanic catholic woman to follow orthodox Jewish rules...................................................734

Feedback for Post "Court forces Hispanic catholic woman to follow orthodox Jewish rules"...........736

Saudi 'emo' girls busted by religious cops....................................................................................................737

Feedback for Post "Saudi 'emo' girls busted by religious cops"..........................................................739

Genie Scott speaks of evolution of Creationism...........................................................................................740

Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments......................................................................................................742

Feedback for Post "Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments".............................................................744

After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all.............................................745

1.3 million tomans of fine for women who fail to cover up their hair properly in Iran...........................748
Feedback for Post "1.3 million tomans of fine for women who fail to cover up their hair properly
in Iran"................................................................................................................................................750

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'She's buried chest high'.................................................................................................................................751

Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence..........................................................755

'The walls of my prison crumbled and fell'..................................................................................................757

Israeli chief rabbi: 'Women must only be heard through their husbands'...............................................760
Feedback for Post "Israeli chief rabbi: 'Women must only be heard through their husbands'"...........762

'Death is nothing to us'...................................................................................................................................763

Feedback for Post "'Death is nothing to us'"........................................................................................766

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy: Inside a school for suicide bombers..................................................................767

'Sex and the City 2' banned in the United Arab Emirates because it is "Anti-Muslim".........................769

Secrets of the Dalai Lama...............................................................................................................................771

Feedback for Post "Secrets of the Dalai Lama"...................................................................................773

The culture minister of Northern Ireland wants creationism into museums............................................774

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Islam is imbued with violence'.........................................................................................776

Iowa Catholic school fires math teacher after Facebook survey indicates she doesn't believe in God...779

Richard Dawkins on fundamentalism in Intelligence Squared Wellington..............................................781

Islamic cleric recommends breastfeeding male colleagues at work...........................................................784

Vatican reaches out to atheists ʒ but not you, Richard Dawkins...............................................................787

Feedback for Post "Vatican reaches out to atheists ʒ but not you, Richard Dawkins".......................789

Richard Carrier smashes the "Intelligent design" fallacy with black holes (video).................................790

Intelligent Design as Deliberate Ignorance...................................................................................................792

Westboro Church Protests Outside Ronnie James Dio's Memorial Service.............................................794

Violent mob demands beheading of a man who publicly renounces Islam in Maldives..........................796
Feedback for Post "Violent mob demands beheading of a man who publicly renounces Islam in
Maldives"............................................................................................................................................798

Saudi religious police probe MTV programme for 'sin'.............................................................................799

Intelligent design to be taught in Queensland schools in Australia............................................................801

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 Table of Contents
Joke of the day: Iran denouces European 'intolerance' in issues concerning allowed clothing..............803

Vampire fascination has religious roots, scholar says.................................................................................805

Dominican priest wants church painting removed because ’angels look gayˈ.........................................807

Antievolution bills in South Carolina die......................................................................................................809

The Beauty of Skepticism (video)..................................................................................................................811

Test Supports Universal Common Ancestor for All Life............................................................................813

A teenage Jehovah's Witness dies after refusing blood transfusion in Birminghan.................................815

Feedback for Post "A teenage Jehovah's Witness dies after refusing blood transfusion in
Birminghan"........................................................................................................................................817

Seven Baha'i leaders in court in Iran............................................................................................................819

Bangladesh opens Facebook after it caves in to Muslim demands.............................................................821

Bertrand Russell - Why I Am Not a Christian (audio)................................................................................823

A new victory for gender-apartheid in Iran: Iran's first women-only bank opens..................................826

Your Miracles Wont Do It - Cristopher Hitchens (video)...........................................................................828

No, Adolf Hitler was not an atheist...............................................................................................................830

Feedback for Post "No, Adolf Hitler was not an atheist"....................................................................834

Russian Orthodox Church wants end to Darwin school "monopoly".......................................................836

"It takes money, a medical miracle, and a compelling vita to make it as a saint today".........................838

Iran today: "Anyone who is found guilty of moharebeh can expect to receive the death penalty"........840

Christian right group tries to kill Comedy Central show about Jesus......................................................842

Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?.............................................................................................844

Feedback for Post " Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?"....................................................846

German study shows: "Muslim boys more violent if pious"......................................................................847

Iran will use 1,5 billion to dollars promote ːmoral conduct"....................................................................849

Why Evolution is True: Interview with Jerry Coyne..................................................................................851

Feedback for Post "Why Evolution is True: Interview with Jerry Coyne ".........................................853

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Not Knocking on Heavenˈs Door: Black Atheists, Urban America..........................................................854

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Islam is not a race but a set of beliefs" (video).............................................................856
Feedback for Post "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Islam is not a race but a set of beliefs" (video)".....................858

St. Petersburg Times exposes the cruel policies of Scientology..................................................................859

Teacher fired for having premarital sex three weeks before wedding in Florida....................................862

Over 70 women barred from boarding airplanes because of 'improper dress' in Iran...........................864
Feedback for Post "Over 70 women barred from boarding airplanes because of 'improper dress'
in Iran"................................................................................................................................................866

New financial scandals hit the German Catholic Church hard..................................................................867

Feedback for Post "New financial scandals hit the German Catholic Church hard "..........................869

A Christian construction worker on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden with a 40-inch knife
and pistol is held in Pakistan.........................................................................................................................870

Mass demonstration against the Sharia Law in London.............................................................................872

Blast from the past: James Randi exposes Uri Geller and Peter Popoff...................................................874

Let's make it a religion ! (video)....................................................................................................................876

Iraqi Kurds pressed to finally ban the female genital mutilation..............................................................878

Everybody bake a Jesus day on 3th of July..................................................................................................880

Feedback for Post "Everybody bake a Jesus day on 3th of July ".......................................................882

Ultra-Orthodox Jew: 'I don't want my daughter to be educated with a girl who has a TV at home'....883
Feedback for Post "Ultra-Orthodox Jew: 'I don't want my daughter to be educated with a girl
who has a TV at home'"......................................................................................................................885

"Personal freedom? An alien concept in Egyptian society".......................................................................886

A Baptist church buys access to a school in Florida; the price for the souls: just 5000 dollars!.............888
Feedback for Post "A Baptist church buys access to a school in Florida; the price for the souls:
just 5000 dollars!"...............................................................................................................................890

Nobel winner who slammed Bible as 'handbook of bad morals'dies.........................................................891

Police: Family killed dad for watching World Cup instead of gospel show in South Africa..................893
Feedback for Post " Police: Family killed dad for watching World Cup instead of gospel show in
South Africa"......................................................................................................................................895

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 Table of Contents
"Meet three men who believe the Second Coming has already occurred"...............................................896
Feedback for Post ""Meet three men who believe the Second Coming has already occurred"".........898

Louisiana lawmakers propose prayer to stop oil disaster...........................................................................899

Feedback for Post "Louisiana lawmakers propose prayer to stop oil disaster "..................................901

Introduction to Naturalism (video)...............................................................................................................902

ːDance Your Ph.D" comes again!.................................................................................................................904

President Nixonˈs Secret Psychic Adviser Revealed...................................................................................906

Pakistani lawyer petitions for death sentence for Mark Zuckerberg bacause of the 'Draw
Muhammad' contest......................................................................................................................................909

Germany to Launch Exit Program for Militant Islamists..........................................................................912

Hitchens Warns of American-Born Jihad....................................................................................................914

New report: Sharia law in Britain is a threat to the equal rights...............................................................916

Atheism-o-phobia - Does it exist?..................................................................................................................919

Feedback for Post "Atheism-o-phobia - Does it exist? ".....................................................................921

Richard Dawkins interested in setting up free-thinking school..................................................................922

2012: Nibiru, Planet X & Mayan Calender - Science vs Fiction (video)....................................................924

Feedback for Post "2012: Nibiru, Planet X & Mayan Calender - Science vs Fiction (video)"...........926

The Giant Plus Sign........................................................................................................................................927

Pakistan to monitor Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing for 'blasphemy'.....929
Feedback for Post "Pakistan to monitor Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and
Bing for 'blasphemy'"..........................................................................................................................931

Atheism - What We Believe...........................................................................................................................932

Biblical scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman: 'Bible is not a reliable source' (video)................................................934
Feedback for Post "Biblical scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman: 'Bible is not a reliable source' (video)"..........937

'The only safe driving is abstinence from driving'.......................................................................................938

Feedback for Post "'The only safe driving is abstinence from driving'"..............................................940

Saudi Feminist Wajeha Al-Huwaider: An Open Letter to President Obama..........................................941

Feedback for Post "Saudi Feminist Wajeha Al-Huwaider: An Open Letter to President Obama "....943

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 Table of Contents
The new prime minister of Australia: "I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel"...........................944

Pope wants to "re-evangelize" the West.......................................................................................................946

Feedback for Post "Pope wants to "re-evangelize" the West".............................................................948

Coming out as atheist has not hurt the only atheist in the U.S. Congress.................................................949

The most unsexy slideshow ever in Vanity Fair: "Sex and the Saudis"....................................................952

"My Spirituality as an Atheist " (video).......................................................................................................954

Feedback for Post ""My Spirituality as an Atheist " (video)".............................................................956

Being a god can be expensive; Nepal's "living goddess" gets a pay rise....................................................957

Atheist billboards go up in New Zealand......................................................................................................959

Feedback for Post "Atheist billboards go up in New Zealand"...........................................................961

Al Qaeda' new English magazine tells how to "make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.".................962
Feedback for Post "Al Qaeda' new English magazine tells how to "make a bomb in the kitchen
of your mom.""...................................................................................................................................964

Atheist Miracle (video)...................................................................................................................................965

Feedback for Post "Atheist Miracle (video)".......................................................................................967

Jimmy Carter: Religion is one of the 'basic causes' of violations of women's rights (video)...................968
Feedback for Post "Jimmy Carter: Religion is one of the 'basic causes' of violations of women's
rights (video)".....................................................................................................................................970

New York Times: "You Say God Is Dead? Thereˈs an App for That"....................................................971

A two-headed calf is a proof that "God is able to do anything."................................................................973

Feedback for Post "A two-headed calf is a proof that "God is able to do anything.""........................975

The best Facebook fan-pages for humanist and secular writers, thinkers and philosophers..................976

Micro and Macroevolution (Video in HD)...................................................................................................980

Maryam Namazie in Guardian; "What isn't wrong with Sharia law?"...................................................982

Ruthless drug cartel leader promotes 'Christian values'............................................................................984

Feedback for Post "Ruthless drug cartel leader promotes 'Christian values'".....................................986

Mina Ahadi: "Sakineh can be stoned at any minute."................................................................................987

Feedback for Post "Mina Ahadi: "Sakineh can be stoned at any minute.""........................................989

Opponents of stonings in Iran bring stones to city centres, universities and workplaces on 11th of
July..................................................................................................................................................................990

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Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For Us...................................................................................................992
Feedback for Post "Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For Us "........................................................994

Iran bans the mullet; Islamic republic aims to free itself of 'decadent' western hairstyles.....................995

Ode To Rationality (Video with Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennett featuring Bertrand Russell).......997

Iran woman escapes stoning death for adultery..........................................................................................999

Feedback for Post "Iran woman escapes stoning death for adultery"................................................1001

Penn Jillette: 'Reading the Bible (Or the Koran, Or the Torah) Will Make You an Atheist'...............1002
Feedback for Post "Penn Jillette: 'Reading the Bible (Or the Koran, Or the Torah) Will Make
You an Atheist'"................................................................................................................................1004

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to friend: "I too am an Epicurean"............................................................1005

Young Turks: 'Christian Fundamentalists' (Video)..................................................................................1008

Feedback for Post "Young Turks: 'Christian Fundamentalists' (Video) ".........................................1010

Vatican sees third straight loss....................................................................................................................1011

Feedback for Post "Vatican sees third straight loss".........................................................................1013

Cartoonist Molly Norris ends up in radical Muslims hit list....................................................................1014

Feedback for Post "Cartoonist Molly Norris ends up in radical Muslims hit list "...........................1016

Amnesty: Hangman still waits for 27-year old female political activist in Iran......................................1017
Feedback for Post "Amnesty: Hangman still waits for 27-year old female political activist in
Iran"..................................................................................................................................................1019

Extremist Christians aim to create armed militias against "Godless" federal government in
United States.................................................................................................................................................1020
Feedback for Post "Extremist Christians aim to create armed militias against "Godless" federal
government in United States"...........................................................................................................1023

What can an atheist possibly celebrate?.....................................................................................................1024

Feedback for Post "What can an atheist possibly celebrate? "..........................................................1026

Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbis lauch 'divinely ordained war' against net use..........................................1027
Feedback for Post "Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbis lauch 'divinely ordained war' against net use"......1029

Bangladesh High Court bans religious punishments.................................................................................1030

Feedback for Post "Bangladesh High Court bans religious punishments ".......................................1032

Saudi Islamic academic: 'Journalists are soldiers of Satan'.....................................................................1033

Feedback for Post "Saudi Islamic academic: 'Journalists are soldiers of Satan'"..............................1035

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 Table of Contents
Jesus in the cover of Playboy was too much in Portugal...........................................................................1036
Feedback for Post "Jesus in the cover of Playboy was too much in Portugal"..................................1038

Scientology fires a broadside on a tv-host critical of it..............................................................................1039

'Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time.' by Carl Sagan.................1041

Maldives man driven to suicide after revealing his atheism.....................................................................1043

Christian foster carer wins case against council who struck her off because Muslim girl in her
care changed religion...................................................................................................................................1045

ABC News: 'Atheists Break Out New Ritual Tool: The Blow-Dryer'.....................................................1047

Oops, Indonesian Muslims told to change prayer direction.....................................................................1049

Feedback for Post "Oops, Indonesian Muslims told to change prayer direction".............................1051

A true classic: 'Door To Door Atheists Bother Mormons'........................................................................1052

Feedback for Post "A true classic: 'Door To Door Atheists Bother Mormons'"................................1054

Philhellenes: 'Four billion years of evolution is not easily overcome' (video).........................................1055

TheThinkingAtheist: 'Welcome To This World' (video)..........................................................................1057

'Agora' review: Hypatia vs. the forces of intolerance................................................................................1059

Feedback for Post "'Agora' review: Hypatia vs. the forces of intolerance "......................................1062

Christopher Hitchens reminds: Mel Gibson is a member of a fascist religous splinter group..............1063

Face veils banned at Syrian universities.....................................................................................................1065

Feedback for Post "Face veils banned at Syrian universities "..........................................................1067

Saturday 24th of July is International Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani Day ʒ World Citizens
against Stoning.............................................................................................................................................1068

Arab man jailed for claiming to be a Jew before consensual sex with a Jewish woman........................1070
Feedback for Post "Arab man jailed for claiming to be a Jew before consensual sex with a
Jewish woman".................................................................................................................................1072

London buses to carry female ordination advert during pope's visit......................................................1074

Feedback for Post "London buses to carry female ordination advert during pope's visit"................1076

Iran cuts off hands from five thieves...........................................................................................................1077

'God in the Constitution' By Col. Robert G. Ingersoll..............................................................................1079

Feedback for Post "'God in the Constitution' By Col. Robert G. Ingersoll"......................................1087

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 Table of Contents
Israel's strict religious marriage laws still force thousands to weddings outside Israel........................1088
Feedback for Post " Israel's strict religious marriage laws still force thousands to weddings
outside Israel"...................................................................................................................................1091

Carl Sagan: Consider Again That Pale Blue Dot (video)..........................................................................1092

Rachel Maddow presents: The Rap Guide to Evolution! by Baba Brinkman........................................1095

Feedback for Post "Rachel Maddow presents: The Rap Guide to Evolution! by Baba Brinkman
".........................................................................................................................................................1098

The Guardian: Hundreds of British girls will undergo horror of genital mutilation this summer......1099
Feedback for Post "The Guardian: Hundreds of British girls will undergo horror of genital
mutilation this summer"....................................................................................................................1101

Pat Condell: 'A god of life' (video)..............................................................................................................1102

Feedback for Post "Pat Condell: 'A god of life' (video)"...................................................................1104

New wave of charismatic evangelical movements seek polical power in the US.....................................1105

Iran wants to encourage population growth - Islamic government pays for babies..............................1108
Feedback for Post "Iran wants to encourage population growth - Islamic government pays for
babies"...............................................................................................................................................1111

Enviromentalists: Jordan River too polluted for baptisms.......................................................................1112

'Ayatollah, leave those kids alone' ʒ Pink Floyd get an Iranian twist.....................................................1114

Lionel Tiger: Believing in God generates soothing "juices" of the brain................................................1116

Feedback for Post "Lionel Tiger: Believing in God generates soothing "juices" of the brain".........1118

Jihad in the West:; Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries.............................................1119
Feedback for Post "Jihad in the West:; Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries".......1121

Creationism in schools in Australia: 'Adam and Eve were not eaten by dinosaurs because they
were under a protective spell'.....................................................................................................................1123
Feedback for Post "Creationism in schools in Australia: 'Adam and Eve were not eaten by
dinosaurs because they were under a protective spell'"....................................................................1125

US Senate in the year 1797: 'America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion'............1126
Feedback for Post "US Senate in the year 1797: 'America is not, in any sense, founded on the
Christian religion'"............................................................................................................................1128

Benjamin Netanyahu says illegal migration is a threat to 'Israels Jewish character'............................1129

Feedback for Post "Benjamin Netanyahu says illegal migration is a threat to 'Israels Jewish
character'".........................................................................................................................................1131

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 Table of Contents
ZOMGitsCriss: 'The Objective of Morality' (video).................................................................................1132
Feedback for Post "ZOMGitsCriss: 'The Objective of Morality' (video)"........................................1134

Lawrence M. Krauss in Scientific American: 'Faith and Foolishness, When Religious Beliefs
Become Dangerous'......................................................................................................................................1135
Feedback for Post "Lawrence M. Krauss in Scientific American: 'Faith and Foolishness, When
Religious Beliefs Become Dangerous' "...........................................................................................1138

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Teaching of music incompatible with Islam in Iran.......................................1140

Feedback for Post "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Teaching of music incompatible with Islam in
Iran"..................................................................................................................................................1142

Atheist Bill Gates convinces 40 billionaires to give away half their fortunes..........................................1143
Feedback for Post "Atheist Bill Gates convinces 40 billionaires to give away half their
fortunes"............................................................................................................................................1145

New Scientist: 'Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions '.......................................................................1146

Whopping 25 per cent of Spaniards atheists or without religion - says a study.....................................1148

Feedback for Post "Whopping 25 per cent of Spaniards atheists or without religion - says a
study"................................................................................................................................................1150

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani waits execution: "I am now quiet and sad because a part of my
heart is frozen".............................................................................................................................................1151
Feedback for Post "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani waits execution: "I am now quiet and sad
because a part of my heart is frozen""..............................................................................................1153

Hitchens on cancer and atheism with Anderson Cooper..........................................................................1154

Feedback for Post "Hitchens on cancer and atheism with Anderson Cooper"..................................1156

An Austrian bishop links Love Parade tragedy to 'sin'.............................................................................1157

Feedback for Post "An Austrian bishop links Love Parade tragedy to 'sin'".....................................1159

Catholic archbishop of Australia fears that having a atheist prime minister will 'undermine the
special privileges that churches enjoy'.......................................................................................................1160
Feedback for Post "Catholic archbishop of Australia fears that having a atheist prime minister
will 'undermine the special privileges that churches enjoy'"............................................................1163

Einstein's letter bashing ideas of God sells for $404,000...........................................................................1164

Feedback for Post "Einstein's letter bashing ideas of God sells for $404,000 "................................1166

Jewish hardliners crack down on hitchhiking and pop-concerts in Israel.............................................1167

Feedback for Post " Jewish hardliners crack down on hitchhiking and pop-concerts in Israel".......1169

Group: Seven Baha'i leaders condemned to 20 years in prison in Iran..................................................1170

Feedback for Post "Group: Seven Baha'i leaders condemned to 20 years in prison in Iran"............1173

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Conservapedia: Theory of relativity is a liberal conspiracy.....................................................................1174
Feedback for Post "Conservapedia: Theory of relativity is a liberal conspiracy".............................1176

Strippers protest church for protesting strippers in Ohio........................................................................1177

Feedback for Post "Strippers protest church for protesting strippers in Ohio"..................................1179

Saudi-Arabia harasses the wrong kinds of Muslims too...........................................................................1180

Feedback for Post "Saudi-Arabia harasses the wrong kinds of Muslims too"..................................1182

Christian protestors at a Connecticut mosque: ːJesus hates Muslims".................................................1183

Feedback for Post "Christian protestors at a Connecticut mosque: ːJesus hates Muslims""............1185

The Economist: 'Over 60% of Czechs never attend religious service'....................................................1186

Feedback for Post "The Economist: 'Over 60% of Czechs never attend religious service'".............1188

Another Brick In The Wall (Hey Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone!).................................................1189
Feedback for Post "Another Brick In The Wall (Hey Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone!) "........1191

Carl Sagan: Wanderers (video)...................................................................................................................1192

Feedback for Post "Carl Sagan: Wanderers (video)".........................................................................1194

Listed: The top 10 bizarre Mormon beliefs................................................................................................1195

Feedback for Post "Listed: The top 10 bizarre Mormon beliefs"......................................................1197

Media Matters: Glenn Beck, Holy Warrior...............................................................................................1198

Feedback for Post "Media Matters: Glenn Beck, Holy Warrior"......................................................1200

The New York Times: Christopher Hitchens, Not Going Gently............................................................1201

Feedback for Post "The New York Times: Christopher Hitchens, Not Going Gently"....................1204

Russian dairy to sack women who have abortions....................................................................................1205

Feedback for Post "Russian dairy to sack women who have abortions"...........................................1207

Der Spiegel: 'Allah's Elite: Why the 9/11 Mosque Was Closed'...............................................................1208
Feedback for Post "Der Spiegel: 'Allah's Elite: Why the 9/11 Mosque Was Closed'"......................1210

Iranian opposition in Germany staging hunger strike to stop executions in Iran..................................1212

Feedback for Post "Iranian opposition in Germany staging hunger strike to stop executions in
Iran"..................................................................................................................................................1214

'Fused' People Eager to Die and Kill for Their Group, Research Shows................................................1215
Feedback for Post "'Fused' People Eager to Die and Kill for Their Group, Research Shows".........1217

The New York Times: 'In Bold Display, Taliban Order Stoning Deaths'...............................................1218
Feedback for Post "The New York Times: 'In Bold Display, Taliban Order Stoning Deaths'"........1220

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 Table of Contents
Mormons are Normal and Mainstream (video).........................................................................................1221
Feedback for Post "Mormons are Normal and Mainstream (video)"................................................1223

Italy: Mafia thanks God for new boss.........................................................................................................1224

Feedback for Post "Italy: Mafia thanks God for new boss"...............................................................1226

Disneyland employee files complaint over no-hijab rule...........................................................................1227

Feedback for Post "Disneyland employee files complaint over no-hijab rule".................................1229

CNN: Federal appeals court says highways' crosses are unconstitutional..............................................1230

Israeli police detain settler rabbi who wrote book permitting killing of non-Jews................................1232

Islamic nations snub UN plea to help flood victims...................................................................................1234

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'How to Win the Clash of Civilizations'.........................................................................1236

Feedback for Post "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'How to Win the Clash of Civilizations'"................................1239

The Economist: Up to six months in jail wait those who break Ramadan in Morocco.........................1240
Feedback for Post "The Economist: Up to six months in jail wait those who break Ramadan in
Morocco"..........................................................................................................................................1242

A classical moment from the "West Wing" (video)...................................................................................1243

Feedback for Post "A classical moment from the "West Wing" (video)".........................................1245

The Cult of Christ (video)............................................................................................................................1246

Feedback for Post "The Cult of Christ (video)".................................................................................1248

Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most amused'.................................................................................................1249

Feedback for Post "Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most amused'".......................................................1251

Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia urged not to deliberately paralyse man as retribution
punishment...................................................................................................................................................1252
Feedback for Post "Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia urged not to deliberately paralyse man
as retribution punishment"................................................................................................................1254

A new initiative to try to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani launched in France...............................1255

Humanist marriages up by 64 per cent in Scotland...................................................................................1257

Feedback for Post "Humanist marriages up by 64 per cent in Scotland"..........................................1259

Canadian non-believer seeks Church escape clause..................................................................................1260

Feedback for Post "Canadian non-believer seeks Church escape clause".........................................1262

"Faith Fighter - ultimate fighting game. Know whose deity is best."......................................................1263

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Sam Harris: Why true moderate Muslims do remain so silent?..............................................................1265
Feedback for Post "Sam Harris: Why true moderate Muslims do remain so silent?".......................1267

Quran-burning church vows to proceed.....................................................................................................1268

Feedback for Post "Quran-burning church vows to proceed "..........................................................1271

Iranian journalist may face the death penalty for "enmity with God"...................................................1273
Feedback for Post "Iranian journalist may face the death penalty for "enmity with God""..............1275

First Muslim college starts in the United States.........................................................................................1276

"Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest has begun!"...................................................................1278

Feedback for Post ""Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest has begun!""............................1280

New book throws light on the birth of Abrahamic religions....................................................................1281

'The Center for Inquiry Urges That Ground Zero Be Kept Religion-Free'...........................................1283
Feedback for Post "'The Center for Inquiry Urges That Ground Zero Be Kept Religion-Free'"......1285

Western Wall Partition: Jewish Authorities To Implement New One-Way Divider Between Men,
Women..........................................................................................................................................................1286

'Top Ten List of Christian Delusions'.........................................................................................................1289

Feedback for Post "'Top Ten List of Christian Delusions'"...............................................................1291

Islam and slavery: 'As recently as the 1950s, the Saudi Arabia's slave population was estimated
at 450,000 '....................................................................................................................................................1292

For Christopher Hitchens............................................................................................................................1295

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira: "Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and should be killed in
order to "curb their evil inclinations."......................................................................................................1298
Feedback for Post "Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira: "Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and
should be killed in order to "curb their evil inclinations.""..............................................................1301

Iran media calls the first lady of France a 'prostitute'..............................................................................1302

Feedback for Post "Iran media calls the first lady of France a 'prostitute'".......................................1304

'Faith in science is not enough ʒ people deserve proof '............................................................................1305

Old Believers are a dying breed in Latvia..................................................................................................1307

Now you know - Atheistcartoons.com.........................................................................................................1310

Feedback for Post "Now you know - Atheistcartoons.com".............................................................1313

'Inside The Great Reptilian Conspiracy: From Queen Elizabeth to Barack Obama -- They Live!'....1314
Feedback for Post "'Inside The Great Reptilian Conspiracy: From Queen Elizabeth to Barack
Obama -- They Live!'"......................................................................................................................1317

xxviii
 Table of Contents
World union of Humanists and Atheists condemn Quran burning.........................................................1318

Iran paper: Bruni should die after stoning comments..............................................................................1321

Mr. Deity & Cast at the AAI 2009 Conference (video)..............................................................................1323

Do you believe in gravity or divinity?.........................................................................................................1325

Study: 'Superstition is a way try to control uncertainty'..........................................................................1327

Channel 4: Stephen Hawking: Physics Leaves No Room For God (video).............................................1329

'Serving in Iraq killed my faith in God'......................................................................................................1331

'Why Iˈm giving up Catholicism'................................................................................................................1333

Feedback for Post "'Why Iˈm giving up Catholicism'".....................................................................1335

Kerala college sacks lecturer after his hand was chopped off by Muslim activists................................1336
Feedback for Post "Kerala college sacks lecturer after his hand was chopped off by Muslim
activists"............................................................................................................................................1338

'Ground zero church launches with anti-Muslim, anti-Mormon sermon'..............................................1339

Christopher Hitchens: 'The taming and domestication of religious faith is one of the unceasing
chores of civilization.'..................................................................................................................................1342
Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: 'The taming and domestication of religious faith is
one of the unceasing chores of civilization.'"...................................................................................1345

Five new faith schools coming to Britain....................................................................................................1346

Pakistani Muslim youths turn away from Islam in Facebook..................................................................1348

Feedback for Post "Pakistani Muslim youths turn away from Islam in Facebook"..........................1350

Quran-burner Terry Jones accused of 'Spiritual Abuse' during his stay at Germany..........................1351

OkCupid's study shows: Atheists have better writing abilities than believers of any faith...................1353

CNN: Religious populations are down all over America (video)..............................................................1356

Feedback for Post "CNN: Religious populations are down all over America (video)".....................1358

The Register: 'Koran-burning 'pastor' loses website'...............................................................................1359

Feedback for Post "The Register: 'Koran-burning 'pastor' loses website'"........................................1361

ZOMGitsCriss: 'Criticizing Islam' (video).................................................................................................1362

'Abstinent Mormon farmers grow barley for beer'...................................................................................1364

Feedback for Post "'Abstinent Mormon farmers grow barley for beer'"...........................................1366

xxix
 Table of Contents
Robert Fisk: The truth about 'honour' killings.........................................................................................1367

Nick Cohen: 'Societies without God are more benevolent'.......................................................................1369

'Protest the Pope!'.........................................................................................................................................1372

Feedback for Post "'Protest the Pope!'"..............................................................................................1374

Iran hangs five for "anti-revolutionary" activities and "acts against God"...........................................1375
Feedback for Post "Iran hangs five for "anti-revolutionary" activities and "acts against God"".......1377

Facebook disables the accounts for human rights activists Mina Ahadi and Maryam Namazie..........1378
Feedback for Post "Facebook disables the accounts for human rights activists Mina Ahadi and
Maryam Namazie "...........................................................................................................................1381

France bans the burqa..................................................................................................................................1382

Feedback for Post "France bans the burqa "......................................................................................1384

Philosopher Anthony Grayling: "Ratzinger should be persona non grata -- and not a guest of the
queen."..........................................................................................................................................................1385
Feedback for Post "Philosopher Anthony Grayling: "Ratzinger should be persona non grata --
and not a guest of the queen."".........................................................................................................1387

'Christianity scares captain Picard' (video)...............................................................................................1388

Cardinal calls Britain "a third world country".........................................................................................1390

New study: Imported imams slow down the integration of Muslims in Germany.................................1392

Pope compares atheism to Nazism..............................................................................................................1394

Feedback for Post "Pope compares atheism to Nazism"...................................................................1397

'Pope's anti-condom message is sabotage in fight against Aids'...............................................................1398

Threats from Muslim extremists drive cartoonist Molly Norris into hiding in Seattle on FBI's
advice.............................................................................................................................................................1401

'Facebook follows papal line on censorship'...............................................................................................1404

Richard Dawkins at 'Protest the Pope Rally' in London Sept 2010 (video)............................................1406
Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins at 'Protest the Pope Rally' in London Sept 2010 (video)".....1408

Victoria Clark: 'Pastor Terry Jones is a product of America's free market in religion'......................1409

'Religious search engines filter results to weed out temptations'.............................................................1412

Lawrence Krauss: Freeing women is the key in fighting fundamentalism.............................................1414

Feedback for Post "Lawrence Krauss: Freeing women is the key in fighting fundamentalism ".....1417

xxx
 Table of Contents
Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris on a live videodebate on science and religion in the net.................1418

TYT: Man faces execution for sorcery in Saudi-Arabia (video)..............................................................1420

Feedback for Post "TYT: Man faces execution for sorcery in Saudi-Arabia (video)"......................1423

'Norwegian princess Martha Louise claims she can contact the dead '...................................................1424
Feedback for Post "'Norwegian princess Martha Louise claims she can contact the dead '"............1427

Textbooks too pro-Islam for the Texas Board of Education now............................................................1428

Feedback for Post "Textbooks too pro-Islam for the Texas Board of Education now"....................1431

Religiously motivated right-wing settlers make life difficult in Hebron..................................................1432

Feedback for Post "Religiously motivated right-wing settlers make life difficult in Hebron ".........1434

Iranian prosecutors demand death penalty for 'blogfather'.....................................................................1435

Feedback for Post "Iranian prosecutors demand death penalty for 'blogfather'"...............................1438

Daniel Dennett: 'The Evolution of Confusion' (video)..............................................................................1439

Feedback for Post "Daniel Dennett: 'The Evolution of Confusion' (video)".....................................1441

'Yes, There Is Still Book Banning in the United States'............................................................................1442

Lawrence Krauss: 'How to spot quantum quackery?'..............................................................................1444

New extremely cruel stoning video emerges from Pakistan......................................................................1447

Feedback for Post "New extremely cruel stoning video emerges from Pakistan"............................1449

Christian group declares a junction of a major road 'cursed' in Britain................................................1450

Feedback for Post "Christian group declares a junction of a major road 'cursed' in Britain"............1452

'It's Time to Fight Back Against Death Threats by Islamic Extremists'.................................................1453

A new study: Atheists know more about religions than religious people (video)...................................1455
Feedback for Post "A new study: Atheists know more about religions than religious people
(video)".............................................................................................................................................1457

Canadian-Iranian blogger sentenced to 19 years in jail in Iran...............................................................1458

Markos Moulitsas: American Taliban (video)...........................................................................................1460

The new British Labour leader Ed Miliband does not believe in God....................................................1462
Feedback for Post "The new British Labour leader Ed Miliband does not believe in God".............1465

The Sound of Science (music video)............................................................................................................1466

Feedback for Post "The Sound of Science (music video)"................................................................1469

xxxi
 Table of Contents
CFI video contest winner is "In the Cards"...............................................................................................1470

Antievolutionism creeps into a marine science textbook in Florida.........................................................1472

A Somali youth's journey from Islam to atheism (video)..........................................................................1474

The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris (the videos)....................................................................................1476

'Britain recognizes Druidry as religion for first time, gives it charitable status'....................................1478
Feedback for Post "'Britain recognizes Druidry as religion for first time, gives it charitable
status'"...............................................................................................................................................1481

Steven Pinker in Keith Olberman Show: 'Evolution: Why America Must Accept It, Before It's
Too Late '......................................................................................................................................................1482

Skeptic Rebecca Watson on Carpool (video)..............................................................................................1484

Feedback for Post "Skeptic Rebecca Watson on Carpool (video)"...................................................1486

Sam Harris in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.......................................................................................1487

French and English freethinkers propose taking religion out of schools................................................1489

Feedback for Post "French and English freethinkers propose taking religion out of schools"..........1492

Iran's president Ahmadinejad thanks Pope...............................................................................................1493

Feedback for Post "Iran's president Ahmadinejad thanks Pope".......................................................1495

'Southern Baptist leader nixes yoga for Christians'..................................................................................1496

Feedback for Post "'Southern Baptist leader nixes yoga for Christians'"..........................................1498

Pope: The use of new technologies should set off 'an alarm bell.'............................................................1499
Feedback for Post "Pope: The use of new technologies should set off 'an alarm bell.'"...................1501

Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace?...............................1503

Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of
Peace? ".............................................................................................................................................1505

Cadets say US Air Force Academy is controlled by evangelicals.............................................................1506

A German Catholic groups wants Santa out of Christmas.......................................................................1508

Feedback for Post "A German Catholic groups wants Santa out of Christmas"...............................1510

A South Carolina jail allows its inmates to read only Bible......................................................................1511

Feedback for Post "A South Carolina jail allows its inmates to read only Bible "............................1514

Jerry A. Coyne in USA Today: 'Science and religion aren't friends'......................................................1515

Feedback for Post "Jerry A. Coyne in USA Today: 'Science and religion aren't friends'"................1517

xxxii
 Table of Contents
Bill Maher - the Richard Dawkins Interview (video)................................................................................1518

'Israeli rabbi: Honey-pot sex is kosher for female Mossad agents'..........................................................1520

Feedback for Post "'Israeli rabbi: Honey-pot sex is kosher for female Mossad agents'"...................1522

Swiss teacher fired for removing crucifix from his classroom.................................................................1523

Three rival churches claim credit for the rescue of the Chilean miners..................................................1526
Feedback for Post "Three rival churches claim credit for the rescue of the Chilean miners"...........1529

Voices of Reason - Sam Harris: The Moral Landscape (video of CFI lecture).......................................1530
Feedback for Post "Voices of Reason - Sam Harris: The Moral Landscape (video of CFI
lecture)".............................................................................................................................................1532

Openly atheist candidate runs for the US Congress - in Virginia!...........................................................1533

Finns desert church in record numbers after watching a TV-debate on gay marriage.........................1535
Feedback for Post "Finns desert church in record numbers after watching a TV-debate on gay
marriage"...........................................................................................................................................1538

1000 entries in Atheist News!.......................................................................................................................1541

Feedback for Post "1000 entries in Atheist News!"...........................................................................1544

'The Pale Blue Dot' - the famous essay by Carl Sagan (video).................................................................1545
Feedback for Post "'The Pale Blue Dot' - the famous essay by Carl Sagan (video)"........................1547

Lack of belief in gods (video).......................................................................................................................1548

Feedback for Post "Lack of belief in gods (video)"...........................................................................1550

Pope bans the wife of president of France from the Vatican....................................................................1551

Feedback for Post "Pope bans the wife of president of France from the Vatican"............................1554

'Why Do People Think They See Mary or Jesus on Windows and Toast?'............................................1555
Feedback for Post "'Why Do People Think They See Mary or Jesus on Windows and Toast?'"......1558

Vatican: ' The Simpsons are good Catholics'.............................................................................................1559

UAE court rules that a man can beat his wife, but shouldn't leave marks.............................................1562
Feedback for Post "UAE court rules that a man can beat his wife, but shouldn't leave marks ".......1565

"Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith in the Black Community." (video discussion)........................1566
Feedback for Post ""Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith in the Black Community." (video
discussion)".......................................................................................................................................1568

The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson (video)...........................................1569
Feedback for Post "The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson (video)"...1571

xxxiii
 Table of Contents
Frans De Waal: 'Morals Without God?'....................................................................................................1572

Take part in a poll: 'Should public prayer be allowed at school events?'...............................................1575

Feedback for Post "Take part in a poll: 'Should public prayer be allowed at school events?'".........1578

A Christian Nation? (video).........................................................................................................................1579

Feedback for Post "A Christian Nation? (video)"..............................................................................1582

Victor J. Stenger: "The NEW Atheism" (video)........................................................................................1583

Bertrand Russell: Why I am not a Christian (video).................................................................................1586

Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'..........................................................................................1589

Feedback for Post "Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'".................................................1591

Washington Post: 'Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters'................................................................1592

Feedback for Post "Washington Post: 'Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters'".........................1595

Morgan Freeman: The Power of Words.....................................................................................................1596

Feedback for Post "Morgan Freeman: The Power of Words "..........................................................1598

A real video-classic: 'Kissing Hank's A...s'.................................................................................................1599

Feedback for Post "A real video-classic: 'Kissing Hank's A...s'"......................................................1601

Crowd watches as two teenage girls are executed by Islamic militants in Somalia................................1602
Feedback for Post "Crowd watches as two teenage girls are executed by Islamic militants in
Somalia"............................................................................................................................................1605

Special report: 'Blasphemy laws violate the fundamental freedom of expression'................................1606

The Guardian: Evangelical revolution in Brazil........................................................................................1608

Feedback for Post "The Guardian: Evangelical revolution in Brazil "..............................................1610

A 'Non Sequitur' -comic strip pulled out of Washington Post for fear of offending Muslims - even
if Mohammad was not there.......................................................................................................................1611
Feedback for Post "A 'Non Sequitur' -comic strip pulled out of Washington Post for fear of
offending Muslims - even if Mohammad was not there".................................................................1615

The Foreign Minister of Italy: Christians, Jews and Muslims should fight together against the
'perverse phenomena of atheism'...............................................................................................................1616
Feedback for Post "The Foreign Minister of Italy: Christians, Jews and Muslims should fight
together against the 'perverse phenomena of atheism'."...................................................................1618

MSNBC Cenk Attack: God & Government (video)..................................................................................1619

Feedback for Post "MSNBC Cenk Attack: God & Government (video)".........................................1621

xxxiv
 Table of Contents
Free Speech for Hamsters (video)...............................................................................................................1622

'The Islamic regime of Iran plans to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani immediately'.................1626
Feedback for Post "'The Islamic regime of Iran plans to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
immediately'"....................................................................................................................................1628

How will you celebrate Carl Sagan Day at 9th of November?.................................................................1629

Science Saved My Soul (video).....................................................................................................................1632

The Atlantic: 'Conan O'Brien's Fans Are Atheists'..................................................................................1634

Feedback for Post "The Atlantic: 'Conan O'Brien's Fans Are Atheists'"...........................................1637

The Bad Faith Awards 2010 are up for grabs............................................................................................1638

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: 'Non-Jews Exist to Serve Jews'...............................................................................1640

Feedback for Post "Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: 'Non-Jews Exist to Serve Jews'"......................................1642

Islamists threaten Mina Ahadi with stoning..............................................................................................1643

A new kind of news service for the secular crowd: 'The beinghuman Daily is out'...............................1645

Palestinian atheist blogger arrested by Palestinian authorities................................................................1648

Feedback for Post "Palestinian atheist blogger arrested by Palestinian authorities".........................1650

Noah and that Ark (video)...........................................................................................................................1651

Feedback for Post "Noah and that Ark (video)"................................................................................1653

Backlog in censors office delays publishing books in Iran.......................................................................1654

Feedback for Post " Backlog in censors office delays publishing books in Iran".............................1657

Darwin's Revolution - Evolution Song (video)...........................................................................................1658

Feedback for Post "Darwin's Revolution - Evolution Song (video)"................................................1660

Happy Carl Sagan Day!................................................................................................................................1661

American humanists launch largest national advertising campaign ever...............................................1663

'CFI: It's Time for Science and Reason'.....................................................................................................1666

Feedback for Post "'CFI: It's Time for Science and Reason'"............................................................1668

Lincolnshire schools allowed to teach paganism in UK............................................................................1669

Feedback for Post "Lincolnshire schools allowed to teach paganism in UK"...................................1671

Rappers arrested in Iran for 'using words that have no place in proper grammar'..............................1672

xxxv
 Table of Contents
'God's promise to Noah' keeps US congressman from worrying over global warming.........................1675
Feedback for Post "'God's promise to Noah' keeps US congressman from worrying over global
warming"...........................................................................................................................................1677

New demand for exorcism in the Catholic Church....................................................................................1678

New York Times: 'Defectors Say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse'..................................................1681

Feedback for Post "New York Times: 'Defectors Say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse'"..........1684

Luxury loving pilgrims bring big money into Saudi Arabia.....................................................................1685

Feedback for Post "Luxury loving pilgrims bring big money into Saudi Arabia"............................1688

Washington Post: 'Muslims torch Christian homes in southern Egypt'.................................................1689

Feedback for Post "Washington Post: 'Muslims torch Christian homes in southern Egypt'"............1692

'USB - Satan's Data Connection'.................................................................................................................1693

Feedback for Post "'USB - Satan's Data Connection'".......................................................................1695

France 24: 'Moroccan Atheist Blogger Receives death threats '..............................................................1696

Sam Harris Interviewed on MSNBC's 'The Last Word' with Lawrence O'Donnell (video).................1698

Exiled Iranian ex-Air Force pilot claims Iran's military rife with rebellion against the theocracy
of Iran............................................................................................................................................................1700

'Rev. Cedric Miller Tells Married Couples To Quit Facebook'...............................................................1702

A Tribute to Indian Atheists (videos)..........................................................................................................1704

Ricky Gervais Live - 'Act of God' (video)...................................................................................................1706

Johann Hari: 'The religious excuse for barbarity'....................................................................................1708

'Anti-Semitic textbook' used in Muslim weekend schools in UK.............................................................1711

Feedback for Post "'Anti-Semitic textbook' used in Muslim weekend schools in UK"....................1714

Iranian authorities target human rights lawyers now...............................................................................1715

Feedback for Post "Iranian authorities target human rights lawyers now"........................................1717

'Let's Take the Bible Literally' (video).......................................................................................................1718

India district bans cell phones for unmarried women in fear of inter-caste marriages.........................1720
Feedback for Post "India district bans cell phones for unmarried women in fear of inter-caste
marriages".........................................................................................................................................1723

The George Carlin Special; Three Video Classics.....................................................................................1724

Feedback for Post "The George Carlin Special; Three Video Classics"...........................................1727

xxxvi
 Table of Contents
Smithsonian.com: 'The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved'.............................................1728

Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens in Blasphemy Debate (audio)....................................................1731

Feedback for Post "Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens in Blasphemy Debate (audio)".............1733

The Guardian: 'Christopher Hitchens 1-0 Tony Blair'.............................................................................1734

'List of Scientists Rejecting Evolution - Do they really?' (video).............................................................1737

'Irreducible complexity cut down to size' (video)......................................................................................1739

Feedback for Post "'Irreducible complexity cut down to size' (video)".............................................1741

"Deathly" silence greets Tolstoy centenary in Russia...............................................................................1742

Feedback for Post ""Deathly" silence greets Tolstoy centenary in Russia"......................................1745

Richard Dawkins: Christopher Hitchens is my hero.................................................................................1746

Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins: Christopher Hitchens is my hero"........................................1748

' Do Religious People Make Easy Targets For Scams? '...........................................................................1749

Feedback for Post "' Do Religious People Make Easy Targets For Scams? '"..................................1752

Asia Bibi waits hanging for insulting Islam in Pakistan...........................................................................1753

Feedback for Post "Asia Bibi waits hanging for insulting Islam in Pakistan"...................................1756

Islamic cleric promises half a million rupees for the killer of Asia Bibi..................................................1757
Feedback for Post "Islamic cleric promises half a million rupees for the killer of Asia Bibi"..........1760

New creationist theme park wants 37.5 million dollars of support from the state of Kentucky...........1761
Feedback for Post "New creationist theme park wants 37.5 million dollars of support from the
state of Kentucky".............................................................................................................................1764

Emailing a joke about Pope leads to resignation of football referee in Scotland....................................1765

Feedback for Post "Emailing a joke about Pope leads to resignation of football referee in
Scotland"...........................................................................................................................................1768

Secular Xmas! (or 15 xmas songs for the secular crowd)..........................................................................1769

Senior Iranian cleric: 'Women's sports are a product of West's "dirty "culture'.................................1771

The New and Greatly Enhanced Ten Commandments.............................................................................1774

Mina Ahadi in Der Spiegel: 'I don't think it's possible to modernize Islam'..........................................1777

Woody Allen - the best jokes........................................................................................................................1780

Daniel Dennett: 'How religion offers an excuse to stop thinking' (video)...............................................1783

xxxvii
 Table of Contents
Voltaire - the best one-liners........................................................................................................................1785

Vatican Bank mired in money laundering scandal....................................................................................1788

Feedback for Post "Vatican Bank mired in money laundering scandal"...........................................1790

Austin Cline: 'Sources of Christmas Traditions, Modern and Ancient'..................................................1791

Laughing policemen flog women for breaking Sharia in a Sudanese video............................................1794

Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed is the winner of the Bad Faith Award 2010..............................................1796

Wall Street Journal: 'Hungary May Introduce Constitutional Ban on Abortion'.................................1798

Feedback for Post "Wall Street Journal: 'Hungary May Introduce Constitutional Ban on
Abortion'"..........................................................................................................................................1801

Chistopher Hitchens in Maclean's: 'I hate Hanukkah'.............................................................................1802

Julian Smith - Pre-Blessed Food (with two tickets to heaven)..................................................................1805

Feedback for Post "Julian Smith - Pre-Blessed Food (with two tickets to heaven)".........................1807

A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais in Wall Street Journal: 'Why Iˈm An Atheist'.....................1808

The Doctrinal Office of Vatican; 'Pope has not softened the churchˈs traditional ban on
contraception'...............................................................................................................................................1811
Feedback for Post "The Doctrinal Office of Vatican; 'Pope has not softened the churchˈs
traditional ban on contraception'".....................................................................................................1814

It is Yule-time again!....................................................................................................................................1815

The Roman roots of Christmas revisited....................................................................................................1817

Did Christians Steal Christmas?.................................................................................................................1820

It official now: Virgin Mary visited Wisconsin in 1859.............................................................................1822

Feedback for Post "It official now: Virgin Mary visited Wisconsin in 1859"...................................1825

A Christmas Message from Bill Maher (video)..........................................................................................1826

The Bible according to Ricky Gervais (video)............................................................................................1828

Stephen Fry's beautiful comments on a world without God.....................................................................1830

Saudi court approves divorces by SMS......................................................................................................1832

Feedback for Post "Saudi court approves divorces by SMS"............................................................1834

'God's little rabbits: Religious people out-reproduce secular ones by a landslide'................................1835

Feedback for Post "'God's little rabbits: Religious people out-reproduce secular ones by a
landslide'"..........................................................................................................................................1838

xxxviii
 Table of Contents
Sam Harris in the Nightline interview (video)...........................................................................................1839

Author's friends............................................................................................................................................1841

About the author...........................................................................................................................................1843

Pageviews.......................................................................................................................................................1844

xxxix
The Atheist News
Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes
Read more at: http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/

Michael Nugent
"From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign
to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a ‫أ‬25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy
as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any
religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with
some defences permitted.
This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a
modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous
because it incentives religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the
wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.
---
In this context we now publish a list of 25 blasphemous quotes, which have previously been published by or
uttered by or attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, James
Kirkup, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise OˈBrien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Bjork,
Amanda Donohoe, George Carlin, Paul Woodfull, Jerry Springer the Opera, Tim Minchin, Richard Dawkins,
Pope Benedict XVI, Christopher Hitchens, PZ Myers, Ian OˈDoherty, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OˈConnor
and Dermot Ahern."

Read more at: http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/

by jaskaw @ 01.01.2010 - 10:59:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes-7671659/
Feedback for Post "Atheist Ireland Publishes 25
Blasphemous Quotes"

sam graham [Visitor]

02.01.2010 @ 14:57
As an Irishman living abroad i appreciate this new law cos I have many leprechaun friends back there who are
pissed off at all you leprechaun atheists... THOUGHT..If any one religion had the PROOF for their existance
there would only be one religion!! Religion is for those who need it.

Baz [Visitor]
http://blasphemy-law-ireland.blogspot.com/
07.01.2010 @ 12:08
A short film detailing the history and context of the Irish Blasphemy Legislation.
http://blasphemy-law-ireland.blogspot.com/2010/01/everybody-knows-what-blasphemy-is-short.html
Happy New Year for the Readers of the Atheist
News!

"Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,

And things seem hard, or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite enough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving

And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.

It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

Copyright Monty Python, Meaning of Life skits.

Lyrics from http://penn.home.att.net/universe.htm

Hear the song and see the show in a animated form at: http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf

Happy New Year for the Readers of the Atheist News! There was 34 812 of you last month and you saw 54
344 different pages, when in November there was 18 184 of you and 34 272 pageviews.
by jaskaw @ 01.01.2010 - 13:32:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/01/happy-new-year-for-the-readers-of-the-atheist-news-7672225/
Internet Imams act as Recruiters for Al Qaeda
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/us/01imam.html?ref=todayspaper

By ERIC SCHMITT and ERIC LIPTON

"WASHINGTON ō The apparent ties between the Nigerian man charged with plotting to blow up an airliner
on Christmas Day and a radical American-born Yemeni imam have cast a spotlight on a world of charismatic
clerics who wield their Internet celebrity to indoctrinate young Muslims with extremist ideology and recruit
them for Al Qaeda, American officials and counterterrorism specialists said.
American military and law enforcement authorities said Thursday that the man accused in the bombing
attempt, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, most likely had contacts with the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, whom
investigators have also named as having exchanged e-mail messages with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an
American Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a shooting rampage in November at Fort Hood,
Tex. "

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/us/01imam.html?ref=todayspaper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki
"Anwar al-Awlaki (also spelled Aulaqi; Arabic: ‫ يقلوعلا رونأ‬Anwar al-’Awlaqī; born April 22, 1971
(1971-04-22) (age 38)) in Las Cruces, New Mexico)is a Muslim lecturer, spiritual leader, and former imam
who has been accused of being a senior talent recruiter and motivator "for al-Qaeda and all of its franchises,"
linked to various terrorists. US officials in late 2009 said al-Awlaki had recently been promoted to the rank of
regional commander within al-Qaeda.
Originally trained as a civil engineer, al-Awlaki later became an imam. He is currently associated with Iman
University in Yemen. Students of the university have allegedly been linked to assassinations, and it is headed
by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who has been designated by the US and UN as associated with terrorism and
Al-Qaeda.
Al-Awlaki's sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, as well as by accused Fort Hood shooter
Nidal Malik Hasan. In addition, US intelligence intercepted at least 18 emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki
from December 2008 to June 2009, including one in which Hasan wrote "I can't wait to join you [in the
afterlife]." Directly after the Fort Hood shooting, al-Awlaki praised Hasan's actions on his website, and then
again a few days later in an interview. The following month, a number of sources reported ties between
al-Awlaki and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 terrorist attack
of December 25, 2009."

by jaskaw @ 01.01.2010 - 18:17:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/01/internet-imams-act-as-recruiters-for-al-qaeda-7673658/
Court: Vatican Bank can't be tried in U.S. for
storing Nazi loot
Read more at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138702.html

"An American appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Holocaust survivors who alleged the Vatican
bank accepted millions of dollars of their valuables stolen by Nazi sympathizers.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court ruling that said the Vatican bank was
immune from such a lawsuit under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which generally protects
foreign countries from being sued in U.S. courts.
Holocaust survivors from Croatia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia had filed suit against the Vatican bank in 1999,
alleging that it stored and laundered the looted assets of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies who were
killed or captured by the Nazi-backed Ustasha regime that controlled Croatia.
They sought an accounting from the Vatican, as well as restitution and damages."

Read more at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138702.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Bank
"Several books, such as Unholy Trinity: How the Vatican's Nazi Networks Betrayed Western Intelligence to
the Soviets, Genocide in Satellite Croatia 1941ʒ1945 and The Vatican's Holocaust, which appeared during the
1980s and 1990s were highly critical of the Vatican Bank's historical relations with right-wing governments
and especially with the collaborationist regime of the Independent State of Croatia during World War II.
Sources such as these engendered initial defensive hostility and controversy, which centers on conclusions
drawn from the documentation rather than the documents themselves.
According to a 1998 report issued by the US State Department, the Nazi Croatian treasury was illicitly
transferred to the Vatican Bank and other banks after the end of World War II. For its part, the Vatican has
repeatedly denied any Franciscan participation in Ustashi crimes or the disappearance of the Croatian
Treasury, yet has refused to open its wartime records to substantiate its denial.
On October 21, 1946, a Top Secret report from US Treasury Agent Emerson Bigelow (called "The Bigelow
Report"), which was declassified in 1997, quoted a "reliable source in Italy" (who corroborated evidence
already obtained by CIC intelligence officials of the Army), who alerted his superior that Croatian officials
had sent 350 million confiscated Swiss francs (CHF) to the Vatican Bank "for safekeeping", a sum largely in
the form of gold coins."

by jaskaw @ 01.01.2010 - 23:03:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/01/court-vatican-bank-can-t-be-tried-in-u-s-for-storing-nazi-loot-7675308/
"Forget Jesus" The Stars Died For Us - Lawrence
Krauss

"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came
from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics.
You are all stardust.
You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the
things that matter for evolution weren't created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear
furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode.
So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today."

The full version of original video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss
"Lawrence M. Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space
Exploration, a professor in the physics department and director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State
University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek."
by jaskaw @ 02.01.2010 - 01:26:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/01/forget-jesus-the-stars-died-for-us-lawrence-krauss-7675886/
Feedback for Post ""Forget Jesus" The Stars Died For Us -
Lawrence Krauss"

Tasha [Visitor]

24.03.2010 @ 18:11
I'm going to pray for you!! Jesus loves you, AMEN!! I don't understand where u came up with such a thing.I
really hope that you have a change of heart!! Jesus is REAL and I know that deep down inside, you don't
belive what u are saying. He LOVES YOU!! Thank God for Jesus. Have a blessed day SIR!!

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
24.03.2010 @ 22:02
Tasha, I hope that you get what you need in your life from your beliefs. It would be sad if all that trouble
learning these ancient beliefs, rituals and a whole world view would go to waste if you just accepted the world
as it really is.

Sarah [Visitor]

22.07.2010 @ 03:37
Well said, jaskaw.
I've never met an atheist who wished ill for anyone, be they Christian, Muslim or Jew, and that right there
affords me the courage of my convictions. Tasha - Jesus was a man and he died and that is all. However, the
universe is beautiful without the delusions and fears created by religion; it's such a shame you'll waste your
life not seeing that.
Danish police shoot intruder at cartoonist's home
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8437433.stm

"Danish police have shot and wounded a man at the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the
Prophet Muhammad sparked an international row.
Mr Westergaard was at home in Aarhus when a man broke in armed with a knife. Police arrived and shot the
man after Mr Westergaard pressed a panic alarm.
Danish officials said the intruder was a 28-year-old Somali linked to the radical Islamist al-Shabab militia. "

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8437433.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
"The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which
depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30
September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate
regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.
This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the
crowds (resulting in more than 100 deaths, all together), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in
Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and
German flags in Gaza City. While a number of Muslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, other
Muslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, issued death threats.
Various groups, primarily in the Western world, responded by endorsing the Danish policies, including "Buy
Danish" campaigns and other displays of support. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen described
the controversy as Denmark's worst international crisis since World War II."

by jaskaw @ 02.01.2010 - 12:15:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/02/danish-police-shoot-intruder-at-cartoonist-s-home-7677146/
Daniel Dennett - The Genius of Charles Darwin:
The Uncut Interviews

http://www.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet
"Richard Dawkins interviews Dan Dennett for "The Genius of Charles Darwin", the Channel 4 UK TV
program which won British Broadcasting Awards' "Best Documentary Series" of 2008.
This footage was shot with the intention of editing for a television program. What you see here is the full
extended interview, which includes a lot of rough camera transitions that were edited out of the final program
(along with a lot of content."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett
"Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American philosopher whose
research centers on philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as
those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the co-director of the Center
for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and a University Professor at Tufts
University. Dennett is a noted secularist as well as being a prominent advocate of the Brights movement."

by jaskaw @ 03.01.2010 - 13:25:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/03/daniel-dennett-the-genius-of-charles-darwin-the-uncut-interviews-7683402/
The new blasphemy law in Ireland causes fears of
prosecution

Blasphemy Ireland in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=190675270453

Baz Grant sent today the following message to the members of Blasphemy Ireland:

"Subject: Email to All Embassies in Ireland

Hi all,
Just writing to let you know that I have just emailed all of the various embassies in Ireland, informing them of
the new blasphemy legislation so that they might warn their citizens of the potential risk of prosecution should
they insult or grossly abuse any sacredly held beliefs of any religious group while they are visiting or residing
here. I also copied in as many Irish media outlets as possible as well as the Minister for Justice, Minister for
Foreign Affairs and Minister for Tourism (who is from my own constituency. There has already been a huge
amount of international reporting of Atheist Ireland's 25 blasphemous quotations and, hopefully, more
international humiliation can be brought to bare on the Irish government.
The full text of my email is below.
All the Best
Baz

Your Excellencies,

I am writing to inform you of a new piece of legislation which has been introduced in the Republic of Ireland
since January 1st of this year. The legislation relates to the crime of 'Blasphemous Libel' and is enshrined in
the Defamation Act 2009. The relevant section is worded thus:
36.ō(1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on
indictment to a fine not exceeding ‫أ‬25,000.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters
blasphemous matter ifō
(a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive
or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any
religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial
number of the adherents of that religion, and
(b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the
matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
(3) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this
section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would
find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value
in the matter to which the offence relates.
(4) In this section ːreligionə does not include an organisation or
cultō
(a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or
(b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulationō
(i) of its followers, or
(ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers.

Please be advised that this legislation will effect all persons visiting or residing in Ireland, regardless of
nationality. This issue has already been raised with the European Commission by Swedish Member of
Parliament, Karl Sigfrid. You may wish to advise visitors to the Republic or Ireland from your nations of the
potential risk should they choose to express an opinion on any matters held sacred by the adherents of any
religion.

For example, it is conceivable that a substantial number of the adherents of a religion may make a complaint
about a person should they utter or publish the following statements, all of which are core tenets of major
world religions, but which are also considered to be insulting or grossly abusive (blasphemous) to other world
religions:

1. Jesus Christ is the son of God.

2. Allah is the one true God.
3. The Judeo-Christian God is the one true God.

As you can clearly see from the above, rather innocuous, statements; all visitors to and residents of Ireland
must be extremely careful when expressing their opinions publicly. May I suggest that potential visitors to
Ireland from your nations be informed of this legislation in advance of traveling, as they may be under the
impression that, in coming to an EU member state, they have an automatic right to freedom of expression.

Best Regards

Barry Grant, Free Speech Campaigner

Blasphemy Ireland Facebook Group (Creator/Administrator)"
by jaskaw @ 03.01.2010 - 23:50:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/03/stoning-for-blasphemy-by-monty-python-7687812/
Feedback for Post "The new blasphemy law in Ireland
causes fears of prosecution"

Stephen Kay [Visitor]

04.01.2010 @ 09:16
Do the majority of the people of Ireland care that freedom of speech has been effectivly outlawed? What do
the opinion polls say?

Moe [Visitor]

04.01.2010 @ 11:13
"(4) In this section “religion” does not include an organisation or
cult—
(a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or
(b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulation—
(i) of its followers, or
(ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers."

With this definition not even the catholics are a religion. Or how do they finance the pope's golden rings and
their missions all over the world?

And the "oppressive psychological manipulation" is clearly shown by the all-seeing, all-mighty god that they
believe in.

Well, let's wait for the first ridiculous trials.

Baz [Visitor]
http://blasphemy-law-ireland.blogspot.com
07.01.2010 @ 12:29
A short film detailing the history and context of the Irish Blasphemy Legislation.
http://blasphemy-law-ireland.blogspot.com/2010/01/everybody-knows-what-blasphemy-is-short.html
Fox News Anchor: Tiger Woods Should 'Turn to
the Christian Faith'

Read more at:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/04/brit-hume-tiger-woods-should-turn-to-the-christian-faith/

On "Fox News Sunday" yesterday, Fox anchor Brit Hume suggested that Tiger Woods should trade his
Buddhist faith for Christianity if he wants to make a personal comback. When host Chris Wallace asked the
show's roundtable to predict the biggest sports story of 2010, Hume said::
"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and
it's a tragic situation for him. I think he's lost his family, it's not clear to me if he'll be able to have a
relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal
-- the extent to which he can recover -- seems to me to depend on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist; I don't
think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my
message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great
example to the world.'"

by jaskaw @ 04.01.2010 - 21:27:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/04/brit-hume-tiger-woods-should-turn-to-the-christian-faith-7692862/
Feedback for Post "Fox News Anchor: Tiger Woods Should
'Turn to the Christian Faith'"

Moss [Visitor]

05.01.2010 @ 00:02
Arguments against Buddhism: http://kwelos.tripod.com/argumentsagainstbuddhism.htm
VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped
civilization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayanur_Ramachandran
"Vilayanur Subramanian "Rama" Ramachandran is a neurologist born in 1951, best known for his work in the
fields of behavioral neurology and psychophysics. He is currently the Director of the Center for Brain and
Cognition, Professor in the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of
California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Ramachandran initially obtained an M.D. at Stanley Medical College in Madras, India, and subsequently
obtained a Ph.D. from Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Ramachandranˈs early work was on
visual perception but he is best known for his experiments in behavioral neurology which, despite their
apparent simplicity, have had a profound impact on the way we think about the brain.
Ramachandran has been elected to fellowships at All Souls College, Oxford, and the Royal Institution,
London (which also awarded him the Henry Dale Medal). He gave the 2003 BBC Reith Lectures and was
conferred the title of Padma Bhushan by the President of India in 2007. He has been called ːThe Marco Polo
of neuroscienceə by Richard Dawkins and "the modern Paul Broca" by Eric Kandel. Newsweek magazine
named him a member of "The Century Club", one of the "hundred most prominent people to watch" in the
21st century."

by jaskaw @ 05.01.2010 - 11:06:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/05/vs-ramachandran-the-neurons-that-shaped-civilization-7695482/
Feedback for Post "VS Ramachandran: The neurons that
shaped civilization"

Flavio Musa de Freitas Guimaraes [Visitor]

http://www.freitasguimaraes.net
09.03.2010 @ 19:00
I'd LIke to have the written text of this conferenve.
Attentively,
Flavio
"The God Fraud" - Sam Harris owns Karen
Armstrong
Read more at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/18/the_god_fraud

Best-selling atheist author Sam Harris pushes back against Karen Armstrong's sympathetic take on religion.

"In her article ("Think Again: God," November 2009), Karen Armstrong discovers that Richard Dawkins,
Christopher Hitchens, and I have mistaken "fundamentalism" for the totality of religion. (Sorry about that.)
But do Richard and Christopher really hold religion responsible for "all human cruelty"? That is a surprise. I
hadn't realized that they were idiots.
In any case, I am hopeful that Armstrong's winsome depiction of Islam will shame and enlighten them, as it
has me. They will discover that Hassan al-Banna and Tariq Ramadan are paragons of meliorism and wisdom,
while we are ignorant bigots who know nothing of theology (of course), politics (Christopher, are you
listening?), human nature (what's to know?), or the proper limits of science (um ... narrower?)
I can't quite remember how we got it into our heads that jihad was linked to violence. (Might it have had
something to do with the actual history and teachings of Islam?) And how could we have been so foolish as to
connect the apparently inexhaustible supply of martyrs in the Muslim world to the Islamic doctrine of
martyrdom? In my own defense, let me say that I do get spooked whenever Western Muslims advocate the
murder of apostates (as 36 percent of Muslim young adults do in Britain). But I now know that these
freedom-loving people just "want to see God reflected more clearly in public life.
I will call my friend Ayaan Hirsi Ali at once and encourage her to come out of hiding: Come on out, dear.
Karen says the coast is clear. As it turns out, those people who have been calling for your murder don't
understand Islam any better than we do."

Read more at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/18/the_god_fraud

by jaskaw @ 05.01.2010 - 16:57:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/05/the-god-fraud-sam-harris-own-karen-armstrong-7697224/
Call to fix creationist abuse of the DMCA in
YouTube

AndromedasWake's channel in YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AndromedasWake

The YouTube Censorship Reform:

http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=1743

The petition mentioned in video is here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/StopYouTubeCensorship
by jaskaw @ 06.01.2010 - 13:45:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/06/call-to-fix-creationist-abuse-of-the-dmca-in-youtube-7702225/
Are We 'Hard-Wired' for God?
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/are-we-hard-wired-for-god_b_411089.html

By Phil Zuckerman
"In the Los Angeles Times last week, conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg asserted that religion is a
natural, innate component to being human. All people, he claims, have a religious need or spiritual proclivity.
Faith, according to Goldberg, is actually an "instinct." Humans are simply "hard-wired" to believe.
Really?
While it is usually Goldberg's right-wing, war-loving, earth-hating, greed-adoring, health-care-deploring
opinions than I object to, in this particular instance, my problem with Goldberg is strictly factual. He can
marshal all the philosophical musing he wants in an attempt to paint faith as a humanly universal, but the
social science is clear: hundreds of millions of people are not spiritual or religious. Secularity is an undeniable
fact of human existence, rendering the oft-touted declaration that humans are essentially or "naturally"
religious manifestly untenable. While empirical reality rarely matters much when religion is the topic, this one
particular fact is still important and must be publicly pronounced in response to Goldberg's assertion: many
millions of humans are not "hard-wired" for God.
---
The bottom line is that while faith, religion, and spirituality are certainly common and widespread, they are
not innate. When it comes to social phenomena, ubiquity must never be mistaken for biology. Yes, most
people are religiously inclined. But many are not. Why is this simple truth so hard for the likes of Goldberg to
accept?"

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/are-we-hard-wired-for-god_b_411089.html

http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/

by jaskaw @ 06.01.2010 - 19:21:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/06/are-we-hard-wired-for-god-7704192/
Feedback for Post "Are We 'Hard-Wired' for God?"

jim douthit [Visitor]

http://www.jimdouthit.com
07.01.2010 @ 06:56
Goldberg is right. Evolution has hard-wired us for God and for religion. So What?! We are also an innately
violent species. So What?! We have brains and reason and free will and can overcome violent instincts.
And what's with all the name-calling at Goldberg? Except for his religious leanings, he right on in his
columns: he believes the government exists to protect rights, not to take away rights. He believes in equality
before the law, free speech, capitalism (where men trade with each other instead of kill each other), individual
rights (there are no other kinds)... Stop name-calling, pick out a particular stance of Goldberg's, say what's
wrong with it and why. jd
Blasphemy Battles Continue at the United Nations
Read more at:
http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-01-blasphemy-battles-continue-at-the-united-nations

By MATT CHERRY
"Blasphemy!" It's a cry as old as freethought, perhaps as old as religion. It's also a crime wherever religion can
get enough control of government to impose it. And now anti-blasphemy laws are making a comeback-at the
United Nations of all places.
If the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has its way, the U.N. will impose a global blasphemy law
under the guise of combating "defamation of religions." The OIC, which represents 56 countries with
significant Muslim populations, has been sponsoring U.N. resolutions against "defamation of religions" since
1999.
---
OIC has opened a second front at the U.N. in Geneva. The obscure Ad-Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of
Complementary Standards is debating whether to add an amendment about "defamation of religions" to the
International Covenant on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Since ICERD has the force of
international law, the amendment would outlaw "defamation of religion" in all countries that ratify it.
The fight for freedom of conscience goes on."

Read more at:

http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-01-blasphemy-battles-continue-at-the-united-nations

by jaskaw @ 07.01.2010 - 12:38:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/07/blasphemy-battles-continue-at-the-united-nations-7708317/
Feedback for Post "Blasphemy Battles Continue at the
United Nations"

deleted user [Visitor]

07.01.2010 @ 13:44
maailmas o paljo vääryyttä,mut onko sillai,ett jos ohjelma tai muu laite on yhteensopiva vistan kans,se on sitä
automaattisesti seiskankin kanssa?

deleted user [Visitor]

07.01.2010 @ 13:44
maailmas o paljo vääryyttä,mut onko sillai,ett jos ohjelma tai muu laite on yhteensopiva vistan kans,se on sitä
automaattisesti seiskankin kanssa?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
08.01.2010 @ 21:07
On.
Iran: The World's Biggest Journalist Prison
Read more at: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27647&tr=y&auid=5785085

Written by Benjamin Joffe-Walt

"With over 40 journalists now detained, Iran has become the world's largest media prison.
Iran has become the country with the largest number of imprisoned journalists following the sentencing of two
journalists to prison terms of at least six years each, bringing the total number of journalists currently detained
in the Islamic Republic to 42.
Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, a well known reformist journalist arrested in June for criticizing Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic policies, was sentenced Monday to over seven years imprisonment and
34 lashes by a Tehran revolutionary court. The same day, 36 parliamentarians supportive of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drafted a bill that would require the execution of government critics detained as
ːmoharebə (enemies of God) within five days of their arrest. The bill also calls for the period of time allotted
for appeals in cases of public order disturbances or ːmoharebehə (war against God) to be brought down from
25 days to five days.!

Read more at: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27647&tr=y&auid=5785085

by jaskaw @ 08.01.2010 - 00:10:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/07/iran-the-world-s-biggest-journalist-prison-7712193/
Everybody Knows What Blasphemy Is
Everybody Knows What Blasphemy Is - Part 1

Everybody Knows What Blasphemy Is - Part 2

The maker of film, "WellBoyFilms" says: "Here is a short film I made about the Blasphemy Legislation in
Ireland. The legislation came into effect on January 1st 2010. This event, along with Atheist Ireland's
publishing of 25 blasphemous quotations was reported widely outside of Ireland, but the Irish media have
shown very little interest to date.
Some notes on the film: I wrote the script using quotes either from Irish politicians speaking in the houses of
parliament (oireachtas) or through the media or in email communications directly with me. The film was shot
on the spur of the moment as an actor friend was visiting my wife and I. We shot against green-screen in our
spare-room with the actors reading off cue-cards as we had no time to rehearse or learn lines. Also, yours truly
here very cleverly had the wrong attenuation setting on the camera so I created a vicious buzzing sound on the
audio track, remnants of which have stubbornly survived to the final cut. My apologies to one and all for that
one!
So, please bear in mind that this was more of an impassioned exercise in raising awareness in this ridiculous
impingement on the free speech of all residents of, and visitors to, Ireland - than an exercise in achieving
prize-wining production quality.
On that note, I give you - "Everybody Knows What Blasphemy Is"
by jaskaw @ 08.01.2010 - 09:26:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/08/everybody-knows-what-blasphemy-is-7713431/
Fox News' Shameless Christian Crusade
Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/story/144986/fox_news%27_shameless_christian_crusade

By Simon S. Maloy, Media Matters for America.

"At Fox News, religion is easy: Christianity is right and good and must be defended from its relentless
persecutors, and other faiths are dangerous, inadequate, or a joke.
Religion is ... tough.
The collected spiritual teachings of the world's various deities, messiahs, prophets, monks, yogis, gurus, and
shamans are so deeply ingrained in human culture and consciousness that they essentially tell the history of
mankind. Their cosmological and philosophical differences have proved to be stubbornly intractable and
provided the impetus for many of humanity's more brutal conflicts. The greatest minds of the ancient,
medieval, and modern worlds have devoted entire lifetimes delving into the deepest questions that face
mankind.
But for Fox News, religion is easy: Christianity is right and good and must be defended from its relentless
persecutors, and other faiths are dangerous, inadequate, or funny."

Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/story/144986/fox_news%27_shameless_christian_crusade

by jaskaw @ 09.01.2010 - 19:20:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/09/fox-news-shameless-christian-crusade-7722487/
Beyond belief
Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/beyond-belief-20100109-m00z.html

By MICHAEL BACHELARD
---
These three Australians are united by a religious upbringing. But in the past few years all have been united by
something entirely different. They've shucked off their faith and become part of a growing world-wide
movement - atheism.
What is driving this move is a matter for debate. Some say it's a reaction against religious terrorism,
fundamentalism. Others that the habit of Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Tony Blair and others of wearing their
religion US-style on their sleeves has prompted a backlash, with people concerned about the political lobbying
power of faith. Still others believe the children of 1960s hippies have grown up without strong childhood
indoctrination and are now embracing rationalism and science.
The new atheism is bigger, more organised, and much more assertive than ever before. It's based on the belief
that science explains everything we need to know about the world so there's no need for religion. Its founding
texts are by scientist Richard Dawkins and writer Christopher Hitchens, and religion, in their eyes, is not just
some harmless illusion, it's a dangerous, immoral force in society.
---

Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/beyond-belief-20100109-m00z.html

by jaskaw @ 10.01.2010 - 10:49:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/10/beyond-belief-7725794/
Student, community groups bring together
non-believers, free thinkers
Read more at: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jan/09/pulling-away/

"Tony Kiegel works on aviation radar and communications systems for the Federal Aviation Administration
in Evansville. He is, he says, a product of an evangelical Christian education and upbringing.
And he is an atheist.
Chris Graham of Evansville, a sophomore at the University of Evansville, was raised and educated in the
Roman Catholic faith.
He is a founding member of the UE Skeptical Society.
Susan Caldwell is a North High School senior; she says she had "wanted to attend some sort of atheist youth
group for a couple of years."
She is disturbed, she says, by the discrimination people who do not hold traditional Christian beliefs receive at
the hands of their peers "in this culture."
Her North High School classmate and fellow skeptic, Spencer Mulesky, refers to it as "the ironic
demonization of atheism."

Read more at: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jan/09/pulling-away/

by jaskaw @ 10.01.2010 - 20:41:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/10/student-community-groups-bring-together-non-believers-free-thinkers-7729603/
Richard Dawkins in "One on One"
One on One - Richard Dawkins - 9 Jan 10 - Part 1

One on One - Richard Dawkins - 9 Jan 10 - Part 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_dawkins
"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British biological theorist with a
background in ethology. He is a popular science author focusing on evolution.
Dawkins is one of Britain's best-known academics. He came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish
Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. In 1982, he
expanded the gene-centred view with his book The Extended Phenotype:The Gene as the Unit of Selection,
emphasizing that the phenotypic effects of genes are not necessarily limited to an organism's body but can
stretch via biochemistry and behaviour into other organisms and the environment. He is well-known as a
presenter of the case for rationalism and scientific thinking. His later works continued to expand upon these
ideas and their implications.
Dawkins is one of the world's most widely publicised atheists. He is a prominent critic of religion, creationism
and pseudoscience. In his 1986 book The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a
Universe Without Design, he argued against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a
supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he described a dysteleological
perspective on the process of evolution by natural selection as "blind", without a design or a goal. In his 2006
million-selling book The God Delusion, he contended that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not
exist, writing that such beliefs, based on faith rather than on evidence, qualify as a delusion. He was a
co-founder of the Out Campaign, as a means of advancing atheism and freethought.
Dawkins retired from Oxford University in 2008 and remains a writer and public figure."

by jaskaw @ 10.01.2010 - 22:25:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/10/richard-dawkins-in-one-on-one-7730186/
Nicholas D. Kristof: Religions as source for
oppression of women
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10kristof.html

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
"Religions derive their power and popularity in part from the ethical compass they offer. So why do so many
faiths help perpetuate something that most of us regard as profoundly unethical: the oppression of women?
It is not that warlords in Congo cite Scripture to justify their mass rapes (although the last warlord I met there
called himself a pastor and wore a button reading ːrebels for Christə). Itˈs not that brides are burned in India
as part of a Hindu ritual. And thereˈs no verse in the Koran that instructs Afghan thugs to throw acid in the
faces of girls who dare to go to school.
Yet these kinds of abuses ō along with more banal injustices, like slapping a girlfriend or paying women less
for their work ō arise out of a social context in which women are, often, second-class citizens. Thatˈs a
context that religions have helped shape, and not pushed hard to change.
---
Today, when religious institutions exclude women from their hierarchies and rituals, the inevitable
implication is that females are inferior. The Elders are right that religious groups should stand up for a simple
ethical principle: any personˈs human rights should be sacred, and not depend on something as earthly as
their genitals."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10kristof.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_D._Kristof
"Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American journalist, author, op-ed
columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times
since November 2001 and is widely known for bringing to light human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such
as human trafficking and the Darfur conflict. He has lived on four continents, reported on six, and traveled to
140 countries and all 50 states. According to his blog, during his travels he has had "unpleasant experiences
with malaria, wars, an Indonesian mob carrying heads on pikes, and an African airplane crash". Jeffrey
Toobin of CNN and The New Yorker, a Harvard classmate, has said: "Iˈm not surprised to see him emerge as
the moral conscience of our generation of journalists. I am surprised to see him as the Indiana Jones of our
generation of journalists.ə

by jaskaw @ 11.01.2010 - 11:13:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/11/nicholas-d-kristof-religions-as-source-of-oppression-of-women-7733060/
Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of humans

"On June 13, 2009, Robert Sapolsky, world renowned professor of neurology, neurological sciences,
neurosurgery and biological sciences gave the class day lecture in association with commencement weekend
2009. Having been selected to talk by the Stanford University graduating class, Sapolsky spoke about the
uniqueness of humans in relation to the rest of the animal world. A few of the topics he spoke on include
aggression, theory of mind, the golden rule and pleasure."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky
"Robert Maurice Sapolsky (born 1957) is an American scientist and author. He is currently professor of
Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery,
at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya."

As the keeper of this blog I must add a comment to this one, even if I have a long time a go adopted the policy
of not commenting the things I present here, as I think that the pieces must be left to speak for themselves. I
just must however say that this one of the greatest public speeches I have listened in all my life. The final
sentences did just bring tears to my eyes.
PS. I would however suggest that you skip the introduction that lasts for five minutes, as the real thing starts
from there.
by jaskaw @ 11.01.2010 - 23:19:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/11/robert-sapolsky-the-uniqueness-of-humans-7737388/
Feedback for Post "Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of
humans"

Assain [Visitor]

12.01.2010 @ 09:34
Can I get the script of this speech?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
12.01.2010 @ 09:40
Here is a partial transcript of the text at least:
http://storybank.stanford.edu/stories/robert-sapolsky-explores-what-and-not-unique-about-humans

FedupwithR [Member]
15.01.2010 @ 01:00

Thank you for making this available. I totally agree it was a superb speech.
Why book bans don't prevent riots
Read more at: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/why-book-bans-don/t-prevent-riots/382412/

Nilanjana S Roy / New Delhi January 12, 2010

"I would like to propose a new form of labelling for books. Publishers should use any of the following
stickers: ːWarning: May Offend Religious Sentimentsə, ːPotentially Blasphemousə, ːOnly Mildly
Sacrilegiousə, or perhaps ːThis Book Has Been Sanitised and Pre-Censored For Your Comfortə.
Believers of any faith would be able to bypass the book in question without fear that their sentiments would
be hurt through exposure to views on atheism, the challenging of established doctrine, or malicious bigotry
against a particular religion. It would insure the publisher and the author against legal challenges. And should
protesters require multiple copies of an offending book to burn, they could queue up politely like the rest of
us, instead of needing to ransack media or publishing houses.
---
The debate over RV Bhasinˈs book shouldnˈt be about the relatively non-existent merits of the book itself,
but over the far more crucial principles of free speech that underpin the history of books and book-banning in
India. We could start protecting the right to free speech even when that speech is something we might find
personally offensive. Or we could invest in a lot of stickers."

Read more at: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/why-book-bans-don/t-prevent-riots/382412/

by jaskaw @ 12.01.2010 - 11:27:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/12/why-book-bans-don-t-prevent-riots-7739899/
Herb Silverman; Everybody's a blasphemer
Read more at:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/herb_silverman/2010/01/everybodys_a_blasphemer.html

"Q: Atheists are others are protesting a new law in Ireland, under which a person can be found guilty of
blasphemy if "he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters
held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that
religion." The penalty is a fine of up to about $35,000. Should Ireland or any nation have a law against
blasphemy?
I'm certainly no fan of that old time religion, but I do prefer that old time blasphemy to the new version that
purports to be more tolerant. The old kind criminalized critiques of the one True religion, with a capital T. The
new Irish kind criminalizes critiques of any religion.
---
You are only guilty of blasphemy when thin-skinned religionists display bad manners. The crime of
blasphemy has little to do with what you say, and lots to do with how others feel: so insulted and outraged by
it that they want you silenced and punished. In other words, those uncivil libertarians opposed to free speech
determine what is blasphemy.
---
And if I said that blasphemy shouldn't be punished because it's a victimless crime, well that, too, could be
considered blasphemous."

Read more at:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/herb_silverman/2010/01/everybodys_a_blasphemer.html

by jaskaw @ 12.01.2010 - 21:15:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/12/herb-silverman-everybody-s-a-blasphemer-7743114/
Muslim prisoners 'refuse to take part in group
therapy as it's against religion'
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6965825/Muslim-prisoners-refuse-to-take-part-in-group-therapy-

"Muslim prisoners are refusing to take part in group therapy sessions saying it's against their religion to talk
about their 'past crimes' in front of others.
Scores of Britain's 10,000 Muslim prisoners - one in eight of all inmates - are refusing to take part in
Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs ), claiming it is 'forbidden' or 'Haraam'.
Haraam refers to anything that is prohibited by faith, and in Islamic culture criminals are barred from
discussing their offences with others.
Previously, Muslim prisoners refused to take part in Sex Offender Treatment Programmes because it involved
talking about offences against women, but now some are refusing to take part in all rehabilitation sessions
where they have to 'open up' in front of other cons."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6965825/Muslim-prisoners-refuse-to-take-part-in-group-therapy-

by jaskaw @ 12.01.2010 - 23:35:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/12/muslim-prisoners-refuse-to-take-part-in-group-therapy-as-it-s-against-religion-7
How Iran intimidates protesters abroad
Read more at: http://www.blogs.fi/admin/b2edit.php?blog=599716&force_sdata=1&use_old_editor=1

By SEAN EMERY
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
"IRVINE ʒ In July, a UC Irvine student was photographed watching a campus rally about the opposition to
the Iranian government. Five months later, she says her relatives in Iran were visited and questioned by
government officials who had apparently seen the photo on the Orange County Register's Web site.
Expert and local organizers describe the visit as part of an Iranian government effort to use the Internet to
identify protestors and harass family members.
A worldwide movement that has relied heavily on Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook to express
opposition to Iranian authorities has found they aren't the only ones taking advantage of social networking and
media coverage; Iranian government forces are apparently using those same tools to hold citizens accountable
for their relatives' actions outside the country.
The now-former UCI student, whose photo and name ran along with the July article, recently contacted the
Register and successfully asked that the picture be removed from the publication's Web site. The woman ʒ
who said she was an observer at the rally, but not a participant, and is not being named due to her safety
concerns ʒ said she was frightened by news of the visit and worried for her relatives' safety."

Read more at: http://www.blogs.fi/admin/b2edit.php?blog=599716&force_sdata=1&use_old_editor=1

by jaskaw @ 13.01.2010 - 20:28:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/13/how-iran-intimidates-protesters-abroad-7749416/
Robertson: Haiti had pact with devil

Pat Robertson on the Haiti earthquake: "[The people of Haiti] got together and swore a pact to the devil."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson
"Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930)is an American televangelist. He is the founder of
numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the
Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family
Entertainment Inc., Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, and Regent
University. He is the host of The 700 Club, a Christian TV program airing on channels throughout the United
States and on CBN affiliates worldwide.
Robertson is a Southern Baptist and was active as an ordained minister with that denomination for many
years, but holds to a charismatic theology not traditionally common among Southern Baptists. He
unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election. As a
result of his seeking political office, he no longer serves in an official role for any church. His media and
financial resources make him a recognized, influential, and controversial public voice for conservative
Christianity in the United States."
by jaskaw @ 13.01.2010 - 22:57:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/13/robertson-haiti-had-pact-with-devil-7750350/
Feedback for Post "Robertson: Haiti had pact with devil"

base [Visitor]

13.01.2010 @ 23:01
ohhh shit some people :@

Gina [Visitor]

13.01.2010 @ 23:52
WTF?!?! Are there people who actually believe and follow this moron? And why do the media even give a
hoot about him? Isn't it obvious that lunacy is running through his veins? Ugh!!!

Michael [Visitor]

13.01.2010 @ 23:58
Roberton may be a nut but he's not Southern Baptist. He's Pentecostal.

Imma Athiest [Visitor]

http://www.facebook.com/goddamnathiest?ref=profile
14.01.2010 @ 07:05
That's why my friends child refers to Pat Robertson's show as the "Pat Robertson Comedy Hour."

Sasha [Visitor]

14.01.2010 @ 16:24
People that object to Pat's comments about Haiti don't know what took place before the Haitian Revolution. If
they did, they would understand that what he says is correct. HOWEVER, please do not misunderstand... This
does not mean we should not help the Haitians. Our job is to love one another and treat each other the way we
want to be treated. He cares about helping them and hopefully this tragedy will be an opportunity to rebuild
the nation which was suffering before this happened, though now even more so.

So, before you call someone an idiot or a lunatic, please read about Haitian History and what took place in a
Vodou ceremony before the revolution.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
14.01.2010 @ 16:43
Haitis basic problems are not caused by supernatural phenomena or agents, but a very natural circle of poverty
and political backwardness that has been mainly caused by this poverty.

DrKeithCurrie [Visitor]
http://www.chiropracticmarketingsecret.com
14.01.2010 @ 21:11
Lets pray for preacher Pat Robertson So that he can come out from such mind.
We must pray for Haitian So that they over such a massive disaster.
DrKeithCurrie [Visitor]
http://www.chiropracticmarketingsecret.com
14.01.2010 @ 21:13
Lets pray for preacher Pat Robertson So that he can come out from such mind.
We must pray for Haitian So that they over such a massive disaster.

DrKeithCurrie [Visitor]
http://www.chiropracticmarketingsecret.com
14.01.2010 @ 21:15
Lets pray for preacher Pat Robertson So that he can come out from such mind.
We must pray for Haitian So that they over such a massive disaster.
Bad Faith Awards 2009: Pope Benedict XVI
emerges victorious
Read more at: http://newhumanist.org.uk/2205/bad-faith-awards-2009-pope-benedict-xvi-emerges-victorious

Every year, New Humanist presents its Bad Faith Award to the individual deemed by readers to have made
the most outstanding contribution to the cause of unreason. Last year saw a runaway victory for erstwhile US
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, as she romped home with a stunning 33 per cent of the vote. The polls
for this yearˈs award opened in November, and once again they produced a clear winner ʒ the Holy Father
himself, Pope Benedict XVI. He polled an enormous 32 per cent of the 7,037 votes cast ʒ here's a pie chart
breaking it all down, and below is the order in which the ten contenders came:

Winner of the 2009 Bad Faith Award: Pope Benedict XVI (2,287 votes)
2nd place: Adnan Oktar AKA Harun Yahya (1,308 votes)
3rd place: British Chiropractic Association (1,103 votes)
4th place: Tony Blair (641 votes)
5th place: Terry Eagleton & Karen Armstrong (454 votes)
6th place: Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor (426 votes)

Read more at: http://newhumanist.org.uk/2205/bad-faith-awards-2009-pope-benedict-xvi-emerges-victorious

by jaskaw @ 14.01.2010 - 22:38:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/14/bad-faith-awards-2009-pope-benedict-xvi-emerges-victorious-7756844/
Rachel Maddow- Haitian ambassador shames Pat
Robertson

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/34.1/thomson.html

"By November, having lost more than 40,000 troops in battle or from disease, France surrendered and was
forced to leave the island.19 Napoleon's legendary army had been defeated by former slaves with no formal
military training.
The historical impact of the Haitian Revolution would extend far beyond the small Caribbean island. Without
control of the crown jewel of its planned empire, France saw the Louisiana territory as a useless drain on its
resources. Needing money for his renewed war with England, Napoleon sold the vast Louisiana territory to
the United States on April 30, 1803, for about four cents an acre. With this abrupt act, France removed itself
as a power in the Western Hemisphere."

http://www.gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html

"First, however, he had to restore French control of Hispaniola, where Haitian slaves under TOUSSAINT
L'OUVERTURE had seized power (1801). In 1802 a large army sent by Napoleon under his brother-in-law,
Charles Leclerc, arrived on the island to suppress the Haitian rebellion. Despite some military success, the
French lost thousands of soldiers, mainly to yellow fever, and Napoleon soon realized that Hispaniola must be
abandoned. Without that island he had little use for Louisiana. Facing renewed war with Great Britain, he
could not spare troops to defend the territory; he needed funds, moreover, to support his military ventures in
Europe. Accordingly, in April 1803 he offered to sell Louisiana to the United States."
by jaskaw @ 15.01.2010 - 14:50:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/15/rachel-maddow-haitian-ambassador-shames-pat-robertson-7760257/
Televangelist Robertson is Likely Possessed by
Satan
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/televangelist-robertson-i_b_424231.html

by Valerie Tarico
Author of "The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth," and founder,
WisdomCommons.org
"It appears that televangelist Pat Robertson is in the thrall of Satan, according to spiritual warriors, Drs.
Valerie Tarico and Marlene Winell. "It's the only possible explanation," said Tarico. "How else can we make
sense of his repeated attempts to humiliate both God and Christianity in the wake of recent natural disasters."
Tarico spotted what she saw as a suspicious pattern after Robertson's recent remarks about the devastation in
Haiti.
---
Our reporter pointed out that similar comments have been made by Islamic leaders about natural disasters.
---
Both Tarico and Winell saw this as confirmation of their hypothesis. To quote Tarico:
"Anyone who listens to Reverend Hagee knows that Muslim leaders are controlled by Satan himself. And now
you tell me they have been using words that are virtually identical to those of Falwell and Robertson?!
Fawzan Al . . . It sounds a lot like Falwell, doesn't it. Look no further."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/televangelist-robertson-i_b_424231.html

by jaskaw @ 16.01.2010 - 14:05:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/16/televangelist-robertson-is-likely-possessed-by-satan-7765921/
85 sharia courts in UK, says report
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/8581818

Press Association, Monday June 29 2009

"There are as many as 85 sharia courts operating in Britain, according to a new report.
Academic Denis MacEoin, the report's author, said the existence of the courts practising Islamic law could
lead to different legal standards being applied to Muslim and non-Muslim citizens.
He said many of the courts operate out of mosques and their rulings are closed off to non-Muslims.
In previous reports it was claimed there were only five sharia courts in the UK, working in London,
Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham and Nuneaton.
He said: "This is not a matter of eating halal meat or seeking God's blessing on one's marriage. It is a
challenge to what we believe to be the rights and freedoms of the individual, to our concept of a legal system
based on what parliament enacts, and to the right of all of us to live in a society as free as possible from
ethnic-religious division or communal claims to superiority and a special status that puts them in some
respects above the law to which we are all bound."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/8581818

by jaskaw @ 16.01.2010 - 20:15:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/16/85-sharia-courts-in-uk-says-report-7767997/
Non-Believers Giving Aid: a religion-free way to
help disaster victims
Read more and donate at: http://givingaid.richarddawkins.net/

"Spurred by the horrific suffering in Haiti, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS)
has set up a dedicated bank account and PayPal facility to collect donations to non-religious relief
organizations. This new account is in the new name of Non-Believers Giving Aid, with all of the money
donated being distributed to disaster relief.
Clearly the immediate need is for the suffering people of Haiti, and all the money raised by this current appeal
will go that cause, but the new account will remain available for future emergencies too. There are, of course,
many ways for you to donate to relief organizations already, but doing it through Non-Believers Giving Aid
offers some advantages:
1. 100% of your donation will be go to these charities: not even the PayPal fees will be deducted from your
donation, since Richard will personally donate a sum to cover the cost of these (capped at $10,000). This
means that more of your money will reach the people in need.
2. When donating via Non-Believers Giving Aid, you are helping to counter the scandalous myth that only the
religious care about their fellow-humans.
It goes without saying that your donations will only be passed on to aid organizations that do not have
religious affiliations. In the case of Haiti, the two organizations we have chosen are:

* Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières)

* International Red Cross"

Organizations and supporters actively involved in this effort:

Atheist Alliance International
Atheists United
The British Humanist Association
James Randi Educational Foundation
Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
Pharyngula
The Reason Project
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
The Skeptics Society

Read more and donate at: http://givingaid.richarddawkins.net/

by jaskaw @ 17.01.2010 - 01:27:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/16/non-believers-giving-aid-a-religion-free-way-to-help-disaster-victims-7769376/
BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010)
BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 1/6)

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 2/6)

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 3/6)

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 4/6)

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 5/6)

BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) (Part 6/6)

BBC says: "Chaos theory has a bad name, conjuring up images of unpredictable weather, economic crashes
and science gone wrong. But there is a fascinating and hidden side to Chaos, one that scientists are only now
beginning to understand.
It turns out that chaos theory answers a question that mankind has asked for millennia - how did we get here?
In this documentary, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to uncover one of the great mysteries of science - how
does a universe that starts off as dust end up with intelligent life? How does order emerge from disorder."
by jaskaw @ 17.01.2010 - 17:43:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/17/bbc-the-secret-life-of-chaos-7774573/
Feedback for Post "BBC - The Secret Life of Chaos (2010) "

Anders [Visitor]
http://www.infidels.org
19.01.2010 @ 14:18
One of the most amazing and interesting documentary I have ever seen.
Making Darwin the Legend a Man Again
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/movies/17creation.html

By SYLVIANE GOLD
Published: January 14, 2010
"PALE, winded, a blanket draped across his twitching knees, a sick, despondent man confides his woes to the
minister who has stopped by. Stretching a sympathetic arm around the manˈs shoulders, the minister
murmurs, ːGod moves in mysterious ways.ə
Yes, yes, the man agrees with a glower, adding that ːhe has endowed us ō in all his blessed generosity ō with
not one but 900 species of intestinal worm.ə
As a comeback the line may not rank with ːMake my day.ə But ː900 species of intestinal wormə is a pretty
fair rebuttal to the idea of a beneficent creator, and the minister doesnˈt try to argue. He retreats, insulted by
his old friendˈs hostility.
Itˈs not the only moment that finds the forces of religion in retreat in ːCreation,ə Jon Amielˈs new film
about Charles Darwin. And if arguments about the existence of God were not enough to mark ːCreationə as,
well, highly unorthodox, the movie also dares to be unapologetically eclectic in style, incorporating elements
of historical drama, psychological thriller, horror, romance and ghost story in recounting, with minimal
fictional flourishes, how Darwin came to publish his landmark theory of evolution by natural selection."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/movies/17creation.html

by jaskaw @ 17.01.2010 - 19:25:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/17/making-darwin-the-legend-a-man-again-7775230/
Some Haitians See Hand of God in Earthquake
Read more at: http://www.sphere.com/world/article/some-haitians-see-hand-of-god-in-earthquake/19320241

Michelle Faul, AP
"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 17) - Deeply religious Haitians see the hand of God in the destruction of
biblical proportions visited on their benighted country. The quake, religious leaders said Sunday, is evidence
that He wants change.
Exactly what change He wants depends on the faith: Some Christians say it's a sign that Haitians must deepen
their faith, while some Voodoo followers see God's judgment on corruption among the country's mostly
light-skinned elite.
---
And in that sense, the earthquake seems to have been counterproductive in terms of salvation.
"How could He do this to us?" cried Remi Polevard, who said his five children lie beneath in the rubble of a
home near St. Gerard University. "There is no God."
Sunday night, as downtown residents began burning some of the bodies that have been rotting on the streets
for five days, a woman walking by in an orange dress pulled out a copy of the Bible.
She flung it into the fire."

Read more at: http://www.sphere.com/world/article/some-haitians-see-hand-of-god-in-earthquake/19320241

by jaskaw @ 18.01.2010 - 22:31:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/18/some-haitians-see-hand-of-god-in-earthquake-7783072/
U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret
'Jesus' Bible Codes
Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9575794

by JOSEPH RHEE, TAHMAN BRADLEY and BRIAN ROSS

Jan. 18, 2010 ō
"Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle
sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were
drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against
al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.
One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the
New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the
light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9575794

by jaskaw @ 19.01.2010 - 12:34:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/19/u-s-military-weapons-inscribed-with-secret-jesus-bible-codes-7785967/
Feedback for Post "U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With
Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes "

Anthony Oland [Visitor]

19.01.2010 @ 16:55
Who is responsible, who will get a slap on the hand?

max benser [Visitor]

http://jesus+hitler
23.01.2010 @ 21:17
Military Bible!
1. Militarism+War+Genocide!!!
2. Pedophily+Incest+Cannibalism
3. Monotheism+Fashism+Phallophily+Theokraty
4. Judaism+Cionism+Apartheid+Separatism+Slavery
5. Criminals of the Bible
6. Deuteronomy+Holocaust
7. Adolf Hitlers Bible
8. Nazi-Bible
9. Children Bible+Familiy Bible
Atheist 100%

max benser [Visitor]

http://jesus+hitler
23.01.2010 @ 21:21
We have today about 750.000 Pedofils in Internet!!!
1. But we have to much Pedofils in Cath. and Ev. Church
2. Pedophily in the Bible!!!
3. Children Bible
4. Family Bible
5. Christmas Pedophilbible!
6. Jesus was an big Pedophil
7. David was a biggest Pedophil i jewish Story!
8. Christian Pedophil,s Churchs of Jesus Christ!!!
9. Christian criminal Education!
Atheist 100%
Haiti's "pact with the devil" myth explained
Read more at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2010/01/13/haiti_satan_pact?source=newsletter

How Pat Robertson turned a country's origin myth into a cheap invocation of Satanism
BY THOMAS ROGERS
"One of the most callous reactions to the Haiti disaster thus far has come from televangelist Pat Robertson,
who told viewers of his Christian Broadcasting Network on Wednesday morning that he knew the real reason
for the quake: The country's long-standing pact with Satan.
But is it a true story? We spoke with Andrew Apter, professor of history and anthopology at UCLA, about
Haiti's voodoo traditions, the ignorance behind the evangelical community's distortions and the real cause of
suffering in the third-world country.
Is there any truth to what Pat Robertson is saying?
Of course not! Haitians are Christians. Pat Robertson's language is the reductio ad absurdum of the Christian
right. It's so absurd it's almost funny. This notion of a pact with the devil is basically an echo of an old
colonial response to the successes of the 1790s Haitian revolution.
---
This is hate speech. It's saying these people are damned. It's a frequent theme among some Christians that
Haiti is being punished for this supposed pact with extreme poverty and humanitarian crises. Tragically, many
evangelical Christians in Haiti may actually, in their own extreme confusion and suffering and desperation,
believe that God is punishing them."

Read more at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2010/01/13/haiti_satan_pact?source=newsletter

by jaskaw @ 20.01.2010 - 10:48:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/20/haiti-s-pact-with-the-devil-myth-explained-7792609/
The Creation "Museum" in Vanity Fair
Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/01/creation-museum-vanity-fair-005287

"A. A. Gill reports on his visit to Answers in Genesis's Creation "Museum" in the February 2010 issue of
Vanity Fair ō "a breathtakingly literal march through Genesis, without any hint of soul." "The Creation
Museum isn't really a museum at all," Gill writes. "It's an argument. It's not even an argument. It's the
ammunition for an argument. It is the Word made into bullets. An armory of righteous revisionism. ... This
place doesn't just take on evolution ō it squares off with geology, anthropology, paleontology, history,
chemistry, astronomy, zoology, biology, and good taste. It directly and boldly contradicts most -onomies and
all -ologies, including most theology.
Accompanying Gill was the actor Paul Bettany, who plays Charles Darwin in the film Creation. (Creation
premieres in the United States on January 22, 2010, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington
DC, and Boston. Remember, a strong opening weekend improves the chances that the film will subsequently
appear in further cities, so NCSE encourages its members and friends to show up in force!) A number of
Bettany's photographs from their visit to the Creation "Museum" appear on Vanity Fair's website, although he
seems to have missed the ceratopsian accoutered with a saddle (photographed by Daniel Phelps)."

Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/01/creation-museum-vanity-fair-005287

by jaskaw @ 20.01.2010 - 22:48:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/20/the-creation-museum-in-vanity-fair-7843781/
Religious riots spread despite Nigerian troops
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/religious-riots-spread-despite-nigerian-troops-1874226.html

Almost 500 believed dead after clashes between Muslims and Christians
By Alex Duval Smith
"Sectarian violence spread to two more cities in central Nigeria last night, after troops brought calm to Jos by
forcing residents to stay indoors.
As street clashes broke out in Pankshin and Mangu, one report said 464 people had died in Jos, where the
fighting between Christians and Muslims began on Sunday. "The figure sounds credible," said local reporter
Bashir Ibrahim Idris, "but it is impossible to verify due to the 24-hour curfew".
The trouble apparently began when Kadir Mohammed, a Muslim technician with the Energy Commission,
decided to return to his house in Nasarawa, which is now a densely-populated Christian area, and was
prevented from entering. The ensuing stand-off saw Christians stone Muslim youths who burnt a Catholic
church. Reports vary of who started the violence."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/religious-riots-spread-despite-nigerian-troops-1874226.html
and
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-big-question-is-nigeria-teetering-on-the-brink-of-a-major-crisis-1

by jaskaw @ 21.01.2010 - 12:14:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/21/religious-riots-spread-despite-nigerian-troops-7845344/
Feedback for Post "Religious riots spread despite Nigerian
troops"

Larry Carter Center [Visitor]

http://www.atheists.org
22.01.2010 @ 02:12
Now, more than ever we need world wide Atheist activism... pro actively confronting perpetrators of religious
insane ideas that may lead to violent religious actions....843-926-1750 Dial An Atheist Larry Carter Center
Muhammad Cartoonist Defiant After Attack
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-672716.html

By Henryk M. Broder
"Four years ago, Kurt Westergaard triggered a bitter clash of cultures with his cartoon depicting the Prophet
Muhammad. On New Year's Day, a young Muslim from Somalia tried to kill him with a knife and an ax.
Despite having to live under constant protection, the Danish cartoonist refuses to give up.
He supports himself with a cane as he stands in the hallway, staring at the demolished bathroom door. A sheet
of particleboard has been nailed to the door to hold it together, but the indentations from the ax are still visible
in the frame, where some of the wood was chipped off. In a few days, workers will install a steel door and an
alarm system, and a pavilion will be built in the garden for the police officers assigned to protect him. Kurt
Westergaard's house has to be turned into a fortress.
---
"It is simply absurd that you have to fear for your life in your own house and your own country, because, as a
cartoonist, you have an opinion that others don't like." He says that he has also poked fun at Christianity, and
once drew a cartoon of Jesus stepping down from the cross in an Armani suit. "People were upset about that,
too, but it was all over after a week."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-672716.html

by jaskaw @ 21.01.2010 - 22:49:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/21/muhammad-cartoonist-defiant-after-attack-7849911/
The Bible Is True!

The Chaser's War on Everything was an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television station ABC1. It has won an AFI Award. The cast
perform sketches mocking social and political issues, and often feature comedic publicity stunts.
The series is produced by the Australian satirical group, The Chaser, consisting of Chris Taylor, Julian
Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen, and Chas Licciardello. Fellow Chaser members Dominic Knight
and Charles Firth are not part of the regular on-screen cast. However, Knight is a writer, and Firth compiled
roving reports for the show from the United States, until he left the group to start a satirical newspaper in
mid-2007.
The show premiered on 17 February 2006 and has since produced 58 episodes, broadcast over three seasons
between 2006 to 2007 as well as during 2009. The first season was broadcast at an unstable late timeslot on
Friday nights. The second and third seasons were broadcast in a more favourable timeslot of Wednesdays at 9
pm. The show did not return in 2008, but returned on the 27th of May 2009 for the third season featuring only
ten episodes.

by jaskaw @ 22.01.2010 - 19:18:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/22/the-bible-is-true-7854837/
Feedback for Post "The Bible Is True!"

Jerzy [Visitor]

23.01.2010 @ 11:05
Perhaps 63% believe in Bible but hardly anybody reads it. Thats why they think it is historical and literally
true story. I talked to many belivers in Poland. Some never had Bible in hands at all.
Ricky Gervais takes a philosophical turn
Read more: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100122/ENT01/1220309?source=rss_entertainment

---
With "The Invention of Lying," out earlier this week (DVD, Blu-ray, PG-13), Gervais takes his shtick into
another inventive area. Co-written and co-directed by Gervais (with Matthew Robinson), "Lying" sets up an
alternative universe in which all people tell the truth at all times. It's a world in which humans do not possess
a "lying gene," which eliminates such stuff as storytelling.
In this world, Pepsi signs read, "For when they don't have Coke," and a nursing home is a "sad place where
homeless old people come to die."
---
What has already been a clever and funny movie then takes a clever, funny and philosophical turn. In addition
to using lying to obtain money from banks and get rehired at his job, Mark tries to comfort his dying mother
(Fionulla Flanagan) by telling her that a wonderful afterlife awaits her. Mark is overheard by hospital staffers
and soon his story about what happens after we die makes him famous.
This all leads to a remarkable scene in which Mark, now beleaguered by thousands of people who want to
know more, tells those assembled that there is a "Man in the Sky" who determines all that happens on earth.
People greet this amazing news with excitement, confusion and lots of questions.
Although Gervais is clearly having some gentle, good-natured fun at the expense of religious belief based on
faith, "The Invention of Lying" (originally entitled "This Side of the Truth") wears its atheism lightly. Gervais'
humor raises questions but doesn't preach. The story runs out of gas toward the end and succumbs to some
predictable conventions of romantic comedy. But it never loses its intelligence, humor or heart."

Read more: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100122/ENT01/1220309?source=rss_entertainment

More info in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_Lying

by jaskaw @ 23.01.2010 - 18:05:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/23/ricky-gervais-takes-a-philosophical-turn-7860241/
Feedback for Post "Ricky Gervais takes a philosophical
turn"

Ricky Gervais Tickets [Visitor]

http://www.yourticketmarket.com/Ricky-Gervais-Tickets
25.01.2010 @ 13:00
Buy & Sell Ricky Gervais Tickets through YourTicketMarket.com. One stop shop to catch your favouite
event Tickets like Ricky Gervais Tickets, Guaranteed, Fast and Secure!
Ricky Gervais Tickets are on Sale at Yourticketmarket.com
RTE Prime Time Report on Ireland's Blasphemy
Law

RTE Prime Time Report on Ireland's Blasphemy Law - Part 2

RTE's Prime Time Report on Ireland's Blasphemy Law - 12.01.2010. Entitled "A Holy Show".
by jaskaw @ 23.01.2010 - 20:21:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/23/rte-prime-time-report-on-ireland-s-blasphemy-law-7860930/
Plans collapse for Britain's biggest mosque in
London
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8465694.stm

"Plans to build Britain's biggest mosque in east London have collapsed.

The Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamaat wanted to create a place of worship lose to the Olympic site
which could have accommodated 12,000 people.
Newham Council said planning permission for land in Abbey Mills expired in 2006 and a January deadline
for the group to come up with a masterplan had passed.
Tablighi Jamaat, which has not been available for comment, has been told to leave the Abbey Mills site this
week.
It has been operating an illegal temporary mosque at Abbey Mills, which is just south of the London 2012
Olympics site in Stratford.
There was strong opposition when the group unveiled its plans for the 7.3-hectare (18-acre) site.
More than 48,000 people petitioned the government to prevent it."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8465694.stm

by jaskaw @ 24.01.2010 - 21:17:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/24/plans-collapse-for-britain-s-biggest-mosque-in-london-7866990/
Feedback for Post "Plans collapse for Britain's biggest
mosque in London"

Stratford [Visitor]
http://www.StratfordInternational.Info/
24.02.2010 @ 14:40
I don't really understand how you can have an illegal place of worship- this is a real shame. People should be
able to practice their beliefs wherever they feel, and the council is right, it would benefit the community, plus
would be useful during the Olympics for people travelling from other areas.

Tina
Holy water puts 117 Russians in the hospital
Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35054709/ns/world_news-europe/

"MOSCOW - More than 100 Russian Orthodox believers have been hospitalized after drinking holy water
during Epiphany celebrations in the eastern city of Irkutsk, authorities in Siberia said.
A spokesman for local investigators told The Associated Press on Monday that 117 people, including 48
children, are in the hospital complaining of acute intestinal pain after drinking water from wells around a local
church last week.
Many Russians consider any water obtained on Epiphany ō which they celebrate on Jan. 19 ō to be holy."

Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35054709/ns/world_news-europe/

by jaskaw @ 25.01.2010 - 14:37:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/25/holy-water-puts-117-russians-in-the-hospital-7870591/
Catholics cry foul as Celebrity Cruises drops
priests from voyages
Read more at: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=16197.blog

"Celebrity Cruises this month quietly ended its long tradition of carrying Catholic priests on ships in a move
that has some Catholics crying foul.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York has issued a statement of protest saying the
line has given in to "bigots" that had complained about the presence of priests on ships.
The Catholic League cites a letter Celebrity sent to priests affected by the change that said the line had
received "a great deal of negative feedback pertaining to the selective support" of one particular religion."

Read more at: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=16197.blog

by jaskaw @ 25.01.2010 - 23:18:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/25/catholics-cry-foul-as-celebrity-cruises-drops-priests-from-voyages-7874166/
Feedback for Post "Catholics cry foul as Celebrity Cruises
drops priests from voyages "

leland61 [Member]
26.01.2010 @ 06:47

Just another example of clergy getting a free ride for peddling superstition and nonsense.

Fr33think3r [Visitor]

27.01.2010 @ 00:01
Let the buy their own tickets.
Paul Bettany on Charles Darwin: 'He Was an
Atheist and So Am I'
Read more at http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/2010/0120-paul-bettany-creation.html

"Paul Bettany is going to opposite extremes in his current big screen appearances. He's a machine gun-toting
angel trying to save the world in Legion and controversial scientist Charles Darwin in the period film
Creation."
--
"I couldn't believe the amount of violence that you can find on the Internet directed at a man who's been dead
for a very long time. There's vicious diatribes full of hatred for Darwin. Actually, he was, by all accounts, one
of the sweetest human beings you can possibly imagine. But there are still a lot of people who just can't accept
his thinking without getting irrational. He was an atheist and so am I, but I don't think that makes me
immoral."

Read more at http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/2010/0120-paul-bettany-creation.html

by jaskaw @ 26.01.2010 - 12:16:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/26/paul-bettany-on-charles-darwin-he-was-an-atheist-and-so-am-i-7876691/
Problem of evil and religion's double standard
Read more at:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/daniel_c_dennett/2010/01/problem_of_evil_and_religions_doub

Daniel C. Dennett
Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University

"One of the striking differences between modern, "organized" religion and tribal or folk religions--religions
without seminaries and theologians and official books--is that in tribal religions they have no double standard!
They thank their gods for the good stuff that happens and blame them for the bad. The idea that God is a
worthy recipient of our gratitude for the blessings of life but should not be held accountable for the disasters is
a transparently disingenuous innovation of the theologians. And of course it doesn't work all that well. The
Problem of Evil, capital letters and all, is the central enigma confronting theists. There is no solution. Isn't that
obvious? All the holy texts and interpretations that contrive ways of getting around the problem read like the
fine print in a fraudulent contract--and for the same reason: they are desperate attempts to conceal the
implications of the double standard they have invented."

Read more at:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/daniel_c_dennett/2010/01/problem_of_evil_and_religions_doub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett

by jaskaw @ 26.01.2010 - 23:00:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/26/problem-of-evil-and-religion-s-double-standard-7880543/
Scientologists "heal" disaster patients by touching
in Haiti
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/now-scientology-plants-its-flag-in-haiti-1879970.html

By Kim Sengupta in Port-au-Prince

"The "phenomenon" has landed to bring relief to the dispossessed of Haiti. John Travolta was in the pilot's
seat of his Boeing 707 flying in doctors, medical supplies, ready-to-eat military rations ʒ and Scientology
ministers.
Travolta's visit ʒ which the star called Operation Phenomenon ʒ is not the first Scientologist trip to Haiti
since the shattering earthquake a fortnight ago: there are already 150 members in Haiti, as well as 250 medical
staff. Soon the group hopes to have 400 of each in place.
---
Medicine was not in much greater supply than food. But a group of Scientologists working in the hospital
courtyard shrugged off the shortages, saying they were healing patients through "the power of touch to
reconnect nervous systems". Sylvie, a French woman, said: "We are trained as volunteer ministers, we use a
process called 'assist' to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points."
Doctors were sceptical. "I didn't know touching could heal gangrene," one said. L Ron Hubbard, founder of
the group, once wrote about a technique called "casualty contact", which sought to exploit disasters as
recruiting opportunities, but warned his followers against portraying them as such to outsiders."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/now-scientology-plants-its-flag-in-haiti-1879970.html

by jaskaw @ 27.01.2010 - 12:13:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/27/scientologies-heal-disaster-patients-by-touching-in-haiti-7883644/
'Oral sex' definition prompts dictionary ban in US
schools
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/25/oral-sex-dictionary-ban-us-schools

A parent's complaint over a 'sexually graphic' definition has seen dictionaries removed from southern
Californian schools

By Alison Flood
"Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained
about a child reading the definition for "oral sex".
Merriam Webster's 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade
classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over
fears that the "sexually graphic" entry is "just not age appropriate", according to the area's local paper.
The dictionary's online definition of the term is "oral stimulation of the genitals". "It's hard to sit and read the
dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature," district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus
told the paper."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/25/oral-sex-dictionary-ban-us-schools

by jaskaw @ 27.01.2010 - 13:14:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/27/oral-sex-definition-prompts-dictionary-ban-in-us-schools-7883931/
Feedback for Post "'Oral sex' definition prompts dictionary
ban in US schools"

LV [Visitor]

27.01.2010 @ 19:24
This just proves that some people have way too much time on their hands.

Free Thinker [Visitor]

09.04.2010 @ 15:06
This infact proves that some people should not have children at all due to their gross incapacity to judge what
is beneficial to their children.
Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself With Belt,
Book Says
Read more at:
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/book-says-pope-john-paul-ii-whipped-himself-with-belt/19332641

VATICAN CITY, Italy (Jan. 26) -- Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept
on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by
the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case.
The book, "Why He's a Saint," also includes previously unpublished speeches and documents written by John
Paul, including one 1989 signed memo in which he said he would resign if he became incapacitated.
n the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food -- especially during the holy season of
Lent -- and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't
draw attention to his act of penitence.
---
"As some members of his close entourage in Poland and in the Vatican were able to hear with their own ears,
John Paul flagellated himself. In his armoire, amid all the vestments and hanging on a hanger, was a belt
which he used as a whip and which he always brought to Castel Gandolfo," the papal retreat where John Paul
vacationed each summer.
While there had long been rumors that John Paul practiced self-mortification, the book provides the first
confirmation and concludes he did so as an example of his faith."

Read more at:

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/book-says-pope-john-paul-ii-whipped-himself-with-belt/19332641

by jaskaw @ 28.01.2010 - 10:35:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/28/pope-john-paul-ii-whipped-himself-with-belt-book-says-7889649/
Iran executes two over post-election unrest as
'enemies of God'
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8484478.stm

"Iran has executed two men arrested during the period of widespread unrest that erupted after June's disputed
presidential election, reports say.
They had been convicted of being "enemies of God", members of armed groups and trying to topple the
Islamic establishment, Isna news agency said.
The executions are believed to be the first related to last year's protests.
Millions demanded a re-run of June's poll at the largest demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8484478.stm

by jaskaw @ 28.01.2010 - 20:27:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/28/iran-executes-two-over-post-election-unrest-as-enemies-of-god-7892928/
Massive overdose of homeopathy in Britain
Read more: http://www.1023.org.uk/the-1023-overdose-event.php

"At 10:23am on January 30th, more than three hundred homeopathy sceptics nationwide will be taking part in
a mass homeopathic 'overdose' in protest at Boots' continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies,
and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them.
Sceptics and consumer rights activists will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic 'pillules' to
demonstrate that these 'remedies', prepared according to a long-discredited 18th century ritual, are nothing but
sugar pills.
The protest aims to raise public awareness about the reality of homeopathy, and put further pressure on Boots
to live up to its responsibilites as the 'scientist on the high street' and stop selling treatments which do not
work."

http://www.1023.org.uk/the-1023-overdose-event.php

by jaskaw @ 29.01.2010 - 12:10:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/29/massive-overdose-of-homepathy-in-britain-7896973/
Feedback for Post "Massive overdose of homeopathy in
Britain"

Dr Nancy Malik [Visitor]

http://www.google.com/profiles/Dr.NancyMalik
29.01.2010 @ 13:21
Real (Homeopathic) medicine cures even when Conventional Allopathic Medicine (CAM) fails

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
29.01.2010 @ 13:27
Dear Nancy Malik, from what field of science did you get that "Dr."? Could it really have been medicine?
United States grants political asylum for Christian
German homeschoolers
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,674492,00.html

Evangelical Christians Celebrate Victory over 'Embarrassed' Germany

By Christoph Titz and Carola Padtberg
"A German couple who wanted to homeschool their children have been granted political asylum in the US.
Evangelical Christians have welcomed the decision, claiming that Germany was trying to "coerce ideological
uniformity" through its ban on homeschooling.
Christian fundamentalists have welcomed the decision by a US court to award a German family political
asylum in the United States because the parents were unwilling to subject their children to mandatory school
attendance rules in Germany.
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike from the town of Bissingen in the southwestern German state of
Baden-Württemberg wanted to teach their five children at home because they feared that they were being
taught an "anti-Christian worldview" in public schools."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,674492,00.html

by jaskaw @ 29.01.2010 - 12:57:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/29/united-states-grants-political-asylum-for-german-homeschoolers-7897186/
The Weird World of Occult America
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/145468/the_weird_world_of_occult_america_--_how_mysticism_shaped_our_nation

If witch-burning Puritans are the original jocks of American history, then the mystics surrounding Johannes
Kelpius are the first goths. While the rest of the British colonies were still dutifully worshipping their angry
Christian god, Kelpius and his followersōwho fled Austria to settle in Philadelphia during the late
seventeenth-centuryōbusied themselves with astrology, alchemy, Kabbalah, and other ːdark artsə with
tangled roots in the Italian Renaissance, the Rosicrucian Enlightenment, and various (often fabricated)
antiquities. We meet Kelpius early in Mitch Horowitzˈs Occult America: The Secret History of How
Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, an uneven but always interesting account of 400 years of New World Strange.
Among the several misconceptions Horowitz seeks to dispel, the most foundational is the idea that Colonial
America provided shelter only for persecuted Christian sects. Almost from the beginning, North America was
also home to a fair number of those who, like Kelpius, had more arcane spiritual interests.
Horowitz never claims that these beliefs were as formative an influence as Christianity in the making of
America, but after finishing his book, one canˈt help but wonder if maybe Ouija boards donˈt belong next to
King James in every motel room.

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/145468/the_weird_world_of_occult_america_--_how_mysticism_shaped_our_nation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Horowitz

by jaskaw @ 30.01.2010 - 12:18:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/30/the-weird-world-of-occult-america-how-mysticism-shaped-our-nation-7903315/
Evidence for Evolution

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZOMGitsCriss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_evolutionary_thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_ideas_of_the_renaissance_and_enlightenment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception_of_Darwin%27s_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Darwin%27s_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_of_Darwin%27s_theory
by jaskaw @ 30.01.2010 - 13:19:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/30/evidence-for-evolution-7903603/
Feedback for Post "Evidence for Evolution"

rita [Visitor]

31.01.2010 @ 00:15
thanks for your video I found it interesting and very useful for my 9 yr old son in learning about evolution, the
only thing is you might want to shorten your speaking or break it up with more graphics in last few minutes.
Otherwise well done I look forward to your next one
Cheers
Rita from Australia
"We should not absolve Islam of the crimes
committed in its name"
Read more at:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/spectator/thisweek/5734983/we-should-not-absolve-islam-of-the-crimes-committed-in-its-n

Rod Liddle says itˈs difficult to ignore the fact that the worst violations of human rights happen in countries
dominated by an Islamic ideology
"A young girl in Bangladesh has been sentenced to 101 lashes for having become pregnant as a consequence
of being raped. Her father will also have to pay a fine to the local Islamic savages who presided over the case.
The rapist was pardoned by the village elders. The girl, who married shortly after the attack, has since been
divorced in the usual peremptory Islamic manner.
---
Incidentally, when Bangladesh isnˈt being touted as a modern, progressive Islamic state the mantle
sometimes falls upon Malaysia (which, in truth, has far greater claim to it). But try renouncing Islam in
Malaysia and see how far you get: interminable court proceedings and the likelihood of a jail sentence at the
end.
---
But by and large you cannot escape the conclusion that the most repulsive invasions of human rights that we
see in the world today take place in countries where the national ideology is devolved from Islam. And the
more directly or purely it is so devolved, the more primitive and savage it is."

Read more at:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/spectator/thisweek/5734983/we-should-not-absolve-islam-of-the-crimes-committed-in-its-n

by jaskaw @ 30.01.2010 - 22:14:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/30/we-should-not-absolve-islam-of-the-crimes-committed-in-its-name-7906654/
Feedback for Post ""We should not absolve Islam of the
crimes committed in its name""

Pi [Visitor]

30.01.2010 @ 23:56
Nazi Germany was a christian nation.

lambda [Visitor]

31.01.2010 @ 02:47
@Pi and so were all the European countries involved in centuries worth of slave trade and colonialism.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
31.01.2010 @ 03:10
So? Does this fact absolve Islam from all blame for the awful things that are done because of it? If Peter and
Paul are both thieves, does it make Paul a lesser thief if he blames Peter for being a thief too?

Freethinkingdood [Visitor]

01.02.2010 @ 08:08
Hey, you want to punish Islam alright, but first you'll also have to punish the other religions for what they've
done.

You can't say "Hey, Islam was responsible for 9/11, and a few thousand deaths, so lets punish them" without
also going "Oh wait a minute, Christianity was also responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of
American Indians, Africans, Arabs...ect..."

So no, two religions doing awful things doesn't absolve one or the other of the awful things, but it does mean
if you want to punish one religion, you also have to punish the others.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
01.02.2010 @ 10:33
Yes, but it is a quite different thing to punish Paul because his grandfather was a thief than to punish Peter
because he is constantly thieving.
Christianity has simply evolved when Islam has gone to the opposite direction towards a return to medieval
darkness.
Christians do not burn people at stake any more, but human rights of millions of people are put to risk daily
because of Islam.
The harsh and cruel dictatorial Islamic regime of Iran kills just now ordinary people just because they oppose
the rule based on religion.
In Saudi-Arabia extremely cruel, medieval punishments are meted out for minor things that would not even be
classed as criminal offences at all without the ruling religion.
Priest checks fingerprints for mass attendance
Read more at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/od_nm/us_fingerprints;_ylt=AipCqMgryGeJKZchB3a_dd.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDM

"WARSAW (Reuters) ʒ A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to
leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on
Friday.
The pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if they attend 200
masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation, the paper
said.
The pupils in the southern town of Gryfow Slaski told the daily they liked the idea and also the priest,
Grzegorz Sowa, who invented it."

Read more at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/od_nm/us_fingerprints;_ylt=AipCqMgryGeJKZchB3a_dd.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDM

by jaskaw @ 31.01.2010 - 17:46:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/31/priest-checks-fingerprints-for-mass-attendance-7911296/
Feedback for Post "Priest checks fingerprints for mass
attendance"

ogierek [Visitor]

02.02.2010 @ 22:01
Owned.

prawdziwy polak [Visitor]

03.02.2010 @ 16:46
tylko pod krzyzem tylko pod tym znakiem polska bedzie polska a polak polakiem\

prawdziwszy polak [Visitor]

08.02.2010 @ 11:16
pierdoły.

qUqU [Visitor]
http://www.polskadziwnykraj.pl
11.02.2010 @ 22:58
moznaby pomyslec ze to taki nowoczesny komunizm !?!
tylko ze katolikow w Polsce jest juz coraz mniej
Ricky Gervais: 'The Invention Of Lying isn't atheist
propaganda'
How Ricky Gervais became the clown prince of Hollywood

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1246718/Ricky-Gervais-The-clown-prince-Hollywood.html?ITO=14

By COLE MORETON
---
Ricky Gervais on his new movie "The Invention Of Lying"
'We tried to do It's A Wonderful Life. I thought it would be even more shocking if you started watching a
sweet romcom that suddenly went, "There's no God and we're all going to die. The futility of life is dreadful,
and I'm going to lie to my dying mother."' A son dreams up Heaven as a comfort; soon a religion is built on
the lie.
Gervais is a very public unbeliever who attacks religion in his stand-up shows, but like Richard Dawkins he
goes for easy targets like creationism, not the subtleties of grown-up faith. I suggest his unshakeable
confidence in science is another kind of faith, but he laughs in my face.
'The Invention Of Lying isn't atheist propaganda. It's a fictional world. In my world, there's no God. Whether
you believe there is or isn't a God, organised religion is something else. They can't all be right. I don't know
why they're arguing.'
Ricky Gervais
---
'When my mum was dying, and she had about nine months, I planned if she ever asked if there was a God I
would go, "Definitely." She didn't ask. Gutting.'
I laugh because he wants me to, but it's not funny, really.
'No,' he says, quietly. 'It's sweet. And it's sad and messed up.'
Why was he ready to lie?
'It would've served no purpose, telling a scared person that there is no God and this is the end.'

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1246718/Ricky-Gervais-The-clown-prince-Hollywood.html?ITO=14

by jaskaw @ 31.01.2010 - 18:30:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/01/31/the-invention-of-lying-isn-t-atheist-propaganda-7911588/
Feedback for Post "Ricky Gervais: 'The Invention Of Lying
isn't atheist propaganda'"

SteveC [Visitor]

31.01.2010 @ 22:30
"subtleties of grown-up faith" Haha. Hilarious.

Robi [Visitor]

01.02.2010 @ 16:19
Grown-up faith? Seriously? Since when is believing in an imaginary friend considered "grown-up"?

bill bunt [Visitor]

03.02.2010 @ 14:15
worst interviewer ever, the guy who did the interview was clearly jelous and a religious prick also ricky
gervais doesnt have a degree in phsycology he has one in philosophy, typical daily hail bullshit!

priscillak [Member]
20.04.2010 @ 18:05

Ricky Gervais says it as it is. This interviewer seems to have it in for him from the start.
Invention of Lying is a brilliant film.
Voodoo: The old religion rises from the rubble in
Haiti
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/voodoo-the-old-religion-rises-from-the-rubble-in-haiti-1885176.ht

---
"The disaster has moved voodoo centre-stage in Haiti. Yesterday, 1,000 members of the national convention
of voodoo priests met in an emergency session to formulate their response to it. Failure to take decisive action,
they warned, could bring down another disaster on the shattered country."
---
"In the quake's aftermath, the island has seen a surge of religious organisations, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and
even Sikh, mostly offering relief, but some also proselytising.
The Scientologists have the highest profile, with one of their most prominent members, Hollywood star John
Travolta, flying in members of the church and supplies, on his private jet. An outfit called Faith Comes By
Hearing have sent 600 solar powered Bibles. The Church of the True Path recommends that Haitians should
cleanse themselves by fasting ʒ something which many are already doing, albeit involuntarily.
But the foreigners have trouble competing with voodoo, the fusion of African religions and Christianity which
found its first adherents among the original slave population, and which is now deeply ingrained in the culture
of the country.
It's a faith that leaps barriers: as the Haitian saying goes, people here are "60 per cent Catholic, 40 per cent
Protestant and 100 per cent voodoo."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/voodoo-the-old-religion-rises-from-the-rubble-in-haiti-1885176.ht

by jaskaw @ 01.02.2010 - 12:39:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/01/voodoo-the-old-religion-rises-from-the-rubble-in-haiti-7916394/
Embarrassment for the Catholic Church, Bishop
Williamson Unrepentent in Holocaust Denial
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,675163,00.html#ref=nlint

By Peter Wensierski and Steffen Winter

"Controversial Bishop Richard Williamson continues in his denial of the Holocaust, embarrassing both the
Society of St. Pius to which he belongs and the Vatican. But the SSPX is becoming increasingly powerful
despite the controversy and is attracting more and more supporters.
---
Williamson has no intention of revising his views on the gas chambers. When Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld
sent him a book about the history of the Holocaust last year, he set it aside, unread. "The fact is that the 6
million people who were supposedly gassed represent a huge lie," he wrote recently to his fellow members of
the SSPX, noting that "a completely new world order was built" on this "fact." The Jews, he added, "became
ersatz saviors thanks to the concentration camps."
---
Williamson, after refusing to pay a fine of ‫أ‬12,000 ($16,800), faces charges of inciting racial hatred in a trial
in the southern German city of Regensburg set to begin on April 16."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,675163,00.html#ref=nlint

More on Richard Williamson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Williamson_%28bishop%29

More on SSPX: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_St._Pius_X

by jaskaw @ 01.02.2010 - 21:50:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/01/embarrassment-for-the-catholic-church-bishop-williamson-unrepentent-in-holoc
Pope: I'll visit Britain, but I don't like your equality
laws
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pope-ill-visit-but-i-dont-like-your-equality-laws-1885788.html

Benedict attacks improved rights for gay men and women

By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent
"The Pope confirmed yesterday that he will make an official state visit to Britain this September ʒ and
immediately launched an attack on the Governmentˈs plans to introduce stronger equality legislation for gay
men and women.
In the first official announcement from the Vatican that the head of the Roman Catholic Church will tour
Britain, Pope Benedict XVI called on his bishops to continue campaigning against the Equality Bill which he
said threatened religious freedom.
His comments attracted anger from gay rights groups and secularists, who have now promised to protest
throughout the pontiffˈs visit.
In a letter to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, many of whom are currently in Rome on an ːad
liminaə visit, Pope Benedict publicly criticised Britainˈs equality legislation for the first time."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pope-ill-visit-but-i-dont-like-your-equality-laws-1885788.html

by jaskaw @ 02.02.2010 - 11:04:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/02/pope-i-ll-visit-but-i-don-t-like-your-equality-laws-7923330/
Nine people wait execution in Iran for crimes
against God; 'There is no room for Islamic mercy.'
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/world/middleeast/02iran.html?ref=world

---
Iran experts have said that the government hastily ordered the executions of Arash Rahmanipour and
Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, 37, another political prisoner, to intimidate the opposition and to silence the
protests that have persisted since the disputed June 12 presidential elections.
With the governmentˈs opponents planning another large demonstration on Feb. 11, the country is bracing for
another wave of executions. At least nine other prisoners have been charged with the capital crime of
moharebeh, which means waging war against God.
ːThe executions are clearly a sign of the governmentˈs frustration to end the protests,ə said Hadi Ghaemi,
the executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a group based in the United
States. ːThere are fears that the government might engage in the kind of cleansing that it did between 1980
and 1988, when it executed more than 3,000 political prisoners.ə
---
Statements by a senior cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who praised the executions during the Friday Prayer
sermons at Tehran University and called for more, have raised concerns.
ːI thank the judiciary for executing these two men so quickly,ə Ayatollah Jannati said in comments broadcast
on state television, ːbut the judiciary needs to stand firmly. Otherwise, if it shows weakness, we will suffer
more. There is no room for Islamic mercy.

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/world/middleeast/02iran.html?ref=world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arash_Rahmanipour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad-Reza_Ali-Zamani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_executions_of_Iranian_political_prisoners

by jaskaw @ 02.02.2010 - 16:01:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/02/nine-people-wait-execution-in-iran-for-crimes-agaisnt-god-there-is-no-room-for
Atheist from Botswana speaks out
Read more at: http://testing.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=2&aid=85&dir=2010/February/Tuesday2

---
"He said that atheism "automatically means that life has no meaning. It simply means everything is
permissible because there are no laws and therefore no one is accountable to anyone. However, if that is
so,what then is the reason why we now have laws to govern behaviour today unless there was a law giver?"
He seems to believe that because I don't believe in Father Christmas (or any other make-believe people), my
life is meaningless and I must have no morals.
Maybe he should get to know me before assuming I'm a sociopath? I am at least as moral as anyone who
believes they have invisible friends and my life is just as meaningful as theirs. The difference is that I have
found my own meaning, not one that was taken from a book of ancient superstitions. Ironically I suspect that
his morality and mine will be remarkably similar. I'm sure that we both oppose murder, theft, rape and deceit.
We both believe in honesty, respect and charity.
The difference is that I believe these values to be of human origin, not divine. It's interesting that regardless of
which religion is dominant, all countries in the world have adopted roughly the same moral values whether the
countries are theocracies like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UK or secular democracies like the USA and
Botswana. The thing all countries have in common is humanity, not superstition.
I think it's also interesting to ask a question of religious folk. Is the only reason you don't go around
murdering, raping and stealing because God tells you not to? That's not exactly flattering is it? I don't do these
things because I don't want to and because they're all morally wrong. I don't need superstition to tell me that.
I believe that the time has come for secular humanists like me to be more open about our atheist beliefs and
morality. They are just as valid as religious beliefs and frankly a bit more practical."
---
Richard Harriman

Read more at: http://testing.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=2&aid=85&dir=2010/February/Tuesday2

About Mmegi in Botswana: http://www.mmegi.bw/?sid=24&dir=2010/February/Tuesday2

by jaskaw @ 03.02.2010 - 10:33:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/03/atheist-from-botswana-speaks-out-7931442/
Antievolution bill in Mississippi dies
http://ncse.com/news/2010/02/antievolution-bill-mississippi-dies-005309

"Mississippi's House Bill 586, which if enacted would have required "scientifically sound arguments by
protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution" to be presented in the state's schools, died in
committee on February 2, 2010, according to the legislative website. In 2009, the bill's sponsor, Gary Chism
(R-District 37), introduced a bill, HB 25, requiring biology textbooks in the state to include a hybrid of two
previous versions of the Alabama evolution textbook disclaimer; that bill also died in committee."

The Missisippi official page tells this:

http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2010/pdf/history/HB/HB0586.xml :

"Description: Evolution of humanity; require local school boards to include a lesson in their high school
biology curriculum.
Background Information:
Disposition: Dead
Deadline: General Bill/Constitutional Amendment
Revenue: No
Vote type required: Majority
Effective date: July 1, 2010
History of Actions:
1 01/12 (H) Referred To Education
2 02/02 (H) Died In Committee
Title: AN ACT TO REQUIRE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS TO INCLUDE AN INSTRUCTIONAL
LESSON ON THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY IN ITS HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM,
WHICH SHALL BE TAUGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BIOLOGY COURSE; TO REQUIRE
THAT THE CURRICULUM BE BASED ON CERTAIN EVIDENTIARY FACTS AND SCIENTIFIC
DATA; TO REQUIRE THAT THE LESSON NOT BE BIASED THROUGH SELECTIVE INSTRUCTION;
TO REQUIRE THAT THE LESSON HAVE EQUAL INSTRUCTION FROM EDUCATIONAL
MATERIALS THAT PRESENT ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH PROTAGONISTS AND ANTAGONISTS
OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION; TO AMEND SECTION 37-11-63, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO
REQUIRE THAT ANY DISCUSSION OF THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY MUST BE GIVEN BY A
BIOLOGY TEACHER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES."

The policy of the keeper of this blog has been for a long time to keep a stiff upper lip on all of these diverse
things presented in this blog, but let the news just speak for themselves, but now I can't hold my tongue
anymore; what really is this thing with Chistians and text in UPPER CASE?

by jaskaw @ 03.02.2010 - 22:18:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/03/antievolution-bill-in-mississippi-dies-7936215/
Feedback for Post "Antievolution bill in Mississippi dies"

I AM A PERSON [Visitor]

04.02.2010 @ 01:01
IT CONFERS A SENSE OF URGENCY AND IMPORTANCE IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE WHO IS
IMPRESSED WITH ARGUMENTS THAT INCLUDE A LOT OF SHOUTING AND LITTLE LOGIC.

Jimmy Jackson McGee [Visitor]

08.02.2010 @ 16:50
That looks like a lot of mumbo jumbo that all boils down to, "Make teachers teach kids that 'god did it' in
Biology class."
"Voodoo Histories": When smart people believe
dumb things
Read more at:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/02/03/david_aaronovitch_conspiracy_theories?source=newsletter

Writer of the book "Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History" David
Aaronovitch answers to to questions by Thomas Rogers in Salon.com

----
"What makes us susceptible to conspiracy theories?
We want to believe theories that contradict the idea that young, iconic people died senselessly. If a story takes
away the accidental from their death, it gives them agency. After the JFK assassination, it was unbearable to
many people that they could live in a country where a lone gunman could kill a president. In those
circumstances, itˈs not surprising that an overarching conspiracy theory emerges. It suggests that somebody is
in control, rather than that weˈre at the mercy of our neighbors and to some extent of ourselves (as was the
case with Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana). Itˈs the urge to make sense of a particularly traumatic
moment.

In some ways, it's not that different from the impulse to believe in God.
It is deep down a leap of faith, but it doesn't present itself as a leap of faith. It presents itself as not only
rational but a better kind of rationality. Itˈs incredibly important that a conspiracy theory has the appearance
of science. The literature on Kennedy is beyond voluminous. It's absolutely enormous. There are vast tomes to
suggest that the CIA did it, or other people did. [Conspiracy theorist] David Ray Griffin has come out with a
half dozen 9/11 books, and all of them have hundreds of footnotes. They're either to instant news reports that
have since been contradicted, or to other conspiracy theories ō but the work nevertheless takes on the
appearance of scholarliness."

Read more at:

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/02/03/david_aaronovitch_conspiracy_theories?source=newsletter

by jaskaw @ 04.02.2010 - 13:51:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/04/voodoo-histories-when-smart-people-believe-dumb-things-7939797/
India's 'untouchables' declare own religion
Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/03/india.new.religion/index.html

By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

"New Delhi, India (CNN) -- In an event considered rare, one of India's low-caste communities has declared its
own distinct religion.
Followers of a 14-century spiritual figure, Guru Ravidass, will now have their own holy scriptures, a flag and
a greeting, sect officials said.
The new holy book compiles Guru Ravidass' writings, which until now were predominantly found in sacred
Sikh scriptures that the sect placed in its houses of worship.
The declaration was made by a key Ravidass monastery whose priest's killing in May last year in Vienna,
Austria sparked furious protests in the Sikh heartland of Punjab.
Thousands of protesters from the low-caste communities -- called the Dalits, meaning the suppressed --
attacked road and rail transportation in the wake of the murder blamed on Sikh hardliners."

Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/03/india.new.religion/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit
"Dalit is a self-designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as low caste or untouchables
(outcastes). Dalits are a mixed population of numerous caste groups all over South Asia, and speak various
languages.
While the caste system has been abolished under the Indian constitution,there is still discrimination and
prejudice against Dalits in South Asia. Since Indian independence, significant steps have been taken to
provide opportunities in jobs and education. Many social organizations have encouraged proactive provisions
to better the conditions of dalits through improved education, health and employment."

by jaskaw @ 04.02.2010 - 22:38:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/04/india-s-untouchables-declare-own-religion-7942993/
A big increase in religious programming in BBC
for Easter
Read more at: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=88836

THE BBC has announced a big increase in religious programmes for Holy Week and Easter. The move comes
after last yearˈs offering had been criticised as sparse. Next week, the General Synod will debate a motion
criticising broadcasters for ːcompletely ignoring the Christian significance of Good Friday 2009ə.
In the vanguard is Easter at Kingˈs, a variant on Carols from Kingˈs, from Kingˈs College, Cambridge,
which was shown on BBC2 at Christmas and attracted an audience of 2.57 million.
Aaqil Ahmed, head of religion and ethics and commissioning editor for religion, BBC TV, says in an
interview this week: ːHopefully itˈs going to be a returner. Weˈll see how people take to it.ə
Also on BBC2 is The Private Life of an Easter Masterpiece, featuring The Descent from the Cross by Rogier
van der Weyden, described by Susie Nash, head of the Renaissance section at the Courtauld, as ːthe greatest
work of Northern art of the 15th centuryə.

