NotesWhen Occupy Wall Street and similar protests played out over the past year, the phenomenon looked familiar to Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal: He's seen similar moral outrage over economic inequity expressed by monkeys and chimps. And he thinks we could learn a lesson or two from our fellow primates.Unfurl
NotesIn 1979, McDonaldâs introduced the Happy Meal.
Sometime after that, it was decided that the Bible teaches that human life begins at conception.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesMy two kids at home almost lost their mother because someone decided that my life was worth less than that of a fetus that was going to die anyway. My husband had told them exactly what my regular doctor said, and the ER doctor had already warned us what would have to happen. Yet none of this mattered when confronted by the idea that no one needs an abortion. You shouldnât need to know the details of why a woman aborts to trust her to make the best decision for herself. I donât regret my abortion, but I would also never use my situation to suggest that the only time another woman should have the procedure is when her life is at stake. After my family found out Iâd had an abortion, I got a phone call from a cousin who felt the need to tell me I was wrong to have interfered with Godâs plan. And in that moment I understood exactly what kind of people judge a womanâs reproductive choices.Unfurl
NotesWe challenge the whole concept that you canât be good without God. We challenge the idea that religion is important in the first place, and that really makes them uncomfortable.Unfurl
NotesWhich is sooo close to being correct. The court actually prohibited mandatory school prayer. And that one word makes all the difference. (See: Twain, Mark on lightning-bug vs. lightning.)Unfurl
NotesThere's nothing better than a wild UFO conspiracy theory â unless it's a UFO theory that wraps in a debunked comet, the Catholic Church, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
...
So will YOU be ready when Jesus of Borg arrives?
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NotesPoe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult to distinguish between parodies of religious fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane. For example, some conservatives consider noted homophobe Fred Phelps to be so over-the-top that they argue he's a "deep cover liberal" trying to discredit more mainstream homophobes. FeedUnfurl
NotesPoe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult to distinguish between parodies of religious fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane. For example, some conservatives consider noted homophobe Fred Phelps to be so over-the-top that they argue he's a "deep cover liberal" trying to discredit more mainstream homophobes.
Poe's Law states:[1]Unfurl
Notes"I have never been more of an atheist," writes the waiter, who will likely do horrible things to that diner's food if they ever dared to return.Unfurl
NotesIs the United States sliding toward theocracy? Thatâs what Republican presidential candidates have told us for more than a year. Radical Islam, theyâve argued, is on the verge of taking over our country through Sharia law. But this weekend, at an Iowa forum sparsely covered by the press, the candidates made clear that they donât mind theocracyâin fact, theyâd like to impose itâas long as itâs Christian.Unfurl
Notes<blockquote>In his new book, "God, No!" atheist magician Penn Jillette tells how he was challenged by conservative radio host Glenn Beck to come up with an atheist's version of The Ten Commandments.</blockquote>Unfurl
NotesRepublicans may be trying to focus their messaging on jobs and the economy â and hammering President Barack Obama for campaigning â but they still have time for some red meat base-baiting on the House floor.Unfurl
Notes"This devotion to an idea is one of the amazing things about being human, but you're not much good to the rest of us until you're on to your 3rd."FeedUnfurl
Notes"Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn't just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years agoâa staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agricultureâthe first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that emberâthe spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed."Unfurl
NotesGee, ya think? "God may have created man in his image, but it seems we return the favour. Believers subconsciously endow God with their own beliefs on controversial issues.
