godlessness
pharyngula | December 10, 2009One of the most important tools for promulgating religion is fear, and one of the biggest sources of fear is the inescapable fact of personal mortality: we're all going to die someday, and we all know people we've loved who have died. Religion steps up to the challenge of death in its usual glib and dishonest way, and promises a mysterious "afterlife," in which you'll get to go on being you despite the inconvenience of your flesh rotting away. None of the proponents of this belief have the slightest scrap of evidence for their claims, other than an appeal to emotion and desire, and sometimes…
pharyngula | December 9, 2009Sometimes, reading the shrill words of theists trying to interpret atheists is a real trip to Bizarro World. What you see, generally, is freakishly far off the mark and often more a case of projection than understanding. It would be hard to get more overt than this: someone named Kathryn Lofton has written an essay titled "So you want to be a new atheist", which, presumably, is about describing some common set of properties, a dogma and doctrine, that anyone can follow to be one of the New Atheists.
Unfortunately, she falls off the rails from the very beginning, since we're all a diverse…
pharyngula | December 9, 2009Previously, I enviously mentioned this fabulous godless variety show going on in England this year. It's Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, organized by Robin Ince, and featuring a host of secular personages of note.
They had a similar show last year, with many requests for recordings. The great godless minds cogitated, and realizing that Deep Thoughts alone do not pay the utility bills or generate pints of beer, they have come up with an idea: you can now buy a DVD of the 2008 Nine Lessons show, proceeds of which will go to the Rationalist Association. You should get it. It'll help…
pharyngula | December 9, 2009Cecil Bothwell was elected to the city council of Asheville, NC. Cecil Bothwell is an atheist. Now some kooks want to deny Cecil Bothwell his seat on the council because the North Carolina constitution forbids atheists from taking public office.
Amazing. I know that several states have these laws on their books, but I thought they all avoided enforcing them, since they're clearly unconstitutional. In this case, it's one crazy right-winger, H.K. Edgerton, who wants to impose the law to selectively block someone he doesn't seem to like. We know he's crazy because he's threatening the city and……
pharyngula | December 8, 2009I was reading this condescending article by Stephen Prothero that, as usual, chastises the New Atheists for being so danged rude, and I thought I'd have to take time to slap him around a bit. His point is that the reason we're so rude is that we're all arrogant white men, and if only we had more women around, we'd be more sensitive and sweet and nice and gentle, and although he doesn't say it directly, we'd probably also have more lace doilies and wouldn't cuss so much.
I'm spared the effort, since Amanda Marcotte, godless firebrand and possessor of two X chromosomes in every cell, has rudely…
pharyngula | December 8, 2009We are the New Atheists. We do not, however, like the name — ask any of us, and we'll tell you that there's nothing new about our atheism — all we're doing is speaking out about godlessness. I've talked to a lot of the so-called New Atheists, including some of the biggest big shots in this movement, and what do they do when they hear the term? Roll their eyes and shrug. We only grudgingly accept the term, not because we find it agreeable, but because it is imposed on us by a clueless media and an even more ignorant body of theists.
Weirdly, I'm now hearing more and more about something…
pharyngula | December 7, 2009This is short notice, but hey, it's not like the residents of North Dakota could have anything else planned*: August Berkshire, that other atheist in Minnesota, will be speaking in Fargo on Tuesday evening.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 7:00 pm - August Berkshire, past vice president of Atheist Alliance International, will do his one-hour presentation "Exploring Atheism" for a meeting hosted by Atheists, Agnostics & Secular Humanists (AASH) in the Rose Room of Memorial Union, North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, ND. Free and open to the public.
*After that opening potshot, the…
pharyngula | December 7, 2009For those of you who haven't been following the story line, Mr Wiggles, the sociopathic teddy bear, has recently filled in for God, and really messed up the universe. Only not really — it was all just a dream. But at least it has a happy ending.
It makes me happy, too.
pharyngula | December 1, 2009The Richard Dawkins Foundation is having a big fundraiser…and what better way to treat this traditionally religious season than to use it as an excuse to direct all your charitable giving to a bunch of atheists promoting science and reason?
pharyngula | November 29, 2009Got a few hours to spare? Here's another recent debate, this time between Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens vs. Boteach, D'Souza, and Taleb in Mexico, with Robert Wright stuck in the middle. The sound quality is OK, but very low…so crank it up to hear it.
Don't want to listen? Here's a quick summary.
Shmuley Boteach: Yeesh. What an awful, screechy person. There is a god because evolution is impossible, and god is the only reason people are moral. Oh, and Hitler. Tiresome and cliched.