Read more at: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=88836

by jaskaw @ 05.02.2010 - 19:48:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/05/a-big-increase-in-religous-programmin-in-bbc-for-easter-7948955/
Is Popular Religion Derived from Egotism?
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/sciencereligion/a/Science-Religion-Ego.htm?nl=1

Walter Lippman on Scientific vs. Religious Attitudes Towards the Universe

By Austin Cline, About.com Guide

---
"People pray for hurricanes to turn away and they visit astrologers who tell them how to avoid problems.
Why? Because they believe that the movement of stars and atoms can be affected merely from the desire that
it be so.
People also turn to science in order to influence the world around us, but not simply through wishful thinking.
Science actually undermines the human conceit that the universe is or should be structured according to
human whim. Almost everything we learn about our universe through science reinforces the conclusion that
we aren't special."
---
"Religion has never cured a disease, protected people from a storm, or saved anyone from the ravages of old
age. Science, however, has made tremendous gains with all of these and more. There is a reason for that."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/sciencereligion/a/Science-Religion-Ego.htm?nl=1

by jaskaw @ 06.02.2010 - 11:50:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/06/is-popular-religion-derived-from-egotism-7955145/
Unite for human rights in Iran on February 11th
Read more at:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/iran/unite-for-human-rights-in-iran-on-february-11th/page.do?id=1011702&I

"February 11th is Victory of the Revolution Day in Iran. Equivalent to the Fourth of July in the United States,
it is a day commemorating liberty, independence and freedom. But the Iranian government has long violated
these rights and is responsible for numerous abuses including torture, arbitrary arrests, censorship and the
most recent execution of two activists accused of inciting the post-election protests on June 12th ʒ even
though these men had been held in detention long before the violence erupted.
Since blogs and websites like Twitter and YouTube were virtually the only way the Iranian people could
expose the horrific treatment being inflicted on them in the days following the contested Presidential election,
we expect that Iranians will turn to the Internet once again to carry their messages. That is why we are asking
everyone to show their solidarity online on February 11th ʒ whether itˈs on your blog, website, or social
networking profile.
Stand with us to ensure that Victory of the Revolution Day signifies an end to these abuses!"

Read more at:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/iran/unite-for-human-rights-in-iran-on-february-11th/page.do?id=1011702&I
by jaskaw @ 06.02.2010 - 13:27:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/06/unite-for-human-rights-in-iran-on-february-11th-7955594/
The Fallacy of the God Gene
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/the-fallacy-of-the-god-ge_b_448024.html

by Jeff Schweitzer
Marine Biologist and Former Clinton White House Science Advisor

---
Religion was born not from some god gene, but of fear of the unknown, of the drive to control the
uncontrollable, of the need to have mastery over one's fate in the face of an uncertain world.
The first ideas of religion arose not from any awe of nature's wonder and order that would imply an invisible
intelligent designer, but rather from concerns for the events of everyday life and how the vast unknown of
nature affected daily existence.
---
The human brain is extraordinarily adept at posing questions, but simply abhors the concept of leaving any
unanswered. We are unable to accept "I don't know," because we cannot turn off our instinct to see patterns
and to discern effect from cause. We demand that there be a pattern, that there be cause and effect, even when
none exist. So we make up answers when we don't know. We develop elaborate creation myths, sun gods, rain
gods, war gods and gods of the ocean.
---
Religion offered, and offers still, an obvious means of enforcing societal rules by promising a joyous afterlife
for conformers, or eternal punishment for those who misbehave. Religion is used as a bribe to induce good
manners.
---
Fear of death, the need to explain away the unknown, hopes for controlling one's destiny, a desire for social
cohesion, and the corrupting allure of power are the combined masters of all religion. Evolution and natural
selection do not enter into this equation other than with the obvious fact that humans evolved large brains.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/the-fallacy-of-the-god-ge_b_448024.html

by jaskaw @ 06.02.2010 - 17:35:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/06/the-fallacy-of-the-god-gene-7956802/
Christians are fatter than other Americans
Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/story/145539/the_newest_diet_trend%3A_what_would_jesus_eat

"Christians are fatter than other Americans. One of several studies revealing this, published by a Purdue
University team in 2006, found that 30 percent of Baptists are obese, followed by 22 percent of Pentecostals
and 17 percent of Catholics, compared to only 1 percent of Jews and 0.7 percent of Muslims, Hindus and
Buddhists. According to the Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention, health screenings were given at the
SBC's 2005 annual meeting: Over 75 percent of its 1,472 participants were found to be significantly
overweight.
It makes sense that some within the movement would want to restore health to the flock. Gluttony, after all, is
a sin. But how do you persuade religious Christians to adopt a dietary regimen that has been beloved by
hippies for 30-plus years and by polytheists for thousands? The very fact that "health food" is an alt-culture
staple is enough to taint it in the eyes of some. How do you convince them to switch their Sunday hams for
lettuce-lentil roll-ups? By telling them the Bible says they must."

Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/story/145539/the_newest_diet_trend%3A_what_would_jesus_eat

by jaskaw @ 06.02.2010 - 22:00:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/06/christians-are-fatter-than-other-americans-7958297/
Celebrity judge spares a violent man from prison
because he is a ːreligious manə in Britain
Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/118079.html

"The NSS was a founder member of the One Law for All Campaign which seeks to impede the march of
sharia law in Britain. Naturally we think that in a democracy everyone must be equal under the law, with no
exceptions. Sharia law is full of exceptions and it is clear that women are not equal under that system.
But now we discover that a different ō more favourable ō system of justice is being applied to religious
people by Cherie Blair (professional name Cherie Booth) in her capacity as a judge. Last week in the Inner
London Crown Court, Ms Blair/Booth spared a violent yob from prison because he is a ːreligious manə.
Shamso Miah, 25 ō described as a devout Muslim ō went from a local mosque in East Ham, London to a
bank where he became embroiled in an argument with another man about his place in the queue. He grabbed
Mohammed Furcan and punched him in the face. Miah ran outside but Mr Furcan chased after him and
demanded to know why he had been attacked.
Miah then punched him again, knocking him to the ground and fracturing his jaw. Mr Miah said he had acted
in self defence but the bankˈs CCTV showed clearly that he was the aggressor. He then pleased guilty to
occasioning actual bodily harm.
Yet despite saying violence on our streets ːhas to be taken seriouslyə Ms Blair/Booth QC let Miah walk free
from court, telling him: ːI am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years based on the fact you
are a religious person and have not been in trouble before. You caused a mild fracture to the jaw of a member
of the public standing in a queue at Lloyds Bank. You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable
behaviour.ə

Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/118079.html

by jaskaw @ 07.02.2010 - 17:19:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/07/celebrity-judge-spared-a-violent-man-from-prison-because-he-is-a-religious-man
Al-Shabaab declares Holy War on Kenya
Read more at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201002080323.html

"The Islamic administration of Al-Shabaab that controls Somalia's southern regions of Jubba has on Sunday
declared holy war on Kenya over reports that Nairobi is training Somali troops.
Sheikh Hussen Abdi Gedi, Al-Shabaab's second in command in the southern port city of Kismayo said his
group has received reports of planned offensives from the Kenyan side, urging the regions' residents to
prepare for holy war.
"Kenya has prepared troops that comprise of Kenyans and Somalis, who are trained to attack and take over the
regions. They are planning to attack us on the land, sea and air. We are urging people to be ready and defend
our land," he told Al-Shabaab's Andalus radio on Sunday."

Read more at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201002080323.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shabaab:

"Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen ("Movement of Warrior Youth"), more commonly known as al-Shabaab
(Arabic: ‫بابشلا‬‎, "The Youth") is an Islamist insurgency group in Somalia in the ongoing war there. As of
summer 2009 the group is said to control most of the southern part of the Somalia, including "a large swath"
of the capital, Mogadishu, where it is said to have imposed its own "harsh" form of Sharia law. Estimates of
al-Shabaab's strength, as of December 2006, vary between 3,000 to 7,000.
The group is an off-shoot of the Islamic Courts Union, which splintered into several smaller groups after its
removal from power by Ethiopian forces in 2006. The group describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies
of Islam" and is engaged in combat against the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and African
Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM)."

by jaskaw @ 08.02.2010 - 19:19:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/08/al-shabaab-declares-holy-war-on-kenya-7970403/
London bus driver pulls over to worship in the
aisle
Read more at:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/02/09/london-bus-driver-pulls-over-to-workship-in-the-aisle-115875-22

By Martin Fricker
A bus driver shocked passengers by suddenly pulling over to the side of the road and praying in the vehicle's
aisle.
The Muslim, who left the engine running, used his fluorescent work jacket as a prayer mat.
Passenger Gayle Griffiths, 33, said: "He stopped the bus and walked to the middle exit door. He laid out a
fluorescent jacket, then took off his shoes and began praying. I was gobsmacked.
It went on for over five minutes.
"Anyone could've driven off with a bus full of passengers. He also blocked the exit, so if something happened
we couldn't get off.

Read more at:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/02/09/london-bus-driver-pulls-over-to-workship-in-the-aisle-115875-22

by jaskaw @ 09.02.2010 - 23:25:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/09/london-bus-driver-pulls-over-to-worship-in-the-aisle-7978797/
Feedback for Post "London bus driver pulls over to worship
in the aisle"

webdesignlondon [Visitor]
http://www.sumudra. co.uk
10.03.2010 @ 07:49
This is the bad thing duty is the first pray for god is correct but the situation is wrong,gov should take action
this bus driver.
'Christian' Manifesto Comparing Liberals to Nazis
Gathers Signatures of Religious Right Leaders --
and Catholic Bishops
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/145500/'christian'_manifesto_comparing_liberals_to_nazis_gathers_signatures_of_religio

By Peter Montgomery
"Religious right leaders are making a concerted push to gain thousands of new signatures for their "Manhattan
Declaration," a manifesto released late last year by about 150 conservative Christian leaders. The document,
signed by such religious-right heavy-hitters as Focus on the Family eminence James Dobson and Prison
Fellowship Ministries leader Chuck Colson, compares pro-choice advocates to eugenicists (and implicitly to
Nazis) and equates same-sex marriage with polygamy and a gateway to legalized incest. Its authors promise to
defy any law that does not comport with their religious beliefs. Joining the religious right's Protestant leaders
as signatories to the declaration are four Roman Catholic bishops, including those presiding over the powerful
archdioceses of New York and Washington, DC."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/145500/'christian'_manifesto_comparing_liberals_to_nazis_gathers_signatures_of_religio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Declaration:_A_Call_of_Christian_Conscience

by jaskaw @ 10.02.2010 - 11:55:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/10/christian-manifesto-comparing-liberals-to-nazis-gathers-signatures-of-religious-r
Hindu wins Northumberland funeral pyre battle
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/8507811.stm

"A devout Hindu has won his bid for the right to be cremated on a traditional funeral pyre.
Davender Ghai, 71, was seeking to overturn a 2006 Newcastle City Council decision forbidding him from
being cremated according to his beliefs.
Last year his challenge was dismissed by the High Court, but that ruling has been overturned at the Court of
Appeal.
Judges decided the pyre would be lawful after Mr Ghai said it could include walls and a roof with an
opening."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/8507811.stm

by jaskaw @ 10.02.2010 - 21:38:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/10/hindu-wins-northumberland-funeral-pyre-battle-7984375/
Atheist billboards appear in Sacramento area
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/09/state/n204519S06.DTL

"A collection of billboards just put up in the Sacramento area are attempting to inspire onlookers, but not in a
spiritual way.
Atheist and agnostic groups in the region have bought roadside space in an effort, they say, to tell fellow
nonbelievers they are not alone.
The billboards read "Are you good without God? Millions are." In the background are fluffy white clouds and
blue sky.
Similar billboards have gone up in more than a dozen cities over the past year as part of a national campaign.
The 10 Sacramento billboards will be up for a month at a cost of $6,450."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/09/state/n204519S06.DTL

by jaskaw @ 11.02.2010 - 13:01:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/11/athiest-billboards-appear-in-sacramento-area-7987724/
Donˈt know your Sunnis from your Shias?
Read more at: http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2010/02/mehdi-hasan-sunni-shia-iraq

By Mehdi Hasan
"Donˈt know your Sunnis from your Shias? You are not alone, but their conflict will shape the future of the
world.
n 2006, the investigative reporter Jeff Stein concluded a series of interviews with senior US counterterrorism
officials by asking the same simple question: "Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shia?" He
was startled by the responses. "One's in one location, another's in another location," said Congressman Terry
Everett, a member of the House intelligence committee, before conceding: "No, to be honest with you, I don't
know." When Stein asked Congressman Silvestre Reyes, chair of the House intelligence committee, whether
al-Qaeda was Sunni or Shia, he answered: "Predominantly - probably Shia."
Wrong. Al-Qaeda is a Sunni Muslim terrorist group that considers Shia Muslims to be heret ics. In Stein's
words, "Al-Qaeda's Sunni roots account for its very existence." Osama Bin Laden and his ilk are the
ideological offshoots of the hardline Salafi, Deobandi and Wahhabi brands of Sunni Islam that today dominate
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Afghanistan and large parts of Pakistan. And the leading thinkers behind
modern Islamist movements such as al-Qaeda are all Sunnis: Abul-Ala Maududi, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid
Qutb, Abdullah Azzam. So is it too much to expect US officials to understand the implications of the
Sunni-Shia divide? Perhaps. As the former senator Trent Lott confessed: "They all look the same to me."

Read more at: http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2010/02/mehdi-hasan-sunni-shia-iraq

by jaskaw @ 11.02.2010 - 16:47:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/11/don-t-know-your-sunnis-from-your-shias-7989023/
Being religious may not make you healthier after
all
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100208/hl_nm/us_religious_healthier

A number of studies over the past two decades have shown that religious people tend to be healthier. But a
new study suggests that when it comes to heart disease and clogged arteries, attending religious services or
having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.
This study suggests "there's not a lot of extra burden or extra protection afforded by this particular aspect of
people's lives," said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University,
Chicago, who led the study, published in the journal Circulation.
---
Neither the rate of heart disease events, nor the number of certain risk factors -- such as high cholesterol,
diabetes, and high blood pressure -- differed among those who were more or less religious or spiritual. The
only exceptions: Those who went to religious services, otherwise prayed or meditated, or were highly spiritual
were more likely to be obese, and less likely to smoke.

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100208/hl_nm/us_religious_healthier

by jaskaw @ 11.02.2010 - 16:58:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/11/being-religious-may-not-make-you-healthier-after-all-7989086/
Iran 'suspends' Gmail
Read more at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201021144515285153.html?tr=y&auid=5928576

"Iran's telecommunications agency has announced the suspension of access to Gmail, the Google email
service, in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal website.
The country's telecoms provider has previously said it would be launching its own national email service to
replace foreign ones.
The announcement comes as Iran, marking 31 years since its revolution on Thursday, is also braced for new
anti-government demonstrations by the opposition.
Opposition protesters made heavy use of available online tools last June, following the disputed re-election of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, to organise and publicise their cause. The latest move by the
government is seen by some as a new attempt to stifle dissent."

Read more at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201021144515285153.html?tr=y&auid=5928576

by jaskaw @ 11.02.2010 - 21:44:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/11/iran-suspends-gmail-7990891/
Stephen Fry: "it is essential to nail oneˈs colours
to the mast as a humanist."
Read more at: http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/447

"The British Humanist Association has welcomed the author, comedian, presenter, and director Stephen Fry to
its membership and as a Distinguished Supporter of Humanism.
The news comes during a busy Membership Month in which the BHA has announced that it has doubled in
size in the last five years and wants to double again in just half the time.
Stephen told the BHA, ’At a time when the achievements of the enlightenment are questioned, ridiculed,
misunderstood and traduced by those who would reverse the progress of mankind, it is essential to nail one's
colours to the mast as a humanist.
’For me, that is not a turning away from mystery or a cold rational dispute with the numinous and spiritual in
life, it is an acceptance of the awesome and splendid responsibility we each have for our own destinies, ethics
and morals. I repudiate the authority of churches, revealed texts and vain unsubstantiated assertions and
embrace the shared glories of humanity's intellectual and spiritual struggle to understand the universe into
which we are born with honesty, openness and faith in our own natures.ˈ"

Read more at: http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/447

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
"Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is a British actor, writer, comedian, television presenter and film
director. He first came to attention in the 1982 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation, "The Cellar Tapes",
which also included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy
double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the
title roles in Jeeves and Wooster.
As a solo actor, Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder television series and is
the host of the erudite, but comedy-based quiz show, QI. He also presented a 2008 television series Stephen
Fry in America, which saw him travelling across all 50 U.S. states in six episodes. Fry has become known to
American audiences for his recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the Fox crime series Bones.
Apart from his work in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines,
and has written four novels and an autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot. He also appears frequently on BBC
Radio 4, starring in the comedy series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on panel games such as Just a
Minute, and acting as chairman for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, where he was one of a trio of hosts who
succeeded the late Humphrey Lyttelton."

by jaskaw @ 12.02.2010 - 12:48:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/12/stephen-fry-it-is-essential-to-nail-one-s-colours-to-the-mast-as-a-humanist-7994
Can Christians Read Your Mind?
Read more at:
http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismatheistsbeliefs/a/Christians_Reading_Atheist_Minds.htm?nl=1

Mind-Reading Christians - Can Christians Read Your Mind?

Some Christians Presume to Know what Atheists Think, Believe, Want, Value

By Austin Cline, About.com Guide

"All or nearly all atheists who have discussed religion with Christians or who have simply been approached
by Christians have probably had the surreal experience of being sagely informed about what they believe, how
they believe, and even why they believe. Christians may lay claim to a variety of supernatural powers (like
healing prayer), but when did they acquire the ability to read the minds of people they don't know and have
never met? Does Christianity really provide mind-reading powers?
Of course not. Christians have no more ability to read atheists' minds than they do to heal through prayer or
faith, but the fact remains that far too many act like they can read minds, so what's going on? I suppose there
may be a variety of factors, depending on the individual, but one common feature seems to be that they have
bought into a collection of myths about atheism and atheists."

Read more at:

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismatheistsbeliefs/a/Christians_Reading_Atheist_Minds.htm?nl=1

by jaskaw @ 12.02.2010 - 22:27:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/12/can-christians-read-your-mind-7997457/
Forget the war on Christmas; it's a war on
Valentine's Day in Saudi-Arabia
Read more at: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100212/NEWS02/702129857

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia ō The Saudi religious police launched Thursday a nationwide crackdown on stores
selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentineˈs Day, a Saudi
official said.
Members of the feared religious police were inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts
wrapped in red, and ordering storeowners to get rid of them, the official said.
Red-colored or heart-shaped items are legal at other times of the year, but as Feb. 14 nears they become
contraband in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom bans celebration of Western holidays such as Valentineˈs Day,
named after a Christian saint said to have been martyred by the Romans in the 3rd Century."

Read more at: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100212/NEWS02/702129857

by jaskaw @ 13.02.2010 - 12:11:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/13/forget-the-war-on-christmas-it-s-a-war-on-valentine-s-day-in-saudi-arabia-79996
Dave Allen and God (1986)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Allen_%28comedian%29
David Tynan O'Mahoney (6 July 1936 ʒ 10 March 2005), better known as Dave Allen, was an Irish
comedian, very popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s; he also
became known in America through reruns of his shows on public television. His career had a major
resurgence during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Highly regarded in Britain, Allen's comic technique and style had a lasting influence on many young British
comedians.. His targets were often figures of authority, his style was observational rather than gag-driven, and
his language frequently ripe; in this respect he was a progenitor for the "alternative" comedians of the 1980s.
In his home country of Ireland, however, he always remained something of a controversial figure due to his
mocking of the Catholic Church.
by jaskaw @ 14.02.2010 - 04:38:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/14/dave-allen-and-god-8004082/
The Ties that Bind Extremist Politics to Christian
Patriarchy
Read more at: http://nolongerquivering.com/?s=Francis+Schaeffer

"In recent years, most popular culture discussions of the Christian Quiverfull movement center on the
charming Duggar family of TLC reality fame. The Duggarsōparents of eighteen children with another on the
wayōare seen by many as a wholesomeōif quirkyōexample of a healthy family with astoundingly polite and
well-behaved children. It is nearly impossible to have a discussion with a well-meaning Quiverfull-illiterate
without hearing that familiar refrain: ːThey just seem like such nice people!ə
Itˈs not uncommon to find secular people who find themselves drawn to the Quiverfull lifestyle based on
what they perceive as such a healthyōand happyōhome life on television. I decided to write this series in
order to disabuse readers of the notion that this there is anything remotely harmless about the seemingly
apolitical politics of this movement. It is in fact a dangerousōand alarmingly effectiveōpolitical force. The
unsavory political entanglements of the extreme Christian Right are too often downplayed on reality programs
that popularize the lifestyle."

Read more at: http://nolongerquivering.com/?s=Francis+Schaeffer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull
"Quiverfull is a movement among conservative evangelical Christian couples chiefly in the United States, but
with some adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England and elsewhere. It promotes procreation, and
sees children as a blessing from God, eschewing all forms of birth control, including natural family planning
and sterilization. Adherents are known as "quiver full", "full quiver", "quiverfull-minded", or simply "QF"
Christians. Some refer to the Quiverfull position as Providentialism, while other sources have referred to it as
a manifestation of natalism.Currently several thousand Christians worldwide identify with this movement. It
began to receive significant attention in the U.S. national press in 2004."

by jaskaw @ 14.02.2010 - 18:01:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/14/the-ties-that-bind-extremist-politics-to-christian-patriarchy-8006890/
One hundred little windows into humanity
I must break the daily humdrum of news coverage that is the lifeblood of this blog to bring a word from the
main sponsor of this blog; that would be myself.
On the side of this daily Atheist News - blog I do maintain two more a bit more ambitious and personal blogs.
The other is Being Human -blog at http://beinghuman.blogs.fi , where I publish my own essay-length
ponderings on humanism, secularism, science, atheism, religions and things like democracy, pacifism and
social justice.

This blog was born in December of 2007 as mainly a translation of my essays that I had written earlier in
Finnish language. but it soon had the mind of its own and more and more original essays appeared there, that
have not been yet translated into Finnish.

I then started a new blog in November of last year, when I saw that I wanted an avenue to publish the best
quotes of the best secular philosopher, writers, poets and scientist of the past that I had collected while
maintaining 24 different fan-pages in Facebook for these great names of the past. This blog got the grandiose
sounding name of The Little Book of Humanity and it is at the address http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi

I had had many interesting discussions with the fans of these pages about these quotes. I saw that I could offer
added value to these quotes by trying to explain how a modern day person can see these great ideas of the past
today.
I set myself a goal of writing a publishing and commenting one hundred very best quotes I had encountered in
as many days. This was a hundred days of labor of love, but earlier today the posting number 100. was posted
and my preliminary goal was reached.

I could say that this blog offers now 100 little windows in the different sides of humanity collected during the
last 2500 years of the human existence.
I think that they are all quite timeless little jewels, as they chew into the very central questions of humanity;
they are at their core about things like life, death, truth, happiness and nature of our Universe.

My comments are of course not in the level of the original authors of the quotes at all, as I do not really think I
can compete with people like Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius, Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain or George Orwell,
but I hope they can offer added value as a running commentary on them.
This does not mean that the blog would be ready. I will add new little jewels in the future also, but now there
is a middle point and a point where I would like to invite you all to come and see how the secular and rational
worldview has its roots in traditions going back nearly 2 500 years and how on the other hand it still develops
and changes as the world around us develops and changes.

See you at the http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi

by jaskaw @ 14.02.2010 - 22:40:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/14/one-hundred-little-windows-into-humanity-8008549/
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The closed minds that
deny a civilisation's glories
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-closed-minds-th

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
---
"These global sites control people, push through Maoist "cleansing". Miserable mullahs are closing down the
Muslim mind and heart the world over. Meanwhile "true believers" desperately seek enslavement and thank
their enslavers. The questions posed are startling in their naiveté. May we sing? Is it OK for a man to listen to
a woman singer? Do I watch a female newsreader? Yes, says a wise one ʒ as long as she is properly covered
up and not wearing perfume. Don't laugh. It is tragic, not funny.
Somehow in the last decade or so, millions of believers have been persuaded that they are repositories of sin
because they watch films, love music and paintings, read books, experience temporal pleasures and ecstasies.
Remember the ferocity with which the Taliban destroyed all pre-Islamic treasures? Saudi Arabia is guilty of
similar vandalism. Thus they seek to recreate the piety of triumphant Islam. Well they didn't have cameras,
mobile phones, cars and computers then. Should these be banned too?
---
The Pakistani blogger Raza Rumi writes: "Who are these butchers of culture? What religion do they follow?
They have no religion except barbarism." Exactly. "

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-closed-minds-th

by jaskaw @ 15.02.2010 - 11:20:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/15/yasmin-alibhai-brown-the-closed-minds-that-deny-a-civilisation-s-glories-80107
What the "Theory" in Theory of Evolution means

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenie_Scott
by jaskaw @ 15.02.2010 - 21:31:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/15/what-the-theory-in-theory-of-evolution-means-8014103/
Sam Harris in a candid radio interview in SCPR
Listen to broadcast at:
http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2010/02/12/sam-harris-picks-a-fight-with-god/

"According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, an amazing 92% of Americans believe in God or a
universal spiritōeven one in five of self-identified atheists believe in a higher power. Ardent secularist Sam
Harris isnˈt deterred by those numbers, and in fact has made it his lifeˈs mission to force the faithful to
question their religious faithōHarris would even argue that the future of civilization is dependent on it.
Questioning commonly held assertions and wisdom found in the Bible; seeking out debates with theologists
across the spectrum, from Judaism to Christianity to Islam; and all but picking a fight with God, Sam Harris
takes his secular crusade to Pattˈs microphone."

Listen to broadcast at:

http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2010/02/12/sam-harris-picks-a-fight-with-god/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29

by jaskaw @ 15.02.2010 - 22:39:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/15/sam-harris-in-a-candid-radio-interview-in-scpr-8014458/
Bernard-Henri Lévy: Why I Support a Ban on
Burqas
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/why-i-support-a-ban-on-bu_b_463192.html

By Bernard-Henri Lévy, French philosopher and writer

"People say, "The burqa is a dress, at most a costume. We're not going to make laws about clothing and
costumes." Error. The burqa is not a dress, it's a message, one that clearly communicates the subjugation, the
subservience, the crushing and the defeat of women.
People say, "Perhaps it's subjugation, but it's done with consent. Get it out of your mind that malicious
husbands, abusive fathers, and local tyrants are forcing the burqa on women who don't want to wear it." Fine.
Except that voluntary servitude has never held water as an argument. The happy slave has never justified the
fundamental, essential, ontological infamy of slavery. And, from the Stoics to [19th century thinker] Elisée
Reclus, from Schoelcher to Lamartine to Tocqueville, all who rejected slavery provided us with every
possible argument against the minor added outrage that consists of transforming victims into the authors of
their own misery."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/why-i-support-a-ban-on-bu_b_463192.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard-Henri_L%C3%A9vy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa

by jaskaw @ 16.02.2010 - 10:44:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/16/bernard-henri-levy-why-i-support-a-ban-on-burqas-8016446/
Feedback for Post "Bernard-Henri Lévy: Why I Support a
Ban on Burqas"

KM [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 12:23
If somebody is forced to wear burqa or bikini, it is acceptable and good to prevent it - but just it - even by law.

To ban others from wearing a bikini or burqa is a violation of their sexual autonomy, freedom of expression,
freedom of religion or something else, depending on the person and her/his views.

Unfortunately, you cannot prevent every violation of freedom by liberal means (not even by illiberal ones,
even if that were acceptable).

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
16.02.2010 @ 12:31
Dear KM, the key question is when we know when one if forced to do something like this. Most often these
women are blinded by a very strong and overwhelming ideology and they think that they are doing it
voluntarily.
The main problem is that she does not realize at all that she is conforming to open expression of male
domination over her, when she accepts these clothing demands as something required by religion,,
However the public showing of this submission can be even painful to watch for those who realize her true
status in a society where women universally have a quite different status.

ElDiablo666 [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 15:39
This is a stupid idea for the exact same reason banning Nazi symbols and swastikas in Germany is stupid. It's
the idea that needs to be unlearned, not its symbol. Yes, the burqa is idiotic and uncomfortable (I actually did
try it on once) but it only exists because Muslims believe ridiculous bullshit without good cause. Fight idiocy
with reason and logic and the burqas will ban themselves.

Mirza [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 18:34
From what I heard, very few women in France wear a burka. I think it’s something like 1000 women in all of
France. On the other hand xenophobia, racism and islamophobia are rampant in France, which is evident from
statistics on employment. Seems to me that you are pandering to intolerance with secular justification. This is
not the first time France has passed laws targeting Muslims and having a secular justification as an after
thought. Let us remember hijab ban in public schools in France.

If you really cared about women's rights than you would do something about white slavery and human
trafficking which is rampant in Europe.

AtheistEvolution [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 20:55
Well said. As far as what Mirza says, she is full of hot air, and making excuses for her terrible religion.

To say that you don't care about human rights merely because you dont' target other problems?

The burqa is an outward permission and a self subjigation to the beatings, the mutilations, the killings that
happen to muslim women every day.

EVERY woman who wears it of her own volition should be ashamed that she gives further excuse to those
who know its REAL meaning and for helping to lend a social acceptance of the sort of abuse that Islamic
women face.

| Show subcomments
Mirza [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 22:35
AtheistEvolution

Let us not pretend that banning Burka has anything to do with helping women. Number of women in Burka in
France numbers in thousands, which works out to be about one percent of one percent of French population.
Further more, there are laws and institutions in France that protect women, and no woman has to suffer the
abuse. Odds are that women who wear Burka in France do it voluntarily.

Let's not be coy here. You are trying to tell me that the sound of huffs at Kentucky Derby is that of Zebras.
Why would you think that motivation for this law is to fix non-existent problem, when a more likely
explanation is readily available: Racism, islamophobia and xenophobia (RIX). Europe has more RIX than US,
and France has more than average in Europe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4399748.stm

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
16.02.2010 @ 22:54
A sorry fact of life is that islamobhobia is a quite similar thing as sovjetophobia or fear of communism was.
The Russians claimed always that it was fear of people, when it was fear of an aggressive, oppressive and
totalitarian ideology, that admittedly had also less aggressive, less oppressive and less totalitarian forms, as
Islam does.
But the aggressive, oppressive and totalitarian versions of Islam are a real threat, even if there of course is a
lot of quite peaceful and nice Muslims around everywhere.
The totalitarian dress code that some Muslims force on their wives and daughters is a outward sign of
accepting the worst parts of these medieval totalitarian values.
I think that society should send a clear signal that these totalitarian values are not the values of our societies.

| Show subcomments
Mirza [Visitor]

16.02.2010 @ 23:20
However there is no such thing as sovjetophobia. Another point is that Soviet Union is a state, and Muslims
are a group of people. In fact Muslims are as diverse as Christians are in their actions, cultures and beliefs.
You seem to have a belief of some conspiracy of Muslims out there with goal to take over the world and that
no Arab is to be trusted. This is reminiscent of Goebbels’s propaganda about Jewish world conspiracy and
how no Jew is to be trusted. No doubt, there are radical Muslims, but how do they compare to radical
Christians, or radical French?
There is no denying that many women voluntarily wear burka. When Egypt forbade burka in public
Universities, women protested for the right to wear it. There is no basis for saying that burka represent
oppression any more than there is for saying that France represents immediate surrender in war.

And you totally ignore that point that very few women wear burka in France, while racism and discrimination
is wide spread. Why would you think that forbidding burka has to do with women’s rights when racism and
xenophobia are much more likely explanations?

km [Visitor]

21.02.2010 @ 21:17
I hate burkas and swastikas and hammer & sickle, but yet I have not the right to ban them. To some, burka is
just a religious cloth which also help them "avoid male gaze". I think that that should not be a problem to
them, but they have a right to choose.

Yes, there are zillions of things that people are forced to do, but that is not an acceptable excuse for banning
doing those things voluntarily.
Michael Lind: The mythological politics of
Christian right
Read more at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2010/02/15/american_political_culture?source=newsletter

BY MICHAEL LIND
---
Put the myths of the ancient constitution and the early church together, and you have a view of history as
decline from an original state of perfection, in politics and also in religion. Innovation is equated with tyranny
in politics and heresy in religion. Virtue consists of defending what is left of the old, more perfect system and,
if possible, restoring the original government or church. Progress is redefined as regress ō movement away
from the wicked present toward the pure and uncorrupted past.
---
This is the key to understanding the otherwise inexplicable accusations by the populist right that Barack
Obama is a socialist or fascist or whatever, as well as fantasies about a global secular humanist conspiracy.
We are dealing with a mythological mentality, based on simple and powerful archetypes.
---
As in other cases of mythological politics, like messianic Marxism, this kind of thinking is resistant to
argument. If you disagree, then that simply proves that you are part of the conspiracy. Inconvenient facts can
be explained away by the true believers. It's hard to come up with arguments that would persuade people who
think that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are totalitarians to change their mind.

Read more at:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2010/02/15/american_political_culture?source=newsletter

by jaskaw @ 16.02.2010 - 12:23:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/16/michael-lind-the-mythological-politics-of-christian-right-8016926/
Atheist billboard vandalized in Sacramento area
Read more at:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/02/17/Atheist-billboard-vandalized/UPI-73071266387409/

"SACRAMENTO, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A billboard near Sacramento promoting atheism was vandalized by
someone depicting atheists as lost, one of the billboard's sponsor said.
The billboard -- one of several posted in the Sacramento area -- originally read: "Are you good without God?
Millions are." Someone spray-painted the words "also lost?" beneath "millions are," CBS13 reported Tuesday.
Rachael Harrington of the Sacramento Area Coalition of Reason -- which paid to have the billboards put up --
said the ads are intended to let atheists and agnostics know they are not alone, the TV station said."

Read more at:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/02/17/Atheist-billboard-vandalized/UPI-73071266387409/

by jaskaw @ 17.02.2010 - 12:16:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/17/atheist-billboard-vandalized-in-sacramento-8023233/
Canadian church faces 'extinction'
Read more at: http://www.eni.ch/articles/display.shtml?05-0938

"Ferdy Baglo
Vancouver, Canada (ENI). Canada's churches are suffering such a serious decline in membership that some
denominations face disappearance, a report presented to the Anglican Church of Canada's House of Bishops
released by Can West News Service shows.
Keith McKerracher, a retired marketing expert who serves as an advisor to the church, published the data
which shows that between 1961 and 2001, Anglican numbers plunged from 1.36 million to 642 000, a decline
of 53 per cent. He said the Anglican church is losing 13 000 members each year and, at this rate, "is facing
extinction by the middle of this century".
McKerracher reported that membership in the United Church of Canada fell from 1.04 million to 638 000
during the same period - a loss of 39 per cent."

Read more at: http://www.eni.ch/articles/display.shtml?05-0938

by jaskaw @ 17.02.2010 - 16:11:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/17/canadian-church-faces-extinction-8024604/
Feedback for Post "Canadian church faces 'extinction' "

Youness Himmi [Visitor]

18.02.2010 @ 04:46
Lets hope whatever is causing this extinction to spread to the United States

Freethinker [Visitor]

19.02.2010 @ 03:38
Good.
The War on Neuroscience
The War on Neuroscience : Part 1

The War on Neuroscience - Part 2: Split Brains, Split Souls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a
branch of biology. Nevertheless, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that involves other disciplines such
as psychology, computer science, statistics, physics, philosophy, and medicine. As a result, the scope of
neuroscience has broadened to include different approaches used to study the molecular, developmental,
structural, functional, evolutionary, computational, and medical aspects of the nervous system.
by jaskaw @ 17.02.2010 - 22:50:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/17/the-war-on-neuroscience-8027192/
An Atheist In Space

"Question: How would you describe your own life stance today? How do you relate to God and religion?
Swedish Astronaut Christer Fuglesang: "Well, from about the age of ten I've been convinced that there is no
God, there is nothing we can't explain with the physical laws."
by jaskaw @ 18.02.2010 - 12:19:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/18/an-atheist-in-space-8029783/
Feedback for Post "An Atheist In Space"

jpfib [Member]
18.02.2010 @ 17:46

now i am one of the most happiest men in the universe.god is pure conciousness.that is cosmic energy.see
everything in you and you in everything.that is religion.god is not different from the real you.realise the real
you in you.you are not the body,nor the senses, nor the mind,nor the intelect.
they changes.you are the unchanging witness of everything that changes ie pure conciousness. everything in
this world manifests, dissolves in conciousness.like bubles,froath,waves produced in water and dissolves in
water. they are not different from water. like that we are in god,exists in god and dissolves in god.the real we
are god itself.everything in the universe is created by our mind ie.thoughts. like,in dream world everything is
created by our imagination.they are not real.when we wake up we understand they are not real. like that when
we wake up from this state of mind(this manifested wolrd) to pure conciousness, we will understand we are
everything and everything is in us.

jpfib [Member]
18.02.2010 @ 17:51

realise the true you and be happy for ever.this is the true religion.it is pure love,pure truth.see everyhting in
you and you in everything.it is not related to any organised religion.

jpfib [Member]
18.02.2010 @ 17:53

so there won't be any hatred in your mind as everything exists in you and you in everything.there is nothing
differend from you.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
18.02.2010 @ 19:25
Dear jpfib, I somewhat lost you halfway there. Perhaps you should first sober up a bit and try again with better
luck when you can also master the use the shift-key to produce capital letters in beginnings of the new
sentences (they look like this: "ABC").
In the end, it is not as hard thing to learn as you might think, given that you really put your mind into it for
example in a way you have seemingly put your mind in this "god"-business of yours, whatever that then is.
Escape from Israel's Ultra-Orthodox; The High
Price of Religious Defection
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,678264,00.html#ref=nlint

By Ulrike Putz in Tel Aviv

"The community of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel is half a million strong and growing. They live in a parallel
universe cut off from the modern world in tight-knit communities where everything revolves around religion.
Only a few dare to abandon this life -- and the price for doing so is high.
When she left, she left everything behind -- even her name. She no longer wanted to be known as Sarah, the
name her parents had given her. She'd felt imprisoned by that name for too long; it made her feel different and
subject to laws that others imposed upon her. So, she started her new life with a new name, Mayan, the
Hebrew word for "source."
It's been seven years since Mayan "landed on planet Earth," as she puts it. But the 27-year-old doesn't feel
completely at home here yet. She's a young, modern Israeli woman. Still, despite the dragon tattoo on her
shoulder and the loose top offering occasional glimpses of her bra, there are always some moments that betray
her past. For example, when her friends talk about old TV series, classic pop music or their first schoolyard
crushes, Mayan can't join in. Until she was 17 years old, Mayan lived in another world, a world where those
things simply didn't exist."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,678264,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 18.02.2010 - 20:27:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/18/escape-from-israel-s-ultra-orthodox-the-high-price-of-religious-defection-80323
Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and
dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time
Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/02/polling-evolution-texas-005330

"A new poll suggests that a slim majority of Texans reject evolution, according to a story in the Texas Tribune
(February 17, 2010), which also noted that "[n]early a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed
the earth at the same time." David Prindle, a professor of government at the University of Texas, Austin, who
composed the questions, quipped that the poll confirmed the comedian Lewis Black's claim that a significant
proportion of the American people think that The Flintstones was a documentary.
Among the questions on the poll was the standard Gallup question ō "Which of the following statements
comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings?" ō with the choices (1) "Human
beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided the process";
(2) "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, and God had no
part in the process"; and (3) "God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years
ago.
In the Texas poll, 38% of respondents chose (1), 12% chose (2), 38% chose (3), and 12% chose a fourth
option, "Don't know."

Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/02/polling-evolution-texas-005330

by jaskaw @ 18.02.2010 - 23:37:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/18/nearly-a-third-of-texans-believe-humans-and-dinosaurs-roamed-the-earth-at-the-
Feedback for Post "Nearly a third of Texans believe humans
and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time"

Massa Daddy [Visitor]

18.02.2010 @ 23:52
45% of Americans believe that the Earth is only 10,000 years old too.
Three women caned for adultery in Malaysia
Read more at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/201021844619366612.html

"Three women have been caned under Islamic law for committing adultery, a Malaysian minister has said.
This was the country's first ever case involving flogging of women.
Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, the Malaysian home affairs minister, said on Wednesday the sentences were
carried out on February 9 after a sharia court found them guilty of extra-marital sex.
"It was carried out perfectly," Hishamuddin said in a statement. "Even though the caning did not injure them
[the women], they said it caused pain within them."
Two of the women were whipped six times while the third received four strokes of the rotan (cane)."

Read more at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/201021844619366612.html

by jaskaw @ 19.02.2010 - 16:36:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/19/three-women-caned-for-adultery-in-malyasia-8036996/
Halal-burgers only and no pork in a big French
fast-food chain
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8524056.stm

"A French council has lodged a complaint against a fast food chain that serves only meat that conforms with
Islamic dietary laws at a local branch.
The mayor of Roubaix, in northern France, said the halal menu constituted "discrimination" against
non-Muslims.
The Roubaix branch is one of several restaurants at which the chain, Quick, took non-halal products and pork
off the menu in November.
The move has triggered the latest row over France's Muslim minority."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8524056.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_%28restaurant_chain%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to
Islamic law. It is the opposite of haraam. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to
Islamic law

by jaskaw @ 19.02.2010 - 19:07:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/19/halal-burgers-only-and-no-pork-in-a-big-frech-fast-food-chain-8037861/
MSNBC: New Study Links Religion to Immoral
Behavior
by jaskaw @ 20.02.2010 - 14:01:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/20/msnbc-new-study-links-religion-to-immoral-behavior-8041810/
Feedback for Post "MSNBC: New Study Links Religion to
Immoral Behavior"

Rohit [Visitor]
http://www.fakingnews.com
20.02.2010 @ 16:13
On the issue of Dinosaur extinction, believers and creationists have come up with a theory - INTELLIGENT
RECALL - after their much famed intelligent design theory. Do read the report here (and enjoy) -
http://www.fakingnews.com/2010/02/creationists-propose-intelligent-recall-theory-to-explain-extinction-of-species/

jpfib [Member]
20.02.2010 @ 18:03

organised religions are created for immorality and hatred.they propagate terrorism by terrorising fellowbeings
with hell and damnation.they are realsatans.

Gregory Paul [Visitor]

20.02.2010 @ 20:42
Hey guys, you are about five years behind the curve here! I published a 2009 paper in Evolutionary
Psychology that goes way beyond the JR&S paper to answer fundamental questions about religion. Just had a
letter on the subject in Science. A new book chapter in Phil Zuckerman's Atheism and Secularism. A year ago
a major article on why religion cannot work in Free Inquiry. Coverage of my research by Newsweek, USA
Today, The Guardian (700 comments), LA Times, London Times, FoxNews. And lots, lots more. Its all at
www.gspaulscienceofreligion.com. Also try Gregory Paul religion and Gregory paul religion and society on
Google.

That even the atheist community is somewhat behind on these results is a tad perturbing.

GP

Glenn A Sikes [Visitor]

20.02.2010 @ 21:08
Greg - WOW! I guess you answered all the questions and satisfied everyone's curiosity. No further need for
inquiry needed. Move along...nothing to see here.

Gregory Paul [Visitor]

20.02.2010 @ 22:26
I am ashamed that you halfwits have never heard of me. Now excuse me while I stroke myself off in front of
the world.
Saudi-Arabia plans to allow female lawyers to
speak in court - in family related cases only,
though
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8526862.stm

"Saudi Arabia is planning to bring in a new law to allow women lawyers to argue cases in court for the first
time.
The law - to be issued "in the coming days" - would allow women to appear in court on family-related cases,
including divorce and child custody.
At the moment, they can only work behind the scenes in government and court offices."
---
Under a system of male guardianship, Saudi Arabian women are required to be kept separate from men they
are not related to.
All are veiled to a greater or lesser degree in public, they are not allowed to drive, and women under 45 must
receive permission from a male when they travel."

Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8526862.stm

by jaskaw @ 21.02.2010 - 20:43:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/21/saudi-arabia-plans-to-allow-female-lawyers-to-speak-in-court-in-family-related-
Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot (In HD)

Great Minds, Great Words: Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot. A Vision of Human Future in Space.
The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance,
showing it against the vastness of space. By request of Carl Sagan, NASA commanded the Voyager 1
spacecraft, having completed its primary mission and now leaving the solar system, to turn its camera around
and to take a photograph of Earth. It was subsequently used by Sagan as the title of his 1994 book of the same
name.
by jaskaw @ 21.02.2010 - 23:56:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/21/carl-sagan-pale-blue-dot-in-hd-8050824/
The Times: The fires of Hell are real and eternal,
Pope warns
Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1572646.ece

"Hell is a place where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious symbol designed to
galvanise the faithful, the Pope has said.
Addressing a parish gathering in a northern suburb of Rome, Benedict XVI said that in the modern world
many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to ːadmit blame and promise to sin
no moreə, they risked ːeternal damnation ō the Infernoə.
Hell ːreally exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any moreə, he said."

Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1572646.ece

by jaskaw @ 22.02.2010 - 00:02:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/21/the-times-the-fires-of-hell-are-real-and-eternal-pope-warns-8050855/
Feedback for Post "The Times: The fires of Hell are real and
eternal, Pope warns"

Neil Fiertel [Visitor]

22.02.2010 @ 08:06
The pope is an ignorant old man...It amazes me that people are so ignorant and stupid as to believe that
pap...ooooh..I am sooo scared...right. I asked my mother who is 101 by the way about what happens when you
die. She said..what do you think? She answered clearly..you rot...The wisdom of the elderly all right..ha ha..
Virginia State Delegate: Disabled kids are God's
punishment for abortion
Read more at: http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100222/NEWS01/2220318

RICHMOND ō State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to
women who have aborted their first pregnancy.
He made that statement Thursday at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood.
"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased
dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the
subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.
"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a
special punishment Christians would suggest."

Read more at: http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100222/NEWS01/2220318

by jaskaw @ 22.02.2010 - 21:00:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/22/virginia-state-delegate-disabled-kids-are-god-s-punishment-for-abortion-805607
Feedback for Post "Virginia State Delegate: Disabled kids
are God's punishment for abortion"

Andy Smith [Visitor]

22.02.2010 @ 21:12
It's not often you can call an elective official a troll, but that's what that statement sounds like. I appeal to
Virginians to vote this troll out of office.

Highwater [Visitor]

22.02.2010 @ 22:58
According to this man's logic, Palin has had an abortion! We must speak out against her hypocrisy, as it has
been proven by this man's sound and infallible conclusion!

Sam Johnson [Visitor]

23.02.2010 @ 00:01
It is fear mongering based on obvious lies that make people hate the politics system so much, and is why the
Tea Party is drifting away from the GOP. You can be a far out right wing person, you can be a far out left
wing person, but above all you opinions must be grounded in logic. Without that, we are a nation of fools.

Will [Visitor]

23.02.2010 @ 01:10
I find it frankly appaling that a nation is in a state that it would elect this kind of genepool scrapings to any
office.
Bill Hicks - Religion

William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 ʒ February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian
and social critic. His humor challenged mainstream beliefs, aiming to "enlighten people to think for
themselves." Hicks used a ribald approach to express his material, describing himself as "Chomsky with dick
jokes."
His jokes included general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy and personal issues. Hicks'
material was often deliberately controversial and steeped in dark comedy. In both his stand-up performances,
and during interviews, he often criticized consumerism, superficiality, mediocrity and banality within the
media and popular culture, describing them as oppressive tools of the ruling class, meant to "keep people
stupid and apathetic."
Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, Hicks' work and legacy
achieved significant admiration and acclaim. He was listed as the 19th greatest stand-up comedian of all time
by Comedy Central in 2004 and the 6th greatest by the British Channel 4 in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_hicks
by jaskaw @ 23.02.2010 - 15:04:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/23/bill-hicks-religion-8060118/
German bishop admits drink-driving three times
over the legal limit
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8530736.stm

"The head of Germany's Protestant church has admitted drink-driving, after she was charged with passing a
red light while three times over the legal limit.
Bishop Margot Kaessmann, appointed the church's first female leader last year, was arrested in Hanover at the
weekend.
She told Germany's Bild newspaper: "I am shocked at myself that I could have made such a grave error."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8530736.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_Kaessmann

by jaskaw @ 23.02.2010 - 21:30:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/23/german-bishop-admits-drink-driving-three-times-over-the-legal-limit-8062454/
Major bus company rejects the atheist bus
campaign in New Zealand
Read more at: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1002/S00380.htm

The NZ Atheist Bus Campaign, which late last year raised in excess of $20,000 from public donations, has
met a set back in their plans. Nationwide bus company NZ Bus, who had tentatively approved the campaignˈs
ads on buses in major city centres, have now rejected them.
NZ Bus stated that they have received a number of complaints from the public about the proposed ads, which
read ːThereˈs probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.ə
Spokesperson for the Atheist Bus Campaign Simon Fisher says ːItˈs concerning that peaceful atheist
messages are not allowed on buses while religious messages are often seen on buses and in public. Messages
of atheism are rare in New Zealand and we aim to raise awareness for the one-third of New Zealanders who
are unconvinced by the claims of religion.ə

Read more at: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1002/S00380.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_Bus_Campaign

by jaskaw @ 23.02.2010 - 22:21:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/23/major-bus-company-rejects-the-atheist-bus-campaign-in-new-zealand-8062840/
A publisher and writer convicted for 'supporting
Shi'ism' in Jordan
Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/reports/2010/pr0224.shtml

"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the ruling of one of the Jordanian
courts, on the 21st of February, 2010, against the Sudanese writer, Al Neil Abdel Kader, and Ward Publishing
House. The Court imposed a 10, 000 JD fine each.
The writer and the publishing house were accused of "supporting Shi'ism" for a book that was published under
the title Letters of the Sheikh Neil‫ل‬Reviewing Islamic Thought.
The publishing house had sent a copy of the book to the Department of Press and Publication to be licensed.
The Department, however, filed a case against the publishing house and the writer of the book. It relied on a
report written by one of its employees, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who considered the writer of
the book a supporter of Shi'ism."

Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/reports/2010/pr0224.shtml

by jaskaw @ 24.02.2010 - 11:50:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/24/a-publisher-and-writer-convicted-for-supporting-shi-ism-in-jordan-8065410/
'Puppet cleavage' was too much in Colorado
Read more at:
http://www.broadway.com/shows/avenue-q-off-bway/buzz/avenue-qs-lucy-slut-responds-colorado-ad-controversy/

"Lucy T. Slut, one of the fuzzy (and very friendly) stars of the Tony-winning musical Avenue Q, has never
shied away from controversy, but now the puppetˈs image has been banned from bus shelter advertisements
in Colorado Spring because of ːpuppet cleavage,ə according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
Jeff Moore, an account executive at Lamar Advertising that rejected the ads, told The Gazette, ːIf I have to
explain it to my four year old or my grandmother, we donˈt put it up.ə
And what was his issue with the Avenue Q imagery? ːItˈs the fact that itˈs cleavage,ə he said. The image
has been replaced by photos of other characters from the adult puppet musical, which is set to play Pikes Peak
Center March 16 and 17."

Read more at:

http://www.broadway.com/shows/avenue-q-off-bway/buzz/avenue-qs-lucy-slut-responds-colorado-ad-controversy/

by jaskaw @ 24.02.2010 - 15:04:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/24/puppet-cleavage-was-too-much-in-colorado-8066375/
Miss Beverly Hills: "God wants gays put to death"

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/dan-savage-responds-miss-beverly-hills-gay
by jaskaw @ 25.02.2010 - 19:25:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/25/miss-beverly-hills-god-wants-gays-put-to-death-8073933/
Olympian says there's 'no atheist at the top of a
bobsled run'
Read more at: http://www.bpsports.net/bpsports.asp?ID=6157

"WHISTLER, British Columbia (BP)--Lyndon Rush knows his sport gives him plenty of opportunities to be
vocal about his faith in Jesus Christ, and he wants to make the most of those chances.
"You know there's no atheist in a foxhole, right?" Rush asked. "There's no atheist at the top of a bobsled run,
either."
The Canadian bobsled driver, who is competing in his first Winter Olympics, takes advantage of the dangers
in his sport, such as traveling at speeds in excess of 90 mph, to be a witness for Christ by praying with his
teammates before their runs and by talking often about the Lord. He's found an openness to his spiritual
leadership, even among teammates who don't profess to be Christians."

Read more at: http://www.bpsports.net/bpsports.asp?ID=6157

by jaskaw @ 25.02.2010 - 19:29:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/25/olympian-says-there-s-no-atheist-at-the-top-of-a-bobsled-run-8073955/
New study: Intelligent people more likely to exhibit
novel religious and political preferences
Read more at: http://www.physorg.com/news186236813.html

"More intelligent people are significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political
preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history. Specifically, liberalism and atheism,
and for men (but not women), preference for sexual exclusivity correlate with higher intelligence, a new study
finds.
The study, published in the March 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Social Psychology
Quarterly, advances a new theory to explain why people form particular preferences and values. The theory
suggests that more intelligent people are more likely than less intelligent people to adopt evolutionarily novel
preferences and values, but intelligence does not correlate with preferences and values that are old enough to
have been shaped by evolution over millions of years."
"Evolutionarily novel" preferences and values are those that humans are not biologically designed to have and
our ancestors probably did not possess. In contrast, those that our ancestors had for millions of years are
"evolutionarily familiar."
"General intelligence, the ability to think and reason, endowed our ancestors with advantages in solving
evolutionarily novel problems for which they did not have innate solutions," says Satoshi Kanazawa, an
evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics and Political Science. "As a result, more
intelligent people are more likely to recognize and understand such novel entities and situations than less
intelligent people, and some of these entities and situations are preferences, values, and lifestyles."

Read more at: http://www.physorg.com/news186236813.html

by jaskaw @ 25.02.2010 - 20:20:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/25/new-study-intelligent-people-more-likely-to-exhibit-novel-religious-and-politica
Der Spiegel: The circle of victims of Islam expands
rapidly
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,680349,00.html#ref=nlint

"The rise of Islamic extremism is putting increasing pressure on Christians in Muslim countries, who are the
victims of murder, violence and discrimination. Christians are now considered the most persecuted religious
group around the world. Paradoxically, their greatest hope could come from moderate political Islam."
By SPIEGEL staff.
---
"Some of Malaysia's states interpret Sharia, the Islamic system of law and order, particularly strictly. The
once liberal country is on the way to giving up freedom of religion -- and what constitutes order is being
defined ever more rigidly. If a Muslim woman drinks beer, she can be punished with six cane strokes. Some
regions similarly forbid such things as brightly colored lipstick, thick make-up, or shoes with clattering high
heels."
---
"Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen have fallen to a large extent into the hands of Islamists. And
where Islamists are not yet in power, secular governing parties are trying to outstrip the more religious groups
in a rush to the right."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,680349,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 26.02.2010 - 19:59:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/26/the-circle-of-victims-of-islam-expands-rapidly-8080122/
Catholics attack distribution of condoms in
Philippines
Read more at: http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3831

"Roman Catholic leaders in the Philippines have lambasted a government campaign that encourages condom
use to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, while a health official has blamed the church for thwarting
its drive.
The Archbishop of Lipa, Ramon Arguelles, on 23 February called for the resignation of the Philippines health
department secretary, Esperanza Cabral. Arguelles was quoted on the Catholic Bishops Conference Web site
as saying it is "immoral [for Cabral] to be pushing for the use of condoms, which we all know are not a
deterrent to AIDS".
Cabral told reporters, however, "We are a secular state where the Church and State are separate." She said,
"We are always willing to discuss and negotiate" the matter with Catholic Church officials. She added, "We
should now be alarmed that we are now diagnosing two persons a day with HIV/AIDS, compared to just one
person a day two to three years ago."
On 18 February Manila Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales told the Church-run Radio Veritas that the health
department was teaching something wrong, saying "Such mentality is pitiful." He was referring to the
department's AIDS prevention programme, which it launched by providing free condoms on the eve of 14
February, St Valentine's Day."

Read more at: http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3831

by jaskaw @ 26.02.2010 - 20:17:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/26/catholics-attack-distribution-of-condoms-in-philippines-8080229/
Context!!!!!!

NonStampCollector writes:
"Here are a few kernels of truth, wrapped liberally in extreme exaggeration. I know. It's pretty over the top.
But so is the assertion that the bible is a holy book. That's a massive exaggeration. Most of it isn't even
"pleasant".
The bible is revolting. It is sickening. It is nowhere NEAR as nice a book as what an ethical human could
come up with, so why on earth does it have this reputation as having been written by the very author of love
itself? It wasn't. It was written by human men - and pretty horrible men by the sounds of things.
And why is it that it only ever seems to be the ugly bits of the bible that are ever taken out of context? Why
don't we ever hear christians complaining of John 3:16 being taken out of context?
Look, I know it's possible for things to be taken out of context. Creationists do it all the time, and it bugs the
hell out of scientists and rationalists. Even I've been quoted out of context. Sure, it's annoying. But no context
is large enough to write off some of the horrors of the bible. I mean - is September 11, for example,
completely justified by recourse to a larger "context"? No, and neither are some of the horrors mentioned in
the video.

Read more at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7P7uZFf5o&feature=digest
by jaskaw @ 26.02.2010 - 23:22:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/26/context-8081253/
Rowan Atkinson: "Amazing Jesus"

The Amazing Jesus and Trixy

written by Rowan Atkinson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson
"Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English comedian, actor and writer, most famous for
his work in the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean, the satirical sketch show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and
his voiceover work in Walt Disney's The Lion King. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50
funniest acts in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever in a 2005 poll of fellow
comedians."

by jaskaw @ 27.02.2010 - 19:04:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/27/rowan-atkinson-amazing-jesus-8085185/
Danish paper apologises for printing Muhammad
cartoon
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8539831.stm

"A Danish newspaper has apologised for any offence caused when it reprinted a cartoon depicting the Prophet
Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban in 2008.
Politiken said it was apologising as part of a settlement with Muslim groups in the Middle East and Australia.
Other Danish newspapers criticised Politiken for its move.
Twelve cartoons of Muhammad were initially published in 2006, sparking widespread protests by Muslims in
various countries."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8539831.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_cartoon

by jaskaw @ 27.02.2010 - 21:53:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/27/danish-paper-apologises-for-printing-muhammad-cartoon-8085996/
Islamist militants are starving 360 000 people in
Somalia
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8541315.stm

"Hundreds of thousands of displaced Somalis rely on food aid from the WFP
Islamist militants in Somalia are stopping convoys of food reaching more than 360,000 displaced people, the
UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says.
The agency says trucks travelling from the capital Mogadishu to camps in Afgoye have been stopped by
armed men.
Insurgent group al-Shabaab says the WFP is ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports.
But the UN says that without help, Somali farmers cannot supply enough food for those in need."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8541315.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFP

by jaskaw @ 28.02.2010 - 17:36:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/28/islamist-militants-are-starving-360-000-people-is-somalia-8089931/
Iran: An Unknown Apartheid
Read more at: http://iranianminorityshumanright.blogspot.com/2010/02/unpo-iran-unknown-apartheid.html

"Iranian representatives plead for international community to address bigotry towards minorities.
UNPO representatives addressed Permanent Missions in the UN on Friday 12 February to decry the situation
of minorities within the Islamic Republic of Iran, just days before Iran comes under examination in their first
ever Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council.
The event hosted by Interfaith International and UNPO provided a platform for debate and discussion of rights
violations with a particular focus on the Baloch, Ahwazi Arab, Azerbaijani Turk and Kurdish minorities.
In reference to the obstacles placed before religious and ethnic minorities in the workplace and to gain access
to university, Mr. Nasser Boladai from West Balochistan denounced life for many citizens in Iran as a form of
ːapartheid about which the world is unawareə.
Mr. Loghman Ahmedi elaborated on these restrictions reminding the participants of the inherent
contradictions in the Iranian constitution. Ahmedi noted that the constitution prevents women and any
non-Shia from being elected as President, despite provisions in Article 19 that pledges ’color, race, language,
and the like, do not bestow any privilegeˈ. A significant proportion of Iranˈs minority groups are Sunni
Muslims, and are therefore entirely excluded from many political processes.
Global media attention has been drawn towards the post-election demonstrations in Iran and around the world,
but many Iranian minorities boycotted the elections well in advance of the opening of polling stations in June
last year once their candidates were forcibly excluded from running by central authorities."

Read more at: http://iranianminorityshumanright.blogspot.com/2010/02/unpo-iran-unknown-apartheid.html

by jaskaw @ 28.02.2010 - 21:57:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/02/28/iran-an-unknown-apartheid-8091549/
Islamic radicals 'infiltrate' the Labour Party in
Britain
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7333420/Islamic-radicals-infiltrate-the-Labour-Party.html

By Andrew Gilligan
"The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) ō which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and
Europe into an Islamic state ō has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to
achieve ːmass mobilisationə of voters.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in
effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.
ːThey are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting
members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political
influence and power, whether itˈs at local government level or national level,ə he said.
ːThey are completely at odds with Labourˈs programme, with our support for secularism.ə

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7333420/Islamic-radicals-infiltrate-the-Labour-Party.html

by jaskaw @ 01.03.2010 - 11:00:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/01/islamic-radicals-infiltrate-the-labour-party-8094079/
Serb leader Karadzic claims to have led a ' holy
war' in Bosnia
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8542297.stm

"Former leader Radovan Karadzic has said the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was "just and holy" as he began
his defence at his genocide trial at The Hague.
Mr Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs during the war in the 1990s, said there was a core group of Muslims
in Bosnia - then and now - who wanted 100% power.
He said the Serbs acted in self-defence after their peace plans were rejected.
--
"I will defend that nation of ours and their cause that is just and holy," Mr Karadzic said in translated
comments at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8542297.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radovan_Karadzic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War

by jaskaw @ 01.03.2010 - 19:33:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/01/serb-leader-karadzic-claims-to-have-led-a-holy-war-in-bosnia-8096834/
Feedback for Post "Serb leader Karadzic claims to have led
a ' holy war' in Bosnia"

jill starr [Visitor]

http://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite
02.03.2010 @ 03:06
What It’s Like to Chill Out With Whom the World Considers the Most Ruthless Men in the World Ratko
Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Goran Hadzic (+) Confessions of a Female War Crimes Investigator

Retrospectively, it was all so simple, natural and matter of fact being on a boat restaurant in Belgrade, sitting
with, laughing, drinking a two hundred bottle of wine and chatting about war and peace while Ratko Mladic
held my hand. Mladic, a man considered the world’s most ruthless war criminal since Adolf Hitler, still at
large and currently having a five million dollar bounty on his head for genocide by the international
community. Yet there I was with my two best friends at the time, a former Serbian diplomat, his wife, and
Ratko Mladic just chilling. There was no security, nothing you’d ordinarily expect in such circumstances.
Referring to himself merely as, Sharko; this is the story of it all came about.

http://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite/what-it-s-like-to-chill-out-with-whom-the-rest-of-the-world-considers-as-the-mo
(Read My Entire Book Here For Free Now).

http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa
(Jill Starr's Entire American Expose Including the Secret Scanned Photo Documentary Evidence I Obtained
From the CLOSED UN ICC Preparatory Meetings (2001)

http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/feed
(Jill Starr On Instablogs)

http://shops.half.ebay.com/raretofindreads
(Now Everyone Can Purchase My Rare Books)

lpcyu [Member]
02.03.2010 @ 03:07

Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute
Karadzic Case

http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa/
(The Documentary Secret United Nations ICC Meeting Papers Scanned Images)

This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr Karadzic and others awaiting
trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states instituting the ICC &
ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as with the other Hague cases awaiting trial
there, I personally witnessed these United Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial
appointments and verdicts for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the
UN in Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and others.

I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to establish an newly
emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal corruption running so very deeply at the
Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate
trading verdicts AND judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country’s proposal was not taken to well by
the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud and noticably strongly vocal manner, “Spain
(my country) strongly believes if we contribute most financial support to the Hague’s highest court, that ought
to give us and other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its decisions.”

((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative from Spain for even
bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for international judicial verdicts and judicial
appointments, all country representatives present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a
”totally legitimate topic” discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!
The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."

Some countries agreed with Spain’s propositions while others did not. The point here is, bribery for judicial
verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate topic instead of an illegitimate toic which
it is in the meeting that I attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent
international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading financial funding the
ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts in front of every other UN member state
present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was
"socially acceptable" for conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and
ICC before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student. SPAIN's diplomatic
gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is, disgusting morally!

SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN

"INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."

I remind everyone, when I attended those ICC Preparatory Meetings in 2001, witnessing first hand the country
plenipotentiary representatives present with me discussing so openly, trading judicial funding of a new
international criminal court, for its direct judicial appointments and judicial verdicts, those same state powers
were

concurrently,

those same countries and people were already simultaneously, funding the already established ICTY which
was issuing at that time, arrest warrants for Bosnian Serbs under false primary diplomatic pretenses.

The ICTY and ICC is just where it should be for once. Cornered and backed into and an international wall,
scared like a corned animal (and I bet it reacts in the same way a rabid cornered animal does too in such
circumstances). (ICTY associates)

http://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite/irrefutable-proof-icty-is-corrupt-court-irrefutable-proof-the-hague-court-cannot-
(Documents: Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has destroyed all material evidence
about the monsterous KLA Albanian/KLA organ trade in Kosovo).

I believe strongly that ICYU assocaites murdered former Serb President, Slobodan Milosevic, tried to murder
me, as well and other Serbs prisoners and presently places , Doctor Radovan Karadzic’s life in direct danger
as well as Ratko Mladic’s life
in danger should he be brought there.

The ICTY has no other choice than to halt all further court proceedings against, Doctor Radovan Karadzic,
and others there both serving sentences and awaiting trials. Miss JIll Louise Starr (The UN Security Council
has no choice but to act on this now).
I accuse the Hague ICTY war crimes tribunal of attempted assassination on my life and others, contempt of
court and obstruction of international justice and "international witness tampering" in complicity with Richard
Holbrook and Bill Clinton (Former US President of the USA) as well as political players in Spain and the
Netherlands .

I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic’s absence in those meetings
and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia’s behalf.
Amnesty urges abolition of flogging of women in
Sudan
Read more at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18650

"Amnesty International today (1 March) denounced the practice of flogging in Sudan, which particularly
affects women. A new Campaign Briefing from Amnesty asks people to write to Sudanˈs President Bashir,
urging him to abolish this brutal practice.
Sudanese women face a daily risk of being arbitrarily arrested in public or private places for ːindecent or
immoral behaviour or dressə. Public Order Police Officers in Sudan have the power to decide what is decent
and what is not.
In most cases women are arrested for wearing trousers or knee length skirts.
Such behaviour can be punishable by up to 40 lashes under Article 152 of Sudanˈs Criminal Act 1991. Judges
have even exceeded the legal limit in some instances and punished women and girls by up to 50 lashes. These
punishments amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and affect women as well as girls under 18 in
Sudan."

Read more at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18650

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia:

by jaskaw @ 01.03.2010 - 20:54:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/01/amnesty-urges-abolition-of-flogging-of-women-in-sudan-8097313/
Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' (ft.
Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)

melodysheep says; "We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History
Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and
Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's
Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread
scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.
by jaskaw @ 01.03.2010 - 22:41:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/01/symphony-of-science-we-are-all-connected-ft-sagan-feynman-degrasse-tyson-bi
Indian Humanists Arrested for Distributing a Book
Critical of Islam
Read more at:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/indian_humanists_arrested_for_distributing_a_book_critical_of_islam/

"The Center for Inquiryˈs New Delhi, India contacts have reported that CFI/India President Innaiah Narisetti,
as well as two other individualsōSubba Rao and author Macha Laxmaiah (alias Krantikar)ōhave been arrested
for distributing a book ːthat reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.ə
The book, Crescent over the World, is a compilation of articles including submissions by Salman Rushdie and
Tasleema Nasreen, along with one of the ːblasphemousə cartoons published in the Danish press in 2005
(some of which were republished in Free Inquiry magazine)."

Read more at:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/indian_humanists_arrested_for_distributing_a_book_critical_of_islam/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innaiah_Narisetti
"Innaiah Narisetti (31 Oct 1937) is a writer and humanist from India. A longtime journalist and translator, he
currently serves as the chair of the Indian branch of the Center for Inquiry, a secular non-profit organization
"dedicated to promoting and defending science, reason, and free inquiry in all aspects of human interest."
Narisetti was born in Patha Reddi Palem village in Chebrolu Panchayat, Tenali Taluq, Guntur District,
Andhra Pradesh, India. From 1953 to 1958 he went to college at Andhra Christian College, Guntur 1953-58,
then from 1958 to 1960 at Andhra University, Waltair, to study philosophy. He received his MA in
philosophy from Osmania University in 1964."

by jaskaw @ 01.03.2010 - 23:45:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/01/indian-humanists-arrested-for-distributing-a-book-critical-of-islam-8098524/
Nigerian court rejects case against Humanist
campaigning against witch-hunts
Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/nigerian-court-rejects-case-against-humanist-campaigners

"Nigerian Humanists have won the latest round in an ongoing battle with witch hunters. Today, 4 Feb. 2010,
the Federal High Court in Calabar struck out the case brought against Leo Igwe, International Humanist and
Ethical Union (IHEU) Representative in West Africa, by Helen Ukpabio of the Liberty Gospel Church.
In November last year, Ukpabio went to court claiming that conferences organised by the Nigerian Humanist
Movement to tackle witchcraft related abuses infringed on her right to spread the gospel. She asked the court
to order the child rights campaigners to pay her two hundred billion naira (1.3 billion US dollars) as damages
for ːinfringement of their rights.ə
ːThe Church instituted this court action to stop their arrest and prosecution for the attack of July 29 in
Calabar,ə said Igwe, referring to a physical assault on him last year. About 200 members of the Liberty
Gospel Church disrupted an anti-witch hunt conference that Igwe organized in July 2009."

Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/nigerian-court-rejects-case-against-humanist-campaigners

by jaskaw @ 02.03.2010 - 10:58:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/02/nigerian-court-rejects-case-against-humanist-campaigners-8100356/
Atheist Group Heralds 'First Time in History' Policy
Briefing with White House Officials
Read more at:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/atheist-group-heralds-first-time-in-history-policy-briefing-with-white

"White House officials will this morning meet with leaders of the atheist community, who will discuss their
concerns about the "privileging of religion" by the government "that harms real people," in the words of Sean
Faircloth, executive director of the Secular Coalition of America.
The group calls this meeting "the first time in history a presidential administration has met for a policy
briefing with the American nontheist community."
Faircloth told ABC News that the group will brief Tina Tchen and Paul Monteiro, the director and associate
director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs; Bryan H. Samuels,
Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at Health and Human Services; and
Mazen Basrawi, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice."

Read more at:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/atheist-group-heralds-first-time-in-history-policy-briefing-with-white

by jaskaw @ 02.03.2010 - 21:21:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/02/atheist-group-heralds-first-time-in-history-policy-briefing-with-white-house-offi
Muslim rioters try to burn newspaper offices in
India
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8546685.stm

"Two newspaper offices have been attacked in India's Karnataka state in unrest over an article allegedly
written by the writer Taslima Nasreen.
Two Muslim protesters were killed in clashes with police after the article, which challenges the Muslim
practice of veil wearing, appeared in local papers.
An unidentified group vandalised the office of the Kannada Prabha newspaper, which carried the article,
police said.
Ms Nasreen has denied writing the article for the newspaper.
She said an article she had written had been translated into the Kannada language and "doctored" to malign
her."
--
"Police said a group of 10 masked men attempted to set the newspaper's office in Mangalore on fire after
dousing the premises with petrol, but firemen extinguished it in time."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8546685.stm

by jaskaw @ 03.03.2010 - 19:45:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/03/muslim-rioters-try-to-burn-newspaper-offices-in-india-8109647/
Creationists use global warming denial to
undermine science
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

"Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nationˈs classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking
the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in
public schools.
In Kentucky, a bill recently introduced in the Legislature would encourage teachers to discuss ːthe
advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories,ə including ːevolution, the origins of life, global warming
and human cloning.ə
The bill, which has yet to be voted on, is patterned on even more aggressive efforts in other states to fuse such
issues. In Louisiana, a law passed in 2008 says the state board of education may assist teachers in promoting
ːcritical thinkingə on all of those subjects.
In Kentucky, a bill recently introduced in the Legislature would encourage teachers to discuss ːthe
advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories,ə including ːevolution, the origins of life, global warming
and human cloning.ə
The bill, which has yet to be voted on, is patterned on even more aggressive efforts in other states to fuse such
issues. In Louisiana, a law passed in 2008 says the state board of education may assist teachers in promoting
ːcritical thinkingə on all of those subjects."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

by jaskaw @ 04.03.2010 - 13:17:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/04/creationists-use-global-warming-denial-to-undermine-science-8113614/
Hindu holy man attacked violently because of
suspicions of having relationships with women
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8549167.stm

"Nine people have been arrested in south India for vandalising the ashram of a Hindu holy man after TV
channels showed him allegedly engaging in sexual acts.
The footage appears to show Nithyananda Swami, 32, in bed with two women.
On Wednesday, angry crowds attacked parts of his ashram near Bangalore in Karnataka state. He was not
present and police say his whereabouts are unknown
Correspondents say the sex scandal has shocked his devotees and angered locals. The holy man has a huge
following in southern India."

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2010/03/03/swami-nityananda-sex-scandal-video-tamil-actress.html

Watch the scandalous video at:
http://videos.oneindia.in/watch/17777/paramahamsa-nithyananda-sex-scandal.html

by jaskaw @ 04.03.2010 - 19:01:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/04/hindu-holy-man-attacked-violently-because-of-suspicions-of-having-relationship
Vanity Fair - Christopher Hitchens on The New
Commandments

Read more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_commandments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/search/hitchens/AND/
by jaskaw @ 04.03.2010 - 23:11:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/04/vanity-fair-christopher-hitchens-on-the-new-commandments-8117161/
Islamic solidarity crumbles over dispute of names
of waterways
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28karsh.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all

--
The Islamic Solidarity Games, the Olympics of the Muslim world, which were to be held in Iran in April,
have been called off by the Arab states because Tehran inscribed ːPersian Gulfə on the tournamentˈs official
logo and medals.
Itˈs a small but telling controversy. It puts the lie to the idea of the Islamic world as a bloc united by religious
values that are hostile to the West. It also gives clues as to how the United States and its allies should handle
two of their most urgent foreign policy matters: the Iranian nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
---
In this history of a single body of water, one sees a perfect example of the so-called Islamic Paradox that dates
from the seventh century. For although the Prophet Muhammad took great pains to underscore the equality of
all believers regardless of ethnicity, categorically forbidding any fighting among the believers, his precepts
have been constantly and blatantly violated.
It took a mere 24 years after the Prophetˈs death for the head of the universal Islamic community, the caliph
Uthman, to be murdered by political rivals. This opened the floodgates to incessant infighting within the
House of Islam, which has never ceased.
Likewise, there has been no overarching Islamic solidarity transcending the multitude of parochial loyalties ō
to oneˈs clan, tribe, village, family or nation. Thus, for example, not only do Arabs consider themselves
superior to all other Muslims, but inhabitants of Hijaz, the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula and
Islamˈs birthplace, regard themselves the only true Arabs, and tend to be highly disparaging of all other
Arabic-speaking communities."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28karsh.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Solidarity_Games

by jaskaw @ 05.03.2010 - 10:39:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/05/read-more-at-http-www-nytimes-com-2010-02-8119180/
Great Minds: Richard Feynman - The Uncertainty
Of Knowledge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman (1918 ʒ 1988) was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral
formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the
superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For
his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger
and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial
representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which
later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known
scientists in the world.

by jaskaw @ 06.03.2010 - 13:23:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/06/great-minds-richard-feynman-the-uncertainty-of-knowledge-8126151/
Pope's sainthood setback after 'miracle cure' nun
reported to be ill again
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/nun-cured-pope-parkinsons-ill

It was the miracle that set Pope John Paul II on the road to sainthood and provided faithful followers with
proof of his holy powers. But hopes that the former pope's canonisation would be fast-tracked by Sister Marie
Simon-Pierre's recovery from Parkinson's disease have been set back by reports that the French nun has fallen
ill again.
Simon-Pierre described three years ago how she regained her health after a night of prayer to the then recently
deceased Polish pontiff. John Paul also suffered from Parkinson's disease, which is incurable.
"It's like a second birth," she said at the time. "I feel like I've discovered a new body, new limbs."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/nun-cured-pope-parkinsons-ill

by jaskaw @ 07.03.2010 - 14:24:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/07/pope-s-sainthood-setback-after-miracle-cure-nun-reported-to-be-ill-again-81318
Feedback for Post "Pope's sainthood setback after 'miracle
cure' nun reported to be ill again"

jpfib [Member]
07.03.2010 @ 17:54

these popes and church is created on lies, cheating, killing, burning and all vices in this world, for their
enjoyment of worldly pleasures. they have no goodness or love in their heart.they commit all crimes and
preach great words on the pulpit.they perpetrate hatred towards their fellow men who are not ready to lick
their feet.these self appointed custodians of god and keys of the kingdom have nothing to do with god or
goodness.they live in kingly palaces while their fellow men have no food,shelter and clothings.they make
saints to sell them and make money in their name.these saints all these no better than these liars.my dear
fellow beings of this universe keep away from these cheats and saves yourself from slavery.

freethink [Member]
08.03.2010 @ 14:51

It is no secret that the majority of the species are still afraid of their own shadow and of an afterlife, so rip-offs
like the Church will continue to make fortunes out of the gullible, impressionable and superstitious.
Violence fueled by Islam erupts again in four
different countries
In BBC World News today there were four pieces of news over open violent conflicts in the world. They had
only one thing in common. They all involved violent Muslim elements in conflict with local government, other
Islamic groups or other religions.

Taliban clashes with rival Afghan militants kill 60

"At least 60 militants have been killed in fighting between the Taliban and a rival Islamic group,
Hezb-e-Islami, in northern Afghanistan, police say."
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8554050.stm

'Dozens killed' in Nigeria clashes

"Dozens of people have been reported killed in clashes near the central Nigerian city of Jos. In January
hundreds of people were killed in sectarian riots in the city, which lies between the mainly Muslim north and
the more Christian south. Ethnic and religious riots also broke out in 2008, killing hundreds."
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8554304.stm

Philippine troops kill seven 'militants'

"Philippine troops have killed at least seven militants from the Abu Sayyaf group in a raid on their hideout in
the south of the country, officials say. An army commander said they believed the men might be linked to a
wanted Malaysian militant - Zulkipli Bin Hir, also known as Marwan."
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8554044.stm

Iraq parliamentary election hit by insurgent attacks

"Iraq's second parliamentary election since the 2003 invasion has been hit by multiple attacks, with at least 24
people being killed. Islamic militants had pledged to disrupt the voting process with attacks - a group
affiliated to al-Qaeda distributed leaflets in Baghdad warning people not to go to the polls."
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8553929.stm

by jaskaw @ 07.03.2010 - 17:30:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/07/violence-fuelled-by-islam-erupts-again-in-four-different-countries-8132827/
Feedback for Post "Violence fueled by Islam erupts again in
four different countries"

thesauros [Visitor]
http://thesauros-store.blogspot.com
08.03.2010 @ 05:14
Click on the video at the following link and watch what Mohommad’s followers of the beloved and peaceful
islam do for fun on an afternoon.
http://somalisforjesus.blogspot.com/2009/01/mansur-mohamed-sfj-martyr-of-year-2009.html

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
08.03.2010 @ 10:32
Dear thesauros, it is very difficult to how this link connects to the issue at hand; namely violence caused by
very strongly held religious beliefs.
I must comment that Christianity has always very keen on building and fostering sadness and melancholy in
its followers, as happy people are not as interested in the sad and melancholy things they have on offer.
Fear of death is in fact their main selling point; did you know that they do in fact have a instrument of painful
and slow death hanging in every building they own?
Sam Harris warns about the 'relativistic trap'
Read more at: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/universal-morality/

"In a well-meaning attempt to be tolerant of other cultures and religions we often blithely subvert our values
and morality, says Sam Harris, the outspoken critic of blind religious faith. We do this because we think that
questions about good and evil or right and wrong cannot be answered definitively. But they can, he told a rapt
audience at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference Thursday ō and they should.
---
We know that there are fundamentally right and wrong answers to certain questions and issues, but do not
trust our instincts, he said. These cast-aside tenets should respected and should be the basis of a universal
morality, regardless of variations in cultures and belief.
Even within a single culture itˈs easy to fall into a morally relativistic trap, he said. For example, Harris
noted, there are 21 states in the U.S. where itˈs legal for a teacher to beat a child with a wooden board to the
point of leaving bruises and breaking skin. The rationale for this behavior is the Biblical quote about sparing
the rod and spoiling the child."

Read more at: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/universal-morality/

by jaskaw @ 07.03.2010 - 21:40:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/07/sam-haris-warns-about-the-relativistic-trap-8134546/
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Islamic tyranny 'is
crushing Iran's artists'
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/07/iran-human-rights

Lizzy Davies, Paris

The Observer, Sunday 7 March 2010
"Actress Golshifteh Farahani, exiled in Paris, reveals the pressures on Iran's artistic community after
anti-government film-maker is arrested.
Golshifteh Farahani knows how dangerous it is now to be an artist in Tehran. In 2008 she became the first
Iranian-based actress in almost 30 years to appear in a Hollywood blockbuster. Starring opposite Leonardo
DiCaprio and Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, she hoped the film would be appreciated in her
homeland for its critical stance on America's politics in the Middle East.
She was wrong. When she returned to Tehran the then 24-year-old was subjected to seven months of
inquisition from the authorities of the Islamic republic. Reprimanded for not having asked the permission of
the government, she became a regular guest of the Information Ministry and intelligence services.
Eventually she cracked. By the time Body of Lies was released, she was an exile in Paris. She does not know
when she will go home."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/07/iran-human-rights

by jaskaw @ 08.03.2010 - 16:45:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/08/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-s-islamic-tyranny-is-crushing-iran-s-artists-8138858/
Leading home-school text-books dismiss
evolution in the United States
Read more at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588260,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5

"LOUISVILLE, Ky. ō Home-school mom Susan Mule wishes she hadn't taken a friend's advice and tried a
textbook from a popular Christian publisher for her 10-year-old's biology lessons.
Mule's precocious daughter Elizabeth excels at science and has been studying tarantulas since she was 5. But
she watched Elizabeth's excitement turn to confusion when they reached the evolution section of the book
from Apologia Educational Ministries, which disputed Charles Darwin's theory.
"I thought she was going to have a coronary," Mule said of her daughter, who is now 16 and taking college
courses in Houston. "She's like, 'This is not true!"'
Christian-based materials dominate a growing home-school education market that encompasses more than 1.5
million students in the U.S. And for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation is
exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give
their children "religious or moral instruction."
---
"The textbook delivers a religious ultimatum to young readers and parents, warning in its "History of Life"
chapter that a "Christian worldview ... is the only correct view of reality; anyone who rejects it will not only
fail to reach heaven but also fail to see the world as it truly is."

Read more at:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588260,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5

by jaskaw @ 09.03.2010 - 08:42:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/09/leading-home-school-text-books-dismiss-evolution-in-the-united-states-8142863
US study shows strong links between religiosity
and racism
Read more at: http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/study_links_religion_and_racism.html

A meta-analysis of 55 independent studies carried out in the United States with more than 20,000 mostly
Christian participants has found that members of religious congregations tend to harbor prejudiced views of
other races.
In general, the more devout the community, the greater the racism, according to the authors of the analysis,
led by Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at USC College and the USC Marshall
School of Business. The study appears in the February issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review.
ːReligious groups distinguish between believers and non-believers and moral people and immoral ones,ə
Wood said. ːSo perhaps itˈs no surprise that the strongly religious people in our research, who were mostly
white Christians, discriminated against others who were different from them ō blacks and minorities.ə
---
Wood speculated that racist tendencies would not be limited to one religion: ːAll religions offer a moral
group identity, and so across world religions ō including Buddhism, Hinduism, Muslim, Judaism and
Christianity ō the religious ingroup is valued over outgroups.ə
---
Despite the involvement of religious individuals in the civil rights movement, and in later struggles for racial
equality, the authors found a strong correlation between religious belief and racism, as measured through
commonly used survey tools that rate respondentsˈ attitudes toward religion and racial minorities.
---
ːPeople who were religious because of their respect for tradition and social convention were especially likely
to be racist,ə Wood said, though adding that the strength of the correlation declined somewhat as racism
became less socially acceptable.

Read more at: http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/study_links_religion_and_racism.html

by jaskaw @ 09.03.2010 - 09:59:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/09/us-study-shows-strong-links-between-religiosity-and-racism-8143182/
Seven Muslims arrested in Ireland over 'plot to kill
Swedish cartoonist'
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8558022.stm

"Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for
depicting the Prophet Muhammad, police say.
The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police
statement did not confirm this.
Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda
newspaper.
Islamic militants put a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on his head.
Mr Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two
death threats he had received by telephone in January."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8558022.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Vilks_Muhammad_drawings_controversy
"The Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy began in July 2007 with a series of drawings by Swedish
artist Lars Vilks which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog (a form of street
installation in Sweden). Several art galleries in Sweden declined to show the drawings, citing security
concerns and fear of violence. The controversy gained international attention after the Örebro-based regional
newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on 18 August to illustrate an editorial on
self-censorship and freedom of religion.
While several other leading Swedish newspapers had published the drawings already, this particular
publication led to protests from Muslims in Sweden as well as official condemnations from several foreign
governments including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Jordan, as well as by the inter-governmental
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The controversy occurred about a year and a half after the
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark in early 2006."

by jaskaw @ 09.03.2010 - 21:22:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/09/irish-arrests-over-plot-to-kill-swedish-cartoonist-8147188/
DrJerryK Rebuttal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism
by jaskaw @ 10.03.2010 - 14:44:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/10/drjerryk-rebuttal-8150966/
God is all in your head, author of the new book
says
Read more at: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/777447--god-is-all-in-your-head-author-says

"The human brain tries to explain the world around us, applying whatever it knows to develop a reasonable
explanation for what it sees and experiences.
And for the things it can't explain, the brain simply fills in the holes with its own neat little invention, a new
book says.
God.
"Our principle concern was to understand why religion works," says Lionel Tiger, and anthropologist and
co-author of the new book God's Brain.
In the book, Tiger and psychiatrist Michael McGuire argue that some 150,000 years ago, humans figured out
they were all going to die. This changed everything. Humans began to wonder about the purpose of their lives
and what came next.
Suddenly, the world stopped making sense. This was stressful. We wanted an explanation.
The human brain needed answers, so it created God, an afterlife and religious stories that explained the world
around us.
Having answers released serotonin into the brain, a natural stress reliever, and it was good. For millennia to
follow, Tiger and McGuire argue, the rituals of religion provided more comfort, more serotonin and more
followers.
"All the religions map the major transition points and crises of human life, and make them easier to deal
with," Tiger says.
"There is almost always a complex ritual that has to happen and people can focus on that rather than the
drama of what's actually happening."

Read more at: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/777447--god-is-all-in-your-head-author-says

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Tiger

by jaskaw @ 10.03.2010 - 16:52:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/10/god-is-all-in-your-head-author-says-8151650/
The new Buddhist atheism
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/10/buddhism-atheism-hitchens

by Mark Vernon
"A book setting out the principles of a pared-down Buddhism has won praise from arch-atheist Christopher
Hitchens"
"In God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens writes of Buddhism as the sleep of reason, and of Buddhists as
discarding their minds as well as their sandals. His passionate diatribe appeared in 2007. So what's he doing
now, just three years later, endorsing a book on Buddhism written by a Buddhist?
The new publication is Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Its author, Stephen Batchelor, is at the vanguard of
attempts to forge an authentically western Buddhism. He is probably best known for Buddhism Without
Beliefs, in which he describes himself as an agnostic. Now he has decided on atheism, the significance of
which is not just that he doesn't believe in transcendent deities, but is also found in his stripping down of
Buddhism to the basics."
---
Hitchens calls it "honest" and "serious", a model of self-criticism, and an example of the kind of ethical and
scientific humanism "in which lies our only real hope". The endorsement makes sense because Batchelor's is
an account of Buddhism for "this world alone". His deployment of reason and evidence, coupled to the
imperative to remake Buddhism and hold no allegiance to inherited doctrines, would appeal to Hitchens. And
not just Hitchens."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/10/buddhism-atheism-hitchens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Batchelor_%28author%29

by jaskaw @ 10.03.2010 - 21:42:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/10/the-new-buddhist-atheism-8153462/
Italian coach banned for saying God's name in
vain
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/02/italy-football-coach-god-blasphemy

Chievo's coach was not the only one caught out; one of his players, Michele Marcolini, was deemed to have
said 'God' as he left the field after a red card.

"Domenico "Mimmo" Di Carlo could not be said to have emblazoned his name on the annals of Italian
football ʒ until, that is, last Sunday in the third minute of the second half of Chievo's 2-1 victory over Cagliari
in Serie A.
It was at this moment, according to the disciplinary watchdog of the Italian football league, that the Verona
club's coach "proffered a blasphemous expression" that was to make him the first victim of a zero-tolerance
policy on irreverence.
Di Carlo, whose side narrowly avoided relegation last season, was banned from the touchline for a game after
Sunday's outburst. The Italian federation, Federcalcio, decided last month that the time had come for
disciplinary action to be taken against players and coaches heard taking God's name in vain."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/02/italy-football-coach-god-blasphemy

by jaskaw @ 11.03.2010 - 00:05:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/10/italian-coach-banned-for-taking-god-s-name-in-vain-8154352/
Italian school angers the Vatican by installing
condom machines on campus
Read more at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257022/Italian-school-angers-Vatican-installing-condom-machine-campus.h

By NICK PISA
"The Vatican today condemned a controversial decision by an Italian school to install a condom machine on
its campus, saying it 'trivialises sex.'
Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope's chief vicar of the diocese of Rome, spoke out after the dispensers were
installed in the boys and girls toilets of the Keplero secondary school.
Cardinal Vallini said he was 'very worried' by the move, which is the first of its kind in an Italian school, and
added: 'This trivialises sex and will not find agreement in the Church community of Rome or with Christan
families who will be seriously considered about children's education."

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257022/Italian-school-angers-Vatican-installing-condom-machine-campus.h

Read more at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257022/Italian-school-angers-Vatican-installing-condom-machine-campus.h

by jaskaw @ 11.03.2010 - 16:36:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/11/italian-school-angers-the-vatican-by-installing-condom-machines-on-campus-81
Feedback for Post "Italian school angers the Vatican by
installing condom machines on campus"

bezboznik [Visitor]

11.03.2010 @ 19:51
Porco dio.

It is an insult to have these evil pricks interject themselves where they do not belong.

Instead, they should address something they actually can do something about: pedophile priests.

cosimo [Visitor]

12.03.2010 @ 01:48
The Catholic Church should not interfere with these matters.

Madonna puttana.
Vatican's chief exorcist says that devil is in
Vatican
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7416458/Chief-exorcist-says-Devil-is-in-V

By Nick Squires in Rome

"The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed on
Wednesday.
Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron.
He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex
abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof
that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.
"The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences," said Father Amorth, 85, who has been
the Holy See's chief exorcist for 25 years.
"He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, or even appear to be sympathetic. At times he makes
fun of me. But I'm a man who is happy in his work."
While there was "resistance and mistrust" towards the concept of exorcism among some Catholics, Pope
Benedict XVI has no such doubts, Father Amorth said. "His Holiness believes wholeheartedly in the practice
of exorcism. He has encouraged and praised our work," he added."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7416458/Chief-exorcist-says-Devil-is-in-V

by jaskaw @ 11.03.2010 - 22:03:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/11/vatican-s-chief-exorcist-says-that-devil-is-in-vatican-8159427/
Feedback for Post "Vatican's chief exorcist says that devil
is in Vatican "

jpfib [Member]
12.03.2010 @ 14:24

why doubt?catholic church was created was created by devils to enslave fellow brothers and sisters.they have
no goodness or love in their heart.if every criminal deeds are put on the shoulders of devil they (church
leaders) will be absolved and heaven will be in their custody as they are infallible
Scientologists try to block 'intolerant' German
feature film
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/scientologists-try-block-german-film

Kate Connolly in Berlin

"Television network denies claims that Until Nothing Remains depicts group as totalitarian and unethical.
Germany's state broadcaster is locked in a row with the Church of Scientology which wants to block an
upcoming feature film that depicts the controversial organisation as totalitarian and unethical.
Bis Nichts Mehr Bleibt, or Until Nothing Remains, dramatises the account of a German family torn apart by
its associations with Scientology. A young married couple joins the organisation but as the wife gets sucked
ever more deeply into the group, her husband, who has donated much of his money to it, decides to leave. In
the process he loses contact with his young daughter who, like his wife, is being educated by Scientology
instructors.
Scientology leaders have accused Germany's primary public TV network, ARD, of creating in top secret a
piece of propaganda that sets out to undermine the group, and have demanded to see it before it is broadcast.
The 90-minute film reflects an unease in Germany about the organisation, which boasts several thousand
members across the country and has its headquarters in central Berlin. The church is considered
anti-constitutional by its critics."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/scientologists-try-block-german-film

by jaskaw @ 12.03.2010 - 15:25:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/12/scientologists-try-to-block-intolerant-german-feature-film-8163171/
Pharmacist refuses to sell contraceptive pills
'because of her religion' in Britain
Read more at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1256602/Pharmacist-refuses-mother-38-contraceptive-pills-religion.html

"A pharmacist refused to serve a mother-of-two with a prescription for the contraceptive pill because it went
against her religious beliefs.
Shocked Janine Deeley, 38, initially thought the female pharmacist must be joking, but became angry when
she was told to try another chemist or come back the next day when someone else was on duty.
Miss Deeley said she is prescribed the pill by her GP because she suffers from a condition which causes
painful periods.
She said she was furious at being 'treated like a child' and having to explain herself like an irresponsible
teenager."

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1256602/Pharmacist-refuses-mother-38-contraceptive-pills-religion.html#ixzz

Read more at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1256602/Pharmacist-refuses-mother-38-contraceptive-pills-religion.html

by jaskaw @ 12.03.2010 - 19:58:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/12/pharmacist-refuses-to-sell-contraceptive-pills-because-of-her-religion-in-britain-
Students flock to Liberty University to study
creationism
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/liberty-university-studen_n_491297.html

An Agence France-Press report estimates that some 40 percent of the United States believe in creationism,
which holds that the Earth was created by God only several thousand years ago. Students are flocking to
Liberty University to study this literal interpretation of the Bible, much to the dismay of scientists.
Liberty University was founded by the late and very controversial Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/liberty-university-studen_n_491297.html

by jaskaw @ 13.03.2010 - 17:02:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/13/students-flock-to-liberty-university-to-study-creationism-8169751/
Philosopher A. C. Grayling: "Religion can't carry
on unconstrained"
Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-god-botherer-20100313-q4mb.html

By BARNEY ZWARTZ
"Plato said philosophy begins with wonder. For noted British philosopher A. C. Grayling, wonder began with
philosophy. Raised in Zambia, he discovered Plato at 12 and used to read philosophy by torchlight under the
blankets, he found it so riveting.
---
When it comes to civil liberties and especially to religion, he is an unvarnished polemicist, full ō as an Age
reviewer once observed of him ō of missionary zeal. Nevertheless, Grayling, 60, is the acceptable face of
militant atheism, the velvet glove among the mailed fists. He is trenchant without being strident, committed
without being domineering, and does not imagine that everyone who disagrees with him is deluded, insane or
wicked. (He is "militant", in that he is not only an unbeliever himself, but wants to ensure no one else believes
either.)
INVITED to dissociate himself from the arrogance that opponents often claim can characterise other front-line
atheists such as Richard Dawkins (also in town for the atheist convention) and Christopher Hitchens, he will
not be drawn. He understands their frustration, he says, but regrets that people might miss their message
because of their manner. He concedes that "a little dash of charm can go a long way" ō and he can muster
more than a little.

Grayling concedes religion has a right to exist and to a say, but he thinks it has too great a say.
"It's the constant arrogation of an overstated influence on life and society that secularists like myself oppose.
There's no point in pussyfooting around. You believe something dreamed up by illiterate goatherds 2000 years
ago and I've got to respect it? No is the answer, after 9/11."
"Religion can't carry on unconstrained, and the constraint must be, see yourself as you are, an unelected body
with no greater rights than any other interest group such as trade unions or political parties. Have your say, but
don't impose yourself on the rest of us."

Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-god-botherer-20100313-q4mb.html

by jaskaw @ 13.03.2010 - 17:22:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/13/philosopher-a-c-grayling-religion-can-t-carry-on-unconstrained-8169850/
Feedback for Post "Philosopher A. C. Grayling: "Religion
can't carry on unconstrained""

jpfib [Member]
14.03.2010 @ 12:48

religion must be a path to free oneself from fear and slavery.there is god different from oneself.true religion
helps one to realize one's own godhead.organised religions are formed exploit their brothers and sisters and
make them their slaves, to attain big money and power(by leaders).they spread hatred.they appear pious and
sweet outside while their heart is full of hatred and wickedness.they commit all crimes and use money ad
power to escape law and punishment.organized religion is a big business.no love and goodness in it.

jpfib [Member]
14.03.2010 @ 12:59

a correction to the earlier comment-there is no god different from oneself.they (organizers) are real
terrorists.they preach hell and damnation to make their fellow beings their slaves.they say Christ preached
give everything you have to the poor and take thy cross and follow me. but these crooks make big money in
the name of poor and enjoy all worldly pleasures.they live in large palaces,vine,dine commit all vices while
millions of fellowmen have no food,clothings or shelter.they want bullet proof vehicles to travel.that is the
faith in their god.they commit every crime with infallibility.

jpfib [Member]
14.03.2010 @ 13:16

they wear gold rings on their fingers to be kissed by the slaves. are they not ashamed.Christ took birth in a
cattle shed and lived a simple living.but these crooks in his name we know..... .no body has the right to impose
their belief on others.they preach they are the only custodians of the keys of the kingdom.who gave it to
them.these are all to fool their fellow beings. hell with their gold rings and gold crosses. i was baptized by
catholics without my permission and made me a follower.when i came to know their true nature i left them.
buy i have no hatred towards them. am writing this only to open the eyes of my fellow brothers and sisters
who fell in to their trap.try them for their lies, killings, burnings,raping,abuse of children.they reap what they
sow.

MerLin [Visitor]

14.03.2010 @ 13:46
I don't think it is necessary for the vanguard of "new" atheists to be cookie-cutter copies of each other. They
each appeal to a different audience, and though their message is the same, of course their strongly opinionated
and unique personalities has shaped their delivery.
I find the swagger of Hitchens' swashbuckling approach rather disarming, and can appreciate his rapier-sharp
wit and his boisterous use of the Language. But I also like Grayling's more calming and reflective delivery.

As for religion, it has played an important role in this brief period in the evolution of the species, for while we
were afraid of the dark, it provided us some comfort. But our continued development depends on our
maturation, and we must outgrow the sucking of the thumb and unlike Linus, must put away the security
blanket. If mankind is to survive this period of our history, we must develop more secular societies, for
nuclear power, religion and superstition make for a deadly cocktail.
Sid [Visitor]
http://www.plymouthhumanists.org.uk/
14.03.2010 @ 14:22
Well said MerLin
Religion - Man's Flaw
by jaskaw @ 14.03.2010 - 01:16:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/13/religion-man-s-flaw-8172059/
The Internet: Where religions come to die

Thunderf00t says:

"Clips taken from

Godzilla of course :-)

'the end of the world cult'

Fascinating documentary about some guy who claimed to be jesus (one of many) and predicted the end of the
world a couple of times. The interesting conclusion (other than the world not ending of course) was that he
was arrested for his sexual abuse of minors. Seeing the 'son of god' go from righteous 'they are persecuting me
like they did with jesus' to a man institutionalized in prison, on hunger strike is a fascinating insight into the
human mind and the messiah complex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvytVhqiO6E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Bent
Jesus camp of course (I'll leave you to find that!)
and Mr Deity (who does some wonderfully funny satire on Christianity).
http://www.youtube.com/user/misterdeity
Turns out he's an ex mormon (damn the typo is so tempting), and has a v. interesting story to tell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSgKVotOPo
RDF.net
Clip from Richard Dawkins vs the Muslim from 'The Big Debate'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-S7M0KZTsU
Clip also taken from the simpsons satire of cults 'The Joy of Sect'.
Clip of Bill Maher also taken from religulous.
by jaskaw @ 14.03.2010 - 02:07:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/14/the-internet-where-religions-come-to-die-8172193/
Feedback for Post "The Internet: Where religions come to
die "

Cheesedoff17 [Visitor]

14.03.2010 @ 09:53
Excellent. It's a great idea to put all these videos together. Having viewed the terrifying Jesus Camp and
Fatima videos a film could be made to denounce such shameful brain washing. These people should be
arrested.

jpfib [Member]
14.03.2010 @ 12:15

religion must cultivate faith in oneself.it must be a path to become aware of one's own real inner self.there is
no god apart from oneself.organised religions are formed to exploit the weakness of their own fellow brothers
and sisters to make easy money and attain power and popularity.survival of the fittest,that is the name of the
game.they(leaders}preach one thing to the followers and they practice the opposite.they are white washed
tombs.outwardly they seem pious and loving.inside they are full of hatred
"I dumped out all the bathwater and I found there
was no baby there."
Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/path-to-losing-his-religion-20100313-q59j.html

PETER MUNRO - The Age, Australia

IN THE beginning, Dan Barker found God and saw that he was good. He was a teenage evangelist at 15,
spouting sermons on street corners in southern California. At 16, he worked for a faith healer in Los Angeles
and spoke in tongues. When he prayed, he felt at peace.
---
Mr Barker, now wearing a scarlet letter "A" on his left lapel, compares losing his religion to putting away
childish things. For 19 years he was a God-fearing man and travelling preacher. He spent two years in Mexico
as a Protestant missionary.
---
''The phrase I like to use is that I dumped out all the bathwater and I found there was no baby there.''
---
''Believing in an afterlife kind of takes away some of the dignity of the actual life we have. If life is eternal,
life is cheap,'' says Mr Barker, now 60, and co-president of the US advocacy group, Freedom From Religion
Foundation

Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/path-to-losing-his-religion-20100313-q59j.html

by jaskaw @ 14.03.2010 - 13:11:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/14/i-dumped-out-all-the-bathwater-and-i-found-there-was-no-baby-there-8173865/
A surprise victory for the campaign against the
blasphemy law in Ireland?
Read more at: http://blasphemy.ie/

"Atheist Ireland welcomes the statement from Dermot Ahern, the Irish Justice Minister, that he is proposing a
referendum this Autumn to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution, along with two other
referendums that the government is already committed to.
The Minister has told the Sunday Times that ːI was only doing my dutyə in bringing in the new blasphemy
law, and that ːthere was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet.ə
Atheist Ireland thanks everyone who has helped to make the campaign against this new law as effective as it
has been to date. It is now important we maintain the pressure on this issue to ensure that the referendum
happens as proposed and, more importantly, that it is won."

Read more at: http://blasphemy.ie/

by jaskaw @ 14.03.2010 - 19:01:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/14/a-surprise-victory-for-the-campaign-against-the-blasphemy-law-in-ireland-8175
Richard Dawkins: "The whole idea of creating
saints, it's pure Monty Python"
Read more at:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dawkins-delivers-the-sermon-they-came-to-hear-20100314-q63g.html

"MARY MacKillop's canonisation by ''Pope Nazi'' was ''pure Monty Python'', the world's most famous atheist
told the world's first global atheist conference in Melbourne yesterday.
And Family First Senator Steve Fielding was less intelligent that an earthworm, according to biologist
Richard Dawkins.
After a public lecture, Professor Dawkins was asked whether ''credulous'' media reporting and Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd's welcoming of last month's canonisation of Mary MacKillop as Australia's first Catholic saint
were discouraging. Professor Dawkins replied that he did find it discouraging.
''The whole idea of creating saints, it's pure Monty Python,'' he said. ''They have to clock up two miracles.
These are people we are supposed to take seriously."

Read more at:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dawkins-delivers-the-sermon-they-came-to-hear-20100314-q63g.html

by jaskaw @ 15.03.2010 - 11:11:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/15/richard-dawkins-the-whole-idea-of-creating-saints-it-s-pure-monty-python-8179
Survivor star gets thrown out of an airplane for
uttering the 'Lords name in vain'
Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=350050348004&id=760742781&ref=mf

From the Facebook page of Survivor Star Jerri Manthey:

"At this point, everyone around me was aware of the situation at hand. She continued to berate me about my
jacket over and over until I frustratingly handed it to her and exclaimed, ːFine! Take it!ə I then said under my
breath, ːJesus Christ!ə. She gasped in horror and threw my coat back at me. ːYou just took the Lordˈs name
in vain. Hold onto your jacket because youˈre going need it when I have you removed from this planeə, she
stated as she stormed through the aisle of the moving plane. I saw her approach Ms. Stasio with what I will
describe as ːshear delightə to tell her what I had just said.

Next thing I knew, we were stopped on the tarmac, and the remaining passengers on the plane were growing
restless and upset. We sat for almost 15 minutes. Suddenly, the door was opened and security, police and the
manager I had talked to earlier were approaching me. The entire plane was now involved. People were
shifting in their seats and staring at me confusingly, trying to figure out what had happened that could warrant
the onslaught of security and law enforcement. There was a sudden sense of danger and confusion onboard.
Even I was wondering what had happened. It all seemed way to intense to have been caused by the
combination of my carry on, my laptop, my jacket and saying Jesusˈ name in vain!!

The manager was apologizing profusely as he once again sat in the seat next to me. ːWeˈre going to escort
you off the plane. Iˈm sorry this has happened,ə he said. Suddenly, Victor, who was in the seat next to me
and now standing in the aisle, was explaining to the manager that I had done nothing wrong and that he was a
witness. Then a man two rows in front of me ʒ Craig Stephens ʒ came to my defense as well. ːCan I please
speak to the pilot? The flight attendant is over-reacting and I want to tell him she is way out of line. This
woman has done nothing and doesnˈt deserve to by removed from the plane. This is ridiculous!ə, he said."

Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=350050348004&id=760742781&ref=mf

by jaskaw @ 15.03.2010 - 14:19:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/15/survivor-star-gets-thrown-out-of-a-airplane-for-uttering-the-lords-name-in-vain-
Feedback for Post "Survivor star gets thrown out of an
airplane for uttering the 'Lords name in vain'"

Richard [Visitor]

15.03.2010 @ 16:00
Thrown out of an airplane for uttering the 'Lords name in vain' is a bit of a stretch. She was removed from the
plane because because a psychopathic flight attendant was drunk with power and seemed to have some sort of
vendetta against Jerri. The truth this flight attendant's motivation will more than likely never be known.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
15.03.2010 @ 18:22
Your right Richard, but the fantastic thing is that a person could use a thing a like this as a excuse and get
away with it.

Aardpig [Visitor]

15.03.2010 @ 22:23
Jesus Christ!

The Masked Avenger [Visitor]

16.03.2010 @ 00:56
Lawsuit time.
Public voting for Project Reason video contest has
started!
Read more and vote at: http://www.project-reason.org/contests/video_contest/

Vote for the best video promoting rational thinking in the Project Reason video-contest.
Voting on the finalists will begin on March 15, 2010 and will end on March 21, 2010.

The prize for the Winning Video of 2010 will be $10,000.

The prize for Second Place will be $4,000.
The prize for Third Place will be $1,000.

Read more and vote at: http://www.project-reason.org/contests/video_contest/

by jaskaw @ 15.03.2010 - 19:37:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/15/public-voting-for-project-reason-video-contest-has-started-8182249/
Feedback for Post "Public voting for Project Reason video
contest has started!"

hannasiren [Member]
http://hannasiren.blogs.fi
16.03.2010 @ 14:00
Kävin katsomassa elämän suuriin kysymyksiin vastaavia kirjoja käsittelevän videon projektin etusivulta.:-)
Vaikuttaa ihan kiinnostavalta kilpailuidealta.
Hitler Responds To Crackergate

Nykytyne2 says: "I'm afraid I had no choice but to invoke the "Hitler reacts" meme. My apologies to my
German-speaking subscribers.
Category: Comedy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_parody_video#Parodies
by jaskaw @ 15.03.2010 - 20:11:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/15/hitler-responds-to-crackergate-8182451/
Orthodox Jews fight against the new organ donor
law in Israel - but allow receiving organs...
Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/13/international/i210040S16.DTL

"Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation: Sign a donor card, and you and
your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.
The new law is the first of its kind in the world, and international medical authorities are eager to see if it
boosts organ supply. But it has also raised resistance from within Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority.
These opponents say it discriminates against them because their religious convictions forbid the donation of
their organs, and while they are unlikely to get the law reversed, they have the political clout to slow its
implementation.
---
The low rate of organ donation is thought to be partly driven by religious considerations. Most rabbis have no
problem with transplants to save lives; their objection is to profiting from or needlessly mutilating cadavers.
But 99-year-old Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv takes a different view, and he is one of ultra-Orthodox Jewry's
most influential leaders, claiming 100,000 followers among Israel's 6 million Jews. Elyashiv forbids organ
donation before cardiac death, but allows his followers to receive lifesaving donations."

Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/13/international/i210040S16.DTL#ixzz0iJvenw1O

by jaskaw @ 16.03.2010 - 09:02:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/16/orthodox-jews-fight-against-the-new-organ-donor-law-in-israel-but-allow-receiv
Feedback for Post "Orthodox Jews fight against the new
organ donor law in Israel - but allow receiving organs..."

Dave Undis [Visitor]

http://www.lifesharers.org
17.03.2010 @ 14:37
Registered organ donors in the United States can get preferred access to donated organs by joining
LifeSharers at www.lifesharers.org. Membership is free. There is no age limit, and no one is excluded due to
any pre-existing medical condition.

Nothing could be fairer than giving organs first to organ donors. If you're not willing to register to be an organ
donor, then you should go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ.

More importantly, putting organ donors first creates an incentive for non-donors to become donors.
Thousands of Americans die every year waiting for organ transplants. Just about everyone would accept an
organ transplant to live, but only about half of us have agreed to donate our organs after we die. It's no wonder
there's such a large organ shortage.
Raj Patel Is The Messiah, Says Religious Group
After Author Appears On 'The Colbert Report'
Watch the video at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/raj-patel-is-the-messiah_n_500645.html

"Raj Patel, the author of the recent book "The Value of Nothing," has experienced a bizarre incarnation of the
"Colbert Bump" after appearing on "The Colbert Report" in January.
Patel has apparently been discovered by a religious group called "Share International" which awaits the
second coming of Buddha in the form of a Messiah they call "Maitreya." The group's religious leader,
Benjamin Creme, identified the Maitreya as having been born in 1972, traveled to London from India in 1977,
being dark-skinned, and having a stutter. After Raj Patel came on "The Colbert Report," and was described in
an article as having briefly stuttered, Creme officially declared that Patel was the group's Messiah.
Patel spoke with Stephen Colbert last night over the phone about his recent Messiah-hood. He called the
whole idea "entirely bogus," especially considering his strongly-held belief that we shouldn't rely on religious
leaders to make decisions for us, but to think for ourselves. In "The Value of Nothing," Patel urges people to
think about the true costs of the things we purchase, and take concrete steps towards changing the world."

Watch the video at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/raj-patel-is-the-messiah_n_500645.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Patel
"Raj Patel is a British-born American academic, journalist, activist and writer who has lived and worked in
Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States for extended periods. He is best known for his 2008 book,
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. His most recent book is The Value of
Nothing which was on The New York Times best-seller list during February 2010."

by jaskaw @ 16.03.2010 - 18:31:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/16/raj-patel-is-the-messiah-says-religious-group-after-author-appears-on-the-colber
Feedback for Post " Raj Patel Is The Messiah, Says
Religious Group After Author Appears On 'The Colbert
Report' "

knowledge is power [Visitor]

http://www.hiddencodes.com/patel.htm
30.03.2010 @ 11:42
Raj Patel is being used as a mouthpiece for maitreya. Don't be fooled by any of these smooth talking liars.
Actor Stephen Baldwin Takes Christian
Indoctrination to the Xtreme
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/146033/actor_stephen_baldwin_takes_christian_indoctrination_to_the_xtreme

"Actor Stephen Baldwin has a message for the millennial generation: Jesus is cool, Jesus is rad, Jesus will
kick your butt, Jesus will help you kick the butts of secular liberals. Yet while Baldwin seeks to be the hip
new face of evangelicalism, promoting the Jesus of skateboarders and cool kids, beneath his radical chic is the
ideology of the old men behind the Cold War-era John Birch Society and Christian Crusade.
Together with Christian activist and radio host Kevin McCullough, Baldwin launched a youth-targeted
for-profit Christian media company, Xtreme Media, LLC, and the radio program Xtreme Radio with Stephen
Baldwin and Kevin McCullough. The aim of Xtreme Media, according to Baldwin, is to create "a content
reality we want to utilize to fire up the conservative movement to stand up and push back louder and more
ferociously."
Addressing a 2008 religious-right conference, the annual Values Voter Summit sponsored by FRC Action,
Baldwin -- the baby of the Baldwin brothers acting family first put on the Hollywood map by brother Alec --
explained that he uses "extreme sports" to recruit young evangelicals "because I believe the way to ensure a
better America in the future is make more Christians." At religious right conferences across the nation,
Baldwin struts before young and not-so-young audiences, deploying his uber-masculine Christianity as a
rebuke to the Hollywood liberals he claims are ruining America."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/146033/actor_stephen_baldwin_takes_christian_indoctrination_to_the_xtreme

by jaskaw @ 17.03.2010 - 11:54:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/17/actor-stephen-baldwin-takes-christian-indoctrination-to-the-xtreme-8191844/
Feedback for Post "Actor Stephen Baldwin Takes Christian
Indoctrination to the Xtreme"

Elaine kilshaw [Visitor]

17.03.2010 @ 12:23
Is this not a good thing as it makes all these different religions extinct for reasonable,rational, minded people

Steve [Visitor]

17.03.2010 @ 14:03
He was always been the loser of the Baldwin brothers so, this is not surprising. The use of "Xtreme" as usual
Christians are ten years behind the marketing swing. Like christian rock I am sure this will flop.
Who gave Secular Coalition for America half a
million bucks?
Read more at: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/18/394680/his-fortune-polishes-atheists.html

"When GlaxoSmithKline bought Todd Stiefel's family business for $2.9 billion last April, he began to think
about what to do with the rest of his life.
A Duke University graduate, Stiefel wanted his windfall to better society. Like many modern philanthropists,
such as Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett, Stiefel is not motivated by religious zeal. In fact, Stiefel
has become one of the country's biggest benefactors of atheist causes.
Last month, Stiefel gave $500,000 to the Secular Coalition of America, a Washington-based coalition that
lobbies on behalf of 10 groups of atheists, humanists and agnostics. That's on top of two smaller gifts to two
of the coalition's members: a $100,000 matching grant to American Atheists and a $50,000 matching grant to
the Secular Student Alliance.
---
Stiefel's generosity is not limited to atheists. Last week, he donated $20,000 to the American Civil Liberties
Union of Mississippi so it could sponsor a high school prom after the Itawamba County School District
canceled the dance rather than allow a lesbian to bring her girlfriend as a date."

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/18/394680/his-fortune-polishes-atheists.html

by jaskaw @ 18.03.2010 - 14:23:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/18/who-gave-secular-coalition-for-america-half-a-million-bucks-8199050/
Introduction To Christianity - Comedian Dave Allen
On Religion

Irish Comedian Dave Allen (1936-2005) remembers his introduction to religion - his first day of school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Allen_%28comedian%29
"David Tynan O'Mahoney (Dave Allen) was popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada in the
1960s, 1970s and also in the 1990s; he became known in America through reruns of his shows on public
television.
Allen's act was typified by a very relaxed, intimate style ō he would sit on a chair, smoking and holding a
glass of whiskey. An atheist[1] (according to Allen himself, "what you might call a practising atheist"), he
would often make jokes about religion, particularly the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.
Along with his seated stand-up routines, his television shows were interspersed with sketch comedy. He had a
lasting influence on British comedy, and influenced many 21st-century British comedians."

by jaskaw @ 18.03.2010 - 22:33:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/18/introduction-to-christianity-comedian-dave-allen-on-religion-8201799/
TV presenter gets death sentence for 'sorcery' in
Saudi-Arabia
Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/19/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=T2

By Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

"Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man
sentenced to death for "sorcery."
In a statement released Thursday, the international rights group condemned the verdict and demanded the
immediate release of Ali Hussain Sibat, former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Sheherazade, a
Beirut based satellite TV channel.
According to his lawyer, Sibat, who is 48 and has five children, would predict the future on his show and give
out advice to his audience."
---
"In November 2009, a court in the Saudi city of Medina found Sibat guilty and sentenced him to death."

Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/19/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=T2

by jaskaw @ 20.03.2010 - 13:26:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/20/tv-presenter-gets-death-sentence-for-sorcery-in-saudi-arabia-8210563/
Iran will execute another young man for 'waging
war against God'
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7457978/Iran-to-execute-stone-throwing-demonstrator.ht

"Mohammad-Amin Valian, a 20-year-old Islamic studies student, was arrested on the basis of a photograph
taken at a mass demonstration against the rigged presidential election last year. He was among six people
convicted of the Islamic crime of moharebeh, or waging war against God.
Their sentences were announced in an apparent attempt to forestall fresh demonstrations to coincide with
yesterday's annual festival of fire.
Mr Valian's plight has become a rallying point for opponents of the regime and yesterday's announcement is
the latest blow to the movement. The combination of his young age and the flimsy nature of his offence has
spurred condemnation of the severity of the sentence.

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7457978/Iran-to-execute-stone-throwing-demonstrator.ht

by jaskaw @ 20.03.2010 - 22:03:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/20/iran-will-execute-another-young-man-for-waging-war-against-god-8213059/
Why Don't Bees Go to Heaven? (or The Rational
Anthem)

Composed & Performed by Ronnie Williams

http://www.infinitedeity.com/bees.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronnie-Williams/19620558475
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21080281450

by jaskaw @ 21.03.2010 - 00:00:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/20/why-don-t-bees-go-to-heaven-aka-the-rational-anthem-8213604/
Feedback for Post "Why Don't Bees Go to Heaven? (or The
Rational Anthem)"

Callie [Visitor]

21.03.2010 @ 03:14
How do you know bees do not go to heaven? Where do you get info that there is no God. Who do you think
made the world? Man??

I would be afraid to go to sleep at night thinking there was no Heaven. Do you believe there is no hell also??

Rimeshade [Visitor]

21.03.2010 @ 03:51
Man created the world? What? No...the rational explanation is big bang did, however, what came before that
is as of yet unknown.

You ask how you know there is no god(s), I turn the question back on you, how do you know there is one, or
any? The burden of proof doesn't lie on the unbeliever it lies on the believer, you don't have to prove a
negative, see Russell's Teapot.
God/gods' existence(s) are not a priori truths, they are a posteriori assumptions.

Now if you wish to believe in Heaven because it frightens you that there may be nothing after death, I would
re-examine your own faith. Christianity requires you to believe and trust in God because you truly love
him/her/it, not out of fear of oblivion.
I'm not going to tell you what to think though, believe what you want. Telling others what to think is the
domain of the church, not me.
Christopher Hitchens: "All Jihads have always
failed"
Christopher Hitchens Interview from Anonymous on Vimeo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens,_Christopher

by jaskaw @ 21.03.2010 - 18:52:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/21/christopher-hitchens-all-jihads-have-always-failed-8217595/
Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: "All Jihads have
always failed""

John Christopher sunol [Visitor]

http://www.twitter.com/JohnSunol
22.03.2010 @ 02:36
Yes, this is because Jihad is an Islamic invention and not Chrstian, It is murdering people in the name of God
using propaganda and mind control to gather the masses, murdering yoruself based on the lie that you are
going to paradise if you kill yourself in the name of Allah

www.twitter.com/JohnSunol

| Show subcomments
Anand Nair [Visitor]
http://watchmyhealth.com
22.03.2010 @ 07:22
John,

It would be an error to specifically link "jihad" with Islam. In the course of history, dogmatic belief systems in
general (and religions in particular) have produced individuals who would go to war (and as part of this, kill
ordinary people with diverging world views) in defense of the dogma. Christians have had their "crusades",
Hindus their "dharma yuddha" -- not to mention the misdeeds of the theocratic Israeli state...
Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions

Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris
argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out
what constitutes a good life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29

by jaskaw @ 22.03.2010 - 21:31:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/22/sam-harris-science-can-answer-moral-questions-8224901/
Stand up to the Texas Taliban
Take action at: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/textbooks/?r=5371&id=8258-329482-O.DNCyx

"If you thought that decisions made by the Texas State Board of Education don't affect you, think again.
Led by far-right ideologues, the Texas SBOE recently gave preliminary approval to a plan that would
radically change what children across the country learn in history class.
The ultra-conservative majority on the board (none of whom are experts in any academic discipline and many
of whom are explicitly anti-science) took the curricula proposed by teachers and made more than 100 changes
to "correct" the perceived left-wing bias.
But it gets worse. Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to
the Texas curricula will find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a
stand-"

Take action at: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/textbooks/?r=5371&id=8258-329482-O.DNCyx

by jaskaw @ 22.03.2010 - 21:58:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/22/stand-up-to-the-texas-taliban-8225056/
Iran: New wave of blogger arrests
Read more at:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/03/22/iran-new-wave-of-blogger-arrests/?tr=y&auid=6101290

"The Iranian state-run news website, Irna [fa] and ultra conservative newspaper Keyhan [fa] announced this
month that members of Iran Proxy, a group fighting against censorship and filtering, had been arrested. The
news sites also claimed in an announcement that the Iranian government had disrupted several ːU.S. backed
cyber war networksə and arrested 30 people. Iranian news sites did not mention how many of the arrested
people belong to Iran Proxy group.
Iran Proxy has used twitter and their website in the fight against web filtering. In an interview with Radio
Farda, a representative of the group said they have been working for six years in an ’underground' fight
against censorship."

Read more at:

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/03/22/iran-new-wave-of-blogger-arrests/?tr=y&auid=6101290

by jaskaw @ 22.03.2010 - 22:54:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/22/iran-new-wave-of-blogger-arrests-8225456/
Sam Harris and Michael Shermer debate Deepak
Chopra and Jean Houston on Nightline
Watch the televised debate at: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff/

"The "Face-Off" is a recurring series where opposing sides debate hot topics. In the sixth installment of the
series, Deepak Chopra, a physician and best-selling author of "How to Know God," and prominent scholar,
philosopher and writer Jean Houston, will face-off against Michael Shermer, founding publisher of "Skeptic"
magazine, and Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" on the tension between God and science.
In 2007, the first "Face-Off" tackled the existence of God and pitted actor and evangelical Kirk Cameron and
his partner at "The Way of the Master" evangelism ministry against two self-proclaimed atheists. Other past
topics include America's addiction to porn, adultery, Satan, and whether it's OK to be fat. "

Watch the televised debate at: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff/

by jaskaw @ 23.03.2010 - 19:18:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/23/sam-harris-and-michael-shermer-debate-deepak-chopra-and-jean-houston-on-nig
Feedback for Post "Sam Harris and Michael Shermer debate
Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on Nightline"

Leo [Visitor]
http://www.bestfatlossproduct.com/
24.03.2010 @ 16:04
I think Deepak chopra has great ideas and a lot of unanswered questions that he is continually searching for
answers. I will have to check the debate out to see how the old guy went.
Breakthrough in "Shabbat module" allows using a
scooter on shabbat
Read more and order your own sabbath scooter at:
http://www.scooterlink.com/index.cfm/method/department.browse/id/shabbatcontroller/Electric%20Scooters%20with%

"Orthodox Jewish Law states that one cannot perform work on the Shabbat. This also is to include the use of
electricity. The use of electricity is prohibited because it serves the same function as fire or some of the other
prohibitions, or because it is technically considered to be "fire".
Zomet Institute was established in 1998 with the mission of addressing problems of Halacha and technology,
Torah and Science, and Judaism and Modern Society. Their goal is to operate at the junction of Halacha and
modern society. With these laws in place it is clear that people of this faith who have walking limitations will
now be able to go to Synagogue on the Shabbat. What better partnership in 2005 than The Zomet Institute and
Amigo Mobility International! Both clear leaders in innovation.
Why is the Shabbat Allowed? Jewish law also states that indirect actions are acceptable. That is the theory
behind the Shabbat model. Each Shabbat Amigo is inspected by a representative of the Zomet Institute. It is
then labeled and shipped out certified by Zomet."

"When you put the Amigo in to Shabbat mode, it connects to a separate circuit board (this is the Shabbat
module). The Shabbat Module has a timing circuit that takes about 7 to 11 seconds and then makes the Amigo
start moving on its own very slowly, there is no throttle lever activation required by the rider. This is
considered an "indirect action". When the driver is in Shabbat mode he/she can pull the lever to go faster.
Because the motor relay circuit was changed by the Shabbat module, increasing or drcreasing voltage to the
motor by the throttle lever, to make it go faster or slower, is not considered in violation of the Shabbat
principle. The Shabbat module is used for turning the scooter on or off and for changing direction. If they
want to go in reverse, then they have to push a directional button, which causes the Shabbat to go through its
timing cycle again before it automatically changes the motor relay." - Mike LaBrake, Amigo Mobility
International

Read more and order your own sabbath scooter at:

http://www.scooterlink.com/index.cfm/method/department.browse/id/shabbatcontroller/Electric%20Scooters%20with%

by jaskaw @ 23.03.2010 - 23:14:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/23/breakthrough-in-shabbat-module-allows-using-a-scooter-on-shabbat-8233203/
Whopping 24 per cent of Republicans say that
Obama 'may be the Antichrist'
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20100323/ts_dailybeast/7269_scarynewgoppoll

"On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think
he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslimōand 24 percent say "he may be the Antichrist."
To anyone who thinks the end of the health-care vote means a return to civility, wake up.
Obama Derangement Syndromeōpathological hatred of the president posing as patriotismōhas infected the
Republican Party. Here's new data to prove it:
67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist." These numbers all
come from a brand-new Louis Harris poll."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20100323/ts_dailybeast/7269_scarynewgoppoll

by jaskaw @ 23.03.2010 - 23:34:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/23/whopping-24-per-cent-of-republicans-say-that-obama-may-be-the-antichrist-823
Feedback for Post "Whopping 24 per cent of Republicans
say that Obama 'may be the Antichrist'"

ThorGoLucky [Visitor]
http://thorgolucky.com/
28.03.2010 @ 01:31
How can there be an antichrist when there was no christ?
Is Christian Science's extreme opposition to
science finally mellowing?
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/nyregion/24heal.html?pagewanted=1

"Since the founding of their church 131 years ago, Christian Scientists have been taught to avoid doctors at all
cost. It is a conviction rooted so deeply in church dogma that dozens of members have endured criminal
prosecution rather than surrender an ailing person to what they see as the quackery of medical science.
But faced with dwindling membership and blows to their churchˈs reputation caused by its intransigence
concerning medical treatment, even for children with grave illnesses, Christian Science leaders have recently
found a new tolerance for medical care. For more than a year, leaders say, they have been encouraging
members to see a physician if they feel it is necessary.
---
The faithˈs guiding textbook forbids mixing medical care with Christian Science healing, which is a form of
transcendental prayer intended to realign a patientˈs soul with God.
---
Christian Scientists are best known right now for denying medical care, especially to children who
subsequently die.Over its history, more than 50 church members or practitioners have been charged in
connection with such deaths. Prosecutions have come in waves, most recently during the 1980s and ˈ90s,
when the church and its practitioners were linked to the deaths of a half-dozen children whose lives, the
authorities said, might have been saved if they had not been denied medical care.

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/nyregion/24heal.html?pagewanted=1

by jaskaw @ 24.03.2010 - 11:56:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/24/is-christian-science-s-extreme-opposition-to-science-finally-mellowing-8235833
Nigerian Islamic court bans discussing
sharia-based amputations in Twitter and Facebook
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8584707.stm

An Islamic court in Nigeria has banned a rights group from hosting debates on the Twitter and Facebook
websites on the use of amputations as a punishment.
The court, in the northern city of Kaduna, backed a case brought by a pro-Sharia group arguing that the
forums would mock the Sharia system.
Sharia judges can order amputations of limbs for petty crimes in some states.
The courts mostly deal with domestic issues such as marriage and divorce.
---
In 2000, Jangebe made history as the first person in Nigeria to have an amputation carried out under Islamic
law after being found guilty of stealing a cow.

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8584707.stm

by jaskaw @ 24.03.2010 - 21:47:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/24/nigeria-islamic-court-bans-twitter-feed-8239521/
Feedback for Post "Nigerian Islamic court bans discussing
sharia-based amputations in Twitter and Facebook"

print london [Visitor]

http://www.sumudra.co.uk
26.03.2010 @ 07:07
This is a great article . Definetly i would like to share the people and thanks for the info sharing with us
Scandal: National Academy of Sciences will host
ceremony for religious Templeton-prize
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/24/national-academy-sciences-spiritual-award

Critics say the Templeton prize and the foundation behind it should not be legitimised by prestigious US
scientific body.

America's most prestigious scientific institution has been criticised by researchers after agreeing to host an
award ceremony that honours work of a spiritual nature.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington will host the Templeton prize tomorrow, which at
£1m is one of the most lucrative awards in the world.
The annual prize is given to individuals judged to have made "an exceptional contribution to affirming life's
spiritual dimension", but some scientists are concerned the prize, and the Templeton Foundation that funds it,
gain credibility by associating with scientists.
"For the National Academy of Sciences to get involved with an organisation like this is dangerous," said Sir
Harry Kroto, a British scientist who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1996 and later joined Florida State
University.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templeton_Prize
"Until 2001, the name of the prize was "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion", and from 2002 to 2008 it
was called the "Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities".
The Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is
awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to
affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works".
The prize is named after Sir John Templeton, an American-born British entrepreneur and businessman."

Following noted scientists are among the recipients of the Templeton-award: Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(1973), Frère Roger (1974) Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens (1976), Rev. Dr. Billy Graham (1982), Rev. James
I. McCord (1986) Rev. Father Dr. Stanley Jaki (1987) Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits (1991), Rev. Arthur
Peacocke (2001) Rev. John Polkinghorne (2002)

by jaskaw @ 25.03.2010 - 16:55:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/25/scandal-national-academy-of-sciences-will-host-ceremony-for-religious-templet
Supreme Court of India delivers a shocker:
"Unmarried couples can live together"
Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7074875.ece

"Indiaˈs Supreme Court ruled yesterday that unmarried couples have the right to live together after hearing a
case involving a Tamil actress accused of corrupting young minds by promoting premarital sex.
The judges pointed out that even the Hindu gods, Lord Krishna and Radha, were co-habiting lovers rather
than man and wife. ːWhen two adult people want to live together, what is the offence?ə they said. ːLiving
together is not an offence. Living together is a right to life.ə
The ruling marks a legal milestone in Indiaˈs sexual revolution as younger members of the urban professional
classes slowly but steadily break down traditional taboos."
---
"The actress, who goes by the single name of Khushboo, had appealed to the court to quash more than 20
cases filed against her in 2005 after she made allegedly immoral comments in magazine interviews."

Read more at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7074875.ece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushboo_Sundar
"In 2005, there was a well-publicized controversy about her remarks in an interview for AIDS awareness,
about the need for protective sex: she said it was fine for girls to have pre-marital sex - but not without taking
precautions to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Later, she added that no educated man
should expect his wife or girlfriend to be a virgin. Two political parties lashed out at her because of her
remarks: the Dalit Panthers of India and the Pattali Makkal Katchi. She was ordered to court and her counsel
offered to withdraw the previously issued anticipatory bail petition. The judge acceded and dismissed the
petition as withdrawn.

by jaskaw @ 25.03.2010 - 22:37:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/25/supreme-court-of-india-delivers-a-shocker-unmarried-couples-can-live-together-
Project Reason's video contest winners
announced
1. Winner of the Grand Prize of 10 000 dollars was video: "The Values We All Stand For"

Created By Evid3nc3.

"An argument for a change in our national symbols to include atheists by not presuming a belief in God
among Americans at the level of our federal government. The goal is not necessarily immediate action, but
rather to raise consciousness about where these references to God came from and why they shouldn't be a part
of a government that is supposed to represent all of us."

2. Second prize and 4000 dollars went to "Imagine"

Created By moran.

"In a post-religion world, it would be difficult to convince people to build bombs, worship a person, teach
creationism, tell people who to marry, or feel justified in ’owningˈ other people. And when we look up for
inspiration weˈd have to find it in ourselves."

3. Third prize winner and winner of 1000 dollars was "Just a Book"

Created By Stobal32.

"A Bible thumper learns his lesson‫"ل‬

Read more at: http://www.project-reason.org/contests/video_contest/

by jaskaw @ 25.03.2010 - 23:13:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/25/project-reason-video-contest-winners-annouced-8246620/
In Colbert Report: "You make God sound like a
opportunistic virus"

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

On Topic: In the News - God and Religion
www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Political Health Care

Episodes Humor Reform

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colbert_report
The Colbert Reportis an American satirical late night television program that airs Monday through Thursday
on Comedy Central. It stars political humorist Stephen Colbert, a former correspondent for The Daily Show.
The Colbert Report is a spin-off from and counterpart to The Daily Show that comments on politics and the
media in a similar way. It satirizes conservative personality-driven political pundit programs, particularly Fox
News' and The O'Reilly Factor.
The show focuses on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life
namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a
caricature of televised political pundits.

by jaskaw @ 26.03.2010 - 16:54:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/26/colbert-report-god-and-religion-8250753/
Feedback for Post "In Colbert Report: "You make God
sound like a opportunistic virus""

Buffy [Visitor]
http://base8.lavenderliberal.com/index.html
26.03.2010 @ 21:40
"Opportunistic virus: pretty much sums it up.
Hitler reacts to the Global Atheist Convention

ngrep writes:
"Please note: this video is meant as a joke like many other of the same 'meme'. It is not meant to make light of
the tragedy of the Holocaust or the suffering that millions endured under the hands of Hitler and the Nazis.
Addendum:
Many commenters are discussing the relationship of Hitler and religion. A good resource on this topic is :
http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm"

See also: http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/10/02/were-nazis-atheists-4813530/

by jaskaw @ 27.03.2010 - 12:13:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/hitler-reacts-to-the-global-atheist-convention-8255974/
Did Prostitution Really Exist in the Temples of
Antiquity?
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,685716,00.html#ref=nlint

By Matthias Schulz
"Holy harlots" in Jerusalem, temple sex in the service of Aphrodite? Many ancient authors describe sacred
prostitution in drastic terms. Are the accounts nothing but legends? Historians are searching for the kernel of
truth behind the reports.
The "ugliest custom" in Babylon, the historian Herodotus wrote (who is believed to have lived between circa
490 to 425 B.C.), was the widespread practice of prostitution in the Temple of Ishtar. Once in their lifetimes,
all women in the country were required to sit in the temple and "expose themselves to a stranger" in return for
money.
---
The Jews were also involved in such practices. There are about a dozen passages in the Old Testament that
revolve around "Qadeshes," a word for female and male cult practitioners. The Bible calls them "lemans" and
"catamites." In the Fifth Book of Moses, male prostitutes are prohibited from donating their "dogs' money" to
the House of Yahweh.
---
Newly discovered cuneiform tablets paint a more defused picture, and it is becoming increasingly clear that
the academics of earlier decades exaggerated the subject. For example, there is not a single piece of evidence
proving that the ritual of forced defloration existed.
A fraction of female gender researchers take a more radical view. They dispute holy prostitution altogether,
calling the whole thing a pack of lies."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,685716,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 27.03.2010 - 13:26:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/did-prostitution-really-exist-in-the-temples-of-antiquity-8256361/
Did Jesus live his final days in Kashmir?
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8587838.stm

"A belief that Jesus survived the crucifixion and spent his remaining years in Kashmir has led to a run-down
shrine in Srinagar making it firmly onto the must-visit-in India tourist trail."
---
"Officially, the tomb is the burial site of Youza Asaph, a medieval Muslim preacher - but a growing number
of people believe that it is in fact the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.
They believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion almost 2,000 Easters ago, and went to live out his days in
Kashmir."
---
"There is talk of the missing years of Jesus, unmentioned in the gospels, when he was between the ages of 12
and 30. Some say he was in India, picking up Buddhist ideas. These aren't notions that have entirely died out.
The US-based Christian sect, known as the Church Universal and Triumphant, is the best-known modern
supporter of the belief that Jesus lived in Kashmir, though they don't believe he died there."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8587838.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Universal_and_Triumphant

by jaskaw @ 27.03.2010 - 20:36:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/did-jesus-live-his-final-days-kashmir-8258459/
Feedback for Post "Did Jesus live his final days in
Kashmir? "

John Christopher Sunol [Visitor]

http://www.twitter.com/JohnSunol
28.03.2010 @ 07:45
This is blatant heresy to put forward the fact that Jesus was not God and did not come to the earth to die for
our sins and ascended back into Heaven 30 days after His crucifiction

The beast and the Anti Christ - who will be full of Masonic teachings will follow this heresy - Lord Maitreya
who is deomonic and comes from the church of Satan as well

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
28.03.2010 @ 10:13
Thanks for the info, John Christopher.... Your opinion is duly noted, even if it is not very original or does not
contain any personal insights as such. I wonder how you know all this stuff; did you read it up somewhere?
Fewer than half of Americans link Easter to
Resurrection
Read more at:
http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10931&Itemid=43

"WASHINGTON (RNS)ōWhile most Americans describe Easter as a religious holiday, fewer than half of the
adults surveyed link it specifically to the Resurrection of Jesus, a Barna Group study shows.
Seven in 10 respondents mentioned religion or spirituality in their response to an open-ended question about
how they describe what Easter means to them personally. But just 42 percent tied Easter to the Resurrection."

Read more at:

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10931&Itemid=43

On Easter at Being Human blog:

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/why-the-good-friday-is-not-a-gloomy-day-for-me-anymore-8258712/
by jaskaw @ 27.03.2010 - 22:45:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/fewer-than-half-of-americans-link-easter-to-resurrection-8259137/
Why Don't Scientists Fear Hell?

http://www.youtube.com/user/philhellenes

by jaskaw @ 28.03.2010 - 01:13:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/why-don-t-scientists-fear-hell-8259769/
Feedback for Post "Why Don't Scientists Fear Hell?"

Lin [Visitor]

28.03.2010 @ 17:35
Primitive man also saw volcanoes erupt, spitting sparks and ash high into rhe air, and streaming molten rock
(which appeared to be liquid fire) down the sides of mountains to destroy screaming people and bury entire
villages. Primitive man also saw the earth open and swallow screaming people and frightened animals. Of
course his ignorance of the forces of nature led him to believe that the invisible powers were angry, and
needed blood; the sheer terror of these events, especially when they occured at nighttime, increased his fear of
the dark, and set in motion superstition that the raging fires beneath the earth were created as punishment, and
in time within organized religion, this notion evolved into HELLFIRE. Satan and demons soon became part of
the theology of hell and eternal punishment.
Eric Idle's "Not the Messiah" -show banned from a
British radio channel
Read more at: http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/03/25/craven-classic-fm-caves-into-cretin/

"ARTISTIC expression was dealt a blow yesterday when weak-kneed executives at Classic FM decided to
end its promotion of Eric Idleˈs show Not the Messiah.
The show, which celebrates 40 years of Monty Python, was originally promoted on air and on the stationˈs
website and was the subject of a competition for tickets to a screening, but was dropped by the head of the
station after Stephen ːBirdshitə Green orchestrated a campaign against the promotion of a ’militant atheist
productionˈ.
Reacting to news that the national radio station had caved into demands from devotees of this vindictive bigot,
the British Humanist Associationˈs campaign officer Pepper Harow said:
"We are hugely disappointed by the judgement taken by the head of Classic FM to effectively ban promotion
of this show. There are no blasphemy laws in this country anymore and this decision is entirely unjustifiable."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_the_Messiah_%28He%27s_a_Very_Naughty_Boy%29
"Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) is a Monty Python comedic oratorio based on Monty Python's
Life of Brian. It was written by former Python Eric Idle and collaborator John Du Prez, and commissioned by
the Luminato festival.
The oratorio had its world premiere in an hour-long performance at the Luminato festival in Toronto, Canada,
on June 1, 2007 in Roy Thomson Hall. It received its United States premiere on July 1 at Caramoor Center for
Music and Arts in Katonah, New York, during the International Music Festival. An expanded 90-minute
version premiered at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, Australia, on December 5, 2007[1].
There were also performances of it at the Sydney Opera House, Civic Theatre, Auckland, and Perth Concert
Hall during December."

