Category Archives: Secular Atheist

VIDEO: Deepak Chopra and Bill O’Reilly: Believers vs. Non-Believers Discussion

AUDIO: Humanist Network News #35: Andy Rooney on Atheism

VIDEO: Morality 3: Of objectivity and oughtness

Another video by Qualia Soup!

VIDEO: The Tribute “To Hitch”

The link to this is pretty much mandatory. Christopher Hitchens, one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism now suffering from cancer, gets a tribute.

‘You just don’t understand my religion’ is not good enough

Too often, faith is mysterious only selectively. When questions get tough, a god can disappear in a puff of ineffability.

Atheism, Depression, & Meaning: Do Atheists Lead Meaningless Lives?

Myth: Life for atheists must be depressing and meaningless.

What is a person?

This week the citizens of Mississippi will vote whether to legally assign the status of “personhood” to any human egg that has been penetrated by a sperm. I, for one, think that being a person is a serious gift. And I hope that if Mississippi awards personhood to fertilized eggs, they will take this seriously.

Richard Dawkins’s refusal to debate is cynical and anti-intellectualist

Here’s what Dawkins says about it, too.

Utah’s Huge Roadside Crosses Must Come Down

The Ground Zero “Cross”

Carl S. recently shared with me a letter his wife received from the American Center for Law and Justice, a far right evangelical organization founded by Pat Robertson. The letter is a request for donations for the Committee to Protect the Ground Zero Cross.

They want the addressee to enclose a check or money order and sign a document which reads:

George Carlin Still Causing Trouble for the Catholic Church

I’m sure George would be smiling down from Heaven right now…if there was such a thing.

South Park Creators Investigated By the Church of Scientology?

Rathbun says this first posting is just one “of a trove” of documents related to the investigation. The document he revealed Sunday suggests that Scientology was examining public records on those people, looking for a vulnerability.

“Phone records. Bank records. Personal letters that expose some kind of vulnerability. They’ll read stuff into the kind of alcohol you’re drinking and how much. Prescriptions. They’ll figure out your diet. They can find out a lot about you through your trash,” he told the Voice.

Pat Robertson says Oklahoma earthquake a sign of the End Times

Religion and Obesity; Report Associates Religious Activity With Weight Gain

Monicks: Unleashed

A new atheist site I discovered thanks to the power of G+. Here’s a little more about the creator of the site.

Finally, you may call me Reverend Atheist Geek. I have been ordained as a member of the Spiritual Humanist clergy and the First Church of Atheism. Why? Because it’s fun, that’s why! Hey, don’t you want to tell people they have to call you Reverend? Damn right you do. Thanks to Emily from Facebook for encouraging me and others to do it.

Uh, if you want to try this as well, note that it’s free for both sites. But if you want the I.D. and everything, well…the Spiritual Humanist clergy thing is cheaper. Don’t know what those guys at the First Church of Atheism are thinking! Get with the competition, man.

P.S. And someone needs to tell the guys behind the Nasa Image of the Day plugin that it’s italicizing all the text on my web site. Grrr… Plugin disabled until further notice.

Thought I was dead, didn’t ya? That’s the problem when you blog for a hobby. You write whenever the hell you feel like it.

VIDEO: Atheist Asks Obama About Faith-Based Absurdities

VIDEO: Christopher Hitchens Debates Is the Catholic Church A Force Of Good In The World?

VIDEO: Senator Franken Shames Homophobic Imbecile

A large list of awesome female atheists

I swear I didn’t post this just to get me laid.¹

Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia

The site’s creator believes that atheists can use Wikipedia entries to help further skepticism throughout the world (or at least the web) while minimizing belief in superstitions and quack science. Her web site tells us how this could work.

The Christian Delusion

Since Richard Dawkins’ landmark book, The God Delusion, was published in 2006, one frequent criticism that has been levied against it is that the treatment of Christianity is insufficient and too naive. Professor Dawkins has very little of a religious background, and I would agree that it shows in his book. The same may be said for Christopher Hitchens and god is not Great or Sam Harris and Letter to a Christian Nation. While there is still plenty to appreciate about each of those books, they have not offered a thorough refutation of Christianity. Although several other authors have produced wonderful works criticizing Christianity, this ex-Evangelical minister, John Loftus, has compiled an outstanding anthology of scholarly essays that strive to expose The Christian Delusion.

Scientologists, Catholics and More Money Than God

We do not need these books to tell us that money and religion make for a poisonous combination. But it is of some interest to see that ancient truth confirmed in both a church as relatively new as Scientology and one as ancient as Roman Catholicism. Even religious leaders develop a certain swagger when they know they are backed by bundles of cash. When a French court fined Scientology nearly a million dollars, one of its officials shrugged that off as “chump change.” And when the Vatican ran a deficit of nearly 2.4 million euros in 2007, an Italian journalist familiar with the church’s finances dismissed the debt as “chopped liver.” Chump change or chopped liver, both churches have bigger sums they can get to and use, and few outsiders are given a look at how they do it. These two books trace the cash source of theological confidence.

As an ex-Witness, I would find it neat if they wrote something like this about the Watchtower Society. Still, it’s good to keep things in perspective. The Society may be rolling in cash by any sane human standard, yet the bank accounts of the Catholic Church or the Church of Scientology would crush theirs like a bug.

Apathetic Atheism

Are you an “apatheist?”

Judge suspended for requiring church attendance as bail condition

Anti-Porn event – emotional appeals and dangerous misinformation

Sensory Perception Linked to Conceptual Perception

An inability to distinguish between internally-generated and externally-generated physical sensations appears to be linked to having trouble distinguishing between delusions (generated internally) and facts (that exist externally). This means that there seems to be a bond between sensory perception concept generation — between our ability to perceive the world through our senses and our ability to organize what we understand of the world through our mental concepts.

Victory for evolution in Texas

I Do Not Think This Means What They Think It Means…

Nor do I.

Pat Robertson is Bat Shit Crazy

1947 heat wave caused Catholic school girls to go wild

Someone filmed my dream. Again.

Atheist Barbie

How to get people to quit using homeopathic medicine

I have an in-law I’d like to try this one on.