"Intuiting God's beliefs on important issues may not produce an independent guide, but may instead serve as an echo chamber to validate and justify one's own beliefs," writes a team led by Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."Unfurl
Notes"Tuten will explain how these digestively related tales date back before medieval times and talk of how monastic authors used these undignified deaths to connect sin, divine vengeance, greed and bowel afflictions as examples of the gruesome fate awaiting sinners and the perceived enemies of the monastery."Unfurl
Notes"During the the hours of 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. the Atheist Agenda, a student organization of The University of Texas at San Antonio, had a table on campus with the purpose of exchanging religious scripture for pornography."Unfurl
Notes"Free articles and resources by best-selling author and TV co-host Ray Comfort that will help you to pull the plug on the rising tide of atheism."Unfurl
Notes"We hear so much these days about how traditional religious family values are necessary for raising moral children who can grow into accomplished adults,â said American Humanist Association Executive Director Roy Speckhardt, father of two. âBut we humanists have known for a long, long time that ethical humanist values build character. The number of moral and accomplished humanists is legion. Weâve been honoring the greatest of them every year since 1953 at our annual conferences. Now Barack Obama has given us the opportunity to share this truth with those from around the country who come to our nationâs capital to share in the inauguration experience."Unfurl
NotesNotable if only for the fact that Comic Sans is used whenever the Pope is quoted. "Yeah, the Pope babbles dicta against people who are different from him, so what else is new?"Unfurl
Notes"This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity."Unfurl
Notes"Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earthâin fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated."Unfurl
Notes"A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution. ... Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking."Unfurl
Notes"Christianity is like sticking a fork in your face and your rectum and plugging them into a wall socket. Your insides will smoke and sizzle, you'll glow, sparks will shoot out of you, and you'll become a cooked vegetable."Unfurl
Notes"By the way, I didn't want to single out just the cracker, so I nailed it to a few ripped-out pages from the Qur'an and The God Delusion. They are just paper. Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanity's knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind."Unfurl
Notes"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) changeUnfurl
Notes"however the direction and splatter patterns of the crumbs as well as the changing shades emanating outwards from this black hole were very clearly similar to the chaotic-dynamic non-linear patterns that one would expect following the big bang"Unfurl
Notes"If they fail in their appeal, Eleanor Katherine may have to leave the only family she has ever known and await adoption by another couple whose religious convictions satisfy the State of New Jersey."Unfurl
Notes"The point is this: there has never -- never ever ever -- been a single thing that has been taken out of the science basket and put back in the god basket. Not one. Ever."Unfurl
Notes"The Westboro Baptist Church (that âGod Hates Fagsâ crew from the heart of Jesusland USA) presents their cover âWe Are the World,â rewritten and retitled as âGod Hates the World.â"Unfurl
NotesI'll never understand why so many religious people are so scared by the existence of and being exposed to information contrary to their beliefs.Unfurl
Notes"I suggest that if you recognize and acknowledge that purpose in life can only be derived from an imaginary friend, by whatever name you call him, then Iâm afraid you do not grasp what ârealityâ is."Unfurl
Notes"This has been a hard piece to write, and it may be a hard one to read. I'm not going to be as polite and good-tempered as I usually am in this blog; this piece is about anger, and for once I'm going to fucking well let myself be angry."Unfurl
Notes"This has been a hard piece to write, and it may be a hard one to read. I'm not going to be as polite and good-tempered as I usually am in this blog; this piece is about anger, and for once I'm going to fucking well let myself be angry."
I want to talk about atheists and anger. This has been a hard piece to write, and it may be a hard one to read. I'm not going to be as polite and good-tempered as I usually am in this...Unfurl
Religious People Less Driven By Compassion Than Are Atheists And Agnostics, Study Says
slacktivist » The âbiblical viewâ thatâs younger than the Happy Meal
Abortion saved my life - Abortion - Salon.com
Atheism in America: Why wonât the U.S. accept its atheists? - Slate Magazine
RealClearReligion - Quit Thinking School Prayer Is Banned
Poe's Law - RationalWiki
Christian theocracy: How Newt Gingrich and the GOP would abolish courts and legislate morality. - Slate Magazine
Your Third Religion
pull the plug on atheism
Sam Harris on Sarah Palin and Elitism | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com
Moving On Up!
Einstein writes of 'childish superstition'