Read more at: http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/03/25/craven-classic-fm-caves-into-cretin/

by jaskaw @ 28.03.2010 - 12:47:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/28/eric-idle-s-not-the-messiah-show-banned-from-a-british-radio-channel-8261948/
Feedback for Post "Eric Idle's "Not the Messiah" -show
banned from a British radio channel "

Ian Iles [Visitor]

28.03.2010 @ 14:47
More pandering to the perpetually supernaturalist bigots

Ian Iles [Visitor]

28.03.2010 @ 14:48
Oops! Meant to read, 'perpetually offended supernaturalist bigots'

Juha Leinivaara [Visitor]

http://paholaisen-asianajaja.blogspot.com/
28.03.2010 @ 16:24
I saw Not the Messiah last week. "Militant Atheist Production?" I can't believe (no pun intended) this kind of
shit is happening in 2010. It's 1979 all over again, when Mary Whitehouse and the Festival of Light protested
Life of Brian.

frankweir [Visitor]

28.03.2010 @ 17:03
I can only hope the current religious insanity that grips the U.S. is NOT beginning to infect the U.K.
Humanists and atheists every where MUST start to stand up to this nuttiness.

rex rival [Visitor]

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=267260278895
28.03.2010 @ 18:03
Hello! Hooray! Get Ready!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=267260278895
Stephen Fry goes hard on the "New Age" stuff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
"Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is a British actor, writer, comedian, television presenter and film
director. He first came to attention in the 1982 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation, "The Cellar Tapes",
which also included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy
double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the
title roles in Jeeves and Wooster.
As a solo actor, Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder television series and is
the host of the erudite, but comedy-based quiz show, QI. He also presented a 2008 television series Stephen
Fry in America, which saw him travelling across all 50 U.S. states in six episodes. Fry has become known to
American audiences for his recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the Fox crime series Bones."

by jaskaw @ 28.03.2010 - 22:48:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/28/stephen-fry-goes-hard-on-the-new-age-stuff-8265803/
Advertising authority in New Zealand: 'Its okay to
comment on the sexual activities of the parents of
Jesus Christ'
Read more at:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/church-billboard-not-offensive-rules-watchdog-20100329-r6a4.html

"An Auckland church billboard which sparked complaints for alluding to the sexual activities of the parents of
Jesus Christ has been ruled not offensive by New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority.
The repeatedly vandalised billboard outside St Matthew-in-the-City Anglican Church featured pictures of a
sombre Mary and Joseph in bed, with the caption "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow".
After four attacks on the billboard, the church took it down.
The ASA received a number of complaints, saying the billboard was offensive, insensitive, blasphemous,
ridiculed the beliefs of Christians, perverse, and distorted children's perceptions of Christmas."

Read more at:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/church-billboard-not-offensive-rules-watchdog-20100329-r6a4.html

by jaskaw @ 29.03.2010 - 19:54:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/29/advertizing-authority-in-new-zealand-its-okay-to-comment-on-the-sexual-activit
Feedback for Post "Advertising authority in New Zealand:
'Its okay to comment on the sexual activities of the parents
of Jesus Christ'"

John Christopher Sunol [Visitor]

http://www.twitter.com/JohnSunol
29.03.2010 @ 20:48
but this is offensive to God, and it will bring damnation on all heads to putsuch

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
29.03.2010 @ 21:07
John Christopher Sunol; How do you know this? Who has given you the authority to interpret the mind of
your god?
Can it just be that it is just you as a human being believing in these Biblical stories that is the only one who is
offended?
In reality you cannot have the faintest idea what will offend your god and what not.

ps. what is "putsuch"?

| Show subcomments
Rod Swift [Visitor]
http://www.john-sunol.info
02.04.2010 @ 09:50
John Sunol is a homophobic bigot. You can pretty much ignore everything he says. Google his name, and find
the truth
Carl Sagan on Astrology

From Cosmos, episode 3 "The Harmony of the Worlds".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_sagan
"Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 ʒ December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,
author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.
During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author,
co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific
method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. A book to accompany the program was also
published. Sagan also wrote the novel, Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name."

by jaskaw @ 29.03.2010 - 19:59:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/29/carl-sagan-on-astrology-8272309/
Sam Harris responds to the vicious criticism on
his TED-talk
Read more at: http://www.project-reason.org/newsfeed/item/moral_confusion_in_the_name_of_science3/

Here is the original talk at TED:

"Last month, I had the privilege of speaking at the 2010 TED conference for exactly 18 minutes. The short
format of these talks is a brilliant innovation and surely the reason for their potent half-life on the Internet.
However, 18 minutes is not a lot of time in which to present a detailed argument. My intent was to begin a
conversation about how we can understand morality in universal, scientific terms. Many people who loved my
talk, misunderstood what I was saying, and loved it for the wrong reasons; and many of my critics were right
to think that I had said something extremely controversial. I was not suggesting that science can give us an
evolutionary or neurobiological account of what people do in the name of ːmorality.ə Nor was I merely
saying that science can help us get what we want out of life.
Both of these would have been quite banal claims to make (unless one happens to doubt the truth of evolution
or the mindˈs dependency on the brain). Rather I was suggesting that science can, in principle, help us
understand what we should do and should wantōand, perforce, what other people should do and want in order
to live the best lives possible. My claim is that there are right and wrong answers to moral questions, just as
there are right and wrong answers to questions of physics, and such answers may one day fall within reach of
the maturing sciences of mind. As the response to my TED talk indicates, it is taboo for a scientist to think
such things, much less say them public."
---
"Moral relativism is clearly an attempt to pay intellectual reparations for the crimes of western colonialism,
ethnocentrism, and racism. This is, I think, the only charitable thing to be said about it. Needless to say, it was
not my purpose at TED to defend the idiosyncrasies of the West as any more enlightened, in principle, than
those of any other culture. Rather, I was arguing that the most basic facts about human flourishing must
transcend culture, just as most other facts do. And if there are facts which are truly a matter of cultural
constructionōif, for instance, learning a specific language or tattooing your face fundamentally alters the
possibilities of human experienceōwell, then these facts also arise from (neurophysiological) processes that
transcend culture."
I must say, the vehemence and condescension with which the is/ought objection has been thrown in my face
astounds me. And it confirms my sense that this bit of bad philosophy has done tremendous harm to the
thinking of smart (and not so smart) people. The categorical distinction between facts and values helped open
a sinkhole beneath liberalism long agoōleading to moral relativism and to masochistic depths of political
correctness. Think of the champions of ːtoleranceə who reflexively blamed Salman Rushdie for his fatwa, or
Ayaan Hirsi Ali for her ongoing security concerns, or the Danish cartoonists for their ːcontroversy,ə and you
will understand what happens when educated liberals think there is no universal foundation for human values.
Among conservatives in the West, the same skepticism about the power of reason leads, more often than not,
directly to the feet of Jesus Christ, Savior of the Universe. Indeed, the most common defense one now hears
for religious faith is not that there is compelling evidence for Godˈs existence, but that a belief in Him is the
only basis for a universal conception of human values. And it is decidedly unhelpful that the moral relativism
of liberals so often seems to prove the conservative case."

Read more at: http://www.project-reason.org/newsfeed/item/moral_confusion_in_the_name_of_science3/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_(author)
Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer and a proponent of scientific skepticism. He is the
author of The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award,[1] and Letter to a
Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to the criticism his first book attracted.

by jaskaw @ 30.03.2010 - 11:03:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/30/sam-harris-responds-to-strong-criticism-on-his-ted-talk-8275659/
Feedback for Post "Sam Harris responds to the vicious
criticism on his TED-talk"

Philosophy Undergrad [Visitor]

30.03.2010 @ 14:50
Hi Sam, I agree with you, but why do you think the fact / value distinction is "bad philosophy?" It seems you
have only offered us a consequentialist answer to that. Is that the best we can do? And wouldn't
consequentialism undermine your argument somewhat?
Iowa town renames 'Good Friday' as 'Spring
Holiday'
Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/iowa-town-renames-good-friday/story?id=10233061

"One week before the most solemn day in the Christian year, the city of Davenport, Iowa removed Good
Friday from its municipal calendar, setting off a storm of complaints from Christians and union members
whose contracts give them that day off.
Taking a recommendation by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to change the holiday's name to
something more ecumenical, City Administrator Craig Malin sent a memo to municipal employees
announcing Good Friday would officially be known as "Spring Holiday."
"My phone has been ringing off the hook since Saturday," said city council alderman Bill Edmond. "People
are genuinely upset because this is nothing but political correctness run amok."
Edmond said the city administrator made the change unilaterally and did not bring it to the council for a vote,
a requirement for a change in policy."

Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/iowa-town-renames-good-friday/story?id=10233061

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davenport,_Iowa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_friday
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/03/27/why-the-good-friday-is-not-a-gloomy-day-for-me-anymore-8258712/

by jaskaw @ 30.03.2010 - 14:32:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/30/read-more-at-http-abcnews-go-com-us-iowa-town-renames-good-friday-story-82
Students protest gender-segregation in buses in
Jerusalem
Read more at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3857100,00.html

by Kobi Nahshoni
"Dozens of young people protesting the separation between men and women on public transportation in
Jerusalem toured a number of cities Tuesday night where they hung signs in protest of the "mehadrin lines"
that stipulate such a separation.
The activists, who will hold a protest in the capital in another two weeks, are also calling for Transportation
Minister Yisrael Katz, who has allowed the gender separation to be instated, to step down.
---
One of the protest's organizers explained: "Gender-segregated lines exist today in many cities and between
many cities, not just in haredi centers. We are protesting against Minister Katz's statements and the blind eye
Egged has turned to the despicable phenomenon of women being moved to the back of the bus, sometimes
through physical and verbal violence."

Read more at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3857100,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi

by jaskaw @ 30.03.2010 - 21:40:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/30/students-protest-gender-segregation-n-in-buses-in-jerusalem-8279353/
Iranian rapper allegedly arrested for 'dressing in
outrageous outfits, dancing and performing
repulsive acts'
Read more at: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100331/FOREIGN/703309877/1140

TEHRAN // The popular Iranian underground rapper, Sasi (or Sasy) Mankan, who supported the defeated
presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi in last yearˈs elections, was detained in the Kish Island resort on
Saturday for ːdisrupting public peaceə and deported to the mainland.
---
An unnamed police official quoted by Haghighat News, a website affiliated to President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejadˈs close aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, dismissed any political motivation for the arrest and
said the rapper was detained only to ːeliminate the ill atmosphere created by the groupə.
ːSasi Mankan was arrested when he and some of his friends, dressed in outrageous outfits, danced and
performed repulsive acts that were offensive to the publicˈs morals in a shopping centre in Kish Island,ə the
police official was quoted as saying. ːPolice had received complaints from people.ə
It is not clear whether the 28-year-old artist is still being held in police custody on the mainland."

Read more at: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100331/FOREIGN/703309877/1140

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasy_Mankan
"Sasy was reportedly arrested on the afternoon of March 28, 2010 in Kish, the latest in a series of crackdowns
by the Iranian government. He later denied the statements, saying that the information was falsely given."

by jaskaw @ 31.03.2010 - 10:42:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/31/iranian-rapper-allegedly-arrested-for-dressing-in-outrageous-outfits-dancing-and
Flow of money dries up in US churches
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100330/lf_afp/usreligioneconomyfinance

"WASHINGTON (AFP) ʒ Nearly 40 percent of US Christian churches saw a drop in offerings from their
flock last year, according to a survey on contributions compiled by the group Christianity Today International.
"For the first time in consecutive years there is a notable decline for a significant number of churches," said
Matt Branaugh, one of the report authors.
Branaugh, editor of "Your Church magazine" -- part of the CTI group -- told AFP that one of the most
important factors in the drop in donations was increased unemployment.
According to the survey of 1,000 churches across the United States taken for a second consecutive year, 38
percent of churches registered a drop in donations, against 29 percent the previous year."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100330/lf_afp/usreligioneconomyfinance

by jaskaw @ 31.03.2010 - 20:20:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/03/31/flow-of-money-dries-up-in-us-churches-8284994/
Director Joss Whedon: "I'm an atheist and an
absurdist"

Joss Whedon talks about religion, morality and his exploration of these subjects through his work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon (pronounced /ˈwiːdən/; born June 23, 1964) is an American director, executive
producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. He has also written several film scripts and comic book series.

by jaskaw @ 01.04.2010 - 14:48:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/01/director-joss-whedon-i-m-an-atheist-and-an-absurdist-8289426/
A absolute first in Ireland; Limerick pubs allowed
to open doors in 'Good Friday'
Read more at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0326/breaking7.html

"Bars will open on Good Friday evening in Limerick following a ruling at the cityˈs district court.
Judge Tom OˈDonnell ruled yesterday in favour of the cityˈs publicans, allowing them to open because a
Magners League rugby match is taking place that day, April 2nd.
Judge OˈDonnell said his decision rested on whether the Munster v Leinster game could be deemed a
ːspecial eventə and therefore qualify for an area exemption order from licensing laws.
---
Judge OˈDonnell said Thomond Park would be serving alcohol as it held a special arena licence.
ːIt is somewhat absurd that pubs in the locality should be closed when there will be available to 26,000
people the possibility to buy alcohol, if they so wish, in Thomond Park.ə
He was sure gardaí were not too keen on having 26,000 people hanging around after the game and would
prefer to see the crowd disperse quickly. This was also desirable from the point of view of health and safety,
he added."

Read more at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0326/breaking7.html

by jaskaw @ 01.04.2010 - 17:14:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/01/a-absolute-first-in-ireland-limerick-pubs-allowed-to-open-doord-in-good-friday-
CNN: Man accused of sorcery will be beheaded
today in Saudi-Arabia
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/31/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=T2

"CNN) -- A Lebanese man charged with sorcery and sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be
beheaded on Friday, the man's lawyer said Wednesday.
May El Khansa, the attorney for Ali Hussain Sibat, told CNN that she and Sibat's family were informed about
the upcoming execution. She said she heard from a source in Saudi Arabia with knowledge of the case and the
proceedings that Saudi authorities "will carry out the execution."
The Saudi Ministry of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.
El Khansa said she has appealed to Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, and president, Michel Suleiman, to
stop the execution. Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called on Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah to block it as well."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/31/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=T2

by jaskaw @ 02.04.2010 - 09:56:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/02/cnn-man-accused-of-sorcery-will-be-beheaded-today-in-saudi-arabia-8293591/
Necla Kelek; the Muslim Islam-critic who loves
democracy
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,686906,00.html#ref=nlint

By Dirk Kurbjuweit
"The Turkish-German writer Necla Kelek is a vehement defender of democracy. Her criticism of Islam has
made many German intellectuals uneasy. But has she been unjustly vilified?
---
Kelek says words like "freedom," "democracy," "civil society," and "enlightenment" in a tone others reserve
for the describing amazing soccer goals. "Our society is so marvelous!" she exclaims...Perhaps it's necessary
to have experienced a lack of freedom in order to have such enthusiasm for it.
---
Kelek finds herself in a dilemma familiar to all those who defend freedom and tolerance -- namely, that
freedom can never be complete freedom, and tolerance never complete tolerance. This means that a rational
person who fights for freedom and tolerance is necessarily also always fighting for intolerance and a lack of
freedom. In other words, those who fight for tolerance must also be intolerant of those who are intolerant.
---
For Kelek, the central point is that Muslims should be able to become European citizens, with an appreciation
for democracy, freedom, and secular society.
---
Headscarves cannot be tolerated as long as they remain an expression of the oppression of women, Kelek
says. Sharia law cannot apply in Germany, and forced marriages of young girls are shameful. What happens in
mosques and Koran schools, she adds, should be transparent and founded on Germany's democratic
constitutional order. "Religion," she declares, "is part of freedom. It does not stand above it."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,686906,00.html#ref=nlint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necla_Kelek
"Necla Kelek (pronounced [ˈnɛdʒla ˈkɛlɛk]; born December 31, 1957 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German
feminist and social scientist of Turkish descent, holding a doctorate in this field, originally from Turkey. She
gave lectures on migration sociology at the Evangelische Fachhochschule für Sozialpädagogik (Protestant
Institute for Social Education) in Hamburg from 1999 until 2004."

by jaskaw @ 02.04.2010 - 16:41:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/02/necla-kelek-the-muslim-islam-critic-who-loves-democracy-8295478/
Beheading of the man accused of sorcery
postponed in Saudi-Arabia
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8600398.stm

"A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for sorcery has been given a temporary reprieve, his
lawyer says.
Ali Sabat's execution was scheduled for Friday but his lawyer, May el-Khansa, told the BBC she had been
assured by a Lebanese minister it would not happen.
Mr Sabat, who is in his 40s, was the host of a satellite TV programme in which he predicted the future.
He was arrested by religious police while on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008 and convicted of sorcery."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8600398.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft
"Saudi Arabia continues to use the death penalty for sorcery. In 2006 Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali was
condemned to death for practicing witchcraft. There is no legal definition of sorcery in Saudi, but in 2007 an
Egyptian pharmacist working there was accused, convicted, and executed. Saudi authorities also pronounced
the death penalty on a Lebanese television presenter, Ali Sabat, who was performing the hajj (Islamic
pilgrimage)."

by jaskaw @ 02.04.2010 - 16:51:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/02/beheading-of-the-man-accused-of-sorcery-postponed-in-saudi-arabia-8295547/
A secretive temple commemorates Japanese
war-criminals
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/7542920/Japanese-nationalists-worshipping-at-temple-to-war-c

By Julian Ryall in Atami, Japan

"A secretive temple where the ashes of seven of Japanˈs most notorious war criminals have been quietly
buried is becoming a point of convergence for a new generation of Japanese nationalists.
The seven wartime leaders were executed 61 years ago and some of their remains later surreptitiously
transferred to the Koa Kannon temple, overlooking the coastal resort of Atami, 90 miles southwest of Tokyo.
The priestess of the temple says it is a place to contemplate peace, but the photo on the altar is of General
Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime minister who sanctioned the attack on Pearl Harbor, and a painting in an
adjoining building shows Japanese soldiers standing guard over a group of Chinese labourers.
ːThis is a symbolic place for us Japanese and it is becoming an important place for thinking people in their
20s, 30s and 40s to visit,ə said Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, a senior member of the nationalist Issuikai organisation.
ːAll we are taught in school and hear about from the media is that Japan is bad, the Japanese are bad, and
more and more people want to know the truth."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/7542920/Japanese-nationalists-worshipping-at-temple-to-war-c

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_Tojo
"Tōjō is often considered responsible for authorizing the murder of millions of civilians in China, the
Philippines, Indochina, and other Pacific island nations, as well as tens of thousands of Allied POWs. Tōjō is
also implicated in government-sanctioned experiments on POWs and Chinese civilians. Like his German
counterparts, Tōjō often claimed to be carrying out orders; in his case those of the Emperor, who was granted
immunity from war crimes prosecution."

by jaskaw @ 02.04.2010 - 17:35:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/02/http-www-telegraph-co-uk-news-worldnews-asia-japan-8295815/
Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We're part of the universe"

Neil deGrasse Tyson says in the video:

"Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are
traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically enriched
guts into the galaxy. Enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected, to
each other biologically, to the Earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically.
That's kind of cool.
That makes me smile.
And I actually feel quite large at the end of that.
It's not that we are better than the universe.
We're part of the universe.
We're in the universe and the universe is in us."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson
"Neil deGrasse Tyson (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and, since 1996, the Frederick P.
Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Since
2006, he has hosted PBS's educational television show NOVA scienceNOW. He has been a frequent guest on
The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Jeopardy!."

by jaskaw @ 03.04.2010 - 01:37:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/02/neil-degrasse-tyson-we-re-part-of-the-universe-8298410/
Feedback for Post "Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We're part of the
universe""

Valorie [Visitor]

03.04.2010 @ 05:34
What a nice thought to have in my head just before I go to sleep! Thanks!

Jennifer [Visitor]

03.04.2010 @ 14:52
I really enjoy listening to/watching Neil deGrasse Tyson. In addition to being one smart guy, he is such an
enthusiastically positive person who projects a sense of childlike wonder and fascination with every topic he
discusses. Great post!
A Catholic chapel becomes a shrine for Nazi past
in Germany
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/7546083/Chapel-built-with-remains-of-Hitlers-luxury-re

By Allan Hall in Berlin

"A chapel built on a mountainside in Germany is turning into a shrine for neo-Nazis after it emerged that it
was built with marble and grainte taken from the ruins of Adolf Hitler's luxury retreat.
A swastika was reportedly found carved into one of the wooden beams of the Wegmacher Chapel, which was
built in 1997, while local residents claim a number of shaven-headed, leather jacket-wearing 'pilgrims' leave
behind notes of praise to Hitler and candles burning in his memory.
It was only recently that the Bavarian government admitted that material from the wreckage of Hitler's retreat,
the Berghof in Berchtesgaden, was used in the construction of the chapel.
Some of the stones are from the terrace of the Berghof - quarried by Jewish slave labourers in concentration
camps."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/7546083/Chapel-built-with-remains-of-Hitlers-luxury-re

by jaskaw @ 03.04.2010 - 14:47:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/03/a-catholic-chapel-becomes-a-shrine-for-nazi-past-in-germany-8301019/
A. C. Grayling: "Philosophy is a driving force in
society"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Grayling
"Anthony Clifford Grayling, FRSA, FRSL (born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He is
Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College,
Oxford. He has an MA and a DPhil from Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the
Royal Society of Arts.
Among his contributions to the discussion about religion in contemporary society he argues that there are
three separable though naturally connected debates: (a) a metaphysical debate about what the universe
contains; denying that it contains supernatural agencies of any kind makes him an atheist; (b) a debate about
the basis of ethics; taking the world to be a natural realm of natural law requires that humanity thinks for itself
about the right and the good, based on our best understanding of human nature and the human condition; this
makes him a humanist; and (c) a debate about the place of religious movements and organisations in the
public domain; as a secularist Grayling argues that these should see themselves as civil society organisations
on a par with trades unions and other NGOs, with every right to exist and to have their say, but no greater
right than any other self-constituted, self-selected interest group, the problem being that for historical reasons
religions have a grossly inflated place in the public domain out of all proportion to the numbers of their
adherents or their intrinsic merits, so that their voice and influence is amplified disproportionately: with the
result that they can distort such matters as public policy (e.g. on abortion) and science research and education
(e.g. stem cells, teaching of evolution).
He argues that winning the metaphysical and ethical debates is already abating the problems associated with
(c) in more advanced Western societies, even the US. He sees his own major contribution as being the
promotion of understanding of humanist ethics deriving from the philosophical tradition.

by jaskaw @ 03.04.2010 - 17:48:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/03/a-c-grayling-philosophy-is-a-drivig-force-in-society-8301810/
Symphony of Science - The Poetry of Reality (An
Anthem for Science)

melodysheep writes:
"The Poetry of Reality is the fifth installment in the Symphony of Science music video series. It features 12
scientists and science enthusiasts, including Michael Shermer, Jacob Bronowski, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse
Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Jill Tarter, Lawrence Krauss, Richard Feynman, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking,
Ca"rolyn Porco, and PZ Myers, promoting science through words of wisdom.

http://symphonyofscience.com

by jaskaw @ 03.04.2010 - 18:02:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/03/symphony-of-science-the-poetry-of-reality-an-anthem-for-science-8301883/
You Can't Leave Islam!

http://www.youtube.com/user/discussislam

"I am an ex-Muslim (Now Agnostic), but am NOT against Islam or any religion. I believe in the freedom of
religion and that includes the freedom to leave a religion without fear of violence, abuse or stigma. I believe
we should all be free to express our views and beliefs - so long as they don't incite violence against anyone."

http://abooali.wordpress.com/
http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/
by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 11:24:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/you-can-t-leave-islam-8304834/
Michael Shermer puts 'miracles' in perspective
Read more at:
http://trueslant.com/michaelshermer/2010/04/03/would-i-ever-pray-for-a-miracle-watch-abc-2020-special-on-miracles-

By Michael Shermer
"Letˈs say one million people have cancer in America (itˈs much higher than this), and only one-tenth of one
percent experience a spontaneous recovery (itˈs actually higher than this). 1,000,000 x .001 = 1,000 people.
Out of that cohort of 1,000 people, what are the chances that half a dozen of them have compelling narrative
stories worthy of broadcast television?
---
This is naturally what any religion or television production team is going to do when telling a story about
miracles: they will pick and choose the most compelling cases that seemingly defy science and reason, and
present those to the public, while blindly (and cruelly) ignoring all those devoutly religious people whose
loved ones prayed in earnest for them and who died nonetheless. Why do religions and television production
companies not call attention to them?"

Read more at:

http://trueslant.com/michaelshermer/2010/04/03/would-i-ever-pray-for-a-miracle-watch-abc-2020-special-on-miracles-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer
"Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954 in Glendale, California) is an American science writer,
historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is
largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has
over 55,000 members.
Shermer is also the producer and co-host of the 13-hour Fox Family television series Exploring the Unknown.
Since April 2004, he has been a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine with his Skeptic
column."

by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 15:32:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/michael-shermer-puts-miracles-in-perspective-8305965/
A month in jail for a British couple for kissing in
public in Dubai
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8602449.stm

"A British couple jailed in Dubai for kissing in public have lost their appeal against their conviction.
Ayman Najafi, 24, and Charlotte Adams, 25, were sentenced to a month in prison with subsequent deportation
and fined about £200 for drinking alcohol.
The couple were arrested in November after a local woman accused them of breaking the country's decency
laws by kissing on the mouth in a restaurant.
---
Professor John Strawson, an expert in Islamic law, told BBC Radio 5 Live he was not surprised by the judge's
decision.
He said: "The problem in this particular case is that one of the British citizens is of Muslim origin.
"And I think that the combination of the alleged kissing and the consumption of alcohol in an illegal place,
meant that this was a case that the authorities really wanted to pursue, and they are probably sticking to their
rigid interpretation of the law."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8602449.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissing
"A kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the body of another. Cultural connotations of kissing vary
widely. A kiss may be used to express sentiments of love, passion, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and
good luck, among many others. The word comes from Old English cyssan "to kiss", in turn from coss "a kiss".
The act of kissing has become a common expression of affection among many cultures worldwide. Yet in
certain cultures, kissing was introduced only through European settlement; prior to this, kissing was not a
routine occurrence. Examples of this include certain indigenous peoples of Australia, the Tahitians, and many
tribes in Africa."

by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 17:10:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/a-month-in-jail-for-a-british-couple-for-kissing-in-public-in-dubai-8306424/
Skeptic Bible Study: Easter Sunday

DeistPaladin writes:

"Telling the Easter story as it's written in the Bible (a special Easter presentation to the Louisville Atheists and
Freethinkers).
Christians tell us about how the resurrection of Jesus is so well documented. In reality, none of the accounts
agree on any of the details."

To attend the next Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers meeting, go to:

http://atheists.meetup.com/175/
by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 17:45:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/skeptic-bible-study-easter-sunday-8306614/
How is fear of death used in religious infection?

damon132 writes: "How is fear of death used in religious infection? Which do you fear more, a god sending
you to hell or an asteroid hitting your city? Visit www.thegodvirus.net and www.recoveringreligionists.com"

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=damon132#g/u
"I am a writer, psychologist and business owner. I enjoy challenging people to think in different ways about
their world. At the same time, I do not delight in others' discomfort when challenged. I think that many major
life changes can be achieved with minimal harm if people have the right cognitive and perceptual skills."
by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 21:24:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/how-is-fear-of-death-used-in-religious-infection-8307611/
The struggle against stoning of women continues
in Iran

"Women in Shroud is a documentary about the violent injustice in the Iranian legal system, particularly
towards women. Through verité footage and interviews with women who were accused (often without
adequate proof) of adultery and sentenced to the death penalty, and interviews with several dedicated women's
rights activists and a volunteer lawyer who have helped to appeal and to overturn these women's death
sentences, the film exposes the arbitrary and highly subjective nature of Iranian judicial justice, and the
discriminatory cultural and moral double-standards applied by the judges towards sentencing women they
believed to be guilty of adulterous behaviour."
Director: Farid Haerinejad, Mohammad Reza Kazemi
http://www.idfa.nl/en/info/project.aspx?id=93a33975-eb64-4bb6-aad0-6a5c52d1707d

by jaskaw @ 04.04.2010 - 23:02:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/04/a-documentary-on-the-struggle-against-stoning-in-iran-8308064/
Reuters: Gambling in real estate hurts churches
badly in the US
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63020J20100401

Reuters
"By the time thousands of parishioners stream into the 3,000-seat Ebenezer AME Church on Easter Sunday,
church leaders hope to have something else to celebrate: financial revival.
The congregation, one of America's largest, has been scrambling to raise funds to save the arena-sized
sanctuary from potential foreclosure. To that end, it has enlisted national leaders, such as the Reverend Jesse
Jackson and Harvard Law School's Charles Ogletree, who was President Barack Obama's law professor."
---
"Supercheap, few-questions-asked loans were a temptation even churches could not resist, but now they are
paying for their sins as the debt crisis enters the house of God.
Long considered among the safest of borrowers, churches gambled on real estate at a time when credit
copiously flowed and lenders were startlingly lax.
But places of worship have since been battered by the economic downturn. Donations have dipped,
investment returns have plunged and bank credit is still hard to come by."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63020J20100401

by jaskaw @ 05.04.2010 - 18:12:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/05/reuters-gambling-in-real-estate-hurts-churches-badly-in-the-us-8312401/
Large German Jihadist colonies in Waziristan
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,687306,00.html#ref=nlint

By Yassin Musharbash, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark

"A wave of Germans traveling to training camps for militant jihadists has alarmed security officials back in
Europe. The recruits are quickly becoming radicalized and, in some cases, entire families are departing to
hotbeds for terrorism. It is even believed that colonies catering to German Islamists have taken shape in the
border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan."
---
"In this remote mountain region, a colony of Germans has sprung up -- expats who have severed all roots and
found a new homeland in the Hindu Kush. Germany's Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA)
maintains a list of suspects who have taken off to Afghanistan or Pakistan -- or at least tried to leave -- over
the past few years. The list has nearly 100 names. It's a directory of the third generation of Islamist terrorists
after the 9/11 suicide pilots and Germany's so-called "Sauerland Cell". Like their predecessors, they are eager
to fight the holy war and die a martyr's death."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,687306,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 05.04.2010 - 20:43:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/05/german-jjihad-colonies-sprout-up-in-waziristan-8313274/
The writer of Golden Compass writes of 'scoundrel
Christ'
Read more at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/from%20atheist/2761642/story.html

"Bestselling British author Philip Pullman risks offending Christians with his latest book, a fictional account
of the "good man Jesus" and the "scoundrel Christ."
The 63-year-old, an outspoken atheist, angered some members of the Catholic Church with a thinly veiled
attack on organized religion in his hugely successful His Dark Materials trilogy, the first of which was turned
into the Hollywood blockbuster The Golden Compass.
But The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a far more direct exploration of the foundations of
Christianity and the church as well as an examination of the fascination and power of storytelling.
In the novel, Jesus has a twin brother called Christ who secretly records and embellishes his brother's
teachings.
---
When one man said Christians would be upset to hear Christ referred to as a "scoundrel," Pullman replied: "I
knew it was a shocking thing to say, but no one has the right to live without being shocked. Nobody has to
read this book ... and no one has the right to stop me writing this book."
In the book, Christ is lured into betraying Jesus by a mysterious stranger who wants to use the controversial
preacher and his beliefs as a focal point for a new religion preserved and controlled by a powerful and wealthy
body called the church."

Read more at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/from%20atheist/2761642/story.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7564066/What-Jesus-Christ-means-to-me.html

by jaskaw @ 06.04.2010 - 19:59:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/06/the-writer-of-golden-compass-writes-of-scoundrel-christ-8319045/
Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV -- let's get
rational
"I'm not going to even address the clearly irrational position of the Catholic Church, who think that if you
give out condoms, everyone is going to run out and have sex. Pope Benedict, I have news for you; I carry
condoms all the time, and I never get laid. Its not that easy." -Elisabet Pisani at TED-talks.

TED-talks says:
"Armed with bracing logic, wit and her "public-health nerd" glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of
inconsistencies in today's political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of
HIV. Her research with at-risk populations -- from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia
-- demonstrates the sometimes counter-intuitive measures that could stall the spread of this devastating
disease."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Pisani

by jaskaw @ 06.04.2010 - 21:21:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/06/elizabeth-pisani-sex-drugs-and-hiv-let-s-get-rational-8319562/
God and Karma: Batchelor Rejects 'Consolatory'
Beliefs

Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Batchelor_(author)
"Stephen Batchelor (born in Scotland) is the author of many books relating to Buddhism though he is an
agnostic. At the age of nineteen, Batchelor moved to Dharamsala in India. In 1974 he ordained as a Tibetan
monk in the Gelug tradition. In Dharamsala, shortly after ordination, he met Satya Narayan Goenka, and sat a
ten-day vipassana meditation retreat with him. He studied under Geshe Rabten in Switzerland, his group
consisting mostly of Westerners like himself. During this period he learned to read Tibetan script and found
himself immersed in a fairly complex routine. While a Tibetan monk, Batchelor continued his vipassana
practice.
Batchelor is an author, teacher, and scholar, writing books and articles on Buddhist topics and leading
meditation retreats throughout the world. He currently lives in Aquitaine, France. He is an active member of
the Center for Pragmatic Buddhism's Advisory Board.

by jaskaw @ 07.04.2010 - 15:11:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/07/god-and-karma-batchelor-rejects-consolatory-beliefs-8323746/
British Islamist Anjem Choudary: They Give US
Money, But We Attack Their System

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjem_Choudary
Anjem Choudary (born 1967 in Welling, England) is a British former solicitor, and, before it was proscribed,
spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK. He is married, has four children, and lives in Ilford, London.
Choudary became a medical student studying at the University of Southampton, before switching and
studying commercial law. He became a solicitor, and chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers.
He later met Omar Bakri Muhammad, and the two helped form the Islamist organisation, al-Muhajiroun. The
group organised several pro-Islam demonstrations, including a banned protest march in London for which
Choudary was summonsed to appear in court. Al-Muhajiroun was a controversial organisation, which was
later disbanded following the UK government's decision to ban it. Choudary was present at the launch of its
intended successor, Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah, and later helped form Al Ghurabaa, which was also banned,
before he became the spokesman for Islam4UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam4UK

by jaskaw @ 07.04.2010 - 22:39:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/07/british-islamist-anjem-choudary-they-give-us-money-but-we-attack-their-system
Powerful Islamic groups demand that radio station
stop broadcasting music in Somalia
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8604830.stm

"Radio stations broadcasting out of Somalia face a dilemma this month after a powerful Islamist militant
group ordered them to stop playing music.
Saying that the playing of music was un-Islamic, Hizbul-Islam announced on Saturday that stations had 10
days to take it off air.
The punishment for failing to comply was not specified but 11 radio stations based in the capital, Mogadishu,
are thought to be directly affected.
If they drop music, they stand to lose listeners. If they ignore the warning, they face the wrath of the
militants."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8604830.stm

by jaskaw @ 08.04.2010 - 17:29:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/08/powerful-islamic-groups-demand-that-radio-station-stop-broadcasting-music-in-
Feedback for Post "Powerful Islamic groups demand that
radio station stop broadcasting music in Somalia "

Carolyn Boe [Visitor]

08.04.2010 @ 23:06
Life without music is barely worth living.
10-year old with explosives belt arrested in Iraq
Read more at: http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/26159.htm?tr=y&auid=6184617

Iraqi security forces have arrested a 10-year old boy wearing an explosives belt who planned to blow himself
up in the middle of a crowded area in Faluja, 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of Baghdad.

Upon the arrival at a roadblock of the bus on which he was riding, the boy was asked, like the rest of the
passengers, to get off for inspection. It appears the boy got scared and started running away, and was grabbed
from behind by a policeman who discovered that he was wearing an explosives belt.

Read more at: http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/26159.htm?tr=y&auid=6184617

by jaskaw @ 09.04.2010 - 09:17:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/09/10-year-old-with-explosives-belt-arrested-in-iraq-8334578/
Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From National
Science Foundation Report
Read more at: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/04/evolution-big-bang-polls-omitted.html?etoc

"In an unusual last-minute edit that has drawn flak from the White House and science educators, a federal
advisory committee omitted data on Americans' knowledge of evolution and the big bang from a key report.
The data shows that Americans are far less likely than the rest of the world to accept that humans evolved
from earlier species and that the universe began with a big bang.
They're not surprising findings, but the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science
Foundation (NSF), says it chose to leave the section out of the 2010 edition of the biennial Science and
Engineering Indicators because the survey questions used to measure knowledge of the two topics force
respondents to choose between factual knowledge and religious beliefs.
"Discussing American science literacy without mentioning evolution is intellectual malpractice" that
"downplays the controversy" over teaching evolution in schools, says Joshua Rosenau of the National Center
for Science Education, a nonprofit that has fought to keep creationism out of the science classroom. The story
appears in this week's issue of Science.

Read more at: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/04/evolution-big-bang-polls-omitted.html?etoc

by jaskaw @ 09.04.2010 - 19:17:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/09/evolution-big-bang-polls-omitted-from-nsf-report-8337708/
Feedback for Post "Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From
National Science Foundation Report "

Larian LeQuella [Visitor]

http://larianlequella.com
09.04.2010 @ 20:09
I figured it was the NSF trying to shift the bell curve out of the "abysmally ignorant" category to "illiterate
redneck".
Why Call Him God?

TheThinkingAtheist says "ō When should an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent Being be expected to do
anything god-like? Here's our take on the subject."
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist

Join the Epicurean brotherhood in Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Epicurus/79493658728 There

is just now ongoing presentation of the 40 central Epicurean principal doctrines.

by jaskaw @ 10.04.2010 - 17:34:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/10/why-call-him-god-8342601/
The Atheist Barbie doll is finally here!
Read more at: http://www.blaghag.com/2010/04/atheist-barbie.html

"Fisher created Rev. Barbie for use in her own youth ministry: "I thought the children would like to practice
playing with the vestments and learning what they are," she told Religion News Service. Over the years,
Barbie's many vocations have served as inspiration for young girls. And although Mattel has not endorsed
Fisher's improvised Reverend Barbie, the plastic priestess has emerged at a critical moment in Christian
history, especially for women.

Man, why should religious people get to have all the fun? I want an atheist Barbie!"

Read more at: http://www.blaghag.com/2010/04/atheist-barbie.html

by jaskaw @ 10.04.2010 - 21:48:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/10/the-atheist-barbie-doll-is-finally-here-8343710/
Humanist Heroes

mnmadwoman writes "Quotes from Americans who have upheld the Humanist values -- a respect for science,
reason, and concern for humanity in the here and now."
http://www.youtube.com/user/mnmadwoman

by jaskaw @ 11.04.2010 - 15:44:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/11/humanist-heroes-8347288/
Sir David Attenborough Sums Up Evolution In 5½
Minutes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough
"Sir David Frederick Attenborough (pronounced /ˈætənbərə/) OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8
May 1926 in London, England) is a broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the respected face and voice of
natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting
the nine "Life" series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a
comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served
as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s."

by jaskaw @ 12.04.2010 - 12:44:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/12/sir-david-attenborough-sums-up-evolution-in-5-minutes-8353356/
Leonard Pitts: Christian terrorism is alive
Read more at:
http://www.journal-news.com/opinion/columnists/leonard-pitts-christian-terrorism-is-alive-642286.html

"A few words about Christian terrorism.

And I suppose the first words should be about ːthoseə words: ːChristian terrorism.ə The term will seem
jarring to those whoˈve grown comfortable regarding terrorism as something exclusive to Islam.
---
If federal officials are correct, we now have one more name to add to the dishonor roll. That name would be
Hutaree, a self-styled Christian militia in Michigan, nine members of which have been arrested and accused of
plotting to kill police officers in hopes of sparking an anti-government uprising.
---
Sometimes, I think the only thing that keeps us from becoming, say, Afghanistan, is a strong central
government and a diverse population with a robust tradition of free speech. The idea that there is something
more is a conceit that blows apart like confetti every time there is, as there is now, a sense of cultural
dislocation and economic uncertainty. That combination unfailingly moves people out to the fringes where
they seek out scapegoats and embrace that feeble God. And watching, you canˈt help but realize the troubling
truth about that line between ːusə and ːThem.ə
Itˈs thinner than you think."

Read more at:

http://www.journal-news.com/opinion/columnists/leonard-pitts-christian-terrorism-is-alive-642286.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Pitts
"Leonard Pitts, Jr. is an American commentator, journalist and novelist. He is a nationally-syndicated
columnist and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He was originally hired by the Miami
Herald to critique music, but within a few years he received his own column in which he dealt extensively
with race, politics, and culture. He lives in Bowie, Maryland. He has won awards for his writing from the
Society of Professional Journalists and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and was first nominated
for the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, eventually claiming the honor in 2004.
Pitts is a bestselling author. His first book, Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood was
published in 2006. Pittsˈs first novel, Before I Forget was released in March of 2009, and earned a starred
review from Publishers Weekly."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutaree
"Hutaree is a Christian militia group based in Adrian, Michigan. The group was formed in early 2008. The
name "Hutaree" appears to be a neologism, that according to the group's web site means "Christian warriors".
The group was allegedly preparing for what they believed would be an apocalyptic battle with the forces of
the Antichrist, who they believed would be supported and defended by local, state and federal police
departments. On their website, all police and military members who would support the current U.S. system of
local, state or federal government were described as members of the "brotherhood", and were considered by
the Hutaree to be "enemies".
From March 28 to March 30, 2010, nine people thought to be Hutaree members were arrested in police raids
in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana (in Hammond), for their alleged involvement in a plot to kill various police
officers and possibly civilians using illegal explosives and/or firearms."

by jaskaw @ 12.04.2010 - 13:56:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/12/leonard-pitts-christian-terrorism-is-alive-8353738/
Sikhs battle out their differences in Canada with
kirpans
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Kirpans-out-as-Canadian-Sikh-divsions-deepen-over-scriptu

TORONTO "Divisions among Canadian Sikhs over the ongoing controversy about the Dasam Granth reached
a flash point with hardliners using kirpans to attack supporters of former Akal Takht head priest Darshan
Singh Ragi who suspects the authenticity of the scripture.
After the holy Granth which carries the writings of the first nine Sikhs, the Dasam Granth is another major
scripture of the community carrying the writings of the last guru Gobind Singh.
Though only the holy Granth is installed at all gurdwaras because it was declared the eternal guru of the Sikhs
by the last guru (Guru Gobind Singh) before his death in 1708, some gurdwaras associated with his birth and
death in Patna and Nanded have also installed the Dasam Granth.
However, Sikh scholars, inlcuding Ragi,are against its installation as they suspect the authenticity of the
Dasam Granth because of objectionable parts - references to women in derogatory languages, sexual
promiscuity and intoxicants - in it.
They say the last Sikh guru could never have written these parts, linking the derogatory parts to conspiracy
theories against the community.
But opponents say these scholars are denigrating the Dasam Granth and should be excommunicated from the
Sikh religion.
Toronto-based former Akal Takht head priest Ragi was ex-communicated from the Sikh clergy last December
for vocing his opposition to the scripture."
---
"The use of kirpans in the gurdwara violence led to calls in some section of the media to revisit the issue of
kirpan in Canada where the Sikhs won a major legal victory for it in 2006 to let them wear their religious
symbol in classrooms and work places."

Read more at:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Kirpans-out-as-Canadian-Sikh-divsions-deepen-over-scriptu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan
"The Kirpan is a sword or dagger carried by many Sikhs. According to a a mandatory religious commandment
given by Guru Gobind Singh (the tenth Guru of Sikhism) at the Baisakhi Amrit Sanchar (a holy religious
ceremony that formally baptizes a Sikh) in AD 1699, all baptised Sikhs (Khalsa) must wear a kirpan at all
times.
Historically, the kirpan was a defensive weapon, worn on a cloth belt called a Gatra. It was one of the five
Kakars which displayed commitment to the Hukam of the tenth master and identified a Khalsa Sikh."
by jaskaw @ 12.04.2010 - 22:05:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/12/sikhs-battle-out-their-differences-in-canada-with-kirpans-8356929/
Ringo Starr: 'Vatican has more to talk about than
the Beatles'
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/04/12/ringo.starr.vatican.beatles/

London, England (CNN) -- The Vatican may have forgiven the Beatles over the weekend for their "satanic"
messages -- but Ringo Starr, the legendary band's drummer, says he couldn't care less.
In a tribute published to mark the 40th anniversary of the breakup of the band, who singer John Lennon once
claimed were "more popular than Jesus," the Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano" said it had forgiven
them and called them a "precious jewel."
But Starr told CNN: "Didn't the Vatican say we were satanic or possibly satanic -- and they've still forgiven
us? I think the Vatican, they've got more to talk about than the Beatles."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/04/12/ringo.starr.vatican.beatles/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringo_starr
"Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English
musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The
Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the
Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in 1962, taking over from Pete Best. In addition to his
contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead singer on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular,
"With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles version of "Act Naturally") and
as songwriter with the songs "Don't Pass Me By", "What Goes On", and "Octopus's Garden".
As drummer for The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has
received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times."

by jaskaw @ 12.04.2010 - 23:10:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/12/ringo-starr-vatican-has-more-to-talk-about-than-the-beatles-8357506/
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "I chose the principles of The
House of Liberty"
Read more at: http://speakeasymag.com/campus-buzz/womens-rights-are-human-rights/

"On Thursday, April 8, Ohio University took security to a whole new level at Templeton Blackburn Alumni
Memorial Auditorium. Metal detectors and security guards lined the entrance while armed officers patrolled
the outer perimeter and stood ominously inside the theater. These measures were taken to protect one woman,
a woman who has received numerous threats on her life. Her name is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a human rights activist
and the keynote speaker for the 2010 Baker Peace Conference.
---
She began humbly by apologizing for the extreme security measures. ːLetˈs be honest,ə she said, ːitˈs not
because of the population of Bobcats. Itˈs weird because I am not in any kind of office. I am not the secretary
of state. I am not serving government in any capacity. I have no power ‫ ل‬and so you have to ask yourselves,
’Who is this woman?ˈ and I ask myself, ’Who am I?ˈə She then explained how she was different. Through
her own growing, searching and learning, she developed a different moral compass, a compass entirely
opposite from that to which her family strictly adhered.
---
Finally, she realized that she had to make a decision. She could not walk the line any longer. ːIt is not God
who is responsible for the choices I make,ə she said. ːI am responsible for those choices.ə This revelation led
to Aliˈs apostasy, or abandonment, of the Muslim religion, which she published in her novel, ːInfidel.ə No
more could she rationalize the Islamic treatment of women and murder of innocent people. She had seen
women who were free and given rights equal to men. ːI chose the principles of The House of Liberty, but
they came at a price,ə she said. ːThat price first came with the rejection of, again, my father and, again, my
mother, and the threats and the bodyguards.ə

Read more at: http://speakeasymag.com/campus-buzz/womens-rights-are-human-rights/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_hirsi_ali
"Ayaan Hirsi Ali (pronunciation; Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in
Mogadishu, Somalia)is a Dutch intellectual, feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged
daughter of the late Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse.
She is a prominent critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death
threats. Since van Gogh's assassination by a Muslim extremist in 2004, she has lived in seclusion under the
protection of Dutch authorities.
When she was eight, her family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia, and eventually settled in Kenya.
She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later became
the center of a political controversy. In 2003 she was elected a member of the House of Representatives.
In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world."

by jaskaw @ 13.04.2010 - 09:30:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/13/ayaan-hirsi-ali-i-chose-the-principles-of-the-house-of-liberty-8359077/
Somali radio stations stop playing music on
demand of the Islamists
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8617627.stm

"Most radio stations in Somalia have stopped playing music, on the orders of Islamist Hizbul-Islam insurgents
who say that songs are un-Islamic.
The stations said they had to comply with the ban as if they did not, they would be putting their lives at risk.
The BBC correspondent in Somalia says this latest order has strong echoes of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In the past, militants in some areas have banned watching films and football and forced men to grow beards.
Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991 and the Islamist militants control large parts
of its territory.
The transitional government - backed by African Union troops and UN funds - controls only a small part of
the capital, Mogadishu."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8617627.stm

by jaskaw @ 13.04.2010 - 18:17:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/13/somali-radio-stations-stop-playing-music-on-demand-of-the-islamists-8362272/
Was the biblical covenant copied from a Assyrian
text?
Read more at:
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Ancient+treaty+resembles+part+Bible/2781976/story.html

"Canadian archeologists in Turkey have unearthed an ancient treaty that could have served as a model for the
biblical description of God's covenant with the Israelites.
The tablet, dating to about 670 BC, is a treaty between the powerful Assyrian king and his weaker vassal
states, written in a highly formulaic language very similar in form and style to the story of Abraham's
covenant with God in the Hebrew Bible, says University of Toronto archeologist Timothy Harrison.
Although biblical scholarship differs, it is widely accepted that the Hebrew Bible was being assembled around
the same time as this treaty, the seventh century BC."
----
"The language in the [Assyrian] texts is [very similar] and now we have a treaty document just a few miles up
the road from Jerusalem."

Read more at:

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Ancient+treaty+resembles+part+Bible/2781976/story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_(biblical)
"A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible "between God and his people in which God makes
certain promises and requires certain behavior from his people in return (conditional covenant.)
In theology and Biblical studies, the word "covenant" principally refers to any of a number of solemn
agreements made between God and the children of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the New
Covenant, which some Christians consider to be the replacement or final fulfilment of these, see
Supersessionism. Likewise, some Christians use the term "Old Covenant" to collectively refer to the
covenants described in their "Old Testament".

by jaskaw @ 14.04.2010 - 14:12:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/14/was-the-biblical-covenant-copied-from-a-assyrian-text-8369797/
Feedback for Post "Was the biblical covenant copied from a
Assyrian text?"

Arthur G Broadhurst [Visitor]

http://www.christianhumanist.net
14.04.2010 @ 17:33
This is not exactly earth-shattering news. Anyone with even a basic understanding of the old testament
documents and their formation has known for several generations that there was cultural "borrowing" and that
many traditions were held in common with other Near Eastern tribal groups and peoples. So this is interesting
but does not really provide "ammunition" for either side in the battles over the historicity of events that may
have occurred in the area.

Godless Heathen [Visitor]

14.04.2010 @ 18:38
It may not be a "novel" discovery in that there is already plenty of evidence of cultural borrowing in existence
(i.e., flood/creation/death & resurrection stories), but it is one more bit of interesting evidence that might
provide a little more ammunition in verbal battles against those who still want to cling tightly to claims that
the OT is the inerrant word of the divine and should not be questioned. (Not that I believe the clingers will
release their worldviews on the basis of "physical" evidence anyway, but...) Those who don't view their holy
books in that manner, are probably not as concerned with the historical accuracy of the bible in the first place,
as that is not what their understanding of faith requires of them. From a strictly
archaeological/anthropological/historical (and personal) perspective though, this find IS rather fascinating.
Evangelical scholar expelled over evolution
Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/04/evangelical-scholar-expelled-over-evolution-005432

"A noted evangelical Old Testament scholar resigned from his faculty position at a seminary in the wake of a
controversy over his public acceptance of evolution. On March 24, 2010, a video featuring Bruce Waltke,
Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, was posted on the website of the BioLogos
Foundation. (Founded by Francis Collins, the BioLogos Foundation "explores, promotes, and celebrates the
integration of science and Christian faith.") Entitled "Why Must the Church Come to Accept Evolution?" the
video discussed "the danger that the Church will face if it does not engage with the world around it, in
particular by acknowledging the overwhelming amount of data in support of biological evolution, which many
evangelicals still reject."
---
Milton explained that Reformed Theological Seminary's faculty members are allowed to have different views
on creation, but "Darwinian views, and any suggestion that humans didn't arrive on earth directly from being
created by God (as opposed to having evolved from other forms of life), are not allowed, he said, and faculty
members know this."
---
In a widely circulated letter to his colleagues at the Orlando campus of Reformed Theological Seminary,
Waltke later commented, "I knew the issue of Genesis 1-3 and evolution was emotionally charged, but not this
charged."

Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/04/evangelical-scholar-expelled-over-evolution-005432

by jaskaw @ 14.04.2010 - 21:59:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/14/evangelical-scholar-expelled-over-evolution-8372433/
Feedback for Post "Evangelical scholar expelled over
evolution"

anirudh kumar satsangi [Visitor]

18.04.2010 @ 07:13
According to His Holiness Maharaj Sahab (1861-1907), the 3rd Spiritual Head of Radha Soami Faith, “during
satyayuga,………..in consequence of their greater spirituality and of the high purity of their heart, had no
difficulty in getting access at times into the astral planes and holding communion with the departed spirits.”
(Source: Discourses on Radhasoami Faith). Greater Spirituality as mentioned above is linked to the size of
pineal gland. In Satyauga pineal gland was highly developed but in Kaliyuga the pineal gland is a rudimentary
(undeveloped) organ. This is downward evolution of humankind. We should ascertain the period taken from
highly developed pineal gland to undeveloped pineal gland. This will determine the Age of Human Existence
on this Earth Planet. Other arguments, as I think, will not help much.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
18.04.2010 @ 10:11
Dear anirudh kumar satsangi, I must admit that I did not quite catch the point. How is this development in
pineal gland found out and why other arguments will not help much?
Every Black Hole Contains Another Universe?
Read more at:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100409-black-holes-alternate-universe-multiverse-einstein-wormho

"Like part of a cosmic Russian doll, our universe may be nested inside a black hole that is itself part of a
larger universe.
In turn, all the black holes found so far in our universeōfrom the microscopic to the supermassiveōmay be
doorways into alternate realities.
According to a mind-bending new theory, a black hole is actually a tunnel between universesōa type of
wormhole. The matter the black hole attracts doesn't collapse into a single point, as has been predicted, but
rather gushes out a "white hole" at the other end of the black one, the theory goes.
In a recent paper published in the journal Physics Letters B, Indiana University physicist Nikodem Poplawski
presents new mathematical models of the spiraling motion of matter falling into a black hole. His equations
suggest such wormholes are viable alternatives to the "space-time singularities" that Albert Einstein predicted
to be at the centers of black holes."
---
"According to the new equations, the matter black holes absorb and seemingly destroy is actually expelled and
becomes the building blocks for galaxies, stars, and planets in another reality."

Read more at:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100409-black-holes-alternate-universe-multiverse-einstein-wormho

by jaskaw @ 15.04.2010 - 11:43:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/15/every-black-hole-contains-another-universe-8375593/
Feedback for Post "Every Black Hole Contains Another
Universe?"

dmc [Visitor]

15.04.2010 @ 14:34
so where are the white holes in this Universe? at least it's a testable hypothesis i suppose.
Stephen Fry's magnificent speech in The
Intelligence² Debate
The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry (Unedited)(Part 1/2)

The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry (Unedited)(Part 2/2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is a British actor, writer, journalist, comedian, television presenter
and film director. He first came to attention in the 1982 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation, "The Cellar
Tapes", which also included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. With Hugh Laurie, as the
comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also
played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster.
As a solo actor, Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the Blackadder television series and is
the host of the erudite, but comedy-based quiz show, QI. He also presented a 2008 television series Stephen
Fry in America, which saw him travelling across all 50 U.S. states in six episodes. Fry has become known to
American audiences for his recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the Fox crime series Bones.
Apart from his work in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines,
and has written four novels and an autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot. He also appears frequently on BBC
Radio 4, starring in the comedy series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on panel games such as Just a
Minute, and acting as chairman for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, where he was one of a trio of hosts who
succeeded the late Humphrey Lyttelton.
Fry has been described as a "national treasure", a phenomenon and "an epitome of the Renaissance man".

by jaskaw @ 15.04.2010 - 13:27:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/15/stephen-fry-s-magnificent-speech-in-the-intelligence-debate-8376219/
Feedback for Post "Stephen Fry's magnificent speech in
The Intelligence² Debate "

Rowland Nelken [Visitor]

27.04.2010 @ 00:09
A Brilliant Speech. The Catholic CGurch may be the largest totalitarian Christian cult in the world, but is not
unique in ite presumption. I was raised as Jehovah's Witness. Its 7 million members is paltry by the side of the
Catholic billion, but its presumption of being God's sole earthly rep. is equally absurd and cruel.
Federal judge: The US National Day of Prayer is
unconstitutional
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gd8532foDasi_HtAzi9JolkMVlqQD9F3QF7O0

MADISON, Wis. "ō A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional
Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of
prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.
"In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community
that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to
pray," Crabb wrote.
Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to
issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison-based
group of atheists and agnostics, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2008 arguing the day
violated the separation of church and state."

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gd8532foDasi_HtAzi9JolkMVlqQD9F3QF7O0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_Prayer

by jaskaw @ 16.04.2010 - 11:02:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/16/federal-judge-the-us-national-day-of-prayer-is-unconstitutional-8382942/
Islamist militants ban school bells as un-Islamic
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8623240.stm

"Islamist militants al-Shabab have banned teachers using bells to signal the end of class in the town of Jowhar,
90km (56 miles) north of Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab said the bells sounded too much like Christian church bells.
This comes after last week's order by the Hizbul-Islam group that radios stop playing music because it is
un-Islamic.
A teacher told the BBC's correspondent in Somalia that handclaps were now being used instead of bells to
bring classes to an end.
The end of classes is also marked by teachers beating on tables and doors, reports the Associated Press news
agency."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8623240.stm

by jaskaw @ 16.04.2010 - 17:55:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/16/islamist-militants-ban-school-bells-as-un-islamic-8384998/
Feedback for Post "Islamist militants ban school bells as
un-Islamic"

Lurker111 [Visitor]

16.04.2010 @ 19:41
Beneath pathetic ...
Darwin's Legacy - Genie at Stanford

ō In 2008, Stanford looked at the scope, reach, and impact of Darwin's' theory, in a series of lectures given by
leading evolution scholars. Among them, our very own Genie Scott, who dissects the evolution vs.
creationism debate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Scott

by jaskaw @ 17.04.2010 - 20:15:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/17/darwin-s-legacy-genie-at-stanford-8391127/
Holocaust-denying British bishop fined in
Germany
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8625543.stm

"A renegade British bishop has been fined 10,000 euros (£8,750) for denying the Holocaust in a case that has
acutely embarrassed the Vatican.
The case went ahead in a German court without Richard Williamson, whose breakaway Catholic fraternity
told him not to testify, his lawyer said.
Denying that the Holocaust took place, or questioning key elements, is illegal in Germany.
The bishop acknowledged the offending comments in a statement read in court.
Williamson, 70, was convicted by the court in the southern German city of Regensburg of inciting racial
hatred for stating in a TV interview aired in January 2009 that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi
concentration camps".

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8625543.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Williamson_%28bishop%29
"Richard Nelson Williamson, (born 8 March 1940) is an English traditionalist Catholic and a bishop of the
Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Williamson opposes the changes in the Catholic Church brought about by the
Second Vatican Council. He sees such changes as being unacceptably liberal and modernistic, and as being
destructive to the Church.
In 1988, the Holy See declared that Williamson had incurred automatic excommunication latae sententiae, i.e.
as a direct and immediate consequence of his unauthorized consecration as a bishop by Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre. It lifted his excommunication in January 2009. After reports accusing him of Holocaust denial
attracted widespread media coverage, the Vatican declared that "in order to be admitted to episcopal functions
within the Church, (he) will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from
his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted." In
2010, Williamson was convicted of incitement by a German court and fined $13,000."

by jaskaw @ 17.04.2010 - 20:22:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/17/holocaust-denying-british-bishop-fined-in-germany-8391154/
'Osama Bin Laden' Facebook page shut down
Read more at:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-facebook-page-shut/story?id=10402921

"A Facebook account in the name of Osama bin Laden was shut down today, after attracting more than 1,000
"fans" and posting the speeches and recordings of Islamic extremists produced by al Qaeda-affiliated
Al-Sahab Media Group.
Omar Bin Laden says the U.S. won't catch his dad.
The page, which went up on March 25, referred to bin Laden as the "Prince of Mujahideen," and set his
location to the "mountains of the world," according to the Arabic language news site Elaph. Bin Laden is
believed to be hiding in the mountainous area that stretches across Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Read more at:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-facebook-page-shut/story?id=10402921

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
"Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (with numerous variations; Arabic: ‫ضوع نب دمحم نب ةماسأ‬
‫ندال نب‬‎, Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin ’Awaḍ bin Lādin; born March 10, 1957) is a member
of the prominent Saudi bin Laden family and the founding leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, best
known for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against
civilian targets. Bin Laden is on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of FBI Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives.
Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the United States' War on
Terror. Bin Laden and fellow Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and
Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas."

by jaskaw @ 18.04.2010 - 01:50:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/17/read-more-at-http-abcnews-go-com-international-blotter-osama-bin-laden-facebo
'What I know about Islam' by Pat Condell

http://www.youtube.com/user/patcondell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Condell
"Patrick Condell (born November 23, 1949) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, and internet personality.
He performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom and won a Time
Out Comedy Award in 1991. He was also a regular panellist on BBC Radio 1's "Loose Talk". From early
2007, he began posting short monologues denouncing religion to a number of video sharing websites. His
videos have been featured on many websites including YouTube and LiveLeak. They have also been
published to DVD."

by jaskaw @ 18.04.2010 - 19:31:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/18/what-i-know-about-islam-by-pat-condell-8396244/
'The Unconsidered Life' by A.C. Grayling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.C._Grayling
"Anthony Clifford Grayling, FRSA, FRSL (born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He is
Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College,
Oxford. He has an MA and a DPhil from Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the
Royal Society of Arts.
Grayling has been a significant contributor to philosophical pedagogy and scholarship through writing and
editing, in the latter case most notably in connection with the two major volumes "Philosophy: A Guide
Through the Subject" and "Philosophy: Further Through the Subject" published by Oxford University Press,
widely used as text books, and as chief editor of the four-volume "Encyclopaedia of British Philosophy"
(Continuum)."

by jaskaw @ 18.04.2010 - 19:40:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/18/the-unconsidered-life-by-a-c-grayling-8396325/
Christian beliefs do not prevent belief in witchcraft
and evil spirits in Kenya
Read more at:
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Belief%20in%20witchcraft%20widespread%20among%20Christians%20says%20surve

"A quarter of Kenyans believe in witchcraft even though they are deeply religious, a survey shows. They also
believe that the world will end in the next 39 years.
According to the survey conducted by The Pew Research Center, a US-based organisation dealing in religious
research, Kenyans are ranked 11th in Africa and 16th in the world on the most religious people, with nearly
nine in every 10 people stating that religion plays an important role in their lives.
The Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa survey compares Kenya to the
Czech Republic and Sweden where only eight out of 100 people said religion was important.
But in spite of impressive religious credentials, strong belief in one God, and in heaven and hell, the survey
found that sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya included, leads in the worship of alternative gods ō witchcraft, evil
spirits, and sacrifices to ancestors, traditional religious healers and reincarnation."

Read more at:

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Belief%20in%20witchcraft%20widespread%20among%20Christians%20says%20surve

by jaskaw @ 18.04.2010 - 21:30:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/18/christian-beliefs-do-not-prevent-belief-in-witchcraft-and-evil-spirits-in-kenya-83
When Jews slaughtered Christians; The forgotten
massacre of Mamilla
Read more at: http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/InJerusalem/Article.aspx?id=14894

"Completely overlooked in the current media frenzy about building the Museum of Tolerance atop the
millennium-old Ma'amun Allah Cemetery is the site's forgotten history as the killing field of 614.
---
Seeking revenge for generations of persecution, the Jews destroyed hundreds of churches and monasteries.
Once Jerusalem was in Persian hands a terrible massacre of Christians took place, and the Jews are accused of
having taken the lead in this massacre.
How many Christian prisoners of war were murdered by the Mamilla Pool? A precise number is of course
now impossible to verify, but Israeli archaeologist Ronny Reich puts the tally at 60,000 before the Persian
military stopped the carnage.
One eyewitness, Strategius of St. Sabas, wrote: "Jews ransomed the Christians from the hands of the Persian
soldiers for good money, and slaughtered them with great joy at Mamilla Pool, and it ran with blood."

Read more at: http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/InJerusalem/Article.aspx?id=14894

and http://neareastupdate.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-we-choose-to-remember-jerusalem-in.html

by jaskaw @ 19.04.2010 - 13:29:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/19/when-jews-slaughtered-christians-the-forgotten-massacre-of-mamilla-8401838/
Feedback for Post "When Jews slaughtered Christians; The
forgotten massacre of Mamilla"

newyorkcomic [Visitor]

19.04.2010 @ 16:30
Who cares? Just another instance of "holy" people coming together to kill each other.
Study: More crime at church than strip clubs

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Turks_(talk_show)
"The Young Turks is a liberal radio and Internet talk show airing on Sirius Satellite Radio and its first original
programming. The name is an allusion to the Young Turk reform movement in the late Ottoman Empire (and
the general term, derived from this usage, referring to new progressive movements within older
organizations), playing on host Cenk Uygur's Turkish origins. The Young Turks claims to be the first Internet
TV news show. Video of the show is streamed daily on their website and available as a podcast.
The show offers exclusive, Internet-only video content via their YouTube channel, which averages 13 million
views monthly. The Young Turks offers a paid members-only Postgame Show, an uncensored, Internet-only
wrap-up show. The Young Turks has won the 2009 Podcast Award in the Political category as well as 2009
Mashable Open Web Award for the Best Political News Site."

by jaskaw @ 19.04.2010 - 14:31:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/19/study-more-crime-at-cchurch-than-strip-clubs-8402300/
Iranian cleric says that promiscuous women cause
earthquakes
Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/19/world/AP-ML-Iran-Earthquakes-Promiscuity.html?ref=global-home

"BEIRUT (AP) -- A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave
promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.
Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric's unusual explanation for why the
earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran
and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.
''Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery
in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,'' Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying
by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran's acting Friday prayer leader. "

Read more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/19/world/AP-ML-Iran-Earthquakes-Promiscuity.html?ref=global-home

by jaskaw @ 19.04.2010 - 22:16:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/19/iranian-cleric-says-that-promiscuous-women-cause-earthquakes-8406195/
Stan Cox: Four of the Most Dangerous Fraudulent
Scientific Theories That Must Be Confronted
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/146524/four_of_the_most_dangerous_fraudulent_scientific_theories_that_must_be_discr

"Climate-induced earthquakes, bottomless pits of oil, pet dinosaurs and a miraculous energy source: For the
sake of public policy, it's important to debunk the lies.
---
Adding to the impression that seismic activity has increased are the realities of continuing population
growthōwhich means that an earthquake, tragically, is much more likely to affect large numbers of people
than previouslyōand of growth in communications technology, which allows news of a quake anywhere in the
world to be disseminated almost instantly.
But why have there been several massive, destructive quakes just in the past year? According to USGS, the
explanation involves no more than simple, boring chance.
---
In the sociopolitical geography of the Web, enthusiasm for abiogenic oil usually runs in parallel with denial of
human-induced climate change. That is logical, considering that we are all susceptible to wishful thinking of
one kind or another.
---
In Texas 30 percent of people believe the earliest humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs, and another 29
percent arenˈt sure whether or not they lived together.
In an election year, such beliefs could boost the prospects of politicians like a far-right primary candidate for
Congress in Minnesota who has written a school curriculum promoting the idea that a Flintstones-like world
of people and dinosaurs existed not long ago and believes that liberals want to ːestablish a ’worldwide
education systemˈ that teaches, among other topics, ’global warming nonsense.ˈə
Of the claims examined in this article, this bit of creationist fantasy is the only one that contains not even a
single pebble of reality."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/146524/four_of_the_most_dangerous_fraudulent_scientific_theories_that_must_be_discr

by jaskaw @ 20.04.2010 - 11:22:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/20/stan-cox-four-of-the-most-dangerous-fraudulent-scientific-theories-that-must-be
James Randi's fiery takedown of psychic fraud in
TED-talks

Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing
18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world's psychics: Prove what you
do is real, and I'll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.)

http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi
"James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928) is a Canadian American stage
magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience.
Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a
magician, as The Amazing Randi, but when he retired at age 60, he switched to investigating paranormal,
occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls "woo-woo."
Although often referred to as a "debunker," Randi rejects that title owing to its perceived bias, instead
describing himself as an "investigator".
He has written about the paranormal, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on The
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and is occasionally featured on the television program Penn & Teller:
Bullshit!.
The JREF sponsors The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge offering a prize of US $1,000,000 to
anyone who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test
conditions agreed to by both parties."

by jaskaw @ 20.04.2010 - 21:53:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/20/james-randi-s-fiery-takedown-of-psychic-fraud-in-ted-talks-8414111/
CNN: Muslims extremists threaten to kill South
Park creators

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_park
"South Park is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central
television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become infamous for its crude, surreal,
satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics. The ongoing narrative revolves around four
childrenōStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickōand their bizarre adventures in
and around the fictional and titular Colorado town.
Parker and Stone developed the show from two animated shorts they created in 1992 and 1995. The latter
became one of the first Internet viral videos, which ultimately led to its production as a series. South Park
debuted on August 13, 1997 with great success, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable
program. Subsequent ratings have varied, but the show remains Comedy Central's highest rated and longest
running program. A total of 200 episodes have been broadcast, and the fourteenth season began airing on
March 17, 2010. Parker and Stone, who continue to do most of the writing, directing, and voice acting, are
under contract to produce 14 new episodes a year through 2011."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_Muslim
"Revolution Muslim is a radical Islamist organization and movement based in New York City that advocates
the re-establishment of a structured Islamic state, terrorism both in the US and in democratic countries around
the world, the removal of the current rulers in heavily Muslim populated nations, the destruction of Israel, and
an end to what they consider "western imperialism".
They operate both on its website and through street preaching and protests, mostly outside the Islamic
Cultural Center of New York."

by jaskaw @ 21.04.2010 - 18:23:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/21/cnn-muslims-extremists-threaten-to-kill-south-park-creators-8421402/
Sarah Palin vs. Thomas Jefferson in ABCNews
Watch the video at: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/god-trust-10429639

In Whose God Do We Trust? Dan Harris examines the debate over whether the U.S. is a Christian nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin
"Sarah Louise Palin (pronounced /ˈpeɪlɨn/ ( listen); née Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an
American politician, author, speaker, and political news commentator who served as the Governor of Alaska
from 2006 until she resigned in 2009. She was the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States
in 2008."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
"Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 ʒ July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801ʒ1809),
the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), andōfor his promotion of the ideals of
republicanism in the United Statesōone of the most influential Founding Fathers.
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in
Britain and France. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia
Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia
(1779ʒ1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789ʒ1793), and second Vice President (1797ʒ1801).
A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, political leader, architect,
archaeologist, paleontologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. To date, Jefferson is the
only president to serve two full terms in office without vetoing a single bill of Congress. Jefferson has been
consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest of U.S. presidents."

Watch the video at: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/god-trust-10429639

by jaskaw @ 21.04.2010 - 18:45:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/21/sarah-palin-vs-thomas-jefferson-in-abcnews-8421545/
Young Turks: "Hot Women Cause Earthquakes?! "

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/19/iranian-cleric-says-that-promiscuous-women-cause-earthquakes-8406195/
by jaskaw @ 21.04.2010 - 22:40:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/21/young-turks-hot-women-cause-earthquakes-8424200/
Feedback for Post "Young Turks: "Hot Women Cause
Earthquakes?! ""

hannasiren [Member]
http://hannasiren.blogs.fi
21.04.2010 @ 22:48
:D
Thousands sold their immortal souls - for five
pounds
Read more at:
http://www.theequitykicker.com/2010/04/19/online-ts-and-cs-shown-to-be-pointless-as-7500-literally-sell-their-souls/?

"In hilarious news from UK retailer GameStation updated its Tˈs and Cˈs on 1st April as an April fools joke
adding an ’immortal soul clauseˈ and since then 7,500 have accepted the following:"
"By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you
agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should
We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it,
within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly
authorised minions."

and better still:

"we reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire."

"The company made the change to illustrate the serious point that nobody reads online terms and conditions ʒ
something made clearer in this example by the fact that customers were given the option to opt out of the
’immortal soul clauseˈ and instead receive a £5 voucher ʒ something very few people did. In fact, due to the
number of people who took advantage of this offer GameStation estimates that 88% of people didnˈt read the
Tˈs and Cˈs. "

Read more at:

http://www.theequitykicker.com/2010/04/19/online-ts-and-cs-shown-to-be-pointless-as-7500-literally-sell-their-souls/?

The original terms and conditions are here: http://www.gamestation.co.uk/Help/TermsAndConditions/

by jaskaw @ 22.04.2010 - 10:01:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/22/thousands-sold-their-immortal-souls-for-five-pounds-8426339/
Facebook's 'Boobquake' aims to shame a Iranian
cleric
Read more at:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/boobquake-determined-to-prove-cleric-wrong/story-e6frfhk6-122

"A ONE-WOMAN mission to prove breasts don't cause earthquakes has swollen into a shirt-straining global
movement preparing for the inaugural "Boobquake".
Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi angered womens' groups around the world on Monday when he
claimed that promiscuous women were responsible for literally making the earth move.
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery
in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,'' Sedighi said.
---
Jennifer McCreight is determined to prove him wrong.
Since launching the "Boobquake" Facebook page two days ago, she has enlisted more than 20,000 women
promising to show as much cleavage as possible on Monday, April 26.
If the world doesn't then disappear into an apocalyptic fiery chasm, then Sedighi will have no option but to
admit he was wrong."

Read more at:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/boobquake-determined-to-prove-cleric-wrong/story-e6frfhk6-122

Facebook-page for the Boobquake: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116336578385346

Blag Hag on the issue: http://www.blaghag.com/2010/04/in-name-of-science-i-offer-my-boobs.html

by jaskaw @ 22.04.2010 - 19:47:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/22/facebook-s-boobquake-aims-to-shame-iranian-cleric-8431044/
Shall we have The International Day of Reason on
May 6th?
Read more at:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000532338198#!/pages/Rationality/70784829441?ref=ts

"There is a reason we have the Mothers Day or a Fathers Day. A special day puts a new focus on a idea
momentarily, even if also mothers are mothers every single day of the year. So, we hereby simply declare the
International Day of Reason to be celebrated at the May 6th of this year! We may be the only ones celebrating
it for now; but who knows if it catches on..."

Read more at:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000532338198#!/pages/Rationality/70784829441?ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100568523321443
http://dayofreason.blogs.fi/

by jaskaw @ 23.04.2010 - 10:49:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/23/shall-we-have-the-international-day-of-rationality-on-may-6th-8434622/
The Giant Plus Sign

http://pixton.com/comic/b4o76e08

PS. The message "This comic is restricted from general viewing." is now received for this cartoon in Pixton.
The cartoon can however be viewed here:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs371.snc3/23852_436928814697_621684697_5646860_7811007_n.jpg

http://pixton.com/comic/95usk71w

Original comics created by the author of this blog with the Pixton-system at http://www.pixton.com

by jaskaw @ 23.04.2010 - 13:53:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/23/the-giant-plus-sign-8435828/
Orthodox experts considers Iceland volcano
eruption a sign of God's wrath
Read more at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7178

Moscow, April 20, Interfax ʒ "Eruption of the Iceland volcano is a display of God's wrath, the Association of
Orthodox Experts believes.
"Is it possible that Europe further abandoning its Christian heritage does not to see that eruption of the Iceland
volcano with its ash cloud that paralyzed life of the "most progressive" society is a menacing sign of God?"
the Association's activists said in their statement conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Tuesday.
They noted that Iceland "has recently become a center of European neo-paganism of Aryan occult kind, which
has Nazi character" as Iceland has headquartered the Association of European Ethnic Religions that has
recently worked out a draft of merger between the World Pagan Assembly and International Pagan Alliance."
---
"Is it possible that once Christian Europe has forgotten the Holy Scripture and the destiny of Sodom and
Gomorrah?" the experts wonder urging deputies of Russia, Ukraine and other Orthodox states to oppose such
attempts."

Read more at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7178

by jaskaw @ 24.04.2010 - 15:53:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/24/orthodox-experts-considers-iceland-volcano-eruption-a-sign-of-god-s-wrath-844
A Islamic group calls for banning 'A Thousand and
One Nights' and jailing its publishers
Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=404

"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said, today, that the failure of the Egyptian government
to take a clear stance regarding the religious and political Hesba cases has encouraged more religious
extremists and publicity seekers to join the ːActio popularisə team. Some lawyers filed a communiqué to the
Prosecutor General in order to confiscate A Thousand and One Nights book and imprison its publishers at the
general authority of culture palaces affiliate to the ministry of culture, claiming that the heritage script ə is
offensive to public decencyə.

Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=404

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_and_One_Nights
"One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales
compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from
the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.
The work as we have it was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars across
the Middle East and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic,
Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally
folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the
Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.
Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the 14th century, scholarship generally dates the collection's
genesis to around the 9th century.
What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryar (from
Persian: ‫&ش‬#1607;‫راير‬, meaning "king" or "sovereign") and his wife Scheherazade (from Persian:
‫&ش‬#1607;‫&ر‬#1586;‫&دا‬#1607;, possibly meaning "of noble lineage"and the framing device incorporated
throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other
tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while
others include 1,001 or more."

by jaskaw @ 24.04.2010 - 16:22:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/24/a-islamic-gruop-calls-for-banning-a-thousand-and-one-nights-and-jailing-its-pub
Feedback for Post "A Islamic group calls for banning 'A
Thousand and One Nights' and jailing its publishers"

WesStrikesBack [Visitor]
http://twitter.com/godisnt
24.04.2010 @ 23:04
A religion that casts a shadow over its own cultural heritage is laughable from a humanist's point of view.

I'm sure there are those Christians in this country who are afraid Cather in the Rye or Shakespeare are going
to threaten their children's piety--but I say to those people "How strong is your faith when a(nother) piece of
fiction can destroy it?"

Be strong, be vigilant--do NOT let these religious nutcases influence our freedom to be scholars and educated.

Just because Mohammad was illiterate, we must be as well?

Was Marco Polo an 'Islamophobe'?
Read more at: http://www.meforum.org/2637/marco-polo-islamophobe

"This is the question I often ask myself whenever I read pre-modern writings on Islam. Take that elementary
schoolbook hero, Marco Polo and his famous memoirs, for example. By today's standards, the 13th century
Venetian merchant would be denounced as a rabid "Islamophobe." For me, however, his writings contain a far
more important lesson ō one in continuity ō and deserve closer scrutiny.
---
If today it is "Islamophobic," that is, irrational, to claim that Islam advocates war against and subjugation for
infidels, permitting the latter to be abused, plundered, and enslaved in the process ō what does one make of
the fact that, some 700 years ago, the same exact claims were made by our Venetian traveler?
In short, the word "Islamophobia" is a ruse ō also permitted in Islam under the doctrine of taqiyya ō meant to
paralyze all discussion concerning Muslim doctrine; and it has been successful: the United Nations has
already presided over a conference titled "Confronting Islamophobia" and a Council of Europe summit
condemned "Islamophobia." Moreover, the influential Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) regularly
lambasts the specter of Islamophobia, calling it the "worst form of terrorism," and publishing two reports on
the phenomenon.
Yet, in a classic twist of irony, the opening assertion of the OIC's first report ō "Islamophobia has existed
since the time of inception of Islam" ō contradicts its entire argument, for it begs the following question: How
can something, in this case "unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam" ō to use CAIR's definition of
Islamophobia ō be a constant aspect of Islam's fourteen-hundred year history, and yet still be regarded as
"unfounded"?

Read more at: http://www.meforum.org/2637/marco-polo-islamophobe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_polo
"Marco Polo (c. 1254 ʒ January 8, 1324) was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione,
which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle,
Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet
Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to
find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released
in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had 3 children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San
Lorenzo."
by jaskaw @ 24.04.2010 - 18:20:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/24/was-marco-polo-an-islamophobe-8444324/
Ayaan Hirsi Ali on CNN: Religion, Violence & South
Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali
"Ayaan Hirsi Ali (About this sound pronunciation (help·info); Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi
Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia)is a Dutch intellectual, feminist activist, writer, and
politician. She is the estranged daughter of the late Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition
leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie
Submission led to death threats. Since van Gogh's assassination by a Muslim extremist in 2004, she has lived
in seclusion under the protection of Dutch authorities.
When she was eight, her family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia, and eventually settled in Kenya.
She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later became
the center of a political controversy. In 2003 she was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the
lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A
political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the
parliament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet."

by jaskaw @ 25.04.2010 - 17:37:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/25/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-cnn-religion-violence-south-park-8450401/
Taliban suspected of attacking a girl-school with
poison-gas in Afghanistan
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63O0EN20100425

"Scores of Afghan schoolgirls were knocked unconscious or made ill over the weekend by suspected poison
gas attacks on their schools and authorities are blaming insurgents who oppose educating girls.
Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi said about 48 girls and several teachers had become ill suddenly
and many collapsed after smelling poison gas at a school in the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday."
---
The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, and schooling for
females remains a controversial issue in much of Afghanistan.
Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas
where there is little Taliban presence.
Yaqubi said 20 girls had fallen ill in a suspected poison attack on another Kunduz school last week, although
it was not until the weekend attacks that the issue caused national alarm."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63O0EN20100425

by jaskaw @ 25.04.2010 - 20:37:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/25/taliban-suspected-of-attacking-a-girl-school-with-poison-gas-in-afghanistan-845
'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' grows in
reaction to 'South Park' [
Read more at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/04/everybody_draw_mohammed_day_ga.html

Postings on the Islamic website RevolutionMuslim.com led last week to Comedy Central's editing a "South
Park" speech about fear and intimidation. That network censorship, however, has spawned another cartoon
event: "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" -- a campaign that might not be so easily quieted.
The event, scheduled for May 20, is gathering momentum online.
A poster-like cartoon titled "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" has been posted on sites ranging from Dan
Savage to Andrew Sullivan. But here's the rub: This is not at all what the cartoonist intended to occur.
"I made a cartoon that went viral but [this campaign] isn't really my thing," Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris
tells Comic Riffs, characterizing her cartoon as merely a personal response to Comedy Central's censorship.
"Other folks have taken it over" -- an unintended appropriation she clearly distances herself from.
That "takeover" now includes one Facebook page titled Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. As of Sunday
morning (ET), the page had exceeded 2,000 "confirmed guests."

Read more at:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/04/everybody_draw_mohammed_day_ga.html

The Facebook-page for the event is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113257775375783&ref=ts

by jaskaw @ 26.04.2010 - 09:02:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/26/everybody-draw-mohammed-day-grows-in-reaction-to-south-park-8453640/
Feedback for Post "'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!'
grows in reaction to 'South Park' ["

khayyam [Visitor]
http://gmail.com
17.05.2010 @ 12:27
we strongly condemns such types of event

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
17.05.2010 @ 13:09
Do you really? Too bad, as drawing is really a fun pastime!
Btw. who are the others in "we", as I suspect that you can speak only for yourself, or is it so that you not
speaking of what you personally think but only what you are told to think?
German Muslim politician wants to ban
headscarves AND crucifixes from classrooms
Read more at: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100424-26753.html

"The designated social minister in Lower Saxony ʒ Germanyˈs first woman Muslim state minister ʒ has
called for crucifixes to be removed from state schools, saying they have as little place there as headscarves.
ːChristian symbols do not belong in state schools. School should be a neutral place,ə said Aygül Özkan, who
is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and will be made Lower Saxony's social
minister next week.
She also stressed her support for the ban on headscarves in such schools ʒ as well as accepting that church
schools would be an exception from a crucifix ban.
Özkan told Focus news magazine she had negotiated with Lower Saxony State Premier Christian Wulff, also
from the CDU, to incorporate responsibility for integration into her new job, taking it from the interior
ministry."

Read more at: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100424-26753.html

by jaskaw @ 26.04.2010 - 21:20:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/26/german-muslim-politician-wants-to-ban-headscarves-and-crucifixes-from-classr
Feedback for Post "German Muslim politician wants to ban
headscarves AND crucifixes from classrooms"

Dr Doc dlcs [Visitor]

http://www.foxnewsmagazine.com
23.05.2010 @ 18:25
You are welcome to my FREE Christian website to study, read, and hopefuly allow Christ Jesus into your
soul.
"Jesus Will Never Forsake You"
Your Friend Through Christ Jesus, Dr Doc dlcs
http://www.foxnewsmagazine.com

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
23.05.2010 @ 18:46
Oh, is your Christian website really FREE,? That is a relief, as I hardly would have paid for this stuff under
any circumstances, the more as it is offered free of charge all over the web in tens of thousands places.
It is the same thing as with the drugs, the initial portions are always free, you start paying up only when you
have really swallowed the bait and in the case of religions the membership fees start tallying up.

| Show subcomments
Dr Doc dlcs [Visitor]
http://www.foxnewsmagazine.com
24.06.2010 @ 02:06
You visit my site and download all my wallpapers, photos, and videos totally 100% FREE and you can also
copy and past the KJV Holy Bible and download it into your computer. My friend, with me, Religion and the
teachings of Christ Jesus are FREE. I truly Pray you join me. † Dr Doc dlcs
Iranian Woman on Cruel Islam

Iranian student arrested and imprisoned for three years, because she refused to wear a Islamic head scarf.
After two years in prison Nazanin was then beaten and raped five times.
by jaskaw @ 27.04.2010 - 11:36:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/27/iranian-woman-on-cruel-islam-8463007/
Religious Origins of Secularism: Secularism is Not
an Atheist Conspiracy
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/secularismseparation/a/ReligiousOrigin.htm?nl=1

By Austin Cline, About.com Guide

"Because the concept of the secular is normally conceived as standing in opposition to religion many people
may not realize that it originally developed within a religious context. This may also come as quite a surprise
to religious fundamentalists who decry the growth of secularism in the modern world. Rather than an atheistic
conspiracy to undermine Christian civilization, secularism was originally developed within a Christian context
and for the sake of preserving peace among Christians. "
---
"The final push towards widespread secularization was not caused by anti-Christian secularists but by devoted
Christians who were aghast at the devastation caused by the religious wars that swept across Europe in the
wake of the Reformation. In Protestant countries there was initially an attempt to translate the principles of the
religious community into the wider political community; that, however, failed due to the growing divisions
between Christian sects.
As a result, people needed to find a common ground if they wanted to avoid civil war. This forced a reduction
of overt and explicit references to specific Christian doctrines ō reliance upon Christianity, if it remained,
became more general and more rationalized."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/secularismseparation/a/ReligiousOrigin.htm?nl=1

by jaskaw @ 27.04.2010 - 20:17:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/27/religious-origins-of-secularism-secularism-is-not-an-atheist-conspiracy-8466728
Feedback for Post "Religious Origins of Secularism:
Secularism is Not an Atheist Conspiracy"

Jon Noble [Visitor]

28.04.2010 @ 23:58
Thanks Austin
'the plunder the LORD your God gives you'
Read passage at: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+20:10-14&version=TNIV

"10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for
you.
12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.
13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.
14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder
for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies."

Deuteronomy 20:10-14 (Today's New International Version)

Source: The Holy Bible

Read passage at: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+20:10-14&version=TNIV

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteronomy :

"1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you
many nations -- the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven
nations larger and stronger than you --
2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must
destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn
against you and will quickly destroy you.
5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their
Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire." (Deuteronomy 7.1-5)

"16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave
alive anything that breathes.
17 Completely destroy them -- the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites -- as the
LORD your God has commanded you.
18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you
will sin against the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 20.16)

by jaskaw @ 28.04.2010 - 15:20:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/28/the-plunder-the-lord-your-god-gives-you-8472246/
New Scientist: Brain shuts off in response to
healer's prayer
Read more at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627574.200-brain-shuts-off-in-response-to-healers-prayer.html

"WHEN we fall under the spell of a charismatic figure, areas of the brain responsible for scepticism and
vigilance become less active. That's the finding of a study which looked at people's response to prayers
spoken by someone purportedly possessing divine healing powers.
---
Only in the devout volunteers did the brain activity monitored by the researchers change in response to the
prayers. Parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, which play key roles in vigilance and
scepticism when judging the truth and importance of what people say, were deactivated when the subjects
listened to a supposed healer. Activity diminished to a lesser extent when the speaker was supposedly a
normal Christian
Schjødt says that this explains why certain individuals can gain influence over others, and concludes that their
ability to do so depends heavily on preconceived notions of their authority and trustworthiness."

Read more at:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627574.200-brain-shuts-off-in-response-to-healers-prayer.html

by jaskaw @ 28.04.2010 - 21:07:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/28/new-scientist-brain-shuts-off-in-response-to-healer-s-prayer-8474271/
Supreme Court allows talking about pre-marital
sex in India
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8648099.stm

"India's Supreme Court has dismissed all cases against a Tamil actress who spoke in support of the right of
women to have pre-marital sex.
Actress Kushboo was accused of outraging public decency and 22 cases were filed against her in 2005.
---
In a 2005 interview Kushboo said it was not wrong for women to have pre-marital sex as long as they took
precautions.
She said that it was also "not fair of any educated youth to expect his wife to be a virgin".
Several cases were filed against her across Tamil Nadu in various courts under different sections of the Indian
penal code."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8648099.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushboo_Sundar :
"Kushboo's popularity is such that her fans built a temple dedicated to her at Tiruchirapalli but irate fans razed
it following her controversial comments in 2005 about pre-marital sex and AIDS."

by jaskaw @ 28.04.2010 - 21:29:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/28/supreme-court-allows-mentioning-pre-marital-sex-in-india-8474427/
Chief of police: A sinful tan will get a woman into
jail in Tehran
Read more at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/28/2010-04-28_tehran_police_chief_iran_to_crack_down_on_sunta

"Tehran's police chief, Brig Hossien Sajedinia, according to London's Telegraph newspaper, has announced a
national crackdown on "social misbehavior" that violates Islamic laws, including a sun-kissed glow.
"The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehavior by women, and men, who
defy our Islamic values," he said, the Telegraph reported. "In some areas of north Tehran we can see many
suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins."
"We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and
imprison them.
The threat to toss women who spend too much time in the sun in jail is the latest push of a recently launched
scaremongering campaign to rid the streets of Tehran of vice, the Telegraph reported. National law says
women must wear headscarves and shape shrouding cloaks, but many women in Tehran are fashionistas and
barely follow the law."

Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/28/2010-04-28_tehran_police_chief_iran_to_crack_down_on_sunta

by jaskaw @ 28.04.2010 - 22:50:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/28/chief-of-police-a-sinful-tan-will-get-a-woman-into-jail-in-tehran-8474897/
Mark Morford: 'Placebo effect beats God, Prozac'
Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/28/notes042810.DTL&nl=fix

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

---
"The placebo effect -- hereby defined as the sheer force of will and belief, of the mind's (and heart's) ability to
heal and nurture itself sans external assistance -- applies to all sorts of constructs in our tortured modern
world.
Organized religion? Hell yes. Is your life flawed and painful? Are you guilt-ridden and terrified of the world's
swarm of demons and daggers? Of course you are, sinner. Here, have a giant, unknowable deity. Give to it all
your faith, hope, belief, money, angst, sexual shame. Believe in it wholly and without doubt, to the point
where you lose a sense of yourself and your true divine source, forever and ever, amen.
There now. Feel better? Are miracles starting to happen in your life? Do you feel uplifted and joyful? Are you
healed? It's the power of Jesus! It's God in your life! It's because you have blind faith! No no no, it's not you,
silly. Even though, in fact, it totally is. Shhh.
Of course, what we call the power of faith is just the power of the mind, soul, the Self, rather harshly rerouted
through some external conduit that relieves us from having to figure s--t out for ourselves. After all, it's just
much easier to give it all over to the god, the pill, the product, than it is to delve deep into one's own dark and
inscrutable psyche. Same as it ever was.
But whatever works, right? If expensive pills genuinely help millions, who's to argue? If devout belief gives
you stability and a sense of place, what's wrong with that? It's all well and good... until you factor in the cost.
The organized religion racket rakes in hundreds of billions a year, and requires a massive toll in guilt, shame,
dogma, homophobia, war, pedophilia and sexual hysteria. The antidepressant market runs $10 billion a year
and makes millions into casual addicts, convincing many they are powerless to get better without chemical
assistance.
The placebo market is, at last check, absolutely free. Man, they just hate that."
---
Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/28/notes042810.DTL&nl=fix

by jaskaw @ 29.04.2010 - 20:33:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/29/mark-morford-placebo-effect-beats-god-prozac-8480887/
Charlie's Playhouse: Evolution for kids
Read more at: http://www.charliesplayhouse.com/evolution-flip-book.php

"Flip through this palm-sized book to watch a "movie" of five real-life ancient creatures evolving from FINS
(swimming fish) to LIMBS (walking land animal)!
This is the first in our series -- collect them all as we roll them out!
2" by 4", 48 pages."

Read more at: http://www.charliesplayhouse.com/evolution-flip-book.php

http://www.charliesplayhouse.com/giant-evolution-timeline.php

by jaskaw @ 30.04.2010 - 13:50:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/30/chalies-playhouse-evolution-for-kids-8485318/
The New Republic: The End Of The European
Church
Read more at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126382767

By Philip Jenkins
"These are obviously dark days for the Roman Catholic Church. For over a decade, the U.S. church has been
assailed by abuse charges and devastated by the resulting litigation. The Vatican used to console itself with
the belief that this was a peculiarly American crisis, but, this year, similar abuse cases have arisen all over
Europe ō most agonizingly in Ireland, one of the world's most faithfully Catholic countries. Across the
continent, bishops are facing demands to resign, while critics are urging Pope Benedict himself to consider
standing down. Some media commentators are even asking if the Church can survive the crisis.
---
In part, European Catholicism has been declining because of a general trend toward secularization and
religious indifference. Recent survey evidence, for instance, shows only half of the French claiming to belong
to the Church ō down from about 80 percent two decades ago. There has also been a massive decline in
practice of the faith. Particularly in Western Europe, millions of Catholics are members of the Church only in
the technical sense of having been baptized; they never darken the door of a church, and don't support official
Church policies on issues of morality or sexuality. At the turn of the millennium, only around 18 percent of
Catholics in Spain and 12 percent in France reported attending weekly mass; the figures for Germany, Austria,
and the Netherlands ran between 10 percent and 15 percent.
---
By 2050, according to projections, Africa will have far more Catholics than Europe. Indeed, projections show
that, by the half-century mark, Europe will account for perhaps 15 percent of Catholics ō and many of those
will be immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America."

Read more at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126382767

by jaskaw @ 30.04.2010 - 18:02:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/30/the-new-republic-the-end-of-the-european-church-8486612/
Feedback for Post "The New Republic: The End Of The
European Church"

Vogon Poet [Visitor]

30.04.2010 @ 18:29
It certainly is a litany of good news.
You Can't Trust Science!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist

"Science has an agenda! Science is unreliable!" If you've ever heard a religious person say these words, you'll
love this video!", says The Thinking Atheist.

by jaskaw @ 01.05.2010 - 17:02:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/01/you-can-t-trust-science-8491899/
Have You Seen This Man?

http://www.youtube.com/user/NonStampCollector

If atheism is a "religion", then Not Collecting Stamps is a "hobby".

by jaskaw @ 01.05.2010 - 18:51:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/01/have-you-seen-this-man-8492559/
Feedback for Post "Have You Seen This Man? "

Darlalalala [Visitor]

02.05.2010 @ 06:27
That's fantastic! I'm enjoying your blog via my kindle. I was told I was a satan worshipper because I'm an
athiest. How does that work?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
02.05.2010 @ 11:29
Tomorrow is here, welcome Kindle!
Church of Maradona is still well and kicking
Read more at:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100430084437594C

----
Church of Maradona - In Argentina, soccer is a religion and Diego Maradona is God. Literally. A group of
soccer fanatics in Rosario founded the Maradonian Church nine years ago.
dedicated to the star and coach of the national team, Maradona. The group has made TV appearances and has
more than 100 000 members from 60 countries.
They count the years since Maradona's birth, so according to the church of Maradona, it is now the year 49AB
(After Birth).
They celebrate Christmas on October 30, when Maradona was born and The Maradonian Easter is on June 29,
the date in which Argentina won the World Cup in 1986.
---
Jediism - The Way of the Jedi is a religion based on the sci-fi movie franchise Star Wars.
----
Aetherius Society - In London 1954, George King claimed he was contacted by an alien, Aetherius,
representing a cosmic hierarchy, the Interplanetary Parliament.
---

Scientology - The Church of Scientology was created by L Ron Hubbard in 1952 as an outgrowth of his
earlier self-help system, Dianetics.
---
Prince Philip Movement - How cool is it to be the focus of a religion dedicated to you and you didn't even
start it yourself?

Read more at:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100430084437594C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_Maradoniana

by jaskaw @ 01.05.2010 - 23:24:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/01/church-of-maradona-is-still-well-and-kicking-8493921/
Feedback for Post "Church of Maradona is still well and
kicking"

Luis Blanco [Visitor]

02.05.2010 @ 22:43
"Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."
Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality

ō March 8, 2010 on ABC (Australia) - Full Episode: http://bit.ly/cc6FC8 - via http://www.AtheistMedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist
and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and
was a fellow of New College, Oxford.

by jaskaw @ 01.05.2010 - 23:46:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/01/richard-dawkins-absolute-morality-8494046/
Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality "

IGNACIO [Visitor]

02.05.2010 @ 02:20
Good question. Fallacious answer. He does not address the problem posed by the question. He is appealing to
our prejudices against certain religious points of view, that´s all. I am an atheist myself and I find his answer
both fallacious and erroneous, from an historical point of view. Right, religious views had and still generate
terrible things in the world, but not only so, and Richard Dawkin now it. So I also believe in responding this
way he is laughing at people´s intelligence.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
02.05.2010 @ 11:26
Ignacio; I think you are wrong and Richard is right. There is no absolute morality and has never been. Morals
are always a product of the society we live in and they serve the best interests of it, as morals are the codes
that make possible living in tightly knit societies.
Is you listen carefully, you notice Richard is not saying that religions would have created only bad things, but
he points out the bad things they have created to show how they are not a source of "absolute morality" at all,
but their morality is also subjective and subject to change.
South Pacific tribe preparing for return of ˈgodˈ
Prince Philip
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/7660671/South-Pacific-tribe-preparing-for-return-of-god-

By Bonnie Malkin
"On a remote island in the South Pacific, villagers are counting the days until they welcome their god back to
his rightful home.
The people of Yaohnanen on the island of Tanna believe a man descended from one of their spirit ancestors
will return next month to live among them. While he was away he lived in a vast palace, but when he comes
home he will sleep in a hut and hunt wild pigs with his tribe.
The man they are waiting for is the Duke of Edinburgh and they claim he promised them more than 30 years
ago that he would return on June 10, his 89th birthday, to Tanna, which is part of the nation of Vanuatu.
Siko Nathuan, the chief of Yaohnanen, said: ːHe made a promise that in 2010, on his birthday, he will arrive
in Tanna. We know he is a very old man, but when he comes here he is going to be young again, and so will
everyone else on the island.ə

by jaskaw @ 02.05.2010 - 17:47:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/02/south-pacific-tribe-preparing-for-return-of-god-prince-philip-8497647/
A C Grayling: Why no Asbo for the Pope?
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/a-c-grayling-why-no-asbo-for-the-pope-1960296.html

By A.C. Grayling
"Why is it that large, rich, influential organisations and those who run them get away with big crimes and
misdemeanours, when ordinary folk are punished for their miniature versions of them? It's an old story, of
course, but no more pleasant or right for being so.
Compare the circumstances of two men whose occupations and avocations have brought them to pubic notice
recently. One is Harry Taylor, an unemployed 59-year-old, who was found guilty last week in a Liverpool
court of putting "offensive religious images" in the prayer room of the city's John Lennon airport (which he
did on the grounds that having such a room in an airport named after John Lennon would, he said, have
offended John Lennon). The jury of 10 women and two men had all sworn to consider his case fairly ʒ on the
Bible.
Mr Taylor received a five-year Asbo forbidding him from carrying religiously offensive images in public, and
sentencing him to six months' imprisonment suspended for two years, but with 100 hours of unpaid work and
£250 costs to make him feel the sting of the judge's disapproval.
The other man is Joseph Ratzinger, otherwise Pope Benedict XVI, right, current head of the Roman Catholic
church. To appreciate the contrast between the Pope and Mr Taylor, we need to remind ourselves of the
following simple facts. Child sex abuse is a serious crime. Concealing crimes is a serious crime. Systematic,
decades-long deliberate concealment of many thousands of crimes in many countries is a very large-scale
criminal conspiracy. It is a matter of public record that the Catholic church is guilty of just such a conspiracy.
The Pope, as head of the church, is accountable for the its actions. It is also on public record that he personally
protected abusers and covered up cases of child abuse before becoming Pope."
---

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/a-c-grayling-why-no-asbo-for-the-pope-1960296.html

by jaskaw @ 02.05.2010 - 23:57:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/02/a-c-grayling-why-no-asbo-for-the-pope-8499882/
Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions)

http://www.youtube.com/user/NonStampCollector

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
http://www.project-reason.org/scripture_project/
by jaskaw @ 03.05.2010 - 18:34:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/03/quiz-show-bible-contradictions-8505625/
Feedback for Post "Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions)"

Luis Blanco [Visitor]

04.05.2010 @ 22:52
That's true! I wonder why believers don't realize
that the Bible is full of contradictions?
Christian extremists join forces with Muslim
hardliners in banning a book in Egypt
Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=452

"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said ,today, that some Christian lawyers have joined the
neo actio popularis team in Egypt and demanded a five year imprisonment for Youssef Zeidan, author of the
novel Azazel, claiming he has defamed the Christian religion according to article # 98 of the Egyptian penal
code.
Some lawyers and Coptic organizations abroad have issued a statement inciting against the writer and history
researcher, Youssef Zeidan, author of the novel Azazel, which ranked among the top Arabic literary works in
recent years. Following , they filed a series of communiqués demanding the prosecutor general to try Zeidan
for contempt of Christian religion and verbal abuse of Copts.
The communiqué submitted against the author of Azazel is no surprise , but is expected indeed, in view of the
attack launched by many radical Christians against the novel and its author since its publication and the
success it achieved. The infuriating irony is that the complainants allegedly consider themselves human rights
defenders authors while they are publicity seekers and pro seizing. They have previously demanded banning
of the movie ːI love cinema,ə a few years ago. Moreover, one of them accused Youssef Zeidan of being a
racist!."

Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=452

by jaskaw @ 04.05.2010 - 16:36:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/04/christian-extremists-join-forces-with-muslim-hardliners-in-banning-a-book-in-eg
Feedback for Post "Christian extremists join forces with
Muslim hardliners in banning a book in Egypt"

FedupwithR [Member]
05.05.2010 @ 12:06

If,as we hope, there is a increase in secularism, we will surely see the 3 Monotheism's joining hands against
us.
Austin Cline: Modern Science Needs No Religion
or Gods for Values
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/philosophyofscience/p/ScienceValues.htm?nl=1

By Austin Cline
---
"Secular modernity wonˈt be able to proceed very far without the reinforcing support which godless science
is able to provide; godless science wonˈt be able to continue helping us understand the world around us
without the atmosphere created by secular modernity. Not only do they need each other, but we need them as
well: secular modernity provides the freedom and room for people to follow their consciences and explore
their religious beliefs; godless science has become invaluable to our survival as a species.
Science is often maligned for being godless, but godlessness is largely why science is successful: being
godless means that science is not beholden to any religious ideology or perspective. If it were, then it
wouldnˈt be truly free to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Science is also often maligned for lacking
values, but science has many values ō itˈs just that they are values which are fundamental to our secular,
godless modernity. It is this which most upsets critics because those values are proving their superiority to the
religious values which anti-modern ideologues would rather promote."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/philosophyofscience/p/ScienceValues.htm?nl=1

by jaskaw @ 05.05.2010 - 17:40:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/05/austin-cline-modern-science-needs-no-religion-or-gods-for-values-8521287/
Feedback for Post "Austin Cline: Modern Science Needs No
Religion or Gods for Values"

Mark Wialbut [Visitor]

05.05.2010 @ 20:15
Modern government doesn't need any religion or Gods for values either. What's needed is enforcement of
basic human rights and ethics. Gov't shouldn't be legislating our morals based on what their particular Space
God fable is.
Tomorrow is the day for "The International Day of
Reason"
Participate at the event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100568523321443

"There is a reason we have Mother's Day or Father's Day. A special day puts a new focus on an idea
momentarily, even if mothers are mothers (and fathers are fathers) every single day of the year.
So, we therefore declare the International Day of Reason to be celebrated on May 6th of this year!
We may be the only ones celebrating it for now, but who knowsōit might catch on...

It would be nice if we could really develop a way of celebrating the International Day of Reason as a day of
celebrating rationality all around the world.
One easy way is to promote it to the users of Facebook. We all could publish one rational idea in our
Facebook-status lines on May 6th in honour of the Day of Reason. "Today is the international Day of Reason"
would be a good note to add there also.

Internet is chock full of excellent quotations and some of them are even quite rational. See for example In the
Little Book of Humanity at http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi or http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rational
or http://www.brainyquote."

The National Day of Reason was originally born as a response to the National Day of Prayer in the US of A
alone, but this event tries to promote the idea of the International Day of Reason which is held alongside the
US National Day of Reason on the first Thursday of May.

We can naturally celebrate this day by being the reasonable beings we always are, as rationality is never a
thing reserved for special occasions. It is something we need every single day of our lives.
Of course we as fallible humans will never be fully rational beings, but at least aiming for greater rationality
will always benefit us, our society and, in the end, the whole of the human kind.

Participate at the event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100568523321443

Event had 1583 confirmed quest an hour before the big day.

A Facebook-group for the day is at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-International-Day-of-Reason/119025068123138

The day has a blog of its own at: http://dayofreason.blogs.fi/

by jaskaw @ 05.05.2010 - 22:28:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/05/tomorrow-is-the-day-for-the-international-day-of-reason-8523148/
Richard Dawkins: If Science Worked Like Religion

A clip from Richard Dawkins' Lecture at UC Berkeley: http://bit.ly/9EYDwT -

http://www.youtube.com/user/AtheistMediaBlog
by jaskaw @ 05.05.2010 - 22:56:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/05/richard-dawkins-if-science-worked-like-religion-8523330/
Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins: If Science Worked
Like Religion"

FedupwithR [Member]
06.05.2010 @ 13:31

Does anyone know from where can one obtain such a conscious raising map?
Steven Pinker: 'Humanism will succeed when no
one notices that it's there'
Read more at:
http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-05-steven-pinker-on-textbooks-culture-wars-and-the-a-wor

---
"Atheism does [evoke] a very primitive emotional reaction in the minds of many people. Many people simply
equate it with immorality, which is why I think they tell pollsters that atheists are people they distrust the
most. Often when there is a disliked word--a word with a negative connotation--people find a euphemism,
that's why what used to [be called] garbage then became sanitation and now its environmental services. And
likewise atheism is constantly reaching for the untainted euphemism. Secularist, freethinker, humanist, bright
and so on. I think each one is going to get infected in turn until the societal attitude changes.
Atheism is merely absence of belief. Humanism will succeed when no one notices that it's there, when it's just
common decency in Western civilization. In a way, really, humanism should just be. Western civilization
since the Enlightenment doesn't depend on the belief in God. All of philosophy is humanism, all of science, all
of law--we should claim that. We should claim Shakespeare. And modern biology and the modern Western
university and democracy--that's humanism."

Read more at:

http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-05-steven-pinker-on-textbooks-culture-wars-and-the-a-wor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker
"Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a prominent Canadian-American experimental
psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and author of popular science. Harvard College Professor and
Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, Pinker is known for his
wide-ranging advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.
Pinkerˈs academic specializations are visual cognition and language development in children, and he is most
famous for popularizing the idea that language is an "instinct" or biological adaptation shaped by natural
selection. On this point, he opposes Noam Chomsky and others who regard the human capacity for language
to be the by-product of other adaptations. He is the author of five books for a general audience, which include
The Language Instinct (1994), How the Mind Works (1997), Words and Rules (2000), The Blank Slate
(2002), and The Stuff of Thought (2007). Pinker's books have won numerous awards and been New York
Times best-sellers."

by jaskaw @ 06.05.2010 - 15:51:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/06/steven-pinker-humanism-will-succeed-when-no-one-notices-that-it-s-there-8527
Feedback for Post "Steven Pinker: 'Humanism will succeed
when no one notices that it's there'"

aerie [Visitor]

07.05.2010 @ 15:32
He's honest, intelligent, positive & a nice speaker. I really liked his comments on religion in the South &
history of Southern mentality. As a native Southerner, I constantly look for explanations for the problems that
plague this area & the mindset of the typical "unsophisticated" southerner. I refuse to defend the
well-deserved distate & mockery aimed at the South. I don't share or condone the archaic attitudes, racism, &
hyper-religiosity so prevalent here. I think it's a combo of generations of real ignorance & lack of education
while another part is delusional beliefs, willful ignorance, fear, indoctrination & pride.

Sadly, I don't have much hope for real change. It happens one mind at a time, starting at educating our youth
in science, critical-thinking while keeping religion far away from school boards & classrooms.
What Is Secular Humanism?
'

http://www.youtube.com/user/patricianatheist :
"An American Secular Humanist and atheist in an insatiable search for truth and lacking in any aversion to
conflict with provincials who seek to undermine his efforts by assuming they have all of the answers to
humanity's important questions and violating intellectual honesty by promoting the fallacy that blind faith is a
means of acquiring knowledge in a feeble attempt to fill the gaps in their actual knowledge."

http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_humanism.html :
"Humanism is a broad category of ethical, metaphysical, epistemological and political philosophies in which
human interests, values and dignity predominate. It has an ultimate faith in humankind, believes that human
beings possess the power or potentiality of solving their own problems, through reliance primarily upon
reason and scientific method applied with courage and vision.
Rather than being a specific doctrine on its own, Humanism is more a general life stance or attitude that
upholds human reason, ethics and justice, and is a component of a variety of more specific philosophical
systems, and is incorporated into some religious schools of thought. It is an optimistic attitude to life whose
ultimate goal is human flourishing, doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world
better for those who come after.
As an ethical doctrine, it affirms the dignity and worth of all people and their ability to determine right and
wrong purely by appeal to universal human qualities, especially rationality. It searches for truth and morality
through human means in support of human interests, and focuses on the human capacity for
self-determination. It endorses universal morality (Moral Universalism) based on the commonality of the
human condition."
by jaskaw @ 06.05.2010 - 22:02:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/06/what-is-secular-humanism-8530056/
'YouTube ʒ The Internet's Primary and Rapidly
Expanding Jihadi Base'
Read more at: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4133.ht?tr=y&auid=6319828

"On April 30, 2010, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group created its official YouTube Page. One day later,
the terrorist organization posted its first video on that page ʒ a claim of responsibility for the attempted New
York City Times Square attack. This is just the latest example showing YouTube's emergence as the Internet's
primary ʒ and rapidly expanding ʒ jihadi base.
The following report highlights how jihadist groups worldwide are increasingly using YouTube for a
multitude of purposes, including taking responsibility for terrorist attacks and posting footage of attacks for
propaganda and recruiting purposes.
---
YouTube Becomes Anwar Al-Awlaki's Online Homepage
YouTube now hosts over 2,000 clips of Anwar Al-Awlaki's lectures and sermons, along with compilation
videos supporting his jihadist philosophy. They have been viewed over three million times, and that number is
growing daily. Some of these clips include Al-Awlaki calling on Muslims to wage jihad, expressing support
for martyrdom attacks, encouraging the killing of American soldiers, and more."

Read more at: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4133.ht?tr=y&auid=6319828

by jaskaw @ 07.05.2010 - 19:36:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/07/youtube-the-internet-s-primary-and-rapidly-expanding-jihadi-base-8537017/
25-day walk across Ireland for blasphemy
referendum

"On May 6th, Atheist Ireland member Paul Gill started a 25-day walk from Mizen Head to Malin Head, which
is the length of the west coast of Ireland.
He is walking to highlight the need to vote in favour of the deletion of the blasphemy clause from the Irish
constitution in the promised referendum.
Atheist Ireland is sponsoring Paul and will host events along his route. If you would like to help in any way,
see the details of Pauls route, or discuss the blasphemy referendum walk, please check our website.
http://atheist.ie "
by jaskaw @ 08.05.2010 - 16:57:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/08/25-day-walk-across-ireland-for-blasphemy-referendum-8542109/
Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa by Christopher
Hitchens

Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa by Christopher Hitchens (2 of 3)

Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa by Christopher Hitchens (3 of 3)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens :
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is an English-American author and journalist. His books,
essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual, and a
staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity
Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets.
As a political observer, polemicist and self-defined radical with an astute historical knowledge, Hitchens rose
to prominence as a fixture of the left-wing publications of both his native United Kingdom and United States.
Hitchens's departure from the established political left began in 1989 after what he called the "tepid reaction"
of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwā calling for the murder of Salman
Rushdie. The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy, and
his vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face." Hitchens's adoption of
interventionist foreign policy, employment of the term "Islamofascist" and his notable support for the Iraq
War have caused his critics to label him a "neoconservative". Hitchens, however, refuses to embrace this
designation, insisting himself to be not "any kind of conservative"."

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/01/19/on_christopher_hitchens~3602798/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/01/19/best_christopher_hitchens_videos_part~3602618/

by jaskaw @ 08.05.2010 - 20:17:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/08/hell-s-angel-mother-teresa-by-christopher-hitchens-8543232/
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Why are Muslims so
hypersensitive?'
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/08/ayaan-hirsi-ali-interview

---
Her critique of Islam as a "moral framework not compatible with the modern westernised way of living" is
rooted in a critique of her family, her father's unbending will and particularly her mother, a woman who she
says was pulled apart by the contradictions of maintaining her faith in a modern society and an identity crisis
from which Hirsi Ali herself suffered.
---
"But if you compare the reaction of Christians to what is written about Christianity ʒ Richard Dawkins, who's
a supporter, says religion is a form of madness ʒ whereby Christians just shrug their shoulders and don't
respond. If you compare the way Muslims take offence at perceived insults that are not insults, but are just a
critical way of looking at their religion, then I start to ask myself, why are Muslims so hypersensitive to
criticism and why don't they do anything with it except to respond by denying it or playing the victim? And
I've come to the conclusion it's because of the gradual indoctrination ʒ from parents, teachers ʒ that
everything in the Qur'an is true; Muhammad is infallible, you have to follow his example and defend Islam at
all times, at all costs. Instead of going along as most people are doing now and saying, OK, let's refrain from
criticising Islam, let's refrain from calling Islamic terrorism Islamic, I think we should do the opposite."
---
The decadence of western feminism is where Hirsi Ali is perhaps strongest. In the book, she attacks Germaine
Greer for arguing that female genital mutilation needs to be considered "in context", as part of a "cultural
identity" that western women don't understand. Greer, from the quotes Hirsi Ali cites, seems to be arguing
merely that female circumcision is at the extreme end of a scale that starts with women wearing high heels for
men's delectation ʒ not condoning the former, but condemning the latter as part of a continuum. Hirsi Ali
finds this inadequate; a strange, tangential take on the subject. Why, she asks, are voices such as Greer's not
speaking out against the subjugation of women in the Muslim world? She calls for a new feminism, "that is
going to focus on issues faced by non-western women, because they are the biggest issues. To own your own
sexuality, as an adult woman; to choose your own lifestyle; to have access to education [when] what we see in
the Muslim world is girls being pulled out of school and married off before they've completed their education.
These things, I think, are more basic than the stuff that current feminists are concerning themselves with ʒ
like shattering the glass ceiling or finding a balance between work and home life. There was a long article in
the New York Times that went on and on about who [in a couple] would load and unload the dishwasher. If
you have a career and you're so intelligent, you can work that out. You don't have to have a manifesto. There
is feminism that has evolved to a kind of luxury."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/08/ayaan-hirsi-ali-interview

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsi_Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu,
Somalia) is a Dutch intellectual, feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged daughter of the
late Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic
of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death threats. Since van Gogh's
assassination by a Muslim extremist in 2004, she has lived in seclusion under the protection of Dutch
authorities.

by jaskaw @ 09.05.2010 - 12:54:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/09/ayaan-hirsi-ali-why-are-muslims-so-hypersensitive-8546538/
Sarah Palin wants Bible as basis for US law
Read more at: http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/view/155143

"An Atheist public policy groups today sharply criticized remarks by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who
appeared on the Bill O'Reilly Factor Thursday night and called for U.S. law to be based on the
Judeo-Christian Bible.
Palin, who was the Republican candidate for Vice President in 2008, is reportedly considering a run for the
White House in 2012 or beyond.
During her interview, Palin gushed: "I think we should keep this clean, keep it simple, go back to what our
founders and our founding documents meant," adding, "They´re quite clear that we would create law based on
the God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments."
Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists said that Palin's remarks displayed a breathtaking lack of
knowledge about the evolution of law and American history. "If we didn't know better, we might conclude
that Sarah Palin's 'education' was somehow carried out in Texas using textbooks that the Texas Board of
Education is now trying to fabricate."
"Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are not based on the Bible; and the Founders, some of whom were
religious, nevertheless advocated separation between government and religion. In fact, Thomas Jefferson
wrote in an official letter as President of the need for a 'wall of separation' between church and state. Jefferson
also wrote explicitly about the falsehood that our laws are based on the Ten Commandments."

Read more at: http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/view/155143

by jaskaw @ 09.05.2010 - 18:05:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/09/sarah-palin-wants-bible-as-basis-for-us-law-8548444/
Feedback for Post "Sarah Palin wants Bible as basis for US
law"

Marek Atheist [Visitor]

09.05.2010 @ 19:13
So, she simply says that we are not capable of having a law better than the one created by desert nomadic
tribes, chasing their herds around and fighting for the water wells. Sarah, I have a message for you - it will not
work in a big town, like New York and such. Not to mention the shameless fabrication of the history
exercised by you.

Kalle [Visitor]

10.05.2010 @ 08:38
So Sarah Palin's daughter should be put to death.

This is the Bible, not Qur'an: "If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has
relations with her, you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl
because she did not cry out for help" Deuteronomy 22:23-24

See also: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/sex/long.htm

Iran hangs woman, four other as 'enemies of God'
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izsadZHuzuaPVN-g_GfOupXTzj6w?tr=y&auid=6331200

TEHRAN ō Iran hanged on Sunday five militants, including a Kurdish woman, convicted of bombing
government offices and a gas pipeline to Turkey and described as "enemies of God", state media reported.
The five, including the woman Shirin Alamhouli, were executed in Tehran's Evin prison, the official IRNA
news agency said, quoting a statement from the capital's prosecution office.
The four others who were hanged were Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Eslamian.
Kamangar, Heidarian and Vakili, along with Alamhouli were members of the Kurdish rebel group, PJAK
(The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), ISNA news agency said quoting the same statement from the
prosecution's office.
Eslamian reportedly belonged to the anti-regime monarchist group, Kingdom Assembly of Iran, which aims to
restore the constitutional monarchy that was abolished by the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izsadZHuzuaPVN-g_GfOupXTzj6w?tr=y&auid=6331200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farzad_Kamangar
"Farzad Kamangar was prosecuted on charges of mohareb "enmity towards God". An Islamic Revolutionary
Court sentenced Kamangar to death on February 25, 2008 on charges against national security including
active participation in several bombing attacks among which was the 2006 explosion in the Iran-Turkey gas
export pipeline. According to his lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, ːNothing in Kamangarˈs judicial files and
records demonstrates any links to the charges brought against him."

Maryam Namazie writes about Farzad Kamangar in her blog:

"I woke up crying this morning having dreamt of Farzad Kamangar who was executed early morning on May
9 along with four other political prisoners. I did not know him but his life and humanity have moved me.
Like many others who never met him, I mourn his loss and wonder how long they will kill our loved ones
whilst the world stands aside and looks‫ل‬
I held my sleeping four year old son close to me and thought of Farzadˈs mother who had lost her most
precious beloved to the killing machine that is the Islamic regime of Iran.
’My Farzad is aliveˈ she shouted in a face off with the regimeˈs security.
Yes, he is. And we pledge to keep his memory ʒ and that of so many others - alive by bringing down this
brutal regime."

http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-farzad-is-alive.html

by jaskaw @ 10.05.2010 - 21:52:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/10/iran-hangs-woman-four-other-as-enemies-of-god-8559243/
Feedback for Post "Iran hangs woman, four other as
'enemies of God'"

WASD [Visitor]

10.05.2010 @ 22:25
As sad as this really is (death always is) the man is still "somewhat" guilty as he did blow up a gas export
pipeline. Though the punishment should not be anywhere near deathpenalty (and he most certainly should not
be punished for anything as rediculous as "enmity towards God")

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
10.05.2010 @ 22:33
Dear WASD, I do think that you do not know how the system of justice works in Iran. It has nothing in
common with the system in the west.
A accusation in Iran is not by any means a proof of anything, as there can well be political reasons for making
them and evidence carries in these political cases not so vital role at all in juridical process as we are
accustomed here.
Young Turks bash Palin & O'Reilly: 'US Law Based
On God, Bible'

Sarah Palin joins Bill O'Reilly on Fox News to discuss the National Day Of Prayer, The Bible, God, The
Constitution, America and more.

The Young Turks in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Young-Turks/210277954204?v=info

Follow Young Turks on Twitter: http://twitter.com/theyoungturks
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Turks_(talk_show)

by jaskaw @ 11.05.2010 - 14:34:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/11/young-turks-bash-palin-o-reilly-us-law-based-on-god-bible-8563790/
When Islamic atheism thrived
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/10/islam-freedom-expression

by Amira Nowaira
---
It may therefore come as a surprise to many people that there is a long and vibrant intellectual tradition of
dissidence and freethinking going back to the Middle Ages. The Islamic thinkers of the early medieval period
expressed ideas and engaged in debates that would appear strangely enlightened in comparison with the
attitudes and views adopted by modern Islamic scholarship.
This is the basic argument presented by From the History of Atheism in Islam by the renowned Egyptian
thinker Abdel-Rahman Badawi.
----
Most prominent among those scholars was Abu Bakr al-Razi (865-925 CE) who believed in the supreme
importance of reason. He argued that the mind had an innate capacity to distinguish between good and evil,
and between what was useful and what was harmful. According to him, the mind did not need any guidance
from outside it, and for this reason the presence of prophets was redundant and superfluous.
Al-Razi directed his most vehement attack against the holy books in general, including the Qur'an, because he
saw them as illogical and self-contradictory. He also believed that all human beings were equal in their
intellectual capacities as they were in all other things.
----
Al-Razi understood the hold of religious belief on society, which he attributed to several factors. Firstly,
systems of beliefs spread mainly through the human propensity for imitating and copying others. Secondly,
religion's popularity rested on the close alliance between clerics and political rulers. The clerics often used this
alliance to impose their own personal beliefs on people by force whenever the power of persuasion failed.
Thirdly, the lavish and imposing character of the attire of religious men contributed to the high regard in
which they were held by common people.
---

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/10/islam-freedom-expression

by jaskaw @ 11.05.2010 - 21:32:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/11/when-islamic-atheism-thrived-8566866/
Christopher Hitchens: 'French attempts to outlaw
the burqa strike a blow for the rights of women'
Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2253493

---
"Mothers, wives, and daughters have been threatened with acid in the face, or honor-killing, or vicious
beating, if they do not adopt the humiliating outer clothing that is mandated by their menfolk. This is why, in
many Muslim societies, such as Tunisia and Turkey, the shrouded look is illegal in government buildings,
schools, and universities. Why should Europeans and Americans, seeking perhaps to accommodate Muslim
immigrants, adopt the standard only of the most backward and primitive Muslim states? The burqa and the
veil, surely, are the most aggressive sign of a refusal to integrate or accommodate. Even in Iran there is only a
requirement for the covering of hair, and I defy anybody to find any authority in the Quran for the
concealment of the face.
---
Religion is the worst possible excuse for any exception to the common law. Mormons may not have
polygamous marriage, female circumcision is a federal crime in this country, and in some states Christian
Scientists face prosecution if they neglect their children by denying them medical care. Do we dare lecture the
French for declaring simply that all citizens and residents, whatever their confessional allegiance, must be
able to recognize one another in the clearest sense of that universal term?
So it's really quite simple. My right to see your face is the beginning of it, as is your right to see mine. Next
but not least comes the right of women to show their faces, which easily trumps the right of their male
relatives or their male imams to decide otherwise. The law must be decisively on the side of transparency. The
French are striking a blow not just for liberty and equality and fraternity, but for sorority too."

Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2253493

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is an English-American author and journalist. His books,
essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual, and a
staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity
Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets.

by jaskaw @ 12.05.2010 - 13:25:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/12/christopher-hitchens-french-attempts-to-outlaw-the-burqa-strike-a-blow-for-the-
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick
Clegg: 'I don't believe in God'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3074541.ece

"Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democratsˈ new leader, has defied political convention with a frank admission that
he is an atheist.
During a round of media broadcasts on the morning after his election to the post, he was asked by one
interviewer: ːDo you believe in God?ə
ːNo,ə Mr Clegg answered simply, during an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg
"Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg (pronounced /klɛɡ/; born 7 January 1967) is the Deputy Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord President of the Council and leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Clegg was educated at Caldicott School in Buckinghamshire and Westminster School in London, followed by
Robinson College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Social Anthropology; he later studied at
the University of Minnesota and the College of Europe in Belgium. He is married to Miriam González
Durántez; they have three sons.
---
"In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live on the morning after his election to the leadership, Clegg stated that he
does not believe in God, but that he has great respect for people of faith. In 2010, Clegg elaborated on this
question, stating "I was asked...one of those questions where you're only allowed to answer "yes" or "no",...I
was asked "Do you believe in God?" As it happens I don't know whether God exists. I'm much more of an
agnostic."

by jaskaw @ 14.05.2010 - 00:20:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/13/deputy-prime-minister-of-the-united-kingdom-nick-clegg-i-don-t-believe-in-god
Feedback for Post "Deputy Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom Nick Clegg: 'I don't believe in God' "

elaine [Visitor]

19.05.2010 @ 18:11
Trying o get out of it is he. perhaps his wife has something to do with that.
You either think a god created us or not. Anyway I would like to say that why give it a name when you do not
believe in god. If you do give the proof you have that there is a god. But can polititians give a straight answer,
I think not.
Does not give you much hope for the coalitionto work as the Church will object I am sure to safeguard their
power.
India in uproar over decision to include caste in
national census
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-in-uproar-over-decision-to-include-caste-in-national-census-1973

By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi

"Critics say traditional distinctions of class have no place in a would-be global power."
"For the first time since the days of the British Raj, officials in India are to ask people their caste as part of the
national census, the biggest of its kind in the world. It is a move that has triggered intense controversy about a
painful, vexing subject that the country cannot leave behind.
Having initially chosen not to include caste, the Indian government apparently gave in to demands from
opposition parties and decided that, for the first time since 1931, census officials would ask respondents to say
what traditional Hindu grouping they belong to."
---
"In traditional Hinduism there were four main castes and hundreds of sub-groups. In addition there were the
"untouchables", who were considered to have no place in society and who are now more usually called Dalits.
For centuries, what job a person did, where they lived, what food they ate and where they were cremated
depended largely on their caste. One of those who sought to reform the system was the independence leader
Mahatma Gandhi, who, along with social campaigners such as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, argued that caste
had no place."
---
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-in-uproar-over-decision-to-include-caste-in-national-census-1973

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

by jaskaw @ 14.05.2010 - 17:22:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/14/india-in-uproar-over-decision-to-include-caste-in-national-census-8588269/
1,000 former Church of Scientology members
speak publicly against Scientology

"Over 1,000 former members of the Church of Scientology have spoken out
publicly against the so-called church, according to a list researched and
compiled by Anonymous over the last year and announced on April 11th 2010.
The individuals on the list have spoken out under their real names against
the abuses seen and experienced within the so-called church despite being
subjected to Scientology's "Fair Game" policy, which gives members
permission to destroy its critics. Most former members do not ever speak
out against the church, largely because of this policy."

The list is available here:

http://wiki.whyweprotest.net/Former_Church_of_Scientology_members_who_have_spoken_out

by jaskaw @ 14.05.2010 - 18:14:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/14/1-000-former-church-of-scientology-members-speak-publicly-out-against-scient
List of biggest Christian evangelist scandals in the
US
Read the whole list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_evangelist_scandals

"This is a list of scandals related mostly to American Christian evangelists. (Roman Catholic clergy and
high-profile leaders from New Religious Movements are not within the scope of this list.)"

"Contents:
1 List of Christian evangelists involved in scandals
1.1 Aimee Semple McPherson, 1920sʒ40s
1.2 Lonnie Frisbee, 1970sʒ1980s
1.3 Billy James Hargis, early 1970s
1.4 Marjoe Gortner, early 1970s
1.5 Jim & Tammy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, 1986 and 1991
1.6 Peter Popoff, 1987
1.7 Morris Cerullo, 1990s
1.8 Mike Warnke, 1991
1.9 Robert Tilton, 1991
1.10 W. V. Grant, 1996 and 2003
1.11 Roy Clements, 1999
1.12 John Paulk, 2000
1.13 Paul Crouch, 2004
1.14 Douglas Goodman, 2004
1.15 Kent Hovind, 2006
1.16 Ted Haggard, 2006
1.17 Paul Barnes, 2006
1.18 Lonnie Latham, 2006
1.19 Gilbert Deya, 2006
1.20 Richard Roberts, 2007
1.21 Earl Paulk, 2007
1.22 Coy Privette, 2007
1.23 Thomas Wesley Weeks, III, 2007
1.24 Michael Reid, 2008
1.25 Joe Barron, 2008
1.26 Todd Bentley, 2008
1.27 Tony Alamo, 2008
1.28 George Alan Rekers, 2010
by jaskaw @ 15.05.2010 - 08:49:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/15/list-of-biggest-christian-evangelist-scandals-in-the-us-8592919/
Does Atheism Need to Be Rebranded?
Read more at: http://www.good.is/post/does-atheism-need-to-be-rebranded/

"Over at Fast Company, Alissa Walker looks at the work of Matt Luckhurst, a student in the The School of
Visual Arts in New York. Luckhurst is, as she says, trying to "rebrand" atheism.
As Luckhurst says:
- Atheism is quite often mistakenly seen as a cold and distant world, rather than the beautiful, important and
engaging philosophy that it is. Viewing the world in a rational manner, as we understand it through science, in
no way removes the significance of life or the lives humans live, rather it gives us understanding and
appreciation."

Read more at: http://www.good.is/post/does-atheism-need-to-be-rebranded/

The Illuminated Atheist website is at: http://illuminatedatheist.com/

by jaskaw @ 15.05.2010 - 08:59:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/15/does-atheism-need-to-be-rebranded-8592953/
Listen to the Scientists, Genie Scott on science ,
videos parts I - III
Listen to the Scientists, Part -I: Genie Scott on science

Listen to the Scientists, Part II: Inside creationism

Listen to the Scientists, Part III: Why Science is Important

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenie_Scott
"Eugenie Carol Scott (born October 24, 1945) is an American physical anthropologist who has been the
executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) since 1987.
Scott is widely considered to be a leading expert on creationism (including intelligent design), as well as one
of its strongest opponents. Her book Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction was published by
Greenwood Press in 2004 and then in paperback by the University of California Press in 2005. It has a
foreword by Niles Eldredge.
She also co-edited with Glenn Branch the 2006 anthology Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is
Wrong for Our Schools.
In 2006 Jon D. Miller, Scott and Shinji Okamoto had a brief article published in Science entitled "Public
Acceptance of Evolution", an analysis of polling on the acceptance of evolution from the last 20 years in the
United States and compare that to other countries. Turkey had the lowest acceptance of evolution in the
survey, with the United States having the next-lowest, though the authors saw a positive in the higher
percentage of Americans who are unsure about evolution, and therefore "reachable" for evolution."

Subscribe to National Center for Science Education's NatCen4ScienceEd's You Tube Channel at
http://www.youtube.com/user/NatCen4ScienceEd
by jaskaw @ 16.05.2010 - 20:08:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/16/listen-to-the-scientists-genie-scott-on-science-videos-parts-i-iii-8604873/
The Guardian: Texas schools board rewrites US
history with lessons promoting God and guns
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history

By Chris McGreal, Houston

"Cynthia Dunbar does not have a high regard for her local schools. She has called them unconstitutional,
tyrannical and tools of perversion. The conservative Texas lawyer has even likened sending children to her
state's schools to "throwing them in to the enemy's flames". Her hostility runs so deep that she educated her
own offspring at home and at private Christian establishments.
---
"We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future," Dunbar said. "In Texas we have certain
statutory obligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free enterprise system. There seems to have
been a move away from a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under
God. We had to go back and make some corrections."
---
Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by
promoting rightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the
civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.
Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who favoured separation of church and state, while
introducing a new focus on the "significant contributions" of pro-slavery Confederate leaders during the civil
war."
---

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history

by jaskaw @ 16.05.2010 - 21:27:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/16/the-guardian-texas-schools-board-rewrites-us-history-with-lessons-promoting-go
Tim Minchin - The Good Book (Live video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Minchin
"Timothy David Minchin (born 7 October 1975 in Northampton, UK is an Australian comedian, actor,
musician, and skeptic. He is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in three CDs, three
DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on
television and radio in both Australia and Britain. After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, he attended
the University of Western Australia and WAAPA before moving to Melbourne in 2002 where he began to
develop his act. His breakout show, "Dark Side", launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success
at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to some small
acting roles on Australian TV. He has written a script for a television pilot which has received some interest
from US networks; in late 2007 he was reported to be in talks with HBO. A documentary film about Minchin,
Rock N Roll Nerd (directed by Rhian Skirving), was released theatrically in 2008 and broadcast by ABC1 in
2009."

http://www.youtube.com/user/timminchin?blend=2&ob=4
by jaskaw @ 16.05.2010 - 21:41:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/16/tim-minchin-the-good-book-live-video-8605494/
Angry ultra-orthodox Jews fight against building a
hospital in Israel
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ultraorthodox-fury-at-removal-of-ancient-remains-from-hospita

"At least 30 ultra-orthodox Jewish demonstrators have been arrested in angry protests at the removal of
ancient burial remains to make way for construction of a bombproof hospital emergency room in the southern
Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Protesters tried to climb perimeter fences at the main Barzilai hospital yesterday in the hope of halting the
excavation, described by the ultra-orthodox deputy education minister Meir Porush as an "embarrassment and
a disgrace". On Saturday night, demonstrators burned rubbish bins and blocked roads in ultra-orthodox
neighbourhoods of Jerusalem as the exhumation started.
Ashkelon is within range of rockets from Gaza and the medical authorities had decided that a bomb-proof
emergency room within the hospital was essential for the welfare of patients."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ultraorthodox-fury-at-removal-of-ancient-remains-from-hospita

http://www.barzilaimc.org.il/eng/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-orthodox

by jaskaw @ 17.05.2010 - 09:48:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/17/angry-ultra-orthodox-jews-fight-against-building-a-hospital-in-israel-8608302/
Christopher Hitchens: Can they erase Thomas
Jefferson from history?
Read more at: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com/2010/05/hundreds-join-protest-at-texas-capitol.html

"A MESSAGE FROM CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

READ AT TODAY'S "TEXANS FOR TRUTHFUL TEXTBOOKS" RALLY

We know of no spectacle more ridiculous - or more contemptible - than

that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history
of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that, in their
vanity and stupidity, they suppose that they can erase the name of
Thomas Jefferson and replace it with the name of some faith-based
mediocrity whose name is already obscure? If so, we cheerfully
resolve to mock them, and to give them the lie in their teeth.

Without Thomas Jefferson and his Declaration of Independence,

there would have been no American revolution that announced universal
principles of liberty. Without his participation by the side of
the unforgettable Marquis de Lafayette, there would have been no
French proclamation of The Rights of Man. Without his brilliant
negotiation of the Louisiana treaty, there would be no United States
of America. Without Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, there would
have been no Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, and no basis
for the most precious clause of our most prized element of our
imperishable Bill of Rights - the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution.
---"

Read more at: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com/2010/05/hundreds-join-protest-at-texas-capitol.html

by jaskaw @ 17.05.2010 - 14:35:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/17/christopher-hitchens-can-they-erase-thomas-jefferson-from-history-8610276/
Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: Can they erase
Thomas Jefferson from history?"

Larian LeQuella [Visitor]

http://larianlequella.com
17.05.2010 @ 14:56
I appreciate that they may not like what the founding fathers stood for, or that the US Constitution is a secular
document, but I will fight them as a domestic enemy (as my oath of service said) to stop their blatant lies and
deceptions in the name of their ideology. I could care less what they believe or feel is right, but when they
insist on making those beliefs something that everyone else is forced to follow, they cross a line that is called
fascism. Their rhetoric and rationalizations are empty and vacuous. Much like their moral and intellectual
standing.
Michael Zimmerman: "Intelligent Design:
Scientifically and Religiously Bankrupt"
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/intelligent-design-scient_b_571703.html

By Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Founder, The Clergy Letter Project
"In case you had any doubt, the last nail was just placed in the coffin of intelligent design (ID). And, in case
you had any doubt, that last nail joins many others that have been in place for quite some time.
The latest attack appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America (PNAS) and provides conclusive evidence that the design of the human genome is incredibly
imperfect, or, in other words, very far from being intelligently structured. As John Avise, a University of
California-Irvine biologist, noted in the paper, his focus "is on a relatively neglected category of argument
against ID and in favor of evolution: the argument from imperfection, as applied to the human genome."
---
"For religion to accept the concept of intelligent design would mean embracing the concept of the "God of the
Gaps," a religiously vacuous idea in which adherents turn to God for an explanation for that which science
cannot explain. As science advances, the "gaps" become smaller and smaller and God is relegated to a
progressively less interesting role.
From both a scientific and a religious perspective, intelligent design is dead and buried. All that's left is to
spread the word about its demise."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/intelligent-design-scient_b_571703.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Zimmerman_(biologist)

PS. Atheist News updates via Twitter from http://twitter.com/beinghuman

by jaskaw @ 17.05.2010 - 15:01:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/17/michael-zimmerman-intelligent-design-scientifically-and-religiously-bankrupt-8
Iranian cleric wants Iran to rule the entire Middle
East and Central Asia
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ixeFBxfLzaSjs8Mb8cuFmtPOT6-wD9FN9ING1?tr=y&auid=6

"TEHRAN, Iran ō A radical cleric called Saturday for the creation of a "Greater Iran" that would rule over the
entire Middle East and Central Asia, in an event that he said would herald the coming of Islam's expected
messiah.
Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi said the creation of what he calls an Islamic United States is a central
aim of the political party he leads called Hezbollah, or Party of God, and that he hoped to make it a reality if
they win the next presidential election.
Kharrazi's comments reveal the thinking of a growing number of hard-liners in Iran, many of whom have
become more radical during the postelection political crisis and the international standoff over the country's
nuclear program. Kharrazi, however, is not highly influential in Iran's clerical hierarchy and his views do not
represent those of the current government.
Kharrazi's comments were published Saturday in his newspaper, Hezbollah."

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ixeFBxfLzaSjs8Mb8cuFmtPOT6-wD9FN9ING1?tr=y&auid=6

PS. Was Jesus really a historical figure? See my answer at

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/05/17/was-jesus-really-a-historical-figure-8613340/

by jaskaw @ 17.05.2010 - 22:22:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/17/iranian-cleric-wants-iran-to-rule-the-entire-middle-east-and-central-asia-861343
Feedback for Post "Iranian cleric wants Iran to rule the
entire Middle East and Central Asia"

Bruce [Visitor]

18.05.2010 @ 17:32
Now that is what I like: someone who thinks big...
The legendary BBC Bertrand Russell interview
right here in Atheist News!
Bertrand Russell Interview 1/3

Bertrand Russell Interview 2/3

Bertrand Russell Interview 3/3

Bertrand Russell on God (1959)

An very active Bertrand Russell's fan-page is in Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bertrand-Russell/86711477873?ref=ts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell
"Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 ʒ 2 February 1970) was a
British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, socialist, pacifist, and social critic. Although he spent
most of his life in England, he was born in Wales where he also died, aged 97.
He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.Russell
was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, for nuclear
disarmament, criticised Soviet totalitarianism and the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam
War.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant
writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

Essay "Why I Am Not A Christian" by Bertrand Russell is at http://users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html

by jaskaw @ 18.05.2010 - 20:45:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/18/the-legendary-bbc-bertrand-russell-interview-right-here-is-atheist-news-8620364
Feedback for Post "The legendary BBC Bertrand Russell
interview right here in Atheist News!"

