godlessness
pharyngula | March 18, 2010You can now listen to the recent debate between Cardinal George Pell and Dan Barker. It will convince you that the Catholic church is totally lacking in any intellectual criterion for appointing cardinals.
Practically the first words out of Pell's mouth are "God as creator and chance or the only two options as an explanation for the universe" and "For atheists the universe is a product of blind chance." We can just stop there: what about the hypothesis that the universe was spawned from super-dense farts of a trans-cosmic supranatural cockroach? But then he goes on to the argument from…
pharyngula | March 17, 2010The comment that has stirred up the most condemnation from the press is Richard Dawkins' mention of "Pope…Nazi," which everyone assumes was about the current Pope. Wrong. Everyone knows the current Pope is most properly addressed as "Pope Palpatine". No, Pope Palpatine is not currently up for canonization (at least, I hope not), but there is another pope who is, and this thorough discussion explains who Dawkins was actually talking about.
Blatantly evident in this clip, Richard Dawkins uses "Pope Nazi" as a shorthand descriptive phrase for "that Pope whose name I've forgotten (Pope Pius XII)â…
pharyngula | March 16, 2010The media are lashing back. The post-convention media (with the exception of one article in the Australian) has been abysmally bad, relying on tried-and-true excuse-making from religious apologists. It would be nice if they actually had conversations with atheists rather than immediately running to the nearest cathedral for consolation, but I guess that's what they have to do now. After all, the convention was an unqualified success, a real triumph for the atheist movement, and they just can't have that.
Barney Zwartz is a concern troll. He's a believer; he presumably thinks religion and god…
pharyngula | March 15, 2010I seem to have spent a lot of time at the Global Atheist Conference with cameras pointed at me. Below the fold I've thrown in a sampling of photos from Michael Barnett, Melinda Kelly, and Philip Costley — just to show you all that we did have a good time.
Here are a few from the Pharyngufest that Bride of Shrek held at a local pub.
Hello, Macalpines!
There's Chloe, hovering over my shoulder and tastefully blurred out.
This young lady had the most amazing Scottish accent, and had flown all the way here without telling her father (I wagged my finger a bit). She made me wear the hat.
Cath let…
pharyngula | March 14, 2010Words are the great ju-ju — some apparently believe we have the power to call up Satan and summon the lightning with the choice use of language. One of the common quirks of many Christian and Jewish sites on the internet is the insistence on writing G_D, as if including an "o" turns the word into a Rune of Power, is an expression of disrespect, or perhaps instills some strange fear in the writer. It's God as Voldemort, and all I can say is F_CK THAT.
There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that.
Mark Twain
God damn it.
I was…
pharyngula | March 14, 2010The Australian had a few things to say about the convention.
It sold out.
That's probably enough. This convention could have been much, much bigger, with a little more support. Next time — and I did hear the organizers talk about the possibility of doing it again in two years, hint, hint — it can be an even bigger event. After all, you are all planning to go, right?
The venues on the first two days were smaller, the result of caution. The organisers chanced a bigger hall yesterday when Richard Dawkins was invited to speak, but could have sold more tickets on Saturday, when philosophers…
pharyngula | March 13, 2010One of the fun surprises of the Global Atheist Convention is that, after a long day of shrill talks from rabidly militant atheists (…and a few accommodationists, shock horror), the evening sessions are all about the humor. So last night we got The Chasers, and I also got to meet Nonstampcollector, who showed this video to the group.
In case you're wondering what he looks like, it's kind of amazing: Nonstampcollector has a face that is a perfect circle, two tiny eyes, and only two expressions. So don't knock the crude animation style, that's simply an accurate rendition of his people.
Oh,…
pharyngula | March 12, 2010I'm afraid I won't be doing much posting live from the Global Atheist Convention; I'm busy, I'm having fun, my dancecard is full, and whenever things slow down a little bit some new person comes up to say hello. But have no fear, I'll put up some comments afterwards, and also, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has dispatched a crack team of ace believers to cover the convention and scowl primly at us all. You can get the fun-house mirror version of the conference from those weirdos…and much amusement. I find it very funny that, for instance, that they can complain about how the GAC is…
pharyngula | March 11, 2010The official kick-off of the Melbourne Global Atheist convention is tonight, but we're starting without the the officials.
I met Bride of Shrek (who is not green) and Rorschach (who wasn't wearing the cool shifting pattern mask) for dinner last night. I can't say I was exactly lively company — I was coming off something like 25 hours of total travel time with no sleep at all, and was feeling like I was staggering towards a brick wall of total unconsciousness — but I survived, mostly. Got a very good night's sleep last night, too.
