godlessness
pharyngula | December 30, 2009How does your state rank? Check out the ranking of states by religiosity. Mississippi wins with the unfortunate #1 spot; 82% of the residents of that state say religion is very important in their lives. New Hampshire and Vermont (sorry, you two, you got lumped together) are at the bottom, but 36% still say religion is important to them.
Minnesota could do better, coming in at a respectable 31 out of 46. We're working on improving that, come back in a couple of years.
pharyngula | December 28, 2009You may recall that irritating essay by Nicholas Wade in which he butchers the philosophy of science — well, his book is out, it's gotten a mixed review in the New York Times, and Jerry Coyne mentions that it's Templeton-endorsed. It's all the kiss of death as far as I'm concerned — I don't think I'll be reading it. Ophelia Benson will be reviewing it for Free Inquiry, so maybe she'll change my mind.
Although I doubt it.
I don't know. It seems like there's this weird industry generating lame apologetics for religion now, busily churning out half-assed books for the faitheists. To me, it looks…
pharyngula | December 28, 2009Rick Warren regularly scribbles up these cloying little messages he calls the Daily Hope — and rather than hope, they offer nothing but trite platitudes and unfounded certainty about a godly purpose that I find extremely discouraging. How can people find this lying tripe uplifting?
God deliberately shaped and formed you to serve him in a way that makes your ministry unique. He carefully mixed the DNA recipe that created you. David praised God for this incredible personal attention to detail God gave in designing each of us: "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me…
pharyngula | December 27, 2009It's like taunting the bull while standing in the middle of his field. It's just not smart. Anyway, there's another of these online polls ranking atheists, and Hemant Mehta has come out on Twitter threatening to destroy me in the voting. You know I can't stand for that. Go vote!
Who is the Most Vocal Atheist of the Year?
Richard Dawkins
49 (25%)
PZ Myers
52 (26%)
Christopher Hitchens
33 (17%)
Bill Maher
21 (10%)
Dan Dennett
4 (2%)
Sam Harris
4 (2%)
Victor Stenger
3 (1%)
Michael Shermer
6 (3%)
Dan Barker
10 (5%)
Hemant Mehta
90 (46%)
pharyngula | December 27, 2009But then, you elected this profoundly stupid man to be your governor, so it's all your own fault. I was reading an interview with Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana that was just embarrassingly bad.
To me, the core of the Christian faith is humility, which starts with recognizing that you're as fallen as anyone else. And we're all constantly trying to get better, but... so I'm sure I come up short on way too many occasions.
Our country was founded -this is just an historic fact; some people today may resist this notion but it is absolutely true- it was founded by people of faith. It was…
pharyngula | December 26, 2009A small mob of atheist students (and a confused, deluded mob of hapless Christians) are going to be making a trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes. This is a wonderful idea, and I commend all of the students, even the misled theistic ones, for making the effort. However, they need money to cover expenses. Not a lot, just $1500, so they are doing an online fundraiser on 16 January.
I'm not quite sure how this is going to work, but they are asking for donations that will give you a chance at prizes…and the opportunity to ask questions of some poor preacher man in a webcast on blogtv.…
pharyngula | December 25, 2009It's just a silly online poll, and I don't have a stake in how it comes out one way or the other, except for one thing: I must defeat Brad Pitt. I like the guy, and I've enjoyed his movies, and I'm happy that he's come out as an atheist, but you know…I'm looking forward to being able to go into the bedroom and tell the Trophy Wife™ that I'm better than Brad Pitt at something. And she will say, "I know, baby, I know," no matter what, but it would just be nice to have some statistical backing for the claim.
Atheist of the Year 2009
Richard Dawkins
32%
Bill Maher
15%
PZ Myers
17%
Greg…
grrlscientist | December 25, 2009tags: Holidays, christmas, Atheist Holiday Traditions, big fat whale, cartoon, comedy, humor, satire, fucking hilarious
Image: Big Fat Whale [larger view].
pharyngula | December 24, 2009It's Christmas Eve. You're probably all busy with holiday preparations, getting together with family, making the traditional dinner, all that secular stuff that makes the day worth celebrating. I know that in the midst of this hustle and bustle you already don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm going to ask you to take a quiet, contemplative moment to think about the roots of this day, and don't believe in Jesus, too.