FedupwithR [Member]
19.05.2010 @ 23:14

Delighted to have seen these videos. What a super man he was. I remember being fascinated by his looks
when I was a child and taking an immediate liking to him although I only saw him on film. Thank you.
Bertrand Russell: 'Never try to discourage
thinking, for you are sure to succeed''
A bit of older news for a change! Here is an excerpt from the article by philosopher Bertrand Russell that was
published in the New York Times Magazine in the 16th of December 1951. The piece was called "The best
answer to fanaticism: Liberalism" It was later included in The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 3,
1944-1967.

"Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace
the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate,
might be set forth as follows:

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to
light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it is from your family, endeavour to overcome it with argument
and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for if you value intelligence as you
should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to
conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that is
happiness."

Thanks for Chris Bonds for pointing out this piece of wisdom!

by jaskaw @ 19.05.2010 - 08:55:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/19/bertrand-russell-never-try-to-discourage-thinking-for-you-are-sure-to-succeed-86
Feedback for Post "Bertrand Russell: 'Never try to
discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed''"

Nasser Khan [Visitor]

http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d04.html
31.07.2010 @ 02:35
I proved Russell to be incorrect in his 3rd Commandment. Here is the link to it;

http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d04.html

Sincerely,
Nasser

Nasser Khan [Visitor]

01.08.2010 @ 23:44
I happened to prove them all to be incorrect. Hare the the links to my articles on the web;

First:
http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d01.html

2nd;
http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d03.html

3rd one:
http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d04.html

Nasser

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
02.08.2010 @ 00:12
Dear Nasser Khan, I do not really know how to break this to you, but you have proven to me at least a lot of
yourself and most of all your self-confidence, but this thing about you being "proving" Bertrand Russell to be
wrong is a funny one, to say the least.

| Show subcomments
Nasser Khan [Visitor]

08.08.2010 @ 03:54
However you yourself proved my point by being also confident to say what you just said about me.

Same goes for Russell when he wrote his Ten Commandments.

I still don't think Russell or you were wrong funny way.

Pakistan court orders block of Facebook over
caricatures of Prophet Mohammad
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64I29P20100519

Reuters) "A Pakistani court ordered the government on Wednesday to block Facebook after press reports of a
competition being held to draw the Prophet Mohammad, a lawyer said.
Pakistani media recently reported that a caricature competition is being held on May 20 about Mohammad on
Facebook.
"The court has ordered the government to immediately block Facebook until May 31 because of this
blasphemous competition," Azhar Siddique, a representative of the Islamic Lawyers Forum who filed a
petition in the Lahore High Court, told Reuters.
"The court has also ordered the foreign ministry to investigate why such a competition is being held."
A spokesman for the official telecommunications watchdog, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, said the
government on Tuesday ordered Internet service providers to block websites showing these caricatures, but
that they had not received the court orders as yet."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64I29P20100519

by jaskaw @ 19.05.2010 - 14:25:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/19/pakistan-court-orders-block-of-facebook-over-caricatures-of-prophet-mohamma
Johann Hari: Islamists, their victims, and
hypocrisy
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-islamists-their-victims-and-hypocrisy-19

"On the day we allowed two al-Qa'ida members to remain, two other young people waited for the police to see
them, and hand them over to men who will kill them.
Should Britain be giving refuge to Islamic fundamentalists, while sending the men and women who have been
brave enough to challenge Islamism back to their deaths? This sounds at first like a straw man question. Who
would ever suggest such a policy? Who would defend it? But the facts suggest we are doing it, every day.
On the day when the Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided to allow two Pakistani men they say
are al-Qa'ida members to remain in London this week, two other young people were waiting for the British
police to seize them and hand them over to men who will kill them. Their "crime" is to resist Islamic
fundamentalism, in the name of human rights."
---
"Brave, bold voices like Kiana's and Amit's do more to undermine Islamic fundamentalism than a thousand
bomber-planes that only vindicate the Bin Laden narrative for so many. By sending these remarkable
dissidents to die, we aren't only betraying them ʒ we are endangering ourselves."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-islamists-their-victims-and-hypocrisy-19

by jaskaw @ 20.05.2010 - 08:57:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/20/johann-hari-islamists-their-victims-and-hypocrisy-8629691/
Feedback for Post "Johann Hari: Islamists, their victims,
and hypocrisy"

elaine kilsh [Visitor]

22.05.2010 @ 14:02
I have been bitterly complaining to everyone about this very subject.
If you defend Islam with violence you are allowed to stay in GB. I put on another web site how a mother who
humanly let her son die peacefully gets 9 years, yet a child abuser got only 4 years.
Madness to send innocent people to their deaths it is like living in a time zone where things have got out of
hand and madness has crept in.
Pakistan blocks also YouTube over unIslamic
content
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_internet_crackdown

"By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD ʒ The Pakistani government blocked access to YouTube on Thursday because of
"sacrilegious" content on the video-sharing website, signaling a growing Internet crackdown against sites
deemed offensive to the country's majority Muslim population.
The move against YouTube came a day after the government blocked access to Facebook amid anger over a
page on the social networking site that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The
page sparked criticism because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority did not point to specific material on YouTube that prompted it to
block the site, only citing "growing sacrilegious contents." The government took action against both Facebook
and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the "derogatory material," the regulatory body
said in a statement."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_internet_crackdown

by jaskaw @ 20.05.2010 - 13:43:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/20/pakistan-blocks-also-youtube-over-unislamic-content-8631633/
Hemant Mehta: 'Why I Support Drawing
Muhammad '
Read more at: http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-05-why-i-support-drawing-muhammad

"You never hear about Hindus walking into McDonald's and telling the manager they're not allowed to use
beef products anymore. If they did, we would laugh it off. We'd say that's absurd because non-Hindus don't
have to follow their rules.
But what if the Hindu radicals committed a violent act against the manager? We'd be furious.
What if moderate Hindus said it was offensive for someone else to eat a Big Mac? We'd say that's crazy.
In response to all that, I think it would be perfectly appropriate to stage a peaceful sit-in where all participants
ate Big Macs. It wouldn't be anti-Hinduism, nor would anyone be purposely trying to piss off Hindus by doing
it. It would just be a show of solidarity by those who believe that only Hindus need to abide by their religious
beliefs, not anyone else.
That's what a few Secular Student Alliance affiliates are doing by drawing these Muhammad images (I am the
chair of the SSA board of directors)."

Read more at: http://americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2010-05-why-i-support-drawing-muhammad

Everybody Draw Mohammad day in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Everybody-Draw-Mohammed-Day/121369914543425

by jaskaw @ 20.05.2010 - 19:28:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/20/hemant-mehta-why-i-support-drawing-muhammad-8633356/
British Humanist Association wants to know:
Who's your Humanist Hero?
Read more at: http://www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanist-tradition/heroes

"As part of Humanist Week 2010 we want you to tell us who your humanist heroes are.
Humanist Week 2010 runs from World Humanist Day on 21st June to 27th June. The theme of Humanist
Week 2010 is ’Humanist Heritage ʒ celebrating humanist contributions across the ages.ˈ
The BHA is coordinating a new Humanist Heritage project which will long outlast the week itself as it
launches a new website celebrating the history of Humanism.
Hereˈs a way that you can help.
We want to celebrate the humanist heritage of Britain with a series of articles on your ːhumanist heroesə, and
you can write one. You can discuss any rolemodel that Humanism has produced at any time in history."
---

Read the rules of the competiotion at: http://www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanist-tradition/heroes

by jaskaw @ 21.05.2010 - 15:26:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/21/british-humanist-association-wants-to-know-who-s-your-humanist-hero-8639915
Remember The Sabbath

Observant Jews go to some bizarre lengths to "Remember The Sabbath." You may not believe it, but it's true.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist

ThinkingAtheist says: "A former Christian of 30 years, I ultimately found that religion, faith and scripture
lacked any true answers, especially in the (bright) light of scientific discovery and the truth of Evolution by
Natural Selection."
by jaskaw @ 22.05.2010 - 10:14:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/22/remember-the-sabbath-8644698/
Feedback for Post "Remember The Sabbath"

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
22.05.2010 @ 23:55
If one laughs at the funny customs of Christians one is not demanding the extermination of Christians, but if
one laughs at the funny habits of the Jews, one is a anti-Semitic and so in league with Nazis.
I reserve the right to laugh at the idiotic customs of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity or Judaism alike, but they
have of course the right to claim that laughing at Judaism is not allowed, because it makes them feel bad.
It is free speech, you know, but if they have this right, also others must have the right to laugh at their funny,
unnecessary, and even dare I say idiotic customs that ignorant men have created a long time ago just to foster
group-solidarity among their followers and paymasters.
I however think that they should stop whining at public spaces in these pitiable attempts to keep their religion
as something special that one is never allowed to laugh at.
Religious extremists to picket Ronnie James Dio's
funeral
Read more at:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Religious-extremists-to-picket-Dios-funeral/tabid/418/articleID/157061/Default.aspx?ArticleI

"Ronnie James Dio's widow has urged the rocker's fans and friends not to turn on religious right protesters
who plan to picket outside the late Black Sabbath and Rainbow star's memorial service in Los Angeles on
May 30.
Wendy Dio, who also managed her husband's career, has released a statement in response to reports that
members of the Westboro Baptist Church will protest outside her late husband's public farewell memorial
service at Forest Lawn cemetery's Hall of Liberty.
She writes, "Ronnie hates prejudice and violence! We need to turn the other cheek on these people that only
know how to hate someone they didn't know. We only know how to love someone we know!"

Read more at:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Religious-extremists-to-picket-Dios-funeral/tabid/418/articleID/157061/Default.aspx?ArticleI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_James_Dio
"Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 ʒ May 16, 2010) was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter.
He performed with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio. Other musical
projects include the collective fundraiser Hear 'n Aid. He was widely hailed as one of the most powerful
singers in heavy metal, renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the "devil's horns"
hand gesture in metal culture. He was collaborating on a project with former Black Sabbath bandmates Tony
Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice, under the moniker Heaven & Hell, whose first and only studio
album, The Devil You Know, was released on April 28, 2009. Dio died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church
"The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an Independent Baptist church and hate group known for its hatred
of homosexuals and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag.
It is headed by Fred Phelps and consists mostly of members of his large family.
Located in Topeka, Kansas, United States, its first public service was held on the afternoon of Sunday,
November 27, 1955.
The WBC is not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations. The church describes itself as
following Primitive Baptist and Calvinist principles, though mainstream Primitive Baptists reject the WBC
and Phelps."

by jaskaw @ 22.05.2010 - 13:17:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/22/read-more-at-http-www-3news-co-nz-religious-extremists-to-picket-dios-funeral
Feedback for Post "Religious extremists to picket Ronnie
James Dio's funeral"

TheGodless [Visitor]
http://Thegodless.wordpress.com
23.05.2010 @ 08:27
Yet another reason I am proud to be a member of the godless. These fanatics, who by the way are only
following the Bible literally as their god commands, must not realize that they are a catalyst for the demise of
their own religion. On top of this, as a life long metalhead, I hope all of the Westboro nuts are confronted with
Heaven and Hell's Bible Black blaring at a million decibels.

Andelar [Visitor]

26.05.2010 @ 13:51
I,m a christ and I believe, it's not O.K. what these baptists did. Believe me : God will punish them for this.
God is not your enemy . . .
Why atheism grows faster than religion?
Read more at:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201005/why-atheism-will-replace-religion

by Nigel Barber, Ph.D.

"Atheists are heavily concentrated in economically developed countries, particularly the social democracies of
Europe. In underdeveloped countries, there are virtually no atheists. Atheism is thus a peculiarly modern
phenomenon. Why do modern conditions produce atheism?
First, as to the distribution of atheism in the world, a clear pattern can be discerned. In sub-Saharan Africa
there is almost no atheism (Zuckerman, 2007). Belief in God declines in more developed countries and is
concentrated in Europe in countries such as Sweden (64% nonbelievers), Denmark (48%), France (44%) and
Germany (42%). In contrast, the incidence of atheism in most sub-Saharan countries is below 1%.
---
The reasons that churches lose ground in developed countries can be summarized in market terms. First, with
better science, and with government safety nets, and smaller families, there is less fear and uncertainty in
people's daily lives and hence less of a market for religion. At the same time many alternative products are
being offered, such as psychotropic medicines and electronic entertainment that have fewer strings attached
and that do not require slavish conformity to unscientific beliefs."

Read more at:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201005/why-atheism-will-replace-religion

by jaskaw @ 22.05.2010 - 17:29:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/22/why-atheism-grows-faster-than-religion-8646491/
Court forces Hispanic catholic woman to follow
orthodox Jewish rules
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/court-forces-hispanic-cat_n_580231.html

"Laura Derbigney tries to bring a little of her Hispanic upbringing into her family life.
"I like to shop at Hispanic-owned stores," she said. "I make tacos, I make enchiladas, I make flautas."
But not on the weekends, according to a court order.
She can't prepare pork or other traditional foods on weekends. She can't drive or use electricity on Saturdays.
In fact, a judge has mandated that this Hispanic Catholic from Chicago follow Orthodox Jewish restrictions
during the Sabbath.
The reason? Her new husband, recently divorced from a strictly observant Jewish woman. A divorce court has
ruled that the seven-year-old son of that marriage must live an Orthodox lifestyle even while in the care of his
father and step-mother, according to an NBC Chicago report."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/court-forces-hispanic-cat_n_580231.html

by jaskaw @ 22.05.2010 - 21:26:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/22/court-forces-hispanic-catholic-woman-to-follow-orthodox-jewish-rules-8647485
Feedback for Post "Court forces Hispanic catholic woman
to follow orthodox Jewish rules"

Bruce [Visitor]

22.05.2010 @ 21:59
All Hispanic Catholic people married to Orthodox Jewish people should agree a suicide pact. The children
should be sodomized by popes.
Saudi 'emo' girls busted by religious cops
Read more at: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100522/twl-saudi-emo-girls-busted-by-religious-3cd7efd.html

"Saudi Arabia's religious police have arrested 10 "emo" women for allegedly causing a disturbance in a coffee
shop, Al-Yaum newspaper reported on Saturday.
The coffee shop owner in the eastern city of Dammam called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice to complain after the young women, dressed and made up in the "emo" fashion, apparently
began disturbing other clients.
---
While Saudi women normally must appear in public shrouded by all-black abayas and headscarves, some
daringly open their abayas in places such as malls and coffee shops to reveal more trendy outfits underneath.

Read more at: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100522/twl-saudi-emo-girls-busted-by-religious-3cd7efd.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_for_the_Promotion_of_Virtue_and_Prevention_of_Vice
"The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the English name of the Saudi
Arabian government bureaucracy employing "religious police" or mutaween to enforce Sharia Law within
that Islamic nation."
Its approximately 3,500 members, and many more volunteers, patrol the streets enforcing dress codes, strict
separation of men and women, salah prayer by Muslims during prayer times, and other behavior it believes to
be commanded by Islam."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emo%20girl
"An emo girl is a girl who likes to dress in emo fashion, has an emo(tional) personality and listens to emo
music. (Such as Bright Eyes.) Emo girls like to hang out with other emo girls and emo boys. They are usually
sad most of the time, do not smile very often, and just like emo boys, show no signs of self worth or self
confidence whatsoever and will not make eye contact with you. An emo girl has very dark hair, either cut
somewhere around their shoulder, or in the classic emo haircut, which is sort of short and spiky in the back
with long sweeping bangs in the front. Their hair has to be very dark brown or black, or in some cases very
light blonde as long as the cut is right."

by jaskaw @ 23.05.2010 - 18:12:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/23/saudi-emo-girls-busted-by-religious-cops-8653729/
Feedback for Post "Saudi 'emo' girls busted by religious
cops"

Bruce [Visitor]

23.05.2010 @ 18:48
Off with their heads...
Genie Scott speaks of evolution of Creationism

In this video Genie Scott talks with Skepchick.org's Sam Ogden about the evolution of creationism, the Texas
board of education, women in science, and more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenie_Scott
"Eugenie Scott prefers to see herself as "Darwin's golden retriever". Scott says that her job "requires coping
with science illiteracy in the American public".
Scott has taken part in numerous interviews on MSNBC and the Fox News Channel, debating various
creationist and Intelligent design advocates. On 29 November 2004, Scott debated astrophysicist Jason Lisle
of Answers in Genesis on CNN. On May 6, 2005 Scott debated Stephen C. Meyer of the Discovery Institute,
on The Big Story with John Gibson. The latter concerned the Kansas evolution hearings.
In 2004, the National Center for Science Education was represented by Scott on Penn and Teller's Showtime
television show Bullshit!, on the episode titled "Creationism", on which Dr. Scott offered philosophical views
about the creationist and intelligent design movements.
Scott serves on the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and
on the National Advisory Council of Americans for Religious Liberty.
In 2005, Scott and other NCSE staff served as scientific and educational consultants for the plaintiffs in the
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, which originated in Dover, PA. Judge John Jones ruled against
teaching intelligent design or creationism in the public schools."

by jaskaw @ 23.05.2010 - 18:23:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/23/genie-scott-speaks-of-evolution-of-creationism-8653810/
Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments

Bertrand Russell: ːMy Ten Commandmentsə

"1. Do not lie to yourself.

2. Do not lie to other people unless they are exercising tyranny.

3. When you think it is your duty to inflict pain, scrutinize your

reasons closely.

4. When you desire power, examine yourself closely as to why you deserve it.

5. When you have power, use it to build up people, not to constrict them.

6. Do not attempt to live without vanity, since this is impossible, but choose the right audience from which to
seek admiration.

7. Do not think of yourself as a wholly self-contained unit.

8. Be reliable.

9. Be just.

10. Be good-natured."

from Everyman magazine 1930.

Source: http://philebersole.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/bertrand-russells-ten-commandments/

by jaskaw @ 23.05.2010 - 21:42:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/23/bertrand-russell-s-ten-commandments-8654810/
Feedback for Post "Bertrand Russell's Ten
Commandments"

The Fightmaster [Visitor]

05.07.2010 @ 21:25
I disagreed with most of it if not everytnig.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
05.07.2010 @ 21:29
I must say that I really am sorry for you, the Fightmaster, if you cannot agree with a set of basic principles for
living a honest and good life.
I do not know your reasons, but I hope they are not connected with worship of power and with thinking in
which end can justify the means.

The Fightmaster [Visitor]

http://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1JrQV0O_yuytCgFKG8kVjtkChXli3PC7eu7v3Kf4S_VE&hl=en
11.07.2010 @ 00:32
Please logon to the following link to know what I meant;

http://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1JrQV0O_yuytCgFKG8kVjtkChXli3PC7eu7v3Kf4S_VE&hl=en

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Nasser "The Fightmaster" Khan

Nasser Khan [Visitor]

http://www.uctaa.net/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d03.html
25.07.2010 @ 03:42
Here are my thoughts about Russell's 2nd Commandment;

http://www.uctaa.net/articles/reflections/ref01/ref019d03.html
After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain
will finally reveal all
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/after-keeping-us-waiting-for-a-century-mark-twain-will-

The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death,
which is now.
After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all.

By Guy Adams in Los Angeles

"The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death,
which is now.
Exactly a century after rumours of his death turned out to be entirely accurate, one of Mark Twain's dying
wishes is at last coming true: an extensive, outspoken and revelatory autobiography which he devoted the last
decade of his life to writing is finally going to be published.
The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the
English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with
handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century.
That milestone has now been reached, and in November the University of California, Berkeley, where the
manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain's autobiography"
---
"He had doubts about God, and in the autobiography, he questions the imperial mission of the US in Cuba,
Puerto Rico and the Philippines. He's also critical of [Theodore] Roosevelt, and takes the view that patriotism
was the last refuge of the scoundrel. Twain also disliked sending Christian missionaries to Africa. He said
they had enough business to be getting on with at home: with lynching going on in the South, he thought they
should try to convert the heathens down there."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/after-keeping-us-waiting-for-a-century-mark-twain-will-
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Twain-Samuel-L-Clemens/100702464206
"Mark Twain wain was critical of organized religion through most of his later life.
After his death, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward
conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until his daughter Clara
reversed her position in 1962 in response to Soviet propaganda about the withholding.
The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, though there is some scholarly debate as to
whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Little Bessie, a story ridiculing
Christianity, was first published in the 1972 collection Mark Twain's Fables of Man.
Twain is most noted for his novels "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which has since been called the Great
American Novel, and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". William Faulkner called Twain "the father of
American literature".

http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/twain.htm
"Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine;
it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no
good which it could not better do in a split-up and scattered condition." - Mark Twain in "A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court"

by jaskaw @ 24.05.2010 - 19:10:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/24/read-more-at-http-www-independent-co-uk-arts-entertainment-books-8659669/
1.3 million tomans of fine for women who fail to
cover up their hair properly in Iran
Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-48747620100524?tr=y&auid=6392918

"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's second biggest city has massively increased the amount it fines for women who
fail to observe the Islamic dress code and don't cover their hair properly, media reported.
Morality police around Iran are beginning their annual spring crackdown on women wearing too much
makeup, daring to show their hair or dressing in a way that shows their body contours too clearly.
In the holy city of Masshad, the public prosecutor has increased the fine to 1.3 million tomans, roughly $1,300
-- a hefty sum in a country where a teacher's monthly salary is around $500."

Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-48747620100524?tr=y&auid=6392918

by jaskaw @ 24.05.2010 - 22:21:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/24/1-3-million-tomans-of-fine-for-women-who-fail-to-cover-up-heir-properly-in-ira
Feedback for Post "1.3 million tomans of fine for women
who fail to cover up their hair properly in Iran"

Comrade André Leloup [Visitor]

24.05.2010 @ 23:18
Hopefully there'll be another incident in Iran like the one they had Saudi Arabia recently. There will never be
any change, in Iran, the Muslim world, or anywhere else, until people stand up and demand it - by force if
necessary.
'She's buried chest high'

"Sharia Law" - a poem by

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nessrriinn

Council of ex-Muslims of Britain CEMB

http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/

sharia law

she's buried chest high

her arms can't stop the stones that fly
or wipe the tears that have already dried
for a crime she so persistently denied
she's buried chest deep
the moderates asleep
no matter how hard she weeps
worth half of a man, her testimony's cheap
Allah subhana wa taala has come up with such a fair rule
dictators of history couldn't be so cruel
told by mohammed sallahu 3alhe wa salam
teaching us allah's divine referendum
what becomes of those who have a sip of rum
drinks to forget or wants to be numb
or those who play the game of chance
poker buddies escaping the religious trance
allah's prescribed in his merciful script
their flesh be ripped their blood be dripped
at the tip of a muslims whip

she's buried chest high

her arms can't stop the stones that fly
or wipe the tears that have already dried
for a crime she so persistently denied
and this is allah's eternal reply
1400 years of backwards law
a tragic flaw of the primitive claw
the tribe of homosexuals
koum lot as they say
sharia is clear on how they should pay
the price for their gay display
life doesn't matter which way
abu baker got them with a tumbling wall
ali muhammad's cousin and son in law
had people burned for their sexual call
an entire village children and all

she's buried chest deep

the moderates asleep
no matter how hard she weeps
worth half of a manher testimony's cheap
apostates remember those who have bled
to speak the word Muslims leave unsaid
killed for the sake of those mislead
submit now or be left dead
allah subhana wa ta3ala has come up with such a fair rule
the devil himself couldn't be so cruel

she's buried chest high half way deep

while the moderates are still fast asleep
while the world stands silent
her testimony's cheap.
stones thrown by religious sheep.
witches were burned long ago
til the flame of freedom began to glow
and we learned to say the word 'no'
no know that your laws are unjust
not worthy of respect only disgust
beheading those with a knifes thrust
oh but in Allah we blindly trust

she's buried head high

in a heap of stones.
no more crying no more moans
all that's left is skin and bones
Allah has come up with such a fair call
the true justice of sharia law

by nessrriinn.

Music
http://www.esnips.com/doc/9bea58dd-a23d-439c-bfca-20d4014f53c9/Sad-Romance-Thao-Nguyen-Xanh

PS. I hesitated a lot to share this video, as it is a extremely emotionally laden piece that can well be used to
foster hatred and fear also.
On the other hand all and everything in it is true; these are the things that the Sharia Law requires, if the
outside world does not interfere.
However, remember that even the cruel extremists of Iran had to officially stop the stoning of women, when
international outcry around these crimes against humanity became too loud.
As long as we care and most importantly also do show as openly as possible that we care, the masters of Iran
do not dare return openly to their Medieval darkness, where a human life is worth nothing, when the honor of
a man is compromised.

If you are in Facebook please consider joining the 'Stop the Medieval cruelty in Iran' cause at:
http://www.causes.com/causes/111694
by jaskaw @ 24.05.2010 - 23:00:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/24/she-s-buried-chest-high-8661692/
Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of
Religious Violence
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/library/books/full/aafprTerrorMindGod.htm

Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

by Mark Juergensmeyer. Published by University of California Press.

The destructive alliance between violence and religion is the subject of a recently updated book by Mark
Juergensmeyer. As he is able to demonstrate, religion is not the inherent cause of violence or terrorism, and
the violence might happen even without the religious context. Nevertheless, religion provides the "mores and
symbols" which make horrific bloodshed easier to vindicate. Only religion provides the moral justification to
commit violence in the name of a cosmic war between good and evil. Only religion polarizes a situation into
such extreme absolutes that compromise and concession are no longer easy - or sometimes even possible.

Mark Juergensmeyer writes:

"In speaking of terrorism as "performance violence," I am not suggesting that such acts are undertaken lightly
or capriciously. Rather, like religious ritual or street theater, they are dramas designed to have an impact on
the several audiences that they affect. Those who witness the violence - even at a distance, via the news media
- are therefore a part of what occurs.
---
Public ritual has traditionally been the province of religion, and this is one of the reasons that performance
violence comes so naturally to activists from religious backgrounds. ...The victims of terrorism are targeted
not because they are threatening to the perpetrators ...but because they are "symbols, tools, animals or corrupt
beings" that tie into "a special picture of the world, a specific consciousness" that the activist possesses."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/library/books/full/aafprTerrorMindGod.htm

by jaskaw @ 25.05.2010 - 20:49:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/25/terror-in-the-mind-of-god-the-global-rise-of-religious-violence-8671201/
'The walls of my prison crumbled and fell'

əWhen I became convinced that the Universe is natural ō that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered
into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls
of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles
became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave.
There was for me no master in all the wide world ō not even in infinite space. I was free ō free to think, to
express my thoughts ō free to live to my own ideal ō free to live for myself and those I loved ō free to use all
my faculties, all my senses ō free to spread imaginationˈs wings ō free to investigate, to guess and dream and
hope ō free to judge and determine for myself ō free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the əinspiredə
books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past ō free from popes and priests ō
free from all the əcalledə and əset apartə ō free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies ō free from the fear of
eternal pain ō free from the winged monsters of the night ō free from devils, ghosts and gods.
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought ō no air, no space,
where fancy could not spread her painted wings ō no chains for my limbs ō no lashes for my back ō no fires
for my flesh ō no masterˈs frown or threat ō no following anotherˈs steps ō no need to bow, or cringe, or
crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the
thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain ō for the freedom of labor and thought ō to
those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains ō to those who
proudly mounted scaffoldˈs stairs ō to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn ō
to those by fire consumed ō to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have
given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high,
that light might conquer darkness still.

Let us be true to ourselves ō true to the facts we know, and let us, above all things, preserve the veracity of our
souls.
If there be gods we cannot help them, but we can assist our fellow-men. We cannot love the inconceivable,
but we can love wife and child and friend.

We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we
must say that we do not know. We can tell the truth, and we can enjoy the blessed freedom that the brave have
won. We can destroy the monsters of superstition, the hissing snakes of ignorance and fear. We can drive
from our minds the frightful things that tear and wound with beak and fang. We can civilize our fellow-men.
We can fill our lives with generous deeds, with loving words, with art and song, and all the ecstasies of love.
We can flood our years with sunshine ō with the divine climate of kindness, and we can drain to the last drop
the golden cup of joy.ə

ʒ Robert G. Ingersoll, 1896

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll
"Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 ʒ July 21, 1899) was a Civil War veteran, American
political leader, and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought.
After the war, he served as Illinois Attorney General.
His radical views on religion, slavery, woman's suffrage, and other issues of the day effectively prevented him
from ever pursuing or holding political offices higher than that of state attorney general.
Illinois Republicans tried to pressure him into running for governor on the condition that Ingersoll conceal his
agnosticism during the campaign, which he refused on the basis that concealing information from the public
was immoral.
Many of Ingersoll's speeches advocated freethought and humanism, and often poked fun at religious belief."

Roberg G. Ingersoll's fan-page in Facebook is at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-G-Ingersoll/52460139986

by jaskaw @ 26.05.2010 - 09:07:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/26/the-walls-of-my-prison-crumbled-and-fell-8673704/
Israeli chief rabbi: 'Women must only be heard
through their husbands'
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10161713.stm

"The chief rabbi of a West Bank settlement has prohibited women from standing in a local community
election.
Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the Elon Moreh settlement, near Nablus, said women lacked the authority to stand
for the post of local secretary.
He wrote in a community newspaper that women must only be heard through their husbands.
No women have registered for the election due to be held later on Wednesday, Israeli media reported.
The rabbi made his comments in the community's newspaper after an unidentified young woman wrote to him
asking if she could run for the position of community secretary, the Israeli news website Ynet News said."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10161713.stm

by jaskaw @ 26.05.2010 - 15:11:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/26/israeli-chief-rabbi-women-must-only-be-heard-through-their-husbands-8675690
Feedback for Post "Israeli chief rabbi: 'Women must only be
heard through their husbands'"

John Sparks [Visitor]

http://tinyurl.com/johnsparks
26.05.2010 @ 17:23
Wonder what Golda Meir would have thought.

FedupwithR [Member]
29.05.2010 @ 23:52

These rabbis also want to confine women, blacks and dogs to the back of buses.
'Death is nothing to us'

"The following eight counsels are a basic guide to Epicurean living.

1) Don't fear God.

2) Don't worry about death.
3) Don't fear pain.
4) Live simply.
5) Pursue pleasure wisely.
6) Make friends and be a good friend.
7) Be honest in your business and private life.
8) Avoid fame and political ambition."

Contemporary Renderings by Ken Mylot

Read more at: http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/kenmy.html#democritus

"Death is nothing to us; for that which has been dissolved into its elements experiences no sensations, and that
which has no sensation is nothing to us " - Epicurus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
"Epicurus (Samos, 341 BCE ʒ Athens, 270 BCE; 72 years) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder
of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300
written works. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and
commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia, peace
and freedom from fear, and "aponia", the absence of pain, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by
friends.

Epicurus has been credited also with the famous Riddle of Epicurus:

ːIs God willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?ə

Epicurus has a very lively fan-page in Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Epicurus/79493658728

More insights in the rational Epicurean world-view at http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/tags/epicurus/

by jaskaw @ 26.05.2010 - 21:51:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/26/death-is-nothing-to-us-8678290/
Feedback for Post "'Death is nothing to us'"

Wil [Visitor]

26.05.2010 @ 23:22
Just one thing:

Epicurean wasn't really atheist. He just said that human being could live without idea of god, or just don't care
about a god.

So, technically he was atheist. i think that historians have never used "atheist" to describe him because he
never called himself like that.

Anyway, Epicurean is a really good example about free-thinking, even before jesus christ

(sorry about my english, i'm french )

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
27.05.2010 @ 00:18
Maybe one of the reasons why he did not never openly declare atheism was the death penalty that still awaited
open atheists in his time.
The ancient Greeks were ready to accept doubt, but open defiance was often too much even for this the most
open minded nation that had ever existed before that point in history.
So, we will never know his true feelings about this issue, and this is of course always the worst part of any
kind of censorship; the coming generations will never know what their predecessors really thought, or if they
were silenced be simple fear.
Similarly we will never know how popular the Christian ideas really were in the Medieval times, as nobody
ever dared to tell what they really thought.

tom merle [Visitor]

http://cultureplaces.blogspot.com
27.05.2010 @ 09:48
Epicurus was neither an atheist nor an agnostic, IMHO. Rather, the gods, whether they existed or not, were
profoundly irrelevant. They might serve as ideals, but Epicureans turned their attention to this world not that
other world, which was out of reach. The happy life was fully pursued amidst our own experiences. This
attitude is very different than denial(atheism) or ignorance (agnosticism).
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy: Inside a school for
suicide bombers

From http://www.ted.com "Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy takes on a terrifying question: How does the
Taliban convince children to become suicide bombers? Propaganda footage from a training camp is intercut
with interviews of young camp graduates. A shocking vision."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharmeen_Obaid-Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (born 1978) is a journalist and documentarian who was born in Pakistan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talibanization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban_treatment_of_women

by jaskaw @ 26.05.2010 - 22:54:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/26/sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-inside-a-school-for-suicide-bombers-8678840/
'Sex and the City 2' banned in the United Arab
Emirates because it is "Anti-Muslim"
Read more at:
http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/179/UAE:_Sex_and_the_City_Movie_Banned,_Called_Anti-Muslim.html

"The United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Media Council has decided that the new movie "Sex and the City
2" will be banned from being shown in UAE cinemas. The movie is scheduled to be released on May 27,
2010.
A senior spokesman for the UAE National Media Council told Time Out Dubai that: "Sex and the City 2 will
be banned from being shown in cinemas across the UAE when it is released for various reasons. Among them
are that the film's website stated that filming was done in Abu Dhabi even though they were denied
permission to do so and that they continue to attribute the locations shot in Morocco as being in Abu Dhabi,
which is false, as the theme of the film does not fit with our cultural values. Also, they persisted in using Abu
Dhabi's name in the movie despite the fact that no official permission was given to them to do so."

Read more at:

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/179/UAE:_Sex_and_the_City_Movie_Banned,_Called_Anti-Muslim.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City_2
"Sex and the City 2 is a 2010 romantic comedy film, known as the sequel to the 2008 film Sex and the City,
which is based on the HBO TV series of the same name.
The film was released on May 27, 2010 in the United States and May 28, 2010 in the United Kingdom. The
film stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall and Chris Noth, who reprised their
roles from the previous film and TV series. It features with new cast members such as Liza Minnelli, Miley
Cyrus and Penélope Cruz."

by jaskaw @ 27.05.2010 - 19:06:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/27/sex-and-the-city-the-movie-banned-in-the-united-arab-emirates-because-its-is-an
Secrets of the Dalai Lama
Read more at: http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2010/secrets-of-the-dalai-lama/

"1) Who told a press conference in 1997 that men to men sex and woman to woman sex is sexual misconduct?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
2) Who told a Swiss magazine in 2001, that sexual organs were created for the reproduction of the male
element and the female element, and anything that deviates from this is not acceptable?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
3) An anti-abortion lobby group called ːConsistent lifeə was given a huge boost after on of the worldˈs most
prominent religious leaders offered his endorsement?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
4) Who published a collection of religious teachings declaring that masturbation is forbidden?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
5) Who declared that oral sex is not acceptable, even between a husband and wife?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
6) Who published a collection of religious teachings in 1996 declaring that anal sex is not acceptable, even
between a husband and wife?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
7) Who said that having sex during the day is sexual misconduct?
The Pope, or the Dalai Lama?
Of course, every single answer is: The Dalai Lama."

Read more at: http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2010/secrets-of-the-dalai-lama/

by jaskaw @ 28.05.2010 - 16:39:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/28/secrets-of-the-dalai-lama-8690187/
Feedback for Post "Secrets of the Dalai Lama"

Bruce [Visitor]

28.05.2010 @ 16:48
Before the Chinese liberated Tibet, it was a brutal theocracy run by this wonderful friend of the pope...

Mike [Visitor]

28.05.2010 @ 22:50
To be fair, who has met with the LGBT community and has since changed his stance on all of this, the Pope
or the Dalai Lama?

Yep, still the Dalai Lama.

Unlike the Pope, he is willing to admit he is fallible and change his mind.

No, I'm not a Buddhist, but at least try to be fair and current.

Francisco [Visitor]
http://twitter.com/khisco
29.05.2010 @ 02:29
One thing is to say it's unacceptable, another one is to condemn people, even though for us hell doesn't exist,
but for them it does! So, brainwashing is far worse.

quedula [Visitor]
http://nutsandreasons.blogspot.com/
29.05.2010 @ 16:26
At least he smiles when he says it . . .
The culture minister of Northern Ireland wants
creationism into museums
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/10159667.stm

"The culture minister (Nelson McCausland of Northern Ireland) has asked museums to give more prominence
to Ulster-Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views on the origin of the universe.
Nelson McCausland wrote to the trustees of National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) saying he wants the
issues given consideration in the short term.
---
He said that he wanted the views of creationists - the concept of God creating the universe in contrast to the
scientific theory of evolution - to be represented in the exhibitions.
Without specifically mentioning creationism, Mr McCausland's letter includes a request for the trustees to
consider how alternative views of the origin of the universe can be recognised and accomodated."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/10159667.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_McCausland

by jaskaw @ 28.05.2010 - 17:46:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/28/the-culture-minister-of-northern-ireland-wants-creationism-into-museums-86906
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'Islam is imbued with violence'
Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/review/Kristof-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
"If there were a ːMs. Globalizationə title, it might well go to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali woman who wrote
the best-−selling memoir ːInfidel.ə She has managed to outrage more people ō in some cases to the point that
they want to assassinate her ō in more languages in more countries on more continents than almost any writer
in the world today.
---
Since Hirsi Ali denounces Islam with a ferocity that I find strident, potentially feeding religious bigotry, I
expected to dislike this book. It did leave me uncomfortable and exasperated in places. But I also enjoyed it.
Hirsi Ali comes across as so sympathetic when she shares her grief at her familyˈs troubles that she is
difficult to dislike. Her memoir suggests that she never quite outgrew her rebellious teenager phase, but also
that she would be a terrific conversationalist at a dinner party.
---
She declares: ːIslam is not just a belief; it is a way of life, a violent way of life. Islam is imbued with
violence, and it encourages violence. Muslim children all over the world are taught the way I was: taught with
violence, taught to perpetuate violence, taught to wish for violence against the infidel, the Jew, the American
Satan.ə

Read more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/review/Kristof-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

See also: Questions for Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Feminist

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23fob-q4-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali
"Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali) (born Ayaan Hirsi Magan; 13 November 1969) is a
Somalian-born Dutch intellectual, feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged daughter of the
late Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic
of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death threats.
When she was eight, Hirsi Ali's family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia, and eventually settled in
Kenya. She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later
became the center of a political controversy. In 2003 she was elected a member of the House of
Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and
Democracy (VVD). A political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her
resignation from the parliament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet.
Hirsi Ali is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and has been
living in the United States. In 2005, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential
people in the world. She has also received several awards including the Danish Freedom Prize, the Swedish
Democracy Prize (awarded in 2005 by the Liberal Party, and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to
conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship. In 2006 she published her memoir, which appeared in
English translation in 2007 titled Infidel."

by jaskaw @ 29.05.2010 - 16:34:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/29/ayaan-hirsi-ali-islam-is-imbued-with-violence-8695817/
Iowa Catholic school fires math teacher after
Facebook survey indicates she doesn't believe in
God
Read more at: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100528/NEWS02/5280336/1001/

By CLARK KAUFFMAN
"A Catholic-school teacher from Fort Dodge has been fired because of a Facebook survey in which she said
she did not believe in God.
Abby Nurre, 27, was hired last summer as an eighth- grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School. In
August, she responded to a Facebook members' poll in which she was asked whether she believed in God,
miracles or heaven.
In response, Nurre answered, "No." Her answers then became part of her Facebook autobiography page,
which was accessible only to her designated "friends."
---
In November, Nurre posted a comment to an online discussion forum, Atheist Nexus. In her post, she
provided a link to a New York Times article that, as she described it, indicated the government had spent $2.3
million on prayer research in the past 10 years.
---
"She should be denied unemployment benefits for being a member of an atheist Web site," Hancock testified.
---
Administrative Law Judge Steven Wise ruled that Nurre was entitled to unemployment benefits because the
school had failed to prove misconduct.
Wise said the Facebook survey and Nurre's posting to the atheists' forum "did not involve publicly advocating
principles contrary to the teachings of the church and did not involve immoral conduct."

Read more at: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100528/NEWS02/5280336/1001/

http://www.st-edmond.pvt.k12.ia.us/

by jaskaw @ 29.05.2010 - 19:01:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/29/iowa-catholic-school-fires-math-teacher-after-facebook-survey-indicates-she-doe
Richard Dawkins on fundamentalism in
Intelligence Squared Wellington
Richard Dawkins on fundamentalism in Intelligence Squared Wellington, part 1

Richard Dawkins on fundamentalism in Intelligence Squared Wellington, part 1

The results:

"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist
and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and
was a fellow of New College, Oxford.
Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view
of evolution and introduced the term meme. In 1982, he introduced into evolutionary biology an influential[5]
concept, presented in his book The Extended Phenotype, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not
necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of
other organisms.
Dawkins is well known for his candid criticism of creationism and intelligent design. In his 1986 book The
Blind Watchmaker, he argued against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a
supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he described evolutionary
processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker. He has since written several popular science books, and makes
regular television and radio appearances, predominantly discussing these topics.
Dawkins is an atheist, secular humanist, sceptic, rationalist and supporter of the Brights movement. He has
been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler", by analogy with English biologist T. H. Huxley, who
was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. In his 2006 book
The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that faith
qualifies as a delusion − as a fixed false belief. As of November 2007, the English language version had sold
more than 2 million copies and had been translated into 31 other languages, making it his most popular book
to date."
by jaskaw @ 29.05.2010 - 23:47:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/29/richard-dawkins-on-fundamentalism-in-intelligence-squared-wellington-869773
Islamic cleric recommends breastfeeding male
colleagues at work
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6681511.stm

"One of Sunni Islam's most prestigious institutions is to discipline a cleric after he issued a decree allowing
women to breastfeed their male colleagues.
Dr Izzat Atiya of Egypt's al-Azhar University said it offered a way around segregation of the sexes at work.
According to Islamic tradition, or Hadith, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a
woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers.
---
In his fatwa, Dr Atiya, the head of al-Azhar's Department of Hadith, said such teachings could equally apply
to adults.
He said that if a woman fed a male colleague "directly from her breast" at least five times they would establish
a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6681511.stm

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/141208
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rada_%28fiqh%29
"Radā or ridā'a is a technical term from Islamic jurisprudence meaning "the suckling which produces the legal
impediment to marriage of foster-kinship". The term derives from the infinitive noun of the Arabic word
radi'a or rada'a ("he sucked the breast of his mother"). Often it is translated as "fosterage" or "milk-kinship"
"Adad al-radā al-muharrim, or minimal number of sucklings necessary to establish the milk-kinship, was the
subject of extensive debate and ever more elaborate exegetical theorizing. For the adherents of older schools
of law, such as the Malikis and Hanafis, one suckling was enough. Others, such as the Shāfi'īs, maintained
that the minimum number was five or ten, and that in fact a Qur'anic verse had once stipulated this exact
number until its wording had been expurgated from the Qur'ānic text."
---
"The famous traditionist Muhammad al-Bukhari was forced to resign his position of mufti and leave the city
of Bukhara after ruling that two nurslings who suckled from the same farm animal became milk-siblings."

by jaskaw @ 30.05.2010 - 11:59:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/30/islamic-cleric-recommends-breastfeeding-male-colleagues-at-work-8699544/
Vatican reaches out to atheists ʒ but not you,
Richard Dawkins
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vatican-reaches-out-to-atheists-ndash-but-not-you-richard-dawkins-1

By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent

"The Vatican is planning a new initiative to reach out to atheists and agnostics in an attempt to improve the
church's relationship with non-believers. Pope Benedict XVI has ordered officials to create a new foundation
where atheists will be encouraged to meet and debate with some of the Catholic Church's top theologians.
The Vatican hopes to stage a series of debates in Paris next year. But militant non-believers hoping for a
chance to set senior church figures straight about the existence of God are set to be disappointed: the church
has warned that atheists with high public profiles such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will not
be invited."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vatican-reaches-out-to-atheists-ndash-but-not-you-richard-dawkins-1

by jaskaw @ 31.05.2010 - 08:15:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/31/vatican-reaches-out-to-atheists-but-not-you-richard-dawkins-8704906/
Feedback for Post "Vatican reaches out to atheists ʒ but
not you, Richard Dawkins"

Bruce [Visitor]

31.05.2010 @ 11:06
But are atheists interested to talk to pedophiles?

FedupwithR [Member]
31.05.2010 @ 15:20

This would be fun if the discussions were held publicly but this is unlikely. They might convert a few
agnostics but I doubt than any real atheists would even go along let alone be convinced by their mumbo
jumbo clap trap.
Richard Carrier smashes the "Intelligent design"
fallacy with black holes (video)

Richard Carrier on the fallacy of supernatural "intelligent design".

The universe is a perfect black hole generator, so why not assume god(s) designed it for that purpose?
Why do we need brains (big enough to kill mothers) if a disembodied mind is possible? If a mind needs a
brain, then god cannot exist.
Does god have mother issues?
Philosophy is the only "religion" worth pursuing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carrier
"Carrier received a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University in 2008. He has published several
articles, chapters, and books on subjects in history and philosophy. Besides his work in print, as a contributor
to the Secular Web He has also engaged in several formal debates, both online and in public, defending
subjects as diverse as naturalism as a worldview, natural explanations of early Christian resurrection accounts,
and the morality of abortion."

by jaskaw @ 31.05.2010 - 21:05:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/31/richard-carrier-smashes-the-intelligent-design-fallacy-with-black-holes-video-87
Intelligent Design as Deliberate Ignorance
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/intelligentdesign/tp/IntelligentDesignIgnorance.htm?nl=1

"Intelligent Design is presented as a legitimate scientific alternative to evolutionary theory. There are many
problems with this but one deserves more attention: Intelligent Design apologists literally have no idea what
they are talking about. They claim the universe and life were intelligently designed, but cannot explain who or
what this designer was, what characteristics it had, how it operated, why it designed, or anything else relevant.
They don't even propose any means for acquiring such knowledge and appear uninterested in trying. It's all a
mystery, which helps show that it's religion not science."
---

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/intelligentdesign/tp/IntelligentDesignIgnorance.htm?nl=1

by jaskaw @ 31.05.2010 - 22:11:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/05/31/intelligent-design-as-deliberate-ignorance-8709327/
Westboro Church Protests Outside Ronnie James
Dio's Memorial Service
Read more at: http://laist.com/2010/05/31/westboro_church_came_out_to_protest.php

"The infamous protestors from Westboro Baptist Church visited Los Angeles yesterday to protest outside a
memorial service for heavy metal rocker Ronnie James Dio. The public service was held in the afternoon at
Forest Lawn Memorial-Park for the revered heavy metal singer and songwriter, who died of stomach cancer
earlier this month.
"This rebel had a God-given platform - for decades - which he should have utilized to publish the truth of
God,ə the church said in a press release, according to Entertainment Weekly. ːInstead, he used that platform -
for decades - to teach rebellion against God, in the form glorifying atheism, promoting the devil horn hand
sign & other such idolatries. Now he has been cut off by an Angry God & cast into hell.ə

Read more at: http://laist.com/2010/05/31/westboro_church_came_out_to_protest.php

by jaskaw @ 01.06.2010 - 10:59:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/01/westboro-church-protests-outside-ronnie-james-dio-s-memorial-service-8711996
Violent mob demands beheading of a man who
publicly renounces Islam in Maldives
Read more at:
http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/06/01/death-threats-against-man-who-renounced-islam-at-a-naik-lecture-in-the-maldives/

ːAPOSTATEə Mohamed Nazim has been taken into custody and threatened with death in the
Muslim-majority north Asian nation of Maldives after declaring his atheism at a lecture given by lunatic
Islamic hate-preacher Dr Zakir Naik, who is soon due to tour the UK.
---
"Naik asked: ːAre you a Muslim?ə and Nazim replied ːI am not.ə
According to this report, the brief exchange sparked hatred from an angry crowd of around 11,000, with many
calling for his death. Several people rushed towards him as an official of the Islamic Ministry tried to escort
him out. Police, however, came between Nazim and the crowd and took him into custody.
The newspaper report also stated that a crowed gathered outside the police station and demanded that Nazim
be handed over to the crowd, who shouted anti-atheism slogans and called for Nazimˈs beheading."
---
"The Maldives constitution mandates that all citizens of Maldives must be Muslims. A December 2009 study
showed the Maldives (with a 99 percent literacy rate) to be in the top five percent of the worst nations for
religious freedom abuse. It is a nation that has been building its criminal law based on sharia, andits
Parliament bans non-Islamic houses of worship."

Read more at:

http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/06/01/death-threats-against-man-who-renounced-islam-at-a-naik-lecture-in-the-maldives/

by jaskaw @ 02.06.2010 - 08:22:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/02/violent-mob-demands-beheading-of-a-man-who-publicly-renounces-islam-in-ma
Feedback for Post "Violent mob demands beheading of a
man who publicly renounces Islam in Maldives"

Lurker111 [Visitor]

02.06.2010 @ 16:42
"north Asian" ?

I think they meant north Indian Ocean.

Saudi religious police probe MTV programme for
'sin'
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10216116.stm

"Saudi Arabia's religious police are investigating three young Saudis who challenged the country's strict laws
in a TV programme.
The two men and a woman were featured in a MTV documentary talking about how they wanted to subvert
the Islamic laws of the country."
---
In the programme - called Resist the Power! Saudi Arabia - a girl named only as Fatimah told how she
disguised herself as a boy to ride a bicycle in the streets of Jeddah.
--
"An official at a court in Jeddah said the films were being investigated for the crimes of "openly declaring sin"
and a decision would be made on whether to prosecute in the next few days, Reuters reported."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10216116.stm

by jaskaw @ 02.06.2010 - 17:03:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/02/saudi-religious-police-probe-mtv-programme-for-sin-8720527/
Intelligent design to be taught in Queensland
schools in Australia
Read more at:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/intelligent-design-to-be-taught-in-queensland-schools-under-national

by Carly Hennessy
"CREATIONISM and intelligent design will be taught in Queensland state schools for the first time as part of
the new national curriculum.
---
In Queensland schools, creationism will be offered for discussion in the subject of ancient history, under the
topic of "controversies".
---
Griffith University humanities lecturer Paul Williams said it was important to be cautious about such content.
"It's important that education authorities are vigilant that this is not a blank cheque to push theological
barrows," Mr Williams said.
"I would be loath to see it taught as theory.
"It's up there with the world being occupied by aliens since Roswell."

Read more at:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/intelligent-design-to-be-taught-in-queensland-schools-under-national

by jaskaw @ 03.06.2010 - 20:28:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/03/intelligent-design-to-be-taught-in-queensland-schools-in-australia-8728710/
Joke of the day: Iran denouces European
'intolerance' in issues concerning allowed clothing
These two pieces of news appeared funnily enough today side by side here:
http://www.realite-eu.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=9dJBLLNkGiF&b=2279101&ct=8424299

Iranian authorities step up arrests of women for 'immodest' dress

Iranian authorities have begun police patrols in the capital to arrest women wearing clothes deemed improper.
The campaign against loose-fitting veils and other signs of modernism comes as government opponents are
calling for rallies to mark the anniversary of the disputed presidential election, and critics of the crackdown
say it is stoking feelings of discontent. But hard-liners say that improper veiling is a "security issue" and that
"loose morality" threatens the core of the Islamic republic.

Iran denounces European 'intolerance' over burqa

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday denounced European "intolerance" towards the
Islamic veil, as France and Belgium move towards banning the burqa in public. "We think this is an example
of the intolerance that exists in Europe" regarding Muslims, Mottaki told a press conference during a visit to
Brussels.

Read more at:

http://www.realite-eu.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=9dJBLLNkGiF&b=2279101&ct=8424299

by jaskaw @ 03.06.2010 - 21:48:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/03/joke-of-the-day-iran-denouces-european-intolerance-in-issues-concerning-allow
Vampire fascination has religious roots, scholar
says
Read more at:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/06/vampires-twilight-stephenie-meyer-bree-catholic/1

"Dying to sink your teeth into the latest vampire novel in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, The Short
Second Life of Bree Tanner? Thank the saints for the vampires who star in Meyer's fiction.
At least that's the theory of scholar David Keyworth, who did his doctoral research in unnatural history,
focusing vampires and the undead.
In the newest Journal of Religious History, Keyworth, author of a book called Troublesome Corpses:
Vampires and Revenants from Antiquity to the Present, focuses on

... the medieval notion that the Devil might reanimate a corpse and pretend to be the deceased, for example,
the post-mortem effects of excommunication, and the incorruptibility of deceased saints and martyrs. In
particular, I focus upon the vampires of eighteenth-century Europe...

Read more at:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/06/vampires-twilight-stephenie-meyer-bree-catholic/1

The book is at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Troublesome-Corpses-Vampires-Revenants-Antiquity/dp/1905328303

by jaskaw @ 04.06.2010 - 18:34:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/04/vampire-fascination-has-religious-roots-scholar-says-8735207/
Dominican priest wants church painting removed
because ’angels look gayˈ
Read more at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/292901

"Santo Domingo - A Catholic priest at a Dominican Republic resort town wants to destroy artwork in his
parish because the painting shows angels with ːa homosexual expressionə. This confuses the faithful, he
argues.
The painting named "Allegory of the Virgin of Carmen," was concluded 12 years ago by Dominican artist
Roberto Flores. The artwork adorns the interior of the church of ːOur Lady of Carmenə in the mountain
community of Jarabacoa, an agricultural and tourist center located in the Dominican Republic.
---
The priest argues that the church congregation feels uncomfortable by the painting and that the mural does not
inspire religious sentiments because the angels there depicted have a ːdiabolical, homosexual lookə in their
faces. Further, he contends that it is not clear whether the angels are male or female."

Read more at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/292901

by jaskaw @ 04.06.2010 - 19:57:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/04/dominican-priest-wants-church-painting-removed-because-angels-look-gay-8735
Antievolution bills in South Carolina die
Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/06/antievolution-bills-die-south-carolina-005558

"Two antievolution bills, Senate Bill 873 and Senate Bill 875, died in committee when the South Carolina
legislature adjourned on June 3, 2010. Both bills were introduced on May 21, 2009, and referred to the Senate
Education Committee, where they apparently never received a hearing.
Both bills were sponsored by Senator Michael Fair (R-District 6), who spearheaded a number of previous
antievolution efforts in South Carolina. With respect to his 2003 attempt to establish a committee to
"determine whether alternatives to evolution as the origin of species should be offered in schools," the
Greenville News (May 1, 2003) reported that Fair "said his intention is to show that Intelligent Design is a
viable scientific alternative that should be taught in the public schools."

Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/06/antievolution-bills-die-south-carolina-005558

by jaskaw @ 04.06.2010 - 23:56:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/04/antievolution-bills-in-south-carolina-die-8736711/
The Beauty of Skepticism (video)

notinmyname2050 writes; ō A quick answer to anyone who thinks that science steals the wonder from the
world around it.

Please take the time to check out my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/notinmyname2050

Audio:
Albert Einstein - on the scientific method
Richard Feynman - on scientific honesty
Carl Sagan - on the importance of skepticism
Dawkins - On Life

YouTubers who made cameo appearances:

Bewarethe lizards42
http://www.youtube.com/user/Bewarethe...
Widgetas
http://www.youtube.com/user/Widgetas
Devchelle2
http://www.youtube.com/user/devchelle2
LatumWay
http://www.youtube.com/user/LatumWay
NellieDiddle
http://www.youtube.com/user/NellieDiddle
SpiritKeeper
http://www.youtube.com/user/SpiritKeeper

Music:
Eternal Hope - (if someone can tell me the composer I'd appreciate it)
Gassenhauer - Carl Orff
by jaskaw @ 05.06.2010 - 00:51:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/04/the-beauty-of-skepticism-video-8736886/
Test Supports Universal Common Ancestor for All
Life
Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=universal-common-ancestor

"Was it not already obvious, from the discovery and deciphering of DNA, that all life forms are descended
from a single common organismōor at least a basal species? No, says Douglas Theobald, an assistant
professor of biochemistry of Brandeis University and author of the new study, detailed in the May 13 issue of
Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) In fact, he says, "When I went into it, I
really didn't know what the answer would be."
Despite the difficulties of formally testing evolutionōespecially back across the eons to the emergence of life
itselfōTheobald was able to run rigorous statistical analyses on the amino acid sequences in 23 universally
conserved proteins across the three major divisions of life (eukaryotes, bacteria and archaea). By plugging
these sequences into various relational and evolutionary models, he found that a universal common ancestor is
at least 10^2,860 more likely to have produced the modern-day protein sequence variances than even the next
most probable scenario (involving multiple separate ancestors).*
---
Theobald says his most surprising results were "how strongly they support common ancestry." Rather than
being disappointed about simply backing up a long-held assumption, he says that at least, "it's always nice to
know that we're on the right track."
These findings do not mean that a universal common ancestor establishes the "tree of life" pattern for early
evolutionary dynamics. Nor, however, do they infer a "web of life" structure. The tree versus web debate
remains "very controversial right now in evolutionary biology," Theobald says, reluctant to pick a side
himself. "

Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=universal-common-ancestor

by jaskaw @ 05.06.2010 - 10:29:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/05/test-supports-universal-common-ancestor-for-all-life-8738119/
A teenage Jehovah's Witness dies after refusing
blood transfusion in Birminghan
Read more at:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Jehovahs-Witness-Teenager-Refuses-Blood-Transfusion-Joshua-McAu

"A teenage Jehovah's Witness crushed by a car when it smashed into a shop has died after apparently rejecting
a blood transfusion on religious grounds.
Joshua McAuley was airlifted to hospital with leg and abdominal injuries after the crash, in which he was
pinned against a wall.
But the 15-year-old is thought to have told doctors at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital he did not want a vital
blood transfusion."

Read more at:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Jehovahs-Witness-Teenager-Refuses-Blood-Transfusion-Joshua-McAu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witness

by jaskaw @ 05.06.2010 - 19:43:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/05/a-teenage-jehovah-s-witness-dies-after-refusing-blood-transfusion-in-birminghan
Feedback for Post "A teenage Jehovah's Witness dies after
refusing blood transfusion in Birminghan"

Bruce [Visitor]

05.06.2010 @ 21:59
One less idiot in the world?

| Show subcomments
visitor [Visitor]

29.07.2010 @ 12:53
bruce i hope all ur family dies and see how it feels, such a heartless fool

Christine [Visitor]

06.06.2010 @ 16:18
Such useless death.

Denise [Visitor]

06.06.2010 @ 17:47
I think it is interesting that they tout that he died because he refused a blood transfusion and not to the fact that
he had severe abdominal and lower extremity injuries because of being pinned to a wall with an automobile.
Those injuries were so severe that he had to be AIRLIFTED to the hospital. Also, it is never the headline of
people that die from actually receiving a blood transfusion.

People don't want the facts, they just use buzz words to get attention and cause people to flame at one another
without getting the facts first. The truth is "The Truth, You can't handle the Truth!"

Pitiful

Denise [Visitor]

06.06.2010 @ 17:58
In addition here is an additional link:

A hospital, congressman and the military supporting bloodless care as the acceptable standard:

http://www.themarketingbeast.net/577/bloodless-medicine-military-doctors-to-learn-the-procedures-subtitles/

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
06.06.2010 @ 19:17
Denise, how many people have really dies BECAUSE of receiving of blood transfusion and how many have
been saved with them? I think the first figure just could very small and the second extremely large, as blood
transfusions save lives every single day in every single country of the world.
How many people have died because of seat belts in the cars and how many have been saved because of
them? There really people who have drowned in cars that have dropped in water, but I would never suggest
that we should stop wearing them because of that, as millions of lives have been saved with them already.

Blood Transfusion [Visitor]

http://www.ohiohealth.com/bodygrant.cfm?id=4851
26.08.2010 @ 19:28
Quite a shame, not taking advantage of the options that are available.
Seven Baha'i leaders in court in Iran
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/12/Iran.bahai.trial/index.html

(CNN) -- Seven leaders of Iran's Baha'i minority went on trial in Tehran Tuesday accused of spying for Israel,
a charge their supporters say is motivated by religious discrimination.
The seven -- two women and five men -- are also accused of spreading propaganda against the Islamic
republic and committing religious offenses, charges that can carry the death penalty.
"We understand that no observers were allowed in the court," said Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International
Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
---
The Baha'is say believers in Iran are victims of systematic discrimination and targets of violence."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/12/Iran.bahai.trial/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahai

by jaskaw @ 06.06.2010 - 22:30:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/06/seven-baha-i-leaders-in-court-in-iran-8746845/
Bangladesh opens Facebook after it caves in to
Muslim demands
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10247858.stm

"Bangladesh has unblocked Facebook after officials said the US-based website had agreed to remove
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and "obnoxious" images of the country's leaders.
Dhaka blocked the site a week ago, angered by the content.
Last month Pakistan briefly blocked all access to Facebook in the run-up to "Everybody Draw Muhammad
Day" - a contest planned by some users."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10247858.stm

by jaskaw @ 07.06.2010 - 17:18:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/07/bangladesh-opens-facebook-after-it-caves-in-to-muslim-demands-8752194/
Bertrand Russell - Why I Am Not a Christian
(audio)
Why I Am Not a Christian, part 1

Why I Am Not a Christian, part 2

Why I Am Not a Christian, part 3

Why I Am Not a Christian, part 4

Originally a talk given March 6, 1927 at Battersea Town Hall, under the auspices of the South London Branch
of the National Secular Society, it was published that year as a pamphlet and was later published, with other
essays, in the book, Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bertrand-Russell/86711477873?ref=ts

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 ʒ 2 February 1970), was a British
philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social reformer, and pacifist. Although he spent the majority
of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.
Russell led the British "revolt against Idealism" in the early 1900s and is considered one of the founders of
analytic philosophy along with his protégé Wittgenstein and his elder Frege. He co-authored, with A. N.
Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On
Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy." Both works have had a considerable influence on
logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics and analytic philosophy.
He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism. Russell
was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, for nuclear
disarmament, criticised Soviet totalitarianism and the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam
War.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant
writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.
by jaskaw @ 08.06.2010 - 11:10:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/08/bertrand-russell-why-i-am-not-a-christian-audio-8757616/
A new victory for gender-apartheid in Iran: Iran's
first women-only bank opens
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65622320100607?tr=y&auid=6453716

Reuters) "Iran's first women-only bank branch opened Monday, allowing women to manage their finances
without dealing with unrelated men -- something likely to appeal to religious families who oppose mingling
between the sexes.
Under sharia, the Islamic legal system imposed after Iran's 1979 revolution, unrelated men and women are
forbidden to have intimate contact.
---
In recent years women-only taxis, with female drivers, have become available in some Iranian cities, as well
as public gardens where men are not allowed.
Buses in Iran are segregated, with women sitting at the back.
A local judiciary official said last month that the maximum fine for breaching the Islamic dress code -- which
decrees that women must cover their hair and wear long shapeless coats -- was 13 million rials (over $1,300)."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65622320100607?tr=y&auid=6453716

by jaskaw @ 08.06.2010 - 13:32:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/08/a-new-victory-for-gender-apartheid-iran-s-first-women-only-bank-opens-875842
Your Miracles Wont Do It - Cristopher Hitchens
(video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist. His books,
essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual, and a
staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity
Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets.
Hitchens is an atheist and has been identified as being an exponent of the "new atheism" movement. Hitchens
is a secular humanist and anti-theist,[5] and describes himself as a believer in the philosophical values of the
Age of Enlightenment. His main argument is that the concept of God or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief
that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion,
which inhibits these things, as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. Hitchens wrote at
length on atheism and the nature of religion in the 2007 book god Is Not Great.
Hitchens is known for his ardent admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, and also
for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Henry Kissinger, among others.
These views, often stylized as contrarian, along with his argumentative and confrontational style of debate and
writing, have made him both a lauded and controversial figure. The San Francisco Chronicle referred to
Hitchens as a "gadfly with gusto".[6] In 2009 Hitchens was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the "25 most
influential liberals in the U.S. media."[7] However, the same article noted that he would "likely be aghast to
find himself on this list", since it reduces his self-styled radicalism to mere liberalism."

by jaskaw @ 09.06.2010 - 00:49:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/08/your-miracles-wont-do-it-cristopher-hitchens-8763090/
No, Adolf Hitler was not an atheist

"I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 2

"Even today I am not ashamed to say that, overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and
thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this
time."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 5

"Once again the songs of the fatherland roared to the heavens along the endless marching columns, and for the
last time the Lord's grace smiled on His ungrateful children."

- Adolf Hitler reflecting on World War I, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1, Chapter 7

"What we have to fight for is the necessary security for the existence and increase of our race and people, the
subsistence of its children and the maintenance of our racial stock unmixed, the freedom and independence of
the Fatherland; so that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the Creator."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 8

"But if out of smugness, or even cowardice, this battle is not fought to its end, then take a look at the peoples
five hundred years from now. I think you will find but few images of God, unless you want to profane the
Almighty."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 10

"This human world of ours would be inconceivable without the practical existence of a religious belief. The
great masses of a nation are not composed of philosophers. For the masses of the people, especially faith is
absolutely the only basis of a moral outlook on life. The various substitutes that have been offered have not
shown any results that might warrant us in thinking that they might usefully replace the existing
denominations. ...There may be a few hundreds of thousands of superior men who can live wisely and
intelligently without depending on the general standards that prevail in everyday life, but the millions of
others cannot do so."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 10

"In short, the results of miscegenation are always the following: (a) The level of the superior race becomes
lowered; (b) physical and mental degeneration sets in, thus leading slowly but steadily towards a progressive
drying up of the vital sap. The act which brings about such a development is a sin against the will of the
Eternal Creator. And as a sin this act will be avenged."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 11

"Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent
creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 1

"Thus inwardly armed with confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the
politicians can begin the fight for the 'remaking' of the Reich as they call it."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 1

"It doesn't dawn on this depraved bourgeois world that this is positively a sin against all reason; that it is
criminal lunacy to keep on drilling a born half-ape until people think they have made a lawyer out of him,
while millions of members of the highest culture-race must remain in entirely unworthy positions; that it is a
sin against the will of the Eternal Creator if His most gifted beings by the hundreds and hundreds of thousands
are allowed to degenerate in the present proletarian morass, while Hottentots and Zulu Kaffirs are trained for
intellectual professions."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 2

"That this is possible may not be denied in a world where hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people
voluntarily submit to celibacy, obligated and bound by nothing except the injunction of the Church. Should
the same renunciation not be possible if this injunction is replaced by the admonition finally to put an end to
the constant and continuous original sin of racial poisoning, and to give the Almighty Creator beings such as
He Himself created?"

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 2

"The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people
stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be
desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His
work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will."

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf Vol. 2 Chapter 10

"To do justice to God and our own conscience, we have turned once more to the German Volk."

- Adolf Hitler in speech about the need for a moral regeneration of German, February 10, 1933

"The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgment of the
National Socialist state by the Catholic Church. This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally
that the assertion that National Socialism is hostile to religion is a lie."

- Adolf Hitler, speech to members of the Nazi Party on the Nazi-Vatican Concordant, July 22, 1933

"May divine providence bless us with enough courage and enough determination to perceive within ourselves
this holy German space."

- Adolf Hitler, Speech, March 24, 1933

"We don't ask the Almighty, 'Lord, make us free!" We want to be active, to work, to work together, so that
when the hour comes that we appear before the Lord we can say to him: 'Lord, you see that we have changed.'
The German people is no longer a people of dishonor and shame, of self-destructiveness and cowardice. No,
Lord, the German people is once more strong in spirit, strong in determination, strong in the willingness to
bear every sacrifice. Lord, now bless our battle and our freedom, and therefore our German people and
fatherland."

- Adolf Hitler, Prayer, May 1, 1933

"I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting
for the Lord's work."

- Adolf Hitler, Speech, Reichstag, 1936

Source: http://atheism.about.com/od/adolfhitlernazigermany/tp/AdolfHitlerReligiousFaith.htm

More on the issue: http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/10/02/were-nazis-atheists-4813530/

and
http://1phil4everyill.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/appendix-c-the-relationship-between-the-roman-church-and-national-s

by jaskaw @ 09.06.2010 - 11:08:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/09/no-adolf-hitler-was-not-an-atheist-8765579/
Feedback for Post "No, Adolf Hitler was not an atheist"

4theist [Visitor]
http://twitter.com/4theist
09.06.2010 @ 14:56
Wow. What does Godwin's Law say about this?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
09.06.2010 @ 19:17
For the Godwin Law to work the fact that Adolf Hitler was a not an atheist makes no difference:

"Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's law of Nazi Analogies)is a
humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an
online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."

Godwin's law is often cited in online discussions as a deterrent against the use of arguments in the widespread
reductio ad Hitlerum form. The rule does not make any statement about whether any particular reference or
comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that the likelihood of such a
reference or comparison arising increases as the discussion progresses. In fact, the likelihood of any
comparison arising increases with time. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes
be appropriate, Godwin has argued[4] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided,
because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.

Although in one of its early forms Godwin's law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[5] the
law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms,
and more recently blog comment threads, wiki talk pages, and social networking sites."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
09.06.2010 @ 23:53
All Humanistic and Atheistic organizations were forbidden in Germany 1933, but not a single Christian
official organization was never harmed during his whole reign.
Individual Christians were targeted, if they were causing trouble, as were targeted all other individuals of any
creed who caused trouble to the system, but stark fact is that Christians were never persecuted for their faith in
the Nazi Germany.
Religious organizations were permitted to continue their work to the last weeks, as nothing had happened.
On the other hand in a speech in year 1933 Hitler declared: "We have… undertaken the fight against the
atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."
The prewar great freethinking movement of Germany was crushed without leaving a trace, when church bells
were rung to rejoice the victories of the Fatherland.
Among the chairmen of German Freethinkers League was Max Sievers, who was beheaded at the guillotine
by the Nazis in 1944.
The German Freethinkers League had by 1930 a membership numbering around 500,000. The League was
closed down, however, in the Spring of 1933 when Hitler outlawed all atheistic and freethinking groups in
Germany. 'Freethinkers Hall', the national headquarters of the League, was then converted to a bureau
advising the public on church matters.
Russian Orthodox Church wants end to Darwin
school "monopoly"
Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE6584JX20100609

(Reuters) "The Russian Orthodox Church called Wednesday for an end to the "monopoly of Darwinism" in
Russian schools, saying religious explanations of creation should be taught alongside evolution.
Liberals said they would fight efforts to include religious teaching in schools. Russia's dominant church has
experienced a revival in recent years, worrying rights groups who say its power is undermining the country's
secular constitution.
"The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts
religion. These ideas should be left in the past," senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said at a lecture
in Moscow."

Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE6584JX20100609

by jaskaw @ 09.06.2010 - 23:15:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/09/russian-orthodox-church-wants-end-to-darwin-school-monopoly-8770065/
"It takes money, a medical miracle, and a
compelling vita to make it as a saint today"
Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2255232/

By James Verini
"Today, the Vatican is busier than ever minting new saints. John Paul II canonized more than all the popes of
the five centuries before him combinedōover 130 in his 25 years, says the Vatican siteōand his successor,
Benedict, is now besting his per annum rate. Shrewd in the calculus of worship, John Paul recognized that the
canon could be a boon to the perpetuation of Catholicism in an era of increasing secularism, just as martyrs'
cults had been to its early spread among polytheists and Jews. The former playwright's dramaturgical instincts
told him people just like saints. They may not like their priests and bishops, nor indeed the pope, and they
may not care to read Deuteronomy. But they enjoy their saints, even when they knowōmaybe because they
knowōthat not all saints deserve to be saints."

Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2255232/

by jaskaw @ 10.06.2010 - 00:12:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/09/it-takes-money-a-medical-miracle-and-a-compelling-vita-to-make-it-as-a-saint-t
Iran today: "Anyone who is found guilty of
moharebeh can expect to receive the death
penalty"
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,699868-2,00.html

Der Spiegel special:

"Daily Life in Iran, One Year after the Uprising"

"Mohammad Mostafaei, the attorney. My week begins before the revolutionary court. I have to defend a
woman who is accused of moharebeh or "war against God." That's a euphemism our prosecutors use to
describe activities critical of the government. Anyone who is found guilty of moharebeh can expect to receive
the death penalty. My client is shaking all over when she is brought before the court. The judge seems kind
enough, and tries to calm her down. "No one should be afraid of a judge," he says. But Sainab has every
reason to be afraid. Her husband and his cousin were sentenced to death by the same 15th chamber of the
court.
Their entire "crime" entailed their having been in contact with a member of a monarchist group. Sainab
allegedly knew about her husband's activities. That too can be sufficient to receive a death sentence.
Women with a political background who come before the revolutionary court aren't the only ones who must
fear for their lives. All it takes, sometimes, is for a man to accuse them of adultery. Then they can be
prosecuted, and the trial can end with a stoning sentence. I was able to save defendants from this death on 10
occasions."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,699868-2,00.html

"Stop the medieval cruelty in Iran, Stop the human rights abuses in Iran." Take part in Facebook at
http://www.causes.com/causes/111694

by jaskaw @ 10.06.2010 - 20:03:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/10/iran-today-anyone-who-is-found-guilty-of-moharebeh-can-expect-to-receive-the
Christian right group tries to kill Comedy Central
show about Jesus
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/147148/christian_right_group_tries_to_kill_comedy_central_show_about_jesus

June 11, 2010 |

"A new organization has been formed by the US religious right to attack a program that hasn't yet reached
pilot stage. JC, a Comedy Central cartoon about Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York, does not have
a completed script, but Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (Carb) are calling on advertisers to force the
channel to abort it.
Carb, starchier than your average lobbyists, are particularly exercised by the contrast with the way Comedy
Central backed down on airing scenes involving Muhammad in South Park, fearing violence. "Does that
indicate that Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy?" asked the talk show host and Carb
Michael Medved."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/147148/christian_right_group_tries_to_kill_comedy_central_show_about_jesus

by jaskaw @ 11.06.2010 - 11:22:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/11/christian-right-group-tries-to-kill-comedy-central-show-about-jesus-8781296/
Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?
Read more at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788

---
"Much to my surprise, the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than
those in the Bible," Jenkins says.
Philip Jenkins is a professor at Penn State University and author of two books dealing with the issue: the
recently published Jesus Wars, and Dark Passages , which has not been published but is already drawing
controversy.
--
There is a specific kind of warfare laid down in the Bible which we can only call genocide."
It is called herem, and it means total annihilation. Consider the Book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King
Saul to attack the Amalekites: "And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them," God says
through the prophet Samuel. "But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel
and donkey."
When Saul failed to do that, God took away his kingdom.
"In other words," Jenkins says, "Saul has committed a dreadful sin by failing to complete genocide. And that
passage echoes through Christian history. It is often used, for example, in American stories of the
confrontation with Indians ō not just is it legitimate to kill Indians, but you are violating God's law if you do
not."

Read more at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788

by jaskaw @ 11.06.2010 - 16:25:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/11/is-the-bible-more-violent-than-the-quran-8783325/
Feedback for Post " Is The Bible More Violent Than The
Quran?"

learning quran [Visitor]

http://www.learningquranonline.com
16.06.2010 @ 21:47
quran is the ward of success for the Muslims we just need guidance from it and realize i hope we do that
German study shows: "Muslim boys more violent
if pious"
Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/muslim-boys-more-violent-if-piou.html

"A new German study shows that boys growing up in pious Muslim families are more likely to be violent.
The study, which involved intensive questioning of 45,000 teenagers from 61 towns and regions across the
country, was conducted by Christian Pfeiffer of the criminal research institute of Lower Saxony.
---
The results showed that Muslim boys from immigrant families were more than twice as likely to agree with
macho statements than boys from Christian immigrant families. The rate was highest among those considered
as very religious, Pfeiffer said. They were also more likely to be using violent computer games and have
criminal friends.
Added to that, the more religious Muslim boys felt the least integrated into German society, with only 14.5
percent of the very religious Turkish boys (the largest group of Muslims in the study) saying they felt
German, although 88.5 percent had been born there.
Pfeiffer said he thought the responsibility for the macho culture lay with Imams in Germany, who he said
usually come from abroad and often cannot speak German or have much understanding of the culture. ːWe
have to prevent attempts at integration from being destroyed by Imams who preach Turkish provincial stories
and a reactionary male image,ə said Pfeiffer. He concluded that Germans should reconsider how they treat
Muslims, noting that there had been a damaging loss of trust since the September 11 attacks in 2001."

Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/muslim-boys-more-violent-if-piou.html

by jaskaw @ 11.06.2010 - 16:47:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/11/german-study-shows-muslim-boys-more-violent-if-pious-8783461/
Iran will use 1,5 billion to dollars promote ːmoral
conduct"
Read more at:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/590249-iran-to-intensify-curbs-on-clothing-citing-islamic-values

"Iran has set aside $1.5 billion to promote ːmoral conduct,ə including enforcement of its dress code for
women, ːto solve the cultural and social illsə in society, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said on
May 10.
His comments followed the introduction of a code of conduct at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences that
bans loud laughter, nail polish, high heels and immodest clothing for women and men."

Read more at:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/590249-iran-to-intensify-curbs-on-clothing-citing-islamic-values

by jaskaw @ 12.06.2010 - 02:00:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/12/iran-will-use-1-5-billion-to-dollars-promote-moral-conduct-8785960/
Why Evolution is True: Interview with Jerry Coyne

Jerry Allen Coyne (born 1949) is an American professor of biology, known for his commentary on the
intelligent design debate. He is currently a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of
Ecology and Evolution. His concentration is speciation and ecological and evolutionary genetics, particularly
as they involve Drosophila.
Coyne was valedictorian of his class (1971) at the College of William & Mary and received a Ph.D. in
Biology from Harvard University, an NIH postdoc in genetics at UC Davis, and a 1989 Guggenheim
fellowship. At Harvard, Coyne studied under Richard Lewontin, who sponsored his doctoral degree. He has
served as Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution (1996) and as Associate Editor of Evolution
(1985-1988; 1994-2000) and The American Naturalist (1990-1993). He currently teaches evolutionary
biology, speciation, genetic analysis, social issues and scientific knowledge, and scientific speaking and
writing.
His work is widely published, not only in scientific journals, but also in such mainstream venues as The New
York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and The New Republic. His research interests include
population and evolutionary genetics, speciation, ecological and quantitative genetics, chromosome evolution,
and sperm competition.
Coyne is a critic of creationism including intelligent design, which he calls "the latest pseudoscientific
incarnation of religious creationism, cleverly crafted by a new group of enthusiasts to circumvent recent legal
restrictions."

by jaskaw @ 12.06.2010 - 02:33:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/12/why-evolution-is-true-interview-with-jerry-coyne-8785993/
Feedback for Post "Why Evolution is True: Interview with
Jerry Coyne "

Vogon Poet [Visitor]

12.06.2010 @ 18:16
How come there are legions of super-intelligent, well educated and literate guys like Coyne in the US, but all
legislative bodies are populated by a.holes?
Not Knocking on Heavenˈs Door: Black Atheists,
Urban America
Read more at: http://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/black-atheists/

---
Since 2006, the L.A.-based street philosopher Jeffrey ːP Funkə Mitchell has been documenting his
conversations with everyday folk on questions of atheism and faith. Using the handle ːAtheist Walking,ə
Mitchell also conducts free-ranging inquiries into Christianityˈs contradictions with a rolling video camera
and a satirically raised eyebrow.
Adopting the role of the bemused urban flaneur, ala the commentator- pedestrian immortalized by French poet
Charles Baudelaire, he delves into ːatheist spirituality,ə biblical literalism and the paradoxes of faith.
Mitchell is a member of the L.A.-based Black Skeptics, a group that was formed earlier this year to provide an
outlet and platform for secular humanist African Americans. The Skeptics are part of a small but growing
segment of African Americans who are searching for humanist alternatives to organized religion.
In May, the Washington DC Center for Inquiryˈs first annual African Americans for Humanism conference
drew over fifty participants. Chat groups and websites like the Black Atheists of America have sprung up to
accommodate the longing for community amongst non-theist African Americans who feel marginalized in a
sea of black hyper-religiosity. Organizations such as the Institute for Humanist Studies cultivate African
American secularist scholarship and advocacy.
---
Read more at: http://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/black-atheists/

by jaskaw @ 12.06.2010 - 23:32:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/12/not-knocking-on-heaven-s-door-black-atheists-urban-america-8790549/
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Islam is not a race but a set of
beliefs" (video)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Danish Television 3th of May 2010

Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Dutch intellectual, feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the estranged daughter of
the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic
of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death threats.

by jaskaw @ 12.06.2010 - 23:43:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/12/ayaan-hirsi-ali-islam-is-not-a-race-but-a-set-of-beliefs-video-8790613/
Feedback for Post "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Islam is not a race but
a set of beliefs" (video)"

Tony Harris [Visitor]

13.06.2010 @ 05:28
Thank you so very much! What has been discussed there is very important!

And I love the concision of the statement "Islam is not a race, it is a set of beliefs. To observe that that set of
beliefs is hostile to democracy -- hostile to freedom -- is not an opinion, it's a fact."

Jeanne OC [Visitor]

13.06.2010 @ 15:49
From what I've heard here, and what I've read that she's written, Ayaan Hirsi Ali seems to be saying that there
is only one Muslim belief system. I am no expert but I wonder how true that is. There are plenty of Jewish and
Christian groups, and many of them do not adhere strictly to what their Bible says - which is a good thing,
because the Bible says lots of things that we cannot condone in a liberal democracy. There are plenty of Jews
and Christians who take the idea of God with a grain of salt.

This is the problem I have with Hirsi Ali. She seems to want people to give up Islam altogether, as if there
were only one Islam - but based on what I've heard and on the few Muslims I've known, I suspect there are
many different interpretations of the Muslim belief system.

By analogy: among Catholics, there is a broad range of beliefs. Many - perhaps most - Catholics do not
simply take what the Pope says and incorporate it into their lives. Hirsi Ali implies that Muslims accept
whatever Saudi Arabia says as the one and only way to live, and I wonder if that is true world-wide. It may
well be true of her own culture, and her own brand of Islam. But I've encountered Muslims who do not hate
all Jews - to my surprise, quite frankly, since I am a (secular) Jew. And I've encountered Christians who think
I personally killed Jesus and should be executed.

I liked what Hirsi Ali said about looking at individuals, rather than at groups. But my impression is that she
herself is looking at Islam as one large group, rather than as a set of smaller groups which in turn are made up
of individuals. I worry that she is encouraging the sort of anti-brown-skin hatred that is rampant in the U.S.

Vogon Poet [Visitor]

13.06.2010 @ 18:07
Jeanne is advocating infinite flexibility: believe whatever you like & call yourself whatever you like. Mix &
match to maximize self-fulfillment.

Don't worry: you could not possibly have killed Jesus since he never existed and a nice brown skin is what all
of us blacks & whites want.
St. Petersburg Times exposes the cruel policies of
Scientology
Read more at: http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/#story_anchor

BY JOE CHILDS and THOMAS C. TOBIN, Times Staff Writers

Scientology leader David Miscavige is the focus of this special report from the St. Petersburg Times. Former
executives of the Church of Scientology, including two of the former top lieutenants to Miscavige, have come
forward to describe a culture of intimidation and violence under David Miscavige. These former Scientology
leaders served for years with Miscavige.
---
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1101759.ece
A St. Petersburg Times investigation found their experiences were not unique. More than a dozen women said
the culture in the Sea Org pushed them or women they knew to have abortions, in many cases, abortions they
did not want.
Some said colleagues and supervisors pressured them to abort their pregnancies and remain productive
workers without the distraction of raising children. Terminating a pregnancy and staying on the job affirmed
one's commitment to the all-important work of saving the planet.
----
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard created the Sea Org in 1967 while running his church aboard ships,
hence the maritime ranks and uniforms. Members sign billion-year contracts, symbolizing a commitment to
serve in this life and coming ones.
----
Church management canceled Family Day in 1987 and Family Time two years later. A 1991 policy change
said pregnant couples would be transferred not just to any community church but to one that was
"nonexpanding, small, distant.''
Today's ban on children in the Sea Org, issued in 1996, makes no mention of abortion. It says members
wanting children must leave.

Read more at: http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/#story_anchor

by jaskaw @ 13.06.2010 - 20:42:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/13/st-petersburg-times-exposes-the-cruel-policies-of-scientolgy-8795313/
Teacher fired for having premarital sex three
weeks before wedding in Florida
Read more at: http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/teacher_fired_for_having_premarital_sex

"Newlywed Jarretta Hamilton, an elementary school teacher in her late 30s at Southland Christian School in
Florida, went to her supervisors last year to be congratulated on her pregnancy and request maternity leave.
But things took an unexpected turn when administrators asked just when, exactly, did she conceive? Refusing
to bear false witnesses, Hamilton admitted to the prying busybodies that she had become pregnant three weeks
before her wedding day.
In response, Hamilton was fired for engaging in "fornication." Conveniently, this also meant that the school
was off the hook for paying maternity leave. Then, in an added insult and violation of Hamilton's privacy, her
premarital conception was made public to others in the school and parents."

Read more at: http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/teacher_fired_for_having_premarital_sex

by jaskaw @ 14.06.2010 - 20:45:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/14/teacher-fired-for-having-premarital-sex-three-weeks-before-wedding-in-florida-8
Over 70 women barred from boarding airplanes
because of 'improper dress' in Iran
Read more at:
http://business.maktoob.com/20090000480438/Iran_dress_code_bars_71_women_from_flights/Article.htm?tr=y&auid

TEHRAN - Seventy-one Iranian women "improperly" dressed were prevented from boarding flights in recent
months, an airport official said on Monday, as a police crackdown on the behaviour of young people
intensified.
Iranian airports security chief Nabiollah Heidari told ILNA news agency that "in the first 82 days of the
current Iranian year (which began on March 21), 71 women were barred from boarding flights because they
were improperly dressed."
"Their cases have been forwarded to the judiciary," he added.
---
Heidari also said that warnings were issued to 87,714 women during these 82 days for not covering their hair
properly, while 3,506 such women gave "commitments" that they would follow the Islamic dress code."

Read more at:

http://business.maktoob.com/20090000480438/Iran_dress_code_bars_71_women_from_flights/Article.htm?tr=y&auid

by jaskaw @ 15.06.2010 - 00:17:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/14/over-70-women-barred-from-boarding-airplanes-because-of-improper-dress-in-i
Feedback for Post "Over 70 women barred from boarding
airplanes because of 'improper dress' in Iran"

Vogon Poet [Visitor]

15.06.2010 @ 13:02
Would it not be simpler and more effective to apply Sharia law and stone all these women to death? That
would also help to reduce the earthquake risk.
New financial scandals hit the German Catholic
Church hard
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,700513,00.html

"The Catholic Church in Germany, already struggling to cope with the sex abuse scandal, has been hit by
revelations of theft, opaque accounting and extravagance. While the grassroots faithful are being forced to
make cutbacks, some bishops enjoy the trappings of the church's considerable hidden wealth.
---
More than ‫أ‬40 million have gone missing in the Diocese of Magdeburg in eastern Germany, ‫أ‬5 million have
disappeared in Limburg near Frankfurt, and it was recently discovered that a senior priest in the Diocese of
Münster had 30 secret bank accounts. And while parishes throughout Germany are cutting jobs and funds for
community work, many bishops are still living on the high horse. A brand-new residence? An ostentatious
home for their retirement? Restoration of a Marian column to the tune of ‫أ‬120,000?"

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,700513,00.html

by jaskaw @ 15.06.2010 - 02:01:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/15/new-financial-scandals-hit-the-german-catholic-church-hard-8806304/
Feedback for Post "New financial scandals hit the German
Catholic Church hard "

FedupwithR [Member]
15.06.2010 @ 20:32

Disgusting isn't it. You see how power corrupts. It's high time that governments stopped funding all these
different belief systems. What does a bishop, who already gets free housing and probably an expense account,
need 11,000 Euros a month for?
A Christian construction worker on a solo mission
to kill Osama bin Laden with a 40-inch knife and
pistol is held in Pakistan
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_bin_laden_hunter

ISLAMABAD ʒ An American man armed with a pistol and a 40-inch sword was detained in northern
Pakistan as he tried to cross the border into Afghanistan on a mission to avenge the 9-11 attacks and kill
Osama bin Laden, police said Tuesday.
Police said Gary Brooks Faulkner, a 51-year-old construction worker, was also carrying Christian literature
and a small amount of hashish.
Faulkner's sister, interviewed in Colorado, said her brother has polycystic kidney disease that has left him
with only 9 percent kidney function and needs dialysis.
---
She said her brother is "very religious" but declined to elaborate.
---
Faulkner allegedly told police he visited Pakistan seven times, and this was his third trip to Chitra."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_bin_laden_hunter

by jaskaw @ 15.06.2010 - 20:14:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/15/a-christian-contruction-worker-on-a-solo-mission-to-kill-osama-bin-laden-with-a
Mass demonstration against the Sharia Law in
London
Read more at: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2010/06/hundreds-will-be-demonstrating-in.html

"Hundreds will be demonstrating in London against Sharia and religious laws and in support of secularism
and universal rights on Sunday 20 June 2010. The rally organised by the One Law for All Campaign will be
held from 1400-1600 hours at Richmond Terrace junction with Whitehall opposite Downing Street (SW1A 2).
(Please note venue change from Trafalgar Square made by police; closest underground: Westminster.)
On the day, the Campaign will make public its new report entitled: Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One
Law for All and Equal Rights. In the report One Law for All outlines what Sharia law is, how it is practised in
Britain and exposes the way in which Sharia Councils and Muslim Arbitration Tribunals are circumventing
British law and human rights legislation. The report also reveals the gross injustices to women and children in
particular and reiterates the need to end Sharia and all religious courts on the basis that they work against, and
not for, equality and human rights.
After the One Law for All rally, there will be a march organised by Iran Solidarity from 1600-1700 hours."

Read more at: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2010/06/hundreds-will-be-demonstrating-in.html

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53208757633

http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/

by jaskaw @ 15.06.2010 - 20:56:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/15/mass-demonstration-against-the-sharia-law-in-london-8811562/
Blast from the past: James Randi exposes Uri
Geller and Peter Popoff

"James Randi is a leader in the skeptical community who has been debunking paranormal and supernatural
claims for most of his life. A magician himself James Randi is excellent at exposing the frauds that make up
the paranormal and psychic communities. He offers a one million prize to anyone who can prove a paranormal
claim scientifically and to this day nobody has won the money. Sylvia Browne has been ducking him for quite
some time."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Geller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff

Video by RationalResponse: http://www.rationalresponders.com/james_randi_debunking_the_paranormal

by jaskaw @ 15.06.2010 - 21:43:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/15/blast-from-the-past-james-randi-exposes-uri-geller-and-peter-popoff-8811971/
Let's make it a religion ! (video)

The maker of this video "ZOMGitsCriss" writes in June 15, 2010:

"Second Chapter of my audio-book "The Unreasonable God" : http://tinyurl.com/35pb4so
If you would like to support it with paypal donations : http://tinyurl.com/ZOMGitsCriss-paypal
You can listen to the rest of it here :
http://soundcloud.com/zomgitscriss
Let's make Atheism a religion cos I wanna be a cult leader and such, fo' real !
Btw ...it's my birthday and I dance if I want to ;)"

ZOMGitsCriss in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ZOMGitsCriss

by jaskaw @ 16.06.2010 - 18:58:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/16/let-s-make-it-a-religion-video-8816911/
Iraqi Kurds pressed to finally ban the female
genital mutilation
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10327619.stm

"Human Rights Watch has called on authorities in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan to ban the
practice of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM).
A report issued by the group on Wednesday said the practice was widespread in Iraqi Kurdistan, and was
having a harmful effect on the physical and emotional health of many women.
It called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to enact legislation to ban the practice on young girls
or unconsenting adult women.
---
One survey carried out early last year by the KRG's Human Rights Ministry suggested that 40% of girls and
young women had undergone the procedure in the Chamchamal area, between Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10327619.stm

by jaskaw @ 16.06.2010 - 19:09:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/16/iraqi-kurds-pressed-to-finally-ban-the-female-genital-mutilation-8816959/
Everybody bake a Jesus day on 3th of July
Take part in the event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125206850848936&ref=mf

"Saturday the third of July is Everybody Bake Jesus Day!

The purpose of this event is to celebrate freedom of speech and expression, in light of a recent incident
involving an assault on our fundamental right to a well-cooked Jesus. Javier Krahe, a musician from Spain,
has been charged with blasphemy in the Mediterranean country, simply because of a benign and victimless act
of self-indulgence committed over 3 decades ago. Krahe made a satirical home video in 1978, in which he
oven-baked a properly seasoned statue of Jesus that he pulled off a crucifix. A few frames from this 54 second
video clip were shown on Spanish TV more recently and the Catholic church went all batshit crazy over it.
Now, Krahe could end up paying a fine of up to 192,000 euros.
Support free speech by baking Jesus in your favorite cake, cookie, pie, pastry, whatever. Have a barbecue and
bake Jesus shaped pork ribs. If you're vegan, bake a tofu Jesus. Maybe you'd like to get together with your
friend Jesus from next door and do some 'baking' together. If you cannot actually bake anything for want of
hardware or cooking skills, do something else creative. Make a video or design a graphic. Whichever way you
choose to participate, join the rest of us on Saturday the third of July, and share your ideas by posting them on
facebook!"

Take part in the event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125206850848936&ref=mf

More info:
http://rinzewind.org/archives/2010/05/21/spanish-songwriter-javier-krahe-taken-to-court-for-offending-religious-feelin

by jaskaw @ 17.06.2010 - 02:07:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/17/everybody-bake-a-jesus-day-on-3th-of-july-8819231/
Feedback for Post "Everybody bake a Jesus day on 3th of
July "

n99 [Visitor]

03.07.2010 @ 01:47
Bake Jesus Day video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QhAvTNXMuA

Image:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6618/cakehh.jpg
Ultra-Orthodox Jew: 'I don't want my daughter to
be educated with a girl who has a TV at home'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10338900.stm

"Thousands of Israeli police have been deployed in Jerusalem ahead of planned protests by ultra-Orthodox
Jews who are angry about a school segregation row.
Some 80 Ashkenazi parents face jail for defying a court ruling that forces them to send their daughters to
school with Sephardi girls of Middle East origin.
The Ashkenazi parents, who are of European descent, want segregated classrooms because they say Sephardi
families are not religious enough.
----
"There is a set of rules (in the ultra-Orthodox community). We don't want televisions in the home, there are
rules of modesty, we are against the internet," Mr Litzman was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"I don't want my daughter to be educated with a girl who has a TV at home."

by jaskaw @ 17.06.2010 - 16:20:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/17/ultra-orthodox-jew-i-don-t-want-my-daughter-to-be-educated-with-a-girl-who-h
Feedback for Post "Ultra-Orthodox Jew: 'I don't want my
daughter to be educated with a girl who has a TV at home'"

Vogon Poet [Visitor]

17.06.2010 @ 18:24
This is great. Normally we spend all our time laughing at the stupidity & intolerance of Islam & Christianity,
but now we see how bad it can be in Judaism.

Two issues always intrigued me about the Jews:

1. If they were one of the dominant tribes in the Middle East 3-4000 years ago & invented monotheism, why
is there only about 15 million of them now, whereas there are hundreds of millions of followers for each of
the 2 later concoctions of their theist idea?

2. Given that there are so few of them, why have they made such an extraordinary contribution to science and
to other intellectual fields?

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
17.06.2010 @ 21:08

Those who have made a contribution to science were/are certainly not religious fundamentalists who,like their
Islamic equivalents, contribute only more of themselves.
According to Wiki, Jewish population is 12-18 million.
2000 years of Pogroms may have kept their numbers low.
Like the Chinese, they have a great respect for learning which must help but my guess is that they also benefit,
as do the Chinese, from much more family support than is found among Christian families.

FedupwithR [Member]
17.06.2010 @ 21:14

Yes, religious people are funny. It's nice to know though that Sephardi girls do watch TV.
"Personal freedom? An alien concept in Egyptian
society"
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jun/17/egypt-personal-freedom

By Baher Ibrahim

The subordination of individual liberties to 'the common good' has turned Egypt into a nation of scolds and
hypocrites.
---
Thinking outside the box is strictly forbidden. A notable example is Kareem Amer, a former student at
al-Azhar University in Cairo who declared his atheism and criticised Islam on his blog, and is serving a
four-year jail sentence as punishment. His actions were harmless, but he received nothing but condemnation
from society. Even his parents publicly disowned him. A friend of mine, upon hearing about Kareem's case,
said: "He totally deserves it. If he wants to be an unbeliever, fine, but he should keep it to himself.
Anyone with divergent opinions should keep them to himself, lest he hurt the common good. The most
detrimental consequence of this suppression of freedom of thought is an inevitable loss of creativity and
diversity. If all people are expected to follow the same actions and thoughts and condemnation awaits any
deviant, there's no point in saying or doing something different."
---
"Interestingly, Egyptians are quick to flash the "personal freedom" card when it comes to the right of women
in France and Belgium to wear the niqab. The west is accused of having two sets of rules, as they allow
scantily clad women to roam freely while targeting those who want to guard their modesty. But when it comes
to the right of women to take off their hijab or young people to love each other as they please, it's no longer
personal freedom, but a violation of our customs and traditions. Those who claim that personal freedom exists
actually mean that it only exists within the limits set by society."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jun/17/egypt-personal-freedom

"Egyptian blogger jailed for insulting Islam"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/feb/22/egypt.blogging

by jaskaw @ 17.06.2010 - 23:51:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/17/personal-freedom-an-alien-concept-in-egyptian-society-8824783/
A Baptist church buys access to a school in
Florida; the price for the souls: just 5000 dollars!
Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280422614633564.html

By JENNIFER LEVITZ and STEPHANIE SIMON

"LAKELAND, Fla.ōWhen his budget for pencils, paper, and other essential supplies was cut by a third this
school year, the principal of Combee Elementary School worried children would suffer.
Then, a local church stepped in and "adopted" the school. The First Baptist Church at the Mall stocked a
resource room with $5,000 worth of supplies. It now caters spaghetti dinners at evening school events, buys
sneakers for poor students, and sends in math and English tutors.
The principal is delighted. So are church pastors. "We have inroads into public schools that we had not had
before," says Pastor Dave McClamma. "By befriending the students, we have the opportunity to visit homes
to talk to parents about Jesus Christ."

Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280422614633564.html

by jaskaw @ 18.06.2010 - 17:03:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/18/a-baptist-church-buys-access-to-a-schoold-in-florida-the-price-for-the-souls-just
Feedback for Post "A Baptist church buys access to a
school in Florida; the price for the souls: just 5000 dollars!"

FedupwithR [Member]
18.06.2010 @ 19:37

I sent an email of complaint.

Nobel winner who slammed Bible as 'handbook of
bad morals'dies
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10352251.stm

"Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, has died at the age of 87,
his publisher has announced.
Saramago, a communist and atheist, only began to become recognised for his work in his fifties."

Atheist News told a year ago how he denounced the Bible as a "handbook of bad morals".
"Speaking at the launch of his last book "Cain", Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature,
said society would probably be better off without the Bible.
The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve's son who killed his younger
brother Abel."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10352251.stm

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2009/10/20/nobel-winner-slams-bible-as-handbook-of-bad-morals-7205818/

by jaskaw @ 19.06.2010 - 00:46:44

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/18/nobel-winner-who-slammed-bible-as-handbook-of-bad-morals-dies-8830033/
Police: Family killed dad for watching World Cup
instead of gospel show in South Africa
Read more at: http://www.komonews.com/news/national/96615384.html

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Police say a South African man who wanted to watch a World Cup match instead
of a religious program was beaten to death by his family in the northeastern part of the country.
David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from the small village of Makweya, Limpopo province, fought with his
wife and two children for the remote control on Sunday because he wanted to watch Germany play Australia
in the World Cup. The others, however, wanted to watch a gospel show.
"He said, 'No, I want to watch soccer,"' police spokesman Mothemane Malefo said Thursday. "That is when
the argument came about.
"In that argument, they started assaulting him."

Read more at: http://www.komonews.com/news/national/96615384.html

by jaskaw @ 20.06.2010 - 18:01:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/20/police-family-killed-dad-for-watching-world-cup-instead-of-gospel-show-in-sou
Feedback for Post " Police: Family killed dad for watching
World Cup instead of gospel show in South Africa"

BTA [Visitor]

20.06.2010 @ 18:15
I love it, I love it. This demonstrates superbly why homo sapiens must be creations of god...

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
20.06.2010 @ 19:57

and made in his image.

This is what comes of teaching religion instead of science.

"Meet three men who believe the Second Coming
has already occurred"
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/4916/Overview#tab-Overview

"Meet three men who believe the Second Coming has already occurred and that they walk the Earth as the
Messiah. Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the Philippines, claims to
have built a worldwide following of six million. Sergei Torop, a former Russian traffic policeman, is believed
by thousands to be the literal reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth. Then, David Shayler, a former British MI5
agent and whistle-blower, claims to be the Jesus soul incarnated as man."

Read more:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/4916/Overview#tab-Overview#ixzz0rQk59Li0

by jaskaw @ 20.06.2010 - 23:19:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/20/meet-three-men-who-believe-the-second-coming-has-already-occurred-8838183
Feedback for Post ""Meet three men who believe the
Second Coming has already occurred""

Invalid [Visitor]

21.06.2010 @ 18:12
Me too! Where can I register?
Louisiana lawmakers propose prayer to stop oil
disaster
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/20/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

"While cleanup crews and technical teams continue efforts to stop crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico,
Louisiana lawmakers are proposing a different approach: prayer.
State senators designated Sunday as a day for citizens to ask for God's help dealing with the oil disaster.
"Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail," state Sen. Robert Adley said
in a statement released after last week's unanimous vote for the day of prayer. "It is clearly time for a miracle
for us."
The resolution names Sunday as a statewide day of prayer in Louisiana and calls on people of all religions
throughout the Gulf Coast "to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the
destruction of both culture and livelihood."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/20/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

by jaskaw @ 20.06.2010 - 23:33:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/20/read-more-at-http-edition-cnn-com-2010-us-8838240/
Feedback for Post "Louisiana lawmakers propose prayer to
stop oil disaster "

FedupwithR [Member]
21.06.2010 @ 14:02

I don't unfortunately have the time to read all the 4300 odd comments but i was delighted that, of those that i
read, the great majority were highly sceptical. There is hope yet for humanity.
Introduction to Naturalism (video)

Nirmuktavideos says "Most people, including many freethinkers, are unaware that notions such as atheism,
agnosticism, skepticism and freethought all rely on a set of rules that are described by a particular system of
philosophy. This philosophy, known as Naturalism, also describes the underlying logical framework for
science itself.
The naturalistic worldview comprises the foundation for the beliefs of one whole faction of the fundamental
divide between people on the nature of reality. There are those who don't believe in the supernatural, and
those who do. The key point of difference between naturalists and non-naturalists is the subject of causation
(interaction). Naturalists generally ascribe a causal reality to phenomena that are part of the natural world.
This causal reality extends to ourselves, with sometimes startling and unintuitive consequences. However,
many people who are atheists and freethinkers have not completely accepted the implications of naturalism on
certain deeply ingrained culturally-reinforced beliefs such as free-will and consciousness."

http://nirmukta.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_%28philosophy%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_naturalism

by jaskaw @ 21.06.2010 - 23:03:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/21/introduction-to-naturalism-video-8842630/
ːDance Your Ph.D" comes again!
From: http://promo.aaas.org/dance/2010/Dance_Your_PhD_press_release.html

"Who said scientists canˈt dance? The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is
proud to announce the third annual ːDance Your Ph.D.ə interpretative dance video contest. The contest,
which is open to anyone with a Ph.D. or pursuing a Ph.D. in a science-related field, asks scientists to
transform their research into an interpretive dance. Winners of each of the four categories (physics, chemistry,
biology, and social sciences) will receive $500, then compete head-to-head for an additional $500 grand prize
for best overall dance. Submissions are due by September 1, 2010. All winning dances will be screened at the
Imagine Science Film Festival in New York City in mid-October, where the best overall dance will be
determined by a panel of judges and the audience. A more detailed description of the rules and how to enter
can be found at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/.
The ːDance Your Ph.D.ə contest is the brainchild of John Bohannon, blogger at Gonzo Labs and contributing
writer for Science magazine. Bohannon believes the contest is a fun and unusual way to engage the public
with extremely complex and technical science concepts. ːUsually when scientists try to explain their research,
it's a jargon-filled mess. Strange as it may seem, watching a scientist DANCE their research can make it easier
to understand. And sometimes it's even beautiful. Or at least hilarious,ə he said. The first contest, held in
2008, attracted 12 submissions. In 2009, it received more than 100. Last yearˈs winning dances can be
viewed at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/2009/contestants/. Entries for the 2010 contest will be posted at
http://gonzolabs.org/dance/videos/. Please contact John Bohannon at gonzo@aaas.org with questions or for
more information."

From: http://promo.aaas.org/dance/2010/Dance_Your_PhD_press_release.html

by jaskaw @ 22.06.2010 - 02:02:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/22/dance-your-ph-d-comes-again-8843039/
President Nixonˈs Secret Psychic Adviser
Revealed
Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7276868/print/1/displaymode/1098

After his secretary conveyed psychic Jeane Dixonˈs prophecies about terrorism, President Nixon ordered
Henry Kissinger and others to prepare for attacks
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek

"Assigned to research the history of U.S. counterterrorism policy, a September 11 Commission researcher last
year stumbled upon a bizarre discovery: in the aftermath of the Munich Olympic massacre in 1972, President
Richard M. Nixon was briefed on terror plots that had been divined by professional psychic Jeane Dixon.
The relationship between Nixon and Dixon, whose followers believed had prophesied the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy, has been almost entirely overlooked by historians. But Dixonˈs supply of psychic
ːintelligenceə to Nixon is fully documented on little-noticed White House tapes. They show that the
presidentˈs loyal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, gave the president detailed briefings on offbeat
national-security forecasts from a woman that Nixon called ːthe soothsayer.ə
---
But Dixon also made many other predictions that were wildly off the mark. She predicted, for example, that
World War III would erupt in 1958 over the offshore Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu. She predicted
that the Soviets would beat the United States to the moon. She predicted that cancer would be cured by 1967.
In perhaps her strangest prophecy, she predicted that a baby descended from the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti
would be born in the Middle East in 1962 and grow up to usher in an era of world peaceōuntil he turned out to
be the Anti-Christ.
Her forecasts grew so unreliable that one of her most prominent clients, astrology buff Nancy Reagan,
concluded that Dixon had lost her powers and shifted to a rival astrologer, Joan Quigley, who provided advice
while she and her husband were in the White House."

Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7276868/print/1/displaymode/1098

by jaskaw @ 22.06.2010 - 11:25:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/22/president-nixon-s-secret-psychic-adviser-revealed-8844301/
Pakistani lawyer petitions for death sentence for
Mark Zuckerberg bacause of the 'Draw
Muhammad' contest
Read more at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/zuckerberg_faces_criminal_investigation_in_pakistan/

By Cade Metz in San Francisco

"Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is being investigated by Pakistani police under a section of the penal
code that makes blasphemy against Muhammad punishable by death.
BBC Urdu reports ō according to a Google Translation ō that Pakistan's Deputy Attorney General has
launched a criminal investigation against Zuckerberg and others in response to Facebook hosting a "Draw
Muhammad" contest on its site late last month. On May 19, Pakistani authorities blocked access to Facebook
over the contest, and this ban was lifted on May 31 after Facebook removed the page in Pakistan and other
countries.
---
Last month, according to English-language Pakistani newspaper The News International, a Pakistani High
Court judge summoned the police after lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed an application for a First
Information Report (FIR), claiming that the owners of Facebook had committed a heinous and serious crime
under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. In essence, an FIR launches a criminal investigation. But no
charges have been filed.
According to the paper, Section 295-C of the penal code reads: "Use of derogatory remark etc, in respect of
the Holy Prophet, whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any
imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be
liable for fine."
So, peace be unto Muhammad. But not unto Mark Zuckerberg."

Read more at:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/17/zuckerberg_faces_criminal_investigation_in_pakistan/
by jaskaw @ 22.06.2010 - 13:55:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/22/pakistani-lawyer-petitions-for-death-sentence-for-mark-zuckerberg-bacause-of-t
Germany to Launch Exit Program for Militant
Islamists
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,702103,00.html#ref=nlint

"Germany has been offering programs for people who want to leave the neo-Nazi scene for years. Now, in a
bid to combat the threat of Islamist terrorism, authorities are setting up a telephone hotline for those keen to
give up jihad.
Could it be that Islamists just need a helping hand to turn their back on extremism? That, at least, is what
Germany is hoping -- and has set up a new program to facilitate the process.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, will launch
the so-called exit program at the end of June, agency chief Heinz Fromm announced Monday, speaking at the
presentation of the service's annual report for 2009 in Berlin. The agency is to set up a telephone hotline that
militant Islamists can call if they want to leave radical Islamist groups. Multilingual specialists will be
available to give potential quitters advice in Turkish or Arabic, as well as German, Fromm said, without
giving further details of the program."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,702103,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 23.06.2010 - 00:01:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/22/germany-to-launch-exit-program-for-militant-islamists-8848566/
Hitchens Warns of American-Born Jihad
Watch the video of the discussion at:
http://www.asylum.com/2010/06/22/christopher-hitchens-hitch-22-drinks-with-writers/

"Author," "journalist," "contrarian," "Antichrist" -- whatever you call Christopher Hitchens, he's one of the
most influential public intellectuals of our time. His books, from "God Is Not Great" to "The Trial of Henry
Kissinger," as well as his regular columns in Vanity Fair, have garnered much praise and derision, making
Hitchens a fixture on the lecture and cable news circuits.
Hitchens' latest effort is the memoir "Hitch 22," which recounts his six decades of life. Before embarking on
the tour to support the the book, Asylum invited Hitch out for a drink. (After all, his affection for the sauce is
well known.) He accepted our invitation and is the subject of our latest installment of "Drinks With Writers"
...

Watch the video of the discussion at:

http://www.asylum.com/2010/06/22/christopher-hitchens-hitch-22-drinks-with-writers/

by jaskaw @ 24.06.2010 - 10:24:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/24/hitchens-warns-of-american-born-jihad-8855237/
New report: Sharia law in Britain is a threat to the
equal rights
Read more at:
http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/new-report-sharia-law-in-britain-a-threat-to-one-law-for-all-and-equal-rights/

A new report by One Law for All has found Sharia Councils and Muslim Arbitration Tribunals to be in
violation of UK law, public policy and human rights.
The report is being launched to coincide with a 20 June 2010 rally on the issue of Sharia law.
Based on an 8 March 2010 Seminar on Sharia Law, research, interviews, and One Law for All case files, the
report has identified a number of problem areas:
- Sharia lawˈs civil code is arbitrary and discriminatory against women and children in particular. With the
rise in the acceptance of Sharia courts, discrimination is being further institutionalised with some UK law
firms additionally offering clients advice on Sharia law and the use of collaborative law.
- Sharia law is practiced in Britain primarily by Sharia Councils and Muslims Arbitration Tribunals. Both
operate on religious principles and are harmful to women although Muslim Arbitration Tribunals are wrongly
regarded as being of more concern because they operate as tribunals under the Arbitration Act 1996, making
their rulings binding in law.
- Sharia Councils, on the other hand, claim to mediate on family issues but in practice often this differs little
from arbitration: they frequently ask those appearing before them to sign an agreement to abide by their
decisions; they call themselves courts, and the presiding imams, judges. Their decisions are then imposed and
regarded as having the weight of legal judgements.
- There is neither control over the appointment of ːjudgesə in Sharia Councils or Tribunals nor an
independent mechanism for monitoring them. Clients often do not have access to legal advice and
representation. The proceedings are not recorded, nor are there any searchable legal judgements, nor any real
right of appeal.
- Sharia law cannot be compared to secular legal systems because it is considered sacred law that cannot be
challenged. There is no scope to look at the interests of the individuals involved, as required by UK family
law.
- These legal processes ignore both common law and due process, far less Human Rights, and provide little
protection and safety for women in violent situations.
- There is a general assumption that those who attend Sharia courts do so voluntarily and that unfair decisions
can be challenged in a British court. Many of the principles of Sharia law are contrary to British law and
public policy, and would in theory therefore be unlikely to be upheld in a British court. In reality, however,
women are often pressured by their families into going to these courts and adhering to unfair decisions, and
may lack knowledge of English and their rights under British law. Moreover, refusal to settle a dispute in a
Sharia court can give rise to threats and intimidation, or at best being ostracised.
---
Read more at:
http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/new-report-sharia-law-in-britain-a-threat-to-one-law-for-all-and-equal-rights/

Read the whole report here:

http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/New-Report-Sharia-Law-in-Britain.pdf

by jaskaw @ 24.06.2010 - 11:25:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/24/new-report-sharia-law-in-britain-is-a-threat-to-the-equal-rights-8855513/
Atheism-o-phobia - Does it exist?

The maker of this video, socrates856 writes:

"This video discusses the world atheism-o-phobia and shows that it is a very real and prevelant phenomenon,
especially in the US. Yet it does not as yet have a recognized category.
Papers cited in this video:
Edgell, Penny, Joseph Gerteis, and Douglas Hartmann. "Atheists as Other: Moral Boundaries and Cultural
Membership in American Society." American
Socio−logical Review 71, Number 2, April 2006.

http://www.soc.umn.edu/~hartmann/files/atheist%20as%20the%20other.pdf

Phil Zuckerman, Atheism, Secularity, and Well-Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative
Stereotypes and Assumptions Sociology Compass 3/6 (2009): 949--971

http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/Zuckerman_on_Atheism.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/user/socrates856

by jaskaw @ 25.06.2010 - 11:57:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/25/atheism-o-phobia-does-it-exist-8862261/
Feedback for Post "Atheism-o-phobia - Does it exist? "

Buffy [Visitor]
http://www.lavenderliberal.com/
25.06.2010 @ 17:11
Good one.
Richard Dawkins interested in setting up
free-thinking school
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7849563/Richard-Dawkins-interested-in-setting-up-atheist-free-s

"Richard Dawkins has said he is interested in setting up an atheist ːfree schoolə under the Governmentˈs
plan to encourage independent education establishments.
The author of The God Delusion, who has previously described religious education provided by faith schools
as a form of child abuse, said he would want pupils to be taught to be skeptical and to appreciate the value of
evidence rather than receive ːindoctrinationə about atheism.
He also said that his ːfree-thinking schoolə would provide lessons about the gods of ancient Greece and
Norse legend, and would treat the Bible as a work of literature rather than a basis for morality.
---
Under plans disclosed by the Coalition last week, parents, charities and voluntary groups will be able to set up
ːfree schoolsə funded by public money but independent from state control.
He replied: ːThank you for suggesting that I should start an atheist free school. I like the idea very much,
although I would prefer to call it a free-thinking free school."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7849563/Richard-Dawkins-interested-in-setting-up-atheist-free-s

The New Humanist -magazine is having a poll at the issue at:

http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2010/06/poll-what-do-you-think-of-idea-of.html

by jaskaw @ 25.06.2010 - 12:10:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/25/richard-dawkins-interested-in-setting-up-free-thinking-school-8862336/
2012: Nibiru, Planet X & Mayan Calender - Science
vs Fiction (video)

The creator of this video, FFreeThinker writes:

"A Scientific Reality Check: There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations
and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the
next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is
even a fake NASA news release out there... So here is the scientific reality on the celestial happenings in the
year 2012.

Please subscribe to Science & Reason:

http://www.youtube.com/Best0fScience
http://www.youtube.com/ScienceMagazine
http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker

by jaskaw @ 26.06.2010 - 13:47:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/26/2012-nibiru-planet-x-mayan-calender-science-vs-fiction-video-8867322/
Feedback for Post "2012: Nibiru, Planet X & Mayan Calender
- Science vs Fiction (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
26.06.2010 @ 17:38

I hope this get out to the people who have been taken in by this apocalyptic nonsense.
The Giant Plus Sign

by jaskaw @ 26.06.2010 - 16:04:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/26/the-giant-plus-sign-8867753/
Pakistan to monitor Google, Yahoo, YouTube,
Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing for 'blasphemy'
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10418643.stm

"Pakistan will start monitoring seven major websites, including Google and Yahoo, for content it deems
offensive to Muslims.
YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing will also come under scrutiny, while 17 less well-known sites
will be blocked.
Officials will monitor the sites and block links deemed inappropriate.
In May, Pakistan banned access to Facebook after the social network hosted a "blasphemous" competition to
draw the prophet Muhammad.
The new action will see Pakistani authorities monitor content published on the seven sites, blocking individual
pages if content is judged to be offensive."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10418643.stm

by jaskaw @ 26.06.2010 - 19:32:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/26/pakistan-to-monitor-google-yahoo-youtube-amazon-msn-hotmail-and-bing-for-b
Feedback for Post "Pakistan to monitor Google, Yahoo,
YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing for 'blasphemy'"

BTA [Visitor]

26.06.2010 @ 22:19
Well they probably have millions of unemployed pious Muslims there to do the job. Just have to teach them to
read and write first.

PS: these are the guys we are working with & financing to "free" Afghanistan?
Atheism - What We Believe

The maker of this video, Decibel33 writes:

"Atheists are not that much different than theists. We believe in much of the same thing!"

http://www.youtube.com/user/Decibel33
by jaskaw @ 27.06.2010 - 02:21:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/27/atheism-what-we-believe-8869952/
Biblical scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman: 'Bible is not a
reliable source' (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Ehrman
Bart D. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor
of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ehrman writes about the early Christians, using the term "proto-orthodox" to describe the Christian traditions
that would later be defined as orthodox. He describes first- and second-century Christians as not yet having a
unified, orthodox tradition. He is the author of a number of books in this area, including Misquoting Jesus
(2005), God's Problem (2008), and Jesus, Interrupted (2009).
---
Ehrman has written widely on issues of New Testament and early Christianity at both an academic and
popular level, with over twenty books including three New York Times bestsellers (Misquoting Jesus, God's
Problem, and Jesus, Interrupted). Much of his work is on textual criticism and the New Testament. His first
book was Didymus the Blind and the Text of the Gospels (1987) followed by several books published by the
Oxford University Press, including The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, and a new edition and translation
of the The Apostolic Fathers in the Loeb Classical Library series published by Harvard University Press. His
most recent book Jesus, Interrupted was published in March 2009 and discusses contradictions in the Bible.
In 1999 Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium was released as a study on the historical Jesus.
Ehrman argues that the historical Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher, and that his apocalyptic beliefs are
recorded in the earliest Christian documents: the Gospel of Mark and the authentic Pauline epistles. The
earliest Christians believed Jesus would soon return, and their beliefs are echoed in the earliest Christian
writings.
Much of Ehrman's writing has concentrated on various aspects of Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was
always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the
early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-orthodox
Christianity."
Ehrman brought this thesis, and textual criticism in general, through his popular level work Misquoting Jesus.
Commentators have been critical of Ehrman's thesis on textual criticism. Daniel B. Wallace, Executive
Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, wrote, "Unfortunately, as careful a
scholar as Ehrman is, his treatment of major theological changes in the text of the New Testament tends to fall
under one of two criticisms: Either his textual decisions are wrong, or his interpretation is wrong." Wallace
also wrote, "One almost gets the impression that he is encouraging the Chicken Littles in the Christian
community to panic at data that they are simply not prepared to wrestle with." Wallace also wrote that "Most
of the book (chs. 1ʒ4) is basically a popular introduction to the field, and a very good one at that."
Craig Blomberg, a conservative evangelical at Denver Seminary in Colorado, wrote that "Most of Misquoting
Jesus is actually a very readable, accurate distillation of many of the most important facts about the nature and
history of textual criticism, presented in a lively and interesting narrative that will keep scholarly and lay
interest alike."
by jaskaw @ 27.06.2010 - 20:37:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/27/biblicxal-scholar-dr-bart-ehrman-bible-is-not-a-reliable-source-video-8874293/
Feedback for Post "Biblical scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman: 'Bible
is not a reliable source' (video)"

BTA [Visitor]

27.06.2010 @ 21:28
How does one become "Distinguished" in the study of nonsense?
'The only safe driving is abstinence from driving'

"The number one killer of young Americans is the automobile. However, the Secular Humanists dominating
our schools refuse to acknowledge that the only safe driving is abstinence from driving. Instead, they advocate
courses in ``Driver Education,'' in which teenagers are taught ``Safe Driving,'' and no attention is given to
traditional values. They are even taught the use of ``Seat Belts'' (and some classes even give explicit
demonstrations of the proper method of applying these belts!) with, at best, a passing mention that the
protection provided by these belts is only partial.
Clearly, this sends a mixed message to our young people: it appears to condone driving, and the more
inquisitive will surely feel encouraged to experiment with driving.

Stop the wanton slaughter! Contact your school board member and insist that driving be taught in the family,
in a climate where the moral implications are not overlooked, not in the schools where hedonistic instructors
teach driving as a mere form of pleasure."

From: Newsgroups: co.general,boulder.general,nyx.misc

From: pgilmart@xxxxxxxx (Paul Gilmartin)
Sent by cldavies@xxxxxxxxx.

by jaskaw @ 28.06.2010 - 19:52:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/28/the-only-safe-driving-is-abstinence-from-driving-8879744/
Feedback for Post "'The only safe driving is abstinence
from driving'"

JF [Visitor]

28.06.2010 @ 21:41
The only difference is that one doesn't need a license to make love. :-)

Michael [Visitor]

29.06.2010 @ 00:45
You don't need a licence to drive, either...

Buffy [Visitor]
http://www.lavenderliberal.com/
29.06.2010 @ 00:53
Beautiful!

FedupwithR [Member]
29.06.2010 @ 10:01

Super! Do send a copy to the Pope & Co.

Saudi Feminist Wajeha Al-Huwaider: An Open
Letter to President Obama
Read more at:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/36758/saudi-feminist-wajeha-al-huwaider-open-letter-president-obama?tr=y&auid=655

Saudi womenˈs rights campaigner Wajeha Al-Huwaider in a letter to President Obama:

"For decades, women in Saudi Arabia under the Saudi male guardianship system live like these hapless birds
that are keeping you worried days in and days out. Saudi women have been deprived of their rights to be
treated as full citizens. That system prevents mature women from living a normal life. It prevents a woman
even from receiving medical care, or to travel without getting permission from a male guardianōa guardian
who may even be her own 16-year-old son. Saudi women have no right to take any decision regarding their
own personal affairs; a man has to do that for them.
Birds of the Gulf of Mexico and women in Saudi Arabia suffer similar circumstances; they have been trapped
in their own habitat under very harsh circumstances and they need help to gain their lives back.
When you meet with King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, please help his majesty see the effect the Saudi male
guardianship system has on Saudi women. Children need guardians; mature women do not."

Read more at:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/36758/saudi-feminist-wajeha-al-huwaider-open-letter-president-obama?tr=y&auid=655

by jaskaw @ 29.06.2010 - 00:33:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/28/saudi-feminist-wajeha-al-huwaider-an-open-letter-to-president-obama-8881256/
Feedback for Post "Saudi Feminist Wajeha Al-Huwaider: An
Open Letter to President Obama "

Brisky [Visitor]

29.06.2010 @ 05:50
Exactly. Good on her.

FedupwithR [Member]
29.06.2010 @ 10:04

Will he get to read it?

They need to demonstrate massively to get the attention they deserve.

Bruce [Visitor]

29.06.2010 @ 14:20
How can they demonstrate: they cannot even leave their own homes without one of their guardians and they
are not allowed to drive.

I remember a recent case of a woman there who was unfortunate enough to receive a visit from a male cousin
when she had no guardian at home. She was flogged.
The new prime minister of Australia: "I am not
going to pretend a faith I don't feel"
Read more at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2939879.htm

"Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she has no intention of pretending to believe in God to attract
religiously-inclined voters.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd was a regular at Canberra church services and Opposition Leader Tony
Abbott is known as a devout Catholic.
In contrast, Ms Gillard says that while she greatly respects other people's religious views, she does not believe
in God.
Ms Gillard has been quizzed on personal topics including her attitude to religion and her relationship with her
partner during interviews this morning.
She says does not go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance.
"I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel," she said.
"I am what I am and people will judge that.

Read more at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/29/2939879.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard

by jaskaw @ 29.06.2010 - 19:39:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/29/australias-new-prime-minister-i-am-not-going-to-pretend-a-faith-i-don-t-feel-888
Pope wants to "re-evangelize" the West
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100629/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_shakeup

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer

"VATICAN CITY ʒ Pope Benedict XVI is creating a new Vatican office to fight secularization and
"re-evangelize" the West ō a tacit acknowledgment that his attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe
haven't succeeded and need a new boost.
Benedict announced the new office during a vespers' service Monday, confirming reports in the Italian media
of a handful of new Vatican appointments expected to be announced before the pope goes on summer holiday
and the Vatican bureaucracy slows down.
Benedict said parts of the world are still missionary territory, where the Catholic Church is still relatively
unknown. But in other parts of the world like Europe, Christianity has existed for centuries yet "the process of
secularization has produced a serious crisis of the sense of the Christian faith and role of the Church."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100629/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_shakeup

by jaskaw @ 30.06.2010 - 15:54:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/30/pope-wants-to-re-evangelize-the-west-8891757/
Feedback for Post "Pope wants to "re-evangelize" the
West"

Bruce [Visitor]

30.06.2010 @ 16:11
Well, he should not have any trouble getting all the pedophiles on board.
Coming out as atheist has not hurt the only atheist
in the U.S. Congress
Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/17/BAGFRONAJD6.DTL

"Atheism might be the last political taboo, but it doesn't seem to have hurt Rep. Pete Stark in his East Bay
district.
In town hall meetings in Newark and San Leandro today, the 35-year congressional veteran received only
cheers and applause when a speaker brought up a survey this week that named Stark as the highest-ranking
politician in America who was willing to admit he doesn't believe in God.
---
Stark was struck by the fact that not one of his 534 colleagues in the House or Senate was willing to say he or
she was an atheist.

"They were looking for the highest-ranking politician who would state his or her (lack of) belief in a Supreme
Being,'' Stark said. "Well, I was the first and the second was a former member of the Berkeley school board.
That's a pretty big gap.''

Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/17/BAGFRONAJD6.DTL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Stark
"Fortney Hillman "Pete" Stark, Jr. (born November 11, 1931) is an American politician from the state of
California. A Democrat, he has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1973 (37 years),
currently representing California's 13th congressional district in southwestern Alameda County. Currently he
is the sixth most senior Representative as well as 8th most senior member of Congress.
The 13th district includes Alameda, Union City, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro and Fremont, as well as
parts of Oakland and Pleasanton.
---
Stark is the first openly atheist member of Congress, as announced by the Secular Coalition for America.
Stark acknowledged his atheism in response to an SCA questionnaire sent to public officials in January 2007.
On September 20, 2007, Stark reaffirmed his atheism by making a public announcement in front of the
Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, the Harvard Law School Heathen Society, and various other atheist,
agnostic, secular, humanist, and nonreligious groups. Honoring his courage, the American Humanist
Association named him their 2008 Humanist of the Year."
by jaskaw @ 30.06.2010 - 17:51:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/30/coming-out-as-atheist-has-not-hurt-the-only-atheist-in-the-u-s-congress-8892206
The most unsexy slideshow ever in Vanity Fair:
"Sex and the Saudis"
Watch the slideshow at:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/08/saudi-arabia-slide-show-201008#slide=28

"This is one vacation slide show you wonˈt want to miss. For the August issue, Maureen Dowd and her
colleague, Ashley Parker, traveled to Saudi Arabia to test the Arab kingdomˈs newly declared commitment to
tourism. Their only mistake? Being born female."
Photographs by Ashley Parker

Watch the slideshow at:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/08/saudi-arabia-slide-show-201008#slide=28

by jaskaw @ 30.06.2010 - 19:08:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/30/the-most-unsexy-slideshow-ever-in-vanity-fair-sex-and-the-saudis-8892566/
"My Spirituality as an Atheist " (video)

The maker of the video, AHughman08 says:

"Inspired by a conversation with Theo Warner.
Is there any value in spirituality? As an atheist you may expect me to say no; but if I'm being honest, I'd have
to consider myself a spiritual person. Of course I'm not talking about some ghostly ethereal soul that lives
inside my body. There's no reason to think there's anything like that. I'm talking about the essence of human.
There aren't many words in our language that capture what that is. at least for me. And so I use the word spirit,
in the same way I use the phrase bless you. For rhetoric's sake. I can only describe it as the action or ability to
see beauty. to feel wonder. and to be in awe.
Religion and all groups faith of course serve only to prostitute the awe, and the mystery we all feel as humans.
they bottle our essence and try putting lid on the wonder we naturally feel. They fail of course. Religion points
to the man behind the curtain in an attempt answer the mystery. when in reality, there is no man. the mystery
is just that. a mystery.
But even though I don't believe in the supernatural, I try to be as honest as I can to myself, about my
spirituality."
---
http://www.youtube.com/user/AHughman08
by jaskaw @ 01.07.2010 - 19:55:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/01/my-spirituality-as-an-atheist-video-8897877/
Feedback for Post ""My Spirituality as an Atheist " (video)"

Dee [Visitor]

01.07.2010 @ 20:26
Wonderful! Captures the essence of everything I, too, believe. Thank you!
Being a god can be expensive; Nepal's "living
goddess" gets a pay rise
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6601PE20100701?rpc=60

(Reuters Life!) "Nepal has increased the monthly stipend it gives its "living goddess" by a quarter, a top
official said Thursday, to help the schoolgirl revered by thousands of Hindus and Buddhists beat double-digit
inflation.
The girl called Kumari is considered holy and is an attraction for the many tourists who visit the Himalayan
nation every year.
"The government has increased the monthly allowance of Kumari from 6,000 rupees ($80) to 7,500 rupees,"
said Mod Raj Dotel, the top bureaucrat at the culture ministry which also oversees religious affairs."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6601PE20100701?rpc=60

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Goddess
"Kumari, or Kumari Devi, is the tradition of worshipping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the
divine female energy or devi in South Asian countries. Kumari literally means virgin in Sanskrit, Nepali and
other Indian languages and is a name of the goddess Durga as a child.
In Nepal a Kumari is a prepubescent girl selected from the Shakya clan of the Nepalese Newari community.
The Kumari is revered and worshiped by some of the country's Hindus as well as the Nepali Buddhists,
though not the Tibetan Buddhists. In India a Kumari is generally chosen for one day and worshipped
accordingly on certain festivals like Navaratri or Durga Puja. In the Indian state of Bengal this is a particularly
prevalent practice.
While there are several Kumaris throughout Nepal, with some cities having several, the best known is the
Royal Kumari of Kathmandu, and she lives in the Kumari Ghar, a palace in the center of the city. The
selection process for her is especially rigorous. The current Royal Kumari, Matina Shakya, aged four, was
installed in October 2008 by the Maoist government that replaced the monarchy. Chanira Bajracharya, as the
Kumari of Patan is the second most important living goddess.
A Kumari is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju (the Nepalese name for Durga) until
she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body. Serious illness or a major loss of
blood from an injury are also causes for her to revert to common status."

by jaskaw @ 01.07.2010 - 21:48:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/01/being-a-god-can-be-expensive-nepal-s-living-goddess-gets-a-pay-rise-8898435/
Atheist billboards go up in New Zealand
Read more at: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/atheist-billboards-go-up-in-nz-cities-3622283

"The New Zealand atheist campaign that was crossed off the back of buses a few months ago has been
resurrected.
Today, the group who want to tell people there is no God have put their message out there on billboards.
"We're not trying to convert people; we're not trying to de-convert anyone ... it's an awareness raising
campaign," says NZ Atheism campaign spokesman Simon Fisher.
The campaign raised more than $20,000 to put their adverts on buses last year but NZ Bus declined their
proposal saying they had too many complaints.
The campaign is now looking to fight a discrimination case."

Read more at: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/atheist-billboards-go-up-in-nz-cities-3622283

http://www.nogod.org.nz/

by jaskaw @ 02.07.2010 - 11:02:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/02/atheist-billboards-go-up-in-new-zealand-8901183/
Feedback for Post "Atheist billboards go up in New
Zealand"

FedupwithR [Member]
04.07.2010 @ 12:59

Good news is good news.

Al Qaeda' new English magazine tells how to
"make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."
Read more at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/10/06/al-qaedas-first-english-language-magazine-is-here/59006/

"As the U.S. struggles to manage its efforts to influence opinion about Al Qaeda abroad, Al Qaeda on the
Arabian Peninsula has produced its first English-language propaganda magazine.
It's called "Inspire," and you can read parts of it below. A U.S. official said early this morning that the
magazine appears to be authentic.
---
The table of contents teases an interview with the leader of AQAP who promises to "answer various questions
pertaining to the jihad in the Arabian Peninsula." It includes a feature about how to "make a bomb in the
kitchen of your mom."
AQAP's first effort to post the magazine to jihadist websites failed Wednesday, as many of the pages were
contaminated with a virus. (I half seriously believe that U.S. cyber warriors might have had a hand in that
little surprise.)"

Read more at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/10/06/al-qaedas-first-english-language-magazine-is-here/59006/

by jaskaw @ 02.07.2010 - 11:11:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/02/al-qaeda-new-english-magazine-tells-how-to-make-a-bomb-in-the-kitchen-of-yo
Feedback for Post "Al Qaeda' new English magazine tells
how to "make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.""

FedupwithR [Member]
04.07.2010 @ 12:55

One can but hope they did!

Atheist Miracle (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_and_Webb
"Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, comprising David Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) and
Robert Webb (born 29 September 1972). They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep
Show.
They met whilst students at Cambridge University. They have also performed three sketch shows, Bruiser for
BBC2, The Mitchell and Webb Situation, on the short-lived Play UK channel, and their own Radio 4 sketch
show, That Mitchell and Webb Sound ʒ which was later adapted for television on BBC Two as That Mitchell
and Webb Look. Mitchell and Webb have written for Armstrong and Miller, and Big Train. They often appear
with Olivia Colman, James Bachman, Mark Evans and Paterson Joseph.
Mitchell and Webb have also appeared in the short-lived U.K. regional versions of the 'Get a Mac'
advertisements for Apple. They currently voice a pair of peas on the Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
sponsorship adverts for Birds Eye.
Magicians, a film starring the pair was released on 18 May 2007.
In 2008, the duo wrote a pilot script for their first original sitcom; in Playing Shop, the two star as Eric and
Jamie, friends who set up a business together after they are made redundant from their old jobs. Hartswood
Films recorded the pilot episode on 20 December, with a view to producing a full series for BBC Two.[1]
They have also released the book This Mitchell and Webb Book."

by jaskaw @ 03.07.2010 - 17:03:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/03/atheist-miracle-video-8906607/
Feedback for Post "Atheist Miracle (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
04.07.2010 @ 12:53

They really are great fun these two. I'd like to see a lot more of them.

Custard Socks [Visitor]

http://www.thatmitchellandwebbspace.com/forum/
04.07.2010 @ 13:14
Hope you don't mind the plug! For more information on Mitchell and Webb go here:
http://www.thatmitchellandwebbspace.com/forum/ or follow us on Twitter @mawtweets

Thank you
Jimmy Carter: Religion is one of the 'basic causes'
of violations of women's rights (video)

Former president Jimmy Carter talks on this video on the negative impact of religion and religious traditions
are having on the lives of women and girls.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/losing-my-religion-for-equality-20090714-dk0v.html?page=-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter
"James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) served as the 39th President of the United States from
1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received
the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served two terms as a Georgia State Senator
and one as Governor of Georgia, from 1971 to 1975, and was a peanut farmer and naval officer.
Throughout his career, Carter strongly emphasized human rights. He took office during a period of
international stagflation, which persisted throughout his term. The final year of his presidential tenure was
marked by the 1979 takeover of the American embassy in Iran and holding of hostages by Iranian students, an
unsuccessful rescue attempt of the hostages, fuel shortages, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
By 1980, Carter's popularity had eroded. He survived a primary challenge against Ted Kennedy for the
Democratic Party nomination in the 1980 election, but lost the election to Republican candidate Ronald
Reagan. On January 20, 1981, minutes after Carter's term in office ended, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S.
embassy in Iran were released, ending the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
After leaving office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the Carter Center in 1982, a nongovernmental,
not-for-profit organization that works to advance human rights. He has traveled extensively to conduct peace
negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. Carter
is a key figure in the Habitat for Humanity project, and also remains particularly vocal on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

by jaskaw @ 03.07.2010 - 23:08:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/03/jimmy-carter-religion-is-one-of-the-basic-causes-of-violations-of-women-s-right
Feedback for Post "Jimmy Carter: Religion is one of the
'basic causes' of violations of women's rights (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
04.07.2010 @ 12:48

He's a good man Jimmy Carter. I sincerely hope his words will be heard and that some progress will be made
but I'm very sceptical.
New York Times: "You Say God Is Dead? Thereˈs
an App for That"
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/technology/03atheist.html?_r=2&hp

"An explosion of smart-phone software has placed an arsenal of trivia at the fingertips of every corner-bar
debater, with talking points on sports, politics and how to kill a zombie. Now it is taking on the least trivial
topic of all: God.
Publishers of Christian material have begun producing iPhone applications that can cough up quick
comebacks and rhetorical strategies for believers who want to fight back against what they view as a new
strain of strident atheism. And a competing crop of apps is arming nonbelievers for battle.
---
For religious skeptics, the ːBibleThumperə iPhone app boasts that it ːallows the atheist to keep the most
funny and irrational Bible verses right in their pocketə to be ːalways ready to confront fundamentalist
Christians or have a little fun among friends.ə
---
ːThe Atheist Pocket Debater,ə on the other hand, asserts that because miracles like Mosesˈ parting of the
waters are not occurring in modern times, ːit is unreasonable to accept that the events happenedə at all. ːIf
you take any miracle from the Bible,ə it explains, ːand tell your co-workers at your job that this recently
happened to someone, you will undoubtedly be laughed at.ə
These applications and others ō like ːOne-Minute Answers to Skepticsə and ːAnswers for Catholicsə ō
appear to be selling briskly, if nowhere near as fast as the top sellers among the so-called book apps in their
iPhone category: ghost stories, free books and the King James Bible."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/technology/03atheist.html?_r=2&hp

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/biblethumper/id334558214?mt=
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atheist-pocket-debater/id356411065?mt=8

by jaskaw @ 04.07.2010 - 19:01:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/04/new-york-times-you-say-god-is-dead-there-s-an-app-for-that-8912602/
A two-headed calf is a proof that "God is able to do
anything."
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h21EPLuuhMea7bXZfqV__pollNvQD9GNO7H82

"CAIRO ō A farmer in northern Egypt says his cow has given birth to a two-headed calf that he calls a "divine
miracle."
Sobhy el-Ganzoury said Saturday it took two hours and much pulling to deliver the rare calf. He said the
difficult birth has weakened the calf's legs.
El-Ganzoury said the veterinarian informed him that the calf, which was born this week, is now in stable
condition and is expected to survive. He said he intends to keep the animal as a reminder that "God is able to
do anything."