Sam Harris (about 9 minutes in): There are only 3 ways to defend god: 1) argue that your specific religion is…
pharyngula | November 29, 2009A live debate is coming up at 6:45 GMT…I think that means in about half an hour. The topic is one that irritates me greatly: "Atheism is the New Fundamentalism". Arguing for the motion is Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford, and Charles Moore. former editor of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. I know nothing about either of them. Against the motion, the godless have once again fielded their A team: Richard Dawkins and AC Grayling.
I forecast another rout in favor of the heathenish barbarians with prestigious academic appointments.
It will be streamed live at the intelligence2 site…
pharyngula | November 27, 2009In March, there's going to be a massive atheist conference in Melbourne, Australia. It's going to be excellent, with speakers being brought in from around the world, and with mobs of delighted godless Aussies gathering to celebrate and discuss secularism (I know some of my readers here will be there!) Reasonably enough, the Atheist Organization of Australia has asked the government to chip in and help them do it right with a request for about a quarter million dollars. The government has been dragging its feet, though, punting the request about and making no promises.
Now you might say that…
pharyngula | November 27, 2009Michael Young was a nasty old Christian bigot who lived a long life and left his fortune to his relatives. Apparently,though, fundamentalist hate isn't necessarily heritable, and one of those relatives, who I think is named Anthony Perry, established the Michael Young Fund, and is handing out the money to…well, follow the link. Let's just say it's a good thing there is no afterlife, or he'd be seething in even greater torment.
Just to forestall the usual whines, what if this happened to me, and I left money to my kids and one of them used the capital to hand out cash to organizations I…
pharyngula | November 26, 2009Sorry, I don't believe in Thanksgiving Day.
This whole notion that one should have vague and aimless feelings of gratitude for the nature of one's existence is just too weird, and the bow-your-head-at-the-table and radiate-blessings-at-the-cosmos tradition is pointless and silly. Don't get me wrong: I can be appropriately and happily grateful to people who have gone out of their way to do good for me — Mom will get a phone call, and my wife will get a hug, and they really are appreciated — but for the most part, our existence is not the product of selfless altruism, and there is nothing out…
pharyngula | November 25, 2009I've met him a few times, and that's the impression I get in person and in his writings, and I certainly can't object to that. I haven't yet read his new book, Good Without God, but I'm pretty sure I'll come away from it as I would from a heaping plate of marzipan and sugar cookies and chocolate truffles — a little nibble is plenty, and it's all sweet and lovely, but I sure wouldn't want to make a habit of it. And it can get cloying fast. But someone will like it.
There's a very nice article about Epstein and his book in the Boston Phoenix (See? Again, every time, "nice" is the word that…
pharyngula | November 23, 2009Uh-oh. This episode of Mr Deity will fire up some denunciations. Take a deep breath, and remember, he's satirizing religious attitudes.
Listen through to the end, though — he has an excellent suggestion. This weekend is Thanksgiving, and instead of sitting through another football game, put a Mr Deity episode on, and get the whole extended family talking about irreverence. Come on, it'll be fun! There might even be a food fight!
pharyngula | November 19, 2009I have to recommend this criticism of sexism in the skeptical community: skeptifem points out that while we're quick to outrage when someone like Bill Maher violates science norms, we seem to shrug off the fact that he's been rudely anti-woman at times.
When someone does try to share the perspective of being a person of color or a woman in skeptic communities the majority of people in the groups I have encountered dismiss their viewpoint on extremely typical grounds. This article from richarddawkins.net has some really disturbing comments that illustrate exactly what I am getting at; an…
pharyngula | November 18, 2009
It's another travel day for me tomorrow — I'm off to Skepticon II in Springfield, Missouri, where I'll be joining a whole group of interesting people. I notice I'm going to be giving two talks (hey, JT, nice surprise!), which shouldn't be a problem. The first one is going to be important: I'll be announcing the amazing atheist speciation event that has gone on without our knowing it, and afterwards we have to run off and breed madly, since obviously the only way an intellectual movement can expand is by brute force proliferative procreation. It should be fun! Now don't you wish you'd…
grrlscientist | November 15, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, christianity, humor, satire, funny, evolution shmevolution, Edward Current, streaming video
Edward Current comments about all of the ignorant evilutionists (including me) who are contaminating the world with our crazy ideas. Nevermind that we have proof and the religious wingnuts do not.
grrlscientist | November 14, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, christianity, Why Do Atheists Care About Religion?, imrational, streaming video
How does religion impinge upon each American's rights? This video should open your eyes to the ridiculous, backwards and utterly nonsensical laws that control our lives because of someone's religious beliefs.