godlessness
pharyngula | July 23, 2009Some people are quite rightly appalled that Bill Maher won the Richard Dawkins Award from AAI, and is at the top of the list of speakers at the AAI conference. I sympathize; Maher certainly has some wacky ideas, and I even gave him a mixed review on his movie, Religulous. (I also must repeat a clarification: the Richard Dawkins Award is not given by Richard Dawkins or the Richard Dawkins Foundation: it is an award by Atheist Alliance International, named after Richard Dawkins.)
However, let's be clear about the obvious. He is being given this award for making a movie this year that clearly…
pharyngula | July 23, 2009The wikipedia article on "New Atheism" is nothing short of a travesty. It mentions nothing of the fact that the people associated with this "New Atheism" clearly state that there is nothing "new" about it, and the only sources it cites are Andrew Brown, who has become something of a mewling whiner about it, and Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary! It even talks about "Doctrines", as if we have any!
It does list books by Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens…but doesn't bother to say word one about what's actually in them.
This is an article that actually…
pharyngula | July 23, 2009A professor of religion has decided that atheism is in decline and the "New Atheists" are over. Why? Because sales of books by the "New Atheists" have declined since their release several years ago, Karen Armstrong has published her silly book, and surveys show that atheists are still a minority. And the reason they flopped is because atheists are such mean poopieheads.
In other words, more bleary-eyed wishful thinking from a mind squicked by religion. Gosh, yes, older books sell at a much lower volume than fresh, new releases. And if you want to claim a trend, you can't just cite data from…
pharyngula | July 22, 2009
I really want Dara O'Briain's sack.
P.S. I think we're back online now.
P.P.S. Ooops. Comments aren't working. The tech people are trying to turn those back on right now.
pharyngula | July 20, 2009Mr Deity is wrestling with the various versions of his story. Much is explained by his choice of a script doctor.
By the way, if you've ever wanted to actually meet Mr Deity, you've got a shot: he'll be speaking at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 Convention in LA this October. And it's not just him, look at this phenomenal lineup of speakers.
Bill Maher [2009 Richard Dawkins Award recipient]
www.BillMaher.com
Wikipedia: Bill Maher
Richard Dawkins, DPhil
Richard Dawkins.net
Daniel Dennett, PhD
Tufts University Personal Page
Wikipedia: Daniel Dennett
Brian Dalton
Mr. Deity show…
pharyngula | July 20, 2009The current total of registered attendees for our Invasion of the Creationist "Museum" is now at 101 — and you've only got a few more days to pre-register. You're also welcome to just show up, of course.
This is an official Outing — not only are we going on a trip, but you should be a loud and proud atheist, too. I suggested armbands before; if you don't like that, pick up one of these snazzy t-shirts, or wear something from the Out Campaign. Anything that looks respectable, but still makes clear that you are one of those atheists.
grrlscientist | July 19, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, terrorism, Marcus Brigstocke, streaming video
In this video, Marcus Brigstocke rants about religion. Not for the faint-hearted! And I agree with everything he says, too. So there. [Audio from 'The Now Show', Radio 4, Saturday 21 July 2007. Pictures compiled, animated and sequenced by Alien8ted] [7:21]
pharyngula | July 17, 2009All right, I've got a Horde: a vicious mob of savages slavering over the prospect of conquest and booty. I've got to start using you more. Here are some people who have been asking for it:
No Jesus, no peas
A Pile of Blog
Mors Dei
The Pile System
Why Evolution is True
Fly, my pretties, fly! Invade their blogs and leave comments and jack up their traffic and…and…stuff. That will teach them! Yarrrr!
I have another army arising, too. Remember, the SSA and I are going to the Creation "Museum" on 7 August. It's going to be huge: last I heard, we've got 70 people signed up to descend on the place…
pharyngula | July 16, 2009Two things: the first is Sean Carroll's discussion of what kinds of questions science can answer, and what the answers tell us about the universe.
And, without fail, the scientific judgment comes down in favor of a strictly non-miraculous, non-supernatural view of the universe.
That's what's really meant by my claim that science and religion are incompatible. I was referring to the Congregation-for-the-Causes-of-the-Saints interpretation of religion, which entails a variety of claims about things that actually happen in the world; not the it's-all-in-our-hearts interpretation, where religion…
pharyngula | July 13, 2009Robert Wright has an article that you can stop reading as soon as you've seen the title: Why the "New Atheists" are Right-Wing on Foreign Policy.
Uh, we aren't.
Well, that one was easy.
pharyngula | July 13, 2009And it's a strange thing. It's a law that slaps anyone who offends "a substantial number of the adherents of a religion" with a €25,000 fine — which is equal to most of my yearly salary, and also means I'm one of the few people that one could make a good case for having committed blasphemy. I guess I won't be vacationing in Ireland any time soon.
Fortunately, some people are speaking out against the law, especially Atheist Ireland. Join in if you can, work to repeal this medieval nonsense.
pharyngula | July 12, 2009Eric Jayne has put together a list of his top 30 atheist songs. It seems like it ought to be longer — to my mind, if it isn't praising Jesus or any other supernatural entity, it's an atheist song…which means just about every decent piece of music there is. (That is not to say, of course, that there aren't any good religious songs — I've got a small collection of gospel music on my iPod that's pretty darned lively).
pharyngula | July 9, 2009To return to Unscientific America again, I hardly touched on chapter 8, where they express their dismay at those uppity "New Atheists". I am not going to address his personal criticisms of me — there's no point, you obviously know I think he's completely wrong, and the uncharitable will simply claim my disagreement is the result of a personal animus — so instead I'm only going to address a couple of other general points that Mooney and Kirshenbaum get completely wrong. They plainly do not understand the atheist position, and make claims that demonstrate that either they didn't read any of the…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
pharyngula | July 9, 2009All the cool kids are currently attending the big Darwin festival in Cambridge, which sounds like it has been a lot of informative fun. A couple of the sessions, though, are funded by the Templeton Foundation, which sounds much less fun. Fortunately, Dan Dennett has taken a bullet for the team and attended those meetings, and files a report on location — he describes it as "wonderfully awful", with some exceptions. I wouldn't mind listening to Pascal Boyer talk on religion, but the rest…I shudder.
Here's his account.
I am attending and participating in the big Cambridge University Darwin Week…
pharyngula | July 9, 2009You're the land of happy stoners, gay marriage, shopping for sex, abortion, and death with dignity…but worst of all, you are "militantly secular". Don't worry, though — while Fox News treats you as an object of horrible fascination, I think I love you.
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…