I know, I'm agreeing with all those crazy Bill O'Reillys and Donald Wildmons and other shrill Christian combatants in the war on Christmas who demand that you acknowledge the "…
grrlscientist | December 20, 2009tags: Atheists Can't Think For Themselves!, humor, funny, satire, religion, christianity, islam, Edward Current, streaming video
This astonishing video sets out to prove that being a Christian requires constant thinking, while being an atheist sheep does not. This explains why atheists are the dumbest people God ever created!
grrlscientist | December 19, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, christianity, SPAM, MysteryBox, streaming video
A hardcore atheist finds God when he wasn't even looking for God. It's a touching story with a happy ending.
Although the star is having a bit of fun in this video, the point that the video star making is serious. The world is full of people making exactly the sort of logical mistake he's making in the video. As a result the world is filled with people thinking they have had a personal experience of their version of god yet all these people believe conflicting notions and have no real evidence for their beliefs.
pharyngula | December 16, 2009I was all prepared to criticize a young atheist who refused to read the bible as literature in an English class.
Newton South High School officials dropped a requirement to read excerpts from the Bible for one student last month, after he refused to read the Biblical passages as a literature assignment because he is an atheist.
Jack Summers, a 15-year-old sophomore, said he objected to reading the religious text as part of an honors English class that also includes writings by William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, among others.
"This is the word of God. People take this literally ... I…
pharyngula | December 16, 2009This will be handy: it's a long list of secular and atheist charities. Science, education, medicine, civil rights, fighting poverty and hunger…we have a lot of areas in which secularism is the best way to contribute.
pharyngula | December 14, 2009The theists are on a crusade to deny a legitimately elected city council member in Asheville, NC, his office because he is an atheist. His policies don't matter, his competence doesn't matter, the only issue being used to prevent Cecil Bothwell from taking his position is his disbelief in god, and that just isn't right.
Fox News apparently think the rights of a minority should be determined by the prejudices of a majority, since they're running a poll on the issue. Given that it is Fox news, the results shouldn't be surprising…but they do need adjusting.
Should Atheist Councilman Step Aside?…
pharyngula | December 13, 2009NPR asked kids and young people that question. I rather liked the young lady who said "I stopped believing in the hairy man, when I stopped believing in the Bible". Very good!
pharyngula | December 13, 2009The godless must have some fans in the comic book world. In an issue of The List: Wolverine, the heroes Fantomex (a genetically engineered supersoldier) and Captain Marvel are faced with an army of zombie-like creatures, people who have been infected with an evil virus that can only take over your mind if you believe in some sort of god. So they swing into action, safe from the infection, because neither one believes in gods.
(Click for larger image)
Nice. Well, except that I do think atheists will save the world…but not by putting on a mask and drawing a pair of pistols. That's just nuts.
pharyngula | December 12, 2009I had no idea cartoonists wielded such vast power. First it was the Danish cartoons that outraged the Muslim community, and now an Austrian named Manfred Deix has drawn the ire of the Catholics: the Viennese archdiocese has 'tattled' on him to the public prosecutor for violating the National Socialist Prohibition Act and for degrading religion (it's in German; there is a horrible Google translation).
He has mocked the EU's ban on crucifixes in the classroom with a cartoon that argues that the "ban shall be deftly circumvented," and which includes a "multicultural compromise" — Jesus on a…
pharyngula | December 11, 2009I'm a big fan of the gloriously cranky Harlan Ellison, and here he gives his opinion of that whole god business in his characteristic way…which means that if you are at work you should not turn the volume up on this one.
I found this on a SF site, and the first couple of comments are from offended Christians, which always makes my day. It's the usual stuff: atheists are contradicting themselves, god is all-powerful and can do whatever he wants, yadda yadda yadda. I felt like posting rebuttals, but a fellow named Alan Baxter has done an excellent job of swatting them down already.
pharyngula | December 10, 2009New Zealand will be getting signs saying "there's probably no god" slapped onto buses trundling about, and naturally, the newspapers want to hear what you think about that.
Is there a God?
Yes 37.2%
No 49.0%
I'm not sure 13.6%
I don't know. I would have thought New Zealanders could do better than that. Maybe if I close my eyes and wish real hard, those numbers will change.