godlessness
pharyngula | January 22, 2010I commend Chris Mooney for being so open-minded that he was willing to guest-author a comic on Jesus & Mo.
pharyngula | January 19, 2010Ol' Carl, the Australian young earth creationist, got all bent out of shape at the disrespect we gave to his freak show and is appalled that atheists are having a convention in Melbourne, and so now he has come out with a video reply to the whole affair.
I've always wanted to grow up to be a Soviet armor division.
pharyngula | January 18, 2010All the "New" Atheists cringe at the epithet the popular press has given us. Watch Bertrand Russell and see why.
pharyngula | January 18, 2010The Non-Believers Giving Aid project has been a phenomenal success; it raised over $150,000 in contributions for Haiti within 24 hours, and at the last tally I heard was somewhere over $180,000, with an average donation of roughly $35 per godless donor.
I've been seeing a lot of sniping from various corners of the web that these contributions are just selfish promotion by atheists, that we wouldn't ever help human beings if we couldn't get advertising for it. This is absurdly false. Before the Giving Aid site was set up, I'd put up a call for donations, and the godless community responded…
pharyngula | January 16, 2010If you haven't already donated to disaster relief in Haiti, here's your chance: a new umbrella organization to coordinate charitable giving for the godless has been set up. In the first two hours that this was created, over $11,000 has been donated. Get on the bandwagon!
Non-Believers Giving Aid: a religion-free way to help disaster victims
Washington, DC January 17, 2010
In response to the tragedy in Haiti, several organizations representing 'non-believers' and others have set up a disaster relief fund called 'Non-Believers Giving Aid'. In an appeal for donations, the website of the…
pharyngula | January 13, 2010Crazy Ken Ham has learned about the Atheist Convention in Melbourne, and he has written his confused, garbled version of what it's all about. He's also done his typical cowardly routine of complaining about the convention and also, by the way, about me, but refusing to mention any of us by name, let alone linking to us. He can't have his readers actually seeing what the other side has to say, after all; the world must be filtered through the benevolent and opaque lens of the Maximum Leader, you know.
At least it's fascinating to watch a weak mind struggle to grasp something he doesn't…
pharyngula | January 13, 2010Brent Rasmussen is shutting down Unscrewing the Inscrutable. This is sad; Pharyngula is a lowly newbie to the atheist blogosphere, and when I set up shop way back in 2003 the godless blogs I followed included the Raving Atheist (which switched sides with the conversion of its owner years ago), World Wide Rant (which shut down a while back), UTI (which was hanging in there until now), and Stupid Evil Bastard, which is still plugging away. This is simply the nature of the blogging beast, which tends to be tied to the personality of the owner, and if someone decides there's something else they'd…
pharyngula | January 12, 2010I'm sexy.
Well, that was unexpected. I think my name was tossed in there for comic relief.
pharyngula | January 8, 2010In addition to my grueling tour of more northerly parts of the state, I'll be speaking in Orange County on 8 May. To warm you all up for that, I've got an interview with Carrie Poppy in the Examiner.
And if that's not enough for you, I'll be on KPFK 90.7 FM out of Los Angeles at 10:20 California time this morning. See, I love you too.
pharyngula | January 6, 2010I told you all to not vote for me in that poll looking for the most influential female atheist of 2009, but you just had to go and disobey me. The photo at that link is photoshopped, I swear; I'm sure I'd be more bosomy.
However, one good thing has come out of it. Jen has compiled a good (but still, as always, incomplete!) list of notable godless women. Please, organizers of atheist/humanist events, take a look at that list when thinking about speakers, because I'm tired.
pharyngula | January 4, 2010An annoying but intrinsic property of atheists is that we are all horribly fractured — this is a disparate group with no central leadership, and that's the way we like it — but it also means our presence is fragmented and easier to ignore. We have all these different godless organizations with different national meetings that overlap and often share members, but no coherence. Margaret Downey has been pushing an idea for a little while that you can read about in a post on the Friendly Atheist from last year: we should all at least once get together in one giant massive united meeting and make…
pharyngula | January 3, 2010Don't be bitter, Hemant!
Who is the most godless atheist of 2009?
PZ Myers 61% (361 votes)
Everyone else in the universe combined 39% (226 votes)
grrlscientist | January 3, 2010tags: bible, religion, comedy, humor, fucking hilarious, Ricky Gervais, streaming video
This funny video is from atheist comedian Ricky Gervais's live stand-up show, Fame. In this clip, he discusses the Bible and religion.
grrlscientist | January 2, 2010tags: Religion Has Had Its Day, religion, comedy, humor, fucking hilarious, Argumental, Marcus Brigstocke, Rory McGrath, streaming video
This amusing video is from the television show, Argumental. In this third season episode, Marcus Brigstocke argues FOR while Rory McGrath argues AGAINST the topic, "Religion Has Had Its Day."
pharyngula | January 2, 2010Next Saturday, 9 January, I'll be driving up to Winnipeg to talk with the local humanists. You can come, too! There's a bit of a warning there, though:
Myers will speak at 7 p.m. at the CanadInns Club Regent Casino Hotel in Ambassador Room B.
Admission is free but because seating is limited, attendees are being asked to register. Email to ham_librarian@yahoo.ca or phone 792-0931.
Reserve a seat today!
pharyngula | January 2, 2010I sicced you on this poll to identify the most vocal atheist of 2009: don't be surprised, I won. Of course, the real problem there was that the winner was determined in an open online poll — if it had been a poll to determine the most vocal Christian of the year, I also would have smashed into it hard.
Now try something a little less biased: a poll to determine the most influential female atheist. My name is not on it, so I'm safe from messing this one up.
Ophelia Benson 7% (76 votes)
Greta Christina 21% (237 votes)
Annie Laurie Gaylor 6% (68 votes)
Tracie Harris & Jen Peeples 3% (29…
pharyngula | January 1, 2010The Foundation Beyond Belief is a new humanist charitable and educational organization that can be the focus of your godless giving. They've got an interesting approach: they set up 10 categories (education, the environment, poverty, human rights, etc.), and you pick what percentage of your donation you'd like to go to each category. They also highlight a reputable charity within each category that will receive your donation: read the FAQ for details on how it works.
One of the major virtues of this foundation to the humanist and atheist movement is that it can be (if many of us cooperate…
pharyngula | December 31, 2009On the first of January, that is, right now, the Irish blasphemy law goes into effect.
In February, I'll be giving some talks in Ireland.
Just to warm up the officials there, Atheist Ireland has just published 25 blasphemous quotes…including one from me.
Oh, boy. This trip could be interesting.
pharyngula | December 31, 2009I keep hearing people telling me this, but at the same time I keep seeing more and more out atheists, and atheism becoming more and more popular. The refrain is sounding more desperate than accurate — but then, among people for whom wishful thinking is tantamount to a mathematical proof, I suppose just wanting atheism to go away is sufficient to mean it must be going away. I was sent an awesomely pathetic article making just this same kind of weak argument.
There seems to be a growing consensus around the globe that godlessness is in trouble.
"Atheism as a theoretical position is in decline…