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h21EPLuuhMea7bXZfqV__pollNvQD9GNO7H82

by jaskaw @ 04.07.2010 - 20:07:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/04/a-two-headed-calf-is-a-proof-that-god-is-able-to-do-anything-8912913/
Feedback for Post "A two-headed calf is a proof that "God
is able to do anything.""

linda [Visitor]

04.07.2010 @ 20:20
If your God made that, then hes a dufus. I wouldn't call anything a God that made that.
The best Facebook fan-pages for humanist and
secular writers, thinkers and philosophers

Anaxagoras, 306 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anaxagoras/19470503860

Bertrand Russell, 3,848 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bertrand-Russell/86711477873

Democracy, 1,849 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Democracy/36144259341

Democritus, 49 fans
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Democritus/119450258091344

Diagoras of Melos, 96 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diagoras-of-Melos/18612598292

Epicurus, 3,687 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Epicurus/79493658728

George Orwell, 3,421 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Orwell/117663405816
Jared Diamond, 915 fans
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jared-Diamond/142643729175

John Stuart Mill, 888 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Stuart-Mill/98843059203

Karl Popper, 366 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karl-Popper/131272180219102

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1,119 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kurt-Vonnegut-Jr/156947517295

Mark Twain - Samuel L. Clemens, 4,109 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Twain-Samuel-L-Clemens/100702464206

Protagoras, 525 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protagoras/30187682095

Rationality, 2,784 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rationality/70784829441

Robert G. Ingersoll, 1,565 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-G-Ingersoll/52460139986

Robert Owen, 132 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-Owen/199466803992

Sinclair Lewis, 593 fans

http://www.facebook.com/HarrySinclairLewis

Steven Weinberg, 251 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Steven-Weinberg/96660017485

The International Day of Reason, 291 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-International-Day-of-Reason/119025068123138

Thomas Paine, 2,686 fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-Paine/91127911235

by jaskaw @ 04.07.2010 - 21:13:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/04/the-best-facebook-fan-pages-for-humanist-and-secular-writers-thinkers-and-phil
Micro and Macroevolution (Video in HD)

´The maker of this video, DiscoveringReligion, writes:

"Youtube failed to render my original upload in HD. So I had to make another post and unfortunately all your
comments were deleted. Please comment and rate again. I apologize, this is very frustrating =(
The fourteenth installment of my original series, "Discovering Religion". In this episode I discuss the
evidence for microevolution (genetic variations within a species) and macroevolution (the accumulation of
genetic variations leading to speciation).
Creationists often claim microevolution cannot be extrapolated over time, resulting macroevolution -- and
because we have never directly witnessed macroevolution it therefore must not occur. I refute these claims as
well as sum up my argument on the historical occurrence of evolution.
In the next few installments I will begin to shift my focus from scientific topics to more social, moral, and
ethical conflicts inherent to a literalistic belief in religious mythologies."

http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveringReligion

by jaskaw @ 04.07.2010 - 23:22:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/04/micro-and-macroevolution-video-in-hd-8913937/
Maryam Namazie in Guardian; "What isn't wrong
with Sharia law?"
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jul/05/sharia-law-religious-courts

By Maryam Namazie
"The recent global day against the imminent stoning of Sakine Mohammadi-Ashtiani in Iran for adultery is an
example of the outrage sparked by the brutality associated with sharia law's penal code.
What of its civil code though ʒ which the Muslim Council of Britain's Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra describes as
"small aspects" that concern "marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children"? According to human rights
campaigner Gita Sahgal, "there is active support for sharia laws precisely because it is limited to denying
women rights in the family. No hands are being cut off, so there can't be a problem ‫"ل‬
Now a report, Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights, reveals the adverse effect
of sharia courts on family law. Under sharia's civil code, a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's. A man
can divorce his wife by repudiation, whereas a woman must give justifications, some of which are difficult to
prove. Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age; women who remarry lose custody of their children
even before then; and sons inherit twice the share of daughters.
---
With the rise in the sharia courts' acceptability, discrimination is further institutionalised with some law firms
offering clients "conventional" representation alongside sharia law advice.
As long as sharia courts are allowed to make rulings on family law, women will be pressured into accepting
decisions which are prejudicial."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jul/05/sharia-law-religious-courts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Namazie
"Maryam Namazie is a human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster. She is spokesperson for the One
Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws and
promotes citizenship rights and one secular law for all.
She is Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain which aims to break the taboo that comes with
renouncing Islam and to oppose apostasy laws and political Islam. She hosts and produces a weekly TV
International programme broadcast in the Middle East via New Channel TV.
Moreover, she is a National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS' 2005 Secularist of the Year
award winner; spokesperson of Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran;
Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association; Central Committee member of the Worker
Communist Party of Iran and co-editor of WPI Briefing.
She is involved in the Third Camp against US militarism and Islamic terrorism among other things. Her blog
has been rated one of the top 100 atheist blogs and she was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007
by Elle magazine Quebec."

by jaskaw @ 05.07.2010 - 21:56:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/05/maryam-namazie-in-guardian-what-isn-t-wrong-with-sharia-law-8920091/
Ruthless drug cartel leader promotes 'Christian
values'
Read more at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012201846_mexgangster25.html

"As the leader of one of Mexico's most ruthless criminal gangs, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez is the mastermind
of hair-raising brutality in his native Michoacán state. He also would like the world to know he has a pious,
loving and huggy-kissy side, and so he's penned a booklet titled "Thoughts."
"If you want to say 'I love you!' to those who surround you and to your friends, say it today," the drug lord
exhorts readers.
In the 104-page booklet, published this year, he offers advice on personal empowerment, Christian living and
proper deportment.
---
Thoughts is filled with images of the Bible, crosses and Jesus. "If you want, you can become a good
Christian," it says on one page. "Remember not to build walls or barriers but instead build bridges to unite
people."
---
Moreno apparently gleaned some of his ideas from U.S. evangelist John Eldredge of the Ransomed Heart
Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colo., whose book "Wild at Heart" has been found in translation in raids on
La Familia safe houses.
Eldredge preaches a muscular version of Christianity that urges men to summon their authentic masculinity,
an aspect of the Bible that he says is often overlooked."

Read more at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012201846_mexgangster25.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazario_Moreno_Gonz%C3%A1lez
"Nazario Moreno González (a.k.a. El Más Loco (Spanish: The most crazy), and El Chayo) is a Mexican drug
lord of the recently formed La Familia drug cartel, headquartered in the state of Michoacán.
According to the Los Angeles Times, La Familia began as a "partner" to the Gulf Cartel and were trained by
them. According to the same source, the cartel also has a foothold in "20 to 30 cities and towns" across the
United States.
On Monday March 23, 2009, the government of Mexico offered a reward for 24 of the top drug kingpins in
Mexico, offering as much as two million USD for each drug lord.
According to news reports, Moreno González is a "new age philosopher", who forces his men to carry a
"spiritual manual" that he wrote himself and contains aphorisms for self improvement.
Because of this and of several manifestos published in local newspapers, it has led to the perception of the
cartel being seen as a cult."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eldredge
"Although he does not promote criminality, Eldredge has also received criticism for use made of his book
Wild at Heart by the "pseudo-evangelical cult" and Mexican criminal cartel La Familia Michoacana."

by jaskaw @ 06.07.2010 - 10:38:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/06/ruthless-drug-cartel-leader-promotes-christian-values-8922921/
Feedback for Post "Ruthless drug cartel leader promotes
'Christian values'"

Bruce [Visitor]

06.07.2010 @ 15:51
I think this pious man does have normal Christian values: extreme brutality has been normal throughout
Christian history.
Mina Ahadi: "Sakineh can be stoned at any
minute."
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/05/iran.stoning/index.html?fbid=8krcSN8z0w_

(CNN)
"A veteran Iranian human rights activist has warned that Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two,
could be stoned to death at any moment under the terms of a death sentence handed down by Iranian
authorities.
Only an international campaign designed to pressure the regime in Tehran can save her life, according to Mina
Ahadi, head of the International Committee Against Stoning and the Death Penalty.
"Legally it's all over," Ahadi said Sunday. "It's a done deal. Sakineh can be stoned at any minute."
"That is why we have decided to start a very broad, international public movement. Only that can help."

Petitions:
http://www.care2.com/news/member/901922468/1702641
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-sakineh-mohammadi.html

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/05/iran.stoning/index.html?fbid=8krcSN8z0w_

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning
http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=6727

by jaskaw @ 06.07.2010 - 15:09:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/06/mina-ahadi-sakineh-can-be-stoned-at-any-minute-8924242/
Feedback for Post "Mina Ahadi: "Sakineh can be stoned at
any minute.""

Kate Luce [Visitor]

06.07.2010 @ 18:15
Please stop the violence agaisnt women!

K Mandoki [Visitor]

07.07.2010 @ 01:57
By no means violence against women should be tolerated.
No excuse, no reason, no Sharia. STOP WOMEN STONNING!

M-link [Member]
http://film-files.blogs.fi/
07.07.2010 @ 19:24
This is so sick and wrong!

rachida [Visitor]

03.11.2010 @ 09:50
This is so sick and wrong fuke sharia and the goverment in Iran.
I'm Muslim after seeing this picture of a woman to be stonned to death,and the disgusting hunging videos of
young people, now i hate the regime in Iran and i'm questioning my religion"Islam".
Opponents of stonings in Iran bring stones to city
centres, universities and workplaces on 11th of
July
Read more at: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/on-11-july-place-stones-in-public.html

"On 11 July place stones in public places with messages in support of Sakine and against stoning
11 July is the International Day against Stoning ʒ a day we would do well to mark especially given that
Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani faces imminent death by stoning for adultery.
During the week of 5-11 July, take stones to your city centres, universities, workplaces, and put them in a
public place, with a message in support of Sakine and against stoning and executions. Ask people to send
letters of protest and sign the petition opposing it. Send in any photos to be included on the Iran Solidarity
blog.

Let's end this once and for all.

Read more at: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/on-11-july-place-stones-in-public.html

by jaskaw @ 07.07.2010 - 08:38:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/07/opponents-of-stonings-in-iran-bring-stones-to-city-centres-universities-and-work
Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For Us

The maker of this video "callumCGLP" writes:

"Excerpts from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. More specifically, from
the chapter titled A Universe Not Made For Us. I edited together the audio from the audio-book, and added
the video from Stephen Hawking's Into the Universe and Brian Cox's Wonders of the Solar System. The
music is Jack's Theme from the Lost soundtrack.
I am overjoyed by the reaction to this video. To all those who have made such kind comments: thank you!
I have been asked by numerous people to make another video - I have plenty more material to use, but I do
need help with one thing: the music. It's difficult to find music which captures Carl's essence as well as the
song used in this video does. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment or send me a message.
Thanks!
I do realize the subtitles are wildly inaccurate and somewhat offensive to some and for that I apologize.
YouTube's auto-transcribe function is still a work-in-progress, but I'll see what I can do about adding my own
subtitles.
If you enjoyed this video, read the magnificent book from which it originated:
http://www.amazon.com/Billions-Thoughts-Death-Brink-Millennium/dp/0345379187/ref=pd_sim_b_2"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

by jaskaw @ 08.07.2010 - 00:29:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/07/carl-sagan-a-universe-not-made-for-us-8933689/
Feedback for Post "Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For
Us "

linda [Visitor]

08.07.2010 @ 23:34
This is so awesome, I need to listen to it again!
Iran bans the mullet; Islamic republic aims to free
itself of 'decadent' western hairstyles
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/06/iran-bans-the-mullet

"Imagine a country where a man with a ponytail could have it cut off by the cops, as could one with a mullet,
or one whose hair was slathered in gel, fancifully spiked, or simply too long. Repeat offenders would face stiff
fines, while their barber-accomplices would have their shops closed.
It may sound like paradise, especially if your own crazy-haired days are behind you. It's actually the Islamic
Republic of Iran, whose cultural ministry has just unveiled (although that's perhaps not the most appropriate
word in this context) a list of approved hairstyles in an attempt to free the country of "decadent" western cuts.
Jaleh Khodayar, who's in charge of the government- backed Modesty and Veil Festival, explains that the
styles "are inspired by Iranians' complexion, culture and religion, and Islamic law".

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/06/iran-bans-the-mullet

by jaskaw @ 08.07.2010 - 18:36:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/08/iran-bans-the-mullet-islamic-republic-aims-to-free-itself-of-decadent-western-ha
Ode To Rationality (Video with Dawkins, Hitchens,
Harris, Dennett featuring Bertrand Russell)

The maker of this video "FlywinEvolutions" says:

"A fun video idea that I had to appreciate rationality and reason.
Clips taken from:
The Genius of Charles Darwin, A conversation with Bertrand Russell, A History of Disbelief, Breaking the
Spell lecture, The Enemies of Reason, Slaves to Superstition, The Root of All Evil, Intelligence Squared
Debate, Harris vs. Wolpe debate, The Universe Discovery documentary, Collision: Is Christianity Good for
the World?"

http://www.youtube.com/user/FlywinEvolutions

by jaskaw @ 09.07.2010 - 00:49:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/08/ode-to-rationality-video-with-dawkins-hitchens-harris-dennett-featuring-bertrand
Iran woman escapes stoning death for adultery
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10565103.stm

"The authorities in Iran have announced that a woman convicted of adultery will not be stoned to death.
But it is not clear whether they have lifted the death sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has
been in prison in Tabriz since 2006.
---
Under Iran's strict interpretation of Islamic law, sex before marriage is punishable by 100 lashes, but married
offenders are sentenced to death by stoning. The stones used must be large enough to cause the condemned
pain, but not sufficient to kill immediately.
Ms Ashtiani's lawyer and human rights activists had warned that her execution was imminent, after appeals
for clemency were rejected."

by jaskaw @ 09.07.2010 - 17:58:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/09/iran-woman-escapes-stoning-death-for-adultery-8944310/
Feedback for Post "Iran woman escapes stoning death for
adultery"

FedupwithR [Member]
09.07.2010 @ 22:31

It's totally depressing to read about such unnecessary suffering caused entirely by an archaic belief system.
Penn Jillette: 'Reading the Bible (Or the Koran, Or
the Torah) Will Make You an Atheist'
Watch the video at: http://bigthink.com/ideas/20808

Penn Jillette:
"...if you read the Bible or the Koran or the Torah cover-to-cover I believe you will emerge from that as an
atheist. I mean, you can read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, you can read "God Is Not Great" by
Hitchens... but the Bible itself, will turn you atheist faster than anything.
---
I think because what we get told about the Bible is a lot of picking and choosing, when you see, you know,
Lot's daughter gang raped and beaten, and the Lord being okay with that; when you actually read about
Abraham being willing to kill his son, when you actually read that; when you read the insanity of the talking
snake; when you read the hostility towards homosexuals, towards women, the celebration of slavery; when
you read in context, that "thou shalt not kill" means only in your own tribeōI mean, there's no hint that it
means humanity in general; that there's no sense of a shared humanity, it's all tribal; when you see a God that
is jealous and insecure; when you see that there's contradictions that show that it was clearly written hundreds
of years after the supposed fact and full of contradictions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette
"Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, musician
and writer known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of
atheism, Objectivism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism."

by jaskaw @ 10.07.2010 - 17:12:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/10/penn-jillette-reading-the-bible-or-the-koran-or-the-torah-will-make-you-an-athei
Feedback for Post "Penn Jillette: 'Reading the Bible (Or the
Koran, Or the Torah) Will Make You an Atheist'"

Ravi Samuel [Visitor]

10.07.2010 @ 20:06
You just wrote my life story; theist (Methodist) to Agnostic to Atheist. My problem? I thought I could clear
up theological ambiguities and such like by even greater study of the Bible.
Thomas Jefferson in a letter to friend: "I too am an
Epicurean"
From Thomas Jeffersonˈs Letter to William Short
Dated: October 31, 1819

"As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus
as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us.
Epictetus indeed, has given us what was good of the stoics; all beyond, of their dogmas, being hypocrisy and
grimace. Their great crime was in their calumnies of Epicurus and misrepresentations of his doctrines; in
which we lament to see the candid character of Cicero engaging as an accomplice.
Diffuse, vapid, rhetorical, but enchanting. His prototype Plato, eloquent as himself, dealing out mysticisms
incomprehensible to the human mind, has been deified by certain sects usurping the name of Christians;
because, in his foggy conceptions, they found a basis of impenetrable darkness whereon to rear fabrications as
delirious, of their own invention.

These they fathered blasphemously on him who they claimed as their founder, but who would disclaim them
with the indignation which their caricatures of his religion so justly excite.
Of Socrates we have nothing genuine but in the Memorabilia of Xenophon; for Plato makes him one of his
Collocutors merely to cover his own whimsies under the mantle of his name; a liberty of which we are told
Socrates himself complained. Seneca is indeed a fine moralist, disguising his work at times with some
Stoicisms, and affecting too much of antithesis and point, yet giving us on the whole a great deal of sound and
practical morality.
But the greatest of all the reformers of the depraved religion of his own country, was Jesus of Nazareth.
Abstracting what is really his from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distinguished by its lustre from the
dross of his biographers, and as separable from that as the diamond from the dunghill, we have the outlines of
a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man; outlines which it is
lamentable he did not live to fill up.

Epictetus and Epicurus give laws for governing ourselves, Jesus a supplement of the duties and charities we
owe to others. The establishment of the innocent and genuine character of this benevolent moralist, and the
rescuing it form the imputation of imposture, which has resulted from artificial systems, invented by
ultra-Christian sects, and unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by him, is a most desirable object, and
one to which Priestley has successfully devoted his labors and learning.
It would in time, it is to be hoped, effect a quiet euthanasia of the heresies of bigotry and fanaticism which
have so long triumphed over human reason, and so generally and deeply afflicted mankind; but this work is to
be begun by winnowing the grain form the chaff of the historians of his life.
I have sometimes thought of translating Epictetus (for he has never been tolerably translated into English) by
adding the genuine doctrines of Epicurus from the Syntagma of Gassendi, and an abstract from the
Evangelists of whatever has the stamp of the eloquence and fine imagination of Jesus.

The last I attempted too hastily some twelve or fifteen years ago. It was the work of two or three nights only,
at Washington, after getting through the evening task of reading the letters and papers of the day. But with one
foot in the grave, these are now idle projects for me. My business is to beguile the wearisomeness of declining
life, as I endeavor to do, by the delights of classical reading and of mathematical truths, and by the
consolations of a sound philosophy, equally indifferent to hope and fear.

I take the liberty of observing that you are not a true disciple of our master Epicurus, in indulging the
indolence to which you say you are yielding. One of his canons, you know, was that ːthat indulgence which
prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided.ə
Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthy exercise, a relaxation of mind, an
indifference to everything around you, and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest of
all things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurus ensure; fortitude, you know is
one of his four cardinal virtues.

That teaches us to meet and surmount difficulties; not to fly from them, like cowards; and to fly, too, in vain,
for they will meet and arrest us at every turn of our road. Weigh this matter well; brace yourself up; take a seat
with Correa, and come and see the finest portion of your country, which, if you have not forgotten, you still do
not know, because it is no longer the same as when you knew it. It will add much to the happiness of my
recovery to be able to receive Correa and yourself, and prove the estimation in which I hold you both."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_jefferson

by jaskaw @ 11.07.2010 - 17:58:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/11/thomas-jefferson-in-a-letter-fo-friend-i-too-am-an-epicurean-8953310/
Young Turks: 'Christian Fundamentalists' (Video)

TheYoungTurks writes:
http://www.theyoungturks.com/membership
New TYT Facebook Page(!): http://www.facebook.com/tytnation
Subscribe to the FREE Video Podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/d0zlmP
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/theyoungturks
DISCOUNTS: http://www.theyoungturks.com/godaddy
FREE Movies(!): http://www.netflix.com/tyt
Note: The above two links are for TYT sponsors.
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Turks_%28talk_show%29
"The Young Turks is a liberal radio and Internet talk show airing on Sirius Satellite Radio and its first original
programming. The name is an allusion to the Young Turk reform movement in the late Ottoman Empire (and
the general term, derived from this usage, referring to new progressive movements within older
organizations), playing on host Cenk Uygur's Turkish origins. The Young Turks claims to be the first Internet
TV news show. Video of the show is streamed daily on their website and available as a podcast.
The show offers exclusive, Internet-only video content via their YouTube channel, which averages 13 million
views monthly, and has over a quarter of a billion views total (as of June 2010). The Young Turks offers a
paid members-only Postgame Show, an uncensored, Internet-only wrap-up show. The Young Turks has won
the 2009 Podcast Award in the Political category, as well as 2009 Mashable Open Web Award for the Best
Political News Site."

by jaskaw @ 12.07.2010 - 01:17:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/11/young-turks-christian-fundamentalists-video-8954950/
Feedback for Post "Young Turks: 'Christian
Fundamentalists' (Video) "

FedupwithR [Member]
12.07.2010 @ 17:24

If these people really believe that the pastor has the power to do this, then they are crazy. But i think they are
all faking it. Either to get attention, or just so that they have an excuse to let go of some probably, very pent
up, emotions.

Bruce [Visitor]

12.07.2010 @ 18:18
If he really has that power, then withdraw all NATO troops and sent him to Iraq & Afghanistan.
Vatican sees third straight loss
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10590214.stm

"The Vatican has seen its third consecutive financial loss, with a 4.1m euros (£3.4m; $5.2m) deficit in 2009.
It saw revenues of 250.2m euros against expenses of 254.3m euros.
But annual donations from churches worldwide - known as Peter's Pence - were up by about 9% in 2009 at
$82.52m."

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10590214.stm

by jaskaw @ 12.07.2010 - 15:01:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/12/vatican-sees-third-straight-loss-8958215/
Feedback for Post "Vatican sees third straight loss"

jpfib [Member]
12.07.2010 @ 17:20

why waste time and space for reporting about these cheats.there are many other issues in this world,such as
millions and millions of children suffering,due to lack of food, disease,cruelty and sexual harassment.please
use your valuable time to help them.please don't waste your or our time for theses good for nothing cheats
who are after money, power and worldly pleasures and preaching infallibility.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
12.07.2010 @ 18:53
Dear jpfib. According to your reasoning we should not also do nothing to improve our own society as long
there is suffering somewhere else.
According to your reasoning we should not oppose theft as long there is robberies going on.
We all have things we are good at and we all have different roles. The world will not becoma a better place if
all of us would concentrate on doing one single thing, even if it is a good and worthy cause.

jpfib [Member]
12.07.2010 @ 17:22

devil is not in vatican. vatican itself is the manifestation of devil.

Bruce [Visitor]

12.07.2010 @ 18:16
Well, they have been plundering whole continents for the best part of the last 2 millennia, so they have
reserves to spare.

Bruce [Visitor]

13.07.2010 @ 17:53
Hi jpfib,

Since god does not exist, nor does the devil. The Vatican is just a family business: selling tickets to a
non-existent heaven for temporal rewards and business is not as good as it was.
Cartoonist Molly Norris ends up in radical Muslims
hit list
Read more at:
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/muhammad-cartoon-activist-molly-norris-lands-on-al-qaida-hit-list/19550262

(July 12) -- Molly Norris, the American cartoonist who started "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day," has been
placed on the hit list of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Al-Awlaki singled out Norris as "a prime target of assassination" for suggesting earlier this year that
Americans draw the prophet to protest the censorship of a "South Park" episode that depicted Muhammad in a
bear costume. Islam forbids graphical depictions of Muhammad.
Norris has since backed off from her protest.
The New York Daily News reports that the FBI considers the hit list a "very serious threat" and that al-Awlaki
is thought to be connected to the Times Square bomb plot and the would-be Christmas Day bomber."

Read more at:

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/muhammad-cartoon-activist-molly-norris-lands-on-al-qaida-hit-list/19550262

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Draw_Mohammed_Day

by jaskaw @ 12.07.2010 - 19:55:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/12/read-more-at-http-www-aolnews-com-world-article-muhammad-cartoon-activist
Feedback for Post "Cartoonist Molly Norris ends up in
radical Muslims hit list "

Bruce [Visitor]

12.07.2010 @ 21:06
Obviously this Anwar al-Awlaki (AaA) is an authority to be respected and Norris' days are numbered. What
confuses me is why all those hundreds of thousands of NATO troops have been bungling around in
Afghanistan and Iraq for nearly 9 years spending trillions of dollars and we are in an even more vulnerable
position than when they started. Pretty soon it will become illegal to piss in the direction of Mecca.
Amnesty: Hangman still waits for 27-year old
female political activist in Iran
Read more at:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/story-of-two-women-two-death-sentences-in-iran/?tr=y&auid=6617824

"This past week Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have been highlighting the plight
of two women sentenced to death in Iran. Both of them have suffered incredible injustices, but their stories are
actually very different and while one of them has received a great deal of publicity, the other has failed to
attract the attention that her case deserves."
---
"Zeynab Jalalian is a 27-year-old ethnic Kurdish political activist. She was sentenced to death in early 2009
after being convicted of ːMoharebehə (ːenmity against Godə) and she is in imminent danger of execution by
hanging at any time. Currently held in Evin Prison, Tehran, she was arrested in 2007. Her conviction was
based on her alleged membership in a Kurdish armed opposition group. She has said she was tortured and
sexually abused in detention. She is reported not to have been granted access to her lawyer during her trial,
which is said to have lasted only a few minutes and during which no evidence was reportedly produced
against her. Zeynab Jalalianˈs death sentence was upheld on appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court on
26 November 2009. Her family have received no news of her for a month and have been told by the
authorities that her case file has been ːlost.ə
---
"Iran executes more people than any other country in the world, except for China. Iran executed at least 388
people in 2009 and has executed at least 126 people so far this year."

Read more at:

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/story-of-two-women-two-death-sentences-in-iran/?tr=y&auid=6617824

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moharebeh
"Moharebeh (also muharebeh ) is the title of crime in Islamic law that has been translated in English language
media sources variously as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state," "enmity against God,"
or being an "enemy of God". It is a capital crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

[Qur'an 5:33] "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with
might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet
from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is
theirs in the Hereafter."

by jaskaw @ 12.07.2010 - 23:42:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/12/amnesty-hangman-still-waits-for-27-year-old-female-political-activist-in-iran-89
Feedback for Post "Amnesty: Hangman still waits for
27-year old female political activist in Iran"

Bruce [Visitor]

13.07.2010 @ 18:11
But if you do not believe in god, how can you possibly wage war against him? It has nothing to do with god
and everything to do with resisting repressive temporal power.

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
13.07.2010 @ 21:40

people whose brains have been severely infected by the doG virus, don't have the same capacity for rational
thought as those of us who were either immune or only suffered a mild infection.
Extremist Christians aim to create armed militias
against "Godless" federal government in United
States
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/147453/extremist_christians_aim_to_create_armed_militias_against_%22godless%22_fe

Religion Dispatches / By Sarah Posner and Julie Ingersoll

"Christian Reconstructionists believe civil government should be reformed according to the dictates of biblical
law. Some advocate for followers to take up arms.
---
Titus cites the ːtotalitarian threatə posed by ːObamacareə and ːwhat Sarah Palin said about death panels.ə
People need to be armed, he said, ːbecause ultimately it may come to the point where itˈs a life and death
situation.ə
---
Titus, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the GOA, an organization which claims 300,000 members, told
RD that ːthe ultimate authority is God.ə
"If you have a people that has basically been disarmed by the civil government,ə he added, ːthen there really
isnˈt any effectual means available to the people to restore law and liberty and thatˈs really the purpose of the
right keep and bear armsōis to defend yourself against a tyrant.ə

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/147453/extremist_christians_aim_to_create_armed_militias_against_%22godless%22_fe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reconstructionism :
"Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Protestant Christianity that calls
for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, on public sphere as well. The beliefs
characteristic of Christian Reconstructionism include:
Calvinism, for its description of individual spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit that is required to change
people on a personal level before any positive cultural changes can occur,
Theonomy: applying the general principles of Old Testament and New Testament Law to the corresponding
family, church and civil governments (compare with theocracy); opposed to church-state separation of any
kind, believing the state is under God and is therefore commanded to enforce God's Law.
Postmillennialism, the Christian eschatological belief that God's kingdom began at the first coming of Jesus
Christ, and will advance progressively throughout history until it fills the whole earth through conversion to
the Christian faith and worldview,
The presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til which holds there is no neutrality between believers
and nonbelievers, that the Bible reveals a self-authenticating worldview and system of truth, and that
non-Christian, non-Reformed belief systems self-destruct when they become more consistent with their
presuppositions, (Bahnsen, Van Til's Apologetic, pp. 145ʒ6, 97, 315ʒ6) or even the presuppositionalist
approach of Gordon Clark, and Decentralized political order resulting in minimal state power and laissez-faire
economics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Titus

by jaskaw @ 13.07.2010 - 16:53:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/13/extremist-christians-aim-to-create-armed-militias-against-godless-federal-govern
Feedback for Post "Extremist Christians aim to create
armed militias against "Godless" federal government in
United States"

Bruce [Visitor]

13.07.2010 @ 17:45
I assume there are only a few hundred thousand of these idiots against a few hundred million reasonable
people in this country?

FedupwithR [Member]
13.07.2010 @ 21:45

The US has always had more than it's fair share of wackos but also some of the worlds best so don't despair.
What can an atheist possibly celebrate?

The maker of this video Juggernauticali writes:

"Response to a video by bberchin. This is simply to point out that one does not need a deity in order to have
something to celebrate or to feel any kind of meaning. This kind of thinking is not necessarily unique to
atheists. Regardless, Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Sam Harris give us something we can ALL
celebrate. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Ph.D. (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and, since 1996, the
Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in
Manhattan. Since 2006, he has hosted PBS's educational television show NOVA scienceNOW. He has been a
frequent guest on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Jeopardy!.

by jaskaw @ 13.07.2010 - 22:39:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/13/what-can-an-atheist-possibly-celebrate-8967715/
Feedback for Post "What can an atheist possibly celebrate?
"

Bruce [Visitor]

14.07.2010 @ 21:01
Well, theists celebrate the occurrence of nothing, so we can do the same?

FedupwithR [Member]
17.07.2010 @ 15:30

We should celebrate life itself, in all it's myriad of forms. The beauty of our planet with all it's fabulous
diversity. Great "human" accomplishments. The best within us. Instead, human time, thought and energy, to
say nothing of money, is wasted worshiping a delusion. What a tragedy.
Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbis lauch 'divinely
ordained war' against net use
Read more at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100110/jewish-crackdown-internet

JERUSALEM, Israel ō Ultra-orthodox rabbis in Israel have launched what they claim is a ''divinely ordained
war'' against use of the internet among their followers.
They charge that the web is filled with ''abomination'' and can cause the faithful to abandon the strict religious
way of life.
''The campaign against the internet and the ultra-orthodox websites that destroy everything that is good is a
divinely ordained war,'' rabbi Shmuel Halevy Vozner, a prominent interpreter of Jewish law, wrote in
HaModia newspaper.
Wary of their own standing as much as being vigilant against perceived sacrilege, the rabbis have forced the
closure in recent weeks of ultra-orthodox websites that emerged over the last several years as an alternative
news source to stodgy rabbinically guided newspapers.

Read more at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/100110/jewish-crackdown-internet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Orthodox
"Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as
ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi (Haredim in the plural).
Haredi Jews, like other Orthodox Jews, consider their belief system and religious practices to extend in an
unbroken chain back to Moses and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. As a result, they regard
non-Orthodox, and to an extent Modern Orthodox, streams of Judaism to be deviations from authentic
Judaism.
Haredi Judaism comprises a diversity of spiritual and cultural orientations, generally divided into Hasidic and
Lithuanian-Yeshiva streams from Eastern Europe, and Oriental Sephardic Haredim. Its historical rejection of
Jewish secularism distinguishes it from Western European derived Modern Orthodox Judaism."

by jaskaw @ 14.07.2010 - 11:42:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/14/israeli-ultra-orthodox-rabbis-lauch-divinely-ordained-war-against-net-use-89723
Feedback for Post "Israeli ultra-orthodox rabbis lauch
'divinely ordained war' against net use"

Bruce [Visitor]

14.07.2010 @ 18:12
These guys are not going far enough. The Internet is not the problem, it is electricity that needs to be
eliminated...

FedupwithR [Member]
17.07.2010 @ 15:41

I'm surprised they even have electricity. The Amish don't. So their curly side bangs then, must be done with
plastic hair curlers?
Bangladesh High Court bans religious
punishments
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHCWrc5LUwhO0JNtPARKWtI7YUDw

"DHAKA ō The Bangladesh High Court has outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict, or fatwa,
after a series of cases of Muslim women being beaten and caned, a state lawyer said Friday.
The court ruling came late Thursday on public interest litigations by human rights groups who highlighted
examples of women being publicly whipped for "crimes" like adultery, having a child out of wedlock or even
just talking to people of other faiths.
In some cases, rape victims were flogged for being a "participant" to their assault.
---
Human rights lawyer Shadeen Malik hailed what he described as a "landmark" ruling.
"The cases of beatings, whippings and public humiliations of people, especially poor rural women, would be
drastically reduced following this verdict," Malik said."

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHCWrc5LUwhO0JNtPARKWtI7YUDw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwa
"A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In
Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as
binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā is called, in that
respect, a Mufti, i.e. an issuer of fatwa. This is not necessarily a formal position since most Muslims argue
that anyone trained in Islamic law may give an opinion (fatwā) on its teachings. If a fatwā does not break new
ground, then it is simply called a ruling.
An analogy might be made to the issue of legal opinions from courts in common-law systems. Fatwās
generally contain the details of the scholar's reasoning, typically in response to a particular case, and are
considered binding precedent by those Muslims who have bound themselves to that scholar, including future
Muftis; mere rulings can be compared to memorandum opinions. The primary difference between
common-law opinions and fatwās, however, is that fatwās are not universally binding; as the Sharia is not
universally consistent and Islam is very non-hierarchical in structure, fatwās do not carry the sort of weight
that secular common-law opinions do."

by jaskaw @ 14.07.2010 - 14:37:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/14/bangladesh-high-court-bans-religious-punishments-8973099/
Feedback for Post "Bangladesh High Court bans religious
punishments "

Bruce [Visitor]

14.07.2010 @ 18:09
Does the Bangladesh High Court have more authority than a Mufti in a remote village far from Dhaka?

FedupwithR [Member]
17.07.2010 @ 15:49

We must assume it does. One hopes that this means that women in the future will be able to bring a complaint
against any Mufti who thinks he's above the law.
Saudi Islamic academic: 'Journalists are soldiers
of Satan'
Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=912

"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned, today, the statements of the Saudi advocate,
Abdel Rahman AlBarrak, a professor of religion at the Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in
Riyadh against journalists, whom he described as soldiers of Satan because of his expectations for criticism on
his hard line fatwa for Muslim women to cover their faces, even in front of women!.
AlBarak declared this fatwa to the media saying, ə Muslim women should be face veiled before other women
seeking more covering .ə He added that his fatwa was sure to stir soldiers of Satan ,journalists, against him,
expecting criticism for this ultra-reactionary extremist resolution.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said, ːAdvocates of religious extremism in Saudi Arabia
are still not contented that they created two separate communities within the Saudi society, one for men and
another for women. They would still endeavor towards more eccentricity by compelling women to wear hijab,
even among women , and launch a pre-emptive attack against any critical voice , particularly journalistsə.

Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=912

by jaskaw @ 14.07.2010 - 17:02:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/14/saudi-islamic-academic-journalists-are-soldiers-of-satan-8973805/
Feedback for Post "Saudi Islamic academic: 'Journalists are
soldiers of Satan'"

Bruce [Visitor]

14.07.2010 @ 18:05
AlBarrak is right: women should be veiled to prevent them from coming into contact with other lesbians.
With Saudi men so barbaric, all Saudi women must surely be inclined to homosexuality? Homosexuality is
not good for the production of cannon fodder.

However, AlBarrack's opinion about journalists, at least the ones in my country, may have some merit.

FedupwithR [Member]
17.07.2010 @ 15:56

There are excellent journalist and rotten journalists everywhere just as there are decent humans and
unscrupulous humans everywhere.
Jesus in the cover of Playboy was too much in
Portugal
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/playboy-portguals-jesus-c_n_642699.html

"Playboy has shuttered its Portugal edition after a controversial cover and spread featuring a depiction of
Jesus Christ among a topless model.
The spread was, according to the Daily Mail, "ostensibly a tribute to Nobel Prize-winning author Jose
Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ."
However, the Portuguese subsidiary operating the magazine did not clear the cover with Playboy before
publication ō a violation of the licensing agreement ō and now Playboy is pulling out of Portugal."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/playboy-portguals-jesus-c_n_642699.html

by jaskaw @ 15.07.2010 - 14:18:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/15/jesus-in-the-cover-of-playboy-was-too-much-in-portugal-8978407/
Feedback for Post "Jesus in the cover of Playboy was too
much in Portugal"

FedupwithR [Member]
17.07.2010 @ 15:59

It looked like trash anyway.

Scientology fires a broadside on a tv-host critical
of it
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/scientologists-vs-anderso_n_644653.html

"Anderson Cooper has made himself a powerful enemy: the Church of Scientology.
Back in March, Anderson Cooper devoted a week of his show, "Anderson Cooper 360," to a special
investigation into allegations of violence and physical abuse within the Church of Scientology. Now, the
church has struck back, devoting an entire issue of one of its magazines, "Freedom," to an attack on Cooper
and CNN:
...Cooper thinks he can get away with this hogwash and pull off what even the greatest hucksters in history
failed to accomplish, i.e., fool all the people all the time.
So in the immortal words of Cooper himself, let's start "keeping 'em honest" by presenting his Posse of
Apostates as they truly are...

Under the heading "Anderson Cooper: A History Of Lies," the church accuses Cooper of ignoring the
information it provided him and of refusing to speak with top church officials. It also proclaims Larry King to
be the only CNN host qualified to interview Scientology leader David Miscavige, and Cooper of supporting
an anti-Scientology group that the church calls a terrorist organization.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/scientologists-vs-anderso_n_644653.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_cooper
"Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He
currently works as the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is
normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for
breaking news stories. He also frequently guest hosts on Live with Regis and Kelly."

by jaskaw @ 15.07.2010 - 21:02:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/15/scientology-fires-a-broadside-on-tv-host-critical-of-it-8980952/
'Countless worlds, numberless moments, an
immensity of space and time.' by Carl Sagan

"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth. Each of those
worlds is as real as ours. In every one of them, there's a sucsession of incidence, events, occurences which
influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small
planet, at this moment, here we face a critical branch-point in the history. What we do with our world, right
now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is
well within our power to destroy our civilization, and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to
superstition, or greed, or stupidty we can plunge our world into a darkness deeper than time between the
collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissaince. But, we are also capable of using our
compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for
every inhabitant of this planet. To enhance enormously our understanding of the Universe, and to carry us to
the stars." Carl Sagan explains the immensity of space and time. This clip is from Carl Sagan's Cosmos
episode 8, "Journeys in Space and Time."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_sagan
"Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 ʒ December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,
author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.
During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author,
co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific
method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. A book to accompany the program was also
published. Sagan also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name."

by jaskaw @ 15.07.2010 - 22:47:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/15/countless-worlds-numberless-moments-an-immensity-of-space-and-time-by-carl
Maldives man driven to suicide after revealing his
atheism
Read more at: http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2010/07/consequences-of-apostasy.html

"News reaches us of a disturbing story from the Maldives, which serves as a reminder of the freedom of belief
enjoyed by those of all religions and none here in Europe. Ismail Mohamed Didi, a 25-year-old air traffic
controller who worked at the airport in the Maldives capital, Malé, was found hanged from the airport's
control tower this week, having apparently committed suicide.
As this report from a Maldives news site shows, it appears Didi's suicide was prompted by ostracisation he
received after admitting to his atheism, in confidence, to some colleagues. This news spread, prompting a
hostile reaction from his fellow workers, and even resulted in Didi being investigated by his employers. As an
email sent by Didi to a humanitarian orgainisation at the end of June shows, the situation seems to have
become so bad that he was seeking asylum in the UK."

Read more at: http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2010/07/consequences-of-apostasy.html

http://thesouthernatheistgentleman.blogspot.com/2010/07/islam-killed-this-man.html

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/06/02/violent-mob-demands-beheading-of-a-man-who-publicly-renounces-islam-in-ma
told 02/06/10 this from Maldives:

"According to this report, the brief exchange sparked hatred from an angry crowd of around 11,000, with
many calling for his death. Several people rushed towards him as an official of the Islamic Ministry tried to
escort him out. Police, however, came between Nazim and the crowd and took him into custody.
The newspaper report also stated that a crowed gathered outside the police station and demanded that Nazim
be handed over to the crowd, who shouted anti-atheism slogans and called for Nazimˈs beheading."

by jaskaw @ 16.07.2010 - 14:08:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/16/maldives-man-driven-to-suicide-after-revealing-his-atheism-8986555/
Christian foster carer wins case against council
who struck her off because Muslim girl in her care
changed religion
Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/christian-foster-carer-wins-case.html

Gateshead Council has been ordered to quash a decision to de-register a foster carer after a 16 year old
ːMuslim girlə in her charge decided that she wanted to be baptised a Christian. The foster carer, who defines
herself as a church-going Christian, had fostered over 45 children for the council in the previous ten years.
Significantly, the girl was reportedly already exploring Christianity before she was placed in the foster home.
When she announced she wanted to be baptised as a Christian, local government officials claimed the foster
care giver had ːfailedə to preserve the girlˈs religion. The council apparently wanted to keep the girl away
from her chosen church ō an evangelical Christian assembly ō for six months and encourage her to take part in
ːnormalə teenage activities.
---
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: ːThe right to change oneˈs religion is
guaranteed in just about every human rights charter ever written. It was not the councilˈs place to enforce
Islamic rules of apostasy ʒ if that is what they were doing. It is surely a matter of conscience for the
individual to decide what religion they want to belong to, if any. At 16, this girl could already have been
confirmed into the Catholic or Anglican Church.
ːIf she wanted to leave Islam, or any other religion, she was perfectly entitled to do so. Unlike in some
Middle Eastern theocracies, there is no penalty here for changing religion.ə

Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/christian-foster-carer-wins-case.html

by jaskaw @ 17.07.2010 - 16:18:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/17/christian-foster-carer-wins-case-against-council-who-struck-her-off-because-mu
ABC News: 'Atheists Break Out New Ritual Tool:
The Blow-Dryer'
Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/atheists-conduct-de-baptisms/story?id=11109379

"Wielding a blow-dryer, a leading atheist conducted a mass "de-baptism" of fellow non-believers and
symbolically dried up the offending waters that were sprinkled on their foreheads as young children.
At the annual American Atheists Convention, one of atheism's premier provocateurs, Edwin Kagin, faced the
crowd and raised high a hairdryer labeled "Reason and Truth."
Said one woman who travelled from Cincinnati to undergo the de-baptism, "I was baptized Catholic. I don't
remember any of it at all." The woman, Cambridge Boxterman, 24, added, "According to my mother I
screamed like a banshee, and those are her words, so you can see that even as a young child I didn't want to be
baptized. It's not fair. I was born atheist and they were forcing me to become Catholic."

Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/atheists-conduct-de-baptisms/story?id=11109379

Watch the video: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/war-religion-11185937

by jaskaw @ 17.07.2010 - 20:43:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/17/abc-news-atheists-break-out-new-ritual-tool-the-blow-dryer-8993458/
Oops, Indonesian Muslims told to change prayer
direction
Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100716/od_nm/us_indonesia_mecca

"JAKARTA (Reuters) ʒ Indonesia's Muslims learned on Friday they have been praying in the wrong
direction, after the country's highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had
people facing Africa.
Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world's most
populous Muslim country.
"But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting
people shift the direction slightly to the north-west," the head of the MUI, Cholil Ridwan, told Reuters.
"There's no need to knock down mosques, just shift your direction slightly during prayer."
Ridwan said Muslims need not fear that their prayers have been wasted because they were facing the wrong
way."

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100716/od_nm/us_indonesia_mecca

by jaskaw @ 17.07.2010 - 23:50:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/17/oops-indonesian-muslims-told-to-change-prayer-direction-8994107/
Feedback for Post "Oops, Indonesian Muslims told to
change prayer direction"

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
18.07.2010 @ 00:17
This is so funny that I just cannot stop laughing. How really stupid should a person be to really even think that
prayers can "go waste" if they are posted in the wrong direction?
Do they really think that their all-powerful, all-seeing all-hearing God is in fact so limited that it can receive
messages from only a certain direction?

Bruce [Visitor]

18.07.2010 @ 21:39
Indeed jaskaw, this is most amusing. For 500 years untold millions of people have had their daily prayers go
to waste as a result of a silly compass error.

From what I hear, the Islamic god is not very forgiving. His only interest is that the prayers are said at the
right times, with the prescribed content and in the correct direction, otherwise you do not get any brownie
points.

I worked on a couple of computer projects in Jakarta in the 1990's and whenever the going got tough, the
Indonesians went off to pray. They did not return till the infidels had solved the problem.

FedupwithR [Member]
15.11.2010 @ 22:41

I've just seen this post and cant stop laughing!

A true classic: 'Door To Door Atheists Bother
Mormons'

"Australian filmmaker John Safran is so fed up with mormons ringing his doorbell early in the morning that
he flies to Salt Lake City Utah and tries to convert Mormons to atheism. Needless to say, the locals were not
pleased."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Safran
John Safran (born 13 August 1972) is an Australian documentary maker and media personality, well-known
for pranks and indelicate handling of controversial issues. He is known for his outlandish stunts such as
rummaging through Australian television personality Ray Martin's rubbish in John Safran: Media Tycoon (an
early pilot for a TV series), placing a temporary fatwa on the life of Rove McManus and sneaking nine young
men into an exclusive Melbourne nightclub by disguising them as members of American nu-metal band
Slipknot.

by jaskaw @ 18.07.2010 - 00:26:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/17/door-to-door-atheists-bother-mormons-8994190/
Feedback for Post "A true classic: 'Door To Door Atheists
Bother Mormons'"

Michelle [Visitor]

18.07.2010 @ 00:49
Excellent. Well done.

Cheekymuffy [Visitor]
http://cheekymuffy.wordpress.com
18.07.2010 @ 04:39
I get it. Totally. But I'm guessing, as a SLC resident (and atheist), that many of those people were not
mormon. He'd do better in the suburbs of SLC. Or maybe Provo.
Philhellenes: 'Four billion years of evolution is not
easily overcome' (video)

The maker of this video, "philhellenes" says:

"4 billion years of evolution is not easily overcome, but human history is littered with examples of individuals
who said, "No", to their inner ape, their instincts. It can be done. The trick is to SEE it first. Then you can
resist.
If you want to punch someone in the face for knocking your beer over, thy name be Trevor. If you want to
punch someone because you're bored you may as well wear a monkey suit. If you believe all the priest says
and don't wanna think for yourself, it's not a coincidence that Trevor feels the same. If your heart is broken
and you want your abusive ex-boyfriend or abusive ex-girlfriend back, that's Trevor messing with you. He'll
do anything, torture you if necessary, to get you to multiply (doesn't feel like that's what's going on, but
Trevor's clever like that). The first step to easing a problem is admitting there IS a problem. And it's name is
often "Trevor".
A comment that sums up what I was trying to say in just a few words. macnutz "The more I learn, the more I
think and reason, the weaker Trevor becomes. You can't kill Trevor, but you can become your own master."

http://www.youtube.com/user/philhellenes

by jaskaw @ 18.07.2010 - 18:53:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/18/philhellenes-four-billion-years-of-evolution-is-not-easily-overcome-video-89970
TheThinkingAtheist: 'Welcome To This World'
(video)

The maker of this video "TheThinkingAtheist" says:

"In the name of love and compassion, it's amazing the kind of damage religious parents can do to an innocent
child."

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist :
"A former Christian of 30 years, I ultimately found that religion, faith and scripture lacked any true answers,
especially in the (bright) light of scientific discovery and the truth of Evolution by Natural Selection.
Having an insiders perspective of Christianity, I use my skills as a producer to stir the pot of debate and,
hopefully, make it uncomfortable for anyone to be a mere spectator in the arena of ideas."

by jaskaw @ 18.07.2010 - 19:01:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/18/welcome-to-this-world-video-8997067/
'Agora' review: Hypatia vs. the forces of
intolerance

By A. O. SCOTT
"At first glance ːAgora,ə a rousing, finger-pointing drama from the Chilean-born director Alejandro
Amenábar (ːThe Others,ə ːThe Sea Insideə) is a bit of a puzzle. This is a good thing, since most movies
plop down in easily recognizable categories and stay there, troubling neither their own intellectual inertia nor
that of the audience.
---
Hypatia, a humanist and an intellectual, finds herself threatened from all sides. And though her predicament is
sometimes laid out in heavy thematic speeches, it is also very moving. This is partly because Ms. Weisz is
such a sympathetic presence and adept at showing how her characterˈs combination of wisdom and
unworldliness makes her vulnerable to the guile, cowardice and opportunism of others. But it is also because
Mr. Amenábar and Mr. Gil do not stack the odds in her favor.
Films about ideological strife in the past frequently reassure modern audiences with a vision of progress in
which ignorance is at least partly vanquished and enlightenment is allowed to prevail.
I donˈt want to give too much away, but I will say that ːAgoraə treats this kind of wishful thinking with a
skepticism that makes the film not only sad but also chilling. It is entirely ō not dogmatically but stubbornly ō
on the side of reason, science and liberalism, values opposed by superstition, fundamentalism and political
expediency.
The world of Alexandria in the later years of the Roman Empire is one in which the forces of intolerance,
whatever deity they profess, always seem to have the upper hand, and in which even ostensibly rational,
compassionate rulers collaborate with the faith-based holy warriors.
The parallels between then and now are hardly subtle. The warning bell that ːAgoraə sounds may be loud
and at times a little grating, but whatˈs wrong with that? The skeptical and the secular also need stories of
martyrdom and rousing acts of cinematic preaching."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora_(film)
"Agora is a 2009 Spanish historical drama film directed by Alejandro Amenábar and written by Amenábar
and Mateo Gil. The biopic stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, a female mathematician, philosopher and
astronomer in 4th century CE Roman Egypt who investigates the flaws of the geocentric Ptolemaic system
and the heliocentric model that challenges it. Surrounded by religious turmoil and social unrest, Hypatia
struggles to save the knowledge of classical antiquity from destruction. Max Minghella co-stars as Davus,
Hypatia's slave, and Oscar Isaac as Hypatia's student Orestes, prefect of Alexandria.
The story uses historical fiction to highlight the relationship between religion and science amidst the decline
of Greco-Roman polytheism and the Christianization of the Roman empire. The title of the film takes its name
from the agora, a gathering place in ancient Greece, similar to the Roman forum."

On the rise of Christian intolerance see:

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/07/05/why-were-christians-persecuted-in-the-roman-empire-after-all-8920249/

by jaskaw @ 19.07.2010 - 16:27:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/19/agora-review-hypatia-against-the-forces-of-intolerance-9001501/
Feedback for Post "'Agora' review: Hypatia vs. the forces of
intolerance "

FLJustice [Visitor]
http://www.faithljustice.com
21.07.2010 @ 16:57
I saw the film when it first came out in NYC and loved Weisz' performance as Hypatia. Amenabar distorts
some history in service to his art (the Library didn't end that way and Synesius wasn't a jerk), but that's what
artists do. I don't go to the movies for history. For people who want to know more about the historical
Hypatia, I highly recommend a very readable biography "Hypatia of Alexandria" by Maria Dzielska (Harvard
University Press, 1995). I also have a series of posts on the historical events and characters in the film at my
blog (http://faithljustice.wordpress.com) - not a movie review, just a "reel vs. real" discussion.

Colette C [Visitor]
http://god4101.blogspot.com/
02.08.2010 @ 02:42
It's a pity so many atheists need to affirn their own position by creating myths about the "evils" of
Christianity. As FLJustice indicates one shouldn't go to the movies to learn history, but unfortunately for some
people that's the only crack at history they get.

Atheist Tim O'Neill is quite critical of Amenabar's attempt at creating fakelore with regards to conflicts
between Christians and Hypatia.
http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html

In the end truth prevails, and those like Amenabar who deliberately distort history lose credibility.
Christopher Hitchens reminds: Mel Gibson is a
member of a fascist religous splinter group
Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2260937

Christopher Hitchens on Mel Gibson

---
"This is extraordinary. We live in a culture where the terms fascist and racist are thrown about, if anything,
too easily and too frequently. Yet here is a man whose every word and deed is easily explicable once you
know the single essential thing about him: He is a member of a fascist splinter group that believes it is the
salvation of the Catholic Church.
This schismatic crackpot sect is headed by Mel Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, a nutty autodidact with a
sideline in Holocaust denial. During the controversy over The Passion of the Christ, Gibson junior said that he
had never heard anything but the truth from his father. I have some of old man Gibson's books on my shelf,
including his self-published classics Is the Pope Catholic? and The Enemy Is Still Here!, which essentially
accuse the current papacy of doing the work of the Antichrist. My favorite sample of his prose style is the
following: "Our 'civilization' tolerates open sodomy and condones murder of the unborn, but shrinks in horror
from burning incorrigible hereticsōessentially a charitable act." He attacks the late Pope John Paul II for
having said, in one of his "outreaches" to the Jewish people, "You are our predilect brothers and, in a certain
way, one could say our oldest brothers." Hutton Gibson's comment? "Abel had an older brother." I don't think
that there's much ambiguity there, do you? Like many ultra-conservative Catholics, the Gibsons, père et fils,
have never forgiven the Vatican for lifting the charge of deicide against the Jews in 1964."

by jaskaw @ 19.07.2010 - 19:51:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/19/christopher-hitchens-reminds-mel-gibson-is-a-member-of-a-fascist-religous-spli
Face veils banned at Syrian universities
Read more at:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100719-syria-bans-face-fails-universities-niqab-headscarf-prohibited?tr=y&auid=6654

"Female students at Syrian universities are no longer permitted to wear the full veil, known as the Niqab, on
campus. The government says the controversial new policy is designed to protect the country's secular
identity.
AP - Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country's universities.
The Education Ministry's ban on the niqab comes as similar moves in Europe spark cries of discrimination
against Muslims.
An official at the ministry says the ban affects public and private universities and aims to protect Syria's
secular identity. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the
media."

Read more at:

http://www.france24.com/en/20100719-syria-bans-face-fails-universities-niqab-headscarf-prohibited?tr=y&auid=6654

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niqab

by jaskaw @ 20.07.2010 - 00:28:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/19/face-veils-banned-at-syrian-universities-9003702/
Feedback for Post "Face veils banned at Syrian universities
"

FedupwithR [Member]
21.07.2010 @ 11:59

I left a comment at France 24.com but i find it really crummy that there is no access to comments unless you
become a member. So i will repeat it here.

A very positive move. All governments should be defending themselves against galloping Islamic
fundamentalism.

Bruce [Visitor]

21.07.2010 @ 18:04
Learn something new every day: I did not know Syria considered itself secular. It sets an example for all in
the West...
Saturday 24th of July is International Sakine
Mohammadi Ashtiani Day ʒ World Citizens against
Stoning
Read more at: http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/11-july-international-day-against-stoning/

By Maryam Namazie
"We, the undersigned, are extremely concerned about the fate of 43 year old Sakine Mohamadi Ashtiani and
fear she may be executed in Iran at any time for ’having an illicit relationship.ˈ
We call on people everywhere to intensify their protests by marking Saturday 24 July as the International
Sakine Mohamadi Ashtiani Day. On the Saturday, we ask you to come out on to the streets and in city centres
across the globe at 2pm local time bringing photos of Sakine and messages in her defence and against stoning
and execution. Other measures that can be taken include highlighting her case wherever possible, signing
petitions here, here and here, joining rallies, and keeping pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The mother of two has already received 99 lashes and been sentenced to death by stoning. Sajjad, her
22-year-old son, who raised the alarm of her imminent stoning when there was no further legal recourse via an
open letter to the people of the world and said ’there is no justiceˈ in Iran has been summoned to the Ministry
of Intelligence for his brave efforts to secure his motherˈs freedom."

Read more at: http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/11-july-international-day-against-stoning/

Petitions and more info at:

http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944&lang=en
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?cl=651962225&v=6766
http://freesakineh.org/

by jaskaw @ 20.07.2010 - 17:57:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/20/saturday-24th-of-july-is-international-sakine-mohammadi-ashtiani-day-world-ci
Arab man jailed for claiming to be a Jew before
consensual sex with a Jewish woman
Read more at:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/arab-jailed-for-consensual-sex-with-jew-20100721-10lc6.html

"AFP. An Arab man has been jailed on a rape charge after an Israeli court ruled he had duped a Jewish
woman into consensual sex by lying about his ethnicity.
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Sabbar Kashur, 30, to 18 months behind bars on Monday, after
finding that he had had sex with the woman by posing as a Jewish bachelor interested in a long-term
relationship.
When the woman found out he was not a Jew, she filed a police complaint that led to charges of rape and
indecent assault. In a plea deal, Kashur later agreed to the charge of rape by deception, the liberal Haaretz
daily newspaper said."

Read more at:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/arab-jailed-for-consensual-sex-with-jew-20100721-10lc6.html

by jaskaw @ 21.07.2010 - 17:56:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/21/arab-jailed-for-claiming-to-be-a-jew-before-consensual-sex-with-a-jewish-woma
Feedback for Post "Arab man jailed for claiming to be a Jew
before consensual sex with a Jewish woman"

Bruce [Visitor]

21.07.2010 @ 18:00
That is a bit one-sided. The women should be flogged for having sex with an Arab?

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
21.07.2010 @ 18:03
PS. I have a policy line in this blog not to comment at all the pieces I present here, as I think they must left to
speak for themselves.
However I think I must make it clear here that being a Jew is not a ethnic, but a religious choice. Palestinian
Arabs and Jews share largely a common ethnic background and are really separable only by their religious
views.
Modern Jews claim to be the descendants of the Jewish people who left Palestine in the beginning of the first
millennium and modern Palestinians are the descendants of some stock of people who just remained in the
area and were Arabized and Islamized.

“Recent genetic evidence has demonstrated that Palestinians as an ethnic group are closely related to Jews and
represent modern "descendants of a core population that lived in the area since prehistoric times," largely
predating the Arabian Muslim conquest that resulted in their acculturation, established Arabic as the
predominant vernacular, and over time also Islamized many of them from various prior faiths.” - Wikipedia

Bruce [Visitor]

21.07.2010 @ 18:14
I agree: it has nothing to do with genes and everything to do with religious dogma.

FedupwithR [Member]
21.07.2010 @ 22:43

Bruce, do you think it is a decent thing for a man to lie to a women, telling her that he is interested in marriage
when in fact he is married and a father of two children? Frankly, although the headline centers on ethnicity,
it's also a question of ethics.

FedupwithR [Member]
22.07.2010 @ 11:28

One thing that was not stated in the article, was the time length of the relationship. Today, i heard on the
radio, that they met in the morning and slept together that same evening. So I don't equate a one night stand
with a several day/week affair. Now, i feel really sorry for his humiliated wife and his two children who will
be deprived of a father for two years thanks to this hot pant Jewish girl. Her behaviour is totally self centered
and selfish.
Bruce [Visitor]

22.07.2010 @ 12:17
They were consenting adults and the law should not be involved. Who lied to whom & the consequences in
their private lives are for each of them to deal with.

Bruce [Visitor]

24.07.2010 @ 18:02
PS: according to our newspaper, he never claimed he was a Jew. How accurate and comprehensive are
newspaper reports?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
24.07.2010 @ 18:56
Thanks, Bruce. This info puts the whole affair into a new perspective, as then it is not even a case of giving
false information on purpose.
London buses to carry female ordination advert
during pope's visit
Read more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/22/london-bus-female-ordination-pope?CMP=AFCYAH

"In a move designed to coincide with the pope's visit to Britain in September, London buses are to carry
posters calling for the ordination of women.
The initiative, from the UK group Catholic Women's Ordination (CWO), will see buses carrying the slogan
"Pope Benedict Ordain Women Now".
According to the weekly Catholic magazine the Tablet, CWO has paid about £10,000 for the posters to appear
on 10 buses for a month from August 30.
The pope will be in the UK from September 16, spending two days in the capital, and the posters will appear
on routes that go past Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Hall. Both venues feature on the papal
itinerary."

Read more at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/22/london-bus-female-ordination-pope?CMP=AFCYAH

by jaskaw @ 22.07.2010 - 21:45:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/22/news-world-news-catholicism-london-buses-to-carry-female-ordination-advert-d
Feedback for Post "London buses to carry female
ordination advert during pope's visit"

FedupwithR [Member]
22.07.2010 @ 22:20

How stupid. What a waste of £10,OOO. It will change nothing. The Pope will probably never see these buses.
Why don't these deluded females just change church for doG sake!

Bruce [Visitor]

24.07.2010 @ 17:59
At least the £10K of ill-gotten caflic funds have gone back into circulation. That's £10K less to be spent on
sodomizing kids.

Catherine [Visitor]

25.07.2010 @ 21:03
Women priests would not have sodomised kids. Changing tradition isnt the answer either.
Iran cuts off hands from five thieves
Read more at: http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/07/22/14789216.html?tr=y&auid=6682581

"TEHRAN - Iran amputated the hands of five convicted thieves inside a prison in the western city of
Hamedan on Thursday, the semi-official ILNA news agency said.
ːThe average age of the five thieves on whom the hand amputation verdict was carried out was over 25 and
they had committed major thefts,ə the agency quoted local judiciary official Akbar Biglari as saying.
Biglari said the amputation verdict is not automatic for all those who commit a theft and some 14 criteria
should be met before the punishment is carried out."

Read more at: http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/07/22/14789216.html?tr=y&auid=6682581

by jaskaw @ 23.07.2010 - 07:17:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/23/iran-cuts-off-hands-from-five-thieves-9024741/
'God in the Constitution' By Col. Robert G.
Ingersoll

Published in "The Arena" - Boston Mass. January 1890

GOD IN THE CONSTITUTION. ːAll governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed.ə By Col. Robert G. Ingersoll

"IN this country it is admitted that the power to govern resides in the people themselves; that they are the only
rightful source of authority. For many centuries before the formation of our Govern−ment, before the
promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, the people had but little voice in the affairs of nations. The
source of authority was not in this world ; kings were not crowned by their subjects, and the sceptre was not
held by the consent of the governed. The king sat on his throne by the will of God, and for that reason was not
accountable to the people for the exercise of his power. He commanded, and the people obeyed. He was lord
of their bodies, arid his partner, the priest, was lord of their souls. The government of earth was patterned after
the kingdom on high. God was a supreme autocrat in heaven, whose will was law, and the king was a supreme
autocrat on earth whose will was law. The God in heaven had inferior beings to do his will, and the king on
earth had certain fa−vorites and officers to do his. These officers were accountable to him, and he was
responsible to God.

The Feudal system was supposed to be in accordance with the divine plan. The people were not governed by
intelligence, but by threats and promises, by rewards and punishments. No effort was made to enlighten the
common people; no one thought of educating a peasant-of developing the mind of a laborer. The people were
created to support thrones and altars. Their destiny was to toil and obey-to work and want. They were to be
satisfied with huts and hovels, with ignorance and rags, and their children must expect no more. In the
presence of the king they fell upon their knees, and before the priest they groveled in the very dust. The poor
peasant divided his earnings with the state, because he imagined it protected his body ; he divided his crust
with the church, believing that it protected his soul. He was the prey of Throne and Altar-one deformed his
body, the other his mind-and these two vultures fed upon his toil. He was taught by the king to hate the people
of other nations, and by the priest to despise the believers in all other religions. He was made the enemy of all
people except his own. He had no sympathy with the peasants of other lands, enslaved and plundered like
himself. He was kept in ignorance, because education is the enemy of superstition, and because education is
the foe of that egotism often mistaken for patriotism.

The intelligent and good man holds in his affections the good and true of every land-the boundaries of
countries are not the limitations of his sympathies. Caring nothing for race, or color, he loves those who speak
other languages and worship other gods. Between him and those who suffer, there is no impassable gulf. He
salutes the world, and extends the hand of friendship to the human race. He does not bow before a provincial
and patriotic god-one who protects his tribe or nation, and abhors the rest of mankind.

Through all the ages of superstition, each nation has insisted that it was the peculiar care of the true God, and
that it alone had the true religion-that the gods of other nations were false and fraudu−lent, and that other
religions were wicked, ignorant and absurd. In this way the seeds of hatred had been sown, and in this way
have been kindled the flames of war. Men have had no sympathy with those of a different complexion, with
those who knelt at other altars and expressed their thoughts in other words-and even a difference in garments
placed them beyond the sympathy of others. Every peculiar−ity was the food of prejudice and the excuse for
hatred.

The boundaries of nations were at last crossed by commerce. People became somewhat ac−quainted, and they
found that the virtues and vices were quite evenly distributed. At last, subjects be−came somewhat acquainted
with kings-peasants had the pleasure of gazing at princes, and it was dimly perceived that the differences were
mostly in rags and names.

In 1776 our fathers endeavored to retire the gods from politics. They declared that ːall govern−ments derive
their just powers from the consent of the governed.ə This was a contradiction of the then political ideas of the
world; it was, as many believed, an act of pure blasphemy-a renunciation of the Deity. It was in fact a
declaration of the independence of the earth. It was a notice to all churches and priests that thereafter mankind
would govern and protect themselves. Politically it tore down every altar and denied the authority of every
ːsacred book,ə and appealed from the Providence of God to the Providence of Man.

Those who promulgated the Declaration adopted a Constitution for the great Republic.

What was the office or purpose of that Constitution ?

Admitting that all power came from the people, it was necessary, first, that certain means be adopted for the
purpose of ascertaining the will of the people, and second, it was proper and conveni−ent to designate certain
departments that should exercise certain powers of the Government. There must be the legislative, the judicial
and the executive departments. Those who make laws should not execute them. Those who execute laws
should not have the power of absolutely determining their meaning or their constitutionality. For these
reasons, among others, a Constitution was adopted.

This Constitution also contained a declaration of rights. It marked out the limitations of discre−tion, so that in
the excitement of passion, men shall not go beyond the point designated in the calm moment of reason.

When man is unprejudiced, and his passions subject to reason, it is well he should define the limits of power,
SO that the waves driven by the storm of passion shall not overbear the shore.

A constitution is for the government of man in this world. It is the chain the people put upon their servants, as
well as upon themselves. It defines the limit of power and the limit of obedience.

It follows, then, that nothing should be in a constitution that cannot be enforced by the power of the state-that
is, by the army and navy. Behind every provision of the Constitution should stand the force of the nation.
Every sword, every bayonet, every cannon should be there.

Suppose, then, that we amend the Constitution and acknowledge the existence and supremacy of God-what
becomes of the supremacy of the people, and how is this amendment to be enforced? A constitution does not
enforce itself. It must be carried out by appropriate legislation. Will it be a crime to deny the existence of this
constitutional God? Can the offender be proceeded against in the crimin−al courts ? Can his lips be closed by
the power of the state? Would not this be the inauguration of reli−gious persecution ?
And if there is to be an acknowledgment of God in the Constitution, the question naturally arises as to which
God is to have this honor. Shall we select the God of the Catholics-he who has es−tablished an infallible
church presided over by an infallible pope, and who is delighted with certain ce−remonies and placated by
prayers uttered in exceedingly common Latin? Is it the God of the Presby−terian with the Five Points of
Calvinism, who is ingenious enough to harmonize necessity and respons−ibility, and who in some way
justifies himself for damning most of his own children? Is it the God of the Puritan, the enemy of joy-of the
Baptist, who is great enough to govern the universe, and small enough to allow the destiny of a soul to depend
on whether the body it inhabited was immersed or sprinkled ?

What God is it proposed to put in the Constitution ? Is it the God of the Old Testament, who was a believer in
slavery and who justified polygamy ? If slavery was right ˈ then, it is right now ; and if Jehovah was right
then, the Mormons are right now. Are we to have the God who issued a command−ment against all art-who
was the enemy of investigation and of free speech ? Is it the God who com−manded the husband to stone his
wife to death because she differed with him on the subject of reli−gion? Are we to have a God who will
re-enact the Mosaic code and punish hundreds of offences with death ? What court, what tribunal of last
resort, is to define this God, and who is to make known his will? In his presence, laws passed by men will be
of no value. The decisions of courts will be as nothing. But who is to make known the will of this supreme
God ? Will there be a supreme tribunal composed of priests ?

Of course all persons elected to office will either swear or affirm to support the Constitution. Men who do not
believe in this God, cannot so swear or affirm. Such men will not be allowed to hold any office of trust or
honor. A God in the Constitution will not interfere with the oaths or affirmations of hypocrites. Such a
provision will only exclude honest and conscientious unbelievers. Intelligent people know that no one knows
whether there is a God or not. The existence of such a Being is merely a matter of opinion. Men who believe
in the liberty of man, who are willing to die for the hon−or of their country, will be excluded from taking any
part in the administration of its affairs. Such a provision would place the country under the feet of priests.

To recognize a Deity in the organic law of our country would be the destruction of religious liberty. The God
in the Constitution would have to be protected. There would be laws against blas−phemy, laws against the
publication of honest thoughts, laws against carrying books and papers in the mails in which this
constitutional God should be attacked. Our land would be filled with theological spies, with religious
eavesdroppers, and all the snakes and reptiles of the lowest natures, in this sun−shine of religious authority,
would uncoil and crawl.

It is proposed to acknowledge a God who is the lawful and rightful Governor of nations; the one who ordained
the Powers that be. If this God is really the Governor of nations, it is not necessary to acknowledge him in the
Constitution. This would not add to his power. If he governs all nations now, he has always controlled the
affairs of men. Having this control, why did he not see to it that he was recognized in the Constitution of the
United States ? If he had the supreme authority and neg−lected to put himself in the Constitution, is not this,
at least, prima facie evidence that he did not de−sire to be there?

For one, I am not in favor of the God who has ːordained the powers that be.ə What have we to say of
Russia-of Siberia? What can we say of the persecuted and enslaved? What of the kings and nobles who live
on the stolen labor of others? What of the priest and cardinal and pope who wrest, even from the hand of
poverty, the single coin thrice earned ?

Is it possible to flatter the Infinite with a constitutional amendment? The Confederate States acknowledged
God in their constitution, and yet they were overwhelmed by a people in whose organ−ic law no reference to
God is made. All the kings of the earth acknowledge the existence of God, and God is their ally; and this
belief in God is used as a means to enslave and rob, to govern and degrade the people whom they call their
subjects.

The Government of the United States is secular. It derives its power from the consent of man. It is a
Government with which God has nothing whatever to do-and all forms and customs, inconsist−ent with the
fundamental fact that the people are the source of authority, should be abandoned. In this country there should
be no oaths-no man should be sworn to tell the truth, and in no court should there be any appeal to any
supreme being. A rascal by taking the oath appears to go in partnership with God, and ignorant jurors credit
the firm instead of the man. A witness should tell his story, and if he speaks falsely should be considered as
guilty of perjury. Governors and Presidents should not issue religious proclamations. They should not call
upon the people to thank God. It is no part of their offi−cial duty. It is outside of and beyond the horizon of
their authority. There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States to justify this religious impertinence.

For many years priests have attempted to give to our Government a religious form. Zealots have succeeded in
putting the legend upon our money : ː In God We Trust ; ə and we have chaplains in the army and navy, and
legislative proceedings are usually opened with prayer. All this is contrary to the genius of the Republic,
contrary to the Declaration of Independence, and contrary really to the Con−stitution of the United States. We
hare taken the ground that the people can govern themselves without the assistance of any supernatural power.
We have taken the position that the people are the real and only rightful source of authority. We have
solemnly declared that the people must determine what is politically right and what is wrong, and that their
legally expressed will is the supreme law. This leaves no room for national superstition-no room for patriotic
gods or supernatural beings-and this does away with the necessity for political prayers.

The government of God has been tried. It was tried in Palestine several thousand years ago, and the God of the
Jews was a monster of cruelty and ignorance, and the people governed by this God lost their nationality.
Theocracy was tried through the Middle Ages. God was the Governor the pope was his agent, and every priest
and bishop and cardinal was armed with credentials from the Most High and the result was that the noblest
and best were in prisons, the greatest and grandest per−ished at the stake. The result was that vices were
crowned with honor, and virtues whipped naked through the streets. The result was that hypocrisy swayed the
sceptre of authority, while honesty lan−guished in the dungeons of the Inquisition.

The government of God was tried in Geneva when John Calvin was his representative ; and un−der this
government of God the flames climbed around the limbs and blinded the eyes of Michael Ser−vetus, because
he dared to express an honest thought. This government of God was tried in Scotland, and the seeds of
theological hatred were sown, that bore, through hundreds of years, the fruit of mas−sacre and assassination.
This government of God was established in New England, and the result was that Quakers were hanged or
burned-the laws of Moses re-enacted and the ːwitch was not suffered to live.ə The result was that
investigation was a crime, and the expression of an honest thought a capit−al offence. This government of
God was established in Spain, and the Jews were expelled, the Moors were driven out, Moriscoes were
exterminated, and nothing left but the ignorant and bankrupt wor−shipers of this monster. This government of
God was tried in the United States when slavery was re−garded as a divine institution, when men and women
were regarded as criminals because they sought for liberty by flight, and when others were regarded as
criminals because they gave them food and shelter. The pulpit of that day defended the buying and selling of
women and babes, and the mouths of slave-traders were filled with passages of Scripture, defending and
upholding the traffic in human flesh.

We have entered upon a new epoch. This is the century of man. Every effort to really better the condition of
mankind has been opposed by the worshipers of some God. The church in all ages and among all peoples has
been the consistent enemy of the human race. Everywhere and at all times, it has opposed the liberty of
thought and expression. It has been the sworn enemy of investigation and of intellectual development. It has
denied the existence of facts, the tendency of which was to under−mine its power. It has always been carrying
fagots to the feet of Philosophy. It has erected the gallows for Genius. It has built the dungeon for Thinkers.
And to-day the orthodox church is as much opposed as it ever was to the mental freedom of the human race.

Of course, there is a distinction made between churches and individual members. There have been millions of
Christians who have been believers in liberty and in the freedom of expression-mil−lions who have fought for
the rights of man-but churches as organizations, have been on the other side. It is true that churches have
fought churches-that Protestants battled with the Catholics for what they were pleased to call the freedom of
conscience; and it is also true that the moment these Prot−estants obtained the civil power, they denied this
freedom of conscience to others.

Let me show you the difference between the theological and the secular spirit. Nearly three hundred years
ago, one of the noblesˈ, of the human race, Giordano Bruno, was burned at Rome by the Catholic Church-that
is to say, by the ː Triumphant Beast.ə This man had committed certain crimes-he had publicly stated that
there were other worlds than this-other constellations than ours. He had ventured the supposition that other
planets might be peopled. More than this, and worse than this, he had asserted the heliocentric theory-that the
earth made its annual journey about the sun. He had also given it as his opinion that matter is eternal. For
these crimes he was found unworthy to live, and about his body were piled the fagots of the Catholic Church.
This man, this genius, this pioneer of the science of the nineteenth century, perished as serenely as the sun
sets, The Infidels of to-day find excuses for his murderers. They take into consideration the ignorance and
brutality of the times. They remember that the world was governed by a God who was then the source of all
authority. This is the charity of Infidelity -of philosophy. But the church of today is so heartless, is still so cold
and cruel, that it can find no excuse for the murdered.

This is the difference between Theocracy and Democracy-between God and man.

If God is allowed in the Constitution, man must abdicate. There is no room for both. If the people of the great
Republic become superstitious enough and ignorant enough to put God in the Constitution of the United
States, the experiment of self-government will have failed, and the great and splendid declaration that ːall
governments derive their just powers from the consent of the gov−ernedə will have been denied, and in its
place will be found this: All power comes from God; priests are his agents, and the people are their slaves.

Religion is an individual matter, and each soul should he left entirely free to form its own opin−ions and to
judge of its accountability to a supposed supreme being. With religion, government has nothing ,whatever to
do. Government is founded upon force, and force should never interfere with the religious opinions of men.
Laws should define the rights of men and their duties toward each other, and these laws should be for the
benefit of man in this world.

A nation can neither be Christian nor Infidel-a nation is incapable of having opinions upon these subjects. If a
nation is Christian, will all the citizens go to heaven ? If it is not, will they all be damned ? Of course it is
admitted that the majority of citizens composing a nation may believe or dis−believe, and they may call the
nation what they please, A nation is a corporation. To repeat a familiar saying, ːit has no soul.ə There can be
no such thing as a Christian corporation. Several Christians may form a corporation, but it can hardly be said
that the corporation thus formed was included in the atonement. For instance: Seven Christians form a
corporation-that is to say, there are seven natural persons and one artificial-can it be said that there are eight
souls to be saved ?

No human being has brain enough, or knowledge enough, or experience enough, to say wheth−er there is, or
is not, a God. Into this darkness Science has not yet carried its torch. No human being has gone beyond the
horizon of the natural. As to the existence of the supernatural, one man knows precisely as much, and exactly
as little as another. Upon this question, chimpanzees and cardinals, apes and popes, are upon exact equality.
The smallest insect discernible only by the most powerful micro−scope, is as familiar with this subject, as the
greatest genius that has been produced by the human race.

Governments and laws are for the preservation of rights and the regulation of conduct. One man should not be
allowed to interfere with the liberty of another. In the metaphysical world there should be no interference
whatever. The same is true in the world of art. Laws cannot regulate what is or is not music, what is or what is
not beautiful-and constitutions cannot definitely settle and determ−ine the perfection of statues, the value of
paintings, or the glory and subtlety of thought. In spite of laws and constitutions the brain will think. In every
direction consistent with the well-being and peace of society, there should be freedom. No man should be
compelled to adopt the theology of another; neither should a minority, however small, be forced to acquiesce
in the opinions of a majority, however large.
If there be an infinite Being, he does not need our help we need not waste our energies in his defence. It is
enough for us to give to every other human being the liberty we claim for ourselves. There may or may not be
a Supreme Ruler of the universe-but we are certain that man exists, and we believe that freedom is the
condition of progress; that it is the sunshine of the mental and moral world, and that without it man will go
back to the den of savagery, and will become the fit associate of wild and ferocious beasts.

We have tried the government of priests, and we know that such governments are without mercy. In the
administration of theocracy, all the instruments of torture have been invented. If any man wishes to have God
recognized in the Constitution of our country, let him read the history of the In−quisition, and let him
remember that hundreds of millions of men, women and children have been sac−rificed to placate the wrath,
or win the approbation of this God.

There has been in our country a divorce of church and state. This follows as a natural sequence of the
declaration that ːgovernments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.ə The priest was no
longer a necessity. His presence was a contradiction of the principle on which the Re−public was founded. He
represented, not the authority of the people, but of some ː Power from on High,ə and to recognize this other
Power was inconsistent with free government. The founders of the Republic at that time parted company with
the priests, and said to them : ːYou may turn your atten−tion to the other world we will attend to the affairs of
this.ə Equal liberty was given to all. But the ultra theologian is not satisfied with this-he wishes to destroy the
liberty of the people-he wishes a recogni−tion of his God as the source of authority, to the end that the church
may become the supreme power.

But the sun will not be turned backward. The people of the United States are intelligent. They no longer
believe implicitly in supernatural religion. They are losing confidence in the miracles and marvels of the Dark
Ages. They know the value of the free school. They appreciate the benefits of sci−ence. They are believers in
education, in the free play of thought, and there is a suspicion that the priest, the theologian, is destined to take
his place with the necromancer, the astrologer, the worker of magic, and the professor of the black art.

We have already compared the benefits of theology and science. When the theologian gov−erned the world, it
was covered with huts and hovels for the many, palaces and cathedrals for the few. To nearly all the children
of men, reading and writing were unknown arts. The poor were clad in rags and skins-they devoured crusts,
and gnawed bones, The day of Science dawned, and the luxuries of a century ago are the necessities of to-day.
Men in the middle ranks of life have more of the conveni−ences and elegancies than the princes and kings of
the theological times. But above and over all this, is the development of mind. There is more of value in the
brain of an average man of to-day-of a master-mechanic, of a chemist, of a naturalist, of an inventor, than
there was in the brain of the world four hundred years ago.

These blessings did not fall from the skies. These benefits did not drop from the outstretched hands of priests.
They were not found in cathedrals or behind altars neither were they searched for with holy candles. They
were not discovered by the closed eyes of prayer, nor did they come in answer to superstitious supplication.
They are the children of freedom, the gifts of reason, observation and ex−perience-and for them all, man is
indebted to man.

Let us hold fast to the sublime declaration of Lincoln. Let us insist that this, the Republic, is ːA government
of the people, by the people, and for the people.ː

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll
"Colonel Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 ʒ July 21, 1899) was a Civil War veteran, American
political leader, and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought, noted for his broad range of culture."

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-G-Ingersoll/52460139986
by jaskaw @ 23.07.2010 - 07:35:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/23/god-in-the-constitution-by-col-robert-g-ingersoll-9024782/
Feedback for Post "'God in the Constitution' By Col. Robert
G. Ingersoll"

Chuck Tackett [Visitor]

08.08.2010 @ 05:38
Some very good points. However, I disagree with a couple of his claims.

First, history of Feudalism incorrectly states that God enthroned the king. That is not true though it was
claimed by the monarch. I say it was not true because the monarchs, as noted, did not follow God but only
used Him.

Second, his claim that one man knows as much as another is not really true, and I doubt if he actually believed
it. I think I understand the point he's trying to make but it's a false analogy and sets up a false conclusion, that
Science will prevail. The 100 + years since then has shown fairly clearly that Science has no better ability to
prove or disprove the existence of God than does an irrational man.

Interesting read, thanks.

Israel's strict religious marriage laws still force
thousands to weddings outside Israel
Read more at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6970/is_1_33/ai_n32408864/

"When the nation formalized its personal status laws in 1953, Israel's Orthodox rabbinate retained its
exclusive jurisdiction over marriages among Israel's Jews, precluding the development of civil marriage laws
and preventing other Jewish denominations from officiating marriages.
In the Orthodox form, Jewish marriage laws are strict. Only those officially recognized as Jewish can marry
and then only to other Jews. Ancient statutes like the prohibition of a Cohen--a direct male descendant of the
Biblical Aaron--from marrying a divorcee also apply. And no Jew can marry a Christian or a Muslim,
each of whom can only be married under their own laws."

"For the increasing number of couples unable to marry in Israel, there is only one option: marry abroad. When
they return home, sometimes the very same day, they will not be recognized as married by the rabbinate, but
will be husband and wife in the eyes of the state, which does not require that marriages outside Israel be in
accordance with Orthodox law."
---
The legal state of marriage in Israel was slightly shaken up last July when Israel's Justice Minister Daniel
Friedmann and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar reached an agreement to permit civil marriage in cases
where both the bride and groom are not considered to have a religion under Orthodox law. The agreement's
most immediate impact will be on approximately 300,000 former Soviet Republic immigrants. Though Jewish
enough for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, they lack sufficient documentation to convince the
Orthodox that they are Jews, and have not, until now, been permitted to marry in Israel."
---
"It offers a solution for a tiny portion of the Israeli populace. It is absurd that hundreds of thousands of Israeli
citizens cannot get married in their own country.The thousands of Israeli couples currently traveling to Cyprus
to marry will continue to fight for their basic right to marry."
---
According to Steven V. Mazie, author of Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish
State, the Orthodox rabbinate has two serious concerns about relaxing marriage laws. The first is that
intermarriage will pull Jews away from the faith. The second, related yet greater, concern is a fear of
illegitimacy. "Children of marriages forbidden by halacha are considered mamzerim. They and their
offspring, stigmatized with an irrevocable brand of illegitimacy, may marry only other mamzerim. This
is the root of the concern about civil marriage."
Read more at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6970/is_1_33/ai_n32408864/

by jaskaw @ 24.07.2010 - 10:09:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/24/israel-s-strict-religious-marriage-laws-still-force-thousands-to-weddings-outside
Feedback for Post " Israel's strict religious marriage laws
still force thousands to weddings outside Israel"

FedupwithR [Member]
24.07.2010 @ 12:55

Yes, it is important to point this out. It shows just how absurd and racist religious laws are. In fact Israel's
fundamentalism is no different in this respect to Islam's.

Bruce [Visitor]

24.07.2010 @ 17:52
True FedupwithR: Nor to Christianity's, nor to Hindu's, nor to Sikh's, nor to Mormon's, etc. etc. etc. You have
to keep the faithful in line and dependent, otherwise you lose control.
Carl Sagan: Consider Again That Pale Blue Dot
(video)

The maker of this video 'callumCGLP' says:

"This video is the successor to my first Carl Sagan tribute, A Universe Not Made For Us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxlPVS...
Excerpts were taken from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. More
specifically, from the chapter titled Aberrations of Light. I edited together the audio from the audio-book, and
added the video from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Stephen Hawking's Into the Universe, Brian Cox's Wonders of the
Solar System, Richard Dawkins' The Root of All Evil, BBC's Walking With Cavemen, Robert Zemeckis'
Contact (based on the novel by Carl Sagan sharing the same name) and Tony Darnell's Hubble Deep Field in
3D. The music is Together We Will Live Forever by Clint Mansell, which was recommended by YouTube
user thewadsman (thanks!).
Many more Carl Sagan videos are forthcoming, please subscribe to my channel if you wish to be among the
first to see them. Thank you to all those who offered feedback, good or bad, to my first video - I hope you find
this video to be an improvement over the first."

http://www.youtube.com/user/callumCGLP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_sagan
"Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 ʒ December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,
author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.
During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author,
co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific
method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Sagan's contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet Venus. In
the early 1960s no one knew for certain the basic conditions of that planet's surface, and Sagan listed the
possibilities in a report later depicted for popularization in a Time-Life book, Planets. His own view was that
Venus was dry and very hot as opposed to the balmy paradise others had imagined. He had investigated radio
emissions from Venus and concluded that there was a surface temperature of 500 °C (900 °F). As a visiting
scientist to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he contributed to the first Mariner missions to Venus, working
on the design and management of the project. Mariner 2 confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions
of Venus in 1962.
--
Sagan was among the first to hypothesize that Saturn's moon Titan might possess oceans of liquid compounds
on its surface and that Jupiter's moon Europa might possess subsurface oceans of water. This would make
Europa potentially habitable for life.
Europa's subsurface ocean of water was later indirectly confirmed by the spacecraft Galileo. Sagan also
helped solve the mystery of the reddish haze seen on Titan, revealing that it is composed of complex organic
molecules constantly raining down onto the moon's surface.
He further contributed insights regarding the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter as well as seasonal changes on
Mars. Sagan established that the atmosphere of Venus is extremely hot and dense with pressures increasing
steadily all the way down to the surface. He also perceived global warming as a growing, man-made danger
and likened it to the natural development of Venus into a hot, life-hostile planet through a kind of runaway
greenhouse effect. Sagan and his Cornell colleague Edwin Ernest Salpeter speculated about life in Jupiter's
clouds, given the planet's dense atmospheric composition rich in organic molecules. He studied the observed
color variations on Marsˈ surface and concluded that they were not seasonal or vegetational changes as most
believed but shifts in surface dust caused by windstorms.
Sagan is best known, however, for his research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, including
experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation.
He is also the 1994 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of
Sciences for "distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare."

by jaskaw @ 24.07.2010 - 17:03:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/24/carl-sagan-consider-again-that-pale-blue-dot-video-9031811/
Rachel Maddow presents: The Rap Guide to
Evolution! by Baba Brinkman
The Rap Guide to Evolution! - Baba Brinkman

JesusSavesAtCitibank published this video on YouTube

from "The Rachel Maddow Show", MSNBC, 5-28-2010

http://babasword.com/
"The Rap Guide to Evolution is a hip-hop exploration of modern Evolutionary Biology. The album is based
on the award-winning stage show of the same name, which is available now for bookings."

The Rap Guide to Evolution

1. Natural Selection *lyrics
2. Creationism is... (Live)
3. Artificial Selection *lyrics
4. Unity of Common Descent (Live)
5. I'm A African *lyrics
6. Creationist Cousins *lyrics
7. Homicide (Live)
8. Survival of the Fittest *lyrics
9. Worst Comes to Worst *lyrics
10. Group Selection *lyrics
11. Hypnotize *lyrics
12. Sexual Selection Theory (Live)
13. Sexual Selection *lyrics
14. DNA *lyrics
15. Performance, Feedback, Revision *lyrics
16. Darwin's Acid *lyrics
by jaskaw @ 25.07.2010 - 01:17:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/24/rachel-maddow-presents-the-rap-guide-to-evolution-by-baba-brinkman-9033424
Feedback for Post "Rachel Maddow presents: The Rap
Guide to Evolution! by Baba Brinkman "

Tyler Erlandson [Visitor]

http://litfuserecords.com
24.08.2010 @ 00:25
Check out Baba's new album about evolutionary psychology. If you enjoyed the Rap Guide to evolution, you
will definitely
want to give 'The Rap Guide to Human Nature' a listen. There is more information on this album as well as his
other new
release 'rapconteur' available at www.babasword.com. Both albums, and more can be streamed as well as
downloaded from
http://bababrinkman.bandcamp.com
The Guardian: Hundreds of British girls will
undergo horror of genital mutilation this summer
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/25/female-circumcision-children-british-law

Tracy McVeigh and Tara Sutton

The Observer, Sunday 25 July 2010

"Female circumcision will be inflicted on up to 2,000 British schoolgirls during the summer holidays ʒ ʒ
leaving brutal physical and emotional scars. Yet there have been no prosecutions against the practice.
Like any 12-year-old, Jamelia was excited at the prospect of a plane journey and a long summer holiday in the
sun. An avid reader, she had filled her suitcases with books and was reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban when her mother came for her. "She said, 'You know it's going to be today?' I didn't know exactly
what it would entail but I knew something was going to be cut. I was made to believe it was genuinely part of
our religion."
---
Some 500 to 2,000 British schoolgirls will be genitally mutilated over the summer holidays. Some will be
taken abroad, others will be "cut" or circumcised and sewn closed here in the UK by women already living
here or who are flown in and brought to "cutting parties" for a few girls at a time in a cost-saving exercise.

Then the girls will return to their schools and try to get on with their lives, scarred mentally and physically by
female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that serves as a social and cultural bonding exercise and, among
those who are stitched up, to ensure that chastity can be proved to a future husband."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/25/female-circumcision-children-british-law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting
"Female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), female circumcision, or
female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), is any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the
external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs "whether for cultural, religious or other
non-therapeutic reasons."
The term is almost exclusively used to describe traditional or religious procedures on a minor, which requires
the parents' consent because of the age of the girl."

by jaskaw @ 25.07.2010 - 13:35:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/25/the-guardian-hundreds-of-british-girls-will-undergo-horror-of-genital-mutilation
Feedback for Post "The Guardian: Hundreds of British girls
will undergo horror of genital mutilation this summer"

hannasiren [Member]
http://hannasiren.blogs.fi
25.07.2010 @ 15:00
Up to 2,000 British schoolgirls during the summer. Worrying indeed...

Bruce [Visitor]

25.07.2010 @ 15:37
It will also happen to many thousands more from Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, etc. etc. We
would prefer to pretend that it does not happen.

DN [Visitor]

26.07.2010 @ 07:36
The only problem with this article is the words "female circumcision." It's an incorrect term. It suggests that it
is similar to male circumcision, which it is not. In male circumcision some skin is removed. In the process
they're referring to as "female circumcision" here, they're actually doing something extremely disturbing and
barbaric. They're removing chunks of flesh or sewing women up. It would be like cutting off part or all of a
man's penis. NOT like circumcision.
Pat Condell: 'A god of life' (video)

http://www.youtube.com/user/patcondell
"I was a regular on the UK stand-up circuit until the mid nineties when I got fed up performing to drunken
birthday parties, so I started writing for other people. I wrote my most recent show, and I now make internet
videos, because I believe religion in the modern world is out of control and is given far too much respect by
people who should know better. It enjoys a status it hasn't earned and doesn't deserve, and it's time we stopped
pandering to it before it literally destroys us. You can find out more at my website."

http://www.patcondell.net/

Jesus the sun god:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ-kvw1fYXs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Condell
"Patrick Condell (born November 23, 1949) is a British stand-up comedian, writer, and internet personality.
He performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom and won a Time
Out Comedy Award in 1991. He was also a regular panellist on BBC Radio 1's "Loose Talk". From early
2007, he began posting short monologues denouncing religion to a number of video sharing websites. His
videos have been featured on many websites including YouTube and LiveLeak. They have also been
published to DVD and also as a book of video transcripts. As of July 2010 Pat Condell's youtube channel has
over 125,000 subscribers and over 21 million views."

by jaskaw @ 26.07.2010 - 20:24:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/26/pat-condell-a-god-of-life-video-9045773/
Feedback for Post "Pat Condell: 'A god of life' (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
30.07.2010 @ 21:12

Sadly, all the humor has disappeared from Pat Condell's videos. I understand his feelings but this sounds too
much like an angry rant to be enjoyable.
New wave of charismatic evangelical movements
seek polical power in the US
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/147640/right-wing_crazies_who_fight_witchcraft_and_demons_are_taking_over_a_state

By Bruce Wilson
"A radical, right-wing charismatic evangelical movement is burrowing into the power structures of major
American cities and states."
Editor's note: This story is about a radical right wing movement in charismatic Christianity that claims to fight
demons but, leaving demonology aside, is demonstrably close to seizing the reigns of power in entire US
states.
They claim to be able to raise the dead and cause miracles, such as the multiplication of Thanksgiving turkey
dinners. They burn "witchcraft items" and "idols." They hold mass exorcisms to cast out alleged evil spirits
they say cause lust, pornography, addiction, homosexuality, bisexuality, and perversion. They claim to be able
to heal HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, Glaucoma, and cancer, and to break "generational curses" and "witchcraft
curses." Who are they? Here are a few overviews (1, 2, 3.)
They compare opponents of their movement to rats that will be exterminated and one of their leaders has
predicted that the regime they're working to create will initially "seem like totalitarianism". They're closely
tied to the notorious, so-called "kill the gays bill" before Uganda's Parliament. They're behind Sarah Palin and
one of their "prophets" has become the de-facto prayer leader for the Republican Party."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/147640/right-wing_crazies_who_fight_witchcraft_and_demons_are_taking_over_a_state

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Apostolic_Reformation
"The New Apostolic Reformation is a movement in Protestant Christianity largely associated with the
Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. The basic thesis asserts that God is restoring the lost offices of
church governance, namely the offices of Prophet and Apostle.
The New Apostolic Reformation has Pentecostal and Charismatic origins, with those traditions' interpretations
of the nature of the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit within a believer. Unlike mainstream Protestant
Christianity, these include the performance of miracles (such as healing), prophecy and the direct revelation of
Christ to each believer.
Although the movement regards the church as the true body of saved believers, as most Evangelical
Protestants do, it differs from the broader Protestant tradition in its view on the nature of church leadership,
specifically the doctrine of Five-Fold Ministry, which is based upon a non-traditional interpretation of
Ephesians 4:11."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Life_Church_(Colorado_Springs,_Colorado)
"New Life Church is a non-denominational charismatic Evangelical Christian megachurch located in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. New Life Church has more than 10,000 members and is pastored
by Brady Boyd.
New Life Church was founded in 1984 by Ted Haggard. The church started under his leadership as an
independent church meeting in his home. From these origins, the church grew through a succession of larger
meeting spaces including strip mall office space and other non-traditional church locations. The church grew
to as many as 14,000 members under Haggard.
On November 2, 2006, Haggard was accused of paying a male escort for sex for three years and of also using
methamphetamine." Later the same day, Haggard voluntarily stepped down as pastor so "the overseer process
can be allowed to proceed with integrity," and that he would be seeking "spiritual advice and guidance."
Two days later, New Life Church's Board of Overseerers announced that they had decided to permanently
dismiss Haggard from his role."

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/1/20/131544/037
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/1273

by jaskaw @ 27.07.2010 - 10:32:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/27/read-more-at-http-www-alternet-org-story-147640-right-wing-9048435/
Iran wants to encourage population growth -
Islamic government pays for babies
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=1&ref=world

"TEHRAN (AP) ō President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran inaugurated a new policy on Tuesday to
encourage population growth, dismissing decades of internationally acclaimed family planning in Iran as
ungodly and a Western import.The new government effort will pay families for every new child and deposit
money into the newbornsˈ bank accounts until they reach 18, Mr. Ahmadinejad said. The program effectively
rolled back years of efforts to strengthen the economy by reducing population growth.
Those who raise the idea of family planning ːare thinking in the realm of the secular world,ə Mr.
Ahmadinejad said during a ceremony at which he presented the new policy.
he plan is part of his previously stated desire to increase Iranˈs population, estimated at more than 70 million.
He has previously said Iran could support as many as 150 million people."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=1&ref=world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation
"Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In
common parlance, the term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment,
the Earth.
Overpopulation does not depend only on the size or density of the population, but on the ratio of population to
available sustainable resources.
---
The recent rapid increase in human population over the past two centuries has raised concerns that humans are
beginning to overpopulate the Earth, and that the planet may not be able to sustain present or larger numbers
of inhabitants.
The population has been growing continuously since the end of the Black Death, around the year 1400; at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, it had reached roughly 1,000,000,000 (1 billion).
Increases in life expectancy and resource availability during the industrial and green revolutions led to rapid
population growth on a worldwide level. By 1960, the world population had reached 3 billion; it doubled to 6
billion over the next four decades.
As of 2009, the estimated annual growth rate was 1.10%, down from a peak of 2.2% in 1963, and the world
population stood at roughly 6.7 billion. Current projections show a steady decline in the growth rate, leading
to a peak in the population at around 9 billion by the year 2050."
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/07/20/is-there-a-unholy-alliance-opposing-population-control-i-claim-9009275/

by jaskaw @ 28.07.2010 - 10:57:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/28/iran-wants-to-encourage-population-growth-islamic-government-pays-for-babies
Feedback for Post "Iran wants to encourage population
growth - Islamic government pays for babies"

Bruce [Visitor]

28.07.2010 @ 14:19
More cannon fodder for the coming Jihad.

atheistbruce [Member]
28.07.2010 @ 17:51

Just checking that I have now registered correctly.

Population expansion programs based on the production of babies means that there is no expectation of any
kind of cataclysmic event, such as a judgment day, for some generations to come. Probably that is a wise
assumption.
Enviromentalists: Jordan River too polluted for
baptisms
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/jordan-river-called-too-p_n_662937.html

By Judith Sudilovsky
Religion News Service
"JERUSALEM (RNS/ENInews) Concerns about pollution and water quality have prompted an environmental
advocacy group to call for the banning of baptisms in the lower Jordan River, where the Bible says Jesus was
baptized.
"For reasons of public health as well as religious integrity, baptism should be banned from taking place in the
river," said Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli director of EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East.
Israeli authorities said on Tuesday (July 27) that tests done on the water of the lower Jordan River show the
popular site for baptismal ceremonies at Qasr el Yahud on the West Bank meets health ministry standards.
Bromberg, however, said the ceremonies should not take place until pollutants are removed from the water."

by jaskaw @ 29.07.2010 - 18:08:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/29/enviromentalists-jordan-river-too-polluted-for-baptisms-9068214/
'Ayatollah, leave those kids alone' ʒ Pink Floyd get
an Iranian twist
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone-ndash-pink-floyd-get-an-irani

"A terrified young woman in a red headscarf bolts through a door into a darkened room. Chased by an angry
mullah, she pulls out her phone and desperately tries to call for help, but there is no signal.
The scene could be another piece of secret video smuggled out of Iran by the kind of young activists who took
to the streets in their hundreds of thousands last summer in the country's largest protests since the Iranian
Revolution. Instead it is the opening scene of a new cover of Pink Floyd's seminal protest song "Another
Brick in the Wall" which is becoming an underground anthem of resistance for those opposed to the Tehran
regime.
Blurred Vision, a rock band fronted by two brothers whose family fled Iran in the late 1980s and settled in
Toronto, have reworked the 1979 classic. Sepp and Sohl ʒ the pair prefer to keep their full name secret to
protect family members still in Iran ʒ recorded the video with virtually no budget, but were helped by Babak
Payami, an Iranian filmmaker who now lives in Austria and Terry Brown, one of Canada's best-known rock
producers. Spliced with footage of last year's protests, the video is a rallying cry for Iran's disaffected youth
and culminates with an altered version of Pink Floyd's original chorus: "Hey Ayatollah, leave those kids
alone!"

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone-ndash-pink-floyd-get-an-irani

Blurred Vision in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blurred-Vision/69014127393?v=wall

by jaskaw @ 29.07.2010 - 18:33:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/29/ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone-pink-floyd-get-an-iranian-twist-9068308/
Lionel Tiger: Believing in God generates soothing
"juices" of the brain

'The Brain Creates Religion' by Lionel Tiger

Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University
"Believing in God generates soothing "juices" in the brain that make us feel good."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Tiger
"Lionel Tiger (born 1937) is a Canadian-born, American-based anthropologist. He is the Charles Darwin
Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and co-Research Director of the Harry Frank Guggenheim
Foundation. He is a graduate of McGill University, and the London School of Economics at the University of
London, England. He is also a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense on the future of biotechnology.
Some of Tiger's works have included controversial concepts, including the biological origins of social
interactions. Tiger published a work, The Imperial Animal, with Robin Fox in 1972, that advocated a 'social
carnivore theory' of human evolution.
Tiger has predicted the higher status of women within society, in books such as The Decline of Males and
Men in Groups. He has also written books such as The Pursuit of Pleasure, which discussed the concept that
evolution has established the biological mechanisms of pleasure and that they have survival origins.
Lionel Tiger lives in New York City, and regularly contributes to mainstream media such as Psychology
Today and The New York Times."

Watch the video at: http://bigthink.com/series/38?selected=20159#player

by jaskaw @ 30.07.2010 - 21:30:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/30/lionel-tiger-believing-in-god-generates-soothing-juices-of-the-brain-9074545/
Feedback for Post "Lionel Tiger: Believing in God generates
soothing "juices" of the brain"

FedupwithR [Member]
30.07.2010 @ 23:46

Surely it's always been known that religion is soothing? It acts in the same way as a thumb for a thumb sucker
or a baby's dummy,or it acts as a crutch for those who need psycological support.
Jihad in the West:; Muslim Conquests from the 7th
to the 21st Centuries
http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/JihadWest.htm?nl=1

Is there any real relationship between the Muslim military campaigns of previous centuries and the recent
terrorism campaigns? Paul Fregosi argues that there is ō both are reflections of a fundamental antagonism to
the non-Muslim world, and in particular to the economically and militarily powerful West.

Title: Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries
Author: Paul Fregosi
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1573922471

"Contrary to popular perception, jihad is not about forced conversions. It certainly may have filled that role
very early on, when Islam was first expanding, but that hasnˈt been the case for a very long time. Instead, it is
a political goal: bringing as much of the world under the control of Islam as is possible.
This then allows for the fulfillment of two other goals: promoting Islam among non-Muslims, and establishing
a just political and social order (only possible under Islam).
Ibn Taymiya (1268-1328) took an even more active view of jihad. He argued that a ruler who fails to enforce
the Shariˈa (Islamic law) in all aspects forfeits his right to rule ō thus, jihad against this ruler becomes
acceptable, if not mandatory. One of the aspects of Shariˈa which a Muslim ruler must enforce is, in fact,
jihad itself ō but against the enemies of Islam, especially those who threaten it from the outside. Taymiyaˈs
thoughts have heavily influenced Muslim extremists in the twentieth century, including the Muslim
Brotherhood and Osama bin Laden."

http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/JihadWest.htm?nl=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad

by jaskaw @ 31.07.2010 - 00:29:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/07/30/jihad-in-the-west-muslim-conquests-from-the-7th-to-the-21st-centuries-9075425
Feedback for Post "Jihad in the West:; Muslim Conquests
from the 7th to the 21st Centuries"

atheistbruce [Member]
31.07.2010 @ 13:29

I would argue that Islam has spent 1400 years trying to subdue the West without success. Their relative
technical and military ability to achieve their goal in the 21st century is probably far less than it was at any
time in the past 14 centuries, so why worry? Why worry indeed: 7 million Israelis seem to run rings around
the billion or so surrounding Muslims committed to their annihilation.

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 11:49

If they have, as you claim, spent 1400 years trying to subdue the West, how come no one has even noticed it?
Demographically Muslims are not restricted to Palestine. There are now Muslim communities almost
everywhere on the globe.

| Show subcomments
atheistbruce [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 13:54

Hi FedupwithR,

Maybe you did not notice it but untold millions did. I suggest you start at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquests.

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
02.08.2010 @ 21:05

Hi atheistbruce

Sure Islam has been into conquest since MadMo but not specifically against the West. If you Wiki Catholic
"Conquest" you get a history of Christianity. Yet Catholics have waged wars against their fellow
Westerners(Protestants and Communists) up until modern times whereas we, in the West, have not been
troubled by Islam until the last decade.

| Show subcomments
atheistbruce [Member]
03.08.2010 @ 20:41

I see we differ in the meaning of West. I mean west of Mecca, you mean west of twin towers, right?

FedupwithR [Member]
03.08.2010 @ 21:30

No,atheistbruce I don't. As a European, we don't seem to have been troubled by Muslims since they were
stopped at Poitiers by Charles Martel in 7somethingorother.
 | Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
03.08.2010 @ 21:46
Dear "FedupwithR" you seem to forget that the last time Muslmis tried in earnest to conquer Europe was in
the year 1685, when the Ottomans were in the heart of Europe trying to take Vienna.
Only the Polish rescue party did prevent Austrian empire from falling under Muslim rule. Nobody knows
what would have been their next move.
http://books.google.fi/books?id=1ZxUAnxOSxUC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=siege+of+vienna+1685&source=bl&ot

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
04.08.2010 @ 12:05

Dear jaksaw

You are right of course, but that's still 400 hundred years ago. The Vatican hasn't exactly been snoozing these
past four centuries.

P.S. If I may change the subject. How do I show my Gravatar on this site, as i notice atheistbruce does?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
04.08.2010 @ 12:14
Of course the main thing was that the growing military might of the Western European countries prevented
any advances of Islam for hundreds of years, even if they would have been harboring such ideas.

PS. You must create your own blog in Blogs.fi to be able to do that. You can of course copy the things to
publish from your other blogs...
Creationism in schools in Australia: 'Adam and
Eve were not eaten by dinosaurs because they
were under a protective spell'
Read more at:
http://www.news.com.au/national/creationists-hijack-lessons-and-teach-schoolkids-man-and-dinosaurs-walked-togethe

By Carly Hennessy and Kathleen Donaghey

"PRIMARY school students are being taught that man and dinosaurs walked the Earth together and that there
is fossil evidence to prove it.
Fundamentalist Christians are hijacking Religious Instruction (RI) classes in Queensland despite education
experts saying Creationism and attempts to convert children to Christianity have no place in state schools.
Students have been told Noah collected dinosaur eggs to bring on the Ark, and Adam and Eve were not eaten
by dinosaurs because they were under a protective spell.
---
New research shows three in 10 Australians believe dinosaurs and man did exist at the same time. The survey,
by the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, shows a "worrying" lack of basic
scientific principles."

Read more:
http://www.news.com.au/national/creationists-hijack-lessons-and-teach-schoolkids-man-and-dinosaurs-walked-togethe

by jaskaw @ 01.08.2010 - 10:24:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/01/creationism-in-schools-in-australia-adam-and-eve-were-not-eaten-by-dinosaurs-
Feedback for Post "Creationism in schools in Australia:
'Adam and Eve were not eaten by dinosaurs because they
were under a protective spell'"

FedupwithR [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 11:36

Oh no! this is just too much. Aussies need to start a 'SAVE THE CHILDREN' campaign.

atheistbruce [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 14:05

And here's me living with the delusion that Aussies are logical, rational, critical, secular beings with a
self-confessed atheist as their Prime Minister. Obviously things have gone downhill since I left there in 1968.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]
http://diaryofagodlessheathen.blogspot.com
01.08.2010 @ 15:05
I would say that it's nice to know the U.S. isn't the only nation in which the irrational creationist virus is
spreading out of control...but in this case, misery does NOT love company. It's not too late. Save yourselves,
before you, too, have a nation of dunderheads who believe that possessing scientific knowledge makes one
worthy of suspicion, blind faith in imaginary beings is to be emulated, and political leaders' worth should be
judged by the number of times the word 'god' appears in their campaign rhetoric!!

atheistbruce [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 17:49

Hi GodlessHeathen: I disagree. The world would be much better off if the irrational creationist virus was
confined to the US only...
US Senate in the year 1797: 'America is not, in any
sense, founded on the Christian religion'

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,ōas
it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,ōand as the said
States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the
parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony
existing between the two countries."

The Article 11 of 'Treaty of Tripoli', from the year 1797

Official records show that after President John Adams sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification in May
1797, the entire treaty was read aloud on the Senate floor, and copies were printed for every Senator. A
committee considered the treaty and recommended ratification, 23 of the 32 sitting Senators were present for
the June 7 vote which unanimously approved the ratification recommendation.

The Senate's ratification was only the third recorded unanimous vote of 339 votes taken. The treaty was
printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and two New York papers, with no evidence of any public dissent

The Treaty of Tripoli usually refers to the first treaty concluded between the United States of America and
Tripoli, otherwise known in English as the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of
America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary. The treaty was signed at Tripoli on November 4,
1796 and at Algiers (for a third-party witness) on January 3, 1797, finally receiving ratification from the U.S.
Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by President John Adams on June 10, 1797.

Soon after the formation of the United States, privateering in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean from
the nations of the Barbary Coast prompted the U.S. to form a series of so-called "peace treaties", collectively
known as the Barbary Treaties. Individual treaties were negotiated with Morocco (1786), Algiers (1795),
Tripoli (1797) and Tunis (1797), all of them more than once.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_tripoli

by jaskaw @ 01.08.2010 - 17:05:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/01/us-senate-in-the-year-1797-america-is-not-in-any-sense-founded-on-the-christian
Feedback for Post "US Senate in the year 1797: 'America is
not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion'"

atheistbruce [Member]
01.08.2010 @ 17:46

Could someone please send a copy of this to Sarah Palin & the Tea Party?

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

01.08.2010 @ 19:04
I'm not sure it would matter. They would likely just employ their same-old standby excuses like 1)the words
of the treaty were taken out of context and/or cherry-picked, 2)the FFs didn't mean the same thing by "...not,
in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" that contemporary Americans would take it to mean, or 3)one
example does not negate the "fact" that the U.S. is based on "Judeo-Christian principles." Yada, yada,
yada...blah, blah, blah. Having said that, I do think you are right that they should receive a (personalized,
hand-delivered?) copy, along with the whole Fox "News" Team.

ChucktheAtheist [Visitor]
http://twitter.com/ChucKtheAtheisT
01.08.2010 @ 21:11
Looks like the Texas board of education is going to have to write out John Adams from history and all 23
Senators who ratified the treaty.

atheistbruce [Member]
02.08.2010 @ 18:23

Can't we give Texas back to the Mexicans, please?

Benjamin Netanyahu says illegal migration is a
threat to 'Israels Jewish character'
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10832722

----
Israel has approved plans to deport the families of illegal migrant workers, and government spokesman Roei
Lachmanovich told the BBC the plan would affect some 400 children and their parents.
Vincent Uzoma Vincent Uzoma says Israel should recognise the birthright of children born within its borders
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was made because the country faced increasing illegal
migration, which was a threat to its Jewish character.
---
Some Ministers in Israel's coalition, including Interior Minister Eli Yishai from the religious Shas Party, say
they cannot grant more than 1,000 families permanent residency simply because their children were born in
Israel.
Mr Yishai caused an outcry last year when he accused migrant workers of bringing with them "a profusion of
diseases... and drug addiction."

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10832722

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shas
"Shas is a strong advocate of Halakha playing a pivotal role and providing a fulcrum for the operation of the
state and its identity, such as laws prohibiting various activities on the Shabbat. It also fundamentally supports
the Baal Teshuva Movement, through which it has encouraged many non-Orthodox Israelis of Sephardic and
Mizrahi-Jewish heritage to adopt an ultra-Orthodox Jewish lifestyle.
Shas has at times been able to exert disproportionate influence by gaining control of the balance of power in
the Knesset within the context of the traditionally narrow margin between Israel's large parties, Labor and
Likud, now joined by Kadima."

by jaskaw @ 02.08.2010 - 18:00:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/02/benjamin-netanyahu-says-illegal-migration-a-threat-to-israels-jewish-character-9
Feedback for Post "Benjamin Netanyahu says illegal
migration is a threat to 'Israels Jewish character'"

atheistbruce [Member]
02.08.2010 @ 19:18

Nettie is right: racism is a good and acceptable thing, except when it is anti-Semitism.

FedupwithR [Member]
02.08.2010 @ 22:26

I read once that Jewish Holocaust victims were shunned by indigenous Israelis who were ashamed of them.
Also that other non Hebrew speaking Jews and those from Muslim countries were also more or less treated as
second class citizens.

atheistbruce [Member]
04.08.2010 @ 14:47

From Hirsi Ali's books I remember that the Arabs also recognise a caste system in Islam. The Saudis are, of
course, on top. So maybe this is a Semitic thing, since the Arabs are, like the Israelis, Semitic.

Simon [Visitor]

04.08.2010 @ 17:08
Good for him - can we have him as PM of the UK please?
ZOMGitsCriss: 'The Objective of Morality' (video)

ZOMGitsCriss writes:
"I find the concept of "subjective morality" to be one of the most obnoxious around. If moral values are not
based on facts and observation but just on personal opinion, there is no reason to hold on to them."

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZOMGitsCriss
http://cristinarad.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ZOMGitsCriss?v=wall
http://www.facebook.com/CristinaRad'

"I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies , I am a satellite , I'm out of control"

by jaskaw @ 02.08.2010 - 21:59:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/02/zomgitscriss-the-objective-of-morality-video-9092851/
Feedback for Post "ZOMGitsCriss: 'The Objective of
Morality' (video)"

chrisagogo15 [Visitor]
http://google
05.09.2010 @ 19:40
Morality is one subject that you nailed on the head.
But as far as evolution goes, I think I got mixed up with these apes somehow and I was suppose to come out
a cat! Anyhow I got spots, and this leads me to believe
I'm suppose to blend in and eat some people!
Lawrence M. Krauss in Scientific American: 'Faith
and Foolishness, When Religious Beliefs Become
Dangerous'
Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=faith-and-foolishness#comments

---
"I donˈt know which is more dangerous, that religious beliefs force some people to choose between
knowledge and myth or that pointing out how religion can purvey ignorance is taboo. To do so risks being
branded as intolerant of religion. The kindly Dalai Lama, in a recent New York Times editorial, juxtaposed
the statement that ːradical atheists issue blanket condemnations of those who hold religious beliefsə with his
censure of the extremist intolerance, murderous actions and religious hatred in the Middle East. Aside from
the distinction between questioning beliefs and beheading or bombing people, the ːradical atheistsə in
question rarely condemn individuals but rather actions and ideas that deserve to be challenged.
Surprisingly, the strongest reticence to speak out often comes from those who should be most worried about
silence. Last May I attended a conference on science and public policy at which a representative of the
Vaticanˈs Pontifical Academy of Sciences gave a keynote address. When I questioned how he reconciled his
own reasonable views about science with the sometimes absurd and unjust activities of the Churchōfrom false
claims about condoms and AIDS in Africa to pedophilia among the clergyōI was denounced by one speaker
after another for my intolerance."
---

Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=faith-and-foolishness#comments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_M._Krauss
"Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space
Exploration, a professor in the physics department and director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State
University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek.
Krauss is the only physicist ever to have been awarded the highest awards of all three major US Physics
Societies: the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American
Institute of Physics. Krauss is also a critic of string theory, which he takes on in his 2005 book, Hiding in the
Mirror. His newest book, due for release in 2011, is entitled Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in
Science."

More on Richard Feynman at:

http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi/2010/08/02/richard-feynman-on-explaining-mysteries-9094055/

by jaskaw @ 03.08.2010 - 20:19:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/03/lawrence-m-krauss-in-scientific-american-faith-and-foolishness-when-religious-
Feedback for Post "Lawrence M. Krauss in Scientific
American: 'Faith and Foolishness, When Religious Beliefs
Become Dangerous' "

FedupwithR [Member]
03.08.2010 @ 21:42

It seem that anyone who dares to criticise a Believer is pounced upon and branded "intolerant". This is usually
enough to shut the speaker up. This should not be the case. There must be a way to reply to these attacks.
Statements that will send the ball back in their court.

Paul van Esbroeck [Visitor]

12.10.2010 @ 02:54
I found the article mostly just unscientific. Why do we listen to physicist theories of religion, when
antropologists like Scott Atran have already shown that most of Krauss's interpretation is flawed.

The world is irrational (it cannot not be fully described by current rational theories, and if Godel is right, it
never will be). Religions don't make it so. Trying to hold them responsible is about as logical as trying to
blame the Jews for Germany's problems. (but I digress in social Darwinism and other rational foolishness)

We believe evolution keeps traits like loyalty, aggression and dishonesty around because they can be useful. If
we suddenly got rid of irrational religion would politicians stop lying. Would people stop being loyal to ethnic
leaders. So many wild conspiracy theories or false beliefs exist that are unrelated to religion that it is hard to
see religion as being the cause of this phenomena.

If religion is the problem, then ridding the world of religion is a solution. What evidence do we have that
religion is the problem? A good scientist will reject a theory if one fact doesn't fit. (The orbit of Mercury).
Could one decent Jew convince a Nazi, that there theory was garbage? When people start to make claims
about all religions, well just because were atheists, shouldn't mean we shouldn't criticize their foolish thinking.
It looks like this is what many fellow scientists did, just that Krauss chooses to see criticism of him as a sort of
conspiracy, rather than an honest assessment of his views. Religion is in decline, and unless you have
evidence to the contray we need to focus on real problems and real cause and effect relationships.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
12.10.2010 @ 04:25
Religion is not of course the only or even the biggest problem in the world, but problems caused by religions
are perhaps the most unnecessary ones we have.
Most of the problems caused by the religions are in fact a result of fanaticism; by the single-minded belief that
there can be only one answer to any problem and that one does know exactly what it is.
Maybe we cannot get rid of religions, as there are too many people who find comfort and feeling of safety in
ready-made systems of thought.
However, just maybe we could create a environment that would cause evolution in religions, where the most
extreme, bigoted and fanatic versions of them would slowly fall into disuse.
Just maybe also Islam could be transformed in a way mainstream west-European Protestant Christianity has
been transformed into a quite harmless and toothless collection of do-gooders and self-improvement.
The main point to others is the willingness of the religion in trying to impose its codes and ideas on others and
when a religion gives up this, it has been tamed and be a quite benign force in society
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Teaching of music
incompatible with Islam in Iran
Read more at: http://newsbythesecond.com/teaching-of-music-incompatible-with-islam-in-iran/3870/

"Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said music is ːnot compatibleə with the Islamic values
of Iran and should not be taught or practiced.
ːAlthough music is halal,ə Khamenei said, ːPromoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest
values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic.ə
Khameneiˈs comments were in response to a 21 year old Khamenei follower who sought the leaderˈs advice
on the morality of starting music lessons. Khamenei responded that; ːItˈs better that our dear youth spend
their valuable time in learning science and essential and useful skills and fill their time with sport and healthy
recreations instead of music.ə

Read more at: http://newsbythesecond.com/teaching-of-music-incompatible-with-islam-in-iran/3870/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran
"More powerful than the President of Iran, the Leader appoints the heads of many powerful posts - the
commanders of the armed forces, the director of the national radio and television network, the heads of the
major religious foundations, the prayer leaders in city mosques, and the members of national security councils
dealing with defence and foreign affairs. He also appoints the chief judge, the chief prosecutor, special
tribunals and, with the help of the chief judge, the 12 jurists of the Guardian Council ʒ the powerful body that
decides both what bills may become law and who may run for president or parliament."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music
"To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. Greek philosophers and
ancient Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as
harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the
notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage
thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."

by jaskaw @ 04.08.2010 - 14:41:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/04/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-teaching-of-music-incompatible-with-islam-in-iran-9109
Feedback for Post "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Teaching of
music incompatible with Islam in Iran"

atheistbruce [Member]
04.08.2010 @ 15:23

Interesting that he recommends learning science; I would have expected him to say reading the Koran.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
04.08.2010 @ 15:53
His idea of 'science' can (and very possibly really is) of course be quite different from ours.

| Show subcomments
atheistbruce [Member]
04.08.2010 @ 17:45

Yes, you are right, but I still found it out of character. Maybe he means real science, like that involved with
the challenge of enriching plutonium or providing a non-carbon energy source?

FedupwithR [Member]
04.08.2010 @ 15:50

That surprised me too. As a former melomane who went to concerts but who is now weaned of this habit. I'd
agree that just listening to music is a waste of time. Most of us though, usually listen while working on
something else.
Atheist Bill Gates convinces 40 billionaires to give
away half their fortunes
Read more at:
http://gizmodo.com/5604368/bill-gates-convinces-40-billionaires-to-give-away-half-their-fortunes

"Our favorite charity-worker Bill Gates has successfully signed up 38 billionaires to give away half of their
wealth to those less fortunate, in what could be the largest-scale philanthropic work ever.
Together with Warren Buffett, their "The Giving Pledge" project nabbed Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle),
George Lucas, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Barry Diller from IAC (an internet media company
that owns Ask.com, Bloglines, Vimeo, Match.com and others), along with many others."

Read more at:

http://gizmodo.com/5604368/bill-gates-convinces-40-billionaires-to-give-away-half-their-fortunes

http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Bill_Gates
Gates was profiled in a January 13, 1996 TIME magazine cover story. Here are some excerpts compiled by
the Drudge Report:
"Isn't there something special, perhaps even divine, about the human soul?" interviewer Walter Isaacson asks
Gates.
"I don't have any evidence on that," answers Gates. "I don't have any evidence of that."

http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Warren_Buffett
"He did not subscribe to his family's religion. Even at a young age he was too mathematical, too logical, to
make the leap of faith. He adopted his father's ethical underpinnings, but not his belief in an unseen divinity."
--from Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein (Doubleday, 1995), page 1

by jaskaw @ 05.08.2010 - 13:03:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/05/atheist-bill-gates-convinces-40-billionaires-to-give-away-half-their-fortunes-911
Feedback for Post "Atheist Bill Gates convinces 40
billionaires to give away half their fortunes"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

05.08.2010 @ 14:49
I think an interesting thing to note is that Bill Gates, unlike many other extremely wealthy people, actually
pays realistic taxes on the money he earns, which along with his incredible philanthropy, makes him a great
citizen as well as a terrific human being. Now, the question is, are these other billionaires going to follow
through with this promise, or is this all just a PR stunt?

atheistbruce [Member]
05.08.2010 @ 21:48

Despite Windows, I also think Bill Gates is a responsible citizen and this effort is fantastic. Unfortunately
$600B is only a drop in the bucket compared to the annual amounts spent on armaments, but it could be
enough to save all those millions of children who starve to death in Africa every year.
New Scientist: 'Evolution: 24 myths and
misconceptions '
Read more at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13620-evolution-24-myths-and-misconceptions.html

"It will soon be 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin and 150 years since the publication of On the
Origin of Species, arguably the most important book ever written. In it, Darwin outlined an idea that many
still find shocking - that all life on Earth, including human life, evolved through natural selection.
Darwin presented compelling evidence for evolution in On the Origin and, since his time, the case has become
overwhelming. Countless fossil discoveries allow us to trace the evolution of today's organisms from earlier
forms. DNA sequencing has confirmed beyond any doubt that all living creatures share a common origin.
Innumerable examples of evolution in action can be seen all around us, from the pollution-matching peppered
moth to fast-changing viruses such as HIV and H5N1 bird flu. Evolution is as firmly established a scientific
fact as the roundness of the Earth.
---
So here is New Scientist's guide to some of the most common myths and misconceptions about evolution."

Read more at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13620-evolution-24-myths-and-misconceptions.html

by jaskaw @ 06.08.2010 - 15:57:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/06/new-scientist-evolution-24-myths-and-misconceptions-9136369/
Whopping 25 per cent of Spaniards atheists or
without religion - says a study
Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/122469.html

"The proportion of Spaniards who say they are Roman Catholic has fallen to 73 percent from around 80
percent eight years ago, according to a survey released on Thursday by the CIS research centre.
About 25 percent of all Spaniards now claim to be atheists or without a religion, compared to 17 percent in
2002, the June survey of 2,500 adults found.
Only 13 percent of those questioned said they attended Mass each week compared to 20 percent eight years
ago. And more than half of those surveyed, 56 percent, said they "practically never" attended Mass.

Read more at: http://www.secularism.org.uk/122469.html

by jaskaw @ 06.08.2010 - 18:12:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/06/whopping-25-per-cent-of-spaniards-atheists-or-without-religion-says-a-study-91
Feedback for Post "Whopping 25 per cent of Spaniards
atheists or without religion - says a study"

atheistbruce [Member]
07.08.2010 @ 18:04

Hi jaskaw: I know the English language is very flexible, but to be whopping, it must be at least 50% surely?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
07.08.2010 @ 18:38
"whopping: Exceptionally large: "yet another whopping pay raise" (Lee Atwater)."
I do not think he got a 50 per cent raise.... It was just much larger than a usual raise, as the idea that a quarter
of Spaniards might be nonreligious is a whoppingly bigger number than one would have expected.

| Show subcomments
atheistbruce [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 12:04

Hi jaskaw, you are right, but it is a matter of perception. As a young optimist you say: wow, a whopping 25%
is nonreligious; as an old pessimist I say: shit, it's 200 years after Enlightenment and a whopping 75% still
believe in a god.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani waits execution: "I
am now quiet and sad because a part of my heart
is frozen"
Read more at: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/08/iran-stoning-case-at-imminent-risk-of.html

"Iran stoning case, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz prison.
Moreover, her well known human rights lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, is in prison in Turkey after having
fled the country to evade arrest for his advocacy work. His wife remains in prison in Iran ʒ held hostage ʒ
until he is remanded into the regimeˈs custody.
---
We are also extremely concerned for Ashtianiˈs life. The regime may be preparing to execute her within the
next few days, particularly given that the Tabriz prosecutor has demanded her execution and is awaiting the
Tehran high courtˈs confirmation.
In her most recent heart-wrenching message, she says:
ːI am now quiet and sad because a part of my heart is frozen.
The day I was flogged in front of [my son] Sajjad, I was crushed and my dignity and heart were broken.
The day I was given the stoning sentence, it was as if I fell into a deep hole and I lost consciousness.
Many nights, before sleeping, I think to myself how can anybody be prepared to throw stones at me; to aim at
my face and hands? Why?
I thank all of you from Tabriz Prison."

Read more at: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/08/iran-stoning-case-at-imminent-risk-of.html

by jaskaw @ 07.08.2010 - 20:37:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/07/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-waits-execution-i-am-now-quiet-and-sad-because-
Feedback for Post "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani waits
execution: "I am now quiet and sad because a part of my
heart is frozen""

FedupwithR [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 10:36

How can Muslims accept such horror without protest?

atheistbruce [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 17:27

As I understand it, she committed the most heinous crime known to Islam: she had sex with a man other than
her own husband. Whether she has a husband or not & whether she raped or not is irrelevant under Sharia law.
Surely, this proves that Allah is a just, loving & merciful god, just like Yahweh?
Hitchens on cancer and atheism with Anderson
Cooper
Watch the video at:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/video-extended-interview-hitchens-on-cancer-and-atheism/

"Video: Extended interview: Hitchens on cancer and atheism

Watch a new extended version of Anderson's revealing interview with author Christopher Hitchens."

Watch the video at:

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/video-extended-interview-hitchens-on-cancer-and-atheism/

"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist. His books,
essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual and a
staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity
Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets.
His latest book, entitled Hitch-22: A Memoir, was published in June 2010. Touring for this book was cut short
later the same month in order for Hitchens to begin treatment for newly diagnosed oesophageal cancer."

by jaskaw @ 07.08.2010 - 22:14:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/07/hitchens-on-cancer-and-atheism-with-anderson-cooper-9142887/
Feedback for Post "Hitchens on cancer and atheism with
Anderson Cooper"

atheistbruce [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 21:27

Well, unfortunately we are all mortal, popes as well as horsemen. The difference is, nobody misses a pope.
An Austrian bishop links Love Parade tragedy to
'sin'
Read more at: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100807/twl-rc-bishop-links-love-parade-tragedy-3fd0ae9.html

"An Austrian bishop has described a German music festival stampede where 21 people died as a sinful event
and suggested the deaths may have been God's punishment for losing faith. Skip related content
Salzburg's Roman Catholic bishop, Andreas Laun, described the Love Parade and participation in it as "a
rebellion against creation and against God's order, (which) are sins and an invitation to sin"."

Read more at: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100807/twl-rc-bishop-links-love-parade-tragedy-3fd0ae9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Parade_stampede
"On 24 July 2010, a crowd crush at the 2010 Love Parade electronic dance music festival in Duisburg, North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, caused the death of 21 people. At least 510 more were injured.
The Love Parade was a popular and free access festival and parade that originated in 1989 in Berlin. The
parade features stages, but has floats with music, DJs and dancers moving through the audience. This was the
first edition of the festival that was organised in a closed-off area. Between 200,000 and 1.4 million people
were reported to be attending the event and 3,200 police were on hand.
The event with the slogan "The Art of Love" was one of the program elements of RUHR.2010, an effort to
highlight cultural events in the Ruhr area, one of 2010's European Capital of Culture."

by jaskaw @ 08.08.2010 - 00:27:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/07/an-austrian-bishop-links-love-parade-tragedy-to-sin-9143336/
Feedback for Post "An Austrian bishop links Love Parade
tragedy to 'sin'"

FedupwithR [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 10:30

A couple of years ago, a coach carrying Polish Catholic Pilgrims, en route for, or returning from Lourdes,
hurtled over a bridge, killing all. Was this doG's punishment for the sins of the Catholic Church perhaps?

atheistbruce [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 16:57

I'll accept a catholic bishop's expertise in the art of sodomizing children, but not in explaining the art of music.
Catholic archbishop of Australia fears that having
a atheist prime minister will 'undermine the special
privileges that churches enjoy'
Read more at:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/election/a/-/election/7665089/archbishop-questions-impact-of-gillards-atheism/

"Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey has weighed into the Federal election, questioning whether Prime
Minister Julia Gillard's atheism is a threat to the privileges afforded to churches.
"While there is no indication that the present Prime Minister will undermine the special privileges that
churches enjoy, some wonder what the future will bring. This may well influence their votes," Archbishop
Hickey said.
"Many Christians are concerned that someone who does not believe in God may not endorse the Christian
traditions of respect for human life, for the sanctity of marriage and the independence of Churches, church
schools and church social welfare agencies."
Churches enjoy a tax-free status and church schools receive billions of dollars in Federal funding."

Read more at:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/election/a/-/election/7665089/archbishop-questions-impact-of-gillards-atheism/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Hickey
"On 5 June 2007 Archbishop Hickey made a controversial statement, by saying that if the Catholic state MPs
did not oppose the The Human Reproductive Technology Amendment Bill, which would allow expansion of
stem cell research, then they could be refused holy communion or face excommunication as a last resort. For
this stance he was criticised by both Catholic and non-Catholic MPs. Hickey reportedly said that he did not
consider that he had made a threat. He also later said that he would not refuse communion."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia since June
2010. She was elected to the House of Representatives seat of Lalor for the Australian Labor Party at the 1998
federal election. Gillard announced on 17 July 2010 that the next federal election would be held on 21 August
2010.
In a 2010 interview when asked if she believed in God, Gillard stated: "No I don't ... I'm not a religious person
... [I'm] a great respecter of religious beliefs but they're not my beliefs."

by jaskaw @ 08.08.2010 - 20:18:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/08/catholic-archbishop-of-australia-fears-that-having-a-atheist-prime-minister-will-
Feedback for Post "Catholic archbishop of Australia fears
that having a atheist prime minister will 'undermine the
special privileges that churches enjoy'"

atheistbruce [Member]
08.08.2010 @ 21:23

I hope most sincerely that his worst fears come true?

Father Giovanni Maria Leonardi [Visitor]

http://www.santafamigliatv.it
13.09.2010 @ 16:06
Peace and Love!

Iâ?Tm a Capuchin monk of the Holy House of Loreto in Marche in the centre of
Italy.

Through the site www.santafamigliatv.it<http://www.santafamigliatv.it> we

are committed via Internet for the new evangelization.

To this aim, we ask you for one of your film footage. (any format DVD,
VHS, minicassette) you have already realized, so as to include in our
Schedules and our Archives.

The topic could be the presentation of your institute, your busisness

vocation, your missions, â?¦.
The movie will be offered for a year (once a week) and permanently in our
archive always freely available.
In support of this activity religion we ask you for your contribution of
100â,¬.

We invite you to know the meantime visitors to our site.

Blessing,

in SS Hearts of Jesus and Mary

P. Giovanni Maria Leonardi

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
13.09.2010 @ 16:41
What? Are you really inviting me to supply a atheist video for viewing pleasure of your followers, dear
Giovanni for a mere lump sum of hundred of something (lires, dollars, euros, dinars)?
Einstein's letter bashing ideas of God sells for
$404,000
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/science/17einsteinw.html

"From the grave, Albert Einstein poured gasoline on the culture wars between science and religion this week.
A letter the physicist wrote in 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, in which he described the Bible as
ːpretty childishə and scoffed at the notion that the Jews could be a ːchosen people,ə sold for $404,000 at an
auction in London. That was 25 times the presale estimate.
---
Einsteinˈs latest words offer scant comfort to the traditionally faithful.
In the letter, according to the A.P. account, he wrote that ːthe word God is for me nothing more than the
expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends
which are nevertheless pretty childish.ə
As for his fellow Jews, he said that Judaism, like all other religions, was ːan incarnation of the most childish
superstitions.ə

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/science/17einsteinw.html

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/07/17/was-albert-einstein-a-religious-man-8993838
"Einstein probably was not a true atheist, but he was not a true theist either. The older he got, the less he could
stomach the religions and religious organizations of his day.
However, he generally avoided public row and was often very gentle in his public criticism, but as the private
letter in the beginning of this piece show, he did harbor even very strong negative sentiments about religions."

by jaskaw @ 09.08.2010 - 00:57:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/08/einstein-s-letter-bashing-ideas-of-god-sells-for-404-9149070/
Feedback for Post "Einstein's letter bashing ideas of God
sells for $404,000 "

atheistbruce [Member]
09.08.2010 @ 17:31

I hope whoever bought it has not destroyed it...

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
10.08.2010 @ 11:38

Yes, that was my first thought too, as the article doesn't say who bought it. A letter like that should be kept in
the public domain. Pity Richard Dawkins didn't aquire it.
Jewish hardliners crack down on hitchhiking and
pop-concerts in Israel
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jewish-hardliners-crack-down-on-fun-in-israel-2047322.html

"It is the time of the year when school is out for Israel's ultraorthodox students. But this year, a Jewish
morality police is patrolling in force to make sure they do not have too much fun.
Leading rabbis and heads of religious colleges, or the yeshivas, have warned students to continue their studies
of the Torah, dress appropriately and avoid "the great danger, spiritually and concretely, of hitchhiking". The
ultraorthodox, who make up roughly 10 per cent of all Israelis, live a closeted life. They voluntarily choose
not to own a television or radio, and are barred from using the internet.
But Rabbi Mordechai Blau, leader of the group, Guardians of Sanctity and Education, feared that some
temptations would simply prove too much, and deployed an army of snoopers to photograph members of the
ultra-orthodox community, also known as Haredi, at a mixed-sex pop concert.
Revellers who ignored warnings to shun ultra-orthodox popstars from Brooklyn, New York, now face being
slung out of their yeshivas, or having their children barred from attending the religious schools of their choice.
"We have the photos in our possession," Rabbi Blau told Ha'aretz newspaper. "Here and there are Haredim in
lovely pictures, with a woman to their right and one on their left. And then they will come and ask why their
children are not accepted into particular schools."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jewish-hardliners-crack-down-on-fun-in-israel-2047322.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Israel

by jaskaw @ 09.08.2010 - 18:09:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/09/jewish-hardliners-crack-down-on-hitchhiking-and-pop-concerts-in-israel-915338
Feedback for Post " Jewish hardliners crack down on
hitchhiking and pop-concerts in Israel"

FedupwithR [Member]
09.08.2010 @ 21:42

All Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy should be rounded up and dumped on a large enough asteroid.

atheistbruce [Member]
10.08.2010 @ 17:42

Hi FedupwithR: good idea, but not sure about the logistics involved. Given that there are some millions of
them, the amount of fossil fuel we would have to burn to get them into orbit would probably have a severe
impact on global warming?
Group: Seven Baha'i leaders condemned to 20
years in prison in Iran
Read more at:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/08/7-bahais-sentenced-to-20-years-in-iran-group-says/?tr=y&auid=6788559

"Seven Baha'i leaders in Iran have each received 20-year prison sentences, according to reports received by
the Baha'i International Community, the group said Sunday.
"If this news proves to be accurate, it represents a deeply shocking outcome to the case of these innocent and
harmless people," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the
United Nations.
Word of the sentences came from an Iranian-based group called the Committee of Human Rights Defenders,
according to Diane Ala'i, another Baha'i U.N representative. The Baha'i International Community is working
to confirm the reports, she said."

Read more at:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/08/7-bahais-sentenced-to-20-years-in-iran-group-says/?tr=y&auid=6788559

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith
"Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Iranian Bahá'ís have regularly had their homes ransacked or been
banned from attending university or holding government jobs, and several hundred have received prison
sentences for their religious beliefs, most recently for participating in study circles. Bahá'í cemeteries have
been desecrated and property seized and occasionally demolished, including the House of Mírzá Buzurg,
Bahá'u'lláh's father. The House of the Báb in Shiraz, one of three sites to which Bahá'ís perform pilgrimage,
has been destroyed twice.
---
The Iranian government claims that the Bahá'í Faith is not a religion, but a political organization, and hence
refuses to recognize it as a minority religion. However, the government has never produced convincing
evidence supporting its characterization of the Bahá'í community.
Also the government's statements that Bahá'ís who recanted their religion would have their rights restored,
attests to the fact that Bahá'ís are persecuted solely for their religious affiliation.
The Iranian government also accuses the Bahá'í Faith of being associated with Zionism because the Bahá'í
World Centre is located in Haifa, Israel.
In fact it was the Iranian Shah who banished Bahá'u'lláh from Persia to the Ottoman Empire and he was later
exiled by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, at the behest of the Persian Shah, to territories further away from
Iran and finally to Acre in Syria, which only a century later was incorporated into the state of Israel."

by jaskaw @ 09.08.2010 - 19:12:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/09/group-seven-baha-i-leaders-condemned-to-20-years-in-prison-in-iran-9153895/
Feedback for Post "Group: Seven Baha'i leaders
condemned to 20 years in prison in Iran"

FedupwithR [Member]
09.08.2010 @ 21:29

I met a Baha'i woman in the eighties who had fled from Iranian Islamic persecution. She claimed the Baha'i
were hated because Baha'i women are considered equal to men.
Conservapedia: Theory of relativity is a liberal
conspiracy
Read more at:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/conservapedia_founder_takes_on_the_notorious_liber.php

"To many conservatives, almost everything is a secret liberal plot: from fluoride in the water to medicare
reimbursements for end-of-life planning with your doctor to efforts to teach evolution in schools. But
Conservapedia founder and Eagle Forum University instructor Andy Schlafly -- Phyllis Schlafly's son -- has
found one more liberal plot: the theory of relativity.
If you're behind on your physics, the Theory of Relativity was Albert Einstein's formulation in the early 20th
century that gave rise to the famous theorum that E=mc2, otherwise stated as energy is equal to mass times
the square of the speed of light. Why does Andy Schlafly hate the theory of relativity? We're pretty sure it's
because he's decided it doesn't square with the Bible.
In the entry, "Counterexamples to Relativity," the authors (including Schlafly) write:
"The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals
who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world."
What does that reference lead? Why, a note by Schlafly:
"See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson's book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law
professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes
relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold."

Read more at:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/conservapedia_founder_takes_on_the_notorious_liber.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_relativity
"The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity
and general relativity. However, the word "relativity" is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

by jaskaw @ 10.08.2010 - 10:04:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/10/conservapedia-theory-of-relativity-is-a-liberal-conspiracy-9156689/
Feedback for Post "Conservapedia: Theory of relativity is a
liberal conspiracy"

Jim Gardner [Visitor]

http://howgoodisthat.wordpress.com
10.08.2010 @ 13:50
Jesus Hussian Christ

Horace Gaims [Visitor]

10.08.2010 @ 16:16
The idea that Einstein and other scientists can be vilified and declared mistaken because their work and ideas
do not conform to books written thousands of years ago is howlingly funny.

GoddlessHeathen [Visitor]

10.08.2010 @ 16:16
Wow! And I thought I'd already heard it all.

atheistbruce [Member]
10.08.2010 @ 17:26

I think they should also condemn quantum mechanics, since it is utterly incomprehensible &
counter-intuitive!

Walter [Visitor]

11.08.2010 @ 01:59
Darn! That Eagle Forum is smart. They figured us out.
Let's just hope that they don't discover that Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler were part of that pinko conspiracy
talking us into the earth not being the center of the universe.
Worse, they may figure out that the round earth is just a commy plot and that it's really flat.

FedupwithR [Member]
12.08.2010 @ 14:16

I look forward to them tying themselves in knots with the string theory.
Strippers protest church for protesting strippers in
Ohio
Read more at: http://consumerist.com/2010/08/strippers-show-up-to-church-to-protest-being-protested.html

"The dancers at the Foxhole in Coschocton County, Ohio, are used to arriving at work to the sounds of
protests from members of the nearby New Beginnings Ministries church. But the same couldn't quite be said
for the churchgoers, who showed up for services on Sunday and were greeted by the sight of bikini-clad
protesters.
For the last four years, the pastor at New Beginnings has led a protest outside the Foxhole every weekend.
Beyond just voicing their disapproval of the strip joint, the church members also videotape the license plates
of the bar's patrons and then post the info online.
So the crew at the Foxhole decided to give the churchgoers a taste of their own medicine, sitting outside the
church in skimpy outfits and cooling each other down with Super Soakers as they grilled up burgers."