It's now morning in Australia. I'm heading off to an atheist…
pharyngula | March 9, 2010Here's a personal account of how Charlie Crist deals with atheists:
Last night as I was leaving a pizzeria in Downtown St. Pete, I ran into a small group of people around Florida Governor Charlie Crist who was campaigning for a US Senate run. So, I walked over waited a moment to gain his attention and shook his hand. As we were shaking hands I asked him if he really believes that the letters he sent to Jerusalem prevent hurricanes from hitting Florida.
His smile immediately dropped and he replied "Who's more powerful than God." That wasn't really an answer so asked him again to which I got…
pharyngula | March 8, 2010On Saturday in Melbourne, I'm going to be giving a talk on the incompatibility of science and religion. Now what happens? Another eruption of those accommodation arguments, and I've got this big pile of stuff I could say right now, but I'm going to hold it in, so it's at least a little bit fresh for the end of this week. Until then, read Larry Moran, who has it covered.
I am particularly appalled that Larry's comments contain that hoary old chestnut, "science can't explain love," with the bizarre claim that "No scientist that is also a decent human being subjects all her/his beliefs to…
pharyngula | March 7, 2010This one crosses religious boundaries — it will get me in trouble with some atheists, even. What is one act that will turn many a respectable citizen of Western society into a gibbering denialist?
Sex.
We have an unfortunate cultural association between religion and sex. Sex is dirty; sex is sinful; sex is corruption; sex is filthy; sex will lead you into iniquity and evil. Christianity is rife with these attitudes, and you can find them imbedded deeply into the Bible. Often it's because women are regarded as particularly wicked tempters, the source of original sin, and just itching to…
pharyngula | March 6, 2010Now the godless Australians are getting into the atheist bus sign business, and I must say, this is my favorite ad of the bunch so far, since it's got the nice sciencey touches to it. And it's a fine bunch of happy atheists promoting it, too.
pharyngula | March 4, 2010Kentuckians havesomething to live down right now, Ken Ham and his Cretin "Museum". But look back to your noble past: read some of the words of Charles Chilton Moore, a godless newspaperman from Lexington who was as bold as any today.
Fifteen hundred years ago, Constantine, who murdered his own wife and children, started the Christian religion.
From that day to this that religion has been the greatest curse that ever afflicted the earth.
This religion teaches that 6,000 years ago God made the first man out of dust - not even mud - and the first woman out of a bone; that God cursed the…
pharyngula | March 4, 2010Next week, we've got the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, Australia (with a side event, the Freethought University Alliance meeting, just for students). At the end of the month, it's the Northwest Freethought Converence in Renton, Washington. If none of those are close enough for you, here's another: the Atheist Alliance International is meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark (nice lineup, too).
Come on. There's got to be room in your schedule for a godless vacation somewhere. There are probably other meetings going on, too — they seem to be popping up like mushrooms.
pharyngula | March 4, 2010Hey! I didn't hear about this until just now, but there's going to be a conference of the godless in my home state of Washington on 26-28 March. Ophelia Benson will be speaking there! If you're in the area, you should be going…I'm kinda wishing I could go, too.
pharyngula | March 1, 2010
Springfield, that is. And you'll have to wait until November, but it will be worth it. It's Skepticon 3! Read about the meeting. Peruse the list of speakers. Register now. If you're rich, help by sponsoring.
I hear there will be a drinking contest between Richard Carrier and Rebecca Watson, which will be an event for the ages. I'm excused because of my advanced age and unfairly fine-honed metabolism.
It's a fabulously fun meeting. You want to go.
pharyngula | March 1, 2010This is reassuring: I'm not the only 'militant' atheist who is softspoken in person. Welcome AC Grayling to the club!
(via Atheist Media)
pharyngula | March 1, 2010Stanley Fish is at it again. He's found an author, Steven D. Smith, who has written a book that appeals to his inner cenobite and has written another dismissal of secular reason. And once again, his problem is that his view of the universe is a millimeter deep and most marked by dumb incomprehension.
I'm not going to mess around with his lengthy apologetics, because where Fish flops is in his premises. Apparently, Smith is arguing that there are no legitimate secular arguments for anything of significance; they all work by smuggling in non-secular presuppositions, without admitting it. It's…
pharyngula | February 28, 2010Richard Dawkins has posted a clarification and apology. The key points are that he stands by Josh Timonen (and really, the vituperation against him that I saw was just absurdly excessive), the old forums will definitely be retained as a read-only archive, and the new forums are going to still allow free discussion, but the changes have the intent of focusing any new threads on topics relevant to the RDF.
Everyone moves on now, right?