Read more at: http://consumerist.com/2010/08/strippers-show-up-to-church-to-protest-being-protested.html

by jaskaw @ 11.08.2010 - 21:27:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/11/strippers-protest-church-for-protesting-strippers-in-ohio-9166248/
Feedback for Post "Strippers protest church for protesting
strippers in Ohio"

FedupwithR [Member]
12.08.2010 @ 14:09

It sounds like Sundays are fun in Ohio.

atheistbruce [Member]
12.08.2010 @ 18:09

This is the kind of creative thinking which restores my faith in mankind.

Saudi-Arabia harasses the wrong kinds of Muslims
too
Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=1052

"The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information denounced today , that the investigation service
authority in Madina raided the ranch of the distinguished Shiite preacher Mohamed Ali AlEmary. They
stripped down some Shiite posters and arrested his son Kazim ten days ago on the background of the familyˈs
religious activities.
On August 2nd,2010 , the investigation service authority raided AlEmary ranch . They broke the gates and
stripped down wall hangings depicting holy Shiite slogans and seized others. On the same day , authorities
arrested Kazim AlEmary and forced him to sign a pledge. Despite his release , he was arrested the following
day and detained till now.
The Arabic Network said, ə Freedom of expression and religion have become illicit issues that the Saudi
government would not admit . Oppressing Shiites and discriminating against them is a steady adopted policy
all over the kingdom. Shiite mosques are closed down , leaders are arrested and Shiites are prohibited to
practice their rituals. As well, supporters and advocators for Shiitesˈ rights are arrested ,mentioning Munir
AlJassas
and Soliman AlRashudy and others who are just locked up in Saudi dungeons with no chargeə.

Read more at: http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=1052

by jaskaw @ 12.08.2010 - 13:59:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/12/saudi-arabia-harasses-the-wrong-kinds-of-muslims-too-9169413/
Feedback for Post "Saudi-Arabia harasses the wrong kinds
of Muslims too"

atheistbruce [Member]
12.08.2010 @ 18:07

This is what religion is all about: exclusivity, intolerance & hatred!

Christian protestors at a Connecticut mosque:
ːJesus hates Muslims"
Read more at:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/08/connecticut-christians-protest-mosque-worshippers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm

"About a dozen right-wing Christians, carrying placards and yelling ːIslam is a lie,ə angrily confronted
worshippers outside a Fairfield Avenue mosque Friday.
ːJesus hates Muslims,ə they screamed at worshippers arriving at the Masjid An-Noor mosque to prepare for
the holy week of Ramadan. One protester shoved a placard at a group of young children leaving the mosque.
ːMurderers,ə he shouted.
Police arrived on the scene to separate the groups, but said no arrests were made.
Flip Benham, of Dallas, Texas, organizer of the protest, was yelling at the worshipers with a bullhorn.
ːThis is a war in America and we are taking it to the mosques around the country,ə he said.

Read more at:

http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/08/connecticut-christians-protest-mosque-worshippers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm

by jaskaw @ 12.08.2010 - 17:43:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/12/christian-protestors-at-a-connecticut-mosque-jesus-hates-muslims-9170588/
Feedback for Post "Christian protestors at a Connecticut
mosque: ːJesus hates Muslims""

atheistbruce [Member]
12.08.2010 @ 18:06

This is what religion is all about: exclusivity, intolerance & hatred!

FedupwithR [Member]
13.08.2010 @ 13:11

How could Jesus hate Muslims when they didn't even exist during his life time? The ignorance of these
fundies is a terrible indictment to American education. Or do they just "think" they know what Jesus thinks?

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

13.08.2010 @ 16:26
It's a shame more of these religious fundamentalists can't see just how truly small and insignificant their
worldviews really are in the great scheme of things. As Carl Sagan demonstrated so beautifully, from
"heaven", religious, ethnic, national, and even species boundaries are nowhere in evidence. They are arbitrary
lines created by humans, for humans, and the evolutionary usefulness of such group distinctions has
long-since passed.

Unfortunately, it would appear that minds so small cannot reason around the hatred and intolerance justified
in their flawed mythologies and learn to cope with an uncertain world in more productive ways. In one sense,
the fundies are correct, this "is a war in America...," however, the war is against ignorance and hatred in
general, not against any particular religious ideology/ethnic group in particular.

Corey Mondello [Visitor]

http://www.CoreyMondello.com
13.08.2010 @ 22:29
This is how Germans treated Jews before they allowed Hitler to kill 6 million of them and the way white folks
in the USA have treated Black people throughout history, like attending the same schools, adults yelling
obscenities at young children, etc...

atheistbruce [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 19:39

Jesus, a figure from history who never existed, was his own father and impregnated a so-called virgin named
Mary to gave birth to a baby boy who was himself. These were all white guys and jews and never existed.
The Economist: 'Over 60% of Czechs never attend
religious service'
Read more at: http://www.economist.com/node/16767758

"THE proportion of people who regularly attend religious services has declined steadily throughout Europe in
recent years. But habits vary widely across countries. According to the latest European Social Survey
conducted in 2008 and 2009, over 60% of Czechs say they never attend religious services, with the exception
of ːspecial occasionsə such as marriages and christenings. France, Britain and Belgium are also secular
nations, with over half of respondents never going to services. The most regular attenders among the 28
countries polled are in Cyprus and Greece, where only 2.4% and 4.9% respectively say they do not go to
church. "

Read more at: http://www.economist.com/node/16767758

by jaskaw @ 13.08.2010 - 18:26:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/13/the-economist-over-60-of-czechs-never-attend-religious-service-9175981/
Feedback for Post "The Economist: 'Over 60% of Czechs
never attend religious service'"

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:06

Now why is this, I wonder. Are they more rational or has, which ever church it was that once held power,
been too busy elsewhere?
Another Brick In The Wall (Hey Ayatollah, Leave
Those Kids Alone!)

"We don't need your education, we don't need your thought control."

Join Blurred Vision's Facebook page to connect with the band!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blurred-Vision/69014127393
Directed by Babak Payami
www.payamfilms.com
Blurred Vision are in the studio with legendary Rock producer Terry Brown, recording new material including
their first original release single!
www.blurredvisionmusic.com

by jaskaw @ 13.08.2010 - 21:57:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/13/another-brick-in-the-wall-hey-ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone-9176897/
Feedback for Post "Another Brick In The Wall (Hey
Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone!) "

Aria [Visitor]
http://www.iranians.piczo.com
18.08.2010 @ 13:48
FREE IRAN
Carl Sagan: Wanderers (video)

"This video is part 3 of my continuing tribute to the late Carl Sagan.

Part 1: A Universe Not Made For Us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxlPVSAnWOo
Part 2: Consider Again That Pale Blue Dot; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_naQhynOg0
Excerpts were taken from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. More
specifically, from the chapter titled Wanderers. I edited together the audio from the audio-book, and added the
video from:
- Carl Sagan's Cosmos
- BBC's Wonders of the Solar System with Brian Cox
- BBC's Walking with Cavemen
- Discovery's Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking
- Discovery's Super Structures
- History's Failure is not an Option
- Schindler's List (film)
- Select pictures from Boston.com's The Big Picture
The music is derived from three songs on the Lost soundtrack: Hollywood and Vines, Locke'd Out Again, and
Oceanic 815."

http://www.youtube.com/user/callumCGLP

by jaskaw @ 14.08.2010 - 00:12:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/13/carl-sagan-wanderers-video-9177449/
Feedback for Post "Carl Sagan: Wanderers (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 23:13

I too am a fan of Carl Sagan. Wonderful man. Beautiful voice. These days, I often think that non believers
need to find a handy planet to escape to.
Listed: The top 10 bizarre Mormon beliefs
Read more at: http://listverse.com/2008/02/04/top-10-bizarre-mormon-beliefs/

Spoiler alert! Here are the top three:

"1. Multiple Worlds and Multiple Gods

This deserves some explanation. Mormons believe that God created multiple worlds and each world has
people living on it. They also believe that multiple Gods exist but each has their own universe. We are only
subject to our God and if we obtain the highest level of heaven we can become gods ourselves.

2. Forgiveness
In LDS theology you can be forgiven for any sin, save two. First, denying the Holy Spirit, and second,
murder. Also, God is infinitely forgiving, until the second coming. After that, you end up where you end up,
no matter what. There are no second chances. Period.

3. Multiple Heavens
In LDS doctrine there are three heavens: the Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom, and Telestial Kingdom.
The Celestial is the highest, where God and the ones who followed his law reside. The Terrestrial is the
middle, where people who followed the Law of Moses reside. The Telestial is the lowest, where the ones who
followed carnal law reside."

Read more at: http://listverse.com/2008/02/04/top-10-bizarre-mormon-beliefs/

by jaskaw @ 15.08.2010 - 00:21:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/14/listed-the-top-10-nizarre-mormon-beliefs-9181715/
Feedback for Post "Listed: The top 10 bizarre Mormon
beliefs"

atheistbruce [Member]
15.08.2010 @ 16:00

I like the sound of this Telestial Kingdom. I bet it's got hordes of virgins & rivers of wine, just like
Mohammed's concoction...

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:14

Sounds as if Ron Hubbard(?)(or is that the Scientology man?) read a lot of science fiction.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
16.08.2010 @ 21:45
L. Ron Hubbard did really invent Scientology, Mormonism was invented by a certain Mr. Smith.

atheistbruce [Member]
17.08.2010 @ 17:42

No wonder we have so many religions with so many inventive people around.

Media Matters: Glenn Beck, Holy Warrior
Read more at: http://mediamatters.org/columns/201008130040

"In recent months, Glenn Beck has:

* Compared Barack Obama to Lucifer.
* Looked skyward on his TV show and said, "Lord, it's your turn, we've done everything we can" while
comparing the current situation in our country to Stephen King's post-apocalyptic novel The Stand. In the
same segment, Beck also told people they need to ask for forgiveness, and said that "we're in a dark, dark
place" and "dark dudes" are "coming our way." He added, "Now, I'm hoping the guy with horns doesn't
actually show up, but he could."
* Explained that we are fighting "the oldest battle that man has ever fought. It is the battle in the war in
heaven. It is the battle that we fought in the Garden of Eden. Choice."
* Hosted a panel of pastors and preachers that he billed as "people that need to start standing up." During the
show, Beck plugged the "excellent" book by Rev. John Hagee, Can America Survive? 10 Prophetic Signs
That We Are the Terminal Generation, which he apparently had just started reading.
* Repeatedly suggested that progressives and liberals are "enemies of God" and "enemies of Him," and
declared that they "don't have [God] on their side."

Read more at: http://mediamatters.org/columns/201008130040

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck
"Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, political
commentator, author, and entrepreneur. He is currently the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally
syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks; He is also the
host of a self-titled cable-news show on Fox News Channel. As an author, Beck has had six New York
Times-bestselling books, with five debuting at #1. Beck is also the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a
multi-media production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the
stage, and the Internet."

by jaskaw @ 15.08.2010 - 00:45:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/14/media-matters-glenn-beck-holy-warrior-9181776/
Feedback for Post "Media Matters: Glenn Beck, Holy
Warrior"

atheistbruce [Member]
15.08.2010 @ 16:09

There are legions of these idiots in America, but there are fortunately also legions of intelligent, well-educated
followers of the American dream, intent on preserving the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in
a free, democratic & secular society.

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

16.08.2010 @ 02:04
Yes, but unfortunately, it's difficult for the intelligent and well-educated to be heard over the hysterical and
nonsensical shouting of Beck and his lobotomized compatriots; especially in an atmospere in which being
intelligent and well-educated is cause for suspicion and derision, if not outright hatred, and nearly every
attempt at rational discourse leads to another charge of 'liberal conspiracy.' I don't mean to be cynical...I just
want the legions of secular-minded Americans to speak up more, because their voices are in danger of being
completely drowned out by the bullhorn-toting 'holy' warriors.

atheistbruce [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 16:27

It seems the holy warriors have been very clever: they have taken control of the main media channels. The
worst of all is Fox News run by the Aussie, Murdoch. I sometimes wonder whether he is on a crusade of
dumbing down America just for the fun of it?

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:25

Seems to me, that the vast majority everywhere prefers to be dumbed down. The more revolting the more
popular. It's depressing.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

16.08.2010 @ 23:13
Fox News is a misnomer. News is as far from the focus of that network as science is from Scientology, and
Rupert Murdoch is just scary.
The New York Times: Christopher Hitchens, Not
Going Gently
Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/weekinreview/15schillinger.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

"Two fierce battles are being waged this summer ō one against esophageal cancer, by the irreverent columnist,
commentator and critic Christopher Hitchens (who scorns the use of the word ːbattleə in this context), and
the other for his soul, by those who hope to persuade him to convert to Christianity in extremis. Itˈs a paradox
that Mr. Hitchens, a confirmed atheist and the author of ːGod Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons
Everything,ə can appreciate, if not relish. The countryˈs best-known scoffer has spurred one of the most
heated discussions of belief, religion and immortality in years.
---
This subject is one Mr. Hitchens has mulled over since childhood, when he decided, as he wrote in ːGod Is
Not Great,ə that it was ːcontemptibleə to rely on religion just for comfort if it ːmight not be true.ə As an
adult whose hopes lay assuredly in the intellect, not in the hereafter, he concluded, ːLiterature, not scripture,
sustains the mind and ō since there is no other metaphor ō also the soul.ə
That idea was echoed by Mr. Hitchensˈs closest friend, the novelist Martin Amis, in an interview last week
on the Charlie Rose show about his new book, ːThe Pregnant Widowə (in which a main character is inspired
by Mr. Hitchens). Mr. Amis said his friend, like other writers, surely believed that after death, ːnot all of you
will die,ə because the printed words they leave behind constitute a kind of immortality. He added, ːThe
desire for immortality ... explains all the extraordinary achievements, both good and bad.ə

Read more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/weekinreview/15schillinger.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an Anglo-American author and journalist. His books,
essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual and a
staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity
Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, among others, and became a media fellow at the Hoover
Institution in September 2008
His latest book, Hitch-22: A Memoir, was published in June 2010. Touring for the book was cut short later the
same month so that he could begin treatment for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer

by jaskaw @ 15.08.2010 - 18:27:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/15/the-new-york-times-christopher-hitchens-not-going-gently-9185383/
Feedback for Post "The New York Times: Christopher
Hitchens, Not Going Gently"

atheistbruce [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 19:24

Hitch: you are NOT allowed to go, we need you!

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:26

It hurts me to see his loss of hair.

Russian dairy to sack women who have abortions
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10958202

"The head of a Russian dairy company has threatened to sack Russian Orthodox Christian employees who
have abortions or refuse a religious marriage.
Vassili Boiko-Veliki, president of Russkoe Moloko, said staff married in a civil ceremony had until 14
October to undertake a religious wedding.
Critics said the rules violated labour laws and the constitution.
The Russian Orthodox Church has experienced a revival since the fall of the officially atheist Soviet Union.
Mr Boiko-Veliki said those women who had had abortions, or chose to have one in the future, would face
dismissal.
"Abortion is the murder of someone," he told the radio station, Ekho Moskvy. "We do not want to work with
murderers."
Mr Boiko-Veliki was also quoted as saying that newly-hired employees who had been married in civil
ceremonies would be given three months to have a religious wedding."

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10958202

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC); or The Moscow Patriarchate also known as the Orthodox Christian
Church of Russia, is a body of Christians who constitute an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church under the
jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow, in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.

by jaskaw @ 15.08.2010 - 21:26:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/15/russian-dairy-to-sack-women-who-have-abortions-9186319/
Feedback for Post "Russian dairy to sack women who have
abortions"

FedupwithR [Member]
15.08.2010 @ 22:38

Just see what happens! The moment it's given an inch, it takes a mile. That's organised religion. The Russian
Orthodox is as authoritarian and crazy as all the others.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
15.08.2010 @ 22:52
The fact is that the Russian Orthodoxy is one of the most conservative forces in the world; it has just been
kept at bay by the communists and it is just gathering its forces again.
I must say that as a Finn living next door to Russia I feel really scared at every new piece like this, as the next
step will very well be the rise of new kind Christian Orthodox nationalism and this will mean trouble also for
us in Finland.

atheistbruce [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 16:20

I share your concern jaskaw, particularly with the decline in both the moral & military influence of the US as
the forces of ignorance & intolerance gain the upper hand in Washington. Not just Finland, but all the EU will
probably come under the influence of the Greater Orthodox Russian Federation led by Czar Vladimir. Large
parts of the EU are already hopelessly dependent on Russia for their energy supplies.

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:34

I think it's mainly women who have the most to fear from the RO by the sound of it. Russia, don't forget, also
needs the EU. Frankly, I fear creeping Islam far more.

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:38

Don't these priests look totally absurd in all their gold and silk finery!
Der Spiegel: 'Allah's Elite: Why the 9/11 Mosque
Was Closed'
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,711977,00.html

"Last week, authorities closed down the Hamburg mosque where three 9/11 hijackers once prayed. Despite
intense surveillance, it was still considered to be an epicenter of extremism. Now the Islamists who gathered
there are looking for a new home.
You couldn't exactly say that they were impolite. They solemnly handed new visitors a Koran in German
translation. They smiled. They didn't even mind being called Islamists. One of them took a dictionary down
from the shelf and pointed with his finger at the definition of "Islamist": Someone who studies Islam as a
scholar. Which, of course, is not inaccurate.
They studied the Koran attentively and thoroughly at the Taiba mosque in Hamburg, just a few hundred
meters from the city's main train station. Police shut down the mosque last week. The Hamburg official in
charge of interior affairs said it had become a center of radicalization and a meeting point for jihadists. The
main door is now sealed shut.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Hamburg mosque became known worldwide as the Al-Quds
Mosque. Three of the 9/11 hijackers had frequently attended prayers there: Mohammed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and
Marwan al-Shehhi. The building on Steindamm Street remained under surveillance for the next nine years. It
was probably the most closely observed building in the city."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,711977,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Quds_Mosque
"Al-Quds Masjid Hamburg or Masjid Taiba is a Masjid in Hamburg, Germany where some of the September
11 attackers such as Mohamed Atta, met. The mosque opened in 1993. It occupies a three-story building near
the Hauptbahnhof rail station in a red-light district of Hamburg.
Under leadership of Iman Mohammed al Fizazi, the mosque preached a radical version of Islam. Other leaders
at the mosque have included Sheik Azid al Kirani.
The prayer room for men is carpeted, located on the first floor, and can accommodate up to 400. It is one of
the Masjids with a radical interpretation of Islam and its practice, namely the way of the Salaf As-Salih.
The mosque was shut down by German security officials in August 2010 amid suspicion that the mosque was
again being used as a meeting place for Islamic extremists."

by jaskaw @ 16.08.2010 - 18:33:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/16/der-spiegel-allah-s-elite-why-the-9-11-mosque-was-closed-9191115/
Feedback for Post "Der Spiegel: 'Allah's Elite: Why the 9/11
Mosque Was Closed'"

atheistbruce [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 19:21

Why now; 9 years too late?

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 21:51

Meanwhile, Muslims are being allowed to build a Mosque at Ground Zero, with love from the Mayor and the
Prez!

Will [Visitor]

17.08.2010 @ 19:08
Do not judge All Muslims because a few of them have a radical interpretation and practice of Islam. Im sure
there radical Jews and christians too. Have you heard of the Spanish Inquisition? and there still Churches
around.

atheistbruce [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 18:18

Indeed Will, most Muslims are nice, normal people, like most Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. But only Islam
has this fixation on martyrdom.

FreeMind [Visitor]

19.08.2010 @ 15:51
Atheistbruce~ I'm afraid I'd have to disagree strongly to what you stated... The problem is actually with
Muslims NOT Islam... If you'd really like to know Islam, you shouldn't be asking the common muslims you
see because they can't give you the most accurate answers when it comes to complicated matters such as
martyrdom because it simply is not necessary to know of as a simple commoner living a simple life... It's a
more scholarly manner of concern... As for extremism, as mentioned above, only a minority practice that and
they should NOT be taken as representatives as Islam because they simply interpret religion as they wish to
satisfy personal matters... It's a political system rather than anything else (Muslim Extremist Organisations
that is)... In addition, every other religion has got its extremists... A more shallow one would be the church in
the US conducting a "Burn a Quran day"... Which religion promotes destructing another religion or offending
someone??

Overall, the problem is NOT in Islam... The problem is the people... Those who interpret it to their liking...

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
19.08.2010 @ 16:33
Islam is a major part of the problem, as Islam simply is the most reactionary and old-fashuioned of the modern
world-religions.
The more strictly you follow the commands of Islam the more easily you have mental trouble living in a
modern, open western society.
The very basic problem is that Islam has not had a Reformation that has made it compatible with a modern,
open society and as long as this is the case, there will be trouble.
The best thing in this situation would of course be that Islamic people would just forget the most repressive
and ill-conceived parts of their religion as so many Christian have also done with their own religion in the
past.
In fact many Muslims have also done this with great success in the past, when they have got used into living
in a society that is not based on commands of limiting and repressive Islam.
Iranian opposition in Germany staging hunger
strike to stop executions in Iran
Read more at: http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/1174905?tr=y&auid=6826383

"BERLIN - Iranian opposition members in Germany are staging a two-day hunger strike to demand a stop
executions and an international investigation of prisons in their home country.
A group of 20 on Friday chanted slogans such as "Stop stonings" and "Free political prisoners" on Berlin's
most prominent public spot at the Brandenburg Gate, two days after the purported TV confession of an Iranian
woman facing death by stoning on adultery charges.
The group's spokesman Javad Dabiran says executions of seven opposition politicians in Iran are imminent
and must be stopped.
He urges the West to impose further sanctions to pressure Tehran into freeing political prisoners. He applauds
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's call on Iran to release all political prisoners."

Read more at: http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/1174905?tr=y&auid=6826383

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Iran
"Crimes that are punishable by execution in Iran include: murder, rape, kidnapping, pedophilia, armed
robbery, espionage, drug trafficking and terrorism. Iran has garnered much media attention and criticism due
to claims of stoning and executions carried out on minors, despite having signed the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, which forbids executing child offenders for crimes committed under the age of 18."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/14/iran-must-stop-executing-people?tr=y&auid=6826381
"Some 11 people in Iran currently facing the horror of being stoned to death could now face hanging. Indeed,
at least 388 people were killed this way last year in Iran, meaning the country is second only to China in its
massive use of capital punishment."

by jaskaw @ 16.08.2010 - 21:56:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/16/iranian-opposition-in-germany-staging-hunger-strike-to-stop-executions-in-iran-
Feedback for Post "Iranian opposition in Germany staging
hunger strike to stop executions in Iran"

FedupwithR [Member]
16.08.2010 @ 22:26

Having signed the petition against stoning, I am glad to read of this demonstration, there should be others.
'Fused' People Eager to Die and Kill for Their
Group, Research Shows
Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100812111059.htm

"ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2010) ō People with extremely strong ties to their countries or groups are not only
willing, but eager, to sacrifice themselves to save their compatriots, according to new psychology research
from The University of Texas at Austin.
In a study to appear in Psychological Science, Bill Swann, professor of psychology, and a team of researchers
found the majority of "fused" people, those who view themselves as completely immersed in a group (be it
ethnic, national or other), are willing to commit extreme acts for the good of their compatriots.
"Fused group members believe that through suicide, their lives will achieve tremendous significance," Swann
said. "Their strong sense of moral agency drives them to see not only that justice is done, but to also take an
active role in its implementation."
The psychology researchers who co-authored the study included Sonia Hart of The University of Texas at
Austin, Angel Gomez of Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia in Spain, John F. Dovidio of Yale
University and Jolanda Jetten of the University of Queensland."

Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100812111059.htm

Similar ideas have been presented before for example by Eric Hoffer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer
"The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements is a 1951 social psychology book by Eric
Hoffer which discusses the psychological causes of fanaticism.
The book evaluates and sometimes disparages communists, fascists, nationalists, and early Christians. Part of
Hoffer's thesis is that movements are interchangeable and that fanatics will often flip from one movement to
another. Furthermore, Hoffer argues the motivations for mass movements are interchangeable: religious,
nationalist and class-based movements tend to behave in the same way and use the same tactics, even when
their stated goals or values are diametrically opposed."

by jaskaw @ 17.08.2010 - 09:33:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/17/fused-people-eager-to-die-and-kill-for-their-group-research-shows-9194452/
Feedback for Post "'Fused' People Eager to Die and Kill for
Their Group, Research Shows"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

17.08.2010 @ 22:58
Kind of scary when you think about it.

FedupwithR [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 08:43

Honestly, I don't see anything new about this. How do you think we get men to go to war?

atheistbruce [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 18:14

Indeed FedupwithR, we get our young men to go to war for patriotic reasons; with others it is for evil goals.
The New York Times: 'In Bold Display, Taliban
Order Stoning Deaths'
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17stoning.html?_r=1&ref=world

"KABUL, Afghanistan ō The Taliban on Sunday ordered their first public executions by stoning since their
fall from power nine years ago, killing a young couple who had eloped, according to Afghan officials and a
witness.
The punishment was carried out by hundreds of the victimsˈ neighbors in a village in northern Kunduz
Province, according to Nadir Khan, 40, a local farmer and Taliban sympathizer, who was interviewed by
telephone. Even family members were involved, both in the stoning and in tricking the couple into returning
after they had fled.
Mr. Khan said that as a Taliban mullah prepared to read the judgment of a religious court, the lovers, a
25-year-old man named Khayyam and a 19-year-old woman named Siddiqa, defiantly confessed in public to
their relationship. ːThey said, ’We love each other no matter what happens,ˈ ə Mr. Khan said."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17stoning.html?_r=1&ref=world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
"According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian
casualties "sharply escalated in 2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed
attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants."
By 2008 the Taliban had increased its use of suicide bombers and targeted unarmed civilian aid workers such
as Gayle Williams.The United Nations reports that the number of civilians killed by both the Taliban and
pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50% between 2007 and 2009.
In the first six months of 2009 the Taliban killed 595 civilians, and NATO and Afghan government forces
killed 309. In the first half of 2008, the Taliban killed 495 civilians and the allies 276. The high number of
civilians killed by the Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of improvised explosive devices
(IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted in girls' schools" by the Taliban."

by jaskaw @ 17.08.2010 - 21:47:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/17/the-new-york-times-in-bold-display-taliban-order-stoning-deaths-9198224/
Feedback for Post "The New York Times: 'In Bold Display,
Taliban Order Stoning Deaths'"

FedupwithR [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 09:04

Karzai is deeply saddened! It saddens me that he is still in power. Two people who love each other are
considered criminals and the people who murder them are the innocent victims of their "crime"! Historically,
thousands of lovers have died for this "crime" over the centuries. Their deaths are a testimony to human
stupidity and cruelty.

atheistbruce [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 18:10

Islam is a wonderful thing: consistently cruel & barbaric.

Mormons are Normal and Mainstream (video)

"Flat Lander helps explain that Mormons are Normal and Mainstream. In an effort to help COJCOLDS with
its new "I'm a Mormon" and other PR and advertising campaigns."

http://www.youtube.com/user/moronchurch
"Following the False Traditions of Our Fathers and Seeking all Lightmindedness."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism

by jaskaw @ 17.08.2010 - 22:59:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/17/mormons-are-normal-and-mainstream-video-9198607/
Feedback for Post "Mormons are Normal and Mainstream
(video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 18:07

Morons & Mormons are indeed normal and mainstream theists.

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

18.08.2010 @ 22:38
Absolutely. These days, if you're not wearing magic underwear, engaging in symbolic acts of cannibalism,
speaking in tongues, playing with snakes, subjugating your women (or being subjugated by your men), and
refusing to be swayed by irrefutable evidence for the age of our planet (and/or universe) and evolution of all
life existing upon it, you're just not doing it right, and are, by default, not a normal, mainstream theist.

Flat Lander [Visitor]

http://www.moronchurch.org
19.08.2010 @ 02:44
Thank you for watching and commenting on my video. I hope you'll share it with as many of your friends
(both theists and non-theists) as you can. I think the message is fundamental and truly makes the case for what
is "normal."

Again, thanks for watching.

Flat Lander
Italy: Mafia thanks God for new boss
Read more at: http://www.globalpost.com/print/5576259

"The July 13 raid was hailed as a milestone by the Italian government and prosecutors. But it has proved more
than a little embarrassing for Monsignor Giuseppe Morosini, bishop of the Locri diocese in Calabria: The
setting chosen by the mobsters for their meeting was the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi, a revered Marian
shrine perched high in the impassable Aspromonte mountains.
In fact, it showed that notwithstanding vocal condemnations in recent years by church authorities, Italy's
organized crime still has close ties to Catholic rites and traditions.
This, said sociologist Alessandra Dino, who has written a book on the links between the church and the Mafia,
is no surprise. The connection stretches back to the very origins of organized crime.
"Mobsters don't just 'use' religion, in order to increase consensus and complicity for their actions," said Dino,
who bases her work on extensive interviews with former mafiosi and on their depositions at trials. By
"adopting pseudo-religious rituals or sitting in the first rows of pews at masses and processions,ə mobsters,
"set themselves as models" for other people.
More importantly, she said, in doing so they ːcreate a mechanism to grant themselves impunity from guiltə
for their crimes. Mobsters, said Dino, believe to be ːmoved by higher motives. They say to themselves: 'We
did what we did because we were acting in the name of God's justice, which is higher than the state's.'"
The perception is false, said Morosini, who reacted swiftly after the release of the footage, penning an open
letter to the 'Ndrangheta mobsters.
"We had always thought that these meetings at holy shrines were folklore, but now we have had to re-think,"
he wrote, adding that the church ːfeels deeply sorryə for the mobsters for having transformed Polsi "from a
place of faith into a place of lawlessness."

Read more at: http://www.globalpost.com/print/5576259

http://www.alessandradino.it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Ndrangheta

by jaskaw @ 18.08.2010 - 15:49:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/18/italy-mafia-thanks-god-for-new-boss-9201791/
Feedback for Post "Italy: Mafia thanks God for new boss"

atheistbruce [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 17:59

Morally, I see no difference between the Mafia & the Catholic Church. They feed & support each other.

FedupwithR [Member]
18.08.2010 @ 20:14

I recommend "Money, Murder and the Mafia, The Vatican Exposed" by Paul L, Williams based on his years
as consultant for the F.B.I. It makes a fascinating read. The Russian Orthodox Church has also welcomed the
Russian Mafia with open arms as they contribute generously, buying themselves huge ostentatious burial
grounds. They are all true believers.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
18.08.2010 @ 20:22
Thanks, for the link FedupwithR, I just added the book you suggest as the recommended reading in the piece!

| Show subcomments
FedupwithR [Member]
19.08.2010 @ 10:48

Delighted, jaskaw. I have recommended it on several sites because it contains info that I think every one
should know (including Catholics) about the RCC.

jpfib [Member]
19.08.2010 @ 17:55

all organized religions created to enslave and exploit the poor human beings and make them lick their feet by
the leaders. they perpetrate hatred among fellow men and terrorize them with hell fire and damnation. they are
the real terrorists who wants to treat their fellow brothers as dogs and enjoy all vices and do all crimes with
impunity.they have nothing to do with goodness,justice and truth.they killed,burned,raped and sexually
abused children and still preach they hold the keys of the kingdom. they are the most dangerous lot in the
society.keep away from them as they are rotten and stinking filth of the society.
Disneyland employee files complaint over no-hijab
rule
Read more at: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/dishney/disneyland-prohibits-muslim-wo/

"Imane Boudlal, who works at the Storytellers Restaurant within the Grand Californian Hotel and is a UNITE
HERE member, will hold a press conference today to announce she's filing a discrimination complaint against
Disneyland with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
---
The press release by UNITE HERE says the immigrant "decided to challenge the law after winning United
States citizenship in June and learning her constitutional right to freedom of religion."
"The Constitution tells me I can be Muslim, and I can wear the head scarf," Boudlal is quoted. "Who is
Disney to tell me I cannot?"

Read more at: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/dishney/disneyland-prohibits-muslim-wo/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab

by jaskaw @ 19.08.2010 - 14:40:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/19/disneyland-employee-files-complaint-over-no-hijab-rule-9207564/
Feedback for Post "Disneyland employee files complaint
over no-hijab rule"

atheistbruce [Member]
19.08.2010 @ 17:39

Great, it is good to see this problem has got to the US.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

20.08.2010 @ 00:26
It is a small world after all.
CNN: Federal appeals court says highways'
crosses are unconstitutional
Read more at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/08/18/utah.highway.crosses/#fbid=A-cyYRkJWmV&wom=false

"Washington (CNN) -- Memorial crosses erected along Utah public roads to honor fallen state highway
troopers have been found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the 14 large crosses
would be viewed by most passing motorists as "government's endorsement of Christianity."
"We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the
message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion," concluded the Denver, Colorado-based
court. The state of Utah and a private trooper association have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme
Court."

Read more at:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/08/18/utah.highway.crosses/#fbid=A-cyYRkJWmV&wom=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross

by jaskaw @ 19.08.2010 - 23:12:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/19/cnn-federal-appeals-court-says-highways-crosses-are-unconstitutional-9210340/
Israeli police detain settler rabbi who wrote book
permitting killing of non-Jews
Read more at:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/19/israeli-police-detain-settler-rabbi-wrote-book-permitting-killing-non-jews/

"JERUSALEM (AP) ō Police say they have detained a West Bank settler rabbi over a contentious religious
book that discusses when it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews.
Rabbi Yosef Elitzur-Hershkowitz, who co-authored "Teachings of the king" in 2009, was questioned on
suspicion of incitement to racism, among other charges, police said in a statement Thursday.
In the 230-page book, authors conclude that the biblical commandment "thou shalt not kill" applies only to a
Jew who might kill a Jew, but babies and children of Israel's enemies are acceptable targets, and an individual
can carry out an attack alone."

Read more at:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/19/israeli-police-detain-settler-rabbi-wrote-book-permitting-killing-non-jews/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_bible

by jaskaw @ 20.08.2010 - 00:07:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/19/israeli-police-detain-settler-rabbi-who-wrote-book-permitting-killing-of-non-jew
Islamic nations snub UN plea to help flood victims
Read more at:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/islamic-nations-snub-un-plea-to-help-flood-victims/story-e6frg6so-12259

"ISLAMIC nations are shunning a United Nations appeal for the worsening Pakistan floods, amid tensions
with President Zardari.
Western countries have rallied to Pakistan's aid, with the US and Britain the leading donors in the drive to
raise $US460 million in the first 90 days. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, is expected to attend a
special meeting of the UN General Assembly on Thursday to show solidarity with Pakistan, diplomats said.
Not a single Islamic nation appeared yesterday on the UN's latest list of donors, despite efforts to reach out to
them.
The US had pledged $US62million, followed by Britain with $US26 million, bringing current commitments
to $US204million - less than half of the UN's goal.
Japan came third with $US13 million, followed by lesser pledges from 18 other countries. The World Bank
promised a $US900 million loan."

Read more at:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/islamic-nations-snub-un-plea-to-help-flood-victims/story-e6frg6so-12259

by jaskaw @ 20.08.2010 - 16:20:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/20/islamic-nations-snub-un-plea-to-help-flood-victims-9213779/
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'How to Win the Clash of
Civilizations'
Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338471355710184.html

By AYAAN HIRSI ALI

"What do the controversies around the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, the eviction of American
missionaries from Morocco earlier this year, the minaret ban in Switzerland last year, and the recent burka ban
in France have in common? All four are framed in the Western media as issues of religious tolerance. But that
is not their essence. Fundamentally, they are all symptoms of what the late Harvard political scientist Samuel
Huntington called the "Clash of Civilizations," particularly the clash between Islam and the West.
---
We need to recognize the extent to which the advance of radical Islam is the result of an active propaganda
campaign. According to a CIA report written in 2003, the Saudis invested at least $2 billion a year over a
30-year period to spread their brand of fundamentalist Islam. The Western response in promoting our own
civilization was negligible.
Our civilization is not indestructible: It needs to be actively defended. This was perhaps Huntington's most
important insight. The first step towards winning this clash of civilizations is to understand how the other side
is waging itōand to rid ourselves of the One World illusion."

Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338471355710184.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_hirsi_ali
"Ayaan Hirsi Ali (13 November 1969) is a Somali feminist activist, writer, and politician. She is the daughter
of the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. She is a prominent
critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led to death threats."

by jaskaw @ 20.08.2010 - 17:11:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/20/ayaan-hirsi-ali-how-to-win-the-clash-of-civilizations-9213981/
Feedback for Post "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: 'How to Win the Clash
of Civilizations'"

FedupwithR [Member]
20.08.2010 @ 21:44

Huntington seems to have had great foresight. I remember that both he and Fukuyama were vilified by the
French left wing press at the time.

atheistbruce [Member]
21.08.2010 @ 18:30

Ayaan does not tell us how to win it, but she clearly indicates that our first and foremost problem is to
acknowledge it.

Hendrik Berends [Visitor]

19.10.2010 @ 15:47
More power to you, Ayaan!
As a Dutchman having lived and worked internationally for some forty years as a medium-high level
executive, including in Africa and the Middle East, now living in rural S.W. Spain, I am still appalled at how
you were treated in Holland, by Dutch so-called "do-gooders", incapable of understanding what you were
fighting for. I apologize for all my fellow-countrymen not realizing your enormous worth and even leadership
in fighting for a better world.
As you know so very well, one cannot project one's thinking and own experience onto something that is
totally outside the boundaries of one's own experience and possible perception.
I applaud you for hitting the nail on the head, and keeping at it with such tremendous force.
I am overjoyed that you are winning now, creating more momentum by the minute! I salute you as my
Champion.
The Economist: Up to six months in jail wait those
who break Ramadan in Morocco
Read more at: http://www.economist.com/node/16793362?story_id=16793362

"THE law in several countries, mostly in the Persian Gulf but also in the Maghreb and parts of Indonesia,
provides for stiffer penalties for those who break fast in public, ranging from fines to flogging. Take article
222 of Moroccoˈs penal code, dating from the era of the French protectorate, which states that ːa person
commonly known to be Muslim who violates the fast in a public place during Ramadan, without having one
of the justifications allowed by Islam [such as travelling or sickness], shall be punished by one to six months
in prison,ə as well as a fine.
Last Ramadan, a small group of young Moroccans calling itself the Alternative Movement for Individual
Freedoms decided to hold a picnic near Casablanca, the countryˈs commercial capital, to protest against this
law. They argue that article 222 clashes with Moroccoˈs international obligations and its constitution, which
guarantee freedom of conscience. They were arrested before getting a chance to take a bite.
This picnic protest was treated as a national emergency. A council of Islamic scholars said it was an insult to
God. King Muhammad VIˈs political adviser persuaded all parties, including ones that routinely denounce
Islamists, to issue condemnations for the sake of national unity. The activists were held and interrogated for
several days, though ultimately not fined or taken to court. Police said they had to be protected from popular
anger. Some of the protestersˈ families and friends refused to speak to them for months."

Read more at: http://www.economist.com/node/16793362?story_id=16793362

by jaskaw @ 21.08.2010 - 17:28:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/21/the-economist-up-to-six-months-in-jail-wait-those-who-break-ramadan-in-moroc
Feedback for Post "The Economist: Up to six months in jail
wait those who break Ramadan in Morocco"

atheistbruce [Member]
21.08.2010 @ 18:32

I think all Muslims who violate ramadan should be fined & flogged & stoned to death.

FedupwithR [Member]
22.08.2010 @ 12:19

Going without food all day is no big deal if you stuff yourself in the evening. It's probably the healthiest way
to eat if you live in a beastly hot desert.

elainek [Visitor]

22.08.2010 @ 13:15
I never did fast, especially when I saw my closest family, including mine, eating bacon and eggs on the day of
fast.
Never did listen to the old testament
A classical moment from the "West Wing" (video)

From Season 2 - The Midterms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing
"The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast
from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006. The series is set in the West Wing of the White Houseōwhere the
Oval Office and offices of presidential senior staff are locatedōduring the fictional Democratic administration
of Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen).
The West Wing was produced by Warner Bros. Television. For the first four seasons, there were three
executive producers, Aaron Sorkin (lead writer of almost all those first four seasons), Thomas Schlamme and
John Wells. After Sorkin left the program, John Wells became the sole executive producer.
The show received positive reviews from critics, political science professors, and former White House
staffers. In total, The West Wing won three Golden Globe Awards and 27 Emmy Awards, including the award
for Outstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 through 2003."

by jaskaw @ 21.08.2010 - 17:47:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/21/a-classical-moment-from-the-west-wing-video-9219026/
Feedback for Post "A classical moment from the "West
Wing" (video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
21.08.2010 @ 18:33

Sorry jaskaw, but this is a bit old? The US has not had a president like that for centuries...

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
21.08.2010 @ 18:51
The clip is is here because the creative use of Bible quotations to support ones bigotry has gone nowhere and
can still be countered just as "The President" does in the film by similar quotations.
The Cult of Christ (video)

The maker of this video "DiscoveringReligion" says:

"Opening Statement:
The following program contains a parody instructional video on "How to be a cult leader" interlaced with real
footage of Christians engaging in behavior identical to brainwashed cult members.
Although the vast majority of Christians do not engage in the extreme behavior depicted in this video, the
kinds of abuse propagated in the name of Christianity must be brought to the attention of moderate Christians
everywhere.
Closing statement:
Although not every Church or Christian engages in the actions depicted in this video, these images serve as a
powerful reminder of religion's great potential for abuse and how, at their core, most religions are
superstitious-filled, man-made tools designed for power and control.
Religion has a much darker side than the faithful would like to admit. By propagating superstitious beliefs,
fear and intolerance are allowed to grow among the ignorant, the suffering and the impoverished. People of all
religions must be made aware of what they are participating in and what effect it has on the world around
them.

"It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

- Carl Sagan"

http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveringReligion

"Science is the language of the Universe."

Welcome to "Discovering Religion" -- an original series on the discrepancies between a literalistic belief in
religious mythologies and the cold, hard facts of evolution and 21st Century scientific discoveries of the Earth
and Universe.
I have been asked on multiple occasions to clarify the nature of my beliefs, as the title of my series is a little
ambiguous. Neither I nor anyone else can say with 100% certainty whether "God(s)" does or does not exist.
Therefore, the aim of this series is to examine what religious philosophies tell us about where we are from and
where we are going, then compare and contrast these views against the indisputable facts discovered about the
Earth and Universe through rigorous scientific investigation. From my own investigation of these facts I've
determined the Bible inaccurately describes the known Universe and therefore is not something in which I can
place my belief."

by jaskaw @ 21.08.2010 - 21:44:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/21/the-cult-of-christ-video-9219947/
Feedback for Post "The Cult of Christ (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
22.08.2010 @ 12:45

The delusional adults are sad enough but all those children! Has the man who admitted having murdered over
a hundred children, been brought to justice?
Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most amused'

Rowan Atkinson tells the Gospel of John in 'We are most amused', broadcast on ITV on November 15th
marking Prince Charles's 60th birthday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson
"Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is most
famous for his work in the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms
Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Thin Blue Line. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest
acts in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians."

by jaskaw @ 22.08.2010 - 17:56:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/22/rowan-atkinson-in-we-are-most-amused-9223459/
Feedback for Post "Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most
amused'"

atheistbruce [Member]
22.08.2010 @ 18:17

An excellent example of the godless British.

FedupwithR [Member]
22.08.2010 @ 20:39

All the best British comedians are doGless so it seems. That must be the 3rd time I've watched that sketch and
i found it just as hilarious!
Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia urged not to
deliberately paralyse man as retribution
punishment
Read more at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE012902010&lang=e&rss=recentnews

"Amnesty International has urged the Saudi Arabian authorities not to deliberately paralyse a man in
retribution for similar injuries he allegedly caused during a fight.
Reports say a court in Tabuk, in the north-west of the country, had approached a number of hospitals about
the possibility of cutting the manˈs spinal cord to carry out the punishment of qisas (retribution), as requested
by the injured victim.
ːWe urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less
than torture. While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralysing a man in this
way would constitute torture, and be a breach of its international human rights obligations,ə said Hassiba
Hadj Sahraoui, acting director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
According to one report, one hospital said it would be possible to medically administer the injury at the same
place on the spinal cord as the damage the man is alleged to have caused his victim using a cleaver, during a
fight more than two years ago, causing similar paralysis."

Read more at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE012902010&lang=e&rss=recentnews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International
"Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is an international non-governmental
organisation. Its stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of
human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."
Founded in London in 1961, AI draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with
international laws and standards. It works to mobilise public opinion to exert pressure on governments that
perpetrate abuses.The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its "campaign against
torture", and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.
In the field of international human rights organisations (of which there were 300 in 1996),Amnesty has the
longest history and broadest name recognition, and "is believed by many to set standards for the movement as
a whole."

by jaskaw @ 22.08.2010 - 23:34:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/22/amnesty-international-saudi-arabia-urged-not-to-deliberately-paralyse-man-as-re
Feedback for Post "Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia
urged not to deliberately paralyse man as retribution
punishment"

atheistbruce [Member]
23.08.2010 @ 17:29

An eye for an eye: that was the original Abrahamic punishment?

A new initiative to try to save Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani launched in France
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/letter_to_sakineh_b_690601.html

By Bernard-Henri Lévy
French philosopher and writer
Posted: August 22, 2010 08:19 PM

"A new initiative to try to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has just been launched in France. Inspired by
last week's petition, signed here by Mia Farrow, Jody Williams, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the author of these lines, and
a few others, this new initiative is a joint initiative of a major women's magazine that is well known in the
United States (Elle), a daily newspaper of the left (Libération), and a literary review (La Règle du Jeu). What
does it consist of? In substance, it amounts to a daily letter to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Starting today
and every day, an artist, an intellectual, a political leader or simply an internet regular will send an open and
public message of solidarity with the young Iranian presently living on death row at Tabriz prison, waiting for
the sentence of stoning to death to be carried out."

Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/letter_to_sakineh_b_690601.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakineh_Mohammadi_Ashtiani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Iran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard-Henri_L%C3%A9vy

by jaskaw @ 23.08.2010 - 16:34:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/23/a-new-initiative-to-try-to-save-sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-launched-in-france
Humanist marriages up by 64 per cent in Scotland
Read more at: http://www.humanism-scotland.org.uk/

"Weddings up 64 %" is probably the most unlikely headline of the year, but add one word and it's completely
true. That word is "humanist," writes Julian Baggini in The Herald.
Scotland is one of only six countries in the world where Humanist marriage ceremonies are legally conducted.
The others are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and certain states of the USA. They are of course
recognised as legal in all countries in the world in the same way as other weddings are. Humanist weddings
have the same legal status as civil and religious weddings as long as they are conducted by an HSS Celebrant,
who has been authorised by the Registrar General of Scotland, and can take place anywhere 'safe and
dignified'.
Couples are effectively free to marry wherever they choose and HSS wedding ceremonies have taken place on
beaches and mountains, in keeps and castles, grand hotels and the gardens of people's own homes."

Read more at: http://www.humanism-scotland.org.uk/

by jaskaw @ 23.08.2010 - 17:29:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/23/humanist-marriages-up-by-64-per-cent-in-scotland-9228599/
Feedback for Post "Humanist marriages up by 64 per cent
in Scotland"

atheistbruce [Member]
23.08.2010 @ 17:42

And does the sexes of the partners play any role?

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
23.08.2010 @ 18:05
"Same sex couples often choose to celebrate their commitment by having a Humanist Partnership ceremony,
though these are not yet legally recognised."
So says HSS in its webpage.

atheistbruce [Member]
24.08.2010 @ 18:33

Interesting. In NL only secular civil marriages performed by a qualified civil servant are valid & there are no
gender constraints. You can do any kind of ceremony you want at any time in a church or mosque or a brothel
or whatever, but it has no legal significance whatsoever.

FedupwithR [Member]
25.08.2010 @ 15:06

Thumbs up Scotland!
Canadian non-believer seeks Church escape
clause
Read more at: http://www.nationalpost.com/believer+seeks+Church+escape+clause/3427143/story.html

"Karolina Sygula has one deep religious desire--to no longer be considered a Roman Catholic. But she may be
on an unattainable quest. As harrowing as Paul's road to Damascus was, apparently the road back turns out to
be more difficult and more bureaucratic.
Ms. Sygula, who was born and baptized in Krakow, Poland, and raised in Toronto, insists she is not angry at
the Church but she has certainly grown frustrated in her quest to be separated.
---
"They gave me a questionnaire to fill out and in it I actually wrote, 'I'm an atheist and my parents are making
me do this.' They went ahead and did it anyway. Surely there must be some technicality that undoes the
sacrament of confirmation when you say you don't believe in God."

She wrote to the Archdiocese of Toronto several months ago and was told if she wanted to renounce her faith
she would have to send a request in writing to the parish where she was baptized. A spokesman for the
Diocese said requests like this are extremely rare, maybe two a year.
She did as she was advised but heard nothing back. She wrote to the Archdiocese of Krakow and still
nothing."

Read more at: http://www.nationalpost.com/believer+seeks+Church+escape+clause/3427143/story.html

by jaskaw @ 24.08.2010 - 19:04:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/24/canadian-non-believer-seeks-church-escape-clause-9239048/
Feedback for Post "Canadian non-believer seeks Church
escape clause"

atheistbruce [Member]
24.08.2010 @ 19:35

This I find incomprehensible. Who gives a 4-letter word what the church thinks? Is this woman afraid that she
will burn in hell through eternity for not being correctly registered as an atheist? More likely, she is being paid
by a journalist to fabricate this nonsense.

Mike The Dude [Visitor]

24.08.2010 @ 19:49
You realize that churches use non-attending members to inflate numbers and, in certain countries, to get more
income? Not to mention the fact that some people dislike being publicly associated with groups they morally
oppose. It's well within her rights to demand having her name removed from their roster. It's no different than
if it were the KKK or any other group that she might despise.

jpfib [Member]
25.08.2010 @ 15:23

catholic church is a collection of cheats,murders,liars,rapists,molesters, terrorists and poor mental slaves.they

terrorize their fellowmen with,sin,hell and damnation.those who get away from these rotten whitewashed
tombs will be saved here and after.
"Faith Fighter - ultimate fighting game. Know
whose deity is best."

The homepage of the game is at: http://www.funny-games.biz/faith-fighter.html

"Your objective in this awesome online fighting game is to choose your belief and kick the shit out of your
enemies. Give vent to your intolerance. Religious hate has never been so much fun. Use the ARROW KEYS
to move your fighter and the SPACEBAR to attack (use these keys to navigate the menu too). You can
configure the keyboard in the options. You can choose between 6 characters: God (from the old testament),
Jesus, Buddha, Budai (a.k.a. the laughing Buddha representing the chinese folk religion), Ganesha,
Muhammed plus a secret final boss. Have fun!"

The homepage of the game is at: http://www.funny-games.biz/faith-fighter.html

by jaskaw @ 24.08.2010 - 19:41:14

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/24/faith-fighter-ultimate-fighting-game-know-whose-deity-is-best-9239462/
Sam Harris: Why true moderate Muslims do remain
so silent?
Read more at:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2010/08/silence_is_not_moderation.html

"In a recent Wall Street Journal article, terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said that anti-Muslim rhetoric in
America is bad news for anti-terrorism efforts: "We are handing al Qaeda a propaganda coup, an absolute
propaganda coup."
By many accounts, the man who could blunt the power of that coup is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious
leader behind the planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero. The imam has been surprisingly mum on the
issue while he travels in the Middle East. What message of faith could he offer to Muslims and non-Muslims
alike that could turn this moment of division into a time of healing?
As many have pointed out, the controversy over the "ground zero mosque" is a false one. The project is legal
to build, and it should remain legal. That does not mean, however, that any concern about building a mosque
so close to ground zero is synonymous with bigotry. The true scandal here is that Muslim moderates have
been so abysmally lacking in candor about the nature of their faith and so slow to disavow its genuine (and
growing) pathologies--leading perfectly sane and tolerant people to worry whether Muslim moderation even
exists."

Read more at:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/sam_harris/2010/08/silence_is_not_moderation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29
"Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D.
in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has studied both
Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years.
He is a proponent of scientific scepticism[citation needed] and is the author of The End of Faith (2004), which
won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his
first book, and The Moral Landscape (2010).

by jaskaw @ 24.08.2010 - 23:50:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/24/sam-harris-why-true-moderate-muslims-do-remain-so-silent-9241724/
Feedback for Post "Sam Harris: Why true moderate
Muslims do remain so silent?"

atheistbruce [Member]
25.08.2010 @ 17:48

A very good man, Sam Harris. I agree that Al-Qaeda is the only winner in this mud-slinging match.
Quran-burning church vows to proceed
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/quranburning-church-vows-_n_688217.html

"By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service
(RNS) Fire officials in Gainesville, Fla., have denied a permit to a church that wants to burn Qurans on Sept.
11, but church officials said they'll go ahead with the protest that has garnered worldwide attention.
Leaders of the Dove World Outreach Center say "Islam is of the Devil" and plan to burn copies of the Islamic
holy book on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
---
The church's website includes a list of 10 reasons to burn the Quran, including "Islamic Law is totalitarian in
nature," Islamic teaching contains "irrational fear and loathing of the West" and that the Quran teaches that
Jesus "was NOT the Son of God."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/quranburning-church-vows-_n_688217.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an
"The Qurˈan (pronounced [qurˈ&#660;aːn]; Arabic: ‫&رقلا‬#1570;‫ن‬‎ al-qurˈān, literally ːthe recitationə)
is the central religious verbal text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Qurˈān, Coran or
Al-Qurˈān. Muslims believe the Qurˈan to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind.
Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center
"Dove World Outreach Center is a non-denominational charismatic Christian church located in Gainesville,
Florida, which, under its leader Rev. Terry and Sylvia Jones, gained notoriety in the late 2000s for its displays
of anti-Islam and anti-LGBT messages.
It was founded in 1986 by Donald O. Northrup and Richard H. Wright, and became known for participating in
charitable endeavors.
It also formerly owned a subsidiary church in Waldo, Florida in the 1980s (led by Donald J. Wright) and a
sister church in Cologne, Germany, Christliche Gemeinde Koln, which had been founded and led by Jones, a
Missouri native, from 1981-2008 (initially as a branch of Maranatha Ministries), after which the church
continued under newer, independent leadership. It is currently the largest non-Catholic church in the
Cologne/Bonn metropolitan area.
The church also maintains a Dove World Outreach Academy in Gainesville, in which students are prohibited
from outside contact and work without compensation in selling, packing and shipping of furniture for TS and
Company."

by jaskaw @ 25.08.2010 - 09:42:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/25/quran-burning-church-vows-to-proceed-9243975/
Feedback for Post "Quran-burning church vows to proceed
"

atheistbruce [Member]
25.08.2010 @ 17:45

Despite my aversion to book burning in principle, I do hope this goes ahead, just to be able to witness what
happens. Threats have been made, so will they follow the example of Comedy Central & capitulate?

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

26.08.2010 @ 02:53
The problem I have with this is the obvious hypocrisy. How is it ok to burn one holy book filled with
patriarchal, misogynistic totalitarianism, intolerance and outright hatred, justified murder, etc...supposedly
written by the one true god and unquestionably infallible, all the while holding onto another holy book filled
with patriarchal, misogynistic totalitarianism, intolerance...? You get the idea.

Penny C [Visitor]

01.09.2010 @ 10:42
How many books did Jesus burn? It is just amazing how any religious leader could read the Bible and not
want to burn that too! Both books are full of revenge, self-serving bigotry. Just the "pot calling the kettle
black" sort of scenario. You get that a lot from areas with a lot of illiterate or poorly educated people it seems.
Obama should be sending out Govt. Officials right away to investigate what is really going on in the schools
down there. This many people accepting what this crazy pastor is planning is a sure sign that the teaching staff
down there are not qualified to be Teachers. A problem that demands immediate attention. We are not going
to resolve this terrible problem that we have with Americans not obtaining a decent education until we address
these trouble spots and fix the problem.

Part of it is poverty but the other part has to be inadequate teaching methods. I know that poor kids can learn
from a highly skilled teacher with a lot of compassion and understanding.

lola [Visitor]

09.09.2010 @ 02:21
THE MATHEMATICAL PROOF THAT THE BIBLE WAS CORRUPTED

Which son was Abraham ordered by God to sacrifice? Ishmael (the ancestor of the Arabs) as Muslims claim,
or Isaac as Jews and Christians pretend ? The contradiction found in the Bible might be the surprise of your
life.

(Genesis 21:8) “The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great
feast." (Genesis 21:14-15) Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave
them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and
wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the
bushes."

Isaac was about 2 years old when he was weaned. Ishmael was then 16 years, because Abraham was 86 years
old when Hagar bore Ishmael and was 100 years old when Isaac was born, according to (Genesis 16:16):
"And Abram was 86 years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram"; and (Genesis 21:5): "And Abraham was
100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him". The description of Ishmael whom Hagar put under one
of the bushes is the profile of a baby not of a 16 years old teenager.

So bad for the Jewish Rabbis who did corrupt the Bible to comfort their heinous claim that it’s only through
Isaac that Abraham’s offspring would be reckoned.

Jesus in the Qur’an : “Behold! the angels said "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him:
his name will be Christ (Maseeh) Jesus the son of Mary held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of
(the company of) those nearest to Allah. He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity and he shall
be (of the company) of the righteous." Qur'an 3:45-51

Jesus in the Jewish Talmud : " "Jesus is in hell and is being punished by being boiled in semen. Christians are
boiled in dung.” Talmud, Gittin 57a.

Turn to Islam.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
09.09.2010 @ 17:47
Dear lola, it is really astonishing that a quite sane person can still believe that this kind of things do have any
relevance of meaning in a modern world.
There are many kinds of stories in old books and they bother nobody, as old stories are just old stories if one
does not give them meanings that really do not have.
Iranian journalist may face the death penalty for
"enmity with God"
Read more at: http://freedomessenger.com/?p=10977

"Journalist and human rights defender Shiva Nazar Ahari appears to have been charged with moharebeh
(enmity with God), which can carry the death penalty. Her next hearing is scheduled for 4 September 2010.
She is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression
and association.
Shiva Nazar Ahari, who is a member of the Iranian organization, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters
(CHRR), has been detained since 20 December 2009. Apparently charged with of moharebeh, under Article
186 of the Iranian Penal Code, she has also been charged with ːassembly and collusion to commit a crimeə
(Article 610) and ːpropaganda against the Regimeə (Article 500). Amnesty International fears that such
vague charges do not amount to a recognizably criminal offence. She is being tried in Branch 26 of the
Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Judicial officials and pro-government news agencies have publicly accused
the CHRR and Shiva Nazar Ahari of contacting a banned group, the Peopleˈs Mojahedin Organization of Iran
(PMOI) , The CHRR and Shiva Nazar Ahari have strenuously denied these accusations. According to her
mother, in April 2010, Shiva Nazar Ahari was charged with ːcausing unease in the public mind through
writing on the CHRRˈs website and other sitesə and ːacting against national security by participating in
[anti-government] demonstrations on 4 November 2009 and 7 December 2009.ə. Shiva Nazar Ahari denied
attending the demonstrations, saying that she had been at work on those days."

Read more at: http://freedomessenger.com/?p=10977

http://www.amnesty.ie/how-you-can-help/shiva

by jaskaw @ 26.08.2010 - 00:04:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/25/iranian-journalist-may-face-the-death-penalty-for-enmity-with-god-9247970/
Feedback for Post "Iranian journalist may face the death
penalty for "enmity with God""

TonyCH [Visitor]
http://www.amnesty.ie/how-you-can-help/shiva
26.08.2010 @ 13:22
What an awful load of shit! "Enmity with god"?! So, you don't like my invisible friend, therefore I'm entitled
to slay you? Utter rubbish! If the invisible friend were so big & mighty, then why should that Invisible Friend
require defence from mere mortals? Looks like the Invisible Friend is actually a crock, does it not! But how
do we help this poor woman bearing the brunt of others' stupidity here?
http://www.amnesty.ie/how-you-can-help/shiva
First Muslim college starts in the United States
Read more at: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15847351?nclick_check=1

"BERKELEY -- The Quran is the primary textbook at this city's newest institution of higher learning.
Zaytuna College will open today to its first class of 15 students, who will strive to become the first graduates
of a Muslim four-year, liberal-arts college in the United States. The school, which hopes to enroll 2,000
students a decade from now, is seeking accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges,
the same organization that licenses schools such as UC Berkeley and Saint Mary's College.
The endeavor will be a challenge for Zaytuna's three founders, who started down this path with the 1996
opening of a Hayward institute to teach Islam. New nonprofit liberal-arts colleges are rare, and Zaytuna's
leaders will be counting on fellow Muslims to sustain the school.
----
But Zaytuna's founders, Sachedina said, will have to be careful how they approach potential Muslim donors.
Muslims will be very cautious about the school's curriculum, he said, particularly about the college's teaching
of Islam.
"Muslims worry about the eternal life," he said. "If I give money to a Muslim college and Islam is taught
badly, I will suffer because I have done something wrong. That is the fear that is in the minds of Muslims."

Read more at: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15847351?nclick_check=1

by jaskaw @ 26.08.2010 - 14:29:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/26/first-muslim-collage-starts-in-the-united-states-9250674/
"Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest has
begun!"
"Offensive Ideas" - Campaign for Free Expression

Video by Adam Isaak.

"Center for Inquiry's Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest has begun! The right to freely express
oneself is vital in a modern society; we would like you to tell the world why.
Participation is easy: create a short video public service announcement about the importance of free
expression, upload the video to YouTube, and tag the video with "Campaign for Free Expression Video
Contest". On International Blasphemy Rights Day, September 30th, 2010, we will announce the top three
winners, with a grand prize of $2000! See the full instructions and rules before creating your entry. Videos
must be submitted by September 20th.

Read more: Center for Inquiry: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/

Campaign for Free Expression: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/campaign_for_free_expression
Contest rules: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/campaign_for_free_expression/contest_rules

Blasphemy Day International in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blasphemyday?v=wall

by jaskaw @ 26.08.2010 - 22:11:42

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/26/campaign-for-free-expression-video-contest-has-begun-9254921/
Feedback for Post ""Campaign for Free Expression Video
Contest has begun!""

jpfib [Member]
27.08.2010 @ 12:46

everybody has the right to express oneself freely as everybody is equal.nobody has the right to inhibit
anybody else in the name of religion,cast, creed,country or politics.how many years we exist here? 60,70 or
maximum 120years. it is a very short period.so why can't we make our life happy by loving our fellow
brothers.if possible help the needy without expecting any thing in return.keep all organized religions away as
they are meant for the benefit of its organizers.they cheat,kill,burn, molest, rape,spread hatred and fear among
the masses.so they can achieve their own ulterior ends.
New book throws light on the birth of Abrahamic
religions
Read more at: http://ancientmeme.blogspot.com/

"If Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens are The Four Horsemen; then, Diana Agorio is The Whore of
Babylon.
---
Her goal with Sex Rites is to provide atheists with a sophisticated understanding of how the Abrahamic
religions developed. She hopes to dispel the atheist notion that the Bible is Bronze Age mythology. Actually,
it is Hellenistic Period mythology, which was significantly different from Bronze Age religious notions. The
Bible was not the product of ːthe peopleə of the Levant. It was produced by priests with particular political
and economic ambitions. Dianaˈs description of changes in the religious rituals and myths which led up to
Christianity is far more damning than the typical atheist critique. In paritcular, it describes the outrageous
suffering of children at the hands of ancient religious leaders. She also highlights positive aspects of ancient
cultures, which were the origins of Humanism and secular government. Readers, atheist and religious, will
feel better and more secure in their modern ethics, after exploring the world of their ancient ancestors with
Sex Rites.

Read more at: http://ancientmeme.blogspot.com/

by jaskaw @ 27.08.2010 - 14:37:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/27/new-book-throws-light-on-the-birth-of-abrahamic-religions-9261341/
'The Center for Inquiry Urges That Ground Zero Be
Kept Religion-Free'
Read more at:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/the_center_for_inquiry_urges_that_ground_zero_be_kept_religion-free/

---
"CFI fully supports the free exercise of religion; protecting the rights of believers and nonbelievers is central
to CFIˈs mission. Accordingly, CFI endorses President Obamaˈs recent statement reminding the country that
Muslim Americans enjoy the same rights as other Americans and should not be treated as second-class
citizens."
---
"CFI maintains that a mosque near Ground Zero, in and of itself, is no worse than a church, temple, or
synagogue. It is undeniable that the 9/11 terrorists were inspired by their understanding of Islam, and that
currently there are far more Islamic terrorists in the world than terrorists of other faiths, but the deeper threat
confronting humanity is not confined to Islam. To the contrary, it is presented by all religions.
Religious morality is based on faith and authority, with the authority often being a sacred text cobbled
together long ago that readily lends itself to contradictory interpretations. The Bible and the Koran have been
used to justify almost everything, from mass slaughter of those with other beliefs, to slavery, to oppression of
women and gays and lesbians, to the throttling of scientific researchōas evidenced by the recent halt to
stem-cell research. Faith will continue to harm and kill, whether it is in Oklahoma City or New York City,
until people stop basing their conduct on imaginary divine commands and accept their responsibility to reason
together. To honor those killed by faith fanatics, Ground Zero and its immediate vicinity should be kept free
of any newly constructed house of worship ō of any religion."

Read more at:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/the_center_for_inquiry_urges_that_ground_zero_be_kept_religion-free/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Inquiry
"The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a non-profit educational organization with headquarters in the United States
whose primary mission is to encourage evidence-based inquiry into paranormal and fringe science claims,
alternative medicine and mental health practices, religion, secular ethics, and society. CFI is dedicated to
promoting and defending science, reason, and free inquiry in all aspects of human interest.
The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by philosopher and author Paul Kurtz. It brought together two
organizations: the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the
Council for Secular Humanism[2] (CSH), both of which had previously operated in tandem but were now
formally affiliated under one umbrella."

by jaskaw @ 27.08.2010 - 19:39:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/27/the-center-for-inquiry-urges-that-ground-zero-be-kept-religion-free-9263674/
Feedback for Post "'The Center for Inquiry Urges That
Ground Zero Be Kept Religion-Free'"

FedupwithR [Member]
28.08.2010 @ 11:14

Couldn't agree more. However, as there is a Catholic church only one block from the center, Muslims will not
want to understand that their proposed Cultural Center/Mosque three blocks away is somehow different.
Western Wall Partition: Jewish Authorities To
Implement New One-Way Divider Between Men,
Women
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/western-wall-to-feature-n_n_696180.html?ref=fb&src=sp

By Michele Chabin
Religion News Service
"JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish authorities at the Western Wall hope to replace the existing opaque partition
that separates the men's and women's prayer areas with one that will enable female worshippers to see into the
men's section but not vice-versa.
The move follows years of complaints by female worshippers who have been unable to see into the men's
section, even during family bar mitzvahs. Currently, female relatives who want to see a bar mitzvah from the
women's section must stand on plastic chairs and peer over the top of the tall barrier, called a mechitza.
Mechitzas exist in all Orthodox synagogues because Jewish law prohibits men and women from praying
together. It also prohibits men from seeing women during prayer.
To help women feel more a part of the service, some synagogues have erected partitions made of one-way
mirrors."

Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/western-wall-to-feature-n_n_696180.html?ref=fb&src=sp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall
The Western Wall (Hebrew: &#1492;&#1499;&#1493;&#1514;&#1500;
&#1492;&#1502;&#1506;&#1512;&#1489;&#1497;‎, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi) , also the Wailing Wall
or the Kotel (lit. Wall; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kosel); (Arabic: ‫&اح‬#1574;&#1591; ‫قاربلا‬‎, translit.:
&#7716;ā'i&#7789; Al-Burāq) is a remnant of the wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple. One of the most
sacred sites in Judaism, it is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, at the foot of the Temple Mount.
According to Jewish Law, one is obligated to grieve and rend one's garment upon visiting the Western Wall
and seeing the desolate site of the Temple. 17th century rabbi Yoel Sirkis explicitly mentions the Kotel
HaMa'aravi when expounding how one could encounter the ruins of the Temple before the ruins of Jerusalem.
Currently some poskim are of the view that rending one's garments is not applicable since Jerusalem is under
Jewish sovereignty.
Others disagree, citing that the Temple Mount itself is controlled by the Muslim Waqf and the State of Israel
has no power to remove the mosques which sit upon it. Furthermore, the mosques' very existence on the site
of the Temple should increase one's feeling of distress. If one hasnˈt seen the Wall for over 30 days, in order
to avoid tearing one's shirt, the custom is to visit on the Sabbath, including Friday afternoons, or Saturday
evenings if dressed in Sabbath finery, or on festivals.
A person who has not seen the Wall within the last 30 days should recite:
"Our Holy Temple, which was our glory, in which our forefathers praised You, was burned and all of our
delights were destroyed".
The Bach cites Likutim which instructs that "when one sees the Gates of Mercy which are situated in the
Western Wall, which is the wall King David built, he should recite:
"Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are
among the nations: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord"

by jaskaw @ 28.08.2010 - 22:06:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/28/western-wall-partition-jewish-authorities-to-implement-new-one-way-divider-be
'Top Ten List of Christian Delusions'
Read more at: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/atheist-s-top-ten-list-of-christian-delusions

"There are so many delusions to mention that it's hard to choose just ten, and it's hard to rank them since
they're all equally delusions. But in keeping with David Letterman's series of top ten lists here they are for
you."

Spoler alert; here are the top three:

"3) That although there is no cogent theodicy that can explain why there is such ubiquitous and massive
human and animal suffering if a perfectly good omnipotent God exists, God is perfectly good and omnipotent
anyway.

2) Let me quote someone named SilverBullet who wrote: ː...the lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in
ways that are indistinguishable from his non-existence. It seems to me that there is nothing in the Christian
scriptures, no sentence, paragraph, or idea, that couldn't be anything more than the product of the humans
alive at the time that the apparently divinely inspired scriptures and ideas were "revealed".

1) That when it comes to verifiable matters of historical fact (like the Exodus, the extent of the reign of David,
Luke's reported world-wide census, etc) the Biblical stories are disconfirmed by evidence to the contrary as
fairy tales, but when it comes to supernatural claims of miracles that cannot be verified like a virgin birth and
resurrection from the grave, the Bible reports historical facts."

Read more at: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/atheist-s-top-ten-list-of-christian-delusions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity

by jaskaw @ 29.08.2010 - 10:01:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/29/top-ten-list-of-christian-delusions-9270399/
Feedback for Post "'Top Ten List of Christian Delusions'"

jpfib [Member]
29.08.2010 @ 11:50

all organized religions are built upon lies and falsehood by its organizers to make their fellow brothers their
slaves so that they can enjoy all vice by acquiring money and power.keep away from them.
Islam and slavery: 'As recently as the 1950s, the
Saudi Arabia's slave population was estimated at
450,000 '
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_slavery

"Historically, the major juristic schools of Islam traditionally accepted the institution of slavery. The Islamic
prophet Muhammad and many of his companions bought, sold, freed, and captured slaves.
In Islamic law the topic of slavery is covered at great length. The Qur'an (the holy book) and the hadith (the
sayings of Muhammad) see slavery as an exceptional condition that can be entered into under certain limited
circumstances.
---
The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa and East Africa. By the end of the 19th
century, such activity had reached a low ebb. In the early 20th century (post World War I) slavery was
gradually outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western nations such
as Britain and France. However, slavery claiming the sanction of Islam is documented presently in the African
republics of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Sudan."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade

"The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East
Africa and certain parts of Europe (such as Iberia and southern Italy) during their period of domination by
Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa. People traded
were not limited to a certain color, ethnicity, or religion and included Arabs and Berbers, especially in its
early days.
Later, during the 8th and 9th centuries of the Islamic Caliphate, most of the slaves were Slavic Eastern
Europeans (called Saqaliba), people from surrounding Mediterranean areas, Persians, Turks, peoples from the
Caucasus mountain regions (such as Georgia, Armenia and Circassia) and parts of Central Asia and
Scandinavia, Berbers from North Africa, and various other peoples of varied origins as well as those of
African origins.
Later, toward the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves increasingly came from East Africa, until slavery was
officially abolished by the end of the 19th century.
As recently as the 1950s, the Saudi Arabia's slave population was estimated at 450,000 ō approximately 20%
of the population. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 black Sudanese children and women had been taken
into slavery in Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Slavery in Mauritania was legally abolished by laws passed in 1905, 1961, and 1981.
It was finally criminalized in August 2007.It is estimated that up to 600,000 black Mauritanians, or 20% of the
Mauritaniaˈs population, are currently enslaved, many of them used as bonded labour.
---
The Arab slave trade in the Indian Ocean, Red, and Mediterranean Seas long pre-dated the arrival of any
significant number of Europeans on the African continent.
It still continues today in a smaller form in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, where women and children are
trafficked from the post-Soviet states, Eastern Europe, Far East, Africa, South Asia and other parts of the
Middle East, as well as to a much larger extent in the Arab states that border the Sahel belt in North Africa
(such as Mauretania and Sudan."

Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_slavery

by jaskaw @ 29.08.2010 - 22:55:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/29/islam-and-slavery-as-recently-as-the-1950s-the-saudi-arabia-s-slave-population-
For Christopher Hitchens
"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we
no longer exist." - Epicurus

TheThinkingAtheist says;
"As Christopher Hitchens undergoes treatment for esophageal cancer, our subscribers and fans take a moment
to express their love and support for the man who has given so much to the world. We're with you, Hitch."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens,_Christopher
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-born author and journalist. His books, essays,
and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual and a staple of
talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate,
World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, among others, and became a media fellow at the Hoover Institution
in September 2008.
Known for his admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, and for his excoriating
critiques of Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Henry Kissinger, among others, his confrontational
style of debate has made him both a lauded and controversial figure. As a political observer, polemicist and
self-defined radical, he rose to prominence as a fixture of the left-wing publications in his native England and
in the United States. His departure from the established political left began in 1989 after what he called the
"tepid reaction" of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwā calling for the murder of
Salman Rushdie.
The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy and his
vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face".
Identified as an exponent of the "new atheism" movement, Hitchens describes himself as an anti-theist and
believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. "You could be an atheist and wish that the belief
was true," he told CBC. "An antitheist, a term Iˈm trying to get into circulation, is someone whoˈs very
relieved that thereˈs no evidence for this proposition."
He argues that the concept of God or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom,
and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and
defining human civilization. He wrote at length on atheism and the nature of religion in his 2007 book God Is
Not Great.
Hitchens became a United States citizen on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, on 13 April 2007, his
fifty-eighth birthday, though he retained his British citizenship.
His latest book, Hitch-22: A Memoir, was published in June 2010. Touring for the book was cut short later the
same month so that he could begin treatment for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer."
by jaskaw @ 30.08.2010 - 00:31:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/29/for-christopher-hitchens-9274628/
Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira: "Non-Jews are
"uncompassionate by nature" and should be killed
in order to "curb their evil inclinations."
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/148016/how_to_kill_goyim_and_influence_people:_israeli_rabbis_defend_book's_shock

Alternet by Max Blumenthal

"A rabbinical guidebook for killing non-Jews has sparked an uproar in Israel and exposed the power a bunch
of genocidal theocrats wield over the government.
---
According to the book's author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, "Non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and
should be killed in order to "curb their evil inclinations." "If we kill a gentile who has inner or has violated
one of the seven commandments‫ ل‬there is nothing wrong with the murder," Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish
law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: "There is justification for killing
babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately,
and not only during combat with adults."
---
In January, Shapira was briefly detained by the Israeli police, while two leading rabbis who endorsed the
book, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, were summoned to interrogations by the Shabak. However, the rabbis
refused to appear at the interrogations, essentially thumbing their noses at the state and its laws. And the
government did nothing."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/148016/how_to_kill_goyim_and_influence_people:_israeli_rabbis_defend_book's_shock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Shapira
"Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who in 2009 published a book (The King's Torah) in which he writes that
it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews (including children) who threaten Israel.
The conditions under which this permission applies include presence of the assumption that a child will grow
up to become an enemy of the Jewish people, to put pressure on enemy leaders, or if they are "in the way".
The book was distributed by Yeshivat HaRaayon HaYehudi in Jerusalem, which adheres to the ideas of the
late Rabbi Meir Kahane.
The book contains an endorsement by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. A member of the Israeli Knesset
(Ofer Pines) called on the attorney general to open a criminal investigation against Shapira on account of the
book.
Shapira was arrested under suspicion of incitement in 2006 after having advocated expelling or killing all
male Palestinians above the age of 13. In 2008 he signed a "manifesto" in support of Israelis suspected of
beating two Arab youths during that year's Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In January 2010, Shapira was arrested for his "alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque in
the village of Yasuf."
Shapira lives in the West Bank Israeli settlement Yitzhar and is the head of the Dorshei Yihudcha yeshiva
there.According to Haaretz columnist Akiva Eldar, Shapira's yeshiva receives substantial funding from the
Israeli government.
His intellectual influences include Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg."

by jaskaw @ 30.08.2010 - 12:05:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/30/rabbi-yitzhak-shapira-non-jews-are-uncompassionate-by-nature-and-should-be-k
Feedback for Post "Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira: "Non-Jews are
"uncompassionate by nature" and should be killed in order
to "curb their evil inclinations.""

FedupwithR [Member]
30.08.2010 @ 14:24

Religious fundamentalists are the most intolerant people on this earth. With more and more religious nuts
shrieking about killing opponents of their mind set. They should be shut up or locked up as they are a danger
to us all but nothing ever happens to them.

Harbans Singh [Visitor]

04.09.2010 @ 08:13
Non-Jews ARE compassionate, is it not evidence that the provocateur Rabbi is still hale and hearty
Iran media calls the first lady of France a
'prostitute'
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100830/wl_mideast_afp/iranexecutionstoningfrancebruni

"French first lady Carla Bruni was branded as a "prostitute" and "immoral" by Iranian news outlets on
Monday after she expressed support for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.
A report on www.inn.ir called Bruni "immoral" after a blistering attack on the wife of French President
Nicolas Sarkozy by the hardline Kayhan newspaper on Saturday branded her a "prostitute."
Kayhan's description of Bruni "is confirmed when her massive immoral background is reviewed," said
www.inn.ir, the website of government-run Iran group of news outlets.
On Saturday, Kayhan ran a story headlined "French prostitutes enter the human rights uproar", in which it
criticised Bruni and French actress Isabelle Adjani for supporting Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, the
43-year-old Iranian mother of two, who has been sentenced to death by stoning".

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100830/wl_mideast_afp/iranexecutionstoningfrancebruni

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_Bruni
"Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (born Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi, 23 December 1967) is a French songwriter, singer,
and former model. Since February 2008, she has been married to the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy."
---
"She has been critical of Pope Benedict XVI on the controversial topic of religion and AIDS."

by jaskaw @ 30.08.2010 - 21:40:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/30/iran-media-calls-the-first-lady-of-france-a-prostitute-9280635/
Feedback for Post "Iran media calls the first lady of France
a 'prostitute'"

FedupwithR [Member]
31.08.2010 @ 12:12

Any woman who enjoys a sex life and any Western woman who dies her hair blond, is a prostitute according
to most Muslims. Once again we see how totally narrow and anti-progressive the religious mind set is.
'Faith in science is not enough ʒ people deserve
proof '
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/31/faith-in-science-proof

Alom Shaha, guardian.co.uk

Education must be at the heart of science communication, or else we are simply asking people to 'believe'

"I am an evangelist. But instead of spreading the gospel or any other religious message, I spend my time
trying to share the knowledge of what I believe to be humanity's greatest cultural achievement: science.
---
I don't want to see science become something that people "believe" is important and cool and sexy without
understanding why. I don't want people to mindlessly buy into the geek scene in the same way that they might
have bought into the alternative lifestyle scene, had they encountered it first in the right circumstances. But
that's what I've seen happening ʒ people attending the lectures, events and festivals organised by "science
communicators" and going home convinced that science is the "right" way to look at the world, without really
understanding why science is special."
---

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/31/faith-in-science-proof

by jaskaw @ 31.08.2010 - 14:14:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/31/faith-in-science-is-not-enough-people-deserve-proof-9284384/
Old Believers are a dying breed in Latvia
Read more at:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/time-takes-its-toll-on-latvias-old-believers-20100831-147kc.html

"There are little more than a dozen residents left in as many wooden homes in this hamlet tucked away from
civilisation in eastern Latvia. Most are Old Believers, a faith struggling to survive.
"The young people are leaving," said Aleksejs Zilko, newly elected head of the Latvian Old Believer Church.
"To whom shall we pass on our faith?"
Followers of the Christian denomination that split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century
migrated to escape persecution, building tight-knit ethnic Russian communities around the world, secluded
from the mainstream.
Today they face new challenges as a less-religious generation heads to the cities in search of work, leaving the
old behind.
---
Some 62,000 Old Believers remain today -- a tiny minority in the country of 2.2 million and a small part of
Latvia's largest ethnic minority, the Russians, who form 28 percent of the population and mostly declare
themselves Orthodox.
But since Latvia regained its independence in 1991, the Old Believer villages have emptied out."

Read more at:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/time-takes-its-toll-on-latvias-old-believers-20100831-147kc.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Believers
"In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers (Starovery, Russian:
&#1089;&#1090;&#1072;&#1088;&#1086;&#1074;&#1077;&#769;&#1088;&#1099; or
&#1089;&#1090;&#1072;&#1088;&#1086;&#1086;&#1073;&#1088;&#1103;&#769;&#1076;&#1094;&#1099;)
became separated after 1666ʒ1667 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church
reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon. Old Believers continue liturgical practices which the Russian
Orthodox Church maintained before the implementation of these reforms. Russian-speakers refer to the
schism itself as raskol (Russian: &#1088;&#1072;&#1089;&#1082;&#1086;&#1083; - etymologically
indicating a "cleaving-apart").

Differences between the Old Believers and post-Nikonian Russian Orthodoxy:

* Old Believers use two fingers while making the Sign of the Cross (two fingers straightened, three folded)
while new-style Orthodoxy uses three fingers for the sign of cross (three fingers (including thumb) held
together at point, two fingers folded). Old Ritualists generally say the Jesus Prayer with the Sign of the Cross,
while New Ritualists use the Sign of the Cross as a Trinitarian symbol. This makes for a significant difference
between the two branches of Russian Orthodoxy, and one of the most noticeable (see the picture of Boyarynya
Feodosia Morozova above).
* Old Believers reject any changes and emendations of liturgical texts and rituals introduced by the reforms of
Patriarch Nikon. Thus they continue to use the previous Church Slavonic translation of the Greek texts,
including the Psalter, striving to preserve intact the "pre-Nikonian" practices of the Russian
* Old Believers only recognize performing baptism through three full immersions, in agreement with the
Greek practice, but reject the validity of any baptismal rite performed otherwise (for example through pouring
or sprinkling, as the Russian Orthodox Church has occasionally accepted since the 18th century).
* Old Believers in principle oppose ecumenism, despite many instances of good relationships and
collaboration with other Eastern Orthodox churches."

by jaskaw @ 31.08.2010 - 23:04:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/08/31/old-believers-are-a-dying-breed-in-latvia-9287494/
Now you know - Atheistcartoons.com

Laugh more at: http://www.atheistcartoons.com/

"About
Hello and welcome. Currently Iˈm posting a new cartoon whenever I can, which means at least once a week,
more often as time permits, along with the occasional Flash/YouTube animation. Iˈm still working on this site
to make it more user-friendly, with exactly the appearance Iˈd like. Your patience is appreciated.
Feel free to repost any of my cartoons, but credit atheistcartoons.com.
Thanks."

Laugh more at: http://www.atheistcartoons.com/

http://www.atheistcartoons.com/?cat=3
http://www.atheistcartoons.com/?cat=1

by jaskaw @ 01.09.2010 - 09:29:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/01/now-you-know-atheistcartoons-com-9288830/
Feedback for Post "Now you know - Atheistcartoons.com"

Penny C [Visitor]

01.09.2010 @ 10:29
Ain't that the truth! I remember all the things they use to preach to me from pulpits. Atheists were everything
and the anti-Christ. Well, the anti-Christ part sort of fits. If Jesus ever walked the earth, I doubt he would
bother me much. He got people to stop trying to stone people as much. However, considering how I really
could find no religion that actually let go of that cursed Old Testament for teaching, (not even Jesus), in the
end it is not a religion for me.

Happiness is spending Sundays on a nice walk or drive. Not in an uncomfortable pew listening to people yell
about fire and brimstone. I wonder how many people actually behave more badly just so that they have
something to confess on Sunday morning? Just curious?

Going to Church, listening to people speak out and confess their sins, "You did what?", "You really did that?".
I compare it to my few visits to an AA meeting to better understand my poor alcoholic boyfriend. "What am I
doing here and I really don't fit in." Finally, I quite being a hypocrite and admitted I honestly am an atheist
and this is a good way to be.
'Inside The Great Reptilian Conspiracy: From
Queen Elizabeth to Barack Obama -- They Live!'
Read more at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/147967/inside_the_great_reptilian_conspiracy:_from_queen_elizabeth_to_barack_obama

By Jan Frel
---
"[Heene] was motivated," his former assistant wrote in a tell-all a few days after the Balloon Boy hoax, by
"the idea there are alien beings that walk among us and are shape shifters, able to resemble human beings and
running the upper echelon of our government. Somehow a secret government has covered all this up since the
U.S. was established, and the only way to get the truth out there was to use the mainstream media to raise
Richard to a status of celebrity, so he could communicate with the masses."
Richard Heene, it turned out, wanted more than 15 minutes of fame. He had an important message for the
world -- about Lizards and the New World Order. He is far from alone.
---
Richard Heene is one of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who adhere to an overlapping
series of modern-day conspiracy theories sharing a central thesis: Lizard-like aliens from outer space inhabit
human bodies and control the human race.
Videos similar to the footage of the "reptilian" Hillary Clinton that Heene referred to number in the hundreds
on YouTube. They join part of a much larger body of thousands of videos uploaded by conspiracy theorists in
the reptilian circle that purportedly show proof of live, on-camera, human shape-shifting from human to lizard
form. The videos typically feature news interviews with national political figures like Hillary, Queen
Elizabeth II or George H.W. Bush, or segments from TV news broadcasts. Some of the footage is doctored to
place lizard-like slitted pupils in the eyes of political elites, or is slowed down to mutate the voice of the
speaker and enhance the semblance of a lizard-like hiss emanating from the mouth of, say, a local TV news
woman's tendency to sustain the "S" in plural nouns."

Read more at:

http://www.alternet.org/story/147967/inside_the_great_reptilian_conspiracy:_from_queen_elizabeth_to_barack_obama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilians
"Reptilians (also called Reptiloids, Reptoids, or Draconians) are purported reptilian humanoids that play a
prominent role in modern ufology and conspiracy theories.[1] Alien abduction narratives sometimes allege
contact with reptilian creatures.
One of the earliest reports was that of Ashland, Nebraska police officer Herbert Schirmer, who claims to have
been taken aboard a UFO in 1967 by humanoid beings with a slightly reptilian appearance, who bore a
"winged serpent" emblem on the left side of their chests.
According to British writer David Icke, 5 to 12-foot (1.5 - 3.7 m) tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian
humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases in Hollow Earth, are the
force behind a worldwide conspiracy directed at humanity.
He claims that the reptilians maintain their control through the generation of fear and negative emotion, which
is food to these entities, by manufacturing conflicts, primarily wars.[citation needed] He contends that most of
the world's leaders are in fact related to these reptilians.
Icke's theories now have supporters in 47 countries and he frequently gives lectures to crowds of 2,500 or
more. American writer Vicki Santillano ranked the notion that "Reptilian humanoids control all of us" as the
10th most popular conspiracy theory.
In the closely fought 2008 US Senate election between comedian and commentator Al Franken and incumbent
Senator Norm Coleman, one of the ballots challenged by Coleman included a vote for Franken with "Lizard
People" written in the space provided for write-in candidates.
Lucas Davenport, who later claimed to have written the gag ballot, said, "I don't know if you've heard the
conspiracy theory about the Lizard Men; a friend of mine, we didn't like the candidates, so we were at first
going to write in revolution, because we thought that was good and to the point. And then, we thought the
Lizard People would be even funnier."
Skeptics who adhere to the psychosocial hypothesis for unidentified flying objects argue the popularity of V, a
science fiction television show, which debuted in 1983 and restarted again in 2009, about an invading alien
race of reptilian humanoids disguised as human beings trying to take over Earth, may have significantly
contributed to ufologists and conspiracy theorists adopting beliefs in the existence of reptilians, as well as
making the wider public more receptive to embracing them.
Brian Dunning suggests that a 1934 Los Angeles Times article may have been the origin of such beliefs: it
reported that a geophysical mining engineer claimed to have discovered subterranean labyrinths beneath Los
Angeles to an underground city built by an advanced race of ːLizard Peopleə to escape surface catastrophes
some 5000 years ago."

by jaskaw @ 01.09.2010 - 10:32:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/01/inside-the-great-reptilian-conspiracy-from-queen-elizabeth-to-barack-obama-the
Feedback for Post "'Inside The Great Reptilian Conspiracy:
From Queen Elizabeth to Barack Obama -- They Live!'"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

03.09.2010 @ 13:11
I blame it on the popularity of "V". LOL
World union of Humanists and Atheists condemn
Quran burning
Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/world-union-humanists-and-atheists-condemn-quran-burning

"The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has condemned a planned public burning of the Quran
by a Florida church on the 9th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks. IHEU is the world union of
more than 100 Humanist, rationalist, secular, ethical culture, atheist and freethought organizations in more
than 40 countries.
IHEU president Sonja Eggerickx said, ːBurning books symbolizes ignorance and hatred. When the Nazis
burned the books of great Jewish writers and anti-Nazis it was not only an act of cultural terrorism but also a
symbol of their own stupidity. If the Church has arguments against the teachings of the Quran they should
give voice to them, but to resort to burning suggests they want to silence Muslims with force rather than
persuade them with reason.ə
Matt Cherry, who leads the IHEU delegation to the United Nations in New York, added, ːAs an atheist
working with Muslims, Christians and other religions to defend freedom of conscience I have learned that the
real clash of civilizations is not between Islam and the West, or the religious and the non-religious, it is the
clash between the intolerant and the tolerant, between those who burn books they disagree with and those who
read them. And when it comes to that great divide, the Dove World Outreach Center is placing itself on the
same side as the Muslim extremists.ə

Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/world-union-humanists-and-atheists-condemn-quran-burning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHEU
"International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the sole world umbrella organisation embracing
Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, Ethical Culture, freethought and similar organisations
worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member
organizations in 40 countries. Julian Huxley (the first director of UNESCO), presided over the founding
Congress of the IHEU.
The IHEU's vision is one of a Humanist world; a world in which the human rights of minorities are respected
and everyone is able to live a life of dignity. The mission of IHEU is to build and represent the global
Humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes Humanist values worldwide. IHEU sponsors the
triennial World Humanist Congress and publishes International Humanist News. The next international
congress is to be held in Oslo, Norway, in August 2011.
In 2002, the IHEU General Assembly unanimously adopted the Amsterdam Declaration 2002 which
represents the official defining statement of World Humanism. The Happy Human is the official symbol of
IHEU."
http://www.facebook.com/iheunion

by jaskaw @ 01.09.2010 - 20:34:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/01/world-union-of-humanists-and-atheists-condemn-quran-burning-9293869/
Iran paper: Bruni should die after stoning
comments
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U1D220100831

Reuters) - An Iranian newspaper said on Tuesday that Carla Bruni, the wife of France's president, deserved to
die after she expressed solidarity with a woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery.
The hardline daily Kayhan called Bruni a "prostitute" whose lifestyle meant she deserved a similar fate as the
Iranian woman who was sentenced to death for adultery.
Carla Bruni was one of several French celebrities who published open letters to Sakineh Mohammadi
Ashtiani, whose case has caused international outrage and highlighted Iran's use of stoning as capital
punishment.
---
Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported Bruni's
letter on Saturday under the headline: "French prostitutes enter human rights uproar."
On Tuesday it returned to the subject, criticizing Bruni's "illicit relationships with various people" and
blaming her for causing Sarkozy's divorce from his second wife.
"Studying Carla Bruni's record clearly shows the reason why this immoral woman is backing an Iranian
woman who has been condemned to death for committing adultery and being accomplice in her husband's
murder and, in fact, she herself deserves to die," Kayhan said."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67U1D220100831

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayhan
"Kayhan (Persian: &#1705;‫&ي‬#1607;‫نا‬, English: universe) is an influential newspaper in Iran. Directly
under the supervision of the Office of the Supreme Leader, it is regarded to be "the most conservative Iranian
newspaper."
Hossein Shariatmadari is the editor-in-chief of Kayhan. His official position is representative of the Supreme
Leader.
Today, it has a circulation of about 70,000, with about 1,000 employees worldwide. Kayhan also publishes
special foreign editions, which include the English-language Kayhan International.

by jaskaw @ 01.09.2010 - 20:45:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/01/iran-paper-bruni-should-die-after-stoning-comments-9293926/
Mr. Deity & Cast at the AAI 2009 Conference
(video)

"Mr. Deity and cast perform live skits from their excellent web series. Brian Dalton (Deity) explains his
personal journey from Mormonism to creating the show.

Watch Mr. Deity at:

http://mrdeity.com
Mr. Deity's YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/misterdeity

Filmed and Edited by

JOSH TIMONEN"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_deity
"Mr. Deity is a series of two- to seven-minute comedy films created by Brian Keith Dalton and distributed by
Lazy Eye Pictures. It stars Brian Keith Dalton, Jimbo Marshall, Sean Douglas, and Amy Rohren. It premiered
on December 27, 2006. The show is once again broadcast on YouTube, after a brief spell on Crackle."

by jaskaw @ 01.09.2010 - 21:49:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/01/mr-deity-cast-at-the-aai-2009-conference-video-9294332/
Do you believe in gravity or divinity?
Answer to the poll at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/poll/2010/sep/02/religion-hawking

"In a new book, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has altered his previous position, which seemed
to accept a divine creator, to argue that the universe is the work of physics, not God. Do you agree?"

Is physicist Stephen Hawking right that physics, not God, created the universe?

Yes. I believe in gravity, not divinity

No. God: Hawking 'not necessary'

Answer to the the poll at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/poll/2010/sep/02/religion-hawking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_hawking
"Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942)is a British theoretical physicist and
cosmologist, whose scientific career spans over forty years. His books and public appearances have made him
an academic celebrity and he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest
civilian award in the United States."

by jaskaw @ 02.09.2010 - 10:32:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/02/do-you-believe-in-gravity-or-divinity-9296598/
Study: 'Superstition is a way try to control
uncertainty'
Read more at: http://www.physorg.com/news202651390.html

"People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when
faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to a recent Kansas State
University undergraduate research project.
The project, led by Scott Fluke, a May 2010 K-State bachelor's graduate in psychology, Olathe, focuses on
personality traits that lead to superstition. Fluke received a $500 Doreen Shanteau Undergraduate Research
Fellowship in 2009 to work with the team of Russell Webster, graduate student in psychology, Shorewood,
Ill., and Donald Saucier, K-State associate professor of psychology.
---
After performing two studies, the researchers developed three reasons for superstitious behavior: individuals
use superstitions to gain control over uncertainty; to decrease feelings of helplessness; and because it is easier
to rely on superstition instead of coping strategies.
"People sometimes fall back on their superstitions as a handicap," Saucier said. "It's a parachute they think
will help them out."
---
"What we didn't expect was that thinking about death would make people feel helpless -- like they cannot
control it -- and that this would actually reduce their superstitious belief."

Read more at: http://www.physorg.com/news202651390.html

by jaskaw @ 02.09.2010 - 20:34:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/02/read-more-at-http-www-physorg-com-news202651390-html-people-9299498/
Channel 4: Stephen Hawking: Physics Leaves No
Room For God (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_hawkins
"Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist
and cosmologist, whose scientific career spans over forty years. His books and public appearances have made
him an academic celebrity and he is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts,a lifetime member of the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest
civilian award in the United States.
Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for thirty years, taking
up the post in 1979 and retiring on 1 October 2009.
He is also a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and a Distinguished Research Chair at the
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.
He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of
black holes. He has also achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own
theories and cosmology in general; these include the runaway best seller A Brief History of Time, which
stayed on the British Sunday Times bestsellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.
Hawking's key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding
gravitational singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes
should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as BekensteinʒHawking
radiation).
Hawking has a neuro-muscular dystrophy that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has
progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralysed."

by jaskaw @ 03.09.2010 - 15:41:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/03/channel-4-stephen-hawking-physics-leaves-no-room-for-god-video-9303948/
'Serving in Iraq killed my faith in God'
Read more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/30/serving-iraq-killed-my-faith-in-god

"The destruction I saw made me question everything I had previously thought about religion."

By Adnan Sarwar
" How was there a God who was fine with Luke being killed, fine with the dead, burnt bodies of Iraqis I drove
past on my way to Basra? How was he fine with the people who waved crying at us hoping we'd throw some
rations and water into their desperate lives?
I went to see the padre. Sitting with this devout Christian in the cradle of civilisation, I had the most honest
conversation I had ever had about religion. I'd never had the courage to say these things out loud before, but
the Padre made it easy. He listened to my angry words and I knew it was okay for me to not believe. For the
rest of the tour I spoke to the lads about it constantly, and as Saddam's empire came tumbling down so did any
belief I had in God."

Read more at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/30/serving-iraq-killed-my-faith-in-god

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

by jaskaw @ 03.09.2010 - 19:25:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/03/serving-in-iraq-killed-my-faith-in-god-9304894/
'Why Iˈm giving up Catholicism'
Read more at: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23871267-why-im-giving-up-catholicism.do

by Jackie Annesley
"I was baptised a Catholic, educated at a convent and spent my childhood inventing sins for the confessional
box, so the road to renouncing my Catholicism has been a long one.
But even as a recent disbeliever, the news this week that a Catholic priest was a terrorist behind an IRA car
bomb in Northern Ireland that killed nine still shocked. It follows the cover-up of clergy sex crimes and the
Vatican's misogynist pronouncement last month that ordaining a woman a priest is as sinful as abusing a
child. So much for all God's children (John 1:12-13).
The seemingly trivial turning point for me came during my father's funeral several years ago, when the
Catholic priest began eulogising about Eric. Dad's name was Alexander. As our muted sobs almost gave way
to incredulous giggles, the undertaker was forced to go up to the altar to remind the priest, fond of the drink,
of the name of the deceased.
---
I started recalling the nuns ō mostly oddballs and misfits ō overly fond of the moneyed parents at the convent
I attended, and the obscene wealth of the Catholic missionary churches ō silver altars and gilded statues ō
amid the poverty of South America during a trip 20 years ago. The many absurd mythologies of the Bible
simply don't withstand scrutiny. The trinity ō God, the father and the holy ghost? Now it was like asking me
to believe in the fairy stories I was reading to my children each night."

Read more at: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23871267-why-im-giving-up-catholicism.do

by jaskaw @ 04.09.2010 - 20:36:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/04/why-i-m-giving-up-catholicism-9310123/
Feedback for Post "'Why Iˈm giving up Catholicism'"

jpfib [Member]
05.09.2010 @ 12:53

Annesely's finding is nothing new. catholic church is created by Constantine and his cronies. it has nothing to
do with good, truth or brotherhood.they killed, burned,raped,sexually abused children and committed all kinds
of vices.they use money and power to escape from the clutches of law.they terrorize their fellowmen with hell
and damnation to make them their slaves. they preach Christ taught them to distribute every thing to the poor
and take thy cross and follow me. they amass lot of money in the name of poor and enjoy all worldly
pleasures.in India two priests and a nun killed another nun for witnessing their sexual misdeeds and using
money and power to escape from law.still they boast they are the sole custodians of god and keys of the
kingdom.Dante has given them the right place in divine comedy.get away from these crooks and have a good
life here and after.
Kerala college sacks lecturer after his hand was
chopped off by Muslim activists
Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-his-hand-was-chopped-off-Kerala-college-sacks-lecturer/articleshow/64

"KOCHI: Adding insult to injury, a Kerala college has sacked its lecturer whose right hand was chopped off
by activists of radical outfit PFI for preparing a controversial Malayalam question paper with alleged
derogatory references to Prophet Muhammad.
The management of the Christian-run New Man College has informed T J Joseph that he had been removed
from September 1 on the grounds that he had hurt religious sentiments, college sources said on Saturday.
Joseph reacted with shock to his dismissal saying it was an "unexpected blow" to him and his family while
Education Minister M A Baby regretted the management action calling it an "extreme and irrationally
negative" step."

Read more at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-his-hand-was-chopped-off-Kerala-college-sacks-lecturer/articleshow/64

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_Of_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_T._J._Joseph

by jaskaw @ 05.09.2010 - 18:11:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/05/kerala-college-sacks-lecturer-after-his-hand-was-chopped-off-by-muslim-activis
Feedback for Post "Kerala college sacks lecturer after his
hand was chopped off by Muslim activists"

FedupwithR [Member]
05.09.2010 @ 21:37

Does a day pass without some horrendous crime being committed in the name of religion? I think not.

jpfib [Member]
06.09.2010 @ 17:13

crooked church leaders think all institution under the banner of church is their private property.these
institutions are built with sweat of millions of poor hard working people.and the fruits are enjoyed by these
villains.they cannot live without the warmth of the throne while they preach they are the custodians of Jesus
Christ who lead a very simple human life.they have nothing to do with the teachings of Christ except they sell
him and amass large amount of money and power and commit all kinds of crimes with impunity.white washed
tombs.
'Ground zero church launches with anti-Muslim,
anti-Mormon sermon'
Read more at:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/09/05/911_christian_center_

"To an audience of about 50 people -- fully half of whom were members of the press -- Pastor Bill Keller
launched his 9-11 Christian Center at ground zero this morning with a fiery sermon targeting Muslims and
Mormons as hell-bound followers of false faiths. Keller took aim in particular at Glenn Beck, a Mormon, and
Imam Rauf, the organizer of the Park51 Islamic community center.
Keller, an extremist Internet evangelist from Florida, spoke at a drab ballroom of the Marriott hotel two
blocks south of ground zero for the launch of his Christian Center, a response to Park51. He told the audience,
which included a couple of 9/11 Truther protesters, that he is scouting three possible locations for a permanent
church.
Keller regularly assails Muslims as pedophiles and attacks Mormons and gay people. But his church has
drawn no objections from opponents of the mosque who have consistently argued that the neighborhood
around ground zero is sacred ground. Keller also has a history of trying to profit off of political controversies;
last year, for example, he hosted a Birther infomercial."

Read more at:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/09/05/911_christian_center_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Keller_(televangelist)
"In August 1999 Keller began writing material for a ministry show he planned on starting. The Live Prayer
television program debuted in March 2003. Live Prayer has been growing quickly since and first appeared on
national TV in July 2006.
The show was cancelled in August 2007 after the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
complained of the anti-Islamic views Keller expressed. Keller described Islam as a "1,400-year-old lie from
the pits of hell" and called the Prophet Mohammed a "murdering pedophile." He also called the Quran a "book
of fables and a book of lies." Currently, Live Prayer is broadcasted online through the show's official website.
Keller was interviewed and featured in the documentary film Article VI: Faith.Politics.America. In the film he
is shown saying that he likes Mitt Romney, but that he is a Mormon and "following a false theology straight to
hell." He also believes Islam is a religion of violence and condemns the Park51 Manhattan project."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51
"Park51, originally named Cordoba House (and referred to by some as the "Ground Zero mosque"), is a
planned 13-story, glass and steel Islamic community center and mosque, to be located about two blocks from
the World Trade Center site, in Lower Manhattan.
The facility's design includes a 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming
pool, basketball court, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, food court, September 11
memorial, and prayer space that could accommodate 1,000ʒ2,000 people.
The center would replace an existing 1850s Italianate-style building that was damaged in the September 11
attacks."

by jaskaw @ 06.09.2010 - 15:44:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/06/ground-zero-church-launches-with-anti-muslim-anti-mormon-sermon-9321835/
Christopher Hitchens: 'The taming and
domestication of religious faith is one of the
unceasing chores of civilization.'
Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2266154/

---
"The Church of Scientology, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, and the Ku Klux Klan are all
faith-based organizations and are all entitled to the protections of the First Amendment. But they are also all
subject to a complex of statutes governing tax-exemption, fraud, racism, and violence, to the point where "free
exercise" in the third case hasōby means of federal law enforcement and stern public disapprovalōbeen
reduced to a vestige of its former self."
---
"Those who wish that there would be no mosques in America have already lost the argument: Globalization,
no less than the promise of American liberty, mandates that the United States will have a Muslim population
of some size. The only question, then, is what kind, or rather kinds, of Islam it will follow. There's an
excellent chance of a healthy pluralist outcome, but it's very unlikely that this can happen unless, as with their
predecessors on these shores, Muslims are compelled to abandon certain presumptions that are exclusive to
themselves. The taming and domestication of religion is one of the unceasing chores of civilization. Those
who pretend that we can skip this stage in the present case are deluding themselves and asking for trouble not
just in the future but in the immediate present."

Read more at: http://www.slate.com/id/2266154/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-born author and journalist whose books,
essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The
Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the
Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was
voted the world's fifth top public intellectual.
Known for his admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, and for his excoriating
critiques ofōamong othersōMother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Henry Kissinger, his confrontational
style of debate has made him both a lauded and controversial figure. As a political observer, polemicist and
self-defined radical, he rose to prominence as a fixture of the left-wing publications in his native England and
in the United States. His departure from the established political left began in 1989 after what he called the
"tepid reaction" of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwā calling for the murder of
Salman Rushdie. The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign
policy and his vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face".
by jaskaw @ 06.09.2010 - 20:10:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/06/christopher-hitchens-the-taming-and-domestication-of-religious-faith-is-one-of-t
Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens: 'The taming and
domestication of religious faith is one of the unceasing
chores of civilization.'"

FedupwithR [Member]
07.09.2010 @ 11:47

All politicians need to read this excellent piece..

Five new faith schools coming to Britain
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/writer-and-financier-get-goahead-for-new-schools-2072

"Fears that the Government's "free" schools programme will be dominated by faith groups and create more
segregation between religions were re-ignited yesterday. Five of the first 16 schools announced by Education
Secretary Michael Gove will be faith-orientated ʒ two Jewish, one Hindu, one Sikh and one Christian.
In two other cases, organisers say there will be a strong Christian influence but the school will not officially
be a faith school.
---
The British Humanist Association warned yesterday that they would also be free to promote religious
intolerance.
Andrew Copson, its chief executive, said the schools would have "complete power over what they teach, with
no safeguards to ensure that myth and misinformation do not dominate the curriculum".
"We have long raised concerns about the teaching of creationism and religiously distorted sex education in
traditional 'faith' schools," he said, adding that the proposals would lead to "greater segregation and deeper
divisions within communities".

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/writer-and-financier-get-goahead-for-new-schools-2072

by jaskaw @ 07.09.2010 - 15:06:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/07/five-new-faith-schools-in-britain-9334524/
Pakistani Muslim youths turn away from Islam in
Facebook
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/on-facebook-young-muslims-turn-away-from-islam-49951?cp

"Islamabad: A handful of Pakistani Muslim youths are beginning to question the existence of God and in the
process giving up Islam to become atheists.
Still a small number, the trend seems to be telling of pressures that the image of militant Islam has had on
them. A Facebook group has been floated for Pakistan's agnostics and atheists by Hazrat NaKhuda, a former
Pakistani Muslim.
At last count, the group had over a 100 members. In a thread started on the discussion board on "How did you
become an atheist", Hazrat writes, "I used to be a practicing Muslim. I used to live in Saudi Arabia. I have
done two Hajs and countless Umrahs. Used to pray five times a day. When I turned 17-18, I realized that the
only reason I was a Muslim was because my parents were Muslims".
Hazrat is a young computer programmer from Lahore. Another member, posted on the discussion board: "I'm
an agnostic simply because I see little or no evidence for the existence of God. Some time ago I decided that
I'd never believe anything unless it has a firm basis in reason and as far as I know (and I admit I know very
little and there's much to be learnt), there's little or no evidence for the existence of God."

Read more at:

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/on-facebook-young-muslims-turn-away-from-islam-49951?cp&cp

http://www.facebook.com/jaakko.wallenius?v=app_2309869772#!/pages/Secular-Pakistan/319976709204

by jaskaw @ 07.09.2010 - 22:13:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/07/pakistani-muslim-youths-turnaway-from-islam-in-facebook-9338044/
Feedback for Post "Pakistani Muslim youths turn away from
Islam in Facebook"

GoddlessHeathen [Visitor]

08.09.2010 @ 00:26
Good for them!

jpfib [Member]
08.09.2010 @ 06:58

no organized religion is for the betterment of their fellowmen.they terrorize people in such way, with hell and
damnation,that they have no escape till the last breath.these followers's mental condition is so pathetic, that
they have no deliverance from this mental slavery.these slave want consent of these crooks to live, to eat, to
breath,to marry, to sleep with partner, to make children and to die.their clutches are so deep, that these filthy
leaders infest every sell of these followers.keep away from them as from rotten mad dogs.

jpfib [Member]
08.09.2010 @ 07:01

these filthy leaders infest every cell of these followers. a correction to the earlier remarks.
Quran-burner Terry Jones accused of 'Spiritual
Abuse' during his stay at Germany
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,716409,00.html#ref=nlint

"US fundamentalist pastor Terry Jones, who wants to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, ran a church in the
western German city of Cologne until last year when members of the congregation expelled him. Former
members have spoken of his hate-filled sermons and insistence on "blind obedience."
The world is holding its breath -- and it's all down to a tiny Christian fundamentalist church in Florida.
---
Various witnesses gave SPIEGEL ONLINE consistent accounts of the Jones' behavior. The pastor and his
wife apparently regarded themselves as having been appointed by God, meaning opposition was a crime
against the Lord. Terry and Sylvia Jones allegedly used these methods to ask for money in an increasingly
insistent manner, as well as making members of the congregation carry out work.
---
"Terry Jones appears to have a delusional personality," speculates Schäfer. When he came to Germany in the
1980s, Jones apparently considered Cologne "a city of Hell that was founded by Nero's mother," while he
thought Germany was "a key country for the supposed Christian revival of Europe," Schäfer says.
Terry Jones used his powers of persuasion to expand the congregation. By the end, Schäfer estimates, it
numbered between 800 and 1,000 people. They had to work in the so-called "Lisa Jones Houses," charitable
institutions named after his first wife who has since died, under very poor conditions."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,716409,00.html#ref=nlint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center
"Dove World Outreach Center is a small, 50 member non-denominational charismatic Christian church in
Gainesville, Florida led by Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia. The church gained notoriety in the late 2000s for
its displays of anti-Islam and anti-LGBT messages. The church received widespread national and international
criticism in 2010 after it announced an "International Burn a Koran Day", during which church members
would hold book burnings of the Qu'ran, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks."

by jaskaw @ 08.09.2010 - 21:08:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/08/quran-burner-terry-jones-accused-of-spiritual-abuse-during-his-stay-at-germany-
OkCupid's study shows: Atheists have better
writing abilities than believers of any faith
Read more at: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-real-stuff-white-people-like/

"We selected 526,000 OkCupid users at random and divided them into groups by their (self-stated) race. We
then took all these people's profile essays (280 million words in total!) and isolated the words and phrases that
made each racial group's essays statistically distinct from the others'."
---
"Using this kind of analysis, we were able find the interests, hobbies, tastes, and self-descriptions that are
specially important to each racial group, as determined by the words of the group itself. The information in
this article is not our opinion. It's data, aggregated from the essays of half a million real people."

"We also ran reading level by religion and found this:"

"Is there a Comic Sans version of the Bible? There really should be. We subdivided this chart further, by how
serious each person was about their beliefs:"
"Note that for each of the faith-based belief systems I've listed, the people who are the least serious about
them write at the highest level. On the other hand, the people who are most serious about not having faith (i.e.
the "very serious" agnostics and atheists) score higher than any religious groups."

Read more at: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-real-stuff-white-people-like/

by jaskaw @ 09.09.2010 - 13:40:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/09/okcupid-s-study-shows-atheists-have-better-writing-abilities-than-believers-of-a
CNN: Religious populations are down all over
America (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_populations
"Christianity 2.1 billion
Islam 1.5 billion
Irreligious/agnostic/atheism 1.1 billion
Hinduism 900 million
Chinese traditional religion 394 million
Buddhism 376 million
Animist religions 300 million
African traditional/diasporic religions 100 million
Sikhism 23 million
Juche 19 million
Spiritism 15 million
Judaism 14 million
Mormonism 13 million
Baha'i 7 million
Jainism 4.2 million
Shinto 4 million
Cao Dai 4 million
Zoroastrianism 2.6 million
Tenrikyo 2 million
Neo-Paganism 1 million
Unitarian Universalism 800,000
Rastafari Movement 600,000"

by jaskaw @ 10.09.2010 - 00:11:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/09/cnn-religious-populations-are-down-all-over-america-video-9351049/
Feedback for Post "CNN: Religious populations are down
all over America (video)"

CJ [Visitor]

10.09.2010 @ 03:39
I like the way the generalize about why people are not religious. Ummm... pretty sure I'm not religious
because religion is retarded, not because I'm lacking a deep personal commitment. My lack of religion or
spirituality is far from a fashion statement. I don't believe in fairy tales. I don't think it's a fashion statement
when children realize Santa is made-up.

jpfib [Member]
10.09.2010 @ 06:27

organized religions are malignant growth of the civilized society.it is pleasant to hear such crooks are loosing
grip on the poor people.all the brothers and sisters of this world must keep away from these parasite,so they
can have a free and healthful life.

Liam Clarke [Visitor]

10.09.2010 @ 13:55
When did this come out? I can't find it on USA today or CNN.and I'd like to use it in a talk I am giving if it is
recent.
The Register: 'Koran-burning 'pastor' loses
website'
Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/09/doveworld_hacked/

"Red-nosed pastor Terry Jones, who plans to burn copies of the Koran and Jewish text the Talmud at the
weekend, has either had his website hacked or his ISP has pulled the plug.
The site, at http://www.doveworld.org/ is unavailable this morning.
The pastor of a tiny fundamentalist church in Florida, which has reportedly lost half its congregation since the
publicity-seeking preacher started his latest campaign, has become a central part of media coverage of the
anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this weekend.
The church, which has run previous campaigns with the rabidly anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, has
struggled to find support for International Burn a Koran Day. Muslim students in Florida have been advised to
stay off the streets while the stunt happens."

Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/09/doveworld_hacked/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center
"Dove World Outreach Center is a small, 50 member non-denominational charismatic Christian church in
Gainesville, Florida led by Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia. The church gained notoriety in the late 2000s for
its displays of anti-Islam and anti-LGBT messages. The church received widespread national and international
criticism in 2010 after it announced an "International Burn a Koran Day", during which church members
would hold book burnings of the Qu'ran, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks."

by jaskaw @ 10.09.2010 - 14:36:48

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/10/the-register-koran-burning-pastor-loses-website-9354687/
Feedback for Post "The Register: 'Koran-burning 'pastor'
loses website'"

GoddlessHeathen [Visitor]

10.09.2010 @ 23:00
"Muslim students in Florida have been advised to stay off the streets while the stunt happens."

How's that for turning terrorism on its head?

FedupwithR [Member]
11.09.2010 @ 19:26

Happily he called the whole thing off. Nevertheless,the crazy Pasteur has caused one death in Kabul.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
11.09.2010 @ 19:49
A little correction FedupwithR, the idiotic, crazy pastor did not kill anyone, but the people who threatened
world with violence were Muslim extremist that do think that they have the right to kill people just because
somebody they do not know burns a stack of paper in a place they have never ever heard of.
ZOMGitsCriss: 'Criticizing Islam' (video)

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZOMGitsCriss

by jaskaw @ 11.09.2010 - 02:38:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/11/zomgitscriss-criticizing-islam-video-9357822/
'Abstinent Mormon farmers grow barley for beer'
Read more at: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/09/08/1331542/abstinent-mormon-farmers-grow.html

"BOISE, Idaho ō Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo might seem like an unlikely person to be pushing a bill to cut federal
taxes on small beer-makers: A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he abstains from
alcohol.
But Crapo's effort, with senators from Oregon, Massachusetts and Maine, illustrates the deep bond between
Idaho Mormons and the beer industry.
Mormon farmers raise barley for Budweiser and Negra Modelo beers, and last year, Mormons in the Idaho
Legislature helped kill a plan to raise beer and wine taxes to fund drug treatment, fearing it could hurt farmers.
Crapo touted the tax cut for brewers during a recent appearance at the Portneuf Valley Brewing Co. in
Pocatello and said his position is simple: He won't impose his own religious beliefs on others, especially when
it could affect a growing industry."

Read more:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/09/08/1331542/abstinent-mormon-farmers-grow.html#ixzz0zEw6luvB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism
"Mormons and their culture are headquartered in the Intermountain West, but as the faith spreads around the
world, many of its more distinctive practices follow, such as adhering to the Word of Wisdom, a health law or
code, prohibiting the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, coffee and tea, and other addictive substances."

by jaskaw @ 11.09.2010 - 18:42:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/11/abstinent-mormon-farmers-grow-barley-for-beer-9360592/
Feedback for Post "'Abstinent Mormon farmers grow barley
for beer'"

Paul [Visitor]
http://thomas-monson.blogspot.com/2010/09/gayle-smith-accuses-mormon-prophet-of.html
20.09.2010 @ 16:37
Utah Woman Accuses Mormon Prophet Of Attempted Rape!

David [Visitor]
http://thomas-monson.blogspot.com/2010/09/gayle-smith-accuses-mormon-prophet-of.html
22.09.2010 @ 16:56
Woman From Utah Accuses Mormon Prophet Of Attempted Rape!

Chris [Visitor]
http://thomas-monson.blogspot.com/2010/09/gayle-smith-accuses-mormon-prophet-of.html
23.09.2010 @ 16:40
A Woman From Utah Accuses Mormon Prophet Of Attempted Rape!
Robert Fisk: The truth about 'honour' killings
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-truth-about-honour-killings-2075317.html

---
'Honour' for men is connected with women's behaviour because they are seen as the property of the family ʒ
and of the community," she says. "They have no independent identities, they are not independent human
beings. Men also think of women as an extension of themselves. When women violate these standards, this is
a direct blow to the man's sense of identity. So of course, women must inculcate these values to their children.
You fail as a mother and a wife if your children don't meet these standards."
---
"Religious men are very important in this matter," Najdawi says. "After the French Revolution, the West
broke the stranglehold that religious people had on society. Unfortunately, here, we haven't managed to get rid
of the hold of religious men ʒ and the West has also reinforced our religious men because it was you, the
West, that created the genie ʒ the Taliban ʒ in places like Afghanistan."
---

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-truth-about-honour-killings-2075317.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killings
"An honor killing or honour killing (also called a customary killing) is the murder of a family or clan member
by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, in which the perpetrators (and potentially the wider
community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community.
The perceived dishonor is normally the result of the following behaviors, or the suspicion of such behaviors:
(a) utilizing dress codes unacceptable to the family/community, (b) wanting to terminate or prevent an
arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own choice, or (c) engaging in certain sexual acts, including those
with the opposite or same sex. Such killings or attempted killings result from the perception that the defense
of honor justifies killing a person whose behavior dishonors their own clan or family. Honour killing is more
prevalent where a member of a lower class (wrt., social status or wealth status) marries a person of relatively
higher class (high social or wealth status). The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the
annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000.
Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times
more."

by jaskaw @ 12.09.2010 - 17:03:05

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/12/robert-fisk-the-truth-about-honour-killings-9365150/
Nick Cohen: 'Societies without God are more
benevolent'
Read more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism

Nick Cohen, The Observer, Sunday 12 September 2010

--
"The notion that in free countries atheism promotes intolerance and immorality is demonstrably false. Last
year, Californian sociologist Phil Zuckerman responded with facts rather than witless abuse to claims from
Christian psychologists and theologians that atheists were "selfish and pusillanimous curmudgeons",
"unnatural" or "just damn angry". He pulled together the available evidence and found that the more atheists
or agnostics a free society has the more moral it becomes.
Predictably, atheists were far more likely to be tolerant supporters of women's rights and gay rights than
believers. The pope, like militant Islamists, orthodox Jews and the ultras in every faith cannot see that
struggles for female and homosexual emancipation are among the most moral causes of our age. But as
believers in a sternly misogynist and homophobic god, they must want to be tough on crime.
If so, they should welcome the contribution that atheists make to promoting law and order. A study in the
1990s found that a meagre 0.2% of the US prison population were atheists. In America, the states with the
highest murder rates tend to be highly religious, such as Louisiana and Alabama, but the states with the lowest
murder rates are among the least religious in the country, such as Vermont and Oregon."

Read more at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cohen
"Nick Cohen is a British journalist, author, and political commentator. He is currently a columnist for The
Observer and the TV critic for Standpoint magazine. He used to write for the London Evening Standard and
the New Statesman, until he departed and sued the magazine.
Cohen has written four books: Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous (1999), a
collection of his journalism; Pretty Straight Guys (2003), a highly critical account of the New Labour project;
What's Left? (2007), which he describes as the story of how the liberal left of the 20th century came to
support the far right of the 21st.; and Waiting for the Etonians: Reports from the Sickbed of Liberal England
(2009). The Orwell Prize for political writing shortlisted What's Left? in 2008."

http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/
"Associate Professor, Pitzer College, 2005-present
Teaching: Classical Sociological Theory; Contemporary Sociological
Theory; Sociology of Religion; Sociology of Secularity; Scandinavian
Culture and Society; Introduction to Sociology; Atheism, Secularism, and
Society; Sociology Through Film.
Guest Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark. 2005-2006.
Research: Secularization in Scandinavia.
Taught: Religion in the United States; Secularization in Scandinavia.
Affiliated Professor, Claremont Graduate University, 2002-present.
Teaching: Graduate seminar on the Sociology of Religion; Atheism
and Secularity.
Assistant Professor, Pitzer College, 1999-2005.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Pitzer College, 1998-1999.
Instructor, University of Oregon, 1996-1998."

by jaskaw @ 12.09.2010 - 20:25:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/12/nick-cohen-societies-without-god-are-more-benevolent-9366272/
'Protest the Pope!'

Read more at: http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk/

"Protest the Pope! Be there!

Thursday 16th September, 11am

A group called ːProtest the Pope Edinburghə will stage a static protest on the 16th September, at 11am, in
time for the Popemobileˈs parade.

Friday 17th September, 7pm

On the night before the big march, join guest host Peter Tatchell for a for a night of comedy, music and
secular revelry as we say ːNOPE!ə to the Pope during his visit to the UK. Visit the eventˈs page.

Saturday 18th September, 1.30 pm

Join the big march through London to oppose the state visit of Joseph Ratzinger to the UK!"

Read more at: http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk/

by jaskaw @ 13.09.2010 - 18:50:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/13/protest-the-pope-9371794/
Feedback for Post "'Protest the Pope!'"

FedupwithR [Member]
13.09.2010 @ 20:29

I wish I could be there. I hope thousands turn out. I also hope that the Pope will not be spared from the
knowledge that we know that he is guilty of covering up the ignoble crimes of his priests.
Iran hangs five for "anti-revolutionary" activities
and "acts against God"
Read more at: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68A18520100911?tr=y&auid=6978414

"Iran hanged five people accused of "anti-revolutionary" acts, including "moharebe" or waging war against
God, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Farzad Kamangar, Ali Haydarian, Farhad Vakili and Shirin Alam-Houli were members of the Party of Free
Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which took up arms in 1984 for
an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey and northwest Iran, IRNA said.
---
Like Iraq and Turkey, Iran has a large Kurdish minority, mainly living in the Islamic Republic's northwest and
west. The United States, Iran's arch foe, in February 2009 also branded PJAK as a terrorist organisation."

Read more at: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68A18520100911?tr=y&auid=6978414

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moharebeh
"Moharebeh (also muharebeh ) is the title of crime in Islamic law that has been translated in English language
media sources variously as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state," "enmity against God,"
or being an "enemy of God". It is a capital crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iranians executed after being charged with Moharebeh include Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, Arash
Rahmanipour, and Ehsan Fatahian. Adnan Hassanpour was sentenced to death for Moharebeh but that
sentence was overturned. Shia cleric Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who preaches that religion is separate
from politics, was reportedly charged with Moharebeh in 2007 by Iran's Special Court for the Clergy, but had
his sentence reduced to 11 years in prison after appeal. Student demonstrator Mohammad Amin Valian was
sentenced to death for Moharebeh in 2009, a sentence upheld by an appeals court in March 2010.
Most recently Mohammad Maleki, the 76-year-old former dean of Tehran University has been charged with it
for alleged "contact with unspecified foreign groups and working to undermine the Islamic system."

by jaskaw @ 13.09.2010 - 22:54:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/13/iran-hangs-five-for-anti-revolutionary-activities-and-acts-against-god-9374189/
Feedback for Post "Iran hangs five for "anti-revolutionary"
activities and "acts against God""

ely kils [Visitor]

14.09.2010 @ 15:43
WHy are these mental hypocrites allowed to be so wicked. That means that abusive priests and bishops should
be put to death but I dont see the Church doing this, and why are they not protesting to these Iran laws with
evil doers who want to kill because someone they believe is in the wrong whether they are or not. This god
has a lot to answer. Could anyone be so wicked as he or she or it, is made out to be.
If I had been this god I would have killed myself a long time before now, as killing is wrong,although I know
because it is written in the Bible to kill anyone who doesnt believe in a make believe god. it is right it cannot
be. How can you 'love your (thy) neighbour' if you only wish them harm.
Facebook disables the accounts for human rights
activists Mina Ahadi and Maryam Namazie
Read more at: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2010/09/facebook-has-disabled-my-facebook.html

"Update: I just found out that Facebook has also disabled Mina Ahadi's account - it is becoming quite clear
what this is all about, isn't it?
Here's what I had written earlier. We are working on a letter to the heads of Facebook on this.
****
Facebook has disabled my account. When I went to log in today, I found I could no longer access it. Other
than the below general note, I can't seem to find anyway to email or speak to someone about this to reinstate
it.
The reasons the general notes say it may be disabled are:
&#9632;Continued prohibited behavior after receiving a warning or multiple warnings from Facebook
(I have never received any warning - not even this time)
&#9632;Unsolicited contact with others for the purpose of harassment, advertising, promoting, dating, or
other inappropriate conduct.(I only contact people in groups of which I am admin for.)"

Read more at: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2010/09/facebook-has-disabled-my-facebook.html

http://www.facebook.com/notes/abbas-goya/mina-ahadi-and-maryam-namazies-accounts-disabled-on-fb-islamic-repub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Ahadi
"Mina Ahadi is the main figure of International Committee against executions and International Committee
against stoning.She is also the main founder of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims.
She is currently living and working in Germany and recently helped to gain the freedom of Nazanin Fateh in
Iran. Due to death-threats against her, she has been living under police protection from the moment of her
public appearance as the chairwoman of the Central Council of Ex-Muslim
On 20 October 2007 she was awarded the Secularist of the Year prize by the UK's National Secular Society."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Namazie
Maryam Namazie is a human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster. She is spokesperson for the One
Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws and
promotes citizenship rights and one secular law for all.
She is Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain which aims to break the taboo that comes with
renouncing Islam and to oppose apostasy laws and political Islam. She hosts and produces a weekly TV
International programme broadcast in the Middle East via New Channel TV.
Moreover, she is a National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS' 2005 Secularist of the Year
award winner; spokesperson of Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran;
Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association; Central Committee member of the Worker
Communist Party of Iran and co-editor of WPI Briefing. She is involved in the Third Camp against US
militarism and Islamic terrorism among other things. Her blog has been rated one of the top 100 atheist blogs
and she was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle magazine Quebec."

by jaskaw @ 14.09.2010 - 09:23:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/14/facebook-disables-the-accounts-for-human-rights-activists-mina-ahadi-and-mary
Feedback for Post "Facebook disables the accounts for
human rights activists Mina Ahadi and Maryam Namazie "

FedupwithR [Member]
15.09.2010 @ 22:01

What is their excuse for such an anti-democratic move?

France bans the burqa
Read more at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492011925494780.html?mod=fox_australian

"By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS And CHARLES FORELLE

PARISōFrance risked the wrath of the Islamic world on Tuesday by banning burqas and other full-body robes
worn by some Muslim women, in a long-debated move that shows the depth of concern over the rise of
Muslim culture in Europe.
The voteōpassed primarily by the center-right party of President Nicolas Sarkozy, with most opposition
Socialist Party lawmakers abstainingōcame as a number of European countries are trying to figure out how to
reconcile the values of modern Europe with more assertive expressions of Islamic faith.
Switzerland, for example, banned the construction of minarets after a referendum last year. Belgium and
Spain are discussing measures to outlaw similar full-body cloaks. In Sweden, long known as one of Europe's
most tolerant societies, an anti-immigration party that has called for Swedish Muslims to integrate more is
expected to win its first Parliamentary seat in this weekend's elections."

Read more at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492011925494780.html?mod=fox_australian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa
A burqa, also transliterated burkha, burka or burqua from Arabic burqu’ or burqa’ ) is an enveloping outer
garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions and, since 2007, by a few hundred ultra-orthodox Jewish
women for the purpose of hiding a woman's body when in public. It is worn over the usual daily clothing
(often a long dress or a shalwar kameez) and removed when the woman returns home (see purdah), out of the
view of men that are not her family.
The face-veil portion is usually a rectangular piece of semi-transparent cloth whose top side is sewn to
corresponding portion of the head-scarf, so that the veil hangs down loose from the scarf, and it can be turned
up if the woman wishes to reveal her face (otherwise the whole face would be covered). In other cases, the
niqāb part can be a side-attached cloth that covers the face below the eyes' region."

by jaskaw @ 15.09.2010 - 17:36:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/15/france-bans-the-burqa-9388580/
Feedback for Post "France bans the burqa "

FedupwithR [Member]
15.09.2010 @ 22:08

Thank goodness. It's bad enough that most Parisians have been wearing unrelenting black for years as it is,
without them covering their faces with it as well.
Philosopher Anthony Grayling: "Ratzinger should
be persona non grata -- and not a guest of the
queen."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,717428,00.html#ref=nlint

"Militant atheists want to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Britain over his alleged complicity in
covering up abuse by priests. In a SPIEGEL interview, the British philosopher Anthony Grayling explained
why he believes the pope is the head of a conspiracy and argues that the Vatican should not be a state.

Grayling: "Ratzinger should at least be persona non grata -- and not a guest of the queen. We now have the
very awkward situation of a person being invited and welcomed by the queen and the prime minister who is
the head of an organization that is involved in a serious conspiracy. But actually, the whole thought of a papal
state visit is just absurd."

Grayling: "The Vatican is no state. It has no permanent population, no native Vaticanians and a territory of
just 0.16 square miles (0.41 square kilometers). It is a garden in Rome with buildings on it. The idea that the
head of a religion living in this garden should be accorded all the same courtesies as a real president is a kind
of travesty."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Grayling
"Anthony Clifford Grayling, FRSA, FRSL (born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He is
Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College,
Oxford. He has an MA and a DPhil from Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the
Royal Society of Arts."

by jaskaw @ 15.09.2010 - 20:05:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/15/philosopher-anthony-grayling-ratzinger-should-be-persona-non-grata-and-not-a-
Feedback for Post "Philosopher Anthony Grayling:
"Ratzinger should be persona non grata -- and not a guest
of the queen.""

FedupwithR [Member]
15.09.2010 @ 22:14

How right he is. It's shameful that governments kowtow to this criminal. He should never have been invited to
Britain. I hope the Brits give him a hard time.
'Christianity scares captain Picard' (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Picard
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional Star Trek character primarily portrayed by the actor Sir Patrick
Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek
Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis. He also made an
appearance in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Depicted as deeply moral, highly logical, and cerebral, Picard is a master of diplomacy and debate who
resolves seemingly intractable issues between multiple parties. Though such resolutions are usually peaceful,
Picard is also shown using his remarkable tactical skills in situations when it is required.[citation needed]
Picard has a fondness for detective stories, Shakespeare, and horseback riding. He is frequently shown
drinking Earl Grey tea and issuing his famous taglines "Engage" (when going to warp) and "Make it so"
(when giving an order)."

by jaskaw @ 16.09.2010 - 10:34:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/16/christianity-scares-captain-picard-video-9395946/
Cardinal calls Britain "a third world country"
Read more at: http://www.newstatesman.com/2010/09/third-world-pope-cardinal

"The Pope will land in Edinburgh later this morning where he where he will meet the Queen and and parade
through the city before an open-air Mass in Glasgow.
But the visit has been overshadowed by Cardinal Walter Kasper, a senior aide to the Pope, who has pulled out
of the trip after saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World country". He told a
German newspaper: "England today is a secularised and pluralist country. When you land at Heathrow airport,
you sometimes think you've landed in a Third World country." He also complained of an "aggressive new
atheism" that had spread through Britain.
The Vatican insisted that the cardinal had not intended "any kind of slight" and had simply pulled out due to
illness. Officials claimed his "Third World" comment referred to the UK's multiethnic society."

Read more at: http://www.newstatesman.com/2010/09/third-world-pope-cardinal

by jaskaw @ 16.09.2010 - 14:32:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/16/cardinal-calls-britain-a-third-world-country-9397587/
New study: Imported imams slow down the
integration of Muslims in Germany
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,717512,00.html#ref=nlint

"In a few months, Aktürk and his wife and two children will move to Germany, as one of several hundred
imams the Turkish government sends there each year. Aktürk has never been to Germany before, and the only
Germans he has ever seen were tourists in Istanbul's historic district. But he didn't understand them, because
he doesn't speak German and they didn't speak Turkish.
When Aktürk starts his new job, he will be one of the 1,800 to 2,000 Muslim preachers in German mosques
who come to the country from abroad to provide the roughly 4 million Muslims in Germany with guidance in
matters of faith and life. They are "the key figures in integration," says Rauf Ceylan, a religious scholar in the
western German city of Duisburg. Unfortunately, most of them have a difficult enough time finding their own
bearings in this foreign country.
In the wake of the grim conclusions reached by Thilo Sarrazin, a former executive board member of
Germany's central bank, the Germans have launched into an impassioned debate over why so many Muslims
fail in the country -- in school, at work and in society. Hanover criminologist Christian Pfeiffer, who
interviewed 45,000 young people nationwide, describes one of the key reasons: "Imams from abroad, with no
understanding of the reality of life here in Germany, contribute substantially to the poor integration of young
German Muslims." According to Pfeiffer, the more devout Muslim youth also tend to be more isolated from
German society. Anyone who hopes to change this, says Pfeiffer, "has to start with the imams."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,717512,00.html#ref=nlint

by jaskaw @ 16.09.2010 - 19:44:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/16/new-study-imported-imams-slow-down-integration-of-muslims-in-germany-940
Pope compares atheism to Nazism
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515

"The Pope made his remarks in his opening address to the Queen at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
He said: "Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny
that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews,
who were thought unfit to live.
"As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the
exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of
society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny."

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_religious_views#Hitler.27s_reaction_to_atheism
"Hitler stated in a speech to the Stuttgart February 15, 1933: "Today they say that Christianity is in danger,
that the Catholic faith is threatened. My reply to them is: for the time being, Christians and not international
atheists are now standing at Germanyˈs fore. I am not merely talking about Christianity; I confess that I will
never ally myself with the parties which aim to destroy Christianity. Fourteen years they have gone arm in
arm with atheism. At no time was greater damage ever done to Christianity than in those years when the
Christian parties ruled side by side with those who denied the very existence of God. Germany's entire
cultural life was shattered and contaminated in this period. It shall be our task to burn out these manifestations
of degeneracy in literature, theater, schools, and the pressōthat is, in our entire cultureōand to eliminate the
poison which has been permeating every facet of our lives for these past fourteen years."

In a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933, Hitler stated: "We were convinced that the people needs
and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not
merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."

In a radio address October 14, 1933 Hitler stated "For eight months we have been waging a heroic battle
against the Communist threat to our Volk, the decomposition of our culture, the subversion of our art, and the
poisoning of our public morality. We have put an end to denial of God and abuse of religion. We owe
Providence humble gratitude for not allowing us to lose our battle against the misery of unemployment and
for the salvation of the German peasant."

In a speech delivered at Koblenz, August 26, 1934 Hitler states: "There may have been a time when even
parties founded on the ecclesiastical basis were a necessity. At that time Liberalism was opposed to the
Church, while Marxism was anti-religious. But that time is past. National Socialism neither opposes the
Church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary, it stands on the ground of a real Christianity. The Church's
interests cannot fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms of degeneracy in the world
of to-day, in our fight against the Bolshevist culture, against an atheistic movement, against criminality, and in
our struggle for the consciousness of a community in our national life, for the conquest of hatred and disunion
between the classes, for the conquest of civil war and unrest, of strife and discord. These are not
anti-Christian, these are Christian principles."

During negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of April 26, 1933 Hitler argued that "Secular
schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral
instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must
be derived from faith."

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/10/02/were-nazis-atheists-4813530/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/06/10/what-is-the-darkest-secret-of-christianity-8775257
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany

by jaskaw @ 16.09.2010 - 20:55:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/16/pope-compares-atheism-to-nazism-9401326/
Feedback for Post "Pope compares atheism to Nazism"

Tom Hall [Visitor]

16.09.2010 @ 21:52
Disgusting comment, My father and serveral uncles all ardent athiests served and saw action during the war to
defeat the nazis. Meanwhile what was current pope and his father a "good" catholic and police officer doing,
certainly not fighting against it.

linda [Visitor]

17.09.2010 @ 00:01
Gee I don't feel like a Nazi.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

18.09.2010 @ 17:41
Considering how complicit the Catholic Church was in helping the Nazis implement their "final solution", he
has a lot of nerve attempting to shift blame onto atheists. Although as Paula Kirby suggested, this is most
likely a calculated attempt to deflect criticism from the church for their own foul deeds. When in trouble, trot
out the 'my enemy is a Nazi' analogy.
'Pope's anti-condom message is sabotage in fight
against Aids'
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/bad-science-pope-anti-condom

By Ben Goldacre
"This week the pope is in London. You will have your own views on the discrimination against women, the
homophobia, and the international criminal conspiracy to cover up for mass child rape. My special interest is
his role in the 2 million people who die of Aids each year.
In May 2005, shortly after taking office, the pope made his first pronouncement on Aids, and came out against
condoms. He was addressing bishops from South Africa, where somebody dies of Aids every two minutes;
Botswana, where 23.9% of adults between 15 and 49 are HIV positive; Swaziland, where 26.1% of adults
have HIV; Namibia (a trifling 15%); and Lesotho, 23%.
This is continuing. In March 2009, on his flight to Cameroon (where 540,000 people have HIV), Pope
Benedict XVI explained that Aids is a tragedy "that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms,
which even aggravates the problems". In May 2009, the Congolese bishops conference made a happy
announcement: "In all truth, the pope's message which we received with joy has confirmed us in our fight
against HIV/Aids. We say no to condoms!"
---
I'm happy for you to suggest abstention. But sabotaging an effective intervention which prevents a disease that
kills 2 million people a year makes you a serious global public health problem."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/bad-science-pope-anti-condom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_in_Africa
"For the eleven countries in Africa with prevalence rates above 13%, life expectancy is 47.7 yearsō11.0 years
less than would be expected without HIV/AIDS.
The social impact of HIV/AIDS is most evident in the continent's orphans crisis. Approximately 12 million
children in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be orphaned by AIDS"
Swaziland's HIV epidemic has reduced life expectancy to only 32 years as of 2009, which is the lowest in the
world by six years. The next highest is 38 years in Angola, also from HIV. From another perspective,
HIV/AIDS currently causes 61% of all deaths in the country. With an unmatched crude death rate of 30 per
1,000 people per year, about 2% of Swaziland's total population dies of HIV/AIDS every yea
by jaskaw @ 17.09.2010 - 18:29:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/17/pope-s-anti-condom-message-is-sabotage-in-fight-against-aids-9410508/
Threats from Muslim extremists drive cartoonist
Molly Norris into hiding in Seattle on FBI's advice
Read more at:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-09-15/news/on-the-advice-of-the-fbi-cartoonist-molly-norris-disappears-from-view

By Mark D. Fefer from Seattle Weekly

"You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more
Molly.
The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she
is, as they put it, "going ghost": moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She
will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular
contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection programōexcept, as she notes, without the
government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer,
following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.
Norris views the situation with her customary sense of the world's complexity, and absurdity. When FBI
agents, on a recent visit, instructed her to always keep watch for anyone following her, she joked, "Well, at
least it'll keep me from being so self-involved!" It was, she says, the first time the agents managed a smile.
She likens the situation to cancerōit might basically be nothing, it might be urgent and serious, it might go
away and never return, or it might pop up again when she least expects it."

Read more at:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-09-15/news/on-the-advice-of-the-fbi-cartoonist-molly-norris-disappears-from-view
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Draw_Mohammed_Day
"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was a 2010 protest in support of free speech, specifically in opposition to
those who threaten violence against artists who draw representations of Muhammad. It began as a protest
against censorship of an American television show, South Park, "201" by its distributor, Comedy Central, in
response to death threats against some of those responsible for the segment. Observance of the day began with
a drawing posted on the Internet on April 20, 2010, accompanied by text suggesting that "everybody" create a
drawing representing Muhammad, on May 20, 2010, as a protest against efforts to limit freedom of speech.
U.S. cartoonist Molly Norris of Seattle, Washington, created the artwork in reaction to Internet death threats
that had been made against cartoonists Trey Parker and Matt Stone for depicting Muhammad in an episode of
South Park. Depictions of Muhammad are explicitly forbidden by a few hadith (Islamic texts), though not by
the Qur'an.
Postings on RevolutionMuslim.com (under the pen name Abu Talha al-Amrikee; later identified as Zachary
Adam Chesser) had said that Parker and Stone could wind up like Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who
was knifed and throat-cut to death by a Muslim extremist, who afterwards pinned a letter to his body with a
knife. The individuals running the website later denied that the postings were actual threats, although they
were widely perceived as such."

by jaskaw @ 18.09.2010 - 19:17:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/18/threats-from-muslim-extremists-drive-cartoonist-molly-norris-into-hiding-in-sea
'Facebook follows papal line on censorship'
Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/16/facebook_censorship/

By Jane Fae Ozimek

"What do the Pope and Facebook have in common? They both abhor public displays of nudity.
Facebook though may not go to quite the lengths of one medieval pope, who allegedly sponsored the mass
removal of every penis (of the statuary sort) in the Vatican - thereby giving rise to the legend of the papal
penis room, where the removed organs were then stored.
In fairness to Facebook, it claims that its latest censoring of nakedness on the net owes more to human error
than nanny corporatism.
According to Elinor Mills, a writer for CNET, a photo of Bliss Dance, a work of art, recently exhibited at the
Nevada Burning Man event was this week removed from Facebook because, according to Facebook, the
image violated the site's terms of use, which ban the posting of photos that contain nudity."

Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/16/facebook_censorship/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_register
"The Register ("El Reg" or "The Reg" to its staff and readers) is a British technology news and opinion
website. It was founded by John Lettice and Mike Magee in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection",
initially as an email service. Mike Magee left The Register in 2001 to start The Inquirer, and later the IT
Examiner and then TechEye.
The Register frequently uses sarcasm and satire in its articles, in the manner of the British satirical magazine
Private Eye, and often provides an iconoclastic stance e.g. referring to Google as the world's largest ad
broker[1], the iPad as the 'Jobsian fondle slab', and Second Life as "Sadville".[2] The Register occasionally
runs articles satirising selected people e.g., Captain Cyborg (Kevin Warwick), and Jimbo Wales, a member of
the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees."

by jaskaw @ 18.09.2010 - 22:51:55

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/18/facebook-follows-papal-line-on-censorship-9416427/
Richard Dawkins at 'Protest the Pope Rally' in
London Sept 2010 (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist
and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and
was a fellow of New College, Oxford.
Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view
of evolution and introduced the term meme. In 1982, he introduced into evolutionary biology an influential
concept, presented in his book The Extended Phenotype, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not
necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of
other organisms.
Dawkins is well known for his straightforward criticism of creationism and intelligent design. In his 1986
book The Blind Watchmaker, he argued against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a
supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he described evolutionary
processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker. He has since written several popular science books, and makes
regular television and radio appearances, predominantly discussing these topics."

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/06/10/what-is-the-darkest-secret-of-christianity-8775257/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/10/02/were-nazis-atheists-4813530/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2008/01/06/jacob_bronowski_and_the_final_truth~3536092/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2010/09/19/what-is-the-ugliest-single-religious-dogma-out-there-9418177/

by jaskaw @ 19.09.2010 - 01:29:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/18/richard-dawkins-at-protest-the-pope-rally-in-london-sept-2010-video-9416930/
Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins at 'Protest the Pope
Rally' in London Sept 2010 (video)"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

19.09.2010 @ 01:42
Well done, Prof. Dawkins!!

Marilyn LaCourt [Visitor]

http://www.lacourt-m.com
19.09.2010 @ 02:47
Hitler is an atheist like Obama is a Muslim.
Victoria Clark: 'Pastor Terry Jones is a product of
America's free market in religion'
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/victoria-clark-pastor-terry-jones-is-a-product-of-americas-free-m

By Victoria Clark:
"The Westˈs ill-conceived response to the horror of 9/11 has been compounded by men of God spreading
fear, hatred and mistrust of the Muslim world.
It's taken nine years for the Christian West to throw up a cleric as radically, fundamentally bellicose as some
of those produced by the Muslim world. The marvel, I would say, is not that it has, and proved beyond
reasonable doubt that any and every religion can breed monsters, but that it has not done so earlier.
Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Centre church in Florida, the Protestant clergyman who thinks
marking this ninth anniversary of 9/11 by burning copies of the Koran is a fine idea, may boast a congregation
of no more than 50, but there is one thing I'd be prepared to bet on. It won't be his potentially lethal bellicosity
that's stopped him attracting a congregation large enough to fill one of those 50,000-seater megachurches.
There'll be other, more humdrum reasons for his obscurity until now.
---
The cause of the abundance and proliferation of churches and sects in the US today has its roots in the fact
that theirs is a society that was founded by members of European sects dubbed heretic by the established
churches of their countries, by people forced to flee to practise their faith in freedom ʒ starting with our own
Puritans. Unfettered by any supervising umbrella institutions of established churches such those of Rome and
Canterbury, American churches have been free to grow tough and worldly and as much defined by the
personality and talents of their preachers as any Muslim mosque in the fight to survive against the ferocious
competition. The American pastor has a valuable tax-exempt charity status to help him but the onus is on him
to gather and galvanise a bigger congregation than his rivals; better sound systems and seating and crèches,
more jokes, more excitement, more thrills and more fun are what it is often about.
My guess is that a bonfire of the Korans just sounded like a lot of fun."

Victoria Clark's books include 'Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism', published by Yale

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/victoria-clark-pastor-terry-jones-is-a-product-of-americas-free-m

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones_%28pastor%29#Pastor_Terry_Jones
"The 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy arose when pastor Terry Jones of the small, Christian
non-denominational Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, United States, planned to burn
copies of the Qur'an on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which he called International
Burn a Koran Day. The planned Qur'an desecration event was widely condemned by politicians and religious
groups. Jones eventually declared the book-burning canceled and announced his intention to fly to New York
to meet with the imam of Park51, Feisal Abdul Rauf."
by jaskaw @ 19.09.2010 - 20:26:38

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/19/victoria-clark-pastor-terry-jones-is-a-product-of-america-s-free-market-in-religio
'Religious search engines filter results to weed out
temptations'
Read more at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/religious-search-engines-filter-results-weed-temptations/

"Seek and ye shall find. A number of new Internet search engines created by Christian, Jewish or Muslim
entities aim to filter out queries from Web users in a way that is more relevant to those users and keeps them
from temptation, alcohol and pornography.
"We think that the other search engines are way too 'main street' oriented. We wanted to provide a solution to
explore the Web in a safe environment, where you won't bump into explicit content or immoral websites, like
pornography," said Reza Sardeha, the Amsterdam-based founder of the Muslim-oriented search engine
I'mHalal.
If one types the world alcohol into imhalal.com, the search engine produces results that explain the Muslim
viewpoint on drinking. Type in "pornography," and the search engine produces... nothing."
---
For Christians, SeekFind offers "a research tool for people who are looking for biblical and theological
content from an evangelical Christian prospective," says founder Shea Houdmann, who operates from
Colorado Springs, Colorado."

Read more at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/religious-search-engines-filter-results-weed-temptations/

by jaskaw @ 20.09.2010 - 22:12:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/20/religious-search-engines-filter-results-to-weed-out-temptations-9428500/
Lawrence Krauss: Freeing women is the key in
fighting fundamentalism
Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-women-can-save-the-planet

By Lawrence Krauss:
"At six billion plus today, the earthˈs human population will reach more than nine billion by 2050, according
to estimates. If this many people consume energy at the current rate in the developed world, the planet will
need more than double the amount of power it consumes today. But energy is just one issue that humankind
will have to tackle to create a sustainable future. The root cause of the looming energy problemōand the key to
easing environmental, economic and religious tensions while improving public healthōis to address the
unending, and unequal, growth of the human population. And the one proven way to reduce fertility rates is to
empower young women by educating them.
---
In paternalistic societies where women have few rights, effecting change will be an uphill battle. For example,
the government we are now supporting with troops and infrastructure in Afghanistan has recently passed
legislation that food can be withheld from women who do not have sex with their husband and that women
cannot go out of the house without their husbandˈs permission. In countries of this sort that now receive
significant support from us, we need to make the empowerment of women a higher priority.
---
The long-term goal of reducing poverty, religious fundamentalism and overpopulation will be impossible to
reach until we free women around the world from the enslavement of ignorance. More fundamental is the fact
that education is a basic human right that has been systematically denied too many women for too long."

Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-women-can-save-the-planet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss
"Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space
Exploration, a professor in the physics department and director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State
University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek.
Krauss is one of the few living scientists that Scientific American has referred to as a 'public intellectual', and
is the only physicist ever to have been awarded the highest awards of all three major US Physics Societies: the
American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of
Physics. Krauss is also a critic of string theory, which he takes on in his 2005 book, Hiding in the Mirror. His
newest book, due for release in 2011, is entitled Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science."

by jaskaw @ 21.09.2010 - 19:21:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/21/lawrence-krauss-freeing-women-is-the-key-in-fighting-fundamentalism-9432684
Feedback for Post "Lawrence Krauss: Freeing women is the
key in fighting fundamentalism "

FedupwithR [Member]
21.09.2010 @ 19:49

It sounds great, but how?

Kenny Nipp [Visitor]

http://www.meetup.com/atheist-tulsa-ok/
21.09.2010 @ 21:41
Dr. Krauss is an eloquent speaker. He has the ability to explain highly complex theory's in a manner that the
common man can understand.
I recommend attending any speaking engagement he is featured.

atheistbruce [Member]
23.09.2010 @ 17:06

Both the Muslims & the Hindus treat women like cattle & there are about 1400M of them (women that is).
That sounds like a good place to start.
Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris on a live
videodebate on science and religion in the net
Watch the show at http://www.ustream.tv/simonandschuster#events

Richard Dawkins, author of The Greatest Show On Earth and Sam Harris, author of The Moral Landscape are
to discuss science and religion, friday, October 1 · 1:00pm - 2:00pm (1 pm EST / 10 am PST) in Ustream at
http://www.ustream.tv/simonandschuster#events

Register for the event in Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=155764067781869

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustream.tv
"Ustream.tv is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting
and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered
users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten million unique hits per
month."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29
"Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D.
in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He is the author of
The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation
(2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first book, and The Moral Landscape (2010)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist
and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and
was a fellow of New College, Oxford."

by jaskaw @ 21.09.2010 - 21:51:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/21/richard-dawkins-and-sam-harris-on-a-live-videodebate-on-science-and-religion-
TYT: Man faces execution for sorcery in
Saudi-Arabia (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Hussain_Sibat
"Ali Hussain Sibat is a Lebanese national and former host of the popular call-in show that aired on satellite
TV across the Middle East. On the show, he made predictions and gave advice to the audience.
In May 2008, Sibat was arrested on charges of "sorcery" in Saudi Arabia, where he traveled to perform the
Umrah pilgrimage. Saudi authorities sentenced him to execution by beheading.
Due to external pressure on the Saudi government, however, it is unclear whether the execution will be
enforced.
Ali Hussain Sibat, a devout Shi'ite Muslim, is the father of four (other reports say five) children.
Prior to his arrest, he lived with his family in the eastern Lebanese village al-Ain. His wife, Samira Rahmoon,
is a Sunni Muslim.
From Beirut, Sibat hosted a popular call-in show The Hidden that aired across the Middle East on the satellite
TV channel Sheherazade. On the show, which was in effect "a Middle Eastern psychic hot line," Sibat earned
$700 a month predicting the future, giving advice to his audience, casting spells and reciting incantations.
In May 2008, Mr. Sibat visited Saudi Arabia to perform the Umra pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Saudi
Arabia. While Sibat was in the city of Medina, members of the Saudi religious police, the Mutawa'een,
recognized him from his television show and then arrested him in his hotel room.
On November 9, 2009, a court in Medina sentenced Sibat to death on charges of "sorcery" after secret court
hearings where he had no legal counsel. The crime of sorcery is not defined in Saudi laws, leading it be
applied in arbitrary ways. The same year, Saudi authorities had also arrested dozens of others on such charges.
In January 2010, the Court of Appeal in Makkah accepted an appeal against Sibat's death sentence, on the
grounds that it was a premature verdict. On March 10, a court in Medina upheld the death sentence.
According to Amnesty International, "The judges said that he deserved to be sentenced to death because he
had practised 'sorcery' publicly for several years before millions of viewers and that his actions 'made him an
infidel.'" The case was then sent back to the Court of Appeal in Makkah for approval of the death sentence."
On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, Sibat's lawyer, May al-Khansa, informed the media that Sibat was to be
executed that upcoming Friday April 2 following after noon prayers.
Sibat's case, particularly as his scheduled execution neared, elicited widespread media coverage, appeals by
international human rights groups and intervention by several Lebanese government officials.
On Friday though, the execution did not occur. Al-Khansa stated that Lebanon's justice minister told Sibat the
execution would not occur that day, though it was still not clear whether the beheading had been waived or
only postponed."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Turks_%28talk_show%29
"The Young Turks is a progressive Internet talk show via live web stream and YouTube and talk radio show
airing on Sirius Satellite Radio. It is Sirius's first original programming.The Young Turks claims to be the first
Internet TV news show. Video of the show is streamed daily on their website and available as a podcast.´"
by jaskaw @ 21.09.2010 - 22:14:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/21/man-faces-execution-for-sorcery-in-saudi-arabia-video-9434389/
Feedback for Post "TYT: Man faces execution for sorcery in
Saudi-Arabia (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
22.09.2010 @ 10:15

Crazy Saudis. This is a good show I hope it does well.

atheistbruce [Member]
22.09.2010 @ 20:07

Every time we fill our gas tank we send another contribution to these wonderful Saudi friends!
'Norwegian princess Martha Louise claims she can
contact the dead '
Read more at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297467

"Oslo - Princess Martha Louise of Norway stated last week in an interview that she can establish connections
with the spirit of dead people and intended to take a course to improve her ability.
Martha Louise, 38, revealed last week her ːability to establish a relationship with the spirits from beyondə in
an interview with Stavanger newspaper Aftenbladet.
"It is not difficult to contact the dead as well as the angels. We can establish contact at any time, whenever we
wish," said the princess according to Aftenbladet.
The princess arranged for her and a colleague to take a course to improve her skills for contacting angels at a
facility owned by the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS)."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297467#ixzz10HzMeBpT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Louise
"Princess Märtha Louise of Norway (born 22 September 1971 in Oslo) is the only daughter of King Harald V
and Queen Sonja. She is fourth in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, after her brother and his two
children.
On 22 June 2007, Märtha Louise and business partner, former ship mechanic Elisabeth Samnøy, announced
the planned opening of a new private school, Astarte Education, in Oslo.
According to the information on the company's official webpage, the school will offer a three year program, at
the cost of 12,000 Norwegian kroner (about 2100 US$) per semester, in which students will be introduced to
the techniques of healing and reading. Märtha Louise also promised that the school will teach students to
communicate with angels. The slogan of the school is "Use angels and your own power to create miracles in
your life". The course began on 22 August 2007 and the classes filled up immediately.
The address listed on the website is the princess' own home address at her home in Lommedalen, west of
Oslo, and the phone number listed on the official website is the Royal Palace phone number."

by jaskaw @ 22.09.2010 - 21:43:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/22/norwegian-princess-martha-louise-claims-she-can-contact-the-dead-9442756/
Feedback for Post "'Norwegian princess Martha Louise
claims she can contact the dead '"

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
22.09.2010 @ 22:38
Honours this strange lady has received only because of the simple accident of birth:

* Norway Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
* Norway The Royal House Centenary Medal
* Norway Haakon VIIs Centenary Medal
* Norway Olav Vs Commemorative Medal of 30. January 1991
* Norway Olav Vs Jubilee Medal 1957-1982
* Norway Olav Vs Centenary Medal
* Norway Royal Family Order of King Olav V of Norway
* Norway Royal Family Order of King Harald V of Norway
* Denmark Knight of the Elephant
* Finland Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose
* Iceland Grand cross of the Order of the Falcon
* Jordan Grand Cross of the Order of Al-Kawkab Al Urdoni (Order of the Star of Jordan)
* Portugal Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique
* Spain Grand Cross of the Spanish Order of Merit
* Sweden Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star
* Sweden King Carl XVI Gustaf's 50th Anniversary Medal

Source: Wikipedia

FedupwithR [Member]
23.09.2010 @ 09:44

I hope they mean something to her!

FedupwithR [Member]
23.09.2010 @ 09:47

I would of thought that Royalty could have afforded to give her to a decent education.

atheistbruce [Member]
23.09.2010 @ 16:58

Maybe the Scandinavian royal families have been doing too much inbreeding?
Textbooks too pro-Islam for the Texas Board of
Education now
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/education/23texas.html?_r=1&hp

"HOUSTON ō Some conservative members of the Texas Board of Education assert that the history books
used in this state have a pro-Islamic bias, and they are upset about it.
Never shy about wading into the culture wars, they are planning to vote Friday for a resolution that would
send a blunt message to textbook publishers: Do not present a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian version of history if
you want to sell books in one of the nationˈs largest markets.
ːThe purpose of this resolution is to ensure there is balanced treatment of divergent groups,ə Gail Lowe, the
chairwoman of the board, said. ːIn the past, the textbooks have had some bias against Christianity.ə
The resolution was written and submitted to the board this summer by, Randy Rives, who as a member of the
school board in Odessa, Tex., pushed through a Bible study curriculum."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/education/23texas.html?_r=1&hp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Board_of_Education#State_Board_of_Education
"TEA is overseen by a 15-member State Board of Education, elected from single-member districts for four
years. TEA is managed by a Commissioner of Education (as of 2007, Robert Scott) who is appointed by the
Governor of Texas. The board devises policies and sets academic standards for Texas public schools as well
as oversees the $17.5 billion Permanent School Fund and selects textbooks for Texas' 4.7 million
schoolchildren.

Texas State Board of Education:

Gail Lowe Republican Chair
Ken Mercer Republican Vice Chair
Bob Craig Republican
Terri Leo Republican
David Bradley Republican
Barbara Cargill Republican
Don McLeroy Republican
Cynthia Noland Dunbar Republican
Patricia Hardy Republican
Geraldine Miller Republican
Mavis B. Knight Democrat
Rene Nuñez Democrat
Mary Helen Berlanga Democrat
Rick Agosto Democrat
Lawrence A. Allen, Jr. Democrat"
by jaskaw @ 23.09.2010 - 20:51:50

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/23/textbooks-too-pro-islam-for-the-texas-board-of-education-now-9450104/
Feedback for Post "Textbooks too pro-Islam for the Texas
Board of Education now"

atheistbruce [Member]
27.09.2010 @ 18:09

I do believe that all Texans are intellectually qualified to be Muslims.

Religiously motivated right-wing settlers make life
difficult in Hebron
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,719203,00.html#ref=nlint

"The center of the city, the second largest in the West Bank, is no longer the lively place it once was. Now, a
Jewish settlement dominates the heart of the city. Ninety families have settled here -- a right-wing,
ideologically motivated group interested in "taking back" Hebron from the Palestinians.
The result is nothing short of a ghost town guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. For the benefit of 800 Jews
living in Hebron, a city of 170,000 people, Palestinian life in the city center has come to a standstill.
Indeed, a visit to Hebron can destroy any hopes that the recently started Middle East peace talks might find
success. It is here in Hebron that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank shows its ugliest face.
---
In Kiryat Arba, a separate settlement at the edge of town, the settlers have erected a monument to Baruch
Goldstein. A Jewish doctor, Goldstein stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque -- known to Jews as the Tomb of the
Patriarchs -- in Hebron in 1994 and killed 29 praying Muslims.
There are both religious and political reasons for why the settlers have sought out Hebron. On the one hand,
the Tomb of the Patriarchs is revered as the burial site of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob
and Leah. Its religious importance for the Jewish people is second only to Jerusalem. On the other hand,
however, the settlements are seen as recompense for the 1929 massacre of Jewish residents of Hebron at the
hands of Palestinians."

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,719203,00.html#ref=nlint

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebron

by jaskaw @ 23.09.2010 - 21:09:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/23/religiously-motivated-right-wing-settlers-make-life-difficult-in-hebron-9450197
Feedback for Post "Religiously motivated right-wing
settlers make life difficult in Hebron "

atheistbruce [Member]
27.09.2010 @ 18:06

I have been hearing about Middle East peace talks for at least the last 50 years & ceased believing in them
decades ago.
Iranian prosecutors demand death penalty for
'blogfather'
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8020366/Iranian-prosecutors-demand-death-penalty-for-b

"Iranian prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for a writer known as the "blogfather" who was put on
secret trial earlier this year, according to his family.
Hossein Derakhshan, 35, who has both Iranian and Canadian nationality, won his nickname after developing a
blog platform for Persian characters that was widely copied by online activists and commentators.
While living in Canada and Britain he became known as a defender of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's
president, against attacks from his many critics in the West. But he also went on a one-man peace mission to
Israel, trying to show an Israeli perspective on conflicts in the Middle East to Iranians and also to "humanise"
Iranians for his hosts.
He was arrested within weeks of his voluntary return to Iran in 2008. His alleged offences include working
with "hostile" governments, propaganda against the Islamic establishment, propaganda in favour of
anti-revolutionary groups, and insulting religious sanctities."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8020366/Iranian-prosecutors-demand-death-penalty-for-b

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossein_Derakhshan
"Hossein Derakhshan (Persian: ‫&رد نيسح‬#1582;‫ ;ناش‬born January 7, 1975), also known as Hoder, is an
Iranian blogger. He is credited with starting the blogging revolution in Iran and is called the father of Persian
blogging by many journalists. He also helped to promote podcasting in Iran.
In December, 2000, Derakhshan moved to Toronto, Canada. On September 25, 2001, he started his weblog in
the Persian language, using Unicode. It was titled Sardabir: khodam, or "Editor: Myself".
He later moved his manually maintained weblog to Blogger.com, which was not supporting Unicode at the
time. He also prepared a step-by-step guide in Persian on how other Persian writers can start their weblogs
using Blogger.com and the Unicode standard.
Derakhshan spoke at the Wikimania 2005 conference in Frankfurt, Germany regarding the complementary use
of wikis and blogs to aid political reform and the growth of democracy in Iran and other countries.
On leaving Iran, he was shortly detained and summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence. A few days later he
was interrogated by an intelligence official over the content of his blog and was forced to sign an apology
before being allowed to leave Iran. But after leaving Iran, he published a report on what happened on his
website."
by jaskaw @ 24.09.2010 - 07:45:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/24/iranian-prosecutors-demand-death-penalty-for-blogfather-9452098/
Feedback for Post "Iranian prosecutors demand death
penalty for 'blogfather'"

Corey [Visitor]
http://www.coreymondello.com
25.09.2010 @ 14:23
Conservative Christians in America must be so jelous that a country has the power to legally kill someone
who speaks out against them, someone"different". I bet this brings back memories of the "good ole' days" to
them; witch burning, lynching of black people, killing of others from different denominations of the same
religion.

atheistbruce [Member]
27.09.2010 @ 17:54

Those incompetent Iranian prosecutors forgot to charge him with being an enemy of god.
Daniel Dennett: 'The Evolution of Confusion'
(video)

"Dan Dennett talks about purposely-confusing theology and how it's used. He also describes his new project
interviewing clergyman who secretly don't believe anymore, and introduces a new term: "Deepity."
Dan Dennett is the author of many excellent books, including "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural
Phenomenon" and "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". He is also featured in the video "The Four Horsemen" along
with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens."

Download Quicktime Version

Small:
http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fc0116791.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com%2FDennett-AAI
720p HD:
http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fc0116791.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com%2FDennett-AAI

Watch "The Four Horsemen" in HD on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9DKhc1pcDFM%26fe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett
"Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942 in Boston) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist
whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology,
particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the co-director
of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and a University
Professor at Tufts University. Dennett is a noted atheist and secularist, a member of the Secular Coalition for
America advisory board, as well as a prominent advocate of the Brights movement."

by jaskaw @ 25.09.2010 - 12:17:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/25/daniel-dennett-the-evolution-of-confusion-video-9458754/
Feedback for Post "Daniel Dennett: 'The Evolution of
Confusion' (video)"

Tatiana Santaras [Visitor]

25.09.2010 @ 21:21
http://savagespirit.wordpress.com/

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
25.09.2010 @ 22:25
Tatjana, thanks for the link as now everybody can see what kind of simpleminded fanaticism does Daniel
Dennettoppose with all of his learning, skill, imagination and intellect.

FedupwithR [Member]
26.09.2010 @ 20:54

Thank you,I enjoyed re watching this video even more this time.
Ah! How are we going to bring down religion?

RichardT [Member]
28.09.2010 @ 01:25

A tremendous lecture! But I object a little bit, because Dennett disparages his atheistic preachers' intellects in
comparison to Father Coyne, but note that the preachers came to the correct conclusion about God, whereas
Coyne did not!

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
28.09.2010 @ 07:27
Daer Richard, I'm a bit confused here; how do you know which is the correct conclusion? I fear that you are
just guessing here, as were the preachers.

Stephen Meiner [Visitor]

12.10.2010 @ 05:08
Does anyone want to know what is right? Or are they more interested in appearing right themselves? Sorry,
Daniel, but I didn't even know who you were when I chose the title of my book: The Evolution of Confusion.
Not much competition from Stephen Meiner, though I would welcome some sincere conversation.
'Yes, There Is Still Book Banning in the United
States'
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberta-stevens/yes-there-is-still-book-b_b_738679.html?ref=fb&src=sp

By Roberta Stevens, President, American Library Association

"Throughout the country, most children are starting a new academic year. Teachers are sending out lists of
required readings, and parents are beginning to shop for books. In some cases, classics like The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird may be missing from the curriculum or
are unavailable at the school library due to challenges by parents or administrators.
A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or banned from
the school curriculum. Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom
has recorded more than 11,000 book challenges, including 460 in 2009. About three out of four of all
challenges target material in schools or school libraries, and one in four target material in public libraries. The
Office for Intellectual Freedom estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded.
---
Danger does not arise from viewpoints other than our own; the danger lies in allowing others to decide for us
and our communities which reading materials are appropriate!"

Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberta-stevens/yes-there-is-still-book-b_b_738679.html?ref=fb&src=sp

List of books banned by governments:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_banning
"Banned books are books to which free access is not permitted. The practice of banning books is a form of
censorship, and often has political, religious or moral motivations.
Bans on books can be enacted at the national or subnational level, and can carry legal penalties for their
infraction. Books may also be challenged at a local, community level. As a result, books can be removed from
schools or libraries, although these bans do not extend outside of that area. Similarly, religions may issue lists
of banned books ʒ a historical example being the Roman Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum ʒ
which do not always carry legal force."

by jaskaw @ 26.09.2010 - 00:47:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/25/yes-there-is-still-book-banning-in-the-united-states-9462001/
Lawrence Krauss: 'How to spot quantum
quackery?'
Read more at: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/20/5144889-how-to-spot-quantum-quackery

"In the last of a series of columns written for Scientific American, Krauss says "no area of physics stimulates
more nonsense in the public arena than quantum mechanics." His list of "worst abusers" includes inspirational
author Deepak Chopra, the best-selling book "The Secret" and the whole field of Transcendental Meditation.
So what constitutes quantum quackery? Krauss discussed his criteria ln our interview last week. Here's an
edited transcript:
---
What quantum mechanics doesn't change about the universe is, if you want to change things, you still have to
do something. You can't change the world by thinking about it.
We are connected to the world by many things: by light and sound and heat. We do, at subatomic scale,
behave quantum mechanically. But we behave like classical objects for a reason: We're big, we have lots of
particles, they interact. All the weirdness of quantum mechanics gets washed out on the scale that we can
experience. That's why we experience a classical world.
---
Quantum mechanics is often quoted as the explanation for many things, because it's so weird that people latch
onto it as a hope, to explain everything that they would like to believe about the universe.
---
Often, people who are trying to sell whatever it is they're trying to sell try to justify it on the basis of science.
Everyone knows quantum mechanics is weird, so why not use that to justify it? ... I don't know how many
times I've heard people say, "Oh, I love quantum mechanics because I'm really into meditation, or I love the
spiritual benefits that it brings me." But quantum mechanics, for better or worse, doesn't bring any more
spiritual benefits than gravity does."

Read more at: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/20/5144889-how-to-spot-quantum-quackery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss
"Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space
Exploration, a professor in the physics department and director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State
University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of Star Trek.His newest book,
due for release in 2011, is entitled Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science."
by jaskaw @ 27.09.2010 - 22:11:08

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/27/lawrence-krauss-how-to-spot-quantum-quackery-9474462/
New extremely cruel stoning video emerges from
Pakistan
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/stoning-video-could-hit-support-for-militants-2091314.html?emv_mid=

Reuters
"Turbaned men in Pakistan gather around a woman with a black hood over her head. She sits on the ground
while they pick up large stones and repeatedly throw them at her until she lies motionless, stretched in the dirt.
The stoning, in the north-west of the country, was apparently carried out by Pakistani Taliban militants,
incensed because she was seen out with a man. It was shown in a video obtained by a Dubai television
station.The footage is a stark reminder that militants still control areas of north-west Pakistan and impose their
harsh version of Islam at will.
Al Aan television, which focuses on women's issues in the Arab world, said it obtained the tape from its
sources. It was not possible to verify its authenticity or when it was filmed."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/stoning-video-could-hit-support-for-militants-2091314.html?emv_mid=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_North-West_Pakistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning

by jaskaw @ 28.09.2010 - 10:19:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/28/new-extremely-cruel-stoning-video-emerges-from-pakistan-9476487/
Feedback for Post "New extremely cruel stoning video
emerges from Pakistan"

atheistbruce [Member]
28.09.2010 @ 14:33

This is Sharia law in action: it applies to all, not just the militants. Let's stop deceiving ourselves.
Christian group declares a junction of a major road
'cursed' in Britain
Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/27/m25_curse/

"A group of Christian evangelicals has declared junction 9 of the M25 "hexed" and is staging regular prayer
meetings to cleanse the benighted interchange.
According to the Surrey Advertiser, Gerald Coates of the Pioneer Engage Church in Leatherhead has
attributed a rash of accidents and footbridge suicides around the junction to someone "motivated by dark
forces".
Coates believes the malefactor has been recording evil messages onto cassette tapes which are then unspooled
to enclose and hence curse their target areas.
The abundance of unspooled tapes in the area were proof of the malevolent plan, he told the paper."

Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/27/m25_curse/

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2079034_prayer_vigil_to_combat_motorway_accidents_curse
"Gerald Coates, of the Pioneer Engage Church in Epsom Road, Leatherhead, believes someone "motivated by
dark forces" could have been recording messages of evil onto cassette tapes and then strewing the reel around
areas they wish to curse.
Mr Coates, who lives in Effingham, said he had found large amounts of tape reels in the area, including
around the roundabouts that lead onto junction 9 of the motorway.
He believes this could be the explanation for what he described as a "wholly disproportionate" number of
crashes on the Leatherhead section of the M25, as well as the number of people who have taken their lives by
jumping from footbridges."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_motorway
"The M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a 117-mile (188 km) orbital motorway that almost encircles
Greater London in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century, a few
sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it was
completed in 1986. The M25 is one of the world's longest orbital roads and one of the busiest and most
congested parts of the British motorway network. 196,000 vehicles were recorded in a single day near London
Heathrow Airport. Plans to widen additional sections to eight lanes (four each way) were scaled back in 2009
in response to rising costs."

by jaskaw @ 28.09.2010 - 10:53:00

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/28/christian-group-declares-a-junction-of-a-major-road-cursed-in-britain-9476682/
Feedback for Post "Christian group declares a junction of a
major road 'cursed' in Britain"

atheistbruce [Member]
28.09.2010 @ 14:19

I bet this is one of Tony Bliar's faith-based initiatives?

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

28.09.2010 @ 23:18
Next thing you know, they'll be burning witches again.
'It's Time to Fight Back Against Death Threats by
Islamic Extremists'
Read more at: http://www.legal-project.org/790/its-time-to-fight-back-against-death-threats-by

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Daniel Huff

"Earlier this year, after Comedy Central altered an episode of "South Park" that had prompted threats because
of the way it depicted Islam's prophet Muhammad, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proposed an "Everybody
Draw Muhammad Day." The idea was, as she put it, to stand up for the 1st Amendment and "water down the
pool of targets" for extremists.
The proposal got Norris targeted for assassination by radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar Awlaki, who has
been linked to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and also to several of the
9/11 hijackers. This month, after warnings from the FBI, Norris went into hiding. The Seattle Weekly said
that Norris was "moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity."
It's time for free-speech advocates to take a page from the abortion rights movement's playbook. In the 1990s,
abortion providers faced the same sort of intimidation tactics and did not succumb. Instead, they lobbied for a
federal law making it a crime to threaten people exercising reproductive rights and permitting victims to sue
for damages. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, passed in 1994 by solid bipartisan
margins. A similar act is needed to cover threats against free-speech rights.
---
If we leave our artists, activists and thinkers alone to weather the assault, they will succumb and we will all
suffer the consequences."

Read more at: http://www.legal-project.org/790/its-time-to-fight-back-against-death-threats-by

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali
"Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born Ayaan Hirsi Magan; 13 November 1969) is a Dutch feminist activist, writer, and
politician. She is the daughter of the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi
Magan Isse. She is a prominent critic of Islam, and her screenplay for Theo Van Gogh's movie Submission led
to death threats."

by jaskaw @ 28.09.2010 - 22:43:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/28/it-s-time-to-fight-back-against-death-threats-by-islamic-extremistsae-9481805/
A new study: Atheists know more about religions
than religious people (video)

A new study from the Pew Research Center says few Americans are well-informed when it comes to the
history and rituals of their own religions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_Research_Center
"The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides
information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its
projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Research Center claims to be a strictly
non-advocacy organization, while the Pew Charitable Trusts supports advocacy and non-advocacy projects.
The Trusts, a single entity, is the successor to and sole beneficiary of seven charitable funds established
between 1948 and 1979 by the adult children of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary
Anderson Pew. The four co-founders were J. Howard Pew, Mary Ethel Pew, Joseph N. Pew, Jr., and Mabel
Pew Myrin."

by jaskaw @ 28.09.2010 - 23:28:41

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/28/a-new-study-atheists-know-more-about-religions-than-religious-people-video-94
Feedback for Post "A new study: Atheists know more about
religions than religious people (video)"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

30.09.2010 @ 00:21
This is surprisingly unsurprising, given the way many of us become atheists in the first place.
Canadian-Iranian blogger sentenced to 19 years in
jail in Iran
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11430863

"An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent Iranian-Canadian blogger to more than 19 years in jail, rights
groups and Iranian media say.
Hossein Derakhshan was charged with "propagating against the regime" and "co-operating with hostile
states".
Mr Derakhshan was arrested in 2008 during a visit to the country.
He is credited with launching Iran's blogging revolution. Originally critical of the government, he later backed
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Derakhshan was also sentenced for promoting counter-revolutionary groups, insulting Islamic thought and
religious figures and managing obscene websites, Mashreq news website reported."

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11430863

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossein_Derakhshan
"Hossein Derakhshan (Born January 7, 1975), also known as Hoder, is an Iranian blogger. He is credited with
starting the blogging revolution in Iran and is called the father of Persian blogging by many journalists. He
also helped to promote podcasting in Iran."

by jaskaw @ 29.09.2010 - 16:03:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/29/canadian-iranian-blogger-sentenced-to-19-years-in-jail-in-iran-9488010/
Markos Moulitsas: American Taliban (video)

Watch the video at Fora.tv:

http://fora.tv/2010/09/10/Markos_Moulitsas_American_Taliban#Does_the_Term_American_Taliban_Go_Too_Far

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markos_Moulitsas
"Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga (English pronunciation: /ˈm&#593;rko&#650;s muːˈliːtsəs/; born September
11, 1971), often known by his username and former military nickname "Kos" (kōz), is the founder and
publisher of Daily Kos, a blog focusing on liberal and Democratic Party politics in the United States. He is
also a weekly columnist at the Washington, D.C. newspaper, The Hill, and a contributing columnist at
Newsweek.
Moulitsas currently resides in Berkeley, California, with his wife and two children.
After graduating from law school, Moulitsas moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a
project manager at a web development shop. He founded Daily Kos in May 2002, and has managed the blog
as a full-time occupation since early 2004.

Since its creation Daily Kos has grown to become the largest progressive community blog in the United
States, with over 215,000 registered users and 2.5 million unique viewers per month as of August 2009.
The blog's popularity has attracted the attention of many Democratic senators, congressmen, governors and
candidates who have posted on the site, including Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, former President
Jimmy Carter,and President Barack Obama."

by jaskaw @ 29.09.2010 - 19:43:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/29/markos-moulitsas-american-taliban-video-9489394/
The new British Labour leader Ed Miliband does
not believe in God
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/ed-miliband/8032163/Ed-Miliband-I-dont-believe-in-God.html

"Mr Miliband had previously said his religious views were a ''private matter'', and his declaration means two
of the three leaders of major British political parties are self-proclaimed atheists.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, also confirmed he does not believe shortly after being named Liberal
Democrat leader, while David Cameron last year said religious faith was ''part of who I am'' but admitted he
did not go to church regularly.
The Labour leader's atheism puts him in stark contrast to his predecessors Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, for
whom religion was a central part of their lives.
In an interview on Radio 5 Live, Mr Miliband was asked by presenter Nicky Campbell: ''Do you believe in
God?''
The Labour leader replied: ''I don't believe in God personally, but I have great respect for those people who
do."

Read more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/ed-miliband/8032163/Ed-Miliband-I-dont-believe-in-God.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Miliband
"Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is the Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the
Opposition of the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since
2005 and served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Gordon Brown.
Born in London, Miliband graduated from Oxford University and the London School of Economics,
becoming first a Labour Party researcher, and rising to become one of Chancellor Gordon Brown's confidants,
being appointed Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers. Miliband was elected the
Member of Parliament for the South Yorkshire constituency of Doncaster North in the 2005 general election.
As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed Miliband as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister
for the Cabinet Office in his first Cabinet on 28 June 2007. Miliband was subsequently promoted to the post
of Secretary of State at the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change, a position he held from
3 October 2008 to 11 May 2010. On 25 September 2010 he was elected Leader of the Labour Party with the
support of 50.654% of the electoral college.
He is the son of Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband and the younger brother of David Miliband, a leading Labour
politician who also contested and was narrowly defeated in the 2010 Labour Leadership contest by his
brother. Together the two were the first siblings to sit simultaneously in the British Cabinet since Edward,
Lord Stanley and his brother Oliver in 1938."

by jaskaw @ 29.09.2010 - 22:53:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/29/the-new-british-labour-leader-ed-miliband-does-not-believe-in-god-9490534/
Feedback for Post "The new British Labour leader Ed
Miliband does not believe in God"

atheistbruce [Member]
30.09.2010 @ 17:43

So he does not believe in god, but has great respect for those who do, like Cameron. Hence, he has no respect
for those who don't believe in god, including himself & Clegg? Will this man go far in politics?

FedupwithR [Member]
02.10.2010 @ 12:33

He will go further than if he had said. "I don't believe in doG personally and what's more I see no reason to
respect those who do"

What is needed, is a statement that one can respect and individual without respecting his supernatural beliefs.
The Sound of Science (music video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_evolutionary_thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_creation-evolution_controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation-evolution_controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_support_for_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_common_descent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeogenetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_genetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_drift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_%28biology%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_flow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_genetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution

The cladistic line of descent (taxonomic rank) of homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans) is as follows:

domain: eukaryotes (2,100,000,000 years ago)

kingdom: animalia (590,000,000 years ago)
phylum: chordata (530,000,000 years ago)
subphylum: vertebrata (505,000,000 years ago)
class: mammalia (220,000,000 years ago)
subclass: theriiformes
infraclass: eutheria (125,000,000 years ago)
magnorder: boreoeutheria
superorder: euarchontoglires (supraprimates) (100,000,000 years ago)
order: primates (75,000,000 years ago)
suborder: haplorrhini (tarsiers, monkeys, apes, "dry-nosed" primates) (40,000,000 years ago)
infraorder: simiiformes (simians, "higher" primates)
parvorder: catarrhini ("narrow nosed" primates) (30,000,000 years ago)
superfamily: hominoidea (apes) (28,000,000 years ago)
family: hominidae (great apes) (15,000,000 years ago)
subfamily: homininae (8,000,000 years ago)
tribe: hominini (5,800,000 years ago)
subtribe: hominina (3,000,000 years ago)
genus: homo (2,500,000 years ago)
species: homo sapiens (500,000 years ago)
sub-species: homo sapiens sapiens (200,000 years ago)

by jaskaw @ 30.09.2010 - 21:18:01

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/30/the-sound-of-science-music-video-9495589/
Feedback for Post "The Sound of Science (music video)"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

02.10.2010 @ 01:43
Musical talent aside...I enjoyed this very much!
CFI video contest winner is "In the Cards"
"The Center for Inquiry is pleased to announce that Gregory Walsh and John Schmid of Maryland are the
Grand Prize winners of its Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest, which asked contestants to submit
short videos in the form of a public service announcement that addresses the importance of free expression."

Read more at: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/campaign_for_free_expression

Second-place and an award of $1000 went to Reilly Donovan of Washington for his video "The Loud
Silence."

Third-place went to Mia Holley of New Jersey for her video "PSA Freedom of Speech."

by jaskaw @ 30.09.2010 - 22:30:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/09/30/cfi-video-contest-winner-is-in-the-cards-9496374/
Antievolutionism creeps into a marine science
textbook in Florida
Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/09/antievolutionism-marine-science-textbook-006197

"A sidebar in a marine science textbook recommended for approval in Florida is "packed with good ol'
fashioned creationist language," Florida Citizens for Science charges. The text in question, Life on an Ocean
Planet (Current Publishing, 2011), was recently recommended for state approval by the state's instructional
materials adoption committee on a 7-2 vote, according to the education blog of the St. Petersburg Times
(September 22, 2010). But as FCFS's president Joe Wolf wrote to Florida Department of Education
Commissioner Eric Smith, the sidebar on "Questions about the Origin and Development of Life" is
"simultaneously actively misinforming, at odds with state standards, and ultimately irrelevant to marine
science." Smith has the final say in the textbook adoption process, and Wolf recommended that the sidebar
"should be removed entirely, as there is so little information that is either correct or useful to make it worth
retaining."
The sidebar makes a variety of historical and scientific errors. For example, it claims that in the Origin of
Species "Darwin proposed that life arose from nonliving matter"; it equates microevolution with genetic drift;
and it contends that selective breeding demonstrates genetic drift. Moreover, although the sidebar
acknowledges that "the vast majority of biologists (probably more than 95%)" accept evolution, it also airs,
without attempting to debunk, a variety of creationist claims (which are attributed to unnamed "skeptics").
Among these claims: that the fossil record "does not contain the many transitional species one would expect,"
that "evolution doesn't adequately explain how a complex structure ... could come to exist through infrequent
random mutations," that transitional features could not be favored by natural selection, and that "the
hypotheses that ... chemicals can lead to abiogenesis are highly debatable."

Read more at: http://ncse.com/news/2010/09/antievolutionism-marine-science-textbook-006197

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans
"The cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are marine mammal descendants of land mammals. Their
terrestrial origins are indicated by:
* Their need to breathe air from the surface;
* The bones of their fins, which resemble the limbs of land mammals; and
* The vertical movement of their spines, characteristic more of a running mammal than of the horizontal
movement of fish.
The question of how land animals evolved into ocean-going leviathans had been a mystery for a long time,
owing to gaps in the fossil record. However, recent discoveries in Pakistan have clarified many of these
questions, and revealed several stages in the transition of the cetaceans from land to sea."

by jaskaw @ 01.10.2010 - 19:30:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/01/antievolutionism-creeps-into-a-marine-science-textbook-in-florida-9501743/
A Somali youth's journey from Islam to atheism
(video)

http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia
"Somalia (pronounced /so&#650;ˈm&#593;ːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya), officially the
Republic of Somalia (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: Jumh&#363;riyyat
a&#7779;-&#7778;&#363;māl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under communist
rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the
southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west.
With the longest coastline on the continent, its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands."
---
"Islamic shari'a has traditionally played a significant part in Somali society. In theory, it has served as the
basis for all national legislation in every Somali constitution. In practice, however, it only applied to common
civil cases such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and family matters. This changed after the start of the civil
war, when a number of new shari'a courts began to spring up in many different cities and towns across the
country. In March 2009, Somalia's newly established coalition government announced that it would
implement shari'a as the nation's official judicial system."

by jaskaw @ 02.10.2010 - 20:58:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/02/a-somali-youth-s-journey-from-islam-to-atheism-video-9506749/
The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris (the videos)

A short introduction to Sam Harris's book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human
Values.
More information at http://www.samharris.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29
"Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D.
in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has studied both
Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years.
He is a proponent of scientific skepticism and is the author of The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005
PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first book, and
The Moral Landscape (2010)."
by jaskaw @ 03.10.2010 - 01:06:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/02/the-moral-landscape-by-sam-harris-the-videos-9507600/
'Britain recognizes Druidry as religion for first
time, gives it charitable status'
Read more at:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/02/britain-recognizes-druidry-as-religion-for-first-time-gives-it-charitable-status

"Britain recognized Druidry, an ancient belief that worships deities that take different forms in nature, as a
religion for the first time and gave it charitable status on Saturday.
"There is a sufficient belief in a supreme being or entity to constitute a religion for the purposes of charity
law," declared the Charity Commission for England and Wales in response to the Druid Network's
application.
The decision will give the neo-pagan religion, known for its cloaked worshippers at Stonehenge (above, in
1999) and other sites, tax advantages and is expected to lead to broader acceptance.
"This has been a long hard struggle taking over five years to complete," said the Druid Network, which is
based in England, in a statement on its website."

Read more at:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/02/britain-recognizes-druidry-as-religion-for-first-time-gives-it-charitable-status

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druidry
"A druid was a member of the priestly class in Gaul and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe during
the Iron Age. Following the invasion of Gaul by the Roman Empire, the druids were suppressed by the
Roman government from the 1st century CE and disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century,
although there may have been later survivals in the British Isles. Very little is currently known about the
ancient druids as they left no written accounts about themselves, and other than a few descriptions left by
Greek and Roman authors, and in stories created by later mediaeval Irish writers, the accuracy of all of which
are disputed, we have no evidence about them. While archaeological evidence has been uncovered pertaining
to the religious practices of the Celtic people, "not one single artefact or image has been unearthed that can
undoubtedly be connected with the ancient Druids."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-druidism
"Neo-druidism or neo-druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents is a form of
modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all
beings, including the environment.
It is considered to be a Neopagan faith by some adherents, along with such religions as Wicca and Asatru,
though "some assert that Druidry is not a religion at all, not even necessarily a spirituality, but simply a
philosophy of living" that can be adhered to by followers of any religion or by atheists.
Originally inspired by 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century Romantic movements, modern Druidism was based
upon theories about the Iron Age Celtic druids which are no longer considered to be historically accurate.
Modern Druidism has no demonstrable historical link to the ancient Celts or their culture.
In the first half of the twentieth century, modern druids developed fraternal organizations modeled on
Freemasonry that employed the romantic figure of the British Druids and Bards as symbols of indigenous
British spirituality. Some of these groups were purely fraternal and cultural, creating traditions from the
national imagination of Britain.
Others merged with contemporary movements such as the physical culture movement and naturism. Since the
1980s some modern druid groups have adopted similar methodologies to those of Celtic Reconstructionist
Paganism in an effort to create a more historically accurate practice. However, there is still controversy over
how much resemblance modern druidism may or may not have to Iron Age or earlier druidism."

by jaskaw @ 03.10.2010 - 17:10:39

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/03/britain-recognizes-druidry-as-religion-for-first-time-gives-it-charitable-status-95
Feedback for Post "'Britain recognizes Druidry as religion
for first time, gives it charitable status'"

atheistbruce [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 17:56

Can I get charitable status as well, please?

Steven Pinker in Keith Olberman Show: 'Evolution:
Why America Must Accept It, Before It's Too Late '

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann (pronounced /ˈo&#650;lbərmən/; born January 27, 1959) is an American news
anchor, sportscaster, writer, and political commentator. He hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann, an
hour-long nightly news and commentary program on MSNBC.
Olbermann spent the first twenty years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for
CNN in the 1980s, winning the Best Sportscaster award from the California Associated Press three times. He
later co-hosted ESPN's SportsCenter from 1992 to 1997. After leaving ESPN amid controversy, Olbermann
became a sports anchor and producer for Fox Sports Net from 1998 to 2001, during which time he hosted
Fox's studio coverage of baseball.
After leaving Fox, Olbermann re-joined MSNBC after a short hiatus, hosting Countdown with Keith
Olbermann in 2003. Olbermann has established a niche in cable news commentary, gaining prominence for
his pointed criticism of major politicians and public figures, directed particularly at the political right"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker
"Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist,
cognitive scientist, linguist and author of popular science. He is a Harvard College Professor and Johnstone
Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and is known for his wide-ranging
advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind."

by jaskaw @ 03.10.2010 - 22:48:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/03/in-keith-olberman-show-evolution-why-america-must-accept-it-before-it-s-too-l
Skeptic Rebecca Watson on Carpool (video)

"The wonderful, clever and skeptical Rebecca Watson takes a ride in the carpool. Episode recorded in June
2009 in London."

http://www.youtube.com/user/carpoolUK
"Carpool is a video podcast where Robert Llewellyn gives someone interesting a lift in a variety of hybrid and
electric cars, and they talk.
Carpool is a weekly online video show where Robert Llewellyn gives someone interesting a lift and they talk,
it's as simple as that. To view the latest episodes go to www.llewtube.com. The show is also available to
download on iTunes, (just search for 'carpool' in the podcast section.!
www.twitter.com/bobbyllew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Watson
"Rebecca Watson (born October 18, 1980) is a blogger and independent podcast host. She is the founder of
Skepchick[1] and a co-host on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast.
In 2007, she entered a contest called Public Radio Talent Quest, and together with Al Letson and Glynn
Washington was one of the winners. On July 11, 2009, she and Sid Rodrigues were married in a surprise
ceremony during The Amaz!ng Meeting 7."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Skeptical_Society
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/

by jaskaw @ 04.10.2010 - 19:55:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/04/skeptic-rebecca-watson-on-carpool-video-9520361/
Feedback for Post "Skeptic Rebecca Watson on Carpool
(video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
05.10.2010 @ 11:50

What a delightful young lady. I wish I had been that smart at 30!
Sam Harris in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Watch the video at: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-4-2010/sam-harris

"Sam Harris wants to begin talking about morality and human values in the context of our growing scientific
understanding of the world."

Watch the video at: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-4-2010/sam-harris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_stewart
"Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer,
television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a
satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_(author)
"Sam Harris is a proponent of scientific skepticism and is the author of The End of Faith (2004), which won
the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first
book, and The Moral Landscape (2010). He is considered an ardent critic of religion along with evolutionary
biologist Richard Dawkins, philosopher Daniel Dennett and writer Christopher Hitchens."

by jaskaw @ 05.10.2010 - 15:19:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/05/sam-harris-in-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-9526928/
French and English freethinkers propose taking
religion out of schools
Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/french-and-english-freethinkers-propose-taking-religion-out-schools

"The French Freethinkers (Libre Pensée) and Britainˈs National Secular Society have agreed a joint policy
proposal on 'Religion in Schools'. The policy aims to ensure the complete separation of religion and state in
the provision of public education, and makes specific policy recommendations for France and Britain. The
complete policy proposal is as follows:

Religion in Schools: Libre Pensée/NSS policy proposal --September 2010

As freethinkers, we demand the complete separation between Church and State and the abolition of all
privileges granted to religious organisations. Nowhere is this more important, and contentious, than in
education.
The purpose of schools is to enable children to acquire knowledge and develop skills, and the ability to think
critically.
As well as educating pupils, schools mould future citizens so education will be a special concern of the nation
state. Schools will tend also to reflect any social and cultural tensions that afflict that society. They therefore
provide an opportunity (perhaps the best or even the only opportunity) to address these in a systematic way
before harmful attitudes have become too ingrained. But this will only if be possible if the schools reflect the
diversity of the community.
In a society already seeing rising tensions over race and religion, children should not be separated on the
grounds of their parents' religion at such a formative time in their lives. Research shows that it is vital that
pupils learn about each others' lives, cultures and the common ground they all have. Familiarity and learning
to see people as individuals is a great weapon against prejudice in later life."

Read more at: http://www.iheu.org/french-and-english-freethinkers-propose-taking-religion-out-schools

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Secular_Society
"The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the
separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their
religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866. The society is a member
organisation of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and endorses the Amsterdam Declaration
2002."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHEU
"International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the sole world umbrella organisation embracing
Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, Ethical Culture, freethought and similar organisations
worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member
organizations in 40 countries. Julian Huxley (the first director of UNESCO), presided over the founding
Congress of the IHEU."

Fédération Nationale de la Libre Pensée is at http://www.fnlp.fr/

by jaskaw @ 06.10.2010 - 11:05:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/06/french-and-english-freethinkers-propose-taking-religion-out-of-schools-9537246
Feedback for Post "French and English freethinkers
propose taking religion out of schools"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

08.10.2010 @ 01:20
Wow! That's terrific!

atheistbruce [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 17:54

It'll only be terrific if it has any effect.

elaine kilsha [Visitor]

11.10.2010 @ 17:14
No chance. Religion means money and money means power.
If they teach about Noah's Ark surely they should explain how millions of insects and different species of fish
etc. survived whilst god sent a flood to kill people, nice eh. How many have been sacrificed by religious
bigots in the name of gods, surely then if religion believes in this it should be taken out of schools.
Iran's president Ahmadinejad thanks Pope
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11492328

"Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to the Pope, thanking him for condemning an American
pastor's threat to burn the Koran last month.
In his letter, Mr Ahmadinejad also called for closer co-operation between Iran and the Vatican.
Florida pastor Terry Jones was planning to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
He called it off after world leaders including US President Barack Obama and the Pope strongly condemned
the plan.
The threat alone had sparked protests around the world."

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11492328

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad
"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born 28 October 1956 is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of
Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative
political groups in the country. An engineer and teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the
Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution.
Ahmadinejad is a controversial figure both within Iran and internationally. He has been criticized
domestically for his economic lapses and disregard for human rights.
His election to a second term in 2009 was widely disputed and caused widespread protests domestically and
drew significant international criticism. Major opposition parties, traditional clerical circles and influential
Iranian politicians questioned the legitimacy of his presidency."

by jaskaw @ 07.10.2010 - 19:07:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/07/iran-president-ahmadinejad-thanks-pope-9547453/
Feedback for Post "Iran's president Ahmadinejad thanks
Pope"

atheistbruce [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 17:53

Ahmadinejad & Benny the Rat: soul mates...

FedupwithR [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 22:52

Ahmadjihad wants closer co-operation?

He wants to build a Mosque at the end of the garden.

atheistbruce [Member]
10.10.2010 @ 18:31

He's not building a Mosque at the end of my garden; that is where my Tooth Fairy lives.
'Southern Baptist leader nixes yoga for Christians'
Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39553520/ns/us_news-life/

By DYLAN LOVAN
The Associated Press
"LOUISVILLE, Ky. ō A Southern Baptist leader who is calling for Christians to avoid yoga and its spiritual
attachments is getting plenty of pushback from enthusiasts who defend the ancient practice.
Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and meditative discipline derived from
Eastern religions is not a Christian pathway to God.
Mohler said he objects to "the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching consciousness with the divine."
"That's just not Christianity," Mohler told The Associated Press.
Mohler said feedback has come through e-mail and comments on blogs and other websites since he wrote an
essay to address questions about yoga he has heard for years."

Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39553520/ns/us_news-life/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
"Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines that originated in India. The word is associated
with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Within Hinduism, it also refers to one of the
six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy, and to the goal towards which that school directs its
practices.In Jainism, yoga is the sum total of all activities ō mental, verbal and physical."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana
"Asana is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, intended primarily to restore and
maintain a practitioner's well-being, improve the body's flexibility and vitality, and promote the ability to
remain in seated meditation for extended periods. These are widely known as Yoga postures or Yoga
positions, which is currently practiced for exercise and as alternate medicine."

by jaskaw @ 07.10.2010 - 21:30:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/07/southern-baptist-leader-nixes-yoga-for-christians-9548740/
Feedback for Post "'Southern Baptist leader nixes yoga for
Christians'"

atheistbruce [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 17:46

Anything which takes the attention of the faithful away from the primary goal of augmenting church funds is
to be discouraged.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

09.10.2010 @ 14:42
I personally find it amusing to know that something I choose to engage in as a means of relaxation and
exercise is offensive to Christian fundamentalists. I had no idea--what a bonus!!
Pope: The use of new technologies should set off
'an alarm bell.'
Read more at:
http://www.spacemart.com/reports/New_technologies_confuse_reality_and_fiction_Pope_999.html

"Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday that the media's increasing reliance on images, fuelled by the endless
development of new technologies, risked confusing real life with virtual reality.
"New technologies and the progress they bring can make it impossible to distinguish truth from illusion and
can lead to confusion between reality and virtual reality," the pope said.
"The image can also become independent from reality, it can give birth to a virtual word, with various
consequences -- above all the risk of indifference towards real life," he said.
He said the use of new technologies should set off "an alarm bell."

Read more at:

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/New_technologies_confuse_reality_and_fiction_Pope_999.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_XVI
"Pope Benedict XVI has re-introduced several papal garments which had previously fallen into disuse. Pope
Benedict XVI resumed the use of the traditional red papal shoes, which had not been used since early in the
pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Contrary to the initial speculation of the press that the shoes had been made
by the Italian fashion house Prada, the Vatican announced that the shoes were provided by the pope's personal
shoemaker."

by jaskaw @ 08.10.2010 - 21:25:10

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/08/pope-the-use-of-new-technologies-should-set-off-an-alarm-bell-9561165/
Feedback for Post "Pope: The use of new technologies
should set off 'an alarm bell.'"

FedupwithR [Member]
08.10.2010 @ 22:32

Why does every utterance this impotent old man makes get published? We are not all Catholics. I object to
having to listen to this T.Rex's opinions. His views are of no concern to most modern humans.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
08.10.2010 @ 23:03
Dear FedupwithR, there is always their value as a source of humor and laughter.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

09.10.2010 @ 03:19
I think that all of the buzz surrounding the medieval thoughts/beliefs that this 'infallible' leader of the RCC
seems to continuously make public lately about numerous secular issues might just do more for bringing
down this dysfunctional institution than the most eloquent arguments against religion made by today's leading
freethinkers. So let him babble his nonsense day and night if he so chooses, and let the media, bloggers, etc
broadcast it to the world. Those of us who already take Ratzy for a fool and the RCC for a cancerous blight on
humanity are not the target audience anyway. In my opinion, the target audience is those people who have the
potential to realize it, but just haven't yet.

FedupwithR [Member]
09.10.2010 @ 21:31

I am glad you find him funny Jaskaw. I would rather watch Roland Atkinson any day.(Have you seen him
dressed as the Pope?)

atheistbruce [Member]
10.10.2010 @ 18:28

Unfortunately for us, none of this is a laughing matter.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
10.10.2010 @ 19:14
I do think that laughing and laughter can make even difficult things easier to bear. As the song says; "Always
look at the bright side of things", even if you are hanging in cross...

atheistbruce [Member]
11.10.2010 @ 18:34
Next time I get hung on the cross I shall remember your encouraging words & wait for you to rescue me...
Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate:
Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books,
essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The
Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became the William S. Hertz media
fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in
2005 he was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ramadan
"Tariq Ramadan (born 26 August 1962, Geneva, Switzerland) is a Swiss academic. He is a Professor of
Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University. He advocates the study
and re-interpretation of Islamic texts, and emphasizes the heterogeneous nature of Western Muslims.
An online poll provided by the American Foreign Policy magazine in 2009 placed Ramadan on the 49th spot
in a list of the worldˈs top 100 contemporary intellectuals"

by jaskaw @ 09.10.2010 - 19:48:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/09/christopher-hitchens-and-tariq-ramadan-debate-is-islam-a-religion-of-peace-956
Feedback for Post "Christopher Hitchens and Tariq
Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace? "

FedupwithR [Member]
10.10.2010 @ 15:29

I would have liked to see it to the end. Great to see Hitch looking and sounding strong despite the ordeal he is
going through. He made a good point about the Golden Mosque.

atheistbruce [Member]
10.10.2010 @ 18:16

All religions are religions of peace: they preach peace for all those who unconditionally surrender to the
priest's will.
Cadets say US Air Force Academy is controlled by
evangelicals
Read more at:
http://www.truth-out.org/underground-group-cadets-say-air-force-academy-controlled-evangelicals63726

"An anonymous cadet at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) spoke out against alleged religious
discrimination at the school last week, saying that some cadets must pretend to be evangelical Christians in
order to maintain standing among their peers and superiors. In an email to the Military Religious Freedom
Foundation (MRFF), the whistleblower stated that he is part of an "underground group" of about 100 cadets
who cannot rely on proper channels to confront evangelical pressure.
The email, published by Veterans Today, applauds the MRFF from the "underground" and indicates that the
academy is "literally overrun with Christian conservative fanatics."
---
"353 cadets (almost 1 out of every 5 survey participants) reported having been subjected to unwanted
religious proselytizing, and 23 cadets (13 of them Christians) reported living 'in fear of their physical safety'
because of their religious beliefs," according to the MRFF."

Read more at:

http://www.truth-out.org/underground-group-cadets-say-air-force-academy-controlled-evangelicals63726

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAFA
"The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA or Air Force)is an accredited college for the undergraduate
education of commissioned officers for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north
of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The Academy's stated mission is "to educate,
train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air
Force in service to our nation."
It is the youngest of the five United States service academies, having graduated its first class in 1959.
Graduates of the Academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree, and most are
commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Air Force. The Academy is also one of the largest
tourist attractions in Colorado, attracting more than a million visitors each year."

by jaskaw @ 10.10.2010 - 19:46:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/10/cadets-say-us-air-force-academy-is-controlled-by-evangelicals-9570884/
A German Catholic groups wants Santa out of
Christmas
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6951DO20101006

"(Reuters Life!) - A group of German Catholics wants to do away with Santa Claus because of the fictional
figure's commercial hype and replace him with St Nicolas and the selfless giving they say he represents.
Even before shops fill with Santa-themed goodies, the Bonifatiuswerk of German Catholics -- a Catholic aid
organization -- has begun calling for "Santa Claus-free zones."
The organization sees Santa as "an invention of the advertising industry designed to boost sales" and as "a
representative of consumer society" who has little to do with the historical figure of St Nicolas."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6951DO20101006

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2007/12/26/christmas_without_jesus~3491950/
http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2009/12/17/it-is-now-the-month-of-december-when-the-greatest-7589429/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus
"Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply "Santa", is
a figure who, in many Western cultures, brings gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening
and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24 or on his Feast Day, December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day).
The legend may have part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of gift giver
Saint Nicholas. A nearly identical story is attributed by Greek and Byzantine folklore to Basil of Caesarea.
Basil's feast day on January 1 is considered the time of exchanging gifts in Greece.
While Saint Nicholas was originally portrayed wearing bishop's robes, today Santa Claus is generally depicted
as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers,
and black leather belt and boots (images of him rarely have a beard with no moustache). This image became
popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of caricaturist and
political cartoonist Thomas Nast."

by jaskaw @ 10.10.2010 - 22:07:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/10/a-german-catholic-groups-wants-santa-out-of-christmas-9571969/
Feedback for Post "A German Catholic groups wants Santa
out of Christmas"

Marilyn LaCourt [Visitor]

http://www.lacourt-m.com
10.10.2010 @ 22:52
I am an atheist who loves Santa Claus. Why? Because, unlike Jesus, Santa is a myth children are expected to
out grow. They can practice their critical thinking skills at a very early age. Christians are expected to stay
"children" of God for their whole lives.

atheistbruce [Member]
11.10.2010 @ 17:31

Here in NL we have both St. Nicholas & Santa Claus and we have no intention of giving up either of them to
a load of papist child molesters.
A South Carolina jail allows its inmates to read
only Bible
Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39544151/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

COLUMBIA, South Carolina ō A South Carolina jail was sued Wednesday over its policy barring inmates
from having any reading materials except the Bible.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the policy on behalf of
Prison Legal News, a monthly journal on prison law.
The 16-page complaint says officials at the Berkeley County jail in Moncks Corner, about 100 miles southeast
of Columbia, are violating several of the magazine's and inmates' constitutional rights including free speech,
freedom of religion and right to due process.
Since 2008, the publishers of Prison Legal News have tried to send magazines, letters and self-help books
about prison life to several inmates at the jail, the complaint says. Some were sent back, and in July a jail
official wrote an e-mail to the publishers referencing the jail's policy.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39544151/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aclu
"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU
Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization which focuses on litigation and communication efforts, and the
American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)(4) organization which focuses on legislative lobbying.
The ACLU's stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every
person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation,
legislation, and community education.
Founded in 1920 by Crystal Eastman, Roger Baldwin and Walter Nelles, the ACLU was the successor
organization to the earlier National Civil Liberties Bureau founded during World War I. The ACLU reported
over 500,000 members in 2010.
Lawsuits brought by the ACLU have been influential in the evolution of Constitutional law."

by jaskaw @ 11.10.2010 - 20:48:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/11/a-south-carolina-jail-allows-its-inmates-to-read-only-bible-9590089/
Feedback for Post "A South Carolina jail allows its inmates
to read only Bible "

atheistbruce [Member]
12.10.2010 @ 18:21

I am surprised to learn that people in South Carolina can read.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

13.10.2010 @ 23:13
The jail's policy-makers' choice of permitted reading material for their inmates suggests that they are simply
ensuring their own job security. If they were truly trying to reform or rehabilitate their inmates, they'd be
exposing them to Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Russell, Sagan, etc..... After all, less than 1% of
inmates are atheists.
Jerry A. Coyne in USA Today: 'Science and
religion aren't friends'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-10-11-column11_ST_N.htm

By Jerry A. Coyne
"Religion in America is on the defensive.
Atheist books such as The God Delusion and The End of Faith have, by exposing the dangers of faith and the
lack of evidence for the God of Abraham, become best-sellers. Science nibbles at religion from the other end,
relentlessly consuming divine explanations and replacing them with material ones. Evolution took a huge bite
a while back, and recent work on the brain has shown no evidence for souls, spirits, or any part of our
personality or behavior distinct from the lump of jelly in our head. We now know that the universe did not
require a creator. Science is even studying the origin of morality. So religious claims retreat into the
ever-shrinking gaps not yet filled by science. And, although to be an atheist in America is still to be an
outcast, America's fastest-growing brand of belief is non-belief.
---
"But surely," you might argue, "science and religion must be compatible. After all, some scientists are
religious." One is Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health and an evangelical Christian. But
the existence of religious scientists, or religious people who accept science, doesn't prove that the two areas
are compatible. It shows only that people can hold two conflicting notions in their heads at the same time. If
that meant compatibility, we could make a good case, based on the commonness of marital infidelity, that
monogamy and adultery are perfectly compatible. No, the incompatibility between science and faith is more
fundamental: Their ways of understanding the universe are irreconcilable."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Coyne
"Jerry Allen Coyne (born 1949) is an American professor of biology, known for his commentary on the
intelligent design debate. He is currently a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of
Ecology and Evolution. His concentration is speciation and ecological and evolutionary genetics, particularly
as they involve Drosophila.
He has served as Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution (1996) and as Associate Editor of
Evolution (1985ʒ1988; 1994ʒ2000) and The American Naturalist (1990ʒ1993). He currently teaches
evolutionary biology, speciation, genetic analysis, social issues and scientific knowledge, and scientific
speaking and writing."

by jaskaw @ 11.10.2010 - 21:49:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/11/jerry-a-coyne-in-usa-today-science-and-religion-aren-t-friends-9590644/
Feedback for Post "Jerry A. Coyne in USA Today: 'Science
and religion aren't friends'"

FedupwithR [Member]
12.10.2010 @ 15:55

This is an excellent article, highly recommend.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

13.10.2010 @ 23:02
Yes, Jerry Coyne is usually quite good.
Bill Maher - the Richard Dawkins Interview (video)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_maher
"William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (pronounced /ˈm&#593;r/; born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up
comedian, television host, social critic, political commentator, author, and actor. Before his current role as the
host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically
Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.
He is a critic of religion and is an advisory board member of Project Reason, a foundation aiming to promote
scientific knowledge and secular values within society."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist and evolutionary
biologist.
Dawkins is an atheist and supporter of the Brights movement, and is well-known for his criticism of
creationism and intelligent design.
He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler," a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley,
who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. In his 2006
book The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that
religious faith is a delusionōa fixed false belief.
As of January 2010, the English-language version had sold more than two million copies and had been
translated into 31 languages, making it his most popular book to date."

Order Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth from Amazon.co.uk

by jaskaw @ 12.10.2010 - 18:16:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/12/bill-maher-the-richard-dawkins-interview-video-9599589/
'Israeli rabbi: Honey-pot sex is kosher for female
Mossad agents'
Read more at:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israeli-rabbi-honey-pot-sex-is-kosher-for-female-mossad-agents-1.317288

"Rabbi Ari Schvat's ruling appeared in a study, 'Illicit sex for the sake of national security,' published by the
Tzomet Institute, which studies the interface between religion and modernity.
An Israeli rabbi has given his blessing to female agents of Israel's foreign secret service, Mossad, who may be
required to have sex with the enemy in so-called "honey-pot" missions against terrorists.
Rabbi Ari Shvat's ruling appeared in a study, "Illicit sex for the sake of national security," published by the
Tzomet Institute, which studies the interface between religion and modernity.
But Schvat wrote that honey-pot missions are not just a thing of modern-day espionage - such as the late
1980s capture of Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear
program, or the January 2010 assassination of terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. Both cases reportedly
involved a Mossad female lure.
"
Read more at:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israeli-rabbi-honey-pot-sex-is-kosher-for-female-mossad-agents-1.317288

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad
"Mossad (abbreviation of HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim or Institute for Intelligence and
Special Operations) is the national intelligence agency of Israel.
The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and covert operations including assassinations and
paramilitary activities beyond Israel's borders, and bringing Jews to Israel from countries where official
Aliyah agencies are forbidden. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with
Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime
Minister."

by jaskaw @ 13.10.2010 - 17:42:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/13/israeli-rabbi-honey-pot-sex-is-kosher-for-female-mossad-agents-9606920/
Feedback for Post "'Israeli rabbi: Honey-pot sex is kosher
for female Mossad agents'"

atheistbruce [Member]
13.10.2010 @ 18:21

I do agree on condition that all these female Mossad agents are first sent to me for a final assessment of their
operational abilities.
Swiss teacher fired for removing crucifix from his
classroom
Read more at:
http://www.iheu.org/swiss-dubbed-%E2%80%98school-yard-bullies%E2%80%99-firing-non-religious-teacher

"The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has accused Swiss authorities of behaving like
ːschool yard bulliesə towards a state school teacher who removed the crucifix from his classroom. Valentin
Abgottspon was dismissed from his job as a middle-school teacher in the Swiss canton of Valais on Friday, 8
October. The dismissal came after the teacher raised concerns about the promotion of Christianity by state
schools.
Sonja Eggerickx, president of IHEU, said, ːSwitzerland prides itself on its principle of neutrality, but when
Valentin Abgottspon asked school authorities to show neutrality towards religion they reacted like school yard
bullies. Forcing a teacher to submit to Christianity in a public school is a violation of the fundamental human
right to freedom of conscience. IHEU will fight this abuse of state power all the way to the UN.ə
As the world union of more than 100 Humanist and atheist organizations in 40 countries, IHEU has
consultative status at the United Nations.
Abgottspon removed the Christian crosses from his classrooms more than a year ago. According to Swiss
newspapers his colleagues and at least one person on the school board knew about the removal of the
crucifixes, yet there was no negative reaction from the school or the education board until recently. That
changed after Abgottspon appeared before the Valais education board, on August 11, as president of the
Valais branch of the Freethinkers Association of Switzerland -- an IHEU member organization."

Read more at:

http://www.iheu.org/swiss-dubbed-%E2%80%98school-yard-bullies%E2%80%99-firing-non-religious-teacher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHEU
"International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the sole world umbrella organisation embracing
Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, Ethical Culture, freethought and similar organisations
worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member
organizations in 40 countries. Julian Huxley (the first director of UNESCO), presided over the founding
Congress of the IHEU.
The IHEU's vision is one of a Humanist world; a world in which the human rights of minorities are respected
and everyone is able to live a life of dignity. The mission of IHEU is to build and represent the global
Humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes Humanist values worldwide. IHEU sponsors the
triennial World Humanist Congress and publishes International Humanist News. The next international
congress is to be held in Oslo, Norway, in August 2011."

Read more at:

http://www.iheu.org/swiss-dubbed-%E2%80%98school-yard-bullies%E2%80%99-firing-non-religious-teacher

by jaskaw @ 13.10.2010 - 20:35:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/13/swiss-teacher-fired-for-removing-crucifix-from-his-classroom-9607735/
Three rival churches claim credit for the rescue of
the Chilean miners
Read more at:
http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-los-angeles/chilean-miners-rescued-3-rival-churches-claim-the-credit

"Every step in the entire rescue process was carefully choreographed by an international team of experts and
as each miner reached the surface and beheld the sky again for the first time in over two months...

...everybody thanked God for the miracle.

According to an article in The Guardian, foremost among the divine credit-claimers were the representitives
of three rival churches in Chile:
"God has spoken to me clearly and guided my hand each step of the rescue," said Carlos Parra Diaz, a
Seventh-day Adventist pastor at the San Jose mine. "He wanted the miners to be rescued and I am His
instrument."
Yards from where he spoke Caspar Quintana, the Catholic bishop of Copiapo, prepared an altar to celebrate
an outdoor mass for a small congregation of miners' relatives and phalanx of TV cameras. "God has heard our
prayers," said the bishop. "I have received comments of encouragement from all over the world. Let us give
thanks."
A little bit further up the hill of Camp Hope, the improvised settlement of miners' families, rescuers,
government officials and media, an evengelical preacher, Javier Soto , wandered from family to family with a
guitar and songs of praise. "He listens to the music," said the pastor, gesturing to the azure sky."

Read more at:

http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-los-angeles/chilean-miners-rescued-3-rival-churches-claim-the-credit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurred on 5 August 2010, when the San José copper-gold mine, near
Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, leaving 33 men trapped deep below ground. The miners survived underground for
69 days, a record period of time. All 33 miners were rescued and brought to the surface on 13 October 2010,
with the first miner emerging from the Phoenix (Fénix 2) rescue capsule at 00:10 CLDT on 13 October 2010
and the last miner emerging at 21:55 CLDT.
---
The rescue forces raised the miners one by one with pods, the so-called Fénix vessels. These pods are
modified versions of the Dahlbusch Bomb, a capsule designed in 1955 in Germany and used in the 1963
Wunder von Lengede ('Miracle of Lengede') mine rescue. Several sorts of drilling equipment and different
access strategies to reach the miners with escape boreholes were tried in parallel.
The Strata 950 raise borer drilling rig was the first to be used to drill the escape borehole.
First, a small pilot hole was drilled, then a larger drill bit widens the hole. The fine rock debris, known as
cuttings, fall down the pilot hole. An estimated 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of rocks fall down every hour.
Working in shifts 24 hours a day, the miners had to keep the passage clear with industrial-sized
battery-powered sweepers and wheel barrows at their disposal.
The miners had to remove by themselves a total mass of drilling cuttings estimated between 700 and 1500
metric tonnes, considering a borehole diameter of 70 centimetres (28 in) or 100 centimetres (39 in)
respectively, with a depth of 688 metres (2,257 ft) and a rock density of 2.7 tonnes per cubic metre.
The diameter of the rescue borehole was 66 cm (26 inches), meaning each miner had to have a waistline of no
more than 90 cm (35 inches) to escape. In comparison, the Dahlbusch bombs used in post war Germany were
only 38.5 cm (15.2 inches) in diameter. In Chile, in order to ensure they are the correct size an exercise
regimen was developed to keep the enclosed miners in shape."
by jaskaw @ 14.10.2010 - 19:46:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/14/three-rival-churches-claim-credit-for-the-rescue-of-the-chilean-miners-9616172/
Feedback for Post "Three rival churches claim credit for the
rescue of the Chilean miners"

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
14.10.2010 @ 19:48
It is a astonishing thing how a human mind can twist things. There are Chilean miners who thank 'God' for
saving their lives; when only the hard work of other men could rescue them, but a 'act of God' got them into
that mess in the first place.

jerzy [Visitor]

15.10.2010 @ 09:26
Nothing new. Gods are never held reponsible for disasters but only for so called miracles that save believers.
Voices of Reason - Sam Harris: The Moral
Landscape (video of CFI lecture)

"The Center for Inquiry in New York City hosted Harris for a public lecture about his new book on Oct. 7, at
6:30 p.m., at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Question-and-answer and book signing sessions
followed.
Questions of good and evil, and right and wrong, are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But in his
new book "The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values," Sam Harris argues that
science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what
constitutes a good life."

http://www.samharris.org/
"Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian
Nation. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.
Mr. Harris' writing has been published in over fifteen languages. He and his work have been discussed in
Newsweek, TIME, The New York Times, Scientific American, Nature, Rolling Stone, and many other
journals. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The
Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.
Mr. Harris is a Co-Founder and CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific
knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a
Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA."

by jaskaw @ 14.10.2010 - 21:14:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/14/voices-of-reason-sam-harris-the-moral-landscape-9617527/
Feedback for Post "Voices of Reason - Sam Harris: The
Moral Landscape (video of CFI lecture)"

atheistbruce [Member]
15.10.2010 @ 17:35

A great lecture. I particularly liked the way he put to rest religion's claim to have anything to do with morality.
Openly atheist candidate runs for the US Congress
- in Virginia!
Read more at: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/10/openly_atheist_candidate_runs.php

"Barrett Brown, author of Flock of Dodos, alerted me to the fact that Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, one of
the most hardcore religious righters in Congress, is being challenged in this year's election by the rarest of
American creatures -- an openly atheist political candidate. He writes about the race in the Faster Times.
Forbes is the most outspoken proponent of America as an officially Christian nation in Congress. Several
times he's submitted a resolution in the House declaring America to be a Christian nation. Those resolutions
are chock full of lies and falsehoods. He's even submitted a resolution asking the House to declare the Bible to
be "God's word."

"Forbes is, of course, up for re-election this November, and it would be an easy enough thing for anyone who
prefers truth over falsehood and consistency over confusion to support any opponent merely by default.
Happily, one need not do so, as the opponent in question is Wynne LeGrow, a retired doctor who has shown
from the outset a willingness to place his own principles over expediency, and who may thus be expected to
do so as an officeholder. At the beginning of his campaign, LeGrow made a decision that damaged his chance
to win but kept his integrity in tact: he announced to voters that he is an atheist. "

Read more at: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/10/openly_atheist_candidate_runs.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynne_LeGrow
"Wynne LeGrow is a retired nephrologist from Emporia, Virginia and the Democratic nominee for Congress
in Virginia's 4th congressional district in 2010. He is running against incumbent Republican Congressman
Randy Forbes.
LeGrow was born in Sweetsburg, Quebec. At age one he moved with his parents to Vermont, where he
became a naturalized United States Citizen.
LeGrow graduated from Ohio State University's College of Medicine in 1972. He completed his internship
and residency and the University of Missouri. He served for two years as a Physician in the US Army,
stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama. LeGrow is board-certified in by the American Board of Internal Medicine
After practicing internal medicine and nephrology in Emporia, Virginia for 29 years, LeGrow retired in 2008.
He has been married to his wife Marilyn LeGrow since June 2001, who also has a daughter. LeGrow has 1
son, in addition to 2 step sons from a previous marriage."

by jaskaw @ 15.10.2010 - 19:27:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/15/openly-atheist-candidate-runs-for-the-us-congress-in-virginia-9631255/
Finns desert church in record numbers after
watching a TV-debate on gay marriage
Read more at:
http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/10/15/finns-desert-church-in-record-numbers-after-watching-gay-marriage-tv-show/

"A RECORD number of Finns quit the Evangelical Lutheran Church this week after seeing negative religious
attitudes towards gays in a TV programme. Those who ditched the church carried out their mass exodus via an
online service, the standard procedure used nowadays.
According to this report, information Officer Heikki Orsila, of eroakirkosta.fi, which facilitates the secession
process, thought that the spike resulted from the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLEˈs current affairs
programme Ajankohtainen Kakkonen, aired on Tuesday.
The show entitled Homoilta (Gay Night) was a panel discussion dealing with gay rights issues, including the
question of the rights of same-sex couples to marry in church. The panel included Christian Democrat MP
Päivi Räsänen, who has been fiercely critical of same-sex marriages and was a principal opponent in the
Parliamentary debate on adoption rights for registered same-sex couples; and the Bishop of Tampere Matti
Repo.
According to the eroakirkosta.fi website, the total number of people to make their exit was 2,633. This was
not merely around 1,500 more than the previous daily high, but greater than the total number in the entire
month of July."

Read more at:

http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/10/15/finns-desert-church-in-record-numbers-after-watching-gay-marriage-tv-show/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_marriage
"In Denmark, Finland and Hungary, a registered partnership provides nearly all of the rights of marriage,
including joint adoption rights in Denmark. Finland and Greenland have biological adoption only (no joint
adoption). These partnership laws are short laws that state that wherever the word "marriage" appears in the
country's law, it will now also be construed to mean "registered partnership", and wherever the word "spouse"
appears, it will now also be construed to mean "registered partner" ō thereby transferring the body of marriage
laws onto same-sex couples in registered partnerships.
In the United Kingdom, civil partnerships were introduced in 2005. The law gives civil partners the same
benefits and associated legal rights of marriage; ranging from tax exemptions and joint property rights, to
next-of-kin status and shared parenting responsibilities. The one notable exception is the use of courtesy titles
by the partner of a male peer or knight. In the first year, 16,100 ceremonies took place.Civil unions in New
Zealand are identical to British civil partnerships in their association with equivalent spousal rights and
responsibilities to marriage."
by jaskaw @ 16.10.2010 - 11:19:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/16/finns-desert-church-in-record-numbers-after-watching-a-tv-debate-on-gay-marri
Feedback for Post "Finns desert church in record numbers
after watching a TV-debate on gay marriage"

atheistbruce [Member]
16.10.2010 @ 16:05

According to the World Factbook, Finland has about 4 million Lutherans, so 2633 is not much of a dent?

Alexander [Visitor]

16.10.2010 @ 16:30
Actually this is old news, in just a couple of days the number has risen to 10 000 and there seems to be
somekind of a snowball effect going on.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
16.10.2010 @ 17:35
I know, I know Alexsander, that this is old stuff, but this was the first English-speaking source I did see, and
as this blog only points to material published elsewhere, I had to wait till is stumble into a English piece on
the matter.

atheistbruce [Member]
16.10.2010 @ 18:27

Is Lutheran a Scandinavian code name for atheist? I see that according to the CIA, 95% of Danes, 87% of
Swedes, 86% of Norwegians & 82% of Finns are Lutheran.

mia [Visitor]

16.10.2010 @ 19:11
No it´s The Evangelical-Lutheran Church (Episcopal Church).

atheistbruce [Member]
17.10.2010 @ 14:01

But I thought the Scandinavians were a rational, logical & godless lot; how does that rhyme with the World
Factbook figures on their church affiliations, or are the figures false?

| Show subcomments
SPMax [Visitor]

17.10.2010 @ 16:36
Well i know plenty of atheists that are still in the church, general attitude around here seems to be that they
just dont give a crap/are too lazy to leave, ive never had faith and i just left the church in january, my sister
has considered leaving it since then cause she thinks its all a load of bollocks as well (hopefully this recent
event pushes her over the edge), my father thinks its crap aswell, most people dont give a crap, most people
become members at birth, just recently membership was automatic so its still considered a tradition among
most people, most only go to church for weddings, confirmation and funerals, during my confirmation when i
was 13 i went to church on sunday 15 times, and there were like 4-5 old people in a church that could
probably fit 400+

(and my motivation for getting confirmated was that you get gifts/presents and stuff, turns out they were shit
so it wasnt really worth it)

Its really nice of the church to inform its members of its and the bibles views on homosexuality, most
probably have no idea about all the shit that book contains

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
17.10.2010 @ 16:29
Atheistbruce, people have in Western Eurore a long tradition of belonging to the official state church even if
they often have no interest at all in its religious message.
Church is mostly here used to deliver the goods; to offer a place to arrange decent looking and sounding
weddings, funerals and other rites of passage.
Old traditions are hard to shatter, but mostly belonging to official state church does not tell a thing about that
person really feels about religion.
Most of those who now resign are persons, who just have not seen the thing important enough to to anything
about it, even to resign.

atheistbruce [Member]
17.10.2010 @ 20:29

Thanks jaskaw: interesting to see that after all these centuries Luther still out-manoeuvres us.

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
17.10.2010 @ 22:30
Now it is already over 14 000 resignations from the Finnish State Church in 3 days!

SPMax [Visitor]

17.10.2010 @ 23:47
Here are the numbers so far

Tuesday 21:00 - 24:00 - 222 (during the show)

Wednesday - 2633
Thursday - 2032
Friday - 3473
Saturday - 4545
Sunday - 5738

Total: 18643
http://eroakirkosta.fi/static/ek-tilastot/
 atheistbruce [Member]
19.10.2010 @ 13:52

At this rate the church will be empty inside 4 years.

1000 entries in Atheist News!
I am so sorry, but I simply have to break the daily outpour of interestingly rational and irritatingly irrational
news from the world for a moment.
The reason for this just might not be one that moves the humanity in a direction or another, but for a small
blog it simply is a big moment when it does publish its 1000. entry.

I just happened to notice that this very thing happened today and what would not be more appropriate that if
the piece of today would not be telling of my home country Finland.
I think it was the first time in the history of this blog, when my tiny home on the planet got his honor, I think,
even if have not checked this out.

It all started in December of 2008, when in the closed discussion list of the Finnish free-thinkers, a
linguistically challenged member of that list pronounced that he did not want more links to interesting news
relating to atheism, humanism and irrational things done in the name of religions, if they were in English. I
had been publishing just such things for a while in the list.

The very same night after this dialog did happen, I started this blog and published also the first installment.
That very first day this blog had 40 pageviews, when we have now 590 035 pageviews altogether.

According to the FlagCounter application this blog has had visitors from 185 different countries and so not
many are left out anymore. The newest country is Liechtenstein, from where this blog had the privilege of
getting its first visitor at October 12, 2010.

At first the pieces were commented by me, but soon I realized that I would be commenting on very similar
things again and again and so I decided to leave the pieces talk for themselves.
I have published one or two pieces a day for a very long time. I freely admit that it has become a obsession for
me to get the daily missive out every single day, the more so, as there has not been a single break in the chain
of news so far.

However, when I do like also to keep the quality high, the job takes sometimes hours, as there is not good
stories suitable for this available every day.
I rely on a wild variety of email-lists, websites and of course all my good Facebook-friends to provide me
with interesting pieces, but on slow days all seem to dry up.

Anyway, a million thanks for hanging around for those of you who are still with me.

Btw. I would like to take the occasion also to promote my other blogs, as I publish my essay-type longer
thoughts at Being Human -blog at http://beinghuman.blogs.fi and I have taken the habit of collecting and
commenting greatest humanist, secularist and atheist quotes at The Little Book of Humanity -blog at
http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi

I am in the Twitter as @beinghuman and you can find me also in Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/jaakko.wallenius

by jaskaw @ 17.10.2010 - 01:27:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/16/1000-entries-in-atheist-news-9637832/
Feedback for Post "1000 entries in Atheist News!"

Jerzy from Poland [Visitor]

17.10.2010 @ 07:05
HI,
Let me be the first to congratulate you on a great job you have been doing.I read every entry from quite a long
time as regular subscriber and find it exciting. Also I use many links in my own website abut religion and
ewolution. Thanks for help and now I move to your other blog and FB.

atheistbruce [Member]
17.10.2010 @ 13:57

Congratulations & please keep up the good work Jaskaw...

Joosep [Visitor]

18.10.2010 @ 19:44
You're doing a great job and I'd like to thank you for it. It's always nice to see new posts every time I log on to
my computer.

Thanks!
'The Pale Blue Dot' - the famous essay by Carl
Sagan (video)
'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot
"The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance,
showing it against the vastness of space. By request of Carl Sagan, NASA commanded the Voyager 1
spacecraft, having completed its primary mission and now leaving the Solar System, to turn its camera around
and to take a photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space.
Subsequently, the title of the photograph was used by Sagan as the primary title of his 1994 book, Pale Blue
Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.
In a 2001 article by Space.com, STScI's Ray Villard and JPL's Jurrie Van der Woude selected this photograph
as one of the top ten space science images of all time.
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977. Sagan had pushed for Voyager to take a photograph of the
Earth when its vantage point reached the edge of the solar system.
On February 14, 1990, having completed its primary mission, the spacecraft was commanded by NASA to
turn around to photograph the planets of the Solar System.
Between February 14, 1990 and June 6, 1990, one image Voyager returned was of Earth, showing up as a
"pale blue dot" in the grainy photograph."

by jaskaw @ 17.10.2010 - 21:50:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/17/the-pale-blue-dot-the-famous-essay-by-carl-sagan-video-9644416/
Feedback for Post "'The Pale Blue Dot' - the famous essay
by Carl Sagan (video)"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

18.10.2010 @ 00:27
Carl Sagan is one of my very favorite non-fiction writers, and I really enjoy reading his work. (In fact, I'm in
the middle of "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" right now.) However, there is something about his voice,
narrating the text in that special way he has, that just gives me chills. Just brilliant!
Lack of belief in gods (video)

The maker of this video "QualiaSoup" says:

"Explaining the concept, refuting common objections and giving a number of reasons that atheists are
sometimes 'fervent'."

http://www.youtube.com/user/QualiaSoup
"It is not acceptable to have a religion where the alternative to faith is punishment ō that's how you train dogs,
not develop people." - Deng Ming-Dao
UK artist and secular humanist interested in critical thinking, science and the natural world.
YouTube turn ons: humour, new ideas, creativity, diversity, inclusiveness, well-thought out arguments,
communication
YouTube turn offs: poor listening skills and all of its consequences
I have no belief in supernatural entities or abilities of any description, though some of the friends and family I
love dearly, do. For me, differing beliefs only present a problem when those who hold them bully, suppress
and persecute others, or attempt to promote the beliefs in education, law, government, employment or health."

by jaskaw @ 18.10.2010 - 02:18:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/18/lack-of-belief-in-gods-video-9649618/
Feedback for Post "Lack of belief in gods (video)"

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

18.10.2010 @ 23:36
Well done!
Pope bans the wife of president of France from the
Vatican
Read more at:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/15/pope-bans-carla-bruni-from-the-vatican/?hpt=T2#ixzz12TFgA13N

"It's not often a former model and pop singer gets scratched from a guest list. But earlier this month French
first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was warned to stay away from the Vatican - by the Pope himself.
Ahead of President Sarkozy's 30-minute audience with the Pontiff earlier this month, Vatican officials sent the
French ambassador a message saying: "Carla Sarkozy is not welcome in the Vatican." The message, which led
her to stay in Paris, is said to be over the Pope's fears that more racy photographs of her days as a catwalk
model would emerge. Nude and semi-naked pictures from her days as a model are regularly published in the
media. In one, she's seen posing in just a pair of knee high boots and a diamond ring. (The U.S. didn't seem to
mind.)

Read more:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/15/pope-bans-carla-bruni-from-the-vatican/?hpt=T2#ixzz12jkm76iu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_Bruni-Sarkozy
"Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (born Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi, 23 December 1967) is an Italian-born French
songwriter, singer, and former model. Since February 2008, she has been married to the President of the
French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy."
She has been critical of Pope Benedict XVI on the controversial topic of religion and AIDS. Regarding AIDS,
it was confirmed that Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Sarkozy are likely to work together on the subject. White House
sources confirmed that Mrs Obama was very interested in what Mrs. Sarkozy told her about her work with
UNAIDS."

by jaskaw @ 18.10.2010 - 20:44:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/18/pope-bans-the-wife-of-president-of-france-from-the-vatican-9666958/
Feedback for Post "Pope bans the wife of president of
France from the Vatican"

atheistbruce [Member]
19.10.2010 @ 13:48

Catholic morality is so screwed up. Racy photos not allowed: sodomising children ok.

FedupwithR [Member]
21.10.2010 @ 12:34

Ratty should have been put to sleep a long time ago and all the Curia with him.
'Why Do People Think They See Mary or Jesus on
Windows and Toast?'
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutskepticism/a/Pareidolia.htm?nl=1

"Sometimes it seems that every other week, someone is claiming to see images of religious figures (Mary and
Jesus are the most common) on walls, in windows, or in their breakfast foods. What prompts these visions?
Why would Jesus or Mary wish to make an appearance on someone's toast some morning? There's a curious
disconnect with such incidents because the people can believe in them fervently, but religious authorities and
institutions tend to be much more skeptical and critical. What's really going on here?
There is a name for this phenomenon: pareidolia. It's not limited to religious figures, either. Humans are
pattern-seeking animals and sometimes we see patterns that we think are real objects when, in fact, they are
not patterns at all. This is a survival mechanism which we evolved because in the long run it's far safer to
mistakenly see a tiger in the bushes when there isn't really one there than to miss the tiger that really is there.
Unfortunately, people are seeing far more around them than just a few false tigers in the bush."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutskepticism/a/Pareidolia.htm?nl=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
"Pareidolia (pronounced /pær&#618;ˈdo&#650;liə/ pa-ri-DOE-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon
involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common
examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and
hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.
There have been many instances of perceptions of religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of
religious figures, in ordinary phenomena. Many involve images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or the word Allah.
In 1978, a New Mexican woman found that the burn marks on a tortilla she had made appeared similar to the
traditional western depiction of Jesus Christ's face. Thousands of people came to see the framed tortilla.
The recent publicity surrounding sightings of religious figures and other surprising images in ordinary objects,
combined with the growing popularity of online auctions, has spawned a market for such items on eBay. One
famous instance was a grilled cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary's face.
In September, 2007, the so-called "monkey tree phenomenon" caused a minor social mania in Singapore. A
callus on a tree resembled a monkey, and believers flocked to the tree to pay homage to the "Monkey God"."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptions_of_religious_imagery_in_natural_phenomena
"Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena, sometimes called simulacra, are sightings of images
with spiritual or religious themes or import to the perceiver. The images perceived, whether iconic or
aniconic, may be the faces of religious notables or the manifestation of spiritual symbols in the natural,
organic media or phenomena of the natural world. The occurrence or event of perception may be transient or
fleeting or may be more enduring and monumental. The phenomenon appears to approach a cultural universal
and may often accompany nature worship, animism, and fetishism, along with more formal or organized
belief systems.
Within Christian traditions, many instances reported involve images of Jesus or other Christian figures seen in
food; in the Muslim world, structures in food and other natural objects may be perceived as religious text in
Arabic script, particularly the word Allah or verses from the Qur'an. Many religious believers view them as
real manifestations of miraculous origin; the predominant scientific view is that such perceptions are examples
of pareidolia.
The original phenomena of this type were acheropites: images of major Christian icons such as Jesus and the
Virgin Mary which were believed to have been created by supernatural means. The word acheropite comes
from the Greek
&#7843;&#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#960;&#959;&#943;&#951;&#964;&#959;&#962;, meaning
"not created by human hands", and the term was first applied to the Turin Shroud and the Veil of Veronica.
Later, the term came to apply more generally to simulacra of a religious or spiritual nature occurring in natural
phenomena, particularly those seen by believers as being of miraculous origin."

by jaskaw @ 19.10.2010 - 19:43:30

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/19/why-do-people-think-they-see-mary-or-jesus-on-windows-and-toast-9683363/
Feedback for Post "'Why Do People Think They See Mary or
Jesus on Windows and Toast?'"

maiann [Visitor]

19.10.2010 @ 19:49
http://jesustoasters.com/

atheistbruce [Member]
19.10.2010 @ 20:01

Hey maiann: that's great. Pity they are only available in the continental US.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

22.10.2010 @ 23:38
I've got one that produces the Invisible Pink Unicorn that I'd be willing to mass produce.
Vatican: ' The Simpsons are good Catholics'
Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/simpsons_vatican/

"The Vatican has declared that the Simpsons are a fine example of the Catholic ideal, and given parents the
green light to let their kids watch the animated show.
The declaration, in Vatican in-house mag Osservatore Romano, confirms both an earlier paean to the show,
and the Simpsons' own onscreen conversion a few years ago.
The paper cites the show's constant questioning of faith - a popular pastime for Catholics, as well as their
attempts to pray before meals. We're pretty sure we've also seen Homer try to nail Bart to things, but we're not
sure this is the sort of thing Rome had in mind.
Back in December the Vatican published a homage to the show celebrating its 20th anniversary."

Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/19/simpsons_vatican/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons
"The Simpsons is an American animated television series created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting
Company. The series is a satirical parody of a working-class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous
family,[1] which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of
Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with the producer
James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own
family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19,
1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early
hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989ʒ1990).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989 the show has broadcast 467 episodes and the twenty-second season
started airing on September 26, 2010. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters
worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed US$527 million worldwide.
The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and
in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest running American primetime entertainment series. Homer's
exclamatory catchphrase "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has
influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms."

by jaskaw @ 20.10.2010 - 08:54:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/20/vatican-the-simpsons-are-good-catholics-9697505/
UAE court rules that a man can beat his wife, but
shouldn't leave marks
Read more at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/299085

Abu Dhabi - A man has the right to physically discipline his wife, although a beating should not be severe
enough to leave marks, the Federal Supreme Court in the United Arab Emirates has ruled.
---
ːAlthough the [law] permits the husband to use his right [to discipline], he has to abide by the limits of this
right," The National quoted Chief Justice Falah al Hajeri as saying in his ruling.
---
Dr Ahmed al Kubaisi, the head of Sharia Studies at UAE University and Baghdad University, told The
National: "If a wife committed something wrong, a husband can report her to police, but sometimes she does
not do a serious thing or he does not want to let others know; when it is not good for the family. In this case,
hitting is a better option."
Dr Jassim al Shamsi, the dean of the college of law at UAE University, said Sharia makes it clear that beatings
should not be severe, and that love and respect are more important to couples than discipline."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/299085#ixzz12vhkmPLs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia_law
"The concept of justice embodied in Sharia is entirely different from that of secular Western law. Muslims
believe the Sharia law has been revealed by God. In Islam, the laws that govern human affairs are just one
facet of a universal set of laws governing nature itself. Violations of Islamic law are offenses against God and
nature, including one's own human nature. Crime in Islam is sin. Whatever crime is committed, whatever
punishment is prescribed for that crime in this world, one must ultimately answer to God on the Day of
Judgement."

"There are two types of marriage mentioned in the Qur'an: nikah and nikah mut’ah. The first is more
common; it aims to be permanent, but can be terminated by the husband in the talaq process, or by the wife
seeking divorce using khul'.
In nikah the couples inherit from each other. A dowry known as mahr is given to the bride, a legal contract is
signed when entering the marriage, and the husband must pay for the wife's expenses.
Under Shia jurisprudence, nikah mut'ah is the second form of marriage. It is a fixed-term marriage, which is a
marriage with a preset duration, after which the marriage is automatically dissolved.
A third type of marriage contract, known as misyar, is emerging in Sunni Islam. This marriage is not for a
fixed period of time like nikah mut'ah, but is similar in other respects including lack of inheritance, lack of
financial responsibility and freedom of movement on the part of the wife. In misyar marriage, the couple need
not cohabit. There is also controversy regarding this form of marriage."

by jaskaw @ 20.10.2010 - 21:43:46

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/20/uae-court-rules-that-a-man-can-beat-his-wife-but-shouldn-t-leave-marks-971927
Feedback for Post "UAE court rules that a man can beat his
wife, but shouldn't leave marks "

atheistbruce [Member]
22.10.2010 @ 16:34

So, it's OK to beat the wife as long as you try not to leave any permanent scars. I assume that is an economic
issue to preserve her value for future trade as an item of livestock?

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

22.10.2010 @ 23:33
Does that mean no VISIBLE marks (i.e., face & hands) or NO visible marks (i.e., anywhere on her person)?
Just thought I'd ask for clarification.

atheistbruce [Member]
23.10.2010 @ 19:14

Sorry GodlessHeathen, but I know not. As I understand it Muslim men are allowed to look at all exposed parts
of a woman, but Muslim women are required to cover all parts and Muslim women, being an inferior species,
are to obey men. We better request a Fatwa on this one?
"Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith in the
Black Community." (video discussion)

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

( http://richarddawkins.net ) presents: "Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith in the Black Community."

A dialogue with Richard Dawkins, Anthony Pinn, Sikivu Hutchinson, Todd Stiefel and moderated by Mark
Hatcher concerning the role of faith and science in the Black Community. Faith has traditionally played a
significant role among African Americans, while science has been marginalized. It is time to confront the
issues that have kept too many Blacks out of the halls of science and confined to the pews.

http://www.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_dawkins
"Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist and evolutionary
biologist. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for
Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008.
Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centered
view of evolution and introduced the term meme. In 1982, he introduced into evolutionary biology an
influential concept, presented in his book The Extended Phenotype, that the phenotypic effects of a gene are
not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of
other organisms."

by jaskaw @ 21.10.2010 - 07:51:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/21/dialogue-of-reason-science-and-faith-in-the-black-community-video-discussion-
Feedback for Post ""Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith
in the Black Community." (video discussion)"

FedupwithR [Member]
21.10.2010 @ 13:17

A very interesting video. Nice to see members of the black community coming out as Atheists and all wearing
the Dawkins red Atheist A. Frankly I've never understood how, after all they have been through, they
managed to keep their faith. I don't think they would have had it not been for the social aspect of their church.
African Americans have fun in their churches.

atheistbruce [Member]
22.10.2010 @ 21:05

Indeed, a most interesting discussion. We Europeans conquered Africa, we beat the shit out of the men, raped
all the women, terrorised the kids, stole all their possesions, rammed Jesus down their throats and took them
off to America as slaves. Their response was "praise the lord".
The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil
deGrasse Tyson (video)

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

( http://richarddawkins.net ) presents: "The Poetry of Science: Discussions of the Beauty of Science."

Two of science's luminaries converse on the beauty of science. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host
of NOVA and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins will explore the wonders of the Cosmos and of Life,
its origins, its inspirations, and why science is not just an option, it is the only reality we possess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson
"Neil deGrasse Tyson (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, and the Frederick P. Rose
Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the
Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Since 2006, he has
hosted PBS's educational television show NOVA scienceNOW. He has been a frequent guest on The Daily
Show, The Colbert Report, and Jeopardy!."
Some of the books by Tyson
* The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet (2009)
* Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007)
* The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist (2000)
* Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution (2004)
* My Favorite Universe (A lecture series) (2003)
* City of Stars: A New Yorker's Guide to the Cosmos (2002)
* Cosmic Horizons: Astronomy at the Cutting Edge (2000)
* One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos (2000)
* Just Visiting This Planet (1998)
* Universe Down to Earth (1994)
* Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1989)

by jaskaw @ 21.10.2010 - 19:12:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/21/the-poetry-of-science-richard-dawkins-and-neil-degrasse-tyson-video-9727284/
Feedback for Post "The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins
and Neil deGrasse Tyson (video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
23.10.2010 @ 18:28

Excellent: that cleared up a few issues that I did not realise I had.

FedupwithR [Member]
25.10.2010 @ 22:23

Most enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Frans De Waal: 'Morals Without God?'
Read more at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/morals-without-god/?emc=eta1

---
"Perhaps it is just me, but I am wary of anyone whose belief system is the only thing standing between them
and repulsive behavior. Why not assume that our humanity, including the self-control needed for livable
societies, is built into us? Does anyone truly believe that our ancestors lacked social norms before they had
religion? Did they never assist others in need, or complain about an unfair deal? Humans must have worried
about the functioning of their communities well before the current religions arose, which is only a few
thousand years ago. Not that religion is irrelevant ō I will get to this ō but it is an add-on rather than the
wellspring of morality.
Deep down, creationists realize they will never win factual arguments with science. This is why they have
construed their own science-like universe, known as Intelligent Design, and eagerly jump on every tidbit of
information that seems to go their way.
---
"Psychologists stress the intuitive way we arrive at moral judgments while activating emotional brain areas,
and economists and anthropologists have shown humanity to be far more cooperative, altruistic, and fair than
predicted by self-interest models. Similarly, the latest experiments in primatology reveal that our close
relatives will do each other favors even if thereˈs nothing in it for themselves."
---
"Mammals may derive pleasure from helping others in the same way that humans feel good doing good.
Nature often equips lifeˈs essentials ō sex, eating, nursing ō with built-in gratification. One study found that
pleasure centers in the human brain light up when we give to charity."

Read more at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/morals-without-god/?emc=eta1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_de_Waal
"Frans B.M. de Waal, PhD (born 29 October 1948, 's-Hertogenbosch), is a Dutch primatologist and ethologist.
He is the Charles Howard Candler professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University psychology
department in Atlanta, Georgia, and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate
Research Center and author of numerous books including Chimpanzee Politics and Our Inner Ape. His
research centers on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion, and
food-sharing. He is a Member of the (US) National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of
Sciences."

by jaskaw @ 22.10.2010 - 18:44:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/22/frans-de-waal-morals-without-god-9740660/
Take part in a poll: 'Should public prayer be
allowed at school events?'
The public poll is at: http://www.wsmv.com/news/25463689/detail.html

Survey: Should public prayer be allowed at school events?

"SODDY DAISY, Tenn. -- Public prayer is no longer allowed at events in Hamilton County schools.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a complaint on behalf of some students and
parents at Soddy Daisy High School. The group claims public prayer violates a person's First Amendment
rights.
The school had been starting each home football game with a prayer over the loudspeaker.
The school superintendent said he had no choice but to ban prayers over loudspeakers at athletic events and
graduation ceremonies."

The public poll is at: http://www.wsmv.com/news/25463689/detail.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer
"Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional connection to a god or spirit through
deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may
involve the use of words or song.
When language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a
spontaneous utterance in the praying person. There are different forms of prayer such as petitionary prayer,
prayers of supplication, thanksgiving, and worship/praise.
Prayer may be directed towards a deity, spirit, deceased person, or lofty idea, for the purpose of worshipping,
requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins or to express one's thoughts and emotions. Thus,
people pray for many reasons such as personal benefit or for the sake of others.
Most major religions involve prayer in one way or another. Some ritualize the act of prayer, requiring a strict
sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be
practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time."
by jaskaw @ 23.10.2010 - 16:34:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/23/take-part-in-a-poll-should-public-prayer-be-allowed-at-school-events-9744990/
Feedback for Post "Take part in a poll: 'Should public
prayer be allowed at school events?'"

Emmet [Visitor]

23.10.2010 @ 19:35
As long as every sect has the opportunity to participate every time, I would be in favor. This should include
xtians, muslins ("sheet people"), joos, pastafarians (R'Amen), wiccans, druids, naturists (nudists - "Hey, kids,
look at THIS (These)"), Mermen (the ones with the magic underwear), inSane-etologists ("No aliens, please -
Our borders are closed"), Atheists ("Pray silently - No one will hear you anyway"), Unitarian Universalists
("All join hands and pray in spite of your doubts"), Quakers (If the spirit moves you), shakers (no sex, please),
fakirs ("This bed of nails is quite comfortable"), Catholics (not allowed in grade school), dyslexics ("We
believe in Dog") and so on.

By this time, there will be no time left for the event.

Moral of the story (no irony intended): Keep your damn fantasies to yourself.
A Christian Nation? (video)

A video featuring George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Uncle Sam - all
giving their views on whether or not the USA is a "Christian Nation."

Thomas Paine (29 January 1737 ʒ 8 June 1809) was an English political writer, theorist, and activist who had
a great influence on the thoughts and ideas that led to the American revolution and declaration of
independence. He wrote three of the most influential and controversial works of the 18th Century: Common
Sense, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason.

In The Age of Reason the Founding Father Thomas Paine wrote:

"Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say,
that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God
came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel
from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them
all."

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than
human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

"Whenever we read the obscene stories the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the
unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we
call it the word of a demon rather than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt
and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel."

"The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the
human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion."

"The study of theology as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it
rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of
no conclusion. Not any thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of the principles
upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of
nothing."
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-Paine/91127911235

by jaskaw @ 24.10.2010 - 02:01:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/24/a-christian-nation-video-9747822/
Feedback for Post "A Christian Nation? (video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
24.10.2010 @ 17:05

Well, the USA may not be a Christian nation, but it is the nation containing the largest number of people
claiming to be Christians, even if many of them do not know what that means.
Victor J. Stenger: "The NEW Atheism" (video)
Victor J. Stenger: "The NEW Atheism" Part 1

Victor J. Stenger: "The NEW Atheism" Part 2

Victor J. Stenger: "The NEW Atheism" Part 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Stenger
"Victor J. Stenger (born January 29, 1935, Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American particle physicist and
author, now active in philosophy and popular religious skepticism.
As of June 2010, he has published nine books for general audiences on physics, quantum mechanics,
cosmology, philosophy, religion, atheism, and pseudoscience, the latest of which is The New Atheism: Taking
a Stand for Science and Reason, which was released in September 2009. Stenger announced that work has
begun on a tenth book, tentatively titled The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: How the Universe is Not Designed for
Humanity.
Stenger is now mainly known as an advocate of philosophical naturalism, skepticism, and atheism. He is a
prominent critic of intelligent design and the aggressive use of the anthropic principle. He maintains that
consciousness and free will, assuming that they in fact do exist, will eventually be explained in a scientific
manner that invokes neither the mystical nor the supernatural. He has repeatedly criticized those who invoke
the perplexities of quantum mechanics in support of the paranormal, mysticism, or supernatural phenomena,
and has written several books and articles debunking contemporary pseudoscience."

Books by Victor J. Stenger:

* 1988. Not by Design: The Origin of the Universe.
* 1990. Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses.
* 1995. The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology.
* 2000. Timeless Reality: Symmetry, Simplicity, and Multiple Universes.
* 2003. Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe.
* 2006. The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do The Laws Of Physics Come From?.
* 2007. God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist.
* 2009. Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness.
* 2009. The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason.

by jaskaw @ 24.10.2010 - 16:37:02

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/24/victor-j-stenger-the-new-atheism-video-9753027/
Bertrand Russell: Why I am not a Christian (video)
Part 1 of 4 Why I Am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell

Part 2 of 4 Why I Am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell

Part 3 of 4 Why I Am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell

Part 4 of 4 Why I Am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_russell
"Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 ʒ 2 February 1970) was a
British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, socialist, pacifist, and social critic. He spent most of
his life in England; he was born in Wales where he also died, aged 97.
Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of
analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein, and is
widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.
He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic.
His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy."
His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, and philosophy,
especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.
Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed free trade and anti-imperialism. Russell went to
prison for his pacifist activism during World War I. Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised
Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and finally
became an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant
writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
by jaskaw @ 24.10.2010 - 20:55:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/24/bertrand-russell-why-i-am-not-a-christian-video-9756728/
Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101024/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_university_restrictions

"TEHRAN, Iran ʒ Iran has imposed new restrictions on 12 university social sciences deemed to be based on
Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings, state radio reported Sunday.
The list includes law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science and the two subjects that appear
to cause the most concern among Iran's conservative leadership ō women's studies and human rights.
"The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they
are based on Western schools of thought," senior education official Abolfazl Hassani told state radio.
Hassani said the restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects. The
government will also revise the content of current programs by up to 70 percent over the next few years, he
said."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101024/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_university_restrictions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_Iran
"Iran considers scientific backwardness, as one of the root causes of political and military bullying by
developed countries over undeveloped states. After the Iranian Revolution, there have been efforts by the
religious scholars to assimilate Islam with modern science and this is seen by some as the reason behind the
recent successes of Iran to augment its scientific out put."

by jaskaw @ 25.10.2010 - 11:51:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/25/iran-restricts-social-sciences-seen-as-western-9763126/
Feedback for Post "Iran restricts social sciences seen as
'Western'"

atheistbruce [Member]
26.10.2010 @ 13:58

This is the students reward for the demonstrations last year!

FedupwithR [Member]
27.10.2010 @ 22:17

This is history repeating it's self. The Chinese went through the same phase under Mao, throwing out
everything Western.

The intolerant and dogmatic are always better at rejection than incorporation.
Washington Post: 'Catholic bloggers aim to purge
dissenters'
Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/24/AR2010102401007.html

"By RACHEL ZOLL

The Associated Press
Monday, October 25, 2010; 12:05 AM
- Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it's not coming from the usual liberal
suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn't
Catholic enough.
Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest
language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church.
-In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint
of Marxist influence.
-Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff of Catholic agencies who donate to
politicians who support abortion rights.
-RealCatholicTV.com, working from studios in suburban Detroit, is hunting for "traitorous" nuns, priests or
bishops throughout the American church."

Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/24/AR2010102401007.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissent
"Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea (e.g. a government's
policies) or an entity (e.g. an individual or political party which supports such policies). The term's antonyms
include agreement, consensus (when all or nearly all parties agree on something) and consent (when one party
agrees to a proposition made by another).
In some political systems, dissent may be formally expressed by way of opposition politics, while politically
repressive regimes may prohibit any form of dissent, leading to suppression of dissent and the encouragement
of social or political activism.
Individuals who do not conform or support the policies of certain states may be described as "dissidents," or
in extreme cases, "enemies of the state". Several thinkers have argued that a healthy society needs not only to
protect, but also to encourage dissent."
by jaskaw @ 26.10.2010 - 11:15:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/26/washington-post-catholic-bloggers-aim-to-purge-dissenters-9790253/
Feedback for Post "Washington Post: 'Catholic bloggers
aim to purge dissenters'"

Penny C [Visitor]

26.10.2010 @ 11:34
Why am I not surprised? Yet, I believe they will soon find that they have more, "dissenters" than those who
still support the age old mysticism of their past. I am very much hoping that the Catholic Church will once
again evolve past their hedonistic rituals to embrace the ten commandments and set up services based on the
teaching of Jesus Christ, like other Churches who are are more Christian, have done. For too long this religion
has been at war with the well being of women and children. They were not put on this earth to serve or service
men. They are to be as good and respected as men are in a good society. For too long dominance has been
confused as stewardship. They are not the same thing. Something or someone that you watch or care for
should be treated with the utmost respect and shown the very best form of dignity we can aspire to.

When this comes into being, and I at least have enough faith to believe that it will happen some day, we will
see the Catholic religion move into a much more esteemed place rather than the old mildewy Gothic
nightmare it is now. Than, maybe, when they can accept change, as being God's mercy on its' subjects, there
will be a lot fewer, "non-practicing" Catholics in the world. Or maybe they will all become atheists? I refuse
to give up my hope for a better, truly peaceful world, just yet.

atheistbruce [Member]
26.10.2010 @ 13:54

Why is it that caflics are all concerned about condoms, gays & abortion, but don't give a damn about the
sodomizing of choirboys?

FedupwithR [Member]
26.10.2010 @ 23:01

Penny

There will never be a better, truly peaceful world. Utopia is nothing but wishful thinking. Man is still a very
primitive animal. You should have noticed this by now. How can you, given the history of the Catholic
Church, have any faith in an institution run by infantile, sexually repressed/perverse, misogynous,
mediocrities?

By the way, this is an Atheist blog so refering to a deiety as if he exists is not acceptable. We don't believe in
a Sky Daddy.
Morgan Freeman: The Power of Words

This video is a Webby Award winner. Amnesty International supporters have used the power of words to
demand freedom and justice for countless human rights defenders around the world. Our words are proof that
when you stand up for human rights, you never stand alone.

Production Company (animation): Curious Pictures, Director: Rohitash Rao, Director of Photography: David
Griffiths, Producer: Pamela Mahan, Voice over: Nazanin Boniadi, Music: Elias Arts, Production Company
(introduction): Pictures in a Row, Director: Peter Lang, Producer: Andrew Halpern, Spokesperson: Morgan
Freeman

http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Freeman
Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, and narrator. He is
noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice.

"Voice of God" Morgan Freeman "Not a Man of God"

by jaskaw @ 27.10.2010 - 21:00:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/27/morgan-freeman-the-power-of-words-9811476/
Feedback for Post "Morgan Freeman: The Power of Words "

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

28.10.2010 @ 00:20
Thought the AI video was interesting and Morgan Freeman did a wonderful job in the interview of openly
expressing his belief in things that can be proven or disproven (science), rather than in a god, without
alienating his obviously theistic interviewer.

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

28.10.2010 @ 00:21
The look on his face when she called him a "man of god" was priceless, as well.
A real video-classic: 'Kissing Hank's A...s'

http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank.php
"This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well groomed, nicely
dressed couple. The man spoke first:
John:
"Hi! I'm John, and this is Mary."
Mary:
"Hi! We're here to invite you to come kiss Hank's a...s with us."
Me:
"Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who's Hank, and why would I want to kiss His a...s?"
John:
"If you kiss Hank's a...s, He'll give you a million dollars; and if you don't, He'll kick the shit out of you."
----"
Read more at: http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank.php

by jaskaw @ 28.10.2010 - 15:33:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/28/a-real-video-classic-kissing-hank-s-a-s-9824541/
Feedback for Post "A real video-classic: 'Kissing Hank's
A...s'"

atheistbruce [Member]
29.10.2010 @ 19:51

Hank sure has a beautiful little ass...

Crowd watches as two teenage girls are executed
by Islamic militants in Somalia
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/28/somalia.teens.executed/index.html

"CNN) -- A Somali militant group publicly executed two teenage girls Wednesday after accusing them of
being spies for the Somali government, according to the group, eyewitnesses and a relative of one of the girls.
"Those two girls were evil and they were spies for the enemy (the Somali government), but the mujahedeen
caught them and after investigation, they admitted their crime, so they have been executed," said Sheikh
Yusuf Ali Ugas, commander of Al-Shabaab in Beledweyne, a town in central Somalia.
The teens were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs against a tree, and shot, according to a local
journalist.
A resident of Beledweyne told CNN that Al-Shabaab called on the town's residents to come out and watch the
execution."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/28/somalia.teens.executed/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shabaab
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (&#7716;arakat ash-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn, Mujahideen Youth Movement
or "Movement of Striving Youth"), more commonly known as al-Shabaab "The Youth" or "The Lads") is an
Islamist insurgency group in the ongoing war in Somalia. As of summer 2010 the group is said to control
most of the southern and central parts of Somalia, including "a large swath" of the capital, Mogadishu, where
it is said to have imposed its own "harsh" form of Sharia law.
Estimates of al-Shabaab's strength, as of December 2008, vary between 3,000 to 7,000. Some moderate
Somali paramilitary groups, or Sufis such as Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a are opposed to al-Shabab's intolerant
views on Sufi beliefs and traditional Somali cultural practices.
The group is an off-shoot of the Islamic Courts Union, which splintered into several smaller groups after its
removal from power by Ethiopian forces in 2006.
The group describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies of Islam" and is engaged in combat against the
Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).
It has reportedly "declared war on the U.N. and on Western non-governmental organizations" that distribute
food aid in Somalia, killing 42 relief workers in the past two years of 2008 and 2009. It has been designated a
terrorist organization by several western governments and security services, and described as having "ties to
Al Qaeda," which their leaders denied until early 2010."
Because of its opinions and methods, Al-Shabaab, has been compared with the Taliban in Afghanistan and
Pakistan."

by jaskaw @ 28.10.2010 - 19:18:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/28/crowd-watches-as-two-teenage-girls-are-executed-by-islamic-militants-in-somal
Feedback for Post "Crowd watches as two teenage girls are
executed by Islamic militants in Somalia"

Cheesedoff17 [Visitor]

28.10.2010 @ 19:49
More horror from the religion of peace.

atheistbruce [Member]
29.10.2010 @ 19:40

If you want to know what life is all about in Somalia, then read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book, Infidel.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

30.10.2010 @ 15:05
What! No moral/cultural relativists out there demanding that we view these atrocities through the lense of
'cultural context?' Shocking!

elainep [Visitor]

30.10.2010 @ 16:09
These people are not human. Just proves that those in power in civilised countries do not care enough. United
Nations, no use and how much does it cost to keep. I have not seen this reported on any news programme.
Special report: 'Blasphemy laws violate the
fundamental freedom of expression'
Read the full report at: http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=383&report=95

"Policing Belief: The Impact of Blasphemy Laws on Human Rights examines the human rights implications
of domestic blasphemy and religious insult laws using the case studies of seven countriesōAlgeria, Egypt,
Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Polandōwhere such laws exist both on paper and in practice.
Without exception, blasphemy laws violate the fundamental freedom of expression, as they are by definition
intended to protect religious institutions and religious doctrineʒ i.e., abstract ideas and concepts ʒ from insult
or offence. At their most benign, such laws lead to self-censorship.
In Greece and Poland, two of the more democratic countries examined in the study, charges brought against
high-profile artists, curators and writers serve as a warning to others that certain topics are off limits.
At their worst, in countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia, such laws lead to overt governmental censorship
and individuals are both prosecuted and subject to severe criminal penalties including lengthy jail sentences."

Read the full report at: http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=383&report=95

by jaskaw @ 29.10.2010 - 19:22:37

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/29/special-report-blasphemy-laws-violate-the-fundamental-freedom-of-expression-9
The Guardian: Evangelical revolution in Brazil
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/29/brazil-evangelical-revolution-miracle-healers

Brazil's evangelical revolution sees miracle healers take centre stage.

Poverty and technology contribute to boom of Pentecostalism in predominantly Catholic country.

---
"Brazil ʒ and much of Latin America and the Caribbean ō is in the midst of what believers proudly call an
"evangelical revolution". According to the IBGE, Brazil's census board, the country's Catholic population fell
from around 89% in 1980 to 74% in 2000, while its Pentecostal flock grew from 3% to 10%. Brazilian
churches are opening branches from Buenos Aires to Port-au-Prince.
The tendency is even likely to play a role in Sunday's presidential election run-off, with the two candidates,
Dilma Rousseff and José Serra, openly courting the denomination on issues such as gay marriage and
abortion.
Cesar Romero Jacob, a political scientist at Rio's Catholic University, said Brazil's evangelical revolution had
gripped two key areas: remote regions in the Amazon and the deprived outskirts of Brazilian cities such as
Rio.
A "state vacuum", where poverty, violence, alcoholism and prostitution proliferated, had laid the foundations
for the boom. "If the [Catholic] church and the state are absent, somebody else will occupy the space," said
Jacob, a leading expert in religious voting trends in Brazil. "Pentecostalism occupied it."
---
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/29/brazil-evangelical-revolution-miracle-healers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacostal
"Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal
experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Greek term describing the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For
Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as
described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.
Pentecostals tend to see their movement as reflecting the same kind of spiritual power, worship styles and
teachings that were found in the early church. For this reason, some Pentecostals also use the term Apostolic
or full gospel to describe their movement.
Pentecostalism is an umbrella term that includes a wide range of different theologies and cultures.
For example, many Pentecostals are Trinitarian and others are Nontrinitarian. As a result, there is no single
central organization or church that directs the movement. Many Pentecostal groups are affiliated with the
Pentecostal World Conference."

by jaskaw @ 30.10.2010 - 21:28:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/30/the-guardian-pentecostalism-istaking-brazil-by-a-storm-9857510/
Feedback for Post "The Guardian: Evangelical revolution in
Brazil "

atheistbruce [Member]
31.10.2010 @ 12:36

If you do the sums, then you get: in 1980 89% Cafs & 3% Pentes, total 92%; in 2000 74% Cafs & 10%
Pentes, total 84%. So what happened to the defecting 8%: are they now Atheists?

| Show subcomments
Luke [Visitor]

04.11.2010 @ 02:55
Well in fact new researches (2007) suggest Brazil's protestant population is now at 23% (17 pentecostals and
5 non-petencostals), Catholics are 64%. As you know, Brazil is not divided in only two religions, so I guess
that gives a smaller number of atheists.

http://datafolha.folha.uol.com.br/po/ver_po.php?session=447
A 'Non Sequitur' -comic strip pulled out of
Washington Post for fear of offending Muslims -
even if Mohammad was not there
Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100804947.html
"Non Sequitur" is a popular comic that runs daily in about 800 newspapers, including this one. But the "Non
Sequitur" cartoon that appeared in last Sunday's Post was not the one creator Wiley Miller drew for that day.
Editors at The Post and many other papers pulled the cartoon and replaced it with one that had appeared
previously. They were concerned it might offend and provoke some Post readers, especially Muslims.
Miller is known for social satire. But at first glance, the single-panel cartoon he drew for last Sunday seems
benign. It is a bucolic scene imitating the best-selling children's book "Where's Waldo?" A grassy park is
jammed with activity. Animals frolic. Children buy ice cream. Adults stroll and sunbathe. A caption reads:
"Where's Muhammad?"
---
What is clever about last Sunday's "Where's Muhammad?" comic is that the prophet does not appear in it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_Sequitur_%28comic_strip%29
"Non Sequitur is a comic strip created by Wiley Miller (usually credited as just Wiley) in 1992 and syndicated
by Universal Press Syndicate to over 700 newspapers. The strip can be found online at gocomics.com
(although archives are only viewable with an account), and it is also available via email and on mobile
phones.
Translated from Latin as "it does not follow", Non Sequitur is often political and satirical, though other times,
purely comedic.
The strip has undergone many changes through its history. Originally, the comic was a single panel gag
cartoon, similar to Gary Larson's The Far Side. It grew more political (from a borderline far left perspective)
in tone during the 1990s, to the point where it often became a borderline editorial cartoon. Today, the comic
has become more traditional, with a multi-panel format and recurring characters. The single panel gag format
is still occasionally used, however.
Non Sequitur has been honored with four National Cartoonists Society Awards, including the Newspaper
Panel Cartoon Award for 1995, 1996 and 1998, and the Newspaper Panels Award for 2002. It is the only
comic strip to win in its first year of syndication and the only title to ever win both the best comic strip and
best comic panel categories."

by jaskaw @ 31.10.2010 - 17:18:20

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/31/a-non-sequitur-comic-strip-pulled-out-of-washington-for-fear-of-offending-musl
Feedback for Post "A 'Non Sequitur' -comic strip pulled out
of Washington Post for fear of offending Muslims - even if
Mohammad was not there"

atheistbruce [Member]
02.11.2010 @ 19:22

Maybe Mohammed was off with Jesus having a gay day?

The Foreign Minister of Italy: Christians, Jews and
Muslims should fight together against the
'perverse phenomena of atheism'.
Read more at:
http://marcalandimartino.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/this-country-is-rotten-and-it-will-never-change-no-matter-what/

"Italyˈs Foreign Minister Franco Frattini wrote an article which he published in the Osservatore Romano, a
Vatican newspaper, attacking atheists as ːperverseə and a ːthreat to society.ə Iˈve translated the money
quote into English so non-Italian readers can see what theocratic bigots are running the roost here:

ːChristians also must be able to forge an agreement with Muslims on how to fight those aspects which, like
all extremisms, threaten society. I refer to atheism, materialism and relativism. Christians, Muslims and Jews
can work together to reach this common objective. I believe itˈs time for a new humanism in order to struggle
against these perverse phenomena, because only the centrality of the human being is an antidote to fanaticism
and intollerance.ə

Read more at:

http://marcalandimartino.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/this-country-is-rotten-and-it-will-never-change-no-matter-what/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Frattini
"Franco Frattini (born 14 March 1957 in Rome) is an Italian politician, currently serving as Italy's Foreign
Minister in the Berlusconi Cabinet. Before 8 May 2008 he served as European Commissioner for Justice,
Freedom and Security and one of five vice-presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission."

by jaskaw @ 31.10.2010 - 21:00:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/31/the-foreign-minister-of-italy-christians-jews-and-muslims-should-fight-together-
Feedback for Post "The Foreign Minister of Italy: Christians,
Jews and Muslims should fight together against the
'perverse phenomena of atheism'."

atheistbruce [Member]
01.11.2010 @ 17:34

Since Netanyahu has the most extensive battle experience in conducting religious wars, he should be the
Abrahamic Supreme Commander. OBL, Ayatollah Komenei & Ratzo will enjoy reporting to him.
MSNBC Cenk Attack: God & Government (video)

"Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) on his weekly Daily Rant segment on The Dylan Ratigan show on
MSNBC explains the absurdity of popular tea party candidates who are against the separation of church and
state. Watch Cenk with Ratigan every Wednesday around 4:45pm ET/1:45pm PT."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenk_Uygur
"Cenk Uygur born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American journalist and political commentator. He is the
main host and co-founder of the talk radio show The Young Turks.
He also has a column in The Huffington Post and is a regular substitute-host and contributor on MSNBC. A
graduate of the Columbia Law School, he previously practiced law in New York and in Washington D.C."

by jaskaw @ 31.10.2010 - 23:30:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/10/31/msnbc-cenk-attack-god-government-video-9867800/
Feedback for Post "MSNBC Cenk Attack: God &
Government (video)"

FedupwithR [Member]
02.11.2010 @ 13:00

It's a terrible indictment of the American educational system to have produced so many ignoramuses. Sad too.
Every government that fails to educate it's citizens has failed them.

If everyone received a decent education more people would be able to make a greater contribution and more
would benefit but governments just skim off the cream and a bit of milk then abandon more than half the
bottle. Thus an elite is perpetuated who are entitled to exploit the uneducated.
Free Speech for Hamsters (video)

A little parable on the pitfalls of free expression....for hamsters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_versus_blasphemy
"The issue of freedom of speech versus blasphemy cannot be seen in isolation from the role of religion as a
source of political power in some societies. In such a society, to blaspheme is to threaten not only a religion,
but also the entire political power order of the society, and hence, the official punishments (and popular
responses to blasphemy) tend to be more severe and violent."

* On August 18, 1925 The Star (a now defunct London evening newspaper) printed a cartoon by David Low
in which the Captain of the English Cricket team, Jack Hobbs, was depicted as the towering statue in a
'Gallery of the most important historical celebrities' and the one to whom the others looked up. Among the
others was Muhammad. Colin Seymour-Ure and Jim Schoff's book David Low notes "Harmless enough at
home, the depiction of Muhammad meant that in India the cartoon 'convulsed many Muslims in speechless
rage', as the Calcutta correspondent of the Morning Post put it. Meetings were held and resolutions of protest
were passed."

* On March 9, 1977, 12 African-American gunmen identified as Hanafi Muslims seized three buildings in
Washington, D.C., seeking to stop the screening of the movie "Mohammad, Messenger of God" and also to
have certain prisoners released to them. Two people were killed, others injured, and others taken hostage for
39 hours. The film does not actually show Mohammad. See 1977 Hanafi Siege.

* In 1989, Indian born British author Salman Rushdie was sentenced to death for blasphemy by Iranian leader
Ayatollah Khomeini for Rushdie's depiction of Muhammad as a businessman in his novel The Satanic Verses.
An Iranian businessman offered a $3 million reward to anyone carrying out the sentence against Rushdie.
Other Islamic scholars followed suit, providing similar fatwa (legal pronouncement in Islam made by a mufti).
In 1989, Khomeini died, making fatwa permanent to those who follow his teaching. In 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi,
the book's Japanese translator was murdered at the university where he taught in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 60
kilometres north of Tokyo. The book's Italian translator was beaten and stabbed in Milan. William Nygaard,
the Norwegian publisher was shot in 1993. Thirty-seven people, who had come to listen to a speech by the
translator and publisher (of some parts of the book) Aziz Nesin, a well-known satirist, perished when the hotel
where they had gathered was torched in Sivas, Turkey. The post-Khomeini Iranian government, while
maintaining that fatwa cannot be reversed, promised only in 1998 to dissociate itself from it. Rushdie stayed
in hiding under police protection for several

* In May 1994, a fatwa on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin came after she was quoted in The Statesman
that "‫ل‬the Koran should be revised thoroughly." This follows attacks and persecution of Taslima for her 1993
book Lajja (Bangla word for 'shame').

* In 1997 Tatiana Soskin was apprehended in Hebron while attempting to attach to an Arab storefront a
drawing she'd made depicting Muhammad as a pig reading the Koran. The incident created considerable
tension.

* In 1998 Ghulam Akbar, a Shi'a Muslim, was convicted, in a Rahim Yar Khan court, of uttering derogatory
remarks against Muhammad in 1995 and sentenced to death. He was the first to receive such a sentence under
Section 295(c) of the Pakistani penal code.

* In August 2000 a Lahore court sentenced Abdul Hasnain Muhammad Yusuf Ali to death and 35 years'
imprisonment for "defiling the name of Muhammad" under Section 295(a), 295(c), and 298.

* In 2001, prior to 9/11, American magazine Time printed an illustration of Muhammad along with the
Archangel Gabriel waiting for a message from God. The magazine apologized for printing the illustration
after widespread protests in Kashmir.

* In June 2002 Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari gave a speech that challenged Muslims to refrain from
blindly following their clergy. His speech provoked international outcry, and, in November 2002, he was
sentenced to death for "blasphemy against Muhammad."

* In August 2002, Italian police reported that they had disrupted a terrorist plot to destroy a church in
Bologna, Italy, which contains a 15th century fresco depicting an image of Muhammad.

* In November 2002 an article in the Nigerian ThisDay newspaper prior to the upcoming Miss World pageant,
suggesting Muhammad would have chosen one of the contestants as his bride, sparked riots that eventually
claimed over 200 lives.

* In December 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Marlette published a drawing that showed Muhammad
driving a Ryder truck, with a nuclear rocket attached. He received more than 4,500 e-mails from angry
Muslims, some with threats of death and mutilation.

* In 2004, Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali created the 10-minute film Submission. The
film is about violence against women in Islamic societies. It shows four abused women, wearing see-through
dresses. Qur'anic verses allegedly unfavourable to women in Arabic are painted on their bodies. After the
movie was released, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats. Van Gogh was stabbed and shot dead
on November 2, 2004, in Amsterdam by Mohammed Bouyeri. A note he left impaled on Van Gogh's chest
threatened Western governments, Jews and Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding).

* In February 2005 the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden decided to remove the painting
"Scène dˈAmour" by Louzla Darabi. The painting was part of a temporary exhibition about HIV/AIDS, and
depicted a man and a woman having sexual intercourse. The artist and the curator had received numerous
death threats from Muslims enraged over the Koran quotations which were featured in a corner of the
painting. Some threats were telling the artist to "learn from the Netherlands", referring to the murder of van
Gogh and threats against Hirsi Ali.

* On April 19, 2005 the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet broke the news that celebrity preacher Runar Søgaard in
a causerie had called Muhammad "a confused paedophile," alluding to Muhammed's marriage with Aisha.
Søgaard had at the same time also told jokes about Jesus and Buddha. Søgaard received numerous death
threats from Muslims and went on national television to apologise for his jokes. His apologies did not help,
and Muslim extremists in Sweden contacted imams around the world in order to have a fatwa issued against
Søgaard. Among the contacted ones were Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A fatwah with a death sentence against
Søgaard was eventually issued by an African imam.

* In September 2005 the Tate Britain gallery decided not to display a work by John Latham entitled God Is
Great #2, made ten years previously, which consisted in part of a Koran, a Bible and a Talmud that had been
disassembled. The exhibition was close to the time of the July 7, 2005 London bombings which influenced the
Tate's decision.

* In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed twelve cartoons of Mohammed which,
four months later and fueled by interested parties, eventually led to massive unrest in the Muslim world
(including more than 100 deaths), burnt embassies and international tension. In London, protestors carried
signs saying, "Behead those who Insult Islam".

* In February 2006, activist Manfred van H. was convicted in Germany and sentenced to one year of prison
on probation for mailing toilet paper stamped with "The holy Qur'an" to mosques and the media.

* In July 2007, Swedish artist Lars Vilks participated in an art exhibition themed "The Dog in Art" by
portraying Muhammad as a roundabout dog. He has subsequently received death threats and had to move out
from his home (refer to article Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy for more information).

* In September 2007, a Bangladeshi newspaper published a comic that referred to Muhammad. Copies of the
newspaper were torched and the cartoonist has been arrested.

* In November 2007, Unity High School in Sudan came under attention after a teacher at the school was
accused of allowing the class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. The teacher was convicted of insulting Islam
and was subject to death threats.[27][28] The teacher was pardoned by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on 3
December.

* A protest demanding Wikipedia remove images of Muhammed from all articles was started in February
2008. The main image in question is a painting of Muhammed in Mecca. Wikipedia refused to remove the
images.

* Fitna (film), a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders which claims the Koran incites violence was met with
calls to block and censor the film's showing. "The correct Sharia (Islamic law) response is to cut (off) his head
and let him follow his predecessor, van Gogh, to hell," a member of Al-Ekhlaas wrote.

* Gregorius Nekschot, a Dutch cartoonist collaborator of Theo van Gogh who was arrested in on May 13,
2008. His house was searched by ten policemen and his computer and sketch books were confiscated. He was
held in jail for interrogation and was made to remove eight cartoons from his website at the request of the
public prosecutor for being discriminatory for Muslims. The Netherlands police in a "project hatecrimes"
ready to file complaints about cartoons.

* In 2010, the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art quietly withdrew all images of Mohammed from
display out of fear of some Muslims who say the images are blasphemous. Kishwar Rizvi, an Islamic art
expert at Yale University, said "Museums shouldn't shy away from showing this in a historical context,".

by jaskaw @ 01.11.2010 - 23:20:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/01/free-speech-for-hamsters-video-9876127/
'The Islamic regime of Iran plans to execute
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani immediately'
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4194

"According to news received by the International Committee against Stoning and International Committee
against Execution on 1 November 2010, the authorities in Tehran have given the go ahead to Tabriz prison for
the execution of Iran stoning case Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. It has been reported that she is to be
executed this Wednesday 3 November.
We had previously reported that the casefile regarding the murder case of Ms Ashtianiˈs husband had been
seized from her lawyerˈs office, Houtan Kian, and found missing from the prosecutorˈs Oskoo branch office
so as to stitch Ms Ashtiani up with trumped up murder charges. Ms Ashtianiˈs son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, and
her lawyer, Houtan Kian, have warned of the regimeˈs plan to do so on many occasions. With the arrest of
Ms Ashtianiˈs son and lawyer on 10 October and her not having had any visitation rights since 11 August and
after fabricating a new case against her, the ːHuman Rights Commissionə of the regime has announced that:
’according to the existing evidence, her guilt has been confirmed.ˈ In fact, the regime has created a new
scenario in order to expedite her execution.
The International Committees against Stoning and Execution call on international bodies and the people of the
world to come out in full force against the state-sponsored murder of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Ms
Ashtiani, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, Houtan Kian and the two German journalists must be immediately and
unconditionally released."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakineh_Mohammadi_Ashtiani
"Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (Azerbaijani: Səkinə Məhəmmədi-A&#351;tiani, born 1967) is an Iranian
Azeri woman convicted of adultery, who since 2007 has been under sentence of death under Islamic Sharia
law. An international campaign to overturn her sentence was started by her son and daughter, and it brought
widespread attention to her case in 2010, when prominent media sources reported that she was sentenced to be
executed by stoning. Iranian authorities initially denied that this method of execution would be used, but
publicly and temporarily suspended a sentence of death by stoning in September 2010. She was also accused
of having conspired with the murderer of her husband.
The international publicity generated by Sakineh Ashtiani's case has led to multiple diplomatic incidents
between the Iranian government and other nations."

by jaskaw @ 02.11.2010 - 20:04:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/02/the-islamic-regime-of-iran-plans-to-execute-sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-imme
Feedback for Post "'The Islamic regime of Iran plans to
execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani immediately'"

atheistbruce [Member]
03.11.2010 @ 19:26

AND, was she executed?

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
03.11.2010 @ 19:47
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4207

"According to reports received today, global protests have managed to prevent the execution of Iran stoning
case Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani as of now. However the threat of imminent execution remains.

A global public outcry immediately followed news of her impending execution on 3 November, which was
reported on by all major media outlets. Tens of interviews took place with Mina Ahadi, Spokesperson of the
International Committees against Stoning and Execution, Iran Solidarity Spokesperson Maryam Namazie, and
other campaigners. Millions took immediate action worldwide by sending letters of protest to the Islamic
Republic of Iran and other governments calling for immediate action. A number of governments, including
the French, Italian, Swedish, and US and the European Parliament and European Union responded at once and
demanded that her execution be stopped. There were a number of demonstrations on 2 November, including
in Berlin, Brussels, London, Paris, Rome and Washington, DC."

International Committee against Execution http://notonemoreexecution.org

International Committee against Stoning http://stopstonningnow.com

Email: minaahadi@aol.com

Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413

| Show subcomments
atheistbruce [Member]
03.11.2010 @ 21:34

Thanks jaskaw: I wonder what the next episode is? At least she is still alive & where there is life, there if
hope.
How will you celebrate Carl Sagan Day at 9th of
November?
Read more at: http://centerforinquiry.net/carlsaganday

"Please join us this November as we honor Carl Sagan and celebrate the beauty and wonder of the cosmos he
so eloquently described.
Carl Sagan was a Professor of Astronomy and Space Science and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary
Studies at Cornell University, but most of us know him as a Pulitzer Prize winning author and the creator of
COSMOS. That Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS television series transformed educational television
when it first aired in 1980, but now, thirty years later, it's gone on to affect the hearts and minds of over a
billion people in sixty countries.
No other scientist has been able to reach and teach so many non-scientists in such a meaningful way, and that
is why we celebrate Dr. Sagan, remember his work, and revel in the cosmos he helped us understand."

Read more at: http://centerforinquiry.net/carlsaganday

Carl Sagan Day 2010 -event in Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/event.php?eid=107322345986592&index=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (English pronunciation: /ˈse&#618;&#609;ən/) (November 9, 1934 ʒ December 20,
1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of
astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific
papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he
advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

A quote from Carl Sagan's book Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Episode 8: "Journeys in Space and Time":

"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those
worlds is as real as ours and every one of them is a succession of incidents, events, occurrences which
influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small
planet at this moment, here we face a critical branch point in history: what we do with our world, right now,
will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well
within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well."
by jaskaw @ 03.11.2010 - 21:22:32

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/03/how-will-you-celebrate-carl-sagen-day-at-9th-of-november-9901583/
Science Saved My Soul (video)

The maker of the video "philhellenes" writes:

"Yes, many of those thinkers to whom I owe my mental freedom were religious, like Newton, a Christian,
who believed God made the Earth but who then showed me why the Earth would have formed without a god's
help. Or Plank and Schrodinger, two more Christians, who believed God ruled the Universe but showed me
how God could not control a single electron. The discoveries these and many other people made, the laws they
are famous for, are the very things that make gods getting humans pregnant, or angels whispering to prophets
in caves, look infantile. I could never and would never question their intelligence. Their honesty and
intellectual consistency are a different matter.

Weird...

I can stand on the shoulders of giants and see what even they seemingly could not.

I'm not against the Creator(s), if they exist, if they ever existed. I'm not against the search for the Creator(s).
What blows MY mind is that people think religion has anything to do with it at all."

http://www.youtube.com/user/philhellenes

by jaskaw @ 03.11.2010 - 23:40:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/03/science-saved-my-soul-video-9902744/
The Atlantic: 'Conan O'Brien's Fans Are Atheists'
Read more at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/11/conan-obriens-fans-are-atheists-clueless-about-his-new-tbs-show/6

"Yesterday we relayed the results of a study that revealed what your primetime TV viewing habits said about
your personality (any of you boring folks out there catch last night's 200th episode of Dancing With the
Stars?). Today, a new Hollywood Reporter poll classifies the most common characteristics of late-night TV
audiences based on which host they watch.

"Jay Leno fans are most likely to be wealthy Republican, red wine drinkers who like Fox News, support the
Tea Party and drive American cars.

Conan O'Brien viewers are largely independent voters who enjoy vodka drinks, watch Comedy Central and
are most likely to be single atheists who own Volkswagens."

Read more at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/11/conan-obriens-fans-are-atheists-clueless-about-his-new-tbs-show/6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic
"The Atlantic is an American magazine founded (as The Atlantic Monthly) in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857.
It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. Though based in Boston, it quickly achieved a
national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing
new writers and poets, and encouraging major careers. It published leading writers' commentary on abolition,
education, and other major issues in contemporary political affairs."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_O%27Brien
"Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, and producer.
After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for several comedy shows, and later moved to
New York City to work on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live and later for The Simpsons.
O'Brien went on to host Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009 before going on to host the
short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien for seven months.
On April 12, 2010, it was announced that O'Brien would host a new late-night talk show on cable TV network
TBS, titled Conan, beginning November 8, 2010."
by jaskaw @ 04.11.2010 - 21:44:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/04/the-atlantic-conan-o-brien-s-fans-are-atheists-9915722/
Feedback for Post "The Atlantic: 'Conan O'Brien's Fans Are
Atheists'"

atheistbruce [Member]
06.11.2010 @ 18:57

I am a middle-income Democrat who drinks red wine, likes the Huffington Post, supports Obama and drives
French cars. What does that make me?
The Bad Faith Awards 2010 are up for grabs
Vote at: http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2010/11/bad-faith-awards-2010-vote-for-this.html

"Bad Faith Awards 2010: Vote for this year's leading enemy of reason
As we enter the closing stages of 2010, the time has come for you to help us choose the winner of this year's
New Humanist Bad Faith Award ʒ 'tis the season for voting for the enemies of reason.
After a nomination period that saw you put forward those you feel have made the most egregious
contributions to irrationalism and superstition during the course of this year, we've whittled them down to a
shortlist of eight. Now all that's left for you to do is vote for the person you think should take the Bad Faith
crown from last year's winner, Pope Benedict XVI. Here's the poll, and to help you decide, below it is full list
of names (in alphabetical order), each complete with a prize quote and a word from our in-house rationalist
bookmakers.

The main contenders are this year:

Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed

Lauren Booth
Ann Widdecombe
Cardinal Walter Kasper
Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi
Baroness Warsi
Pastor Terry Jones
Prince Charles"

Vote at: http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2010/11/bad-faith-awards-2010-vote-for-this.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Humanist
"New Humanist is a monthly magazine published by the Rationalist Association in the UK. It has been in
print for 125 years; starting out life as Watts's Literary Guide in November 1885.
The magazine was the first to publish the Humanist Manifeseto in 1933.
Prior to 1941, a different magazine with the same name, New Humanist, was the first periodical issued by the
modern Humanist movement in the United States of America and was in continuous publication from 1928
through to 1936. In 1933 it published the first Humanist Manifesto. After a hiatus of four years it was
succeeded by The Humanist in 1941."

by jaskaw @ 05.11.2010 - 11:31:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/05/the-bad-faith-awards-2010-are-up-for-grabs-9918477/
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: 'Non-Jews Exist to Serve
Jews'
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/b/2010/11/01/rabbi-ovadia-yosef-non-jews-exist-to-serve-jews.htm

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, the largest religious party in the Israeli parliament, declared
that non-Jews were little more than beasts of burden who exist to serve Jews.
"Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world - only to serve the People of
Israel," he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted
to perform on Shabbat."
According to Yosef, the lives of non-Jews in Israel are safeguarded by divinity, to prevent losses to Jews.
"In Israel, death has no dominion over them... With gentiles, it will be like any person - they need to die, but
[God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one's donkey would die, they'd lose their money. This is
his servant... That's why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew," Yosef said."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/b/2010/11/01/rabbi-ovadia-yosef-non-jews-exist-to-serve-jews.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovadia_Yosef
"Maran Hagaon Harav Ovadia Yosef Shlit"a (born September 23, 1920) is a Mizrahi Haredi rabbi, Talmudic
scholar, and recognized halakhic authority. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, he is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of
Israel.
Yosef is also the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli Knesset. He is highly revered
in the Orthodox Jewish world, especially in the Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, for his erudition and
Torah scholarship.
He is among the most important poskim of the past few generations and is regarded by many as the foremost
Rabbinical authority and a source of Daat Torah.
In 1973 Yosef was elected the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel by a majority of 81 to 68 votes, replacing
Yitzhak Nissim. His candidacy was criticised by some as he was competing against an incumbent Chief
Rabbi."

by jaskaw @ 05.11.2010 - 20:39:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/05/rabbi-ovadia-yosef-non-jews-exist-to-serve-jews-9921276/
Feedback for Post "Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: 'Non-Jews Exist to
Serve Jews'"

atheistbruce [Member]
06.11.2010 @ 18:33

All branches of the Abrahamic monotheistic tradition are seriously misanthropic. As an atheist, I would say
that the Jews exist to protect the secular west against the Muslim hordes and, with US funding, they are doing
a damn good job of it.
Islamists threaten Mina Ahadi with stoning
Read more at: http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4236

"November 4 ʒ 2010, when Mina Ahadi, the Spokesperson for the International Committee Against Stoning
(ICAS) and the leading figure in the global campaign to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani from stoning to
death, attended an online meeting she was invited to in Paltalk, a group of Islamists threatened Mina, then left
the initial Paltalk room and opened a new room titled as ːWe demand stoning of Mina Ahadiə.After a couple
of hours and several attempts by supporters of Mina to end the threat, a report was sent to both Paltalk and the
police. They were able to close that room. Although most of these participants probably represent no danger
to Mina, it is important to react to it. We know for fact that such a threat must be taken very seriously."

Read more at: http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4236

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Ahadi
"Mina Ahadi (born 1956) is the main figure of International Committee against executions and International
Committee against stoning.She is also the main founder of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims.
Mina Ahadi was born in Abhar, Iran to an Iranian Azeri family. During Iranian Revolution she was in Tabriz
and participated in the revolution as a communist.
Her husband, who was also a political activist, was executed on the date of the couple's anniversary. His
execution became her motivation to fight against capital punishment.
She is currently living and working in Germany and recently helped to gain the freedom of Nazanin Fateh in
Iran. Due to death-threats against her, she has been living under police protection from the moment of her
public appearance as the chairwoman of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims.
On 20 October 2007 she was awarded the Secularist of the Year prize by the UK's National Secular Society."

by jaskaw @ 06.11.2010 - 17:04:34

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/06/islamists-threaten-mina-ahadi-with-stoning-9925501/
A new kind of news service for the secular crowd:
'The beinghuman Daily is out'
This is a service announcement. During the two years that this daily news service for atheists has been going
on, I have bothered you with at most two or three announcements on happenings on this site itself.
However, I saw that now it is to time to reveal a new service launched by yours truly.

This new shiny new thing is a daily 'newspaper', that is made up from links collected from the very best
secular, humanist, scientific and atheist Twitter-streams there are out there. This is made possible by a service
called paper.li and you can see what it is all about by going to

http://paper.li/Jaskaw/beinghuman

and see what it is all about. Every single day of the year the service collects the most popular links from the
chosen Twitter-streams and builds a 'newspaper' called "The beinghuman Daily" from them.
Every single day there is normally 30-40 links in a variety of categories. There is always a couple of lines of
presentation of the links and you need not to click links just to see what they are all about, as just might be the
case in Twitter itself.

A new newspaper is generated every 24 hours and you can also subscribe to receive a notification to your
email when a new issue has been compiled for your viewing pleasure by clicking the Subscribe-link.
You can also Tweet-about the current issue with a button already on the page or 'like' it in Facebook.

The beinghuman Daily follows currently these Twitter-streams and picks and chooses the best links in the for
your viewing pleasure:

Sam Harris,"Author, neuroscientist, Co-founder of Project Reason"

Adam Savage,"I play a scientist on TV. Obsessive maker of things. Host of Mythbusters on the Discovery
Channel."
OutCampaign
RDFRS, "The Official Richard Dawkins Foundation (US) Twitter Page".
Richard Dawkins,"Richard Dawkins Personal Twitter Account".
Christopher Hitchens, "Christopher Hitchens is an author, journalist and literary critic."
Michael Shermer,"The Two-Wheeled Skeptic"
Atheist Nexus, "A Community of Nontheists"
Maryam Namazie, "Maryam Namazie is a rights activist, commentator and broadcaster."
The Atheist Bus, "There's probably no god now stop worrying and enjoy your life"
Center for Inquiry. "We're working to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry,
and humanist values."
Brian Cox, "Wonders of the Universe' starts filming May 11th for broadcast early 2011."
Neil deGrasse Tyson, "Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History. Author: The Pluto Files, Death
By Black Hole. Host: PBS NOVA scienceNOW"
Catherine Deveny, "Caucasian fancier, dog whistler, atheista, torturer of middle-aged middle-class uptight
white honkies in suits and lover of little boys and swear words."
Richard Wiseman, "Psychologist, author and magician. At Univ of Hertfordshire, but personal twitter
account."
Steven Pinker, "Cognitive scientist at Harvard."
Sam Harris, "ProjectReason"
Matt Dillahunty, "Atheist Community of Austin Atheist Experience Live! TV show"
PZ Myers, "Godless liberal biologist"
Johann Hari, "Journalist, widely tipped to be next Pope. I tweet in a personal capacity. So don't sue the
Independent"
Stephen Fry, "Normal service being resumed..."
Ophelia Benson,
New Humanist, "Updates from Paul Sims, New Humanist News Editor"
Penn Jillette, "Penn Point on Rev3,P&T: Bullshit! on Showtime, more than half (by weight) of Penn & Teller
at the Rio in Las Vegas"
Phil Plait or the BadAstronomer, "Astronomer, author, skeptic, funny guy, writer, budding TV deity"
In the stream are new posting from my blogs:
The Being Human, http://beinghuman.blogs.fi
and The Little Book of Humanity,http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi

by jaskaw @ 07.11.2010 - 02:08:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/07/a-new-kind-of-news-service-for-the-secular-crowd-the-beinghuman-daily-is-out
Palestinian atheist blogger arrested by Palestinian
authorities
Read more at: http://bahmut.blogspot.com/2010/11/urgent-help-waleed-al-husseini.html

"As some of you know already, our friend 'Waleed Al Husseini' who is an active writer and believer in Human
Rights disappeared a few days ago, then reports on websites which are affiliated to fatih organisation started
appearing that he has been arrested by the Palestinian Authorities for his "non religious" or atheist activities
on Facebook...,
Latest news we received is that he is in prison - West Bank Palestinian security agencies arrested him, and he
could be facing execution or 30 years in prison!
We need to prepare a campaign, sign a petition, call peoplethat may help him out of the danger he's in."

Read more at: http://bahmut.blogspot.com/2010/11/urgent-help-waleed-al-husseini.html

Solidarity page in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/tdamna-m-wlyd-alhsyny-In-Solidarity-With-Waleed-Al-Husseini/130149460373580?

Free Waleed event in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arabic-speaking-Irreligious-Coalition-AIC/173817709296494?v=wall#!/event.php?ei

"Last week --October 31 - November 6, 2010-- Waleed Al Huseini, a 26 year old blogger and an activist, was
arrested in the West Bank city of Qalqilya by the authorities there for his atheist activism. His friends stopped
hearing from him last week, then several posts made on Arabic forum site posted by users said that he was
arrested."

Waleed Al Husseini's blog is at: http://proud-a.blogspot.com/

'Proud Atheist, Rational critics of religion, short articles by Waleed Al-Husseini'

Waleed Al-Husseini writes: "Muslims often ask me why I left Islam. What strikes me is that Muslims canˈt
seem to understand that renouncing Islam is a choice offered to everyone and that anyone has the right to do
so. They believe anyone who leaves Islam is an agent or a spy for a Western State, namely the Jewish State,
and that they get paid bundles of money by the governments of these countries and their secret services. They
actually donˈt get that people are free to think and believe in whatever suits them."

by jaskaw @ 07.11.2010 - 21:13:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/07/palestinian-atheist-blogger-arrested-by-palestinian-authorities-9931922/
Feedback for Post "Palestinian atheist blogger arrested by
Palestinian authorities"

Guss Yonis [Visitor]

http://twitter.com/gyonis
09.11.2010 @ 17:14
And here is the petition to sign that will be sent to NGOs and concerned parties. Please sign and share.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-waleed/

| Show subcomments
Ava Germaine [Visitor]
http://fightdogma.blogspot.com/
11.11.2010 @ 03:01
Signed this petition! This is absolutely revolting. All they're doing is giving the Atheists a martyr should they
execute him, a symbol for us to unite in the face of and declare our rights. Atheists may be a minority, but it
won't always be this way. History repeats itself; we're in a time where we're facing modern religious
persecution. Like when the church took action against Galileo for saying the solar system was heliocentric.
Eventually it had to admit it was wrong. These wrongs will continue happening until nobody, or very few,
believe the insanity. But Atheists won't make the mistake of giving them another martyr-- secularism should
be peaceful, without motivation to needlessly murder people. We can only prove our point by demonstration.

Orthodox [Visitor]
http://eatheia.blogspot.com
16.11.2010 @ 16:33
Hello!
Visit the new Greek Orthodox blog "Atheism, the denial of truth."

http://eatheia.blogspot.com
Noah and that Ark (video)

The maker of the video 'brettppalmer' says: "Just another random thought that struck me the other day. If
you're going to write a good story and make it believeable, don't put in too many "big lies."

http://www.youtube.com/user/brettppalmer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah%27s_Ark
"Noah's Ark (Hebrew: &#1514;&#1461;&#1468;&#1489;&#1463;&#1514;
&#1504;&#1465;&#1495;&#1463;‎, Tavat No'ach) is the vessel which, according to the Book of Genesis
(chapters 6-9) and the Quran (surah hud), was built by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family,
and the world's animals from a worldwide deluge. The Ark features in the traditions of a number of
Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others.
God, seeing the wickedness of man, is grieved by his creation and resolves to send a great flood. He sees that
Noah is a man "righteous in his generation," and gives him detailed instructions for the Ark. When the
animals are safe on board God sends the Flood, which rises until all the mountains are covered and all life is
destroyed. At the height of the flood the Ark rests on the mountains, the waters abate, and dry land reappears.
Noah, his family, and the animals leave the Ark, and God vows to never again send a flood to destroy the
Earth."

by jaskaw @ 08.11.2010 - 20:31:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/08/noah-and-that-ark-video-9937753/
Feedback for Post "Noah and that Ark (video)"

atheistbruce [Member]
09.11.2010 @ 19:15

Just goes to prove what an incompetent clown this abrahamic god is...

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

11.11.2010 @ 02:01
Perhaps we should be praying to J.K. Rowling instead. She does a much better job of spinning tales of
impossible fiction.
Backlog in censors office delays publishing books
in Iran
Read more at: http://www.payvand.com/news/10/nov/1071.html?tr=y&auid=7327630

"Spare a thought for Iran's literary censors - unloved by writers and publishers alike, they have thousands of
works to read through, so much so that the piles of books have spilled out from their rooms at the culture
ministry into the corridors.
Figures from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance show that the country has some 7,000 publishing
firms. Take just two of these companies - one of them says it has about 70 novels and short story collections
currently pending approval from the censors. The other says it has had between 50 and 70 books awaiting
review at any one time for the past two years.
Supposing that just 1,000 publishers each deliver five books a year to the ministry's book department, that
comes to 5,000 a year, plus the many inevitably left over from previous years. Writers and translators
routinely wait for one, two or even three years for a decision on the suitability of their books.
The censors' work has always been shrouded in secrecy, but the word in the publishing industry is that there
are never more than 20 of them."

Read more at: http://www.payvand.com/news/10/nov/1071.html?tr=y&auid=7327630

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Iran
"Censorship in Iran is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain
information in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The majority of such censorship is implemented or mandated by
the Iranian government.
Censored content often includes information that relates to women's rights, freedom of speech, democracy,
pornography, certain news sources, certain religious content, and many websites.
Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching an even marginal audience, including television,
print media, radio, film, museum and gallery exhibits, and the Internet. Iranians attempting to access most
informational databases and search engines are met with a page reading: "The requested page is forbidden."
Most forms of media are vetted for acceptability by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Iran's press situation as "Very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point
scale. Iran's Internet censorship policy is labeled "Pervasive" by the OpenNet Initiative's global Internet
filtering map, also the worst ranking used.
Contents.
The agents of censorship are sometimes not official government employees, but religious organizations
(although these can operate in tandem with government agencies). Koranic schools have been known to
participate in the assault, vandalism and ransacking of journalists and news organizations perceived as critical
of Islam or its major figures, such as Ayatollah Khomeini.
In 2007, after student newspapers at Amirkabir University of Technology published articles suggesting that no
human beingōincluding Muhammad--could be infallible, eight student leaders were removed to Evin Prison."

Banned films include these:

* ...More Than 1000 Words
* The Circle
* Crimson Gold
* Half Moon
* Offside
* Tcherike-ye Tara
* Ten
* Be Ranghe Arghavan
* Santouri
* Marmoulak
* Time of Love
* The Nights of Zayande-rood"

by jaskaw @ 08.11.2010 - 23:19:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/08/backlog-in-censors-office-delays-publishing-books-in-iran-9938954/
Feedback for Post " Backlog in censors office delays
publishing books in Iran"

atheistbruce [Member]
09.11.2010 @ 19:13

If you have the koran, why would you need other books?

Cheesedoff17 [Visitor]

09.11.2010 @ 20:54
To read?
Darwin's Revolution - Evolution Song (video)

Darwin's Revolution - Evolution Song

Written & Performed by u2bMonkey (Me)

http://www.youtube.com/user/u2bMonkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
"Evolution (also known as biological, genetic or organic evolution) is the change in the inherited traits of a
population of organisms through successive generations. This change results from interactions between
processes that introduce variation into a population, and other processes that remove it. As a result, variants
with particular traits become more, or less, common. A trait is a particular characteristicōanatomical,
biochemical or behaviouralōthat is the result of geneʒenvironment interaction."

by jaskaw @ 09.11.2010 - 20:15:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/09/darwin-s-revolution-evolution-song-video-9943812/
Feedback for Post "Darwin's Revolution - Evolution Song
(video)"

cheesedoff17 [Visitor]

11.11.2010 @ 17:22
Very nice ub2monkey. Excellent graphics.

Julio-Debate popular [Visitor]

http://www.debatepopular.blogspot.com
15.11.2010 @ 17:14
I loved the song and the graphics are very good. Especially the changes.
Happy Carl Sagan Day!

"Carl Sagan talks about "the gods." This clip is from Carl Sagan's Cosmos episode 10, "The Edge of Forever."

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/carlsaganday
"Last year, CFI Ft. Lauderdale, FLASH and other groups created the first Carl Sagan Day celebration for his
birthday, November 9th, and the idea quickly spread around the world. Now groups from Australia to Alaska
are planning star parties, astronomy lectures, science fairs, teacher workshops and more to say thanks to Dr.
Sagan and bring his work to the next generation of "star stuff."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan
"Carl Edward Sagan (English pronunciation: /ˈse&#618;&#609;ən/) (November 9, 1934 ʒ December 20,
1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of
astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.
During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author,
co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific
method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote.
A book to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the
1997 film of the same name."

by jaskaw @ 09.11.2010 - 22:31:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/09/happy-carl-sagan-day-9944666/
American humanists launch largest national
advertising campaign ever
Read more at: http://www.considerhumanism.org/

"Washington, D.C., November 9, 2010) A national multimedia ad campaign ʒ the largest, most extensive ever
by a godless organization - launches today and will include a spot on NBC Dateline on Friday, November 12,
as well as other television ads, that directly challenge biblical morality and fundamentalist Christianity. The
campaign, sponsored by the American Humanist Association, also features ads in major national and regional
newspapers and magazines demonstrating that secular humanist values are consistent with mainstream
America and that fundamentalist religion has no right to claim the moral high ground. "

Read more at: http://www.considerhumanism.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Humanist_Association
"The American Humanist Association (AHA) is an educational organization in the United States that
advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other
supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that
aspire to the greater good of humanity".
AHA advocates Humanism as defined by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), a
multinational coalition of which it is a founding member. The American Humanist Association publishes a
bi-monthly magazine called The Humanist.
The AHA was founded in 1941 as a successor to the Humanist Press Association, which was itself successor
to the Humanist Fellowship founded in 1928. The official symbol of the AHA is the Happy Human."

Consider Humanism - Robert Ingersoll from American Humanist Association on Vimeo.

Consider Humanism - Richard Dawkins from American Humanist Association on Vimeo.

Consider Humanism - Ambassador Carl Coon from American Humanist Association on Vimeo.
by jaskaw @ 10.11.2010 - 13:25:18

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/10/american-humanists-launch-largest-national-advertising-campaign-ever-9949435
'CFI: It's Time for Science and Reason'

http://www.centerforinquiry.net
"The methods and values of scientific thinking have expanded our knowledge of life and our place in the
universe. This modern knowledgeōbased on experience and evidenceōhas brought enormous benefit to
humanity, yet many people still choose to rely on ancient texts and beliefs to guide their lives and their
nations.
The Center for Inquiry exists to change this situation. We are here to promote the scientific outlookōto expand
the methods and values of science into all areas of human endeavor.
We invite you to learn more about the ways we are using research, outreach, and activism to advance reason
and human values around the world. Then, if these values are as important to you as they are to us, we ask you
to join CFI.
Let your voice be heard. With your help, we can ensure that our timeōyour timeōwill be a time of science and
reason.
In a cultural climate that has become so hostile to science and secularism, the work of CFI is more important
than ever. If you cherish rational thinking, science, and secular values, please join CFI today."

by jaskaw @ 11.11.2010 - 00:21:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/10/cfi-it-s-time-for-science-and-reason-9953138/
Feedback for Post "'CFI: It's Time for Science and Reason'"

atheistbruce [Member]
11.11.2010 @ 18:37

I fear that last week's mid-term election results means that these guys are outvoted.

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

12.11.2010 @ 00:21
You have good reason to fear.
Lincolnshire schools allowed to teach paganism in
UK
Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/lincolnshire_pagan_schools/

"If youˈre looking to improve your child's chanting skills or enhance their moon dancing, Lincolnshire may
soon be the place to go ʒ as the county decided this week to let individual schools decide on the teaching of
pagan doctrine.
At present, some six world religions are studied in that Countyˈs schools.
According to the minutes of a meeting of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (Sacre) the
countyˈs RE advisor fed back the results of her investigation into Paganism.
"It was determined this [paganism] covered a broad range of beliefs and practices," the minutes say.
"However, there was no direct guidance about whether it should be included, and it was left to the individual
schools to make the decision about whether to include it."

Read more at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/10/lincolnshire_pagan_schools/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism
"Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller", "rustic"[1]) is a blanket term, typically used to
refer to polytheistic religious traditions, although from a Christian perspective, the term can encompass all
nonʒAbrahamic religions.
It is primarily used in a historical context, referring to Greco-Roman polytheism as well as the polytheistic
traditions of Europe before Christianization. In a wider sense, extended to contemporary religions, it includes
most of the Eastern religions, and the indigenous traditions of the Americas, Central Asia, Australia and
Africa, as well as non-Abrahamic folk religion in general.
More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural
currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and
the presence of a living mythology, which explains religious practice.
In the late 20th century, "Paganism", or "Neopaganism", became widely used in reference to adherents of
various New Religious Movements including Wicca.
As such, various modern scholars have begun to apply the term to three groups of separate faiths: Historical
Polytheism (such as Celtic polytheism, Norse paganism, and Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism also
called Hellenismos), Folk/ethnic/Indigenous religions (such as Chinese folk religion and African traditional
religion), and Neopaganism (such as Wicca and Germanic Neopaganism)."

by jaskaw @ 11.11.2010 - 13:07:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/11/lincolnshire-schools-allowed-to-teach-paganism-in-uk-9955439/
Feedback for Post "Lincolnshire schools allowed to teach
paganism in UK"

atheistbruce [Member]
11.11.2010 @ 18:35

This is disgraceful; next thing you know they'll be teaching evolution.

Rappers arrested in Iran for 'using words that have
no place in proper grammar'
Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/07/iran.rap.arrests/

"CNN)- Police in Tehran have arrested several members of underground Iranian rap groups, the semi-offical
ILNA news agency reported.
Tehran Police Chief Hussain Sajedinia told ILNA that several young boys and girls were discovered using
vacant homes to record and videotape illegal rap music for various websites and satellite networks.
Police raided the homes, arrested the young musicians and confiscated "western style musical instruments"
and several bottles of liquor, according to ILNA.
The report did not specify when the raids took place, how many rappers were arrested, or how old they were.
"These groups use the most trashy, juvenile and street-like words and phrases that have no place in proper
grammar," the police chief told ILNA. "More importantly, they have no regard for the law, principles, proper
behavior and language."

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/07/iran.rap.arrests/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap-music
"Hip hop music is a musical genre that developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by four key
stylistic elements: rapping, DJing/scratching, sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the
South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, but hip
hop also denotes the practices of an entire subculture.
Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme
and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be
created by sampling and/or sequencing portions of other songs by a producer.
They also incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. Rappers may write, memorize, or
improvise their lyrics and perform their works a cappella or to a beat."

by jaskaw @ 11.11.2010 - 18:08:49

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/11/rappers-arrested-in-iran-for-using-words-that-have-no-place-in-proper-grammar-
'God's promise to Noah' keeps US congressman
from worrying over global warming
Read more at: http://slatest.slate.com/id/2274659/?wpisrc=newsletter

"Rep. John Shimkus, the Illinois Republican who would like to be the next chairman of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, said Wednesday that a promise God made to Noah about 6,000 years ago keeps him
from worrying about global warming. "I do believe in the Bible as the final word of God," Shimkus told
Politico. "And I do believe that God said the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood."

Read more at: http://slatest.slate.com/id/2274659/?wpisrc=newsletter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shimkus
"John Mondy Shimkus (born February 21, 1958) is the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 19th congressional
district (numbered as the 20th from 1997 to 2003), serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican
Party. The district includes much of the southern portion of the state, taking in part of Springfield and several
suburbs of St. Louis."

by jaskaw @ 12.11.2010 - 16:11:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/12/god-s-promise-to-noah-keeps-us-congressman-from-worrying-over-warming-99
Feedback for Post "'God's promise to Noah' keeps US
congressman from worrying over global warming"

Cheesedoff17 [Visitor]

12.11.2010 @ 22:19
Well, well, well. What the heck can one say to that? I did suggest, on another blog, that someone should
collecting all these "Wingnut Quotes" plus Christian and Muslim hate mail for history. Religious thought in
the 21st century.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

13.11.2010 @ 00:24
Oh, good grief! Where have all the rational people gone, and why do they not get more air time?

FedupwithR [Member]
13.11.2010 @ 11:37

Well Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are rational and have their own shows and plenty of fans so there are
rational people out there, it's just that mainstream media seems to be run by the religiously infected.

| Show subcomments
GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

13.11.2010 @ 15:33
You are correct about Stewart and Colbert, and I happily count myself among their viewers. My lament was
more about the seeming lack of rational people in government. Of course, as you pointed out, the 'religiously
infected' media would hardly provide them with a platform now, would they?

atheistbruce [Member]
15.11.2010 @ 19:21

Slowly and reluctantly I am coming to the conclusion that the US will and should decline into irrelevance, like
the Romans did at the end of the 4th century, the Arabs did at the end of the 12th century and the British did at
the end of the 19th century.

Where will that leave us poor, deserving, atheist Europeans?

FedupwithR [Member]
15.11.2010 @ 22:33

Nowhere, atheistbruce. Great civilizations rise and fall and it looks as if we Westerners are on the decline,
what with falling demographics and unemployment for ever on the rise. The good news is that the Chinese are
not religious nut!
New demand for exorcism in the Catholic Church
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us/13exorcism.html?_r=2&ref=us

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
"The rite of exorcism, rendered gory by Hollywood and ridiculed by many modern believers, has largely
fallen out of favor in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
There are only a handful of priests in the country trained as exorcists, but they say they are overwhelmed with
requests from people who fear they are possessed by the Devil.
Now, American bishops are holding a conference on Friday and Saturday to prepare more priests and bishops
to respond to the demand. The purpose is not necessarily to revive the practice, the organizers say, but to help
Catholic clergy members learn how to distinguish who really needs an exorcism from who really needs a
psychiatrist, or perhaps some pastoral care.
ːNot everyone who thinks they need an exorcism actually does need one,ə said Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki
of Springfield, Ill., who organized the conference. ːItˈs only used in those cases where the Devil is involved
in an extraordinary sort of way in terms of actually being in possession of the person."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us/13exorcism.html?_r=2&ref=us

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism
"Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkizein - to bind by oath) is the practice of evicting
demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed by causing
the entity to swear an oath. The term became prominent in early Christianity from the early second century
onward as the casting out of demons. Nevertheless, the practice is quite ancient and part of the belief system
of many cultures and religions.
In Christianity, exorcisms are ostensibly performed using the power of Christ in the Name of Jesus or through
prayer.
In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the
church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. The exorcist may use prayers, and
religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes
God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism.
In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for their actions.
Therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as more of a cure than a punishment. The mainstream rituals usually
take this into account, making sure that there is no violence to the possessed, only that they be tied down if
there is potential for violence."

by jaskaw @ 13.11.2010 - 17:55:57

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/13/new-demand-for-exorcism-in-the-catholic-church-9968198/
New York Times: 'Defectors Say Church of
Scientology Hides Abuse'
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

---
"Fifty-six years after its founding by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986, the church
is fighting off calls by former members for a Reformation. The defectors say Sea Org members were
repeatedly beaten by the churchˈs chairman, David Miscavige, often during planning meetings; pressured to
have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave.
The church says the defectors are lying.
The defectors say that the average Scientology member, known in the church as a public, is largely unaware
of the abusive environment experienced by staff members. The church works hard to cultivate public
members ō especially celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of the
cartoon scoundrel Bart Simpson) ō whose money keeps it running. "
But recently even some celebrities have begun to abandon the church, the most prominent of whom is the
director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, who won Oscars for ːMillion Dollar Babyə and ːCrash.ə Mr. Haggis
had been a member for 35 years. His resignation letter, leaked to a defectorsˈ Web site, recounted his
indignation as he came to believe that the defectorsˈ accusations must be true."

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
"Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by L. Ron Hubbard (1911ʒ1986), starting in
1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard characterized Scientology as a
religion, and in 1953 incorporated the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey.
Scientology teaches that people are immortal spiritual beings who have forgotten their true nature.
Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as auditing, in which practitioners aim to
consciously re-experience painful or traumatic events in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting
effects.
Study materials and auditing courses are made available to members in return for specified donations.
---
The Church of Scientology is one of the most controversial new religious movements to have arisen in the
20th century. It has often been described as a cult that financially defrauds and abuses its members, charging
exorbitant fees for its spiritual services.
The Church of Scientology has consistently used litigation against such critics, and its aggressiveness in
pursuing its foes has been condemned as harassment.
Further controversy has focused on Scientology's belief that souls ("thetans") reincarnate and have lived on
other planets before living on Earth.
Former members say that some of Hubbard's writings on this remote extraterrestrial past, included in
confidential Upper Levels, are not revealed to practitioners until they have paid thousands of dollars to the
Church of Scientology.
Another controversial belief held by Scientologists is that the practice of psychiatry is destructive and abusive
and must be abolished."

by jaskaw @ 14.11.2010 - 17:26:06

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/14/new-york-times-defectors-say-church-of-scientology-hides-abuse-9973070/
Feedback for Post "New York Times: 'Defectors Say Church
of Scientology Hides Abuse'"

FedupwithR [Member]
15.11.2010 @ 23:01

All these religions are so wacky. They are all governed by control freaks who want to run every one's life.
Luxury loving pilgrims bring big money into Saudi
Arabia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/mecca-hajj-saudi-arabia

---
"An estimated 2.5 million Muslims began the annual hajj pilgrimage today and the total number of tourists to
Mecca and Medina, home to the prophet Muhammad, is expected to rise from about 12 million to almost 17
million by 2025.
---
"Moroccan, Tunisian, Turkish, British, Algerian and South African ʒ they like comfort and luxury. People
who patronise these hotels tend to be richer. Pakistanis don't patronise high-end hotels. The closer you are the
more you pay."
The level of pampering offered by some of the hotels ʒ Asprey toiletries, 24-hour butler service, $270
chocolate selections ʒ may jar with the ethos of sacrifice, simplicity and humility of hajj but it is not a
contradiction felt by the customers snapping up royal suites at $5,880 a night, eating gelato or milling around
hangar-like lobbies of polished marble in their Hajj clothing of bedsheets, towels or burqas. Raffles is
reporting 100% occupancy for it 211 rooms."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj
"The Hajj (Arabic: ‫&ح‬#1580;‎ &#7716;ajj) is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is currently
the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried
out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a
demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah in the Arabic
language).
The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic
calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar
used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given
to the special state in which Muslims live whilst on the pilgrimage.
---
Prior to Muhammad's era, each year tribes from all around the Arabian Peninsula would converge on Mecca,
as part of the pilgrimage. The exact faith of the tribes was not important at that time, and Christian Arabs were
as likely to make the pilgrimage as the pagans.
---
Performing Hajj was a hazardous journey for early pilgrims; Ibn Jubayr noted the skeletons of pilgrims who
had died of thirst during the journey. In the seventeenth century a group of Egyptian pilgrims lost over 1,500
people and 900 camels. In 1924 around one-fifth of a group of Syrian pilgrims died and two years later 12,000
are thought to have died during the journey."
by jaskaw @ 15.11.2010 - 15:16:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/15/luxury-loving-pilgrims-bring-big-money-into-saudi-arabia-9978175/
Feedback for Post "Luxury loving pilgrims bring big money
into Saudi Arabia"

Orthodox [Visitor]
http://eatheia.blogspot.com
16.11.2010 @ 16:34
Hello!
Visit the new Greek Orthodox blog "Atheism, the denial of truth."

http://eatheia.blogspot.com

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
16.11.2010 @ 22:00
I'm so sorry dear Orthodox, but I did not understand a word of your blog, as it was all Greek for me and in
Greek alphabet also. Visiting this page also nixed my Firefox-browser and I will not be going back.

atheistbruce [Member]
17.11.2010 @ 21:27

The Ottomans pissed all over the Greeks for 600 years & nowadays they can't even get their finances in order,
so we sure are going the listen to them, right?
Washington Post: 'Muslims torch Christian homes
in southern Egypt'
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111601550.html?wprss=rss_world/wires

By SALAH NASRAWI
The Associated Press
"CAIRO -- Muslims set fire overnight to at least 10 houses belonging to Coptic Christians in a village in
southern Egypt over rumors that a Christian resident had an affair with a Muslim girl, security officials said
Tuesday.
The officials said security forces sealed off the village of al-Nawahid in Qena province, some 290 miles (465
kilometers) south of Cairo, to prevent the violence from spreading to neighboring towns. They said several
people were arrested.
The attacks started after locals spotted a young Copt and a Muslim girl together at night inside the village
cemetery, the officials said. They added that both were put under police custody as authorities investigate."

Read more at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111601550.html?wprss=rss_world/wires

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copt
A Copt is a native Egyptian Christian. Copts form a major ethnoreligious group that has ancient origins. Copts
are Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries after Christ.
The word "Coptic" was originally used to refer to Egyptians in general (see etymology section), but it has
undergone a semantic shift over the centuries to mean more specifically Egyptian Christian. This semantic
shift dates back to the time when Christians became an Egyptian minority, after the Muslim conquest of Egypt
in the 7th century.
Some are believed to be the descendants of the Ancient Egyptians. Copts in Egypt constitute the largest
Christian community in the Middle East, as well as the largest religious minority in the region.
Living in a country of Muslim majority, the size of the population of Copts is a continuously disputed matter,
frequently for reasons of religious jealousy and animosity. Some official estimates state that Christians
represent from 5% to 10% or less of a population of over 83 million Egyptians while other independent and
Christian sources estimate much higher numbers, up to 23% of the population.
Around 95% of Copts belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The remaining (around
800,000) are divided between the Coptic Catholic and various Coptic Protestant.
---
The Coptic community has been targeted by hate crimes and physical assaults. The most significant was the
2000ʒ2001 El Kosheh attacks, in which Muslims and Christians were involved in bloody inter-religious
clashes following a dispute between a Muslim and a Christian. "Twenty Christians and one Muslim were
killed after violence broke out in the town of el-Kosheh, 440 kilometres (275 miles) south of Cairo".
In 2006, one person who was claimed to be both drunk and mad, attacked three churches in Alexandria, left
one dead and from 5 to 16 injured, although the attacker was not linked to any organisation.
In May 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported increasing "waves of mob assaults" by Muslims against Copts,
forcing many Christians to flee their homes.
Despite frantic calls for help, the police typically arrived after the violence was over.[62] The police also
coerced the Copts to accept "reconciliation" with their attackers to avoid prosecuting them, with no Muslims
convicted for any of the attacks.
In Marsa Matrouh, a mob of 3,000 Muslims attacked the city's Coptic population, with 400 Copts having to
barricade themselves in their church while the mob destroyed 18 homes, 23 shops and 16 cars."

by jaskaw @ 16.11.2010 - 22:09:23

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/16/washington-post-muslims-torch-christian-homes-in-southern-egypt-9986452/
Feedback for Post "Washington Post: 'Muslims torch
Christian homes in southern Egypt'"

atheistbruce [Member]
17.11.2010 @ 21:23

Obviously she should be stoned to death because she is a Muslim & he should be stoned to death because he
is not.

GodlessHeathen [Visitor]

19.11.2010 @ 00:41
Ah, the religion of peace. What's not to love about it?
'USB - Satan's Data Connection'
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/nov/15/3

"Evangelical Christians in Brazil have apparently banned the use of USB connections after claiming the
technology is the mark of Satan-worshippers (Hat tip: Fernando Frias). Apparently the revelation came after
the evangelists noticed that the USB symbol resembles a trident. Presumably they're not great fans of Britain's
ballistic missiles either.
Here's the story, though be aware that aside from being repeated on a bunch of Brazilian websites, I've yet to
find much to back it up, so if this turns up on Snopes don't blame me.

English (Translation):

The evangelical cult "Paz do Senhor Amado" ("Peace of the beloved Lord") in the interior of Brazil forbids its
followers to use any USB technology by contending that it uses a symbol that shows sympathy for the devil.
According to its founder, the "Apostle" Welder Saldanha says that this is just another symbol of Satan, which
is always present in all Christian homes.
"The symbol of that name (a name which he doesn't even like to pronounce) is a trident, which is used to
torture souls that go to hell. Use only a symbol of those shows that all users of that vile technology are
actually worshipers of Satan" - explains the" Apostle".

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/nov/15/3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb
"Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a specification to establish communication between devices and a host
controller (usually personal computers), developed and invented by Ajay Bhatt while working for Intel.
USB has effectively replaced a variety of interfaces such as serial and parallel ports. USB can connect
computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives,
Network Adapters, and external hard drives.
For many of those devices, USB has become the standard connection method. USB was designed for personal
computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as smartphones, PDAs and video game
consoles, and as a power cord. As of 2008, there are about 2 billion USB devices sold per year, and
approximately 6 billion total sold to date."

by jaskaw @ 17.11.2010 - 19:01:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/17/usb-satan-s-data-connection-9991249/
Feedback for Post "'USB - Satan's Data Connection'"

FedupwithR [Member]
18.11.2010 @ 20:26

Too wacky for words.

France 24: 'Moroccan Atheist Blogger Receives
death threats '

Is it hard to be an atheist & blogger in the Arab world? Moroccan blogger story Visit Kacem's Blog:
http://bahmut.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/emkacel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_freedom
"In Islam, apostasy is called "ridda" ("turning back") and is considered to be a profound insult to God. A
person born of Muslim parents that rejects Islam is called a "murtad fitri" (natural apostate), and a person that
converted to Islam and later rejects the religion is called a "murtad milli" (apostate from the community).
In Islamic law (Sharia), the consensus view is that a male apostate must be put to death unless he suffers from
a mental disorder or converted under duress, for example, due to an imminent danger of being killed. A
female apostate must be either executed, according to Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islamic
jurisprudence (fiqh), or imprisoned until she reverts to Islam as advocated by the Sunni Hanafi school and by
Shi'a scholars.
Ideally, the one performing the execution of an apostate must be an imam. At the same time, all schools of
Islamic jurisprudence agree that any Muslim can kill an apostate without punishment."

by jaskaw @ 18.11.2010 - 20:35:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/18/france-24-moroccan-atheist-blogger-receives-death-threats-10003576/
Sam Harris Interviewed on MSNBC's 'The Last
Word' with Lawrence O'Donnell (video)

November 16, 2010 on MSNBC - via http://www.AtheistMedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29
"Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American non-fiction author, and CEO of Project Reason. He received a Ph.D.
in neuroscience from UCLA, and is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University. He has studied both
Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years.
He is a proponent of scientific skepticism and is the author of The End of Faith (2004), which won the 2005
PEN/Martha Albrand Award, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), a rejoinder to criticism of his first book, and
The Moral Landscape (2010).
In his 2010 book, The Moral Landscape, he posits that science can shed light on questions regarding moral
values and facilitate human well-being. After the release of his books, he continued to give numerous talks at
universities such as Caltech,UCSD, Stanford University, Harvard as well as making numerous television
appearances and interviews. Harris has also made an appearance in the 2005 film The God Who Wasn't There,
as well as numerous television appearances for Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_O%27Donnell
"Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Jr. (born November 7,[1] 1951) is an American political analyst for the cable
news channel MSNBC, who has appeared on The McLaughlin Group, The Al Franken Show, and Countdown
with Keith Olbermann. On September 27, 2010, O'Donnell began hosting The Last Word, his own weeknight
MSNBC program in the 10 p.m. ET timeslot."

by jaskaw @ 18.11.2010 - 22:34:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/18/sam-harris-interviewed-on-msnbc-s-the-last-word-with-lawrence-o-donnell-vide
Exiled Iranian ex-Air Force pilot claims Iran's
military rife with rebellion against the theocracy of
Iran
Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hm0m4rLdl94N8vJpgspS24s3D3mQ?docId=51615

"PARIS ō A one-time Iranian Air Force pilot seeking political asylum in France, and armed with what he
claims is a valuable list of contacts, said Wednesday that he intends to serve as a bridge between military
officers and resistance forces.
Behzad Masoumi Legwan claims that dissidence in Iran's military is widespread.
Masoumi's arrival in France was announced Nov. 10 by the Europe-based Green Wave Iran opposition
movement which has in the past announced the defection of several Iranian diplomats in Europe.
Masoumi said at a news conference that he established links with dissident personnel and officers in the air
force, serving as a middleman for them, before being arrested, tortured and expelled from the air force in
2001.
The 33-year-old Masoumi claimed that he established a network among officers that remains active.
"Today, the time and opportunity (have) arrived for me to announce that I and a significant segment of
personnel and senior officers in the armed forces are in opposition to the Islamic Republic," Masoumi said at a
news conference, reading a statement in Farsi. It was translated into English.
There is no way to measure dissent in the armed forces or in Iran's separate and powerful Revolutionary
Guard which has become a pillar of the regime with a presence spanning key sectors."

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hm0m4rLdl94N8vJpgspS24s3D3mQ?docId=51615

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Movement
"Green Movement refers to a series of actions after the 2009 Iranian presidential election, in which protesters
demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Green was initially used as the symbol of Mir
Hossein Mousavi's campaign, but after the election it became the symbol of unity and hope for those asking
for annulment of what they regarded as a fraudulent election. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are
recognized as political leaders of the Green Movement.Hossein-Ali Montazeri was also mentioned as spiritual
leader of the movement. Witnesses to Green Movement protests often claim that protests of this size have not
been seen in Iran since the 1979 revolution."

by jaskaw @ 19.11.2010 - 15:11:31

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/19/exiled-iranian-ex-air-force-pilot-claims-iran-s-military-rife-with-rebellion-agains
'Rev. Cedric Miller Tells Married Couples To Quit
Facebook'
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/rev-cedric-miller-tells-m_n_784872.html

"NEPTUNE, N.J. ō Thou shalt not commit adultery. And thou also shalt not use Facebook.
That's the edict from a New Jersey pastor who feels the two often go together.
The Rev. Cedric Miller said 20 couples among the 1,100 members of his Living Word Christian Fellowship
Church have run into marital trouble over the last six months after a spouse connected with an ex-flame over
Facebook.
Because of the problems, he is ordering about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts with the
social networking site or resign from their leadership positions. He had previously asked married congregants
to share their login information with their spouses and now plans to suggest that they give up Facebook
altogether.
"I've been in extended counseling with couples with marital problems because of Facebook for the last year
and a half," he said. "What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there
have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/rev-cedric-miller-tells-m_n_784872.html

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
"Facebook is a social network service and website launched in February 2004 that is operated and privately
owned by Facebook, Inc. As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users.
Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic
notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups,
organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics.
The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the
academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know
each other better.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students
Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to
other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University."

by jaskaw @ 19.11.2010 - 16:54:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/19/rev-cedric-miller-tells-married-couples-to-quit-facebook-10008144/
A Tribute to Indian Atheists (videos)
Tribute to Indian Atheists- Part I

"Atheists have contributed much to India's growth and success. It's time all Indian Atheists felt rightfully
proud of the accomplishments of Indian Atheists and their service to our country.
These videos are Nirmukta's contribution towards the OUT CAMPAIGN, urging Atheists from all walks of
life to come out about their non-belief to friends and family."

Tribute to Indian Atheists- Part II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_india
"Atheistic schools are found in Hinduism, which is generally mistaken as an inherently theistic religion. It
may be better defined as a collection of religions.
The anti-theistic philosophical Cārvāka School originated in India around 6th century BCE. It is classified as a
heterodox system and is not considered part of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism, but it is noteworthy as
evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism.
Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include Classical Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa.
Samkhya, though a school in the Orthodox (Astika) variety of Hinduism, denies the existence of God or any
other exterior influence.
However, unlike other atheist schools of thoughts, it did not deny existence of all things transcendent.
The rejection of a personal creator God is also seen in Jainism and Buddhism, both of which originated in the
Indian subcontinent."

by jaskaw @ 20.11.2010 - 20:29:45

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/20/a-tribute-to-indian-atheists-videos-10014263/
Ricky Gervais Live - 'Act of God' (video)

Ricky Gervais Live - "Act of God" -vieo from the "Science Tour"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais (born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician and
writer. Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series
Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant.
Besides writing and directing the shows, Gervais played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy
Millman in Extras. Gervais has starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost
Town and The Invention of Lying. Gervais has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the
best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded
podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky Gervais Show.
He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy
Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors
Guild Award nomination. In 2010 he was voted third greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Channel 4,
behind Richard Pryor and Billy Connolly. In 2010, he was named on the Time 100 list of the world's most
influential people."

by jaskaw @ 20.11.2010 - 22:33:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/20/ricky-gervais-live-act-of-god-video-10014812/
Johann Hari: 'The religious excuse for barbarity'
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-religious-excuse-for-barbarity-21379

"If you are engaged in an act of cruelty, there is an easy, effective way to silence your critics and snatch some
space to carry on. Tell us all that your religion requires you to do it, and you are "offended" by any critical
response. Erect an electric wire fence around your nastiest actions and call it "respect".
There's a good example of this religious modus operandi playing out on a dinner table near you ʒ and this
week, we found out it is becoming more and more common. In Britain, it is a crime to kill a conscious cow or
sheep or chicken for meat by slashing its throat without numbing it first. The reasons are obvious. If you don't
numb an animal, it screams as you hack through its skin, muscle, trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries, jugular
veins and major nerve trunks, and then it remains conscious as it slowly drowns in its own blood ʒ a process
that can take up to six minutes. So we insist that an animal is stunned before its throat is slashed, to ensure it is
deeply unconscious. There isn't much humanity in our factory farming system, but this is ʒ at least ʒ a tiny
sliver of it, at the end.
But there is a loophole in the law. You are allowed to skip all this and slash the throats of un-numbed,
screaming animals if you say God told you to. If you are Muslim, you call it "halal", and if you are Jewish you
call it "kosher"."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-religious-excuse-for-barbarity-21379

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher
"Kashrut prohibits slaughter of an unconscious animal. Kosher slaughter, shechita, involves cutting the
trachea and esophagus with a sharp, flawless knife. At the same time, the carotid arteries, which are the
primary supplier of blood to the brain, are severed."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal
"Thabiha or Dhabiha (Arabic: &#1584;‫ةحيب‬‎), is the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of all animals
excluding fish and most sea-life per Islamic law. This method of slaughtering animals consists of a swift, deep
transverse incision with a sharp knife across the neck, cutting through the windpipe, the food pipe, the vagus
nerve jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides but leaving the spinal cord intact. Furthermore it opens
the circulatory system that is at high pressure to the air causing pressure to equalize and the blood pressure in
the brain to fall to zero."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari
"Johann Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British journalist and writer. He is a columnist for The Independent
and the Huffington Post, and has won awards for his war reporting. His work has also appeared in the New
York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Nation, Le Monde, El Pais, the Sydney
Morning Herald and Ha'aretz."
by jaskaw @ 21.11.2010 - 22:32:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/21/johann-hari-the-religious-excuse-for-barbarity-10020386/
'Anti-Semitic textbook' used in Muslim weekend
schools in UK
Read more at:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23899716-anti-semitic-textbook-used-in-muslim-weekend-schools.do

"A textbook used in some Muslim weekend schools asks children to list the ːreprehensibleə qualities of the
Jews, an investigation has discovered.
Around 5,000 children are taught from textbooks which claim some Jews were transformed into pigs and apes
and that the penalty for sodomy is execution, as well as teaching the correct ways to chop off the hands and
feet of thieves, according to the BBC's Panorama.
A spokesman for the programme said the pupils, aged six to 18, attend a network of more than 40 weekend
schools across the UK which offer to teach the Saudi national curriculum to Muslim children.
Investigators found one book for children as young as six which asks them what happens to someone who dies
who is not a believer in Islam. The correct answer is ːhellfireə.
They also found a text for pupils aged 15 which teaches about Sharia law and its punishments. It reads: ːFor
thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence.ə
Programme makers said there are accompanying diagrams showing children where the cuts must be made.
Other texts for the 15-year-old pupils also claim that Zionists want to establish world domination for Jews, a
spokesman said."

Read more at:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23899716-anti-semitic-textbook-used-in-muslim-weekend-schools.do

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-semitism
"Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews,
often rooted in hatred of their ethnic background, culture, and/or religion. In its extreme form, it "attributes to
the Jews an exceptional position among all other civilizations, defames them as an inferior group and denies
their being part of the nation[s]" in which they reside.A person who holds such views is called an
"antisemite."
Antisemitism may be manifested in many ways, ranging from individual expressions of hatred and
discrimination against individual Jews to organized violent attacks by mobs or even state, police or military
attacks on entire Jewish communities. Extreme instances of persecution include the First Crusade of 1096, the
expulsion from England in 1290, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the expulsion
from Portugal in 1497, various pogroms, the Dreyfus Affair, and perhaps the most infamous, the Holocaust in
Nazi Germany.
While the term's etymology might suggest that antisemitism is directed against all Semitic peoples, the term
was coined in the late 19th century in Germany as a more scientific-sounding term for Judenhass
("Jew-hatred"),and that has been its normal use since then."
by jaskaw @ 22.11.2010 - 14:33:35

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/22/anti-semitic-textbook-used-in-muslim-weekend-schools-in-uk-10025015/
Feedback for Post "'Anti-Semitic textbook' used in Muslim
weekend schools in UK"

FedupwithR [Member]
22.11.2010 @ 16:05

Disgusting. There are plenty of YouTube videos showing tiny Muslim tots who have obviously been brain
washed. It should be a crime to indoctrinated children in this manner and it's a disgrace that the three major
religions are allowed to get away with it, indeed they are encouraged by our governments.

atheistbruce [Member]
23.11.2010 @ 14:32

Muslim children are taught to hate and despise the Jews. Jewish children are taught to despise all non-Jews as
inferior beings whose only purpose on earth is to serve the Jews. And yet you think the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict can be resolved?
Iranian authorities target human rights lawyers
now
Read more at:
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/iranian-authorities-target-humanitarian-lawyers?tr=y

"When Nasrin Sotoudeh appeared before a Revolutionary Court for the start of her trial in Tehran recently,
her frail appearance belied the charge against her: that she was a threat to national security.
The prominent human rights lawyer was emaciated and sunken-eyed after 50 days on a hunger strike in
prison.
Her only "crime", according to her supporters, was to defend political prisoners and dissidents, such as the
exiled Nobel Peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi, Iran's most celebrated human rights lawyer. Ms Sotoudeh was also,
like Ms Ebadi, a leading supporter of women's and children's rights.
But such a profession is now increasingly perilous.
At least 10 human rights lawyers have been detained or sentenced to long prison terms in recent months.
Several others have fled Iran.
Amnesty International has accused Tehran of declaring open season on lawyers.
"The waves of arbitrary arrests of lawyers suggest that the judiciary has given carte blanche to the security
forces to stop any lawyer whose work or statements get in their way," the organisation said in a statement last
week."

Read more at:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/iranian-authorities-target-humanitarian-lawyers?tr=y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasrin_Sotoudeh
"Nasrin Sotoudeh (Persian: ‫&رسن‬#1740;‫&س ن‬#1578;‫&دو‬#1607;), (also spelled Sotoodeh) is a prominent
human rights lawyer in Islamic Republic of Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists
and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections as well as prisoners sentenced
to death for crimes committed when they were minors.
Her clients have included noted journalist Isa Saharkhiz and Heshmat Tabarzadi, the head of Iran's banned
opposition group, the Democratic Front.
Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state
security and is currently imprisoned in Evin Prison, reportedly in solitary confinement."

by jaskaw @ 23.11.2010 - 12:00:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/23/iranian-authorities-target-human-rights-lawyers-now-10035942/
Feedback for Post "Iranian authorities target human rights
lawyers now"

atheistbruce [Member]
23.11.2010 @ 14:24

Let's hope that this desperation to suppress all independent thought is a sign that the Ayatollahs are in fear of
being able to retain control.
'Let's Take the Bible Literally' (video)

A satire on biblical literalism directed by Marty Shea

http://www.youtube.com/user/bibleliterally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_literalism
"Biblical literalism (also called Biblicism or Biblical fundamentalism) is the interpretation or translation of the
explicit and primary sense of words in the Bible.
A literal, Biblical interpretation is associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical hermeneutical approach
to Scripture, and is used by many conservative Christians today.
The essence of this approach focuses upon the author's intent as the primary meaning of the text.
Literal interpretation does place emphasis upon the referential aspect of the words or terms in the text. It does
not, however, mean a complete denial of literary aspects, genre, or figures of speech within the text (e.g.,
parable, allegory, simile, or metaphor).
Also literalism does not necessarily lead to total and complete agreement upon one single interpretation for
any given passage.
Fundamentalists and Evangelicals sometimes refer to themselves as "literalists" or Biblical literalists.
Sociologists also use the term in reference to conservative Christian beliefs which include not just literalism
but also inerrancy. Often the term Biblical literalism is used as a pejorative to describe or ridicule the
interpretative approaches of fundamentalist or evangelical Christians."

by jaskaw @ 23.11.2010 - 21:45:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/23/let-s-take-the-bible-literally-video-10039882/
India district bans cell phones for unmarried
women in fear of inter-caste marriages
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp//lifestyleindiatelecommarriage

"NEW DELHI (AFP) ʒ A local council in northern India has banned unmarried women from carrying mobile
telephones to halt a series of illicit romances between partners from different castes, media reports said
Wednesday.
The Baliyan council in Uttar Pradesh state decided to act after at least 23 young couples ran away and got
married over the last year against their parents' wishes.
"The panchayat (assembly) was convinced that the couples planned their elopement over their cell phones,"
village elder Jatin Raghuvanshi told the Calcutta Telegraph.
The rules of inter-caste marriages are complicated and extremely rigid in many rural communities in India,
with some lovers even murdered in "honour killings" by relatives trying to protect their family's reputation."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp//lifestyleindiatelecommarriage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untouchable_castes
"In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has often been historically associated with
occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as any involving leatherwork, butchering, or removal of rubbish,
animal carcasses, and waste. Dalits work as manual labourers cleaning streets, latrines, and sewers.
Engaging in these activities was considered to be polluting to the individual, and this pollution was considered
contagious. As a result, Dalits were commonly segregated, and banned from full participation in Hindu social
life. For example, they could not enter a temple nor a school, and were required to stay outside the village.
Elaborate precautions were sometimes observed to prevent incidental contact between Dalits and other castes.
Discrimination against Dalits still exists in rural areas in the private sphere, in everyday matters such as access
to eating places, schools, temples and water sources."
---
Traditionally, Dalits were considered to be beyond the pale of Varna or caste system. They were originally
considered as Panchama or the fifth group beyond the fourfold division of Indian people. They were not
allowed to let their shadows fall upon a non-Dalit caste member and they were required to sweep the ground
where they walked to remove the 'contamination' of their footfalls. Dalits were forbidden to worship in
temples or draw water from the same wells as caste Hindus, and they usually lived in segregated
neighborhoods outside the main village. In the Indian countryside, the dalit villages are usually a separate
enclave a kilometre or so outside the main village where the other Hindu castes reside."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castes_in_India:_Their_Mechanism,_Genesis_and_Development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castes

by jaskaw @ 24.11.2010 - 19:52:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/24/india-district-bans-cell-phones-for-unmarried-women-in-fear-of-inter-caste-marr
Feedback for Post "India district bans cell phones for
unmarried women in fear of inter-caste marriages"

atheistbruce [Member]
24.11.2010 @ 20:45

Is untouchability hereditary?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
24.11.2010 @ 21:38
Yes, very much so.

FedupwithR [Member]
25.11.2010 @ 12:56

I have always thought that India would have been better off if it had become communist. It would have done
away with the cast system and liberated Indian women. Today it would have been another China.
The George Carlin Special; Three Video Classics
George Carlin: "The Ten Commandments Broken Down"

George Carlin: Sanctity of life

George Carlin: "Religion is bullshit"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_carlin
"George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 ʒ June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social
critic, actor, and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.
Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology,
religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the
1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5ʒ4 decision by the justices
affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.
The first of his 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. In the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin's
routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often commented on contemporary political issues
in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya,
was filmed less than four months before his death.
Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time, ahead of
Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor.
He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era,
and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2008, he was awarded the Mark Twain prize for
American humor."

by jaskaw @ 25.11.2010 - 21:27:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/25/the-george-carlin-special-three-video-classics-10054197/
Feedback for Post "The George Carlin Special; Three Video
Classics"

jpfib [Member]
26.11.2010 @ 07:21

these commandments are for the enslaved fellow beings to follow. not for the fabricators of these command
ments. history says many popes delighted in sleeping with married women.they encouraged their slaves to kill
the infidels and the reward was indulgence.they coveted other peoples money.in india they take photos of the
children of illiterate parents and send them to foreign philanthropists(sponsors)who are large hearted. when
the money comes for the children from the donors they make the parents to sign documents acknowledging
the receipt of the money and church people loot 90% of the money. when the donors come to india to visit
these children, they allow the children and parent to see each other. but they won't allow to exchange their
address so they can contact freely. as they are ignorant of each others languages the parents or children cannot
inform them about story of the money.so these crooked church people are cheating the donors and poor
children for money, for which they have not shed a drop of their sweat.

jpfib [Member]
26.11.2010 @ 07:31

they raped women,poor girls and when oppose and threaten to complain they poison and kill them. sister
Abhaya was such a victim.another poor girl in kerala who was in the hostel for poor girls was bused by priests
and killed her by poisoning.as they had money and political power with them no body was there to take note
of her younger sisters words. these crooked satanic priests and the church use money and power to keep the
story under carpet.they still preach the kingdom of god to their slaves.why don't the society ban these
antisocial religions and bring these crooks to law.

SSN [Visitor]

26.11.2010 @ 14:55
This is funny but very thought provoking!!!!
Smithsonian.com: 'The Top Ten Daily
Consequences of Having Evolved'
Read more at:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Top-Ten-Daily-Consequences-of-Having-Evolved.html

By Rob Dunn
"From hiccups to wisdom teeth, the evolution of homo sapiens has left behind some glaring, yet innately
human, imperfections
Natural selection acts by winnowing the individuals of each generation, sometimes clumsily, as old parts and
genes are co-opted for new roles. As a result, all species inhabit bodies imperfect for the lives they live. Our
own bodies are worse off than most simply because of the many differences between the wilderness in which
we evolved and the modern world in which we live. We feel the consequences every day.

1. Our cells are weird chimeras

2. Hiccups
3. Backaches
4. Unsupported intestines
5. Choking
6. We're awfully cold in winter
7. Goosebumps don't really help
8. Our brains squeeze our teeth
9. Obesity
10 to 100. The list goes on.

Read the full explanations at:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Top-Ten-Daily-Consequences-of-Having-Evolved.html#ixzz16P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution
"Human evolution, or anthropogeny, is the origin and evolution of Homo sapiens as a distinct species from
other hominids, great apes and placental mammals. The study of human evolution uses many scientific
disciplines, including physical anthropology, primatology, archaeology, linguistics and genetics.
The term "human" in the context of human evolution refers to the genus Homo, but studies of human
evolution usually include other hominids, such as the Australopithecines, from which the genus Homo had
diverged by about 2.3 to 2.4 million years ago in Africa.
Scientists have estimated that humans branched off from their common ancestor with chimpanzees about 5ʒ7
million years ago. Several species and subspecies of Homo evolved and are now extinct. These include Homo
erectus, which inhabited Asia, and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, which inhabited Europe. Archaic Homo
sapiens evolved between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago.
The dominant view among scientists concerning the origin of anatomically modern humans is the "Out of
Africa" or recent African origin hypothesis, which argues that Homo sapiens arose in Africa and migrated out
of the continent around 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, replacing populations of Homo erectus in Asia and
Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. Scientists supporting the alternative multiregional hypothesis argue that
Homo sapiens evolved as geographically separate but interbreeding populations stemming from a worldwide
migration of Homo erectus out of Africa nearly 2.5 million years ago."

by jaskaw @ 26.11.2010 - 20:20:40

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/26/smithsonian-com-the-top-ten-daily-consequences-of-having-evolved-10062136/
Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens in
Blasphemy Debate (audio)

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry at Guardian Hay Festival: the Blasphemy Debate, chaired by Joan
Bakewell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy
"Blasphemy is irreverence toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs. The Abrahamic
religions condemn blasphemy vehemently. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have
laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy. Those laws may discourage blasphemy as a
matter of blasphemous libel, vilification of religion, religious insult, or hate speech.
Christian theology condemns blasphemy. One verse from the Bible that directly concerns the sin reads as
follows:
ːThou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that
taketh his name in vain. (Exodus 20:7 KJV)ə
In addition, it is spoken of in the Mark 3:29, where blaspheming the Holy Spirit is spoken of as unforgivable -
the eternal sin. However, there is dispute over what form this blasphemy may take and whether it qualifies as
blasphemy in the conventional sense.
Blasphemy has been condemned as a serious, or even the most serious, sin by the major creeds and Church
theologians.
* Thomas Aquinas says that ːit is clear that blasphemy, which is a sin committed directly against God, is
more grave than murder, which is a sin against one's neighbor. ‫ ل‬it is called the most grievous sin, for as much
as it makes every sin more grievous.ə
* The Book of Concord calls blasphemy ːthe greatest sin that can be outwardly committedə.
* The Baptist Confession of Faith says: ːTherefore, to swear vainly or rashly by the glorious and awesome
name of God‫ل‬is sinful, and to be regarded with disgust and detestation. ‫ل‬For by rash, false, and vain oaths,
the Lord is provoked and because of them this land mourns.ə
* The Heidelberg Catechism answers question 100 about blasphemy by stating that ːno sin is greater or
provokes God's wrath more than the blaspheming of His Nameə.
* The Westminster Larger Catechism explains that ːThe sins forbidden in the third commandment are, the
abuse of it in an ignorant, vain, irreverent, profane...mentioning...by blasphemy...to profane jests, ...vain
janglings, ...to charms or sinful lusts and practices.ə
* Calvin found it intolerable ːwhen a person is accused of blasphemy, to lay the blame on the ebullition of
passion, as if God were to endure the penalty whenever we are provoked."

by jaskaw @ 27.11.2010 - 21:54:17

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/27/stephen-fry-and-christopher-hitchens-in-blasphemy-debate-audio-10067451/
Feedback for Post "Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens
in Blasphemy Debate (audio)"

jpfib [Member]
28.11.2010 @ 08:11

blasphemy is revealing the rape, killings, abuse of children, accumulation of large money by illegal
means,cover up of criminality.if you talk about these, you will be pushed into ETERNAL HELL by pope and
his cronies with infallibility.
The Guardian: 'Christopher Hitchens 1-0 Tony
Blair'
Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair - Munk Debates

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/27/christopher-hitchens-tony-blair-debate

Paul Harris in Toronto

"Staunch atheist wins over audience in debate with Catholic convert over whether religion is a force for good
in the world.
n theory it was not an event that should have created a stir: a philosophical debate on the moral merits of
religion. In an age of reality TV drama and Hollywood blockbusters loaded with special effects it would seem
hard to get the masses to flock to witness such an old-fashioned, high brow spectacle.
But when the two debaters are the world's most famous recent Roman Catholic convert in the shape of Tony
Blair and the charismatic yet cancer-stricken sceptic Christopher Hitchens suddenly it becomes easier to sell
tickets.
Two thousand seven hundred tickets to be precise. For that was the size of the crowd that packed the space
age-looking Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto late last night to watch the two ideological foes ʒ when it comes to
religion ʒ spar and trade verbal blows."

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/27/christopher-hitchens-tony-blair-debate

Christopher Hitchens vs. Tony Blair: the full transcript from the New Statesman:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/11/christopher-hitchens-tony-blair

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books,
essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The
Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the
Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was
voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll.
Identified as a champion of the "new atheism" movement, Hitchens describes himself as an anti-theist and
believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. Hitchens says that a person "could be an atheist and
wish that belief in god were correct," but that "An antitheist, a term Iˈm trying to get into circulation, is
someone who is relieved that thereˈs no evidence for such an assertion."
Though Hitchens retained his British citizenship, he became a United States citizen on the steps of the
Jefferson Memorial, on 13 April 2007, his fifty-eighth birthday.His latest book, Hitch-22: A Memoir, was
published in June 2010. Touring for the book was cut short later the same month so that he could begin
treatment for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer."

by jaskaw @ 28.11.2010 - 00:43:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/27/the-guardian-christopher-hitchens-1-0-tony-blair-10068198/
'List of Scientists Rejecting Evolution - Do they
really?' (video)

The maker of this video 'DonExodus2' says:

"We have all seen the Discovery Institutes list of scientists rejecting evolution. I analyzed the list, and emailed
its signees. The truth of the matter is, DI lied repeatedly when constructing the list, and, by their own
admission, even IF the numbers are skewed hugely in favor or the creationists, this still leaves .0027% of
scientists in the US rejecting evolution."

http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute
"The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for
its advocacy of intelligent design. Founded in 1990, the institute describes its purpose as promoting "ideas in
the common sense tradition of representative government, the free market and individual liberty."
Its Teach the Controversy campaign aims to teach creationist anti-evolution beliefs in United States public
high school science courses alongside accepted scientific theories, positing a scientific controversy exists over
these subjects.
A federal court, along with the majority of scientific organizations, including the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, say the Institute has manufactured the controversy they want to teach by
promoting a false perception that evolution is "a theory in crisis", through incorrectly claiming that it is the
subject of wide controversy and debate within the scientific community.
In 2005, a federal court ruled that the Discovery Institute pursues "demonstrably religious, cultural, and legal
missions", and the institute's manifesto, the Wedge strategy,describes a religious goal: to "reverse the stifling
dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic
convictions".

by jaskaw @ 28.11.2010 - 21:09:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/28/list-of-scientists-rejecting-evolution-do-they-really-video-10072834/
'Irreducible complexity cut down to size' (video)

The maker of this video 'QualiaSoup' says:

"Explaining how complexity can arise through gradual evolution and debunking anti-evolutionist arguments."

http://www.youtube.com/user/QualiaSoup
"UK artist and secular humanist interested in critical thinking, science and the natural world."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducible_complexity
"Irreducible complexity (IC) is a pseudoscientific argument by proponents of intelligent design that certain
biological systems are too complex to have evolved from simpler, or "less complete" predecessors, through
natural selection acting upon a series of advantageous naturally-occurring, chance mutations.
The argument is central to intelligent design, and is rejected by the scientific community, which
overwhelmingly regards intelligent design as pseudoscience. Irreducible complexity is one of two main
arguments intended to support intelligent design, the other being specified complexity.
Biochemistry professor Michael Behe, the originator of the term irreducible complexity, defines an
irreducibly complex system as one "composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the
basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease
functioning".
These examples are said to demonstrate that modern biological forms could not have evolved naturally.
Evolutionary biologists have shown that such systems can in fact evolve, and Behe's examples are considered
to constitute an argument from ignorance.
In the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, Behe gave testimony on the subject of irreducible
complexity. The court found that "Professor Behe's claim for irreducible complexity has been refuted in
peer-reviewed research papers and has been rejected by the scientific community at large."
Nonetheless, irreducible complexity continues to be cited as an important argument by creationists,
particularly intelligent design proponents."

by jaskaw @ 29.11.2010 - 22:22:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/29/irreducible-complexity-cut-down-to-size-video-10081472/
Feedback for Post "'Irreducible complexity cut down to size'
(video)"

jpfib [Member]
03.12.2010 @ 09:23

all organized religions are created to exploit fellow beings and make them slaves so that the leaders can
commit any crime and lead luxurious life.they preach great words on the pulpit for the slaves to follow.when
they leave the pulpit they are like vultures who soar into high heavens but its eyes will be on the rotten bodies
on the ground.they cheat,loot kill,burn,rape and sexually abuse children and use money and power to escape
from law and punishment. if you love truth and your fellow men why you create an organization.to serve your
fellow beings you need no organization.for that you need only a good heart.so keep away from all these
crooks and have a happy and peaceful life.be with them, they will frighten you with sin, hell and damnation
for their own ends.they are the real terrorists.bring them to law for the crimes they have committed and punish
them.they are the whitewashed tombs.parasites.
"Deathly" silence greets Tolstoy centenary in
Russia
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT3FW20101130

"The Russian Orthodox Church refused to rehabilitate him and the state chose to ignore him, but the official
silence surrounding the 100th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy's death has not muffled praise or quelled debate.
Unlike the 150th anniversary of writer Anton Chekhov's birth this year -- which prompted an emotional
outpouring from President Dmitry Medvedev and spurred a nationwide festival -- the November centenary of
one of Russia's most universally acclaimed writers has been met with surreal silence.
Neither Medvedev nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin mentioned the "War and Peace" author for the actual
centenary on November 20th, the Culture Ministry planned no events in his honor and there were no major
programs on state television -- Russia's favored outlet for tributes.
"There was a deathly silence...Tolstoy is a reminder of greatness, of humanity and their significance. And that
is why we prefer not to remember," popular novelist Dmitry Bykov wrote in business magazine Profil earlier
this month."
--
"Tolstoy's radical theological philosophy -- he compared the Russian Orthodox Church to witchcraft and
preached that guidance should come from within and not from the church -- got him excommunicated in 1901.
Ahead of the November 20 centenary, Sergei Stepashin, the head of Russia's Book Union and a former prime
minister, wrote an open letter to Church Patriarch Kirill to forgive the author. "I ask you, Your Holiness, to
show today the compassion that only the Church can afford," he wrote in Rossiiskaya Gazeta."

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT3FW20101130

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
"Tolstoy believed being a Christian required him to be a pacifist; the consequences of being a pacifist, and the
apparently inevitable waging of war by government, made him a philosophical anarchist.
By directly influencing Mahatma Gandhi with this idea through his work The Kingdom of God is Within You
(full text of English translation available on Wikisource), Tolstoy has had a huge influence on the nonviolent
resistance movement to this day. He believed that the aristocracy were a burden on the poor, and that the only
solution to how we live together is through anarchism.
He also opposed private property and the institution of marriage and valued the ideals of chastity and sexual
abstinence ideals also held by the young Gandhi.
Tolstoy had a profound influence on the development of Christian anarchist thought. The Tolstoyans were a
small Christian anarchist group formed by Tolstoy's companion, Vladimir Chertkov (1854ʒ1936), to spread
Tolstoy's religious teachings."

by jaskaw @ 30.11.2010 - 23:24:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/11/30/deathly-silence-greets-tolstoy-centenary-in-russia-10089386/
Feedback for Post ""Deathly" silence greets Tolstoy
centenary in Russia"

FedupwithR [Member]
01.12.2010 @ 22:55

Shame on them for ignoring old T. Could it be that neither Robin nor Batman have ever read him? As for the
ROC, it's more into mafia than magnanimity.

atheistbruce [Member]
03.12.2010 @ 18:49

Could Russia under the ROC be a greater threat to us than was the USSR under Communism?
Richard Dawkins: Christopher Hitchens is my hero
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/01/christopher-hitchens-richard-dawkins

"Eloquent, witty, literate, intelligent, knowledgeable, brave, erudite, hard-working, honest (who could forget
his clean-through skewering of Mother Teresa's hypocrisy?), arguably the most formidable debater alive today
yet at the same time the most gentlemanly, Christopher Hitchens is a giant of the mind and a model of
courage. A lesser man would have seized the excuse of a mortal illness to duck responsibility and take it easy.
Not this soldier. He will not go gentle into that good night; but instead of a futile raging against the dying of
the light he rages, with redoubled energy (and concentrated power in his vibrant, Richard Burton tones)
against the same obscurantist, vicious or just plain silly targets as have long engaged him. But he never rants.
His is a controlled, disciplined rage, and don't get on the wrong side of it."
---
Like Bertrand Russell, Hitch "would scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation". He laughs off
the spiritual vultures eager for a death-bed conversion, and dismisses ʒ but with unfailingly gracious courtesy
ʒ the many schadenfreudian prayers for his recovery. As Daniel Dennett said, in similar circumstances, "And
did you also sacrifice a goat?"

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/01/christopher-hitchens-richard-dawkins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_hitchens
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books,
essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The
Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the
Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was
voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll.
His latest book, Hitch-22: A Memoir, was published in June 2010.[8] Touring for the book was cut short later
the same month so that he could begin treatment for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer."

by jaskaw @ 01.12.2010 - 18:59:28

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/01/richard-dawkins-christopher-hitchens-is-my-hero-10095405/
Feedback for Post "Richard Dawkins: Christopher Hitchens
is my hero"

NSS [Visitor]

02.12.2010 @ 03:13
Just hero for the present age.

atheistbruce [Member]
03.12.2010 @ 18:47

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are my heros, but to prove that I am not an biased, so are Sam
Harris & Daniel Dennett & jaskaw.

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
03.12.2010 @ 20:19
Mentioning 'jaskaw' (thats me) with these names is highly flattering of course, but I must frankly admit that I
still play in bit a different series, but thanks anyway atheistbruce!

atheistbruce [Member]
04.12.2010 @ 20:40

jaskaw: you are too modest. You provide information: the most important product of our age...
' Do Religious People Make Easy Targets For
Scams? '
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/do-religious-people-make-_n_787174.html

By Nicole Neroulias
Religion News Service
"RNS) Convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff bilked billions of dollars out of thousands of fellow Jews,
including charities like the Elie Wiesel Foundation and Steven Spielberg Wunderkinder Foundation.
Other major frauds exposed by federal investigators in recent years have targeted Jehovah's Witnesses,
Baptists, black churches and other denominations, from $190 million lost in a three-year scam promoted by a
Christian radio host in Minnesota to an estimated $1.4 billion conned from thousands of Utah Mormons.
Now three Pakistani immigrants -- two believed to have fled the U.S. -- are accused of swindling $30 million
from hundreds of Chicago-area Muslims with an investment plan they promised complied with Islamic law.
Is it simply too easy for con artists to prey on people of faith?"
---
In an interview, Campbell said the strong social networks found in some faith communities, such as "the tight
bonds among Mormons," seems to make them especially vulnerable to fraud.
"The underlying issue, I think, is the question of mutual trust," agreed Nancy Ammerman, a Boston
University professor of religion and sociology. "These schemes rely on and exploit that trust, and people
within religious communities tend to have high levels of trust for others within their community."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/do-religious-people-make-_n_787174.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own
money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned. The Ponzi scheme
usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term
returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi
scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme
going.
The system is destined to collapse because the earnings, if any, are less than the payments to investors.
Usually, the scheme is interrupted by legal authorities before it collapses because a Ponzi scheme is suspected
or because the promoter is selling unregistered securities. As more investors become involved, the likelihood
of the scheme coming to the attention of authorities increases. While the system eventually will collapse under
its own weight, the example of Bernard Madoff demonstrates the ability of a Ponzi scheme to delude both
individual and institutional investors as well as securities authorities for long periods: Madoff's variant of the
Ponzi scheme stands as the largest financial investor fraud committed by a single person in history.
Prosecutors estimate losses at Madoff's hand totaling roughly $21 billion, as estimated by the money invested
by his victims. If the promised returns are added the losses amount to $64.8 billion, but a New York court
dismissed this estimation method during the Madoff trial."

by jaskaw @ 02.12.2010 - 20:05:16

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/02/do-religious-people-make-easy-targets-for-scams-10102682/
Feedback for Post "' Do Religious People Make Easy
Targets For Scams? '"

atheistbruce [Member]
03.12.2010 @ 18:41

Religion itself is a scam and the gullible have fallen for it, so why should the gullible not be more likely to fall
for other scams?
Asia Bibi waits hanging for insulting Islam in
Pakistan
Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/believe-this-or-else-20101202-18h86.html

"Asia Bibi may be executed because she criticised Islam. If a resolution now before the UN is successful,
many more will suffer her fate. Barney Zwartz reports.
LAST year Asia Bibi, a mother of five, was told to bring water to fellow workers in a field in rural Pakistan.
They declined to drink, saying that as a Christian she had contaminated it. They pressured her to convert to
Islam and, goaded, she said she did not believe Muhammad was a true prophet. For that remark she has been
sentenced to death.
Without even seeking her account, a Pakistani court has condemned her to hang under the country's notorious
blasphemy law. Thanks to international pressure, including a plea from the Pope, she may receive a
presidential pardon, but Islamist groups have promised to kill her anyway.
This is no idle threat. Last month Latif Masih was shot dead after being bailed on another blasphemy charge,
that he "desecrated a Koran". His accuser then admitted he had invented the tale because he wanted to take
over the 22-year-old Christian's shop in Pakistan's Punjab province.
Meanwhile,an Iranian court has sentenced to death a Muslim man who converted to Christianity , and an
Afghan amputee has pleaded for help after being tortured in jail over his conversion. In the Maldives last
month, parents tried to lynch a Christian teacher for drawing a cross on a blackboard (she was demonstrating
the points of the compass."

Read more at: http://www.theage.com.au/world/believe-this-or-else-20101202-18h86.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi
"Asia Bibi (real name Asia Noreen) is a Christian Pakistani woman who has been convicted by a Pakistani
court of blasphemy receiving a death sentence by hanging. The verdict, which would need to be upheld by a
superior court, has received worldwide attention. If executed, Bibi would be the first person in Pakistan to be
lawfully killed for blasphemy.
In June 2009, Asia Bibi, a farm hand, was asked to fetch water; she complied, but some of her fellow Muslim
workers refused to drink the water, as she being a Christian was considered "unclean".
Apparently some arguments ensued. There had already been a running feud between Bibi and a neighbour
about some property damage. Later some coworkers complained to a cleric that Bibi made derogatory
comments about Muhammad. A mob came to her house, beating her and members of her family before she
got rescued by the police.
However, the police initiated an investigation about her remarks resulting in her arrest and prosecution under
Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
She spent more than a year in jail. In November 2010 Naveed Iqbal, judge at the at court of Sheikhupura,
Punjab, "totally ruled out" that there was any false implication, saw "no mitigating circumstances", and
sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine of an equivalent of $1,100 was imposed.
As per press information, Bibi admitted before the neighbors and police that she did this and appealed for
forgiveness.
Bibi's husband plans to appeal the verdict, which has to be upheld by the Lahore High Court."

by jaskaw @ 03.12.2010 - 20:44:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/03/asia-bibi-waits-hanging-for-insulting-islam-in-pakistan-10109588/
Feedback for Post "Asia Bibi waits hanging for insulting
Islam in Pakistan"

atheistbruce [Member]
04.12.2010 @ 20:36

Why hanging? The correct punishment is stoning?

FJMG [Visitor]

08.12.2010 @ 21:37
Is atheistbruce a bastard?

jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
08.12.2010 @ 21:55
FJMG, you might not notice the irony and sarcasm that was intended here.
Irony and sarcasm are of course one of most difficult things in the world to use.
Islamic cleric promises half a million rupees for the
killer of Asia Bibi
Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40490458/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

"PESHAWAR, Pakistan ō A hardline Pakistani Islamic cleric has offered a reward to anyone who kills a
Christian woman convicted of blasphemy against Islam.
Maulana Yousef Qureshi made the announcement Friday at a rally in the northwestern town of Peshawar.
He said his mosque would give $6,000 to the person who kills Asia Bibi.
"We will strongly resist any attempt to repeal laws which provide protection to the sanctity of Holy Prophet
Mohammad," Qureshi told a rally of hardline Islamists.
"Any one who kills Asia will be given 500,000 rupees in reward from Masjid Mohabat Khan," he said
referring to his mosque."

Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40490458/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_in_Islam
"Blasphemy in Islam is any irreverent behavior toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and
beliefs that Muslims revere. The Quran and the hadith do not speak about blasphemy.
Jurists created the offence, and they made it part of Sharia. Where Sharia pertains, the penalties for blasphemy
can include fines, imprisonment, flogging, amputation, crucifixion, hanging, or beheading. Muslim clerics
may call for the killing of an alleged blasphemer by issuing a fatwa.
Individuals have been accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam for:
-Speaking ill of Allah.
-Finding fault with Prophet Muhammad.slighting a prophet who is mentioned in the Quran, or slighting a
member of Prophet Muhammad's family.
-Claiming to be a prophet or a messenger.
-Speculating about how Prophet Muhammad would behave if he were alive (Nigeria).
-Drawing a picture to represent Prophet Muhammad or any other prophet, or making a film which features a
prophet (Egypt.
-Writing Prophet Muhammad's name on the walls of a toilet (Pakistan).
-Naming a teddy bear Muhammad (Sudan).
-Stating facts such as: Prophet Muhammad's parents were not Muslims (Pakistan).
-Invoking Allah while committing a forbidden act.
Individuals have been accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam for:
-Finding fault with Islam.
-Saying Islam is an Arab religion; prayers five times a day are unnecessary; and the Quran is full of lies
(Indonesia).
-Believing in transmigration of the soul or reincarnation or disbelieving in the afterlife (Indonesia).
-Finding fault with a belief or a practice which the Muslim community (Ummah) has adopted.
-Finding fault with or cursing apostles, prophets, or angels.
-Expressing an atheist or a secular point of view or publishing or distributing such a point of view.
-Using words that Muslims use because the individuals were not Muslims (Malaysia).
-Praying that Muslims become something else (Indonesia).
-Whistling during prayers (Indonesia).
-Flouting the rules prescribed for Ramadan
-Reciting Muslim prayers in a language other than Arabic (Indonesia).
-Consuming alcohol.
-Gambling.
-Being alone with persons of the opposite sex who are not blood relatives.
-Finding amusement in Islamic customs (Bangladesh).
-Publishing an unofficial translation of the Quran (Afghanistan).
-Practicing yoga (Malaysia).
-Watching a film or listening to music (Somalia)
-Wearing make-up on television (Iran).
-Insulting religious scholarship.
-Wearing the clothing of Jews or of Zoroastrians.
-Claiming that forbidden acts are not forbidden.
-Uttering "words of infidelity" (sayings that are forbidden).
-Participating in non-Islamic religious festivals.
Individuals have been accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam for:
-Touching a Quran or touching something that has touched a Quran because the individuals were not Muslim
(Nigeria).
-Damaging a Quran or other books of importance to Islam, for example, hadith (Pakistan).
-Spitting at the wall of a mosque (Pakistan).
The punishments for different instances of blasphemy in Islam vary by jurisdiction.
A convicted blasphemer may, among other penalties, lose all legal rights. The loss of rights may cause a
blasphemer's marriage to be dissolved, religious acts to be rendered worthless, and claims to
propertyōincluding any inheritanceōto be rendered void."

by jaskaw @ 04.12.2010 - 13:20:56

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/04/islamic-cleric-promises-half-a-million-rupees-for-the-killer-of-asia-bibi-1011258
Feedback for Post "Islamic cleric promises half a million
rupees for the killer of Asia Bibi"

FedupwithR [Member]
04.12.2010 @ 14:56

Yet another hate filled cleric, the world seems full of them. Who, besides her husband, is defending her?

atheistbruce [Member]
05.12.2010 @ 18:52

Why don't we promise 1M rupees to whoever kills the Islamic cleric?

| Show subcomments
jaskaw pro
http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
05.12.2010 @ 18:59
Because that would be lowering ourselves on his level, and for one I would never want that.

| Show subcomments
Lurker111 [Visitor]

10.12.2010 @ 16:02
On the other hand, once malicious threats begin to have consequences, perhaps the number of such threats
will begin to diminish. Perhaps.

atheistbruce [Member]
07.12.2010 @ 19:20

So, to paraphrase Russell: "Better dead than red"?

New creationist theme park wants 37.5 million
dollars of support from the state of Kentucky
Read more at:
http://www.courier-journal.com/print/article/20101201/NEWS01/312010087/Beshear-announces-creationism-theme-p

By Stephenie Steitzer
"FRANKFORT, Ky. ō Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday that a creationism theme park, expected to open
in Northern Kentucky in 2014, would have a $250 million annual impact on the stateˈs economy.
Ark Encounter, which will feature a 500-foot-long wooden replica of Noahˈs Ark containing live animals
such as juvenile giraffes, is projected to cost $150 million and create 900 jobs, Beshear announced at a Capitol
press conference.
ːMake no mistake about it, this is a huge deal,ə he said.
The park, to be located on 800 acres in Grant County off Interstate 75, also will include a Walled City, live
animal shows, a replica of the Tower of Babel, a 500-seat special-effects theater, an aviary and a first-century
Middle Eastern village.
Itˈs expected to draw 1.6 million visitors a year.
Park developers are seeking state tourism development incentives and could receive up to $37.5 million over a
10-year period."

Read more at:

http://www.courier-journal.com/print/article/20101201/NEWS01/312010087/Beshear-announces-creationism-theme-p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Museum
"The Creation Museum is a museum that presents an account of the origins of the universe, life, mankind, and
man's early history according to a literal reading of the Book of Genesis. This museum has been heavily
criticized by the scientific and academic communities as promoting "fallacy over fact" and attempting to
advance the tenets of a particular religion while rejecting scientific knowledge. Its exhibits reject universal
common descent, along with most other central tenets of evolution, and assert that the Earth and all of its life
forms were created 6000 years ago over a six-day period. In contrast to the overwhelming scientific
consensus, exhibits promote young Earth creationist claims, including the idea that humans and dinosaurs
once coexisted, and that dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark.
The museum exhibits are at odds with the determination of the scientific community that the Earth is
approximately 4.5 billion years old, and that the dinosaurs became extinct 65.5 million years before human
beings arose.
The museum has generated criticism by the scientific community, several groups of educators, Christian
groups opposed to young Earth creationism, and in the general press."

by jaskaw @ 05.12.2010 - 18:43:26

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/05/new-creationist-theme-park-wants-37-5-million-dollars-of-support-from-the-stat
Feedback for Post "New creationist theme park wants 37.5
million dollars of support from the state of Kentucky"

atheistbruce [Member]
05.12.2010 @ 18:50

I am sure we shall all pass the hat around and contribute what we feel this project deserves.
Emailing a joke about Pope leads to resignation of
football referee in Scotland
Read more at: http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Hugh-Dallas-departs-from-SFA.6641838.jp

By STEPHEN HALLIDAY
"Hugh Dallas has left his position as the Scottish Football Association's head of referee development, after
being accused of sending a "tasteless message" by email relating to the Pope's visit to Scotland in September.
--
The Catholic Church on Wednesday called for the SFA to sack Dallas if it was proved he passed on the
message via his official email account at the SFA.
---
Regan launched an inquiry earlier this month after reports of the alleged email surfaced. He acted after reports
claimed a photograph relating to the Pope's visit had been passed on via official SFA emails.
The photograph showed a road sign featuring a woman and a child with a doctored message referring to the
Pontiff below."

Read more at: http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Hugh-Dallas-departs-from-SFA.6641838.jp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases
"The Catholic sex abuse cases are an ongoing series of scandals in the Catholic Church related to sex crimes
committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders, while under diocesan control or in orders that
care for the sick or teach children.
These cases began receiving public attention beginning in the mid-1980s. The attention led to criminal
prosecutions of the abusers and to civil lawsuits against the church's dioceses and parishes where abuse was
alleged to have occurred.
Sexual abuse of minors in the priesthood has received significant media attention in Canada, Ireland, the
United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Belgium, France, and Germany, while cases have been reported
throughout the world.
In addition to cases of actual abuse, much of the scandal has focused around members of the Catholic
hierarchy who did not report abuse allegations to the civil authorities and who, in many cases, reassigned the
offenders to other locations where the alleged predators continued to have contact with minors and had
opportunities to continue to sexually abuse children.
In defending their actions, some bishops and psychiatrists contended that the prevailing psychology of the
times suggested that people could be cured of such behavior through counseling. Members of the church
hierarchy have argued that media coverage has been excessive."

by jaskaw @ 06.12.2010 - 19:57:04

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/06/emailing-a-joke-about-pope-leads-to-resignation-of-football-referee-in-scotland-
Feedback for Post "Emailing a joke about Pope leads to
resignation of football referee in Scotland"

atheistbruce [Member]
06.12.2010 @ 20:31

But, it is not a joke...

FedupwithR [Member]
07.12.2010 @ 12:21

Agree. I'd like to recommend "The Case of the Pope" by Geoffrey Robertson QC - Vatican Accountability for
Human Rights Abuse. A Penguin Special.

FedupwithR [Member]
07.12.2010 @ 12:24

Hats off to the satirist who pasted that appropriate message on the road sign!
Secular Xmas! (or 15 xmas songs for the secular
crowd)

Read more at: http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2007/12/26/christmas_without_jesus~3491950/

"I donˈt think that non-religious persons would have any reasons not to celebrate this feast of close family
ties that can sometimes reach almost mystical proportions with the groving feelings of peace and harmony.
For many the price of giving up Christmas when giving up the old-fashioned and outdated religious
belief-systems can be too high.
I believe that an atheist can with a full hart celebrate this feast of the light that conquers the darkness with all
the age-old traditions associated with it. I have great difficulty in seeing anything religious in Santa Claus,
Christmas tree, Christmas decorations or even most of the modern Christmas carols.
This feast has in the core always been a celebration of light over darkness, even a part of the population has
seen it fit to simultaneously celebrate the birthday of the founder of their religion. We have no reason to dump
these age-old traditions even if the Christian church has for centuries tried to hijack them as its own."

Read more at: http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2007/12/26/christmas_without_jesus~3491950/

by jaskaw @ 07.12.2010 - 11:31:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/07/secular-xmas-or-15-xmas-songs-for-the-secular-crowd-10132573/
Senior Iranian cleric: 'Women's sports are a
product of West's "dirty "culture'
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120602644.html?tr=y&auid=7461174

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

The Associated Press
"TEHRAN, Iran - A senior Muslim cleric has denounced the participation of Iranian women in the Asian
Games, calling it a humiliation and saying women's sports are a product of the West's "dirty" culture that
should be shunned.
As he has done in the past, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the opposite view - one shared by most
Iranians - and praised female athletes from Iran who won medals in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou,
China, which took place in November.
Iran's strict Islamic rules forbid physical contact between unrelated men and women, and Iranian women are
even barred from attending soccer games in which men's teams are playing.
Although Iranian female athletes take part only in games where there is no physical contact with men, clerics
are still opposed."

Read more at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120602644.html?tr=y&auid=7461174

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Iran
"Since 1979, women athletes have been subject to strict requirements when competing in Iran or abroad, with
the Iranian Olympic Committee stating that "severe punishment will be meted out to those who do not follow
Islamic rules during sporting competitions". The committee banned women athletes from competing in
Olympic events where a male referee could come into physical contact with them. At the 1996, 2000, 2004
and 2008 Summer Olympics combined, a total of six women represented Iran.
Since the 1979 revolution, though never explicitly declared in the law, women were barred from attending
football matches. In April 2006, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speculated about allowing women back
into the stadiums.
It is uncertain if this measure would gain approval, since many hard-line clerics have voiced their opposition."

This is just in also:

"An Iranian engineer living in Canada was sentenced to death by an Iranian court on Saturday. Saeed
Malekpour, 35, was earlier convicted of being ːcorrupt on earthə and a ːwarrior against Godə after being
accused of running a website with adult content.
His wife in Richmond Hill, Ont. said Saturdayˈs verdict, made by a single judge, was delivered to Mr.
Malekpour in Tehranˈs notorious Evin Prison, where he has been held since soon after his trip to Iran in
October, 2008."
Read more at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/canadian-resident-sentenced-to-death-in-iran/article1825999/?

by jaskaw @ 07.12.2010 - 21:23:33

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/07/senior-iranian-cleric-women-s-sports-are-a-product-of-west-s-dirty-culture-1013
The New and Greatly Enhanced Ten
Commandments

"1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to
overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you
should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to
conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a foolˈs paradise, for only a fool will think that
is happiness."

From article by Bertrand Russell called "The Best Answer to Fanaticism ʒ Liberalismə in the New York
Times Magazine in 1951.

Source: http://philebersole.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/bertrand-russells-ten-commandments/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell
"Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 ʒ 2 February 1970), was a
British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, pacifist, and social critic. Though he spent most of his
life in England, he was born in Wales, and died there at the age of 97.
Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of
analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein, and is
widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.
He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic.
His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy."
His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, and philosophy,
especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.
Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed free trade and anti-imperialism.
Russell went to prison for his pacifist activism during World War I. Later, he campaigned against Adolf
Hitler, then criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the
Vietnam War, and finally became an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant
writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."
PS. Bertrand Russell had also another earlier set of Ten Commandments. They were published under the title
ːMy Ten Commandmentsə in Everyman magazine in 1930.

"1. Do not lie to yourself.

2. Do not lie to other people unless they are exercising tyranny.
3. When you think it is your duty to inflict pain, scrutinize your reasons closely.
4. When you desire power, examine yourself closely as to why you deserve it.
5. When you have power, use it to build up people, not to constrict them.
6. Do not attempt to live without vanity, since this is impossible, but choose the right audience from which to
seek admiration.
7. Do not think of yourself as a wholly self-contained unit.
8. Be reliable.
9. Be just.
10. Be good-natured.

by jaskaw @ 08.12.2010 - 15:02:25

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/08/the-new-and-enhanced-ten-commandments-10142989/
Mina Ahadi in Der Spiegel: 'I don't think it's
possible to modernize Islam'
Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,468828,00.html

"Human rights activists have formed a "Central Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany" to help women renounce
the Islamic faith if they feel oppressed by its laws. Its Iranian-born founder Mina Ahadi, under police
protection after receiving death threats, talks to DER SPIEGEL about its goals.
An Iranian human rights activist living in Germany has formed a "Central Council of ex-Muslims in
Germany" with 40 others and has received anonymous death threats after declaring she wants to help people
to leave the religion if they so desire.
Iranian-born Mina Ahadi, 50, said she set up the group to highlight the difficulties of renouncing the Islamic
faith which she believes to be misogynist. She wants the group to form a counterweight to Muslim
organisations that she says don't adequately represent Germany's secular-minded Muslim immigrants.
---
Ahadi: I don't think it's possible to modernize Islam. We want to form a counterweight to the Muslim
organisations. The fact that we're doing this under police protection shows how necessary our initiative is.

Read more at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,468828,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Council_of_Ex-Muslims
"The Central Council of Ex-Muslims (Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime) is a German association (Verein) of
non-religious, secular persons who were Muslim or originate from an Islamic country. It was founded on
January 21, 2007 and has more than 100 members.
It has since opened branches in Britain and Scandinavia. A Central Committee for Ex-Muslims was also
created in the Netherlands.
The Council was founded by about 30 ex-Muslims including Iranian women's rights activist Mina Ahadi
(chairman), who was sentenced to death in 1981 in her home country; the Turkish-born publicist Arzu Toker
(vice chairman); and Nur Gabbari, the son of an Iraqi clergyman.
The founding of the association is a breach of taboo as Apostasy in Islam is not allowed and is punishable by
death in several Islamic states. Even in lands where execution for apostasy was abolished, renegades are not
sure of their lives, as their Muslim relatives frequently try to kill them.
Chairwoman Ahadi has been put under personal security by German police after receiving death threats.
Ahadi says that she and other members have been "terrorized".
The choice of the association's name is furthermore deliberate, as it is an allusion to the name of the Central
Council of Muslims in Germany, which represents approximately 20,000 of the over 3 million German
Muslims, and whose name is an allusion to the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims receives support from the Giordano Bruno Foundation in Germany and
according to its own claim also by the International League of non-religious and atheists, Bund für
Geistesfreiheit München, as well as Humanistischer Pressedienst."

by jaskaw @ 09.12.2010 - 21:11:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/09/mina-ahadi-i-don-t-think-it-s-possible-to-modernize-islam-10150854/
Woody Allen - the best jokes
Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Woody-Allen-the-best-jokes/170838426279769

‎"Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends." - Woody Allen in "Getting Even" (1971)

"The chief problem about death, incidentally, is the fear that there may be no afterlife ō a depressing thought,
particularly for those who have bothered to shave. Also, there is the fear that there is an afterlife but no one
will know where it's being held." in "The Early Essays"

"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank." in
"Selections from the Allen Notebooks"

"To me there's no real difference between a fortune teller or a fortune cookie and any of the organized
religions. They're all equally valid or invalid, really. And equally helpful." - New York Times Interview, 2010

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter
hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." in "My
Speech to the Graduates"

"To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition." - Stardust Memories (1980)

Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Woody-Allen-the-best-jokes/170838426279769

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen
Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, director,
actor, comedian, jazz musician, author and playwright.
Allenˈs distinctive films, which run the gamut from dramas to screwball sex comedies, have made him a
notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of
work.
Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws
heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a
wealth of other fields of interest.
Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a celebrated jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage
avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with
occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New
Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper,
and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man
Blues."

by jaskaw @ 10.12.2010 - 19:51:58

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/10/woody-allen-the-best-jokes-10159995/
Daniel Dennett: 'How religion offers an excuse to
stop thinking' (video)

silverstream314 says: 'Dan Dennett talks about how religions in many cases offers an "goldenplated excuse to
stop thinking" and that people have got to stop playing the "faith card" in debates. I think he puts it brilliantly.

http://www.youtube.com/user/silverstream314

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett
"Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts is an American philosopher and
cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of
biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He graduated from
Harvard with a B.A in philosophy, after which he completed his D.Phil at the University of Oxford. He is
currently the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy,
and a University Professor at Tufts University. Dennett is a noted atheist and secularist, a member of the
Secular Coalition for America advisory board, as well as a prominent advocate of the Brights movement."

by jaskaw @ 11.12.2010 - 17:59:24

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/11/daniel-dennett-how-religion-offers-an-excuse-to-stop-thinking-video-10164289/
Voltaire - the best one-liners
Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Voltaire-the-best-one-liners/165736696801820

"To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature." Voltaire in "Notebooks"
(c.1735-c.1750)

"May we not return to those scoundrels of old, the illustrious founders of superstition and fanaticism, who first
took the knife from the altar to make victims of those who refused to be their disciples?" - Voltaire in Letter to
Frederick II of Prussia

"Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." - Voltaire in "Examen
important de milord Bolingbroke" 1736): Conclusion

"Man is free at the instant he wants to be." in "Brutus", act II, scene I (1730)

"But that a camel-merchant should stir up insurrection in his village; that in league with some miserable
followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel; that he boasts of having been carried to
heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder;
that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and flame; that he cuts the throats of fathers
and kidnaps daughters; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death: this is assuredly
nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all
natural light in him." - Voltaire(Referring to Muhammad, in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia (December
1740), published in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 (1869))

Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Voltaire-the-best-one-liners/165736696801820

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire
"François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 ʒ 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire was a
French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil
liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade. Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in
almost every literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works, more than
20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform,
despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he
frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his
day.
Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, and Émilie du Châtelet) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American
and French Revolutions."

by jaskaw @ 12.12.2010 - 22:46:09

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/12/voltaire-the-best-one-liners-10171027/
Vatican Bank mired in money laundering scandal
Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_vatican_god_s_bankers

"VATICAN CITY ʒ This is no ordinary bank: The ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A
life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.
Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it's under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving
money-laundering allegations that led police to seize euro23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in
September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and
scandal.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared
up. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws
"with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital." The documents also reveal
investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.
The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false
name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew euro650,000 ($860,000) from an Italian bank
account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed."

Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_vatican_god_s_bankers

"The Institute for Works of Religion (Italian: Istituto per le Opere di Religione ʒ IOR), commonly known as
the Vatican Bank, is a privately held institute located inside Vatican City run by a professional bank CEO who
reports directly to a committee of cardinals, and ultimately to the Pope (or the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman
Church during a sede vacante). Since its assets are not considered property of the Holy See, it is not overseen
by the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, and it is listed in the Annuario Pontificio together
with foundations such as the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, which provides funds for training people
to fight drought and desertification in nine African countries. The current President is Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.
The Institute was involved in a major political and financial scandal in the 1980s, concerning the 1982 $3.5
billion collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, of which it was a major shareholder. The head of IOR from 1971 to
1989, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, was under consideration for indictment in 1982 in Italy as an accessory of
the bankruptcy; however, he was never brought to trial due to the Italian courts' ruling that the priest, being a
high-ranking prelate of the Vatican, had diplomatic immunity from prosecution."

by jaskaw @ 13.12.2010 - 20:28:36

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/13/vatican-bank-mired-in-money-laundering-scandal-10177522/
Feedback for Post "Vatican Bank mired in money
laundering scandal"

atheistbruce [Member]
15.12.2010 @ 18:57

Well, the Vatican does need all the money it can lay its hands on to pay for all the tens of thousands of child
abuse claims still pending.
Austin Cline: 'Sources of Christmas Traditions,
Modern and Ancient'
Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/christmasholidayseason/p/XmasTraditions.htm?nl=1

"Much of what people associate with Christmas, a holiday that is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus,
actually pre-dates Christianity. Traditional Christianity celebrates the death of holy people, not their birth. In
274 CE, though, pagan emperor Aurelian proclaimed Decemer 25th Natalis Solis Invicti, the festival of the
birth of the invincible sun. Saturnalia already occurred around this time along with many other celebrations.
Christians took over this and other Roman festivals.
Germans of the north also held mid-winter festivals. Evergreen trees and holly were important because they
held their green colors despite the harshest winters. Another Nordic tradition is the Yule Log ō the origin of
the word yule is disputed, but it may be related to the god Yolnir, Jol in Old Norse. In his name people
celebrated a 12-day festival of eating, drinking, and merriment. One legend about Yolnir has him hanging
himself on a tree and piercing himself with a spear.
---
Such is our modern Christmas: a large number of ancient pagan practices, a few pieces of Christian traditions,
and a large number of modern creations which are almost entirely secular in nature, no matter where they got
their inspiration from. I see little room and little need for any ːChristə in all of this - but more importantly, I
see little place where a ːChristə could be put back into the mix.
So when you find someone talking about putting Christ back into Christmas, you can ask them what part
Christ really played in Christmas to begin with. Although you may not be interested in celebrating holidays
with any religious trappings whatsoever, Christianityˈs hold on Christmas, from a religious perspective, is
rather tenuous. If youˈre an atheist who would like to enjoy the holiday, you should be able to do so without
giving Christianity a second thought."

Read more at: http://atheism.about.com/od/christmasholidayseason/p/XmasTraditions.htm?nl=1

http://beinghuman.blogs.fi/2009/12/17/it-is-now-the-month-of-december-when-the-greatest-7589429/
"It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to
public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real
difference between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting business... Were you here, I would
willingly confer with you as to the plan of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid
singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga." - Seneca the Younger about Rome during
Saturnalia around AD 50."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuletide
Yule or Yule-tide ("Yule-time") is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic
people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival
of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined
by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar (Julian
calendar) was adopted. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt.
Terms with an etymological equivalent to "Yule" are still used in the Nordic Countries for the Christian
Christmas, but also for other religious holidays of the season. In modern times this has gradually led to a more
secular tradition under the same name as Christmas. Yule is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking
countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others
stem from Yule. In modern times, Yule is observed as a cultural festival and also with religious rites by some
Christians and by some Neopagans."

by jaskaw @ 14.12.2010 - 23:19:52

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/14/read-more-at-http-atheism-about-com-od-christmasholidayseason-p-10185411/
Laughing policemen flog women for breaking
Sharia in a Sudanese video
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/sudan-women-arrested-in-flogging-protest-2160543.html

"Sudanese police yesterday arrested dozens of women protesting against laws they say humiliate women after
a video of a woman being flogged in public appeared on the internet.
The video, which was removed by YouTube, showed a crying Sudanese woman being lashed by two
policemen in front of onlookers. She was made to kneel and the police laughed during the punishment.
Floggings carried out under Islamic law are almost a daily occurrence in Sudan for crimes ranging from
drinking alcohol to adultery."

Read more at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/sudan-women-arrested-in-flogging-protest-2160543.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan
"The legal system in Sudan is based on English common law and Islamic sharia. Islamic law was
implemented in all of the north as of 20 January 1991, by the now-defunct Revolutionary Command Council;
this applies to all residents of the northern states regardless of their religion. The 2005 Naivasha Agreement,
ending the civil war between North and South Sudan, established some protections for non-Muslims in
Khartoum. International Court of Justice jurisdiction is accepted, though with reservations. Under the terms of
the Naivasha Agreement, Islamic law does not apply in the south; the legal system there is still developing."
---
Since 1995, international rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and CASMAS have reported that
slavery in Sudan is a common fate of captives in the Second Sudanese Civil War and rebels fighting in the
Sudan People's Liberation Army in connections to the Darfur conflict, while the 2002 report issued by the
International Eminent Persons Group, acting with the encouragement of the United States State Department,
found the SPLA and pro-government militias guilty of abduction of civilians as well.
While the government of the Republic of Sudan denies the allegations of slavery in the country, claiming that
these reports are attempts to shed a bad light on Muslims and Arabs, and that slave redemption programmes
are fraudulent attempts to make money, the Rift Valley Institute's Sudan Abductee Database claim over
11,000 people were abducted in 20 years of slave-raiding in the southern regions, while SudanActivism.com
mentions that hundreds of thousands have been abducted into slavery, fled, or are otherwise unaccounted for
in a second genocide in southern Sudan."

by jaskaw @ 15.12.2010 - 11:42:12

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/15/laughing-policemen-flog-women-for-breaking-sharia-in-a-sudanese-video-10187
Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed is the winner of the
Bad Faith Award 2010
Read more at: http://newhumanist.org.uk/2460/bad-faith-awards-2010

"As any musician playing Londonˈs Hyde Park next summer will find out, Pope Benedict XVI is a tough act
to follow. But in selecting the winner of the 2010 New Humanist Bad Faith Award, we think weˈve found a
worthy successor to the Pontiff, who took the crown in 2009. More than 6,800 readers voted in this yearˈs
poll, and the race became a nailbiting double-header, with just 31 votes separating the eventual top two. So,
without further to-do, we present to you this yearˈs winner, along with a breakdown of the rest of the field.
See the bottom of the page for a graph of the results.

Winner of the 2010 Bad Faith Award: Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed (1,591 votes)
2nd place: Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi (1,560 votes)
3rd place: Ann Widdecombe (970 votes)
4th place: Prince Charles (829 votes)"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1320815/Sheikh-Maulana-Abu-Sayeed-UK-sharia-law-leader-says-theres-thin
'There's no such thing as rape within marriage', says Muslim leader of sharia law courts in Britain'

Read more at: http://newhumanist.org.uk/2460/bad-faith-awards-2010

by jaskaw @ 16.12.2010 - 20:56:54

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/16/sheikh-maulana-abu-sayeed-is-the-winner-of-the-bad-faith-award-10197769/
Wall Street Journal: 'Hungary May Introduce
Constitutional Ban on Abortion'
Read more at:
http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2010/12/09/hungary-may-introduce-constitutional-ban-on-abortion/

"Life must be protected from the moment of conception, Hungaryˈs ruling party said in a draft of the
countryˈs new constitution that would effectively introduce a complete ban on abortion after several decades
of liberal laws.
Pope Benedict XVI earlier in December told the Hungarian ambassador it was ːdesirable that the new
constitution be inspired by Christian values, particularly in what concerns the position of marriage and the
family in society and the protection of life.ə The pontiffˈs wishes are reflected well in the governing Fidesz
partyˈs proposal, which ō in additional to mirroring papal teaching on abortion ō says marriage is ːthe most
natural community of man and woman.ə
Hungaryˈs new constitution ō even though irritating for those who believe in womenˈs freedom of choice or
fail to see any danger in gay marriage ō could be interpreted as a response to the countryˈs population
decline, which strains the pension system."

Read more at:

http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2010/12/09/hungary-may-introduce-constitutional-ban-on-abortion/

Most European countries have legalized abortion (in at least some cases) through certain laws (United
Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, etc.). Russia, which has one of the
highest rates of abortion in the world, legalized the procedure in 1955.
South Africa allows abortion under its Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996. Most African
nations, however, have abortion bans except in cases where the woman's life or health is at risk. A number of
pro-choice international organizations have made altering abortion laws and expanding family planning
services in sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world a top priority.
In the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act 1967 legalized abortion, except in Northern Ireland. In Great
Britain, the law states that pregnancy may be terminated up to 24 weeks.
Prior to 1973, abortion was not subject to United States constitutional law, but was purely a matter for the
individual states, all of which chose to apply some level of restrictions. The first legal restrictions on abortion
appeared in the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy. By 1900, legislators at the
urgings of the American Medical Association had enacted anti-abortion laws in most U.S. states.
Abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland except when the woman is threatened by a medical condition or a
suicide risk, since a 1983 referendum amended the constitution. Subsequent amendments ʒ the thirteenth and
fourteenth ʒ guaranteed the right to travel abroad (for abortions) and to distribute and obtain information of
"services" not available in the country, such as abortion, which are lawful in other countries. A proposal to
remove suicide risk as a ground for abortion was struck down in a 2002 referendum. Thousands of women get
around the ban by privately traveling to the other European countries (typically Britain and the Netherlands)
to undergo terminations."
by jaskaw @ 17.12.2010 - 19:34:19

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/17/wall-street-journal-hungary-may-introduce-constitutional-ban-on-abortion-10207
Feedback for Post "Wall Street Journal: 'Hungary May
Introduce Constitutional Ban on Abortion'"

atheistbruce [Member]
18.12.2010 @ 20:55

By the sound of it, Hungary needs to go a step further: compulsory pregnancies every 18 months for all
women within a given age group?
Chistopher Hitchens in Maclean's: 'I hate
Hanukkah'
Read more at: http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/12/13/author-christopher-hitchens-in-conversation/

Author Christopher Hitchens in conversation in Maclean's

Hitchens: "Ever since one first started discussing the existence of God in the dormitory at school, you would
hear people saying sincerely, ːWell, you know, thereˈs got to be something more than just all this.ə Clearly
such thinking does not come from nowhere, it comes from people lying awake and having perhaps strange
thoughts they cannot deal with, or emotional experiences they hadnˈt been able to predict, or moments where
you feel that thereˈs something larger than yourselfōof which love is a pretty good test. We arenˈt a
particularly rational species, we look for patterns and we find them much too easily. Itˈs good that we look,
but weˈre very afraid, easily scared, terrified of death, and often we are very stirred without quite knowing
why. Some fairly banal examples, I suppose, are landscape and music in combination, or alone; love in
combination with either of these; or perhaps looking at the vault of heaven, as Hamlet would have put itōat the
ːfretted goldə of the sky at night. Cataclysmic events, great impressive storms, earthquakes, all of this makes
one feel that actually weˈre not just primates on a rock, though in fact such phenomena are completely
compatible with the view that weˈre primates on a rock. What I think would be nice is if people realized, for
example, that a lot of devotional music is actually written by non-believers. I suppose Verdi is the best
example. The effect that the Parthenon has on me is of the numinous and the transcendent, but itˈs not
religion."
---
Hitchens: "Thereˈs no doubt that Judaism is much nearer to being philosophy than religion, or rather much
nearer to that claim than Christianity or Islam are, and that it is attractive for that reason. Leo Strauss thought
that the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides wasnˈt a believer but that he just dressed himself up in that
way. So the great tragedy for me is the fact that Hellenistic Jewry was defeated. Thatˈs whatˈs celebrated at
Hanukkah and thatˈs why I hate Hanukkah. The Hellenistic influence was defeated and the old sacrifices and
circumcisions were brought back."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books,
essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The
Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the
Hoover Institution in September 2008.He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was
voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll.
His latest book, Hitch-22: A Memoir, was published in June 2010. Touring for the book was cut short later the
same month so that he could begin treatment for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclean%27s
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture,
and current events.
In December 2007, the Canadian Islamic Congress launched complaints with the Canadian Human Rights
Commission, British Columbia Human Rights Commission, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission
against Maclean's accusing it of publishing 18 articles between January 2005 and July 2007 that they
considered Islamophobic in nature including a column by Mark Steyn titled "The future belongs to Islam."
According to the CIC complaint (as discussed in a National Post article by Ezra Levant): Maclean's is
"flagrantly Islamophobic" and "subjects Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt." In contrast, Levant says
of the complainants that they are "illiberal censors who have found a quirk in our legal system, and are using
it to undermine our Western traditions of freedom."
On October 10, 2008, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the allegations of "hate speech" made by the
Canadian Islamic Congress. Maclean's consistently took the position that Mr. Steyn's article, an excerpt from
his best-selling book, America Alone, is a worthy contribution to an important debate on geopolitical and
demographic issues."

by jaskaw @ 18.12.2010 - 21:28:53

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/18/chistopher-hitchens-in-maclean-s-i-hate-hanukkah-10213449/
Julian Smith - Pre-Blessed Food (with two tickets
to heaven)

Written & Directed by: Julian Smith

Cast: Julian Smith, Toby Meuli ( http://tobymeuli.com ), Demaree Hill ( http://youtube.com/demareemusic ),
Josh Holt, Donnivin Jordan, Clayton Thomas
DP: Julian Smith

http://www.youtube.com/user/juliansmith87

"Ex-Homeschooler.
Current Director/Actor.
Future Corpse."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing
"A blessing, (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the infusion of something with holiness, divine will,
or one's hope or approval."

by jaskaw @ 19.12.2010 - 22:56:27

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/19/julian-smith-pre-blessed-food-with-two-tickets-to-heaven-10219108/
Feedback for Post "Julian Smith - Pre-Blessed Food (with
two tickets to heaven)"

atheistbruce [Member]
21.12.2010 @ 19:05

That's great: where do all these talented people come from?

A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais in Wall
Street Journal: 'Why Iˈm An Atheist'
Read more at:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/

---
"Why donˈt I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the
believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, ːWhy donˈt you believe I can fly?ə Youˈd say,
ːWhy would I?ə Iˈd reply, ːBecause itˈs a matter of faithə. If I then said, ːProve I canˈt fly. Prove I canˈt
fly see, see, you canˈt prove it can you?ə Youˈd probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of
the window and shout, ’ˈFōing fly then you lunatic.ə
---
"So what does the question ːWhy donˈt you believe in God?ə really mean. I think when someone asks that;
they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking ːwhat makes you so special? ːHow
come you werenˈt brainwashed with the rest of us?ə ːHow dare you say Iˈm a fool and Iˈm not going to
heaven, fō you!ə Letˈs be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But
because itˈs a very popular view itˈs accepted. And why is it such a popular view? Thatˈs obvious. Itˈs an
attractive proposition. Believe in me and live forever. Again if it was just a case of spirituality this would be
fine. ːDo unto others‫ل‬ə is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue
there is. Buts thatˈs exactly what it is -−&#8208; a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being
good. Iˈm good. I just donˈt believe Iˈll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. Itˈs
knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And thatˈs where spirituality really lost its
way. When it became a stick to beat people with. ːDo this or youˈll burn in hell.ə

You wonˈt burn in hell. But be nice anyway."

Read more at:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_gervais
"Ricky Dene Gervais (English pronunciation: /dʒərˈve&#618;z/;born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian,
actor, director, producer, musician and writer. Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series
The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and
frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. Besides writing and directing the shows, Gervais played the lead
roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has starred in a number of
Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. Gervais has performed
on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with
Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky
Gervais Show.
He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy
Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors
Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest
Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010, he was named on
the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.
Gervais hosted the 2010 Golden Globe Awards and has been signed by NBC to MC the 2011 Globes as well."

by jaskaw @ 20.12.2010 - 12:55:47

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/20/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-in-wall-street-journal-why-i-m-an-atheist
The Doctrinal Office of Vatican; 'Pope has not
softened the churchˈs traditional ban on
contraception'
Read more at: http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/condoms-not-lesser-evil-vatican-insists

by John L Allen Jr on Dec. 21, 2010

"Responding to the media sensation created by Pope Benedict XVIˈs remarks on condoms in a recent
book-length interview, the Vaticanˈs doctrinal office has released a statement insisting that the pope has not
softened the churchˈs traditional ban on contraception, and that condoms cannot be viewed as a morally
justified ːlesser evil,ə even in the context of HIV/AIDS.
That said, the statement concedes that in some instances, such as prostitution, the use of a condom with the
intent of reducing the risk of infection may represent ːthe first step in respecting the life of another.ə
Indicating the level of concern in the Vatican about possible over-interpretation of the popeˈs words, todayˈs
1,000-word statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was released simultaneously in six
languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese."

Read more at: http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/condoms-not-lesser-evil-vatican-insists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condom
"A condom (pronounced /ˈk&#594;ndəm/ (US) or /ˈk&#594;nd&#594;m/ (UK)) is a barrier device most
commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually
transmitted diseases (STDsōsuch as gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV). It is put on a man's erect penis and
physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner. Because condoms are
waterproof, elastic, and durable, they are also used in a variety of secondary applications. These include
collection of semen for use in infertility treatment as well as non-sexual uses such as creating waterproof
microphones and protecting rifle barrels from clogging.
In the modern age, condoms are most often made from latex, but some are made from other materials such as
polyurethane, polyisoprene, or lamb intestine. A female condom is also available, most often made of
polyurethane. As a method of birth control, male condoms have the advantage of being inexpensive, easy to
use, having few side effects, and of offering protection against sexually transmitted diseases. With proper
knowledge and application techniqueōand use at every act of intercourseōwomen whose partners use male
condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate.
Condoms have been used for at least 400 years. Since the 19th century, they have been one of the most
popular methods of contraception in the world. While widely accepted in modern times, condoms have
generated some controversy, primarily over what role they should play in sex education classes."

by jaskaw @ 21.12.2010 - 21:43:13

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/21/the-doctrinal-office-of-vatican-pope-has-not-softened-the-church-s-traditional-ba
Feedback for Post "The Doctrinal Office of Vatican; 'Pope
has not softened the churchˈs traditional ban on
contraception'"

atheistbruce [Member]
27.12.2010 @ 18:57

I find it amazing the some hundreds of millions of people in the world look to an 80+ year old, mysogenistic,
sexually-deviant, ex-Nazi Youth member for moral guidance. You'd get better advice from a maggot.
It is Yule-time again!
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule

"Yule or Yule-tide ("Yule-time") is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic
people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival
of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined
by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar (Julian
calendar) was adopted. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt.
Terms with an etymological equivalent to "Yule" are still used in the Nordic Countries for the Christian
Christmas, but also for other religious holidays of the season. In modern times this has gradually led to a more
secular tradition under the same name as Christmas. Yule is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking
countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others
stem from Yule. In modern times, Yule is observed as a cultural festival and also with religious rites by some
Christians and by some Neopagans.
Persian people celebrate the night of Yalda since 10.000 years, which is the longest night of the iranian
calendar, with the fir tree as symbol. It is, indeed represented on Persepolis walls (see pinus heldrica in
persia). In ancient times, this night was the occasion to celebrate Mithra's birthday, the Persian divinity of
Sun.

Yule was an indigenous midwinter (winter solstice) festival celebrated by the pagan Scandinavian and
Germanic people people also called Jul, midvinterblot, Julblot, jólablót, and julofferfest. Yule was
progressively absorbed into the Christian observations surrounding Christmas.
The traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule customs."

by jaskaw @ 22.12.2010 - 19:33:43

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/22/it-is-yule-time-again-10237555/
The Roman roots of Christmas revisited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_invictus

"Sol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. The cult was created by Aurelian in 274,
who made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether the new deity
was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new. The
god was favoured by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine.
The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387 AD. and there were enough devotees in the 5th
century that Augustine found it necessary to preach against them. A festival on 25 Dec. is sometimes thought
to be responsible for the date of Christmas.
---
This calendar lists a festival for Sol and Luna on August 28, Ludi Solis (games for Sol) for October 19ʒ22,
and a Natalis Invicti (birthday of the invincible one) on December 25.
---
The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the scholiast on the Syriac
bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the 12th century:
"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they
kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part.
Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they
took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
"Saturnalia is an Ancient Roman festival held in honour of the god Saturn. Originally celebrated for a day, on
December 17, its popularity saw it grow until it became a week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd. Efforts
to shorten the celebration were unsuccessful. Augustus tried to reduce it to three days, and Caligula to five.
These attempts caused uproar and massive revolts among the Roman citizens.
---
Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations
included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia), massive and
multiple group orgies, and a special market (sigillaria). Gambling was allowed for all, even slaves.
---
The customary greeting for the occasion is a "Io, Saturnalia!" ō Io (pronounced "e-o") being a Latin
interjection related to "ho" (as in "Ho, praise to Saturn").
---
The poet Catullus describes Saturnalia as the best of days (Cat. 14.15). It was a time of celebration, visits to
friends, and gift-giving, particularly of wax candles (cerei), and earthenware figurines (sigillaria)."
by jaskaw @ 23.12.2010 - 15:08:15

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/23/the-roman-roots-of-christmas-revisited-10244057/
Did Christians Steal Christmas?
From Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Did_Christians_Steal_Christmas%3F

Did Christians Steal Christmas? is a 32 page 2007 booklet written by Robert Stovold and published by the
National Secular Society (ISBN 978-0-903752-05-3).
It describes similarities between the traditional Christmas story and earlier pagan ones, and concludes that
Christians did indeed ːsteal Christmasə.
The booklet is divided into three sections.
Part 1: ːThe timing of Christmasə notes that not all churches today celebrate Christmas on 25 December, that
most scholars only attempt an approximate date for the year of Jesusˈ birth, and that the Christmas
celebrations superseded similar pagan festivities.
Part 2: ːThe Christmas Storyə analyses aspects of the Christmas story itself (the Virgin Birth, the Star of
Bethlehem, the Three Kings, the Stable at Bethlehem and the Massacre of the Innocents) by reference to
earlier pagan myths. It also looks critically at the attempts of Christian apologists to explain these differences
away.
Part 3: ːChristmas Customsə notes that ːIn addition to shaping key elements of the Christmas narrative itself,
paganism also influenced some of the more secular Christmas traditionsə [Footnote: p.21]. Stovold outlines
several such customs (the Pantomime, the Boarˈs Head, the Christmas Turkey, and Christmas Evergreens).
The booklet had its origins in a 1974 work by R.J. Condon entitled Our Pagan Christmas but Stovold's 2007
booklet contains additional material, an extensive bibliography and (in many cases) hyperlinks enabling
readers to access the cited material for themselves."

by jaskaw @ 24.12.2010 - 10:49:22

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/24/did-christians-steal-christmas-10248111/
It official now: Virgin Mary visited Wisconsin in
1859
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2279175/?wpisrc=newsletter

"She's paid visits to France and Mexico, and now it's official: The Virgin Mary (or her apparition) has spent
time in Wisconsin ʒ her one and only destination in the United States. Last month, the Roman Catholic
Church validated sightings reported by Adele Brise in 1859, according to the New York Times. The
19th-century Belgian immigrant who took up residence in Champion, Wisc., said Mary visited her three times
at the humble church, levitating between two trees dressed in white with a gold sash and sporting blond hair.
The evidence? Ms. Brise served the church. Also, the area around the chapel was spared from the Great
Peshtigo Fire of 1871. Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay made the announcement on Dec. 8 after a two-year
investigation that revealed "no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions,
cures and other signs of divine intervention," writes the NYT. The 20th century has seen 386 reported
apparitions of Mary, of which the diocese has recognized about 12."

The original story is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/us/24mary.html?_r=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_mary
"Mary, Aramaic, Hebrew: &#1502;&#1512;&#1497;&#1501;, Maryām, Miriam; Arabic:‫ميرم‬, Maryam,
more commonly referred to as Saint Mary, Mother Mary, Virgin Mary or Lady Mary was a Jewish woman of
Nazareth in Galilee. She is identified in the New Testament as the mother of Jesus Christ through divine
intervention.[Mt 1:16,18ʒ25] [Lk 1:26ʒ56] [2:1ʒ7]
The canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Mary as a virgin (Greek
&#960;&#945;&#961;&#952;&#941;&#957;&#959;&#962;, parthénos). Christians believe that she
conceived her son, Jesus Christ, miraculously by the agency of the Holy Spirit. This took place when she was
already betrothed (engaged) to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal
home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.
---
There is significant diversity in the Marian doctrines accepted by various Christian churches. The key Marian
doctrines held in Christianity can be briefly outlined as follows:
Mother of God: holds that Mary, as mother of Jesus is therefore Theotokos (God-bearer), or Mother of God.
Virgin birth of Jesus: states that Mary miraculously conceived Jesus by action of the Holy Spirit while
remaining a virgin.
Dormition: the Orthodox understanding of the Assumption.
Assumption: the doctrine which states that Mary was taken bodily into Heaven either at, or before, her death.
Immaculate Conception: states that Mary herself was conceived without original sin.
Perpetual Virginity: holds that Mary remained a virgin all her life, even after the act of giving birth to Jesus."
---
Roman Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, as proclaimed Ex Cathedra by Pope Pius IX
in 1854, namely that she was filled with grace from the very moment of her conception in her mother's womb
and preserved from the stain of original sin. The Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has a liturgical
feast by that name, kept on 8 December."

by jaskaw @ 25.12.2010 - 13:39:59

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/25/it-official-now-virgin-mary-visited-wisconsin-in-10252621/
Feedback for Post "It official now: Virgin Mary visited
Wisconsin in 1859"

FedupwithR [Member]
25.12.2010 @ 16:43

Totally ludicrous, but then any means to keep the coffers full is fine fore the RCC.

atheistbruce [Member]
27.12.2010 @ 18:51

My word, it only took them 151 years to work that out. They must be short of funds.
A Christmas Message from Bill Maher (video)

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/60f8752d62/a-christmas-message

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher
"William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (pronounced /ˈm&#593;r/; born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up
comedian, television host, social critic, political commentator, author, and actor. Before his current role as the
host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically
Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.

Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary, which targets a wide swath of topics:
religion, politics, bureaucracies of many kinds, political correctness, the mass media, greed among people and
persons in positions of high political and social power, the lack of intellectual curiosity of the electorate,
among many topics. He supports the legalization of marijuana, the state of Israel, and gay marriage and serves
on the board of PETA.
He is also a critic of religion and is an advisory board member of Project Reason, a foundation to promote
scientific knowledge and secular values within society.
Maher currently ranks number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. Bill Maher got a
Hollywood Walk of Fame star on September 14, 2010. His is the 2,417th star dedicated on the famous
sidewalk."

by jaskaw @ 26.12.2010 - 22:41:51

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/26/a-christmas-message-from-bill-maher-video-10257838/
The Bible according to Ricky Gervais (video)
Ricky Gervais; The Bible Comedy (part 1)

Ricky Gervais; The Bible Comedy (part 2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Gervais
Gervais attended Whitley Park Infants and Junior Schools and received his secondary education at Ashmead
Comprehensive School, before moving on to University College London in 1979. He arrived to study biology
but changed to philosophy after only two weeks and earned lower second-class honours degree in the subject.
During his first and second years at UCL he stayed at Canterbury Hall, one of the University of London halls
of residence in Bloomsbury. It was also during his time at UCL that he met Jane Fallon, with whom he has
been in a relationship since 1982.

by jaskaw @ 27.12.2010 - 21:50:11

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/27/the-bible-according-to-ricky-gervais-video-10262677/
Stephen Fry's beautiful comments on a world
without God.

Stephen Fry delivers a 6 minute 'speech' on how a world without a belief in God should be neither mundane
nor uninspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ldl21

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
"Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, writer, journalist, comedian, television
presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club.
He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which
also included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act
Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in
Jeeves and Wooster.

He started his higher education at City College Norwich, promising administrators that he would study
rigorously to sit the Cambridge entrance exams. He passed well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens'
College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry joined the Cambridge Footlights, appeared on University Challenge,
and gained a degree in English literature.It was at the Footlights that Fry met his future comedy collaborator
Hugh Laurie."

by jaskaw @ 28.12.2010 - 22:18:03

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/28/stephen-fry-s-beautiful-comments-on-a-world-without-god-10268868/
Saudi court approves divorces by SMS
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/man-divorces-wife-by-sms-2010-12-25-1.333715

"A Saudi court decided to separate a national couple after the husband sent a SMS to his wife mobile phone
telling her that she is divorced, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Saturday.
The woman from the western town of Madina asked court to officially endorse her divorce and supported its
complaint with the SMS from her husband, the online Arabic language daily Anakum said.
ːThe husband told the judge he sent the message after an argument with his wife but that he did not mean to
divorce her,ə the paper said.
ːBut the judge considered the SMS as a real divorce under Islam and decided to support the wifeˈs plea for
divorce.ə

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/man-divorces-wife-by-sms-2010-12-25-1.333715

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_in_Islam
"Talaq (Arabic: ‫&لا‬#1591;‫قال‬‎) is the Islamic term for divorce. A talaq is used to end a marriage, or nikah,
under the terms of Islamic law (sharia). Sunni practice requires no witnesses, and allows a husband to end a
relationship by saying the triple talaq.
According to most Sunnī scholars it consists of the husband saying talāq once in the presence of his wife.
After the completion of the talāq procedure, the couple are divorced, the husband is no longer responsible for
the wife's expenses and she becomes non-mahram for him and so they must observe the hijāb rules.
In most Islamic states it is generally unacceptable for a divorced woman to live alone (as is usually also the
case with unmarried women). In most situations women who find themselves divorced will return to live with
their parents or to the household of another close relative."

by jaskaw @ 29.12.2010 - 14:56:21

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/29/saudi-court-approves-divorces-by-sms-10271938/
Feedback for Post "Saudi court approves divorces by SMS"

atheistbruce [Member]
29.12.2010 @ 16:59

Wow, that's very modern of them! Now it they could just update all the rest of Sharia or, more preferably,
abolish it completely, then maybe Islam can become a bit more human.
'God's little rabbits: Religious people
out-reproduce secular ones by a landslide'
Read more at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=gods-little-rabbits-religious-peopl-2010-12-22&WT.mc_id=SA_

"In fact, Blumeˈs research also shows quite vividly that secular, nonreligious people are being dramatically
out-reproduced by religious people of any faith. Across a broad swath of demographic data relating to
religiosity, the godly are gaining traction in offspring produced. For example, thereˈs a global-level positive
correlation between frequency of parental worship attendance and number of offspring. Those who "never"
attend religious services bear, on a worldwide average, 1.67 children per lifetime; "once per month," and the
average goes up to 2.01 children; "more than once a week," 2.5 children. Those numbers add upōand quickly.
Some of the strongest data from Blumeˈs analyses, however, come from a Swiss Statistic Office poll
conducted in the year 2000. These data are especially valuable because nearly the entire Swiss population
answered this questionnaireō6,972,244 individuals, amounting to 95.67% of the populationōwhich included a
question about religious denomination. "The results are highly significant," writes Blume:

‫ ل‬women among all denominational categories give birth to far more children than the non-affiliated. And this
remains true even among those (Jewish and Christian) communities who combine nearly double as much
births with higher percentages of academics and higher income classes as their non-affiliated Swiss
contemporaries.

In other words, itˈs not just that "educated" or "upper class" people have fewer children and tend also to be
less religious, but even when you control for such things statistically, religiosity independently predicts
number of offspring born to mothers. Even flailing religious denominations placing their emphasis on
converting outsiders, such as Yehovaˈs witnesses, are out-reproducing nonreligious mothers. Hindus (2.79
births per woman), Muslims (2.44), and Jews (2.06), meanwhile, are prolific producers of human beings.
Nonreligious Swiss mothers bear a measly 1.11 children."

Read more at:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=gods-little-rabbits-religious-peopl-2010-12-22&WT.mc_id=SA_

http://www.springerlink.com/content/m0v73485k8t58571/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic-economic_paradox
"Another contributor to the demographic-economic paradox may be religion. Religious societies tend to have
higher birth rates than secular ones, and richer, more educated nations tend to advance secularization.
This may help explain the Israeli and Saudi Arabian exceptions, the two notable outliers in the graph of
fertility versus GDP per capita at the top of this article. In American media it is widely believed that America
is also an exception to global trends. The current fertility rate in America is 2.09, higher than in most other
developed countries.
This may be due to the United States having a high percentage of religious followers compared to Europe as a
whole."

by jaskaw @ 30.12.2010 - 23:06:29

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/30/god-s-little-rabbits-religious-people-out-reproduce-secular-ones-by-a-landslide-1
Feedback for Post "'God's little rabbits: Religious people
out-reproduce secular ones by a landslide'"

Lxndr [Visitor]

30.12.2010 @ 23:44
Unsurprising.

Unfortunately the only way to "fight" this is to also overbreed, which winds up being bad for EVERYONE.

atheistbruce [Member]
31.12.2010 @ 18:48

Seems to me that if we can convert believers to enlightenment faster than they can reproduce and brainwash
their children, then we shall not be lost. However, we shall all suffer from the consequences of an
unconstrained population growth.
Sam Harris in the Nightline interview (video)

December 29, 2010 on ABC Nightline - via http:///www.AtheistMedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightline
"Nightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and
has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for
31 minutes. Ted Koppel served as main anchor from March 1980 until his retirement from the program in
November 2005. The Executive Producer is James Goldston."

by jaskaw @ 31.12.2010 - 16:30:07

http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/12/31/sam-harris-in-the-nightline-interview-video-10282914/
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About the author
jaskaw (Jaakko Wallenius), male, 52 years old, Lohja, , speaks Finnish (FI)

(English version at bottom) Uusi ja yllättävä tieto on aina ollut minulle ylivoimaisesti parasta viihdettä.
Rakkaus historiaan syttyi jo kansankouluaikana, mutta viime vuosina melkoisesti aikaa on vienyt myös
tietotekniikkaan syventyminen. Opiskelin aikoinaan historiaa, sosiologiaa ja valtio-oppia, mutta lyhyeksi
jäänyt poliittinen ura vei miehen pian mukanaan. Jo yli 20 vuotta sitten alkoi nykyinen taloustoimittajan ura.
Asun pienessä omakotitalossa pienessä kaupungissa vaimon, kahden koiran, kahden lapsen ja viime laskun
mukaan 14 kalan kanssa. Korjailen toimittajan päätyöni ohella sivutoimisena yrittäjänä hyvien
kaupunkilaisten tietokoneita. New information has always been the best form of entertainment for me. My
everlasting love for history started at the elementary school at tender age of nine, when I did read the 600
pages of The Pocket World History, admittedly skipping the dull parts about culture... I have studied history,
political history, political science and journalism in universities of Turku and Tampere, but have never
graduated from neither. A brief but tempestuous political career blew the man prematurely to to wide world
from the comforting womb of university. A more steady career in journalism followed and I have been a
professional writer and journalist for the past 20 years. At present I live in a small town in a small house with
a wife, two not so small teenagers, two middle-sized dogs and 14 fish of various sizes. By day I work as a
journalist writing about local economy in our local newspaper. Its a job i have held for the past 20 years. In
the evenings and week-ends I repair the computers of the good citizens of our little town as a private
entrepreneur.

bittitohtori.blogs.fi
uskoitseesi.blogs.fi
hsvahti.blogs.fi
beinghuman.blogs.fi
Interests: computers, historia, history, pohdiskelu, thinking, tietokoneet,
Own atheistnews.blogs.fi
ateismi, atheism, computers, lohja, pohdiskelu, thinking,
blogs: thelittlebook.blogs.fi User tags:
tietokoneet,
ikkunat.blogs.fi
dayofreason.blogs.fi
jaavatty.blogs.fi

Zip:
Street:
Email: jaakko.wallenius@gmail.com
URL: http://www.beinghuman.blogs